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GUTTY

Volume 8 · 641 words · 1797 Edition

heraldry, a term used when anything is charged or sprinkled with drops. In blazoning, the colour of the drops is to be named; as gutty of sable, of gules, &c.

Guy (Thomas), an eminent bookseller, founder of the hospital for sick and lame in Southwark bearing his name, was the son of Thomas Guy lighterman and coal-dealer in Horsley-down, Southwark. He was put apprentice, in 1669, to a bookseller in the porch of Mercer's-chapel; and set up trade with a stock of about 200l. in the house that forms the angle between Cornhill and Lombard-street. The English Bibles being at that time very badly printed, Mr Guy engaged with others in a scheme for printing them in Holland and importing them; but this being put a stop to, he contracted with the university of Oxford for their privilege of printing them, and carried on a great bible-trade for many years to a considerable advantage. Thus he began to accumulate money, and his gains rested in his hands; for being a single man, and very penurious, his expenses could not be great when it was his custom to dine on his shop-counter with no other table-covering than an old newspaper; he was moreover as little scrupulous about the style of his apparel. The bulk of his fortune, however, was acquired by purchasing seamen's tickets during queen Anne's wars, and by South-Sea stock in the memorable year 1720. To show what great events spring from trivial causes, it may be observed, that the public owe the dedication of the greatest part of his immense fortune to charitable purposes, to the indifferent officiousness of his maid-servant in interfering with the mending of the pavement before the door. Guy had agreed to marry her; and, preparatory to his nuptials, had ordered the pavement before his door, which was in a neglected state, to be mended, as far as to a particular stone which he pointed out. The maid, while her master was out, innocently looking on the pavements at work, saw a broken place that they had not repaired, and mentioned it to them; but they told her that Mr Guy had directed them not to go so far. Well, says she, do you mend it: tell him I bad you, and I know he will not be angry. It happened, however, that the poor girl professed too much on her influence over her careful lover, with whom a few extraordinary shillings expense turned the scale totally against her: the men obeyed; Guy was enraged to find his orders exceeded, his matrimonial scheme was renounced, and so he built hospitals in his old age. In the year 1707 he built and furnished three wards on the north side of the outer court of St Thomas's Hospital in Southwark, and gave 100l. to it annually for eleven years preceding the erection of his own hospital; and, some time before his death, erected the stately iron-gate, with the large houses on each side, at the expense of about 3000l. He was 76 years of age when he formed the design of building the hospital contiguous to that of St Thomas's, which bears his name, and lived to see it roofed in; dying in the year 1724. The charge of erecting this vast pile amounted to 18,793l. and he left 219,499l. to endow it; a much larger sum than had ever been dedicated to charitable uses in this kingdom by any one man. He erected an alms-house with a library at Tanworth in Staffordshire (the place of his mother's nativity, and for which he was representative in parliament) for 14 poor men and women; and for their pensions, as well as for the putting out poor children apprentices, bequeathed 125l. a-year. Lastly, he bequeathed 100l. to every one who could prove themselves in any degree related to him.