If any cumstances, found as a Devidend due to the King, that Part of the Custard which remain'd uneaten. one desires to be farther inform'd in this Matter, let them consult the Records of that Ancient Burrough, or that Living Oracle the Recorder thereof. Of whom, I'm sure, you ne'er had heard 4 II. The adjacent Burrough call'd him Shuff; Since the same Thing which made him Dye, III. He Custard on a Wager eate, IV. Innocent Meat did fatal prove, Eate ready without Knife; Down on the Ground he groveling fell, V. But as he saw the Enemy 1 C. Mutius Scævola (Livy, lib. ii.), the Roman who, with the approbation of the Senate, crossed the Tiber to assassinate the invading "Lars Porsena of Clusium," whom Macaulay's Lays have made more widely known. Mutius having by mistake killed Porsena's secretary, was seized and interrogated concerning his associates. To prove his indifference to bodily suffering, he thrust his right hand into the flame and burnt it, but was rewarded by having his forfeited life given to him, by his intended victim. [In White-letter. Printer's name cut off, or absent. Date of event and publication, certainly not later than 1684. Two woodcuts, already reproduced. The contemporary representation of a Coroner's Inquest is curious and interesting. The free-handling in design and engraving, of both pictures, have been exactly preserved, and show superior workmanship: probably from a chap-book.] 1 We suppose Serini to have been a contemporary Jack-Pudding, and fireeater, who swallowed more Custards than, alas! poor Shuff, A Panegyric upon the ensuing Spring. LESS "Ma mie, ô vous que j'adore, Mais qui vous plaignez toujours Trop de part à mes amours! Si la politique ennuie. Même en frondant les abus, Je n'en parlerai plus." Béranger: Plus de Politique, 1815. ESS important than our previous Election-Ballads, the following deserves to be reprinted, although a little displaced. It alludes to Shaftesbury and to Luxembourg.' Horace Walpole gathered together many curious broadsides connected with the Popish Plot (some being copper-plate illustrations), and the Parliamentary Elections. Among the latter is a "Worcestershire Ballad," which we reprint in our Appendix, and "The Devonshire Ballad" (not the one mentioned on our p. 840), of which we add the chief verses. Another is a poem entitled "Iter Oxoniense: or the Going down of the Asses to Oxenford," relating to the final Parliament of Charles II. It begins, Since Muddiman the gainful Trade laid down These three are in the Strawberry-Hill Collection of Broadsides on the Popish Plot, fol. 6, 5, and 18. Our "Sale of Esau's Birthright" is in it, fol. 22. 1 Francis Henri de Montmorenci, Duke de Luxembourg; one of Louis XIV.'s brave Marshals, who often defeated the Dutch in 1672, in 1674, and 1675. He was opposed to William of Orange, gained the battle of Fleurus, in 1690; Nerwinden, and Landen, in 1693 (see our p. 179). He died in January, 1691. The allusion in our text is to his supposed connexion with the "Slow-Poisoners of France, after the establishment of the Chambre Ardente. Lavoisin and Lavigoreux. poison-selling women, were executed at the Place de Grève, Feb. 22, 1679-80. Lavoisin had kept a list of persons who visited her, chiefly to purchase poison. When this paper was examined, the name of the Marshal de Luxembourg was found written thereon. He was a successful man of gallantry, although deformed and far from handsome. He had many enemies, and they asserted the worst they could imagine. Nothing was proved against him, except that he had visited the woman, but he voluntarily surrendered himself at the Bastile on the first rumoured suspicion. Popular clamour was strong, and Louvois was malignantly jealous of him. It was asserted that he had sold himself to the devil, poisoned a girl named Dupin, etc. He remained imprisoned in a cell less than seven feet long, and his trial lasted fourteen months, being frequently interrupted. He was discharged, without judgment having been pronounced. He had retained his command, and did good service to the end. William III., frequently defeated by him, splenetically called him a hunchback. Luxembourg replied, "What does he know of my back? He never saw it." H! Heavenly Calm, thou meritest praise, May I hope a longer space, "Twixt Thunder Clashing.1 The City too is now becalm'd, Their Threats are unto Mourning turn'd, This Disappointment makes them Itch, Their Limbs are crampt with the old Stitch, Like Dogs in Strings, they Snarl and Twitch, The Doctor's busie now at work, With his new Knights o' th' Post' i' th' dark, As Noah with all the World in's Ark, He's Catechizing. 16 20 1 In the original broadside, each half-verse of four lines is numbered separately, 1, 2, 3, &c., as though it were a full verse. 2 See p. 768, and note 3 on p. 406. BAGFORD. 3 L |