Historic%20Yorkshire

ECHOES OF OLD LEEDS.
Late in the century (about 1760) flourished the wellknown
painter,Benjamin Wilson, a native of Leeds. A
celebratedpaintingofhis, the raisingofJairus's daughter,
is nowin the GeneralInfirmary, and was a gift from the
accomplished artist. He is alsoknown for his marvellous
imitations of Rembrandt'setchings, which were so perfect
that they are stated to have perplexed and deceived the
authorities of his day on the subject. Another notable
native of Leeds who died during the period was Thomas
Hudson,who,from being a Governmentclerk, became by
a bequest the possessor of a large fortune, which he
invested in South Sea Shares, and upon the bursting of
that bubble became a maniac, and leaving his pleasant
seat in Staffordshire, where just before the final catastrophe
he had buried his wife, roamed as a homeless
beggar, calling himself "Tom of Ten Thousand," and
limping about on a crutch in wretchedness and misery.
This is merely one instance among many of the evil
wrought by that infamous swindle.
A humorous incident of the timewas the advertising by
Major Bradley,in 1769, that his wifehad left him for the
fourteenth time.
Among other remarkableindividualsmay be mentioned
Isabella Cryer, a person who is said to have weighed 40
stones. She measured three yards round, and at her
death, in 1774, was borne to the grave by ten men.
Another character whichaffords speculationto thecurious,
was an old huntsman, Amos Street, who died in 1774,
and was buried inBirstalChurchyard,where thefollowing
epitaphis to be seen: —
This is to the memory of old Amos
Who was whenalive for hunting famous;
But now his chases are all o'er,
And here he's earthed,ofyears four score.
Upon this tomb he's oftensat
And tried to read his epitaph;
And thou who dost so at this moment
Shall ere long,like him, be dormant.
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