EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER. In the night of the 25th March, 1820, died the REV. WILLIAM HOLLINGS, of St. Owen's-street, Hereford, in the 75th year of his age. He was a native of that city, brought up in the Grammar School there, and afterwards graduated in Brazenoze College, Oxford. Taking holy orders, he officiated several years as Curate of Ullingswick, in that county, under Dr. Talbot, but left the situation in disgust, and under a vow that he would never resume his clerical functions. This resolution was strictly adhered to during the remainder of his life, and it originated in the disappointment and mortification which he experienced in the refusal of the patron to appoint him to the vacant benifice, on the recommendation of the parishioners in the year 1789. His understanding was good; his education respectable; and his conversation not unpleasant. Cleanliness did not distinguish his person, and his dress was singular and shabby. Avarice was the ruling passion of his mind, and its sway was never disputed but in the instance already mentioned, of his voluntary dereliction of professional emolument. His house and furniture strictly corresponded with the appearance of their master; no domestics of anv description were admitted within his walls, lest they should rob him; and every office, culinary or otherwise, was performed by himself. His diet was cheap and homely-a few pennyworths' of tripe and a quart of the water in which it had been boiled, occasionally constituted, with the aid of a sixpenny loaf, two meals of more than usual indulgence. The cookery was simple and efficient; it consisted in soaking the crumb hollowed out from the loaf in the liquor of the tripe, for the first day's repast; and in placing the tripe itself in the cavity of the loaf, for the next day's junket. A steak from the butcher was an extravagance of very rare occurrence; his gun and his fishing-rod afforded a casual supply; but his principal reliance was on the bounty of his relatives, or the donations of the numerous friends, who, from their own assiduities, or from his professions, considered themselves reasonable expectants of his property. He left his bed at the earliest hours, in search of some kind of game or other: if he was observed in a wood, his gun was his excuse; if near a river, his rod; whilst the fishing basket on his back answered the double purpose of containing his plunder and concealing the hole in his coat. On one of these marauding expeditions (when hares were often mistaken for rabbits, and tame ducks for wild ones), he had the good fortune to discover, in his favourite walk on the banks of the river Lugg, the mutilated remains of a large-sized pike, which, after glutting the appetite of the otter, was destined to be the prey of our hero, and supplied him with at least half a score dinners of unusual splendour. On another occasion of a similar nature, he was apprehended whilst sitting near the confines of a wood, and watching for game within a circuit of the adjoining field, which he had carefully marked out by sticks placed in the ground, to shew the distances at which he might depend on the effects of his gun, with the least possible risk of discharging it to no purpose but the loss of the powder and shot. The game-keepers conducted him in custody to the Lord of the Preserve; mutual congratula tions ensued on the apprehension of the grand poacher who had so long eluded their vigilance, and his capacious and distended pockets were unloaded before the party.-Great, however, was their surprise and disappointment, when, instead of the game expected, these ample pockets were found to contain a miscellaneous collection of potatoes, sticks, turnips, glass phials, and hogshead bungs, all purloined from a neighbouring cottage, in which he had obtained shelter from a storm. Thus, if feather and fur and fishes failed, his resources were not exhausted: the turnip fields or the hedges could always assist him, and on his removal from one house to another he filled three hogsheads with the broken sticks which he had thus acquired, and he nearly preserved that quantity in his garret to the time of his death, by his almost daily or rather nightly supplies. In his rural walks he formed many intimacies with the cottagers of the district, and under the pretence of remembering them in his will, he often put them to the expence of maintaining him for a week. From his more able friends he frequently solicited the gift of a hare, which he turned to good account, by fixing a long residence with those to whom he presented it. An unpleasant rebuff once attended an application of this kind.-The late Mr. D., of Hinton, made it an indispensable condition of complying with his request, that the applicant should prove, that on some one occasion of his life he had given away that which cost him the value of the hare. It is superfluous to add, that the condition was impracticable, the request was unsuccessful, and Mr. D. was never forgiven. The appearance of Mr. Hollings was grotesque in the extreme: the capacity of the pockets seemed to be the principal object in the construction of the coat; it was formed of cloth of the coarsest texture, originally of a black colour, but the effect of time had strongly tinged it with the VERD ANTIQUE, so valuable in the eye of the antiquary. His waistcoat was. of similar materials, and 275 being prudently fitted up with long pockets, in compliment to his coat, was met above his knees by a pair of worsted boot stockings, and thus happily spares the description of any intermediate garment. His hat was round and shallow; his hair was sandy, and despising the vain controul of a black and bushy wig, acquired for him the appellation of "WILL WITH THE GOLDEN WHISKERS." Thus adorned, and equipped too with his rod and basket, a miniature portrait of him was last year taken by Mr. Leeming, of Park-street, with the usual ability and success of that artist. The mother of Mr. H. lived with him to the time of her death, which occurred about thirty years since. She left a set of chemises nearly new, and the circumstance of her son's wearing and washing them afterwards, might have been concealed from history, had he not often been observed to place them on the drying line in his garden. Other parts of the wardrobe of his father and mother, which even Mr. Hollings's ingenuity could not adapt to his own personal uses, were found in the house at his death, aud afford no bad specimens of the costume which prevailed in the reign of Geo. 11.-His garden has been alluded to-that garden contains a pear tree of unusual merit; and to prevent any injury from complying with the wishes of his friends for a supply of its grafts, he regularly procured at the proper season, a large bough from some inferior stock, and substituted its branches for those of the favourite tree. He once possessed more extensive property in land, which being situated in the front of a worthy Baronet's demesne, was purchased at a price nearly double its worth; but Mr. H. long repented the sale, from an idea, that under all the circumstances of the case, a still greater price might possibly have been extorted, Mr. Hollings was never married, but, notwithstanding all his eccentricities, he had the merit of great devotion to the female sex; and the faithless promise of his mother's black silk cloak has induced many a fair damsel to indulge him with her society. This long, and (it is feared) tedious sketch, is now drawing to a close. About six weeks since, he abruptly and harshly pressed immediate payment of interest and principal from a tradesman who had assisted another person with his name in borrowing a hundred pounds. The interest was paid, and an acknowledgment given on unstamped paper. The party feeling himself aggrieved, laid an information against him, and the penalty of five pounds was exacted. Thus lived and thus died the Rev. William Hollings: he was buried at Wilkington under the salute of a merry peal of bells, as directed by his will, and ordered to be repeated, on a suitable endowment, during twelve hours, on every anniversary of his funeral: if he be unentitled to the credit of much positive good, perhaps he cannot justly be charged with the commission of much positive evil. D. FOWL-CRAMMING. SIR,-Do not the following practices come under Mr. Martin's Act?-and if they do, why are not the practitioners punished as well as the poor illiterate drovers ?-All about the neighbourhood of Oakingham, in Berkshire, the practice of cramming fowls is a lucrative branch of business. They are put in a dark place, and crammed with a paste made of barleymeal, mutton-suet, and some treacle, or coarse sugar, mixed with milk, and are found to be completely ripe in a fornight. If they are kept longer, the fever, which is induced by this continued state of repletion, renders them red in their flesh, and unsale This was his death blow: in his own words, "from that moment he could neither eat nor drink, nor sleep." Under this mental depression he lingered about five weeks, gradually declining in health and spirits, until the morning of the 26th of March, when (his street door being forced) he was found dead in a miserable house, in a miserable room, and on a miserable bed, without attendant, without fire, without sheets, without curtains, and without any other visible comfort! The scene which succeeded bids defiance to description; none but they who have witnessed the effects of a London hoax, filling all the street with applicants of all descriptions, can form an idea of what now occurred. Wives, widows, and naids, urged the promises they had received; parsons and proctors, law-able, and frequently KILLS them.— yers and doctors, assembled on the spot-one person required remuneration for drugs-another for drams -a third for dinners-and a fourth for cyder. In short, the demands, the expectations, and the confusion seemed universal-and on unfolding his will, it appeared, that with the exception of a few trifling legacies, his relatives were wholly excluded, his expectants disappointed, and a property of about 30001. was divided, to their great surprise, between a respectable yeoman in the country, and a gentleman in the city, who had managed his pecuniary concerns. Of the hospitalities of the former he had occasionally partaken; and his favour A writer on Practical Agriculture, says, "that the practice of cramming turkeys is a species of stupid and unnecessary CRUELTY, as it is evident they can only fatten in proportion to the quantity of food which is digested, whatever quantity may be forced upon them; besides, they will consume it fast enough if regularly fed, which is probably the fact, however custom may have sanctioned such a method of fattening them."In the town of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and its neighbourhood, many people derive support from their peculiar skill in breeding and rearing of ducks. To gratify fashionable luxury, they contrive to prevent the ducks laying till the months of October and November; when, by heating and stimulating food, they are induced to drop their eggs; these are collected and put under different hens, which are also impelled to sit at an unseasonable time, and often made to continue in the nest for two or three broods. By this treatment the poor bird is often exhausted, and DIES under her compulsive duty. When the young ducks are hatched, they are placed near the fire and nursed with particular care. By these methods many ducklings are sent to the metropolis at Christmas, and have been known to sell at fifteen shillings and a guinea per couple. What a wide field is here displayed for the human exercise of the promoters of Mr. Martin's Bill! P. T. W. MR. EDITOR,-I think the following well deserving of a place among your TRANS-ATLANTIC VARIETIES.' "An Irish labourer near Richmond (va). who was blowing rocks at 200 feet below the surface of the earth, had prepared his match for a blast, and was ascending in a bucket to get clear of the explosion, when the rope broke, and he fell 50 feet to his old place of labour. HE IMMEDIATELY CLAPPED HIS HANDS ON THE BURN ING MATCH AND EXTINGUISHED it! What an awful moment!"-(American Paper.) Mr. Editor, Your well-wisher, PANGLOSS. 30, Norfolk-st Middx. Hospital. June 12th, 1824. THE BUONAPARTE FAMILY IN AMERICA. [NOTICES OF A RECENT TRAVELLER.] IN the course of my travels in the United States, I arrived at the town of Nashville. There was a crowd of people collected at the entrance, where a large waggon was upset, and several of the passengers severely injured. They were extricated from the vehicle, and placed in an empty barn or shed by the road side. A gig drove briskly up, from which an elegantly-dressed man alighted, leaving a lady holding the reins. He pressed through the crowd, and inquired very anxiously after those that were hurt. One of them, a lady, had received a severe contusion on the forehead, and was insensible. The stranger immediately bound up her arm with his silk pocket. handkerchief, and taking a laneet from a pocket-knife, bled her. She soon revived, and was, by his direction, lifted into the gig. He led the horse on at a slow pace to the tavern, about a quarter of a mile distant, where he had her put to bed, and properly accommodated. The only inedical man in the town was sent for, who soon came, and the stranger gave her up to his care. He inquired after her friends from the drivers of the waggon; all they knew of her was, that her name was Williams, English actress, who had appeared on the New York stage, and she had taken her place from thence to Nashville. The stranger pulled out his purse, and placing a sum of money in the surgeon's hands, desired him to furnish her with every necessary her situation required; he then mounted his gig, and drove away. "Pray,' sir," said I to the landlord, "who is that gentleman ?"-"You are a stranger, I guess," was the reply, staring me rudely in the face. I did not choose to satisfy his impertinent curiosity, and turned away, addressing myself to a tall genteel-looking man, whom I afterwards found to be Commodore Hull, of the American navy. He politely told me that it was "Mr. Joseph Buonaparte. He an The has a house about two miles from this, where he often resides, for the sake of hunting and shooting. lady in the carriage with him is his lady. He is a very benevolent man, and does more good in these parts than all the gentry put together." I thanked him for his information, and feeling my curiosity aroused, I requested the Commodore to join me in a bottle of wine, with which he complied, and we sat down in the public-room, where I gathered from him that the Ex-king of Spain, Joseph Buonaparte, has built a town called Joseph's town, which has al |