duce a very smooth hard surface. To conduct this business, Charles actually created the important and dignified office of Cockle-strewer. Charles, accompanied by his dogs, was constantly in this Park, either among his birds, playing at mall, or sauntering about the walks. On such occasions, the easy monarch was usually unattended, a circumstance that attracted the notice, and alarmed the fears of the House of Lords when the Popish plot exploded; an address having been voted in 1678, wherein they beseech his Majesty that all mean and unwarranted persons (who were forbidden entering the Park) should abstain from following him, and that all private doors might be walled up. It is not astonishing that "mean and unwarranted" persons should frequent this Park, because debtors here enjoyed freedom from arrests. In Fielding's "Amelia" we find the hero walking in security in the Mall, when he did not venture to parade his person elsewhere. In the comedies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, gentlemen who were at a loss to find a dinner, generally beguiled the time which the pleasure of eating would have employed, on a bench in St. James's Park. There they were frequently joined by others, who, though not hungering after food, had an insatiable appetite for news, or, in a word, were politicians. Bickerstaff here meets his acquaintance the upholsterer, who silently lets his own affairs run to ruin, that he may loudly proclaim the deep interest he takes in those of the King of Sweden. The once Republican, but now courtly muse of Waller, prompted him to celebrate the improvements made by his royal master. He declares, that though nothing can be found of Paradise, yet the description of it would very well apply to St. James's Park. And as to the canal, tis of more renoun To make a river, than to build a town." He then mentions the rows of trees planted by its side, and affirms that Amphion He afterwards tells us that Charles had ploy. No sooner has he touched the flying ball, Hugh Roberts having invented a draining machine, its utility was put to the test in 1735, when one of these was erected on piles in Rosamond's Pond, discharging thirty tons of water in a minute, and costing about 4001. The machine, however, it is to be presumed, was not then brought into much action, for the work proceeded but slowly, as appears don Chronicle" of July 10, 1770, which from an article in "The Lonstates that "the water is drawn out of the canal (for the purpose of cleaning,) in St. James's Park, and the workmen have begun to shorten it, and to fill up Rosamond's Pond. The trees in that part are to be cut down to form a spacious lawn before the Queen's palace, the wilderness to be destroyed, and the moat filled up." This Rosamond's Pond appears to have acquired great celebrity as a place for despairing lovers to end their woes in; before it was filled up the following was affixed by some wag to a neighbouring tree : "This is to give notice to all broken hearts, such as are unable to survive the loss of their lovers, and are come to a resolution to die, that an engineer from Flintshire having cruelly undertaken to disturb the waters of Roso. mond's Pond in this Park, gentlemen and ladies cannot be accommodated as formerly. And whereas certain daughters of Eve have been since tempted to make use of the Serpentine and other rivers, some whereof have met disappointment: this is therefore to certify all persons whatsoever labouring under the circumstances aforesaid, that the basin in the upper or Green Park is a most commodious piece of water, in admirable order, and of a depth sufficient "In better order could not make them stand," to answer the ends of all sizes and con He anticipates that the gallants will ditions. Wherefore all persons applying themselves thereto, will be sure to meet with satisfaction." The Park has been grievously encroached on from time to time. Part was enclosed as a garden to St. James's Palace. The Duke of St. Albans obtained permission to take a portion of the Green Park. Slices have been granted at various periods to different individuals: among others, Lord Spencer obtained the portion whereon his house now stands; a passage into the park, which, till then, existed in that spot, being thus blocked up. And, lastly, the "Spring Gardens" are now covered with houses, forming Spring Garden-terrace, New-street, &c. What these Spring Gardens were, may be collected from Monconys, who states that in 1663, Spring Gardens was much resorted to, having grass and sand walks, dividing squares of twenty or thirty yards, which were inclosed with hedges of gooseberries, raspberries, roses, beans, and asparagus, (then great rarities,) and the whole inclosed with a wall. These gardens were resorted to by the public during the Interregnum, as appears from the following order : "1647, March 3. Ordered, that the keeper of the Spring Gardens be hereby required and enjoined to admit no person to come into or walk in the Spring Gardens on the Lord's day, or any of the public fast days; or that any wine, beer, ale, cakes, or other things be sold, either upon the Lord's day, or upon public fast days." Although nearly the whole of what was the Spring Gardens is now built upon, yet the old custom of supplying certain refreshments continues to drag on a kind of existence near its an cient haunts; cakes and milk being there still supplied to nursery-maids and children. The present passage of Spring Gardens was granted to the parishioners of St. Martin's in the Fields in the year 1699, at the rent of 61. 8s. per annum. The lease expired in 1799, and was not renewed. Anterior to 1721, the east side of the Park, near Spring Gardens, was inclosed by a high brick wall, but in that year the inhabitants obtained permission to remove it, and substitute an iron railing. The old wooden sunk railing, which till within the last three or four years inclosed the green in the centre of St. James's Park, must have been placed there subsequently to 1731; a fact which is apparent from positive orders at that time issued, that no one should walk upon the grass. This fence was most probably made when Buckingham-house was bought for the Queen. At the North West corner of the parade stood a piece of ordnance, called "the gun," cast in 1638, and bearing the following inscription— "Carolus Edgari Sceptrum estabilivit aqua rum. which alludes to the Mare Clausum of Selden. The place of this gun is now supplied by a cannon, remarkable for its length and ornaments, cast by some Grand Seignor, and taken by Buonaparte when he invaded Egypt; but he was in turn deprived of this curious trophy by the British troops, when they rescued that portion of the Ottoman empire from the French grasp. To be continued. The Note Book. TURKISH CURER. Mr. Webster, in his amusing travels, we heard the followsays at Edfou, ing account of the bite of a serpent and voyage up the Nile, one of the crew the cure, from Mahmoud. In his last he ran howling to the boat, believing was bitten in the foot by a serpent, and that he must die. The remedy applied nish dollar upon the wound, and one was the following: They tied a Spaof the sailors stood over the patient for some time, repeating verses from the Koran. A cure somewhat similar who one day complained of his head was resorted to in the case of our reis, from exposure to the sun. One of the crew thrust his hand down the reis's back, and pulled and rubbed, as if he were drawing something up. Having done the same with the other hand, he kept a firm hold of the neck with both hands, seeming to have caught something. He then dragged one hand after the other cautiously round the head, till they met in the middle of the brow, he squeezed it, as if extracting a thorn. and, raising up the skin between them By this means the sun which had mischievously entered the body of the reis was caught, and turned out." and honourable generally speaking and therefore ought to be upheld by all men who esteem such qualities in national character. That cannot be done without professors of pugilism; and professors of pugilism can establish their claim to that title, only by fighting publicly in a ring. The ring, then, is essential to the existence of pugilism, as the national mode of deciding and extinguishing all quarrels among the people. In the ring, out of many hundred fights, one occasionally proves fatal-and the fatality, when it occurs, is a subject of regret-but of no great and wide lamentation, nor worthy of a general mourning or fast. times befalling in the ring-in fair fighting-and the cutting of a man's throat at midnight in his bed, by a burglarious murderer. The law, say they, in a late case, ought to take its course and Simon Byrne ought to be hanged! This is brutally wicked, and they who hold such language are not fit to live. Had they insults or injuries of their own to requite-how deadly would be their revenge! HIGH NOTIONS. an THE great fault of the present generation, is, that, in all ranks, the notions of self-importance are too high. This has arisen from causes not visible to many, but the consequences are felt by all, and that, too, with great severity. There has been a general sublimating going on for many years. Not to put the word Esquire before the name of almost any man who is not a mere labourer or artisan, is almost affront. Every merchant, every master manufacturer, every dealer, if at all rich, is an Esquire; squires' sons must be gentlemen, and squires' wives and daughters ladies. If this were all; if it were merely a ridiculous misapplication of words, the evil would not be great; but, unhappily, words lead to acts and produce things; and the young gentleman" is not easily to be moulded into a tradesman or a working farmer. And yet the world is too small to hold so many gentlemen and ladies. How many thousands of young men have, at this moment, cause to lament that they are not carpenters, or masons, or tailors, or shoemakers; and how many thousands of those, that they have been bred up to wish to disguise their honest and useful, and therefore honourable, calling! Rousseau observes, that men are happy, first, in proportion to their virtue, and next, in proportion to their independence; and that, of all mankind, the artisan, or craftsman, is the most independent; because he carries about, in his own hands and person, the means of gaining his livelihood; and that the more common the use of the articles on which he works, the more perfect his independence. Mr. Robert Howie- You speak, weel, sir, on all subjects. What mair? Mr. North-- Prize Fights are, notwithstanding, illegal. They cannot well be otherwise; but the Law has wisely winked at them-and some of the highest Judges in the Law have regarded them with no disfavour-but in the light of necessary and useful pastimes even, the support of Fair Play out of the Ring, and an encouragement given to all manliness in the settlement of quarrels and the satisfaction of insults. Such is the feeling of the vast majority of the educated classes in Eng land. On the other hand, many persons of much worth, and fine sensibilities, are shocked by what they have been taught, or have taught themselves, to think brutal, ferocious, and crueland confining their attention solely to the spectacle of bloody and bruised faces and figures, without any consideration of all the collateral circumstances, and all the consequences, results, and effects, look on all such exhibitions as a disgrace to a civilized age. They are ninnies, Bob. But being good sort of people enough in their own way, I content myself with merely saying that they know nothing of the character of Englishmen. Some people again, try all things by religion. Pugilism will not stand that test-nor indeed will any kind of warfare, either private or public-and if they must weep over Moulsey Hurst, they ought to die at the bare idea of Waterloo. But thousands and tens of thousands who brutally abuse Prize-Fighting, are themselves worse blackguards than any that ever entered a ring. Every word they utter against the ring is a lie-and they know it. No punishment is too much for such miscreants. They assert that they can see no difference between the accidental death some- or shut balconies, projecting into the Cobbett's Advice. -No. 13. Customs of Various Countries. SOCIETY AND MANNERS IN CAIRO. The houses at Cairo have windows, streets, which latter are often only five The dresses at Cairo, are not so various as at Constantinople. The Arab habit consists of a blue or white shirt, with red strap, or girth, wide sleeves, fastened up above the elbow by cords, which cross over the back; of a kind of under drawers which come down to the knees; and of a turban of four rolls of white muslin. The shoes are large and of red leather. There are two head market days a week, Monday and Friday. We passed on a market day through a court, where numbers of negro women were exposed for sale, sitting in the sun, almost naked. They were black, thick lipped, with plaited or matted hair, and seemed quite insensible to their condition. Anecdotiana. HUMBLE OCCUPATIONS OF NAPOLEON. Nowhere, says Bourriene, unless it were on the field of battle, have I seen Bonaparte more delighted, than in his gardens at Malmaison. During the early period of the Consulate, we retired thither every Saturday evening, staying Here the Consul made study give place over Sunday, and sometimes Monday. a little to walking, overseeing in person the improvements which he had ordered. At first he sometimes visited the environs, until the report of the police poisoned his native feelings of security, by insinuating fears of royalist partithe first four or five days, on getting zans lying in wait to carry him off. For breakfast, in calculating the income, possession, he amused himself, after the park, and the price of the vegetaomitting nothing, not even the care of bles. He found the whole amount to be 8000 francs (£333, 6s. 8d.) of rent. "This is not so bad," were his words, "but, to live here, one would require an income of 30,000," (£1250.) Î fell a-laughing heartily to see him seriously desires were not of long duration.— apply to this inquiry. These humble Constable's Miscellany, Vol. 57. ING THE TOP-SAIL TO THE BRITISH At the entrance of the ANTIQUITY OF FOREIGN VESSELS STRIKBazaar, there are chains placed across the street, to prevent asses from entering. The Bazaar itself is a perfect Babel, insufferably crowded. The salesman holds up the articles which he wishes to sell, as swords, pistols, pipes, cachmere shawls, jackets, trowsers, &c., and pushing his way through the crowd, bawls aloud the price at which he offers them. The merchants sit in the shops (which are a kind of stalls without windows) displaying their stock. Those who wish to purchase any thing, take a seat beside the merchant, which is the most convenient way of observing the noisy and conflicting tide perpetually moving on. The beggars are numerous, and very annoying. They seize hold of you, pull you, and stroke down your back with most abject importunity. Such revolting pictures of human misery are only to be met with in Egypt. Many are blind, and led about by others. Travels in Turkey. It is affirmed by all who are used to the seas, as an indisputable fact, that the law or custom of striking, hath been very usual to the English nation, and received for near 600 years, as may appear by the following record at Hastings in Sussex. It was decreed by King John, in the second year of his reign, with the assent of the peers: That if the governor or com mander of the king's navy, in his naval expedition, shall meet any ships whatsoever, by sea, either laden or empty, that shall refuse to strike their sails at the command of the king's governor, or admiral, or his lieutenant, but make resistance against them which belong to the fleet, that then they are to be reputed enemies; and that, though the masters or owners of the ships shall alledge afterwards, that the same ships and goods do belong to the friends and allies of our lord the king. But that the persons which shall be found in this kind of ships, are to be punished with imprisonment at discretion for their rebellion. Diary and Chronology. Wednesday, August 4. St. Dominic founder of the order of St. Dominic, AD. 1221.—Full Moon, Oh 57m After. August 4, 1347 -THE SURRENDER OF CALAIS to Edward III. took place to-day, after a long resistance. It was upon this memorable occasion that the hate of the fierce Edward was more overcome by the intreaties of his Queen (Phillippa), than by his own generosity; she prevented him punishing the noble Eustache de St. Pierre and five other of the best reputed citizens of Calais, for that Edelity which ought to have secured his warmest esteem. Thursday, August 5. St. Afra, &c. Martyrs, A.D. 304.—High Water 15m after 2 Morning–53m after 2 Aftern. August 4, 1503.-Died Sir Reginald Bray, a man distinguished for his bravery in the field, and for his skill in architecture, of which science he was a complete master: the existing testimonies of his great ability are Henry VIIIth's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, and St. George's Chapel Windsor; the former structure he has the credit of being the draughtsman of, and the latter he was concerned in finishing and perfecting. From these great performances in art, we turn to his feats in arms; passing over the fight in Bosworth Field, where he behaved valorously for Richard, we come to the battle of Blackbeath, where he was instrumental in taking prisoner the Lord Audley, who had joined the Cornish rebels, and in suppressing the rebellion; for which services he was rewarded by Henry VII. with the land of the traitorous nobleman. Sir Reginald received many other marks of the King's bounty and favour, which he died enjoying. By historians he is called "the father of his country, a sage and grave person, and a fervent lover of justice, and one who would often admonish the King when he did any thing contrary to justice or equity." Friday, August 6. Transfiguration of Our Lord. Sun rises 24m after 6-sets 33m after 7. The Greek Church instituted this festival about the year 700, but the Latin Church did not adopt it until 1456, when Pope Calixtus passed a decree for its general observance, to immortalize, as he alleged, the remembrance of the deliverance of Belgrade from the sword of the victorious Mahomet II., who had been compelled to raise the siege of that fortress. Both these churches still celebrate this memorable event with great solemnity; but the Protestants of England have discontinued the day as a feast of obligation ever since the Reformation. August 6, 1829.-Expired at his house at Rolveldan, at the advanced age of 98, John Henry, Admiral of the Red. Admiral Henry served in the American war under the late Earl Howe. He was also employed at the taking of the French West India Islands by the late Earl St Vincent. Saturday, August 7. High Water 36m after 3 Morn-56m after 3 Evening. August 7, 1820-Died Louis Bernard Etienne Vigee, brother of Madame Le Brun, the painter, author of several comedies in verse, and likewise of several pieces of fugitive poetry, in which he imitated Dorat. He was for some time editor of the Almanach des Muses. Sunday, August 8. NINTH SUNday after TRINITY. Lessons for the Day-18 chapter Kings, b. 1, morn—19 chapter Kings, b. 1, Even. t. Hormisdas, Martyr.-Sun rises 30m after 4-sets 29m after 7. August 8, 1758-Cherburg was taken, and its pier destroyed by the English this day, His Majesty's troops had effected a landing, under cover of the frigates and bomb ketches, in the Bay des Marees, two leagues westward of Cherburg, in the face of a large body of the enemy prepared to receive him; and, in the evening, Cherburg surrendered at discretion, the enemy having marched out and abandoned the place on the approach of his Majesty's troops. The next day lieutenant-general Bligh prepared to destroy the two piers and the basin at the entrance of the harbour. There were about twenty-seven ships in the harbour, and thirty pieces of brass cannon taken. Monday, August 9. St. Fedlemid, Bishop of Ireland, 6th Cent.-High Water 57m aft 4 Mor-18m aft 5 After August 9, 1179.-Expired at Tours, on his return from the Lateran Council held at Rome, Roger, Bishop of Worcester, son of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of Henry I. This prelate was called one of the lights of England by Pope Alexander III., by whom he was greatly esteemed. Henry II. despatched him to assure the Pope of his innocence with regard to the murder of Thomas a Becket. The bishop was of an undaunted spirit, for it is recorded that whilst he was celehrating mass at the high altar of St. Peter's Gloucester, one of the great towers fell down with a terrible crash, whilst be continued the service unmoved. He was remarkable for many virtues, and reverenced for his regular life and strict discipline. Tuesday, August 10. St. Deusdedit, Confessor.—un rises 33m after 4-sets 26m after 7. August 10, 1792 --The Swiss guards, who attended Louis XVIth, at Paris, were almost all butchered in a conflict with the people. The latter, having gained possession of the palace, burst in an immense crowd into the different apartments, and carried off the Queen's jewels, money, and important papers. Upon this occasion, about 3,000 persons lost their lives. With No. 141, of Saturday, July 31, was published a Supplemental Sheet. containing a Memoir of her Majesty QUEEN ADELAIDE, embellished by a finely executed PORTRAIT. |