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finished, he caused it to be placed by his bed-side, where it continued till his death. It was then presented by his family to his dearest friend and executor, Dr Henry King, chief residentiary of St Paul's, who caused it to be carved in white marble, and to be placed in the old cathedral. It is one of the few monuments which survived the fire, and is still preserved and exhibited in the crypt of the present building.

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A UNIVERSAL GENIUS.

R WESLEY relates in his journal the solemn circumstance of Mr John Downes expiring in the pulpit at West Street Chapel; after which he relates of him the following remarkable things:-"I suppose he was by nature full as great a genius as Sir Isaac Newton. I will mention but two or three instances of it. When he was at school learning algebra, he came one day to his master, and said, 'Sir, I came to prove this proposition in a better way than it is proved in the book.' His master thought it could not be, but upon trial acknowledged it to be so. Some time after his father sent him to Newcastle with a clock which was to be mended. He observed the clock-maker's tools, and the manner how he took it to pieces and put it together again; and when he came home, he first made himself tools, and then made a clock, which went as true as any in the town. I suppose such strength of genius as this has scarcely been known in Europe before. Another proof of it was this: Thirty years ago, while I was shaving, he was cutting the top of a stick. I asked, 'What are you doing?' He answered, 'I am taking your face, which I intend to engrave on a copper-plate.' Accordingly, without any instruction, he first made himself tools, and then engraved the plate. The second picture which he engraved was that which was prefixed to the 'Notes on the New Testament.' Such another instance, I suppose, all England, or perhaps Europe, cannot produce."

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CHURCH MILITANT.

ETER DE DREUX, cousin-german to the King of France, and Bishop of Beauvais, being taken in arms by Richard I. of England, was imprisoned and fettered by him for personal injuries during his own captivity. Pope Celestine III. wrote to the king a gently remonstrating letter in favour of the prelate, which the king answered by sending the bishop's helmet and armour to Rome, with this text from Genesis xxxvii. 32, "Know now whether it be thy son's coat or no." This answer, so just and so appropriate, put a stop to the Pope's intercession, and he replied, "That the coat the king had sent him did not belong to a son of the Church, but of the camp; and the prisoner, therefore, was at Richard's mercy." At the great

battle of Bovines, the same bishop was again in arms, and distinguished himself greatly by his marvellous prowess. The venerable prelate fought with a massive iron club, for he had no scruple of conscience about taking life away by an effusion of blood. The chance of the fight brought him in contact with the Earl of Salisbury, upon whom he fell with his club, and quickly brought him to the ground. The bishop was accompanied by his squire, the Sire de Nivelle. "John de Nivelle," said he, "drag this Salisbury along for me; say it was thou that struck him, for I am doing unlawful work. I should not change my staff for this club." Saying these words, he went forward gaily upon the English, knocking them down with his club right and left.

KIND PRAYER.

PRESBYTERIAN minister in the reign of King William III., performing public worship in the Tron Church at Edinburgh, used this remarkable expression in his prayer : Lord, have mercy upon all fools and idiots, and particularly upon the Town Council of Edinburgh."

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DEAN SWIFT

ORACE WALPOLE, speaking of the author of "Gulliver," says that he was a good writer, but had a bad heart. Even to the last he was devoured by ambition, which he pretended to despise. Would you believe that often finding his opposition to the Ministry fruitless, and, what galled him still more, contemned, he summoned up resolution to wait on Sir Robert Walpole. Sir Robert, seeing Swift look pale and ill, inquired the state of his health, with his usual goodhumour and urbanity. They were standing by a window that looked into the courtyard, where was an aged ivy drooping towards the ground. "Sir," said Swift, with an emphatic look, I am like that ivy; I want support." Sir Robert answered, Why then, doctor, did you attach yourself to a falling wall?" Swift took the hint, made his bow, and retired.

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A ZEALOUS WALTONIAN.

R PALEY was so ardent a follower of Izaac Walton, that, on being asked by the Bishop of Durham when one of his most important works would be finished, he replied, with great quaintness and simplicity: "My Lord, I shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing season is over."

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AN ABSENT MAN.

R GEORGE HARVEST, minister of Thames Ditton, was one of the most absent men of his time. He was a lover of good eating, almost to gluttony; he was further remarkable as a great fisherman, very negligent in his dress, and a believer in ghosts. In his youth he was contracted to a

daughter of the Bishop of London; but on his wedding-day, Being gudgeon-fishing, he overstayed the canonical hour, and the lady, justly offended at his neglect, broke off the match. He had at that time an estate of £300 a year; but from carelessness and absence, suffered his servants to run him into debt to such an extent, that his fortune soon melted away. It is said that his servants frequently gave balls to their friends and fellow-servants of the neighbourhood, and persuaded the master that the noise he heard was the wind.

In the latter part of his life no one would lend or let him a horse, as he frequently lost his beast from underneath him, or at least out of his hands, it being his practice to dismount and lead his horse, putting the bridle under his arm, which the horse sometimes shook off, and sometimes it was taken off by boys, and the parson would walk on without perceiving the loss, and drawing the bridle after him.

Sometimes he would purchase a pennyworth of shrimps, and put them in his waistcoat pocket among tobacco, worms, gentles for fishing, and other "unconsidered trifles;" these he often carried about him till the smell became so offensive as to make his presence almost insufferable. With all these peculiarities he was a man of some classical learning, and a deep metaphysician, though generally considered a little crack-brained. Still Mr Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons, who lived at Embercourt, in the parish of Thames Ditton, was very fond of Mr Harvest's company, as was also his son and successor Lord Onslow; so much, that he had a bed there, and lived more at Embercourt than at his lodgings, which were at a baker's in the village.

On one occasion, having accompanied my lord to Calais, they took a walk on the ramparts, when, musing on some geometrical problem, he was left behind, unperceived by the company. Mr Harvest could not speak a word of French, but recollecting fortunately that my lord was staying at the Silver Lion, he put a shilling in his mouth, and placed himself

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in the attitude of a lion rampant. After creating considerable wonder, he was at last led back to the inn by a soldier, under the idea that he was a madman escaped from his keepers.

Such was his absence and distraction, that he frequently used to forget the prayer days, and would walk into the church with his gun under his arm, to see what could have assembled the people there. In company he never passed the bottle round, but so long as it stood opposite him, continued filling his glass, which he often emptied half a dozen times, without thinking what he was doing. The family had a private mode of warning him when he was going wrong, or about to commit any impropriety. This was by crying col. col., which meant fellow of a college, those inaccuracies in behaviour having been, by Lady Onslow, called behaving like a mere scholar, or fellow of a college.

One day Mr Harvest, being in a punt on the Thames with Mr Onslow, began to read a beautiful passage in some Greek author, and throwing himself back in an ecstasy, fell into the water, whence he was with difficulty fished out. When Lord Sandwich was canvassing for the vice-chancellorship of Cambridge, Mr Harvest, who had been his school-fellow at Eton, went down to give him his vote. One day at dinner, Lord Sandwich jesting with Harvest on their school-boy tricks, the parson suddenly exclaimed, "A propos, whence do you derive your nickname of Jemmy Twitcher ?"-" Why," answered his lordship, "from some foolish fellow."-" No, no," replied Harvest, "it is not some, but everybody that calls you so ;" on which my lord, being near the pudding, put a large slice on the doctor's plate, who instantly seizing it, stopped his own mouth. The doctor was a great lover of pudding as well as argument. Once at a visitation, the archdeacon was talking very pathetically on the transitory things of this life, among which he enumerated many particulars, such as health, beauty, riches, and power. The doctor, who listened with great attention, at last turning round to help himself to a slice of pudding,