When Friday night came, and the guards that were sent from the Lords, then at Guildhall, were within two hours march of Feversham, the rage of the seamen increased, because the Earl of Feversham was with them, and some other lords they disliked; they swore no guards should come in there, and so ran all to arms. Upon sight of which, the gentlemen were forced to despatch expresses to stop the guards, and pray them to lodge at Sittingbourne; for doubtless, if the guards had come that night into the town, there had been bloody work; for, by what I heard and saw, I verily believe the seamen would have resisted them. At length Saturday morning came, when the King was guarded out by the seamen and gentlemen, and so received near Sittingbourne by those that were sent for him.

Customs of Various
Countries.

SINGULAR AFRICAN CUSTOMS.

At Loango, a country on the west coast of Africa, when a person dies, they place the corpse in a kind of amphitheatre, raised about six feet from the ground, and in a sitting posture, with the hands resting on the knees. They dress him in his best garments, and then kindle fires all round the body. In proportion as the clothes absorb the moisture, they cover him with fresh garments, till the body is perfectly dry, after which they bury him in great pomp.

In the province of Malimba the wife ennobles the husband. When the king dies, and leaves only a single daughter, if she has arrived at the age of puberty, she becomes absolute mistress of the king dom. She begins her reign by making a tour round her dominions. In all the towns and villages through which she passes, the whole of the men are obliged to appear before her immediately upon her arrival; and she chooses the man whom she fancies most to pass the night with her. At her return from her journey

she sends for the man who has been so

fortunate as to please her, and instantly marries him. After marriage, her power terminates, and devolves entirely on her husband.

Anecdotiana.

CARDINAL RICHELIEU

J.W.B.

Procured a pension of 2000 livres to M. Vaugelas, who was employed on the Dictionary of the Academy. Vaugelas going to see him, the Cardinal said, "Well, Sir, you will not at least forget

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.

Bob Mitchell, one of Sheridan's intimate friends, and once in great prosperity, became like a great many other people -Sheridan's creditor-in fact, Sheridan owed Bob nearly three thousand pounds. This circumstance, amongst others, contributed so very much to reduce Bob's finances, that he was driven to great straits, and, in the course of his uncomfortable wanderings, he called upon Sheridan; the conversation turned upon his financial difficulties, but not upon the principal cause of them, which was Sheridan's debt; but which, of course, as an able tactician, he contrived to keep out of the discussion. At last, Bob, in a sort of agony, exclaimed,"I have not a guinea left, and, by Heaven! I don't know where to get one. Sheridan jumped up, and thrusting a piece of gold into his hand, exclaimed, with tears in his eyes," It never shall be said that Bob Mitchell wanted a guinea, while his friend Sheridan had one to give him." Sharpe's Lon. Mag.

LORD MANNERS.

When Lord Manners was Chancellor of

Ireland, he had a very boisterous passage crossing to Dublin, and was dreadfully sick. His lordship mentioned the fact to Lord Norbury; "Sick as you were, my Lord," said the judge, "I'll be sworn

you did not throw up the seals." Ib.

LOVE.

Love is a fascination with some one

striking excellence or indescribable grace, that supplies all other deficiencies, and fills the whole soul with a certain rapture. Hence the desire we have to find our passion unequivocally returned; for, as from its very nature, every thing connected with the beloved object is steeped in a sense of delight, and her every thought and feeling is supposed to be of the most exquisite 'kind, to be well thought of by her is necessarily to occupy the highest place in our own esteem: to be excluded from her favour and countenance, is to be turned out of Paradise. Old Mon. Mag.

Irish village of Ballyshannon. My father was an itinerant vender of books-my mother a washer-woman, and granddaughter of the never-to-be-forgotten Jonathan Wild, whose nearest relations, after the sad catastrophe that befell that great but eccentric genius,* resolved to fly an ungrateful country, and civilize the more congenial provinces of Ireland. With this view they came over, to the number of five, to Ballyshannon, from which place one, by means any thing but miraculous, was speedily transferred to Botany Bay; another died of a broken heart in the county jail; a third fell a victim to a severe cold, caught, while gazing at one of the prettiest prospects in all Ireland, from a damp pillory; a fourth

got his head accurately divided into two distinct departments, by his dearest and best friend, at a wedding; while the fifth, a lady of infinite whim and vivacity, espoused my father, the respected merchant above-mentioned. Of this last individual I must here pause, and say a few

words. He was a wild, rambling character, full of fun, frolic, and whisky; en dowed with principles that sat gracefully, and easily upon him, like an old coat; and of so restless a temperament, that, except when in the stocks-an accident to which the most unexceptionable moralist is at times liable-he was never known to remain more than three days in the same place. From this father I inherit all that is sound in my moral, and talented in my intellectual character. He it was who, first induced me to read, imbued me with a love of enterprise and petty larceny, taught me to "cast off the shackles thrown around the mind" (so the venerable old gentleman used to express himself) " by priestcraft and despotism," to consider man and woman as the lawful victims of my superior address, and to peruse attentively, and with a view to their practical application, the independent sallies of Tom Paine. I should mention, perhaps, that this highly-accomplished parent was one of that numerous horde of Irishmen who, during the Rebellion of '98, distinguished themselves by their impartial robberies of Orangeman and Papist. In

consequence of his exertions on this occasion, strengthened, no doubt, by the fact of a Protestant officer's purse being found in his waistcoat-pocket, my father, together with twelve others of the same stamp, was discovered, early one fine November morning, swinging from the lamp-post of the bridge at Wexford; a mishap which my mother took so grievously to heart, that she was seen, a few days afterwards, stretched lifeless on her husband's grave. Whisky and strong affection had been too much for her: she was always delicate and sensitive.

By this calamity I was left with nothing but an accommodating conscience, and ten remarkably agile fingers, to rely on for support. Luckily, there dwelt in Wexford a certain rosy linen-draper, good-natured but prosing, like his own ledger, who, seeing what he was pleased to call my hazardous condition, took me into his service, where I had the happiness of cleaning boots, running errands, waiting at dinner, and committing much extra mischief on my own private account. But this servitude was of short duration; for my employer, fancying that he discovered in me evidences of superior genius, dispatched me to a grammar-school in the neighbourhood, where I soon distinguished myself by a zeal for learning perfectly miraculous, insomuch as I had got my grandfather's memoirs and the Forty Thieves by heart, and had often wept over the sufferings of the heroes and heroines of the Newgate Calendar-a captivating miscellany, which made a deep impression on my youthful mind.

This

After remaining two years at school, I was expelled, in company with a lad named O'Connell, for attaching two squibs to my master's Sunday coat. This was the alleged reason for my expulsion; but the real one was my refusal to become a proselyte to Catholicism. The head usher -a fat man with a short neck, and the thickest part of whose face was downwards, like a bee-hive - was always urging me on this point; and I should probably have become a convert to his opinions, and thereby-I shudder while I think of it!-have forfeited my hopes of eternal happiness, had I not caught him one night on his knees before a saint, who though, like Cecilia, of the feminine gender, had more of the Magdalen than the Vestal in her character, and who honoured my recognition of her by a blow which marred my beauty for a month, and my two front teeth for ever. chastening made me fly to the master for protection, but receiving no satisfactory reply, I resolved at once on quitting the academy. With this view I proceeded to pack up my wardrobe in a red cotton pocket-handkerchief, took an affectionate leave of my companions, and, after duly abstracting the head usher's pocket-book and snuff-box, as a pleasing memento of my school-boy days, set out, with O'Connel, for my patron's house at Wexford. To this beneficent old gentleman I gave the real version of my case; but, nevertheless, anticipating that it might be misconstrued, I resolved to make the most of what little time I had yet left, so acquainted myself forth with with the contents of his till; after which I wrote him a Kind but spirited note, wherein I assured him that my mind soared far above the idea of dependence; and that, in future, I should look upon myself as my own master. It is with regret I state that this notification was unavailing. Towards the evening of the day on which I had written it, as O'Connell and myself were pursuing our road to Dublin, we were overtaken by a sheriff's officer, who, arresting me at the linen-draper's suit, compelled me to accompany him back to Wexford. It will hardly be believed, that, for this harmless frolic, I was tied to a cart's tail,

flogged through the market-place, rubbed down with vinegar, and then set in the stocks to dry. Scandalous perversion of justice! Is not genius, whatever shape or character it may assume, still one and the same divine, inestimable faculty? Is not - But enough: I resume the indignant history of my wrongs.

On quitting Wexford, which I did the moment I had adjusted my inexpressibles, I started off for Dublin, where I again came in contact with O'Connell. My independence, at this period, was unquestionable. I had neither money, friends, nor prospects to encumber ine; so was compelled, in self-defence, to commence business as a pocket-operative. It was at the Crow-street Theatre that I made my first appearance as a performer in this line. The house, I remember, was crowded; and, as good luck would have it, I chanced to find myself standing next a wheezing old gentleman, in a pepper and salt spencer, to whom I imparted my suspicions of there being thieves in the house, and hastened to prove the fact by decamping with his watch and seals. This promising specimen of ingenuity raised me so highly in the opinion of O'Connell himself a genius of no slight consideration - that we agreed for the future to divide our profits. But there is a restlessness in human nature that knows not where to stop. Scarcely had I attained celebrity by the felonious capabilities of my fingers, when my mind, born for higher objects, began to languish for pre-eminence in burglary. On sounding O'Connell on the subject, he readily agreed to join me in an affair which had for some days engaged my undivided attention. Our plan was soon arranged; we agreed to meet at ten o'clock on a particular night at the Duck and Coach-Horse, and thence to set forward towards Rutlandstreet, where I had previously ascertained that a rich merchant resided, who, having been lately married, had just purchased a handsome service of plate, which I myself had seen carried home that morning from the silversmith's. I selected this gentleman's for my debut, because I rightly conceived, that, from the circumstance of his honey-moon being still young, he would have quite enough business on his hands, without troubling himself to look after a few comparatively unimportant articles of plate. Punctual to the moment, we proceeded to effect a lodgment in his kitchen; but, unluckily, while we were ascending towards the drawingroom, a stout scullery-girl, who, unperceived, had witnessed our operations, assaulted us both with her fistsín so cowardly and unprovoked a manner, that we were