Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/60

 actors of the day, and led to his appearance as a play-writer. An epilogue, spoken by Charles Lee Lewes [q. v.] in the character of Molière's old woman, filled Drury Lane for several nights; and another, spoken by Miss Farren, on an unlucky tragedy recently brought out at that theatre, was equally popular. He wrote an epilogue for the benefit of Mary Wells [q. v.], and their friendship soon ripened into the closest intimacy. They lived together for several years, and four children resulted from the union (, Memoirs, i. 56, &c.). The plays produced by Topham during this period of his life were: 1. ‘Deaf Indeed,’ acted at Drury Lane in December 1780, but not printed; a ‘stupid and indecent’ farce. 2. ‘The Fool,’ a farce in two acts, performed at Covent Garden, and printed in 1786, with a dedication to Mrs. Wells, owing to whose admirable impersonation of Laura it was well received. 3. ‘Small Talk, or the Westminster Boy,’ a farce, acted at Covent Garden for the benefit of Mrs. Wells on 11 May 1786, but not printed. The Westminster boys effectually resented this production by coming to the theatre in force and preventing it being heard. 4. ‘Bonds without Judgment, or the Loves of Bengal,’ acted for four nights at Covent Garden in May 1787, but not printed.

The daily paper called ‘The World’ was started by Topham, partly with the object of puffing Mrs. Wells, on 1 Jan. 1787. Two of his principal colleagues in its direction were Miles Peter Andrews [q. v.] and the Rev. Charles Este; and John Bell (1745–1831) [q. v.], the publisher, had a share in the management (Hist. MSS. Comm. 14th Rep. i. 368, 378). Its ‘unqualified and audacious attacks on all private characters’ were at the start ‘smiled at for their quaintness, then tolerated for their absurdity,’ and ultimately repudiated with disgust (, Baviad and Mæviad, p. xi). In it appeared accounts of ‘elopements, divorces, and suicides, tricked out in all the elegancies of Mr. Topham's phraseology’ (, Memoirs, ii. 77). It was in this paper that the fantastic productions of the Della Cruscans, a small set of English poetasters dwelling for the most part at Florence, made their appearance [see ]. Topham contributed to his paper articles under the title of ‘The Schools,’ in which he gave reminiscences of many of his companions at Eton, and his ‘Life of the late John Elwes’ (1790) made its first appearance in its columns. This memoir of the miser (whom Topham, much to his credit, had persuaded to make a sensible will in the interest of his two illegitimate sons) passed through six editions during 1790, and in 1805 reached a twelfth edition, ‘corrected and enlarged, and with a new appendix.’ A German translation was published at Danzig in 1791, and it was included in the ‘Pamphleteer’ (xxv. 341 et seq.) Horace Walpole considered it ‘one of the most amusing anecdotal books in the English language.’ It is said to have raised the sale of the ‘World’ by a thousand copies a day; but an even better hit was made by the correspondence on the affairs of the prize ring between the pugilists Humphries and Mendoza.

When George Nassau Clavering, third earl Cowper, died at Florence on 22 Dec. 1789, his character was assailed with virulence in the ‘World.’ Topham was indicted for libel, and the case was tried before Buller, who pronounced the articles to have been published with intent to throw scandal on the peer's family and as tending to a breach of the peace. The proprietor was found guilty, but counsel moved for an arrest of judgment on the ground of the misdirection of the judge to the jury. It was argued at great length before the court of king's bench, and after a protracted delay Kenyon delivered on 29 Jan. 1791 the judgment of the court in favour of Topham ( and, Reports, iv. 126–30). By the autumn of 1790 he and Este had separated in anger. The latter had acquired a fourth share in the paper, but had surrendered it from 25 Dec. 1788 conditionally on the payment of an annuity to him. Topham claimed that its payment was dependent on the existence of the paper, and Este thereupon ‘opened a literary battery against him in the “Oracle.”’ The printed letters are appended to a copy of Este's ‘My own Life’ at the British Museum.

After five years Topham disposed of his paper, abandoned Mrs. Wells for another beauty, and retired with his three surviving daughters to Wold Cottage, about two miles from Thwing in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It was rumoured that he intended to spend the rest of his days in farming some hundreds of acres of land and in writing the history of his own life. His kennels were considered the best in England, and his greyhound Snowball was praised as ‘one of the best and fleetest greyhounds that ever ran,’ and ‘his breed all most excellent’ (, Driffield Angler, Ode to Heath). His ‘Memoirs’ did not appear, but he published in 1804 an edition of Somerville's ‘Chase,’ with a sketch of the author's life, preface, and annotations.

While Topham was living at Wold Cottage a meteoric stone fell about three o'clock