The romance of the shoe : being the history of shoemaking in all ages, and especially in England and Scotland by Wright Thomas 1859-1936

Author:Wright, Thomas, 1859-1936
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Shoes -- Great Britain History, Shoe industry -- Great Britain, Shoemakers
Publisher: London : Farncombe
Published: 1922-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

however, pales before that of that grandee of the shoe world, " Hoby the Great," of St. James's Street,' London, shoe-maker and Methodist preacher, the panels of whose doors were emblazoned with the names of monarchs whom he had fitted. When the battle of Vittoria (June 2ist, 1813) was won, the Duke of Kent walked into his shop to impart the news. " I knew," said Hoby, " that Lord Wellington would be victorious, for my boots and "—he was pleased to add—*' my prayers bring him out of all his difficulties." Sir John Shelley once showed Hoby a pair of top boots that had split in several places. *' Good heavens! Sir John," was the comment, '' you've been walking in them." ^ Other customers of his were the well-known men of fashion. Beau Brummell and Horace Churchill. " See here," once said Churchill, *' I am thoroughly disappointed in these boots, and I will never employ you again." '* Close the shutters, John," cried Hoby, in affected distress, to an assistant, *' It is all over with us. Ensign Churchill is withdrawing his custom." No man stage-managed his life better than Hoby, who, moreover, " clapt up Fortune in a cage of gold," made her turn her wheel as he thought best, and died worth a hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

1 There was another Hoby who lived at 12 York Street, Covent Garden.

'■* Top boots are made specially for riding, of course.

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