the table-cloths were on the board all the day long, ready for strangers, travellers, friars, pilgrims; so it was I have heard my grandfather say, in his grandfather's time." Jacks are but of late invention: the poor boys did turn the spits, and licked the dripping for their pains.

"GOOD Mr. Rogers, a Welsh Boanerges, preaching in the mountains, said, Christ is heaven, if I worship God here, and do all to God and for God, without any hopes of reward upon the earth!-My dear brethren, the devil would never be troubled with such a wretch in hell; he would set all hell in an uproar. If a true Methodist was to go to hell, the devil would say, Turn that Methodist out, he is come to torment us.'"

GROANING boards were the wonder in London in 1682. An elm plank was exhi bited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman Tavern, in Drury Lane, the mantle-tree did the same so well that it was supposed to be part of the same elm-tree; and the dresser at the Queen's Arms Tavern, St. Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality,—which, therefore, cannot be very uncommon. See R. BURTON's Surprising Miracles, p. 186.

JOHN ANDREW, shoemaker in Maybole, sometime teacher of a private school there, and Robert Ramsay, cartwright, were tried at Ayr Circuit Court, upon this curious indictment:—That they did under the shew and pretence of a meeting for Masonry, some time in the year 1796, at Maybole, along with others, their associates, most of them from Ireland, form themselves into an illegal club or association, styling itself the Grand Assembly of Knights Templars ;— which club, under the pretence of initiating into the ceremonies of Masonry, did admit various persons as members, and did at said admission perform various ceremonies, partly with a view to vilify and undermine the

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established religion, and partly to represent the Government of the country as oppressive and tyrannical; and did with this view oblige those who were admitted to take and did administer to them an oath, binding them, among other things, " to conceal the secrets of the Order of Knights Templars, murder and treason not excepted,"oath of such import and tendency.

-or an

William Hamilton, mason, said he was a member of the Lodge at Maybole-Royal Arch, No. 264. When he was admitted a member, a pistol was fired, and some person called out-Put him to death. He was blindfolded at first, when brought into the room; and the covering being afterwards taken from his eyes, he was shown a stone jug in the corner of the room, and a bush in the jug, and a candle burning in it. He was told by the panel, Andrew, that it was the representation of God Almighty in the midst of the Burning Bush. Andrew was Master of the Lodge, and was reading the third chapter of Exodus. The witness was desired to put off his shoes, as it was holy ground he trod on: the covering was put down again on his face, and he was led under an arch; and after passing under the arch, he was desired to find the Book of the Law: it was taken up by some other person in the Lodge who was called High Priest, and who said he would explain it. The witness was desired to put money on the book, to pay for explaining it to him; the book he was told was the Bible. The passport for a Royal Arch Mason was,—I am that I am. After the above ceremonies, the witness being taken out of the room, had his coat taken off, and tied on his shoulders in a bundle, and was then brought in. A carpet with a rent in it was called the Veil of the Temple. He was led through it, and round the room. A sword was put

into his hand; and he was ordered to use it against all who opposed him as a Knight Templar. John Andrew read the fourth chapter of Exodus. The witness was desired to throw down the sword, and was told it was become a serpent; after which

he was desired to take it up again, and told it was again a rod. Andrew poured ale and porter on the floor, and called it blood. He was shown thirteen burning candles; one in the middle, he was told, represented Jesus Christ, the other the Twelve Apostles.

Andrew blew out one of the candles, which he called Judas, who betrayed his Master. One of them was dim, and was called Peter, who denied his Master. Something on a table, under a white cloth, being uncovered, was perceived to be a human skull, which the witness was desired to take up, and view it, and was told it was a real skull of a brother called Simon Magus. Porter was poured into the skull, which the witness was desired to drink; he did so, and it was handed round to the whole Knights. Andrew put the point of the sword into it, and then touched the witness's head with it, saying, I dub thee in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He took an oath to keep the secrets of the Knights Templars, murder and treason not excepted. The penalty for revealing was, that his body would be rented up like a fir-deal.

Quintin Stewart, taylor. He saw a thorn bush in a corner of the room, and a candle in the heart of it burning. Andrew said, "Go and deliver the children of Israel from their bondage, and the burden of their task masters." He was taken round their royal encampment in the middle of the room, and was then put into what they called a dark vault, in search of the Book of the Law; and a book was thrown down on the floor, and afterwards put into his hand. When they prepared him to be a Knight Templar, his coat was tied in a bundle on his back, and a staff put in his hand to travel through the sandy deserts. He past through the first and second veils of the temple. The skull, he was told, was the head of a brother who once tasted, heard, and smelled as we do now. The verdict was not guilty.

JERUSALEM Whalley, made his journey for a bet. Being asked where he was going, he answered in jest to Jerusalem; the com

pany offered to wager any sum that he did not go there, and he took bets to the amount of £15,000.

IN North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is not uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated saint, as Llan Elian in Anglesea, and Clynog in Caernarvonshire, and there to offer his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees in the church, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and misfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to come; in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled. Sometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of a church.

Is it true that there was till within the last century, retained within the precincts of the royal palace of Westminster a solemn officer, called the King's Cock-crower, whose duty during the whole season of Lent, was to crow the hour, instead of crying it, in order to remind sinners of the crowing of the cock, and its effect on St. Peter?

Courier, January 12, 1814. “THE largest twelfth cake in London, part of which will be presented gratis to every purchaser of a ticket or share at Martin's Fortunate office, No. 8, Cornhill."

Martin distributed 1,879 pounds of rich cake gratis, likewise saved the public £29,000 by his mode of doing business.

Ir a native of the Maldives die at sea, they wash the body with the usual ceremonies, put it in a coffin, and float the coffin upon three or four planks of Candon, a remarkably light and buoyant wood, and then send it adrift. Money is put in the coffin, and a writing declaring who and what the deceased had been, and requesting those among whom it may be thrown up, to inter it decently, and take the money to defray the cost.-Fran. Pyrard, p. 120.1

1 I have not the volume before

me, but no doubt the Discours du Voyage des François aux Indes Orientales is the authority.-J. W. W.

"EN France en général, le peuple est plus liseur. Le plus simple bourgeois y veut sa bibliothèque. Aussi dans Paris seulement tout libraire étoit-il sûr de vendre autant d'exemplaires de l'ouvrage le plus pitoyable, que l'on en vend à Londres pour toute l'Angleterre des ouvrages d'une bonté commune."-L'ABBE BARRUEL.

MR. MALCOLM commences his anecdotes of the manners and customs of London during the eighteenth century with a politicophysical, or physico-political history of English beauty!" There is something," he begins, "in the composition of the British atmosphere highly congenial to human and animal life: the clouded air and frequent humidity, and consequent coolness, prevent the violent perspirations the nations of finer climates experience; hence the fluids remain in full effect, and expand every part of the frame to its full proportion!" In their struggles against the Saxons and Danes, "the whole race of Englishmen became either hardened into almost supernatural exertion and strength, or were victims to those chronic diseases, which deform the body, and destroy the regularity of features: then the youth of each sex experienced privations incident to war, and the whole population must have suffered in the gracefulness of their persons." We want a beautifying, he supposes, till Edward III.'s time. "After that reign I should imagine," says he," their stature diminished, and their countenances assumed a less pleasing form.”" Under Henry VII. and VIII., uglier still; and under Mary, it is to be presumed ugliest of all. Then came Elizabeth, who "raised the people nearer to manhood." Under her auspicious reign, "the person was enlarged, and became more graceful; discontent fled from the features, and the Londoners, still nearer perfection, at last accomplished those two revolutions which have for ever banished despotism. See the consequences in the myriads of beautiful infants that smile on every side of him, with the regular and placid lines that mark their

faces, and the straight and truly proportioned limbs that distinguish vast numbers of all ranks of people of both sexes. We find thousands of males and females who appear to have been nursed by the graces, and as far surpass the celebrated statues of the Venus de Medicis and the Apollo Belvidere, as the works of the Creator ever will those of man. Those favoured with an opportunity of seeing the 30,000 volunteers assembled at Hyde Park in 1804, determined to fight for their homes, must agree with me that no nation ever produced an equal number together so finely proportioned and handsome."

LONDON Workhouses, &c. Of children born or received there under twelve months in 1763, only seven in the hundred lived two years.

GEORGE I. had a Turk called M. Mahomet for his valet-de-chambre.

Weekly Journal, March 30, 1717.

"THE thieves have got such a villainous way now of robbing gentlemen, that they cut holes through the backs of hackneycoaches, and take away their wigs, or fine head-dresses of gentlewomen. So a gentleman was served last Sunday in Tooley Street, and another but last Tuesday in Fenchurch Street; wherefore this may serve for a caution to gentlemen or gentlewomen that ride single in the night time, to sit on the fore seat, which will prevent that way of robbing."

THE Society for the Reformation of Manners in the year ending 1725, had instituted 91,899 prosecutions.

1729. STREET robbing so common, that "people, especially in an evening, choose rather to walk than ride in a coach, on account that they are in a readier posture to defend themselves, or call out for help if attacked. The hackney coachmen were so much injured by this, that 'whereas a figure

by the articles of accidents in the newspapers: the miserable shrieks of women and children not being sufficient to deter the villains from doing what they call their duty to their masters; for besides their daily or weekly wages, they have an extraordinary stated allowance for every chaise they can reverse, ditch, or bring by the road, as the term or phrase is."— Weekly Register, Dec. 8.

Ar the peace of 1713, the master of the Spread Eagle Inn, in Gracechurch Street, advertized shilling tickets for a peace pudding, nine feet in length, twenty inches broad, and six inches deep.

ABOUT 1716, "Sion Chapel at Hampstead being a private and pleasant place, many persons of the best fashion have been lately married there. Now, as a minister is obliged constantly to attend, this is to give notice, that all persons upon bringing a license, and who shall have their wedding dinners at the house in the gardens, may be married in the said chapel without giving any fee or reward; and such as do not keep their wedding at the gardens, only five shillings will be demanded of them for all fees."

IN George I.'s reign, a florist's feast at Bethnal Green, a carnation named after him was the king of the year. The stewards were drest with laurel and flowers, and carried gilded staves; and ninety cultivators followed in procession to the sound of music, each bearing his flowers.

1720. CLUBS of Bold Bucks and Hell Fires. These latter used to call for a Holy Ghost pie at the tavern. How came the Abbé Barruel to overlook them?

1717-18. JAMES AUSTIN, inventor of the Persian ink powder, invited his customers to a feast. There was a pudding promised, which was to be boiled fourteen days, instead of seven hours, and for which he allowed a chaldron of coals. It weighed 900 pounds. The copper for boiling it was