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MEMORABILIA,

BY A DESCENDANT OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

I have seen and heard much through a long life. I have written my autobiography, which I intended should be published on the day a grave-stone was erected over my tomb. Too impatient, however, to await the period of my ghost flitting around my executors whilst em. ployed correcting the proof sheets of my literary post obits, I have come to the resolution of giving the world some fragments of my memorabilia whilst I am yet alive.

I was in company with the celebrated Dr. Parr. He was then young and

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engaged in courtship. He related facetiously a dispute he had had with his lady-love. "If I marry," said Parr, "I shall not approve of Jewish names for my expected children. I will not have a little tribe of Christian perfectly Jewish in nomenclature. If I had eleven daughters, I would name the first, "Amo; the second, "Amas;" the third, "Amavi ;" the fourth, "Amari ;" the fifth," Amandi ;" the sixth, "Amando;" the seventh, "Amandum;" the eighth, "Amatum;" the ninth, "Amatu;" the tenth, "Amans; the eleventh, "Amaturus." The translation of these latter words," continued Parr, "would probably denote my love towards my wife, and my wife's love towards me, during the ten years necessary to give birth to the daughters to be named."

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Another time, I was with Dr. Parr at Will's coffee-house, Serle-street, Lon

don; two Warwick attorneys were dining in the coffee-room. They did not like the port wine, and asked the waiter to change it for a tawny wine. "The wine you have got is what master calls ' attorney wine,"" said the waiter.

The poet Coleridge was particularly fond of quaint poetry, similar to the description of a ball:

"Thin dandies in tights, weighing each one an

ounce,

Young ladies befurbelowed, flounce upon flounce."

I once went with Coleridge to visit a young lady whose father and mother were for years martyrs to the gout; when he in his eccentricity expressed

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I remember Coleridge laughing immoderately at a stage coachman boasting he had realized more than 50%. by the retail sale of one small barrel of ale. The boaster drove a stage-coach on one of the western roads, and kept, in his wife's name, on the same road a publichouse. He invariably stopped here under pretence of "washing his horses' mouths."

The passengers would call for "glasses or pints of ale." It was speedily brought, and paid for; but no sooner did it touch the lips of a passenger, than its acidity caused him to forbear drinking; no one ever drank more than half his order. The coach again rolled forward with its four prancing steeds the liquor which was left in the pints and glasses was carefully poured through the bung-hole of the barrel, to be re-sold to other sets of passengers of to-morrow and to-morrow.

Coleridge described singing without music as 66 singing without accompaniderful distortion of face." ment of any sort, except the most won

The crime of murdering persons by pressing on their bodies and suffocating them, is, from its first discovered offender, Burke, called "Burking." Coleridge, when any passage of his writings on rereading did not please him, would write a new passage on a slip of paper, and paste it over the disliked passage. This he called “Burking it.”

MISCELLANIES.

ASTLEY AND DUCROW.

EQUESTRIANS are of ancient date; classic lore gives many instances of these "Centaurs." The performances of Ducrow, however, certainly outstrip competition, and exceed all I remember. All these persons are exceedingly ignorant. Poor old Astley used to talk of a "Krocker-dile wat stopp'd Halexander's harmy, and, when cut hopen, had a man in harmer in its hintellects." He (Astley) had two or three hard words that he invariably misapplied: "pestiferous" he always substituted for "pusillanimous ;" and he was wont to observe that he should be a ruined man, for his horses ate most vociferously. The present race of gymnastic professors have not cultivated an acquaintance with the schoolmaster. Monsieur Gouffée, the manmonkey (who was born in the Borough) received a letter from a poor Frenchman begging for relief. Whether in French or English, Gouffée was equally incapable of perusing it; the stage-manager, however, explained to him the nature of its contents, on which he advanced to the Parisian and gave him half-a-crown. "Monsieur, vous avez bien de la bonté,' exclaimed the receiver. Gouffée, thinking that his supposed countryman was asking for more, said, "It's no use, dang it, for I an't no more silver about me. Of Ducrow it is told that, when teaching a lady of rank and title, and being intent on preserving or acquiring a character for gentility, he at last said, Why, Marm, if you want him (the horse) to jump, you must hold on behind, and insinivate the persuaders into his sides." Of this man's extraordinary courage take one example :- Herr Cline, at rehearsal, declined ascending on the tight rope from the stage to the gallery as a dangerous experiment. Ducrow said, "What, Sir, afraid of hurting yourself, I suppose. I'm not pretty, and have nothing to hurt: give me the pole." And, in his duffel dressing-gown and slippers, he ascended and descended,an attempt amounting almost to madness, and at which even the practised performers of that theatre shuddered.

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Records of a Stage Veteran.

PROFESSIONAL ENVY.

Bartolomeo Bandinelli, an eminent sculptor and painter, was born at Florence in the year 1487. He is distinguished for his implacable hatred of Michael Angelo, whom, however, he considered his inferior. Upon one occasion he entered the apartments of his

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DR. Johnson wrote the celebrated tale of "Rasselas" in the evenings of one week. Sir Walter Scott began and finished Guy Mannering" in a month. Dryden's immortal poem of "Alexander's Feast" was the work of two days; and it is related of Shakspeare that he completed the "Merry Wives of Windsor" in a fortnight.

SINGLE COMBAT AT WATERLOO.

THE third hussars next advanced, in order to avenge the fate of their country

men.

The French soon formed up to receive these new adversaries, and both parties stood observing each other for a moment as hardly liking to engage. At last the hussars charged; the French, with their brilliant idea of cavalry tactics, awaiting the onset de pied ferme; a short mélée at sword's point followed, without being attended with any material result. One of the many hand-tohand combats that took place during the day occurred here in full view of the British line, immediately after the main A hussar on one side, parties separated. and a cuirassier on the other, had been entangled among retiring enemies. On attempting to regain their respective corps they met in the plain. The hussar had lost his cap, and was bleeding from a wound in the head; but he did not on that account hesitate to attack his steel clad adversary; and it was soon proved, if proof were necessary, that the strength of cavalry consists in good horsemanship, and in the skilful use of the sword, and not in heavy defensive armour. The superiority of the hussar was visiafter ble the moment the swords crossed; a few wheels, a tremendous facer made the Frenchman reel in his saddle; all attempts to escape from his more active foe were impossible, and a second blow stretched him on the ground, amid the cheers of the Germans who, in anxious suspense, had remained quiet spectators U. S. Journal. of the fight.

GOOD ADVICE.

Be reserved, says William Penn but not sour; grave, but not formal; bold, but not rash; humble, but not servile; patient, but not insensible; constant, but not obstinate; cheerful, but not light; rather be sweet tempered than familiar; familiar rather than intimate; and intimate with very few, and upon good grounds. M. N.

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We must now return to Nicholas Fortescue, whom we left in the custody of the city watch. Like all rash and impetuous spirits, he began to reflect when it was too late; and when he heard the doors of the cell into which he was thrust, close with a hollow grating sound, his heart sunk within him, and flinging himself on a heap of straw in one corner, he wept like an infant. The thunder had passed away, and the heat drops were falling fast. Nicholas Fortescue saw plainly that he had got himself into a scrape, and not without cause, trembled for the consequences: the law was severe against refractory apprentices, and Master Elliott was not a man to be trifled with. Then, again, he had resisted the watch; an offence which would not be overlooked by the alderman. Our 'Prentice had, indeed, much to fear; and as he lay in his cell in darkness and solitude, he bitterly repented him of his folly.

P. 152.

Not to weary the reader with all that passed in the mind of the prisoner, we are obliged to confess that Nicholas Fortescue fairly cried himself to sleep. Many an ugly dream haunted his slumbers. Jane Elliott discarded him, and her father refused to take back his 'Prentice after he had been set in the stocks, and flogged at a cart's tail up the Chepe! These and other visions tormented him till day-break, when the light which streamed through the bars of a small window in the cell fell on his face and shewed him that he was still in custody. He now recollected that he had not examined the purse which Master Willoughbye had presented to him, and drawing it from his bosom he emptied the contents into his cap, and then began to count his treasure.

"Ha!" cried he, joyfully, forgetting where he was, "Five-and-twenty Harry shillings, three nobles and a ryal! beside smaller coin-'t is the gift of a prince!how generous!"

Then he suddenly recollected that all this might be taken from him, and fell to cudgeling his brains how he should prevent such a catastrophe. After due deliberation he determined to make a

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Simply this," answered the prisoner. "I am master of a sum of money, and I may stand in need of it if my sentence should be a severe one- Master Elliot may not receive me again.-Swear to

me,

that if I tell thee where it is hidden, thou wilt be keeper of it till I am released, and then return it to me untouched."

The turnkey took the oath, and Fortescue drew forth the purse which he had thrust under the straw.

“Here,” said he, "go put it into thy strong box."

The turnkey quitted the cell with his charge, and an hour afterwards our 'prentice was in the justice-room at the Guildhall, before Master Joel Bokerell, alderman of the ward of Chepe.

The civic Rhadamanthus was a short, corpulent man, with a large, sleek, red face, a small bald forehead, snub nose, and gray eyes, with more of sensuality than severity in their expression. charge was made by the sergeant of the watch.

The

"A-hem!" said the alderman, addressing the shame-stricken apprentice; "you are charged, on the oath of one of the sergeants of the night-watch of the king's good city of London, with obstructing, threatening, and foining at with deadly weapons, contrary to the statute, divers persons of the said watch, to the great scandal of the city.'

Having uttered this elegant sample of magisterial eloquence, Master Bokerell paused for breath, and played with his gold chain.

The 'prentice let his head fall on his chest, and thought of Jane Elliott: he feared he had lost her for ever! Grief and shame prevented his uttering a word in reply to the magistrate, who, of course, attributed his silence to obstinacy.

"What!" cried Master Bokerell, his face assuming a deeper shade of scarlet, "you have nothing to say, eh? ha! you contumacious young rogue, you! a hundred such would set the city in an uproar; we must take care of you. We have May-day to-morrow, and idle gos

sips and controvors* have been busy spreading evil reports of your brotherhood." Here he whispered in the ear of his clerk, "We must keep him safehe is a wild young dog; there will be a stir to-morrow-there was a folk-mote in the 'Friars last night;-so say letters from the Court."

Nicholas Fortescue, on hearing this tirade against himself, took courage and raised his head, when his eye accidentally rested on the stern visage of his master below the bar.

"Oh, master," muttered he, "speak but one word for me, or I'm a lost lad!" ""Tis your own fault, Nick," said the stationer, in a milder tone than usual.

Master Elliott had been touched by the grief of his daughter, whom he had left at home in great distress, and moreover had not forgotten the good qualities of his 'prentice.

Fortescue again spoke :

"Master," said he, "I saved your house when Stephen Batt, the paternoster-maker's work-yard took fire at midnight, last Candlemas ;-plead for me, dear master, or I am lost for aye!"

"Let him be taken back to the Compter, and suffer solitary confinement for a week; he may then be whipped three times between the Conduit in Cornhill and the Cross in the Westcheap!" said the alderman.

"Oh, master!" groaned the 'prentice, "suffer me not to be scourged like a dog!

Here Master Elliott spoke. His stern nature was softened; he loved his daughter, and he had found out, when too late to oppose it with effect, that his daughter loved the apprentice. Now he dreaded the thought of his future sonin-law being whipped at the cart's tail, so he pleaded for a remission of the sentence; but Alderman Bokerell loved to have his own way; he persisted in his determination that Fortescue should suffer the punishment to which he had doomed him.

Again Master Elliott besought the obdurate magistrate to modify the punishment.

Obstinate as was the alderman, he loved ease too much to bear teazing, and this he could not now avoid without giving offence to the stationer.

"Citizen," said he, "I am not one of

*Controvor, - an old French lawterm, signifying one who circulated false

news.

those who delight in cruel punishments; has often looked fearlessly upon danger,

but the laws must be respected. These boys have often caused grievous tumults in this our ancient city. The rod hath told when good counsel met deaf ears, and the rod must descend again right sharply ere 'prentices will learn that they may not follow their own stubborn will."

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"Spare him this time, your worship, and I'll give bond for his orderly behaviour for the future," said the stationer.

The alderman threw himself back in his chair, scratched his ear, and looked thoughtful; then he shook his head, and conferred with his clerk in whispers: our metropolitan magistrates at the present day well know the value of an intelligent clerk.

After due deliberation, his worship in his mercy consented to remit a portion of the punishment, and Nicholas Fortescue was adjudged to receive but one whipping between the Conduit and the Cross in Westchepe.

The stationer ground his teeth with rage and vexation at this pretended lenity: had the term of his 'prentice's imprisonment been doubled, he would not have cared-it was the whipping which annoyed him.

"Your worship will remit the whipping altogether ?" said he imploringly.

"Not a single stripe, citizen!" said the alderman, rising from his seat in a passion, "no marvel that the 'prentices run wild, when their masters are crazed -take him away, men.

Four men in the city livery, led the 'prentice out of the justice room, and Master Bokerell vanished through a low door at the back of his chair, leaving the stationer in a state of absolute bewilder

ment.

CHAP. V.

"'PRENTICES AND CLUBS." FEW of our readers will require to be informed, that from an early period, almost up to the close of the seventeenth century, the apprentices of London were a very numerous and formidable body. The daring and martial spirit, which the sports and pastimes of our ancestors tended so much to encourage, occasionally found vent in desperate tumults, and in these, the 'prentices of London were ever ready to take an active and prominent part. Of all riots, those which are created by boys and young men, are the most alarming. Youth is always impetuous; and the smooth face

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when bearded men have skulked in the rear : the heroes of the “ three days ' were young men and boys, and mere striplings were the first that fell in that memorable struggle.

Of the boldness and impudence of the London apprentices in the year 1595, we will give one example, and then go back to the period in which the scenes of our tale are laid. In this year several of that turbulent body having been imprisoned by the court of star chamber, their companions broke open the prisons and released them, for which several of the ringleaders were, by order of the lord mayor, publicly whipped. Enraged at this punishment, a large body of them assembled in Tower Street, and marched with the beat of drum, to seize his lord. ship, whom they intended to whip through the streets by way of retaliation. During the civil wars, the London apprentices were not inactive, and Charles the second, who had quarrelled with the corporation, endeavoured to cultivate a good understanding with these spirited youths. But our business is now with the apprentices of London in the year 1517. The various guilds viewed with jealousy and alarm the endeavours of foreigners to establish a trade in England; and in this year, their hostility to the stranger merchants and artizans had manifested itself in various acts of violence. The English complained, that so many foreigners were employed as artificers, that their countrymen found it extremely difficult to procure work. They also alleged, that the English merchant could not compete with the foreigners, who brought over cloth of gold, silks, wines, oil, iron, and other commodities, to their very great emolument; and lived sumptuously among those, whose interests they had so deeply injured. If we may credit the relations of the old chroniclers, there is good reason for believing, that an undue partiality was shewn to the foreign traders by Englishmen in power;* for upon several occasions, the strangers are said to have conducted themselves with unbearable insolence towards the English.

* The sceptical will bear in mind, that at a later period, one of the charges brought against the great Lord Bacon, was his having receiving a thousand pounds as a bribe, from the French merchants, to oblige the London vintners to take 1500 tuns of wine!-Vide his trial.

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