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had come to no purpose, and the lesson, as he flattered himself, was graven deep in their minds, then) but not till then, though his hair had long grown grey, he threw off the mask and gave up all he had, to annihilate at a blow his great and cruel adversaries, those taxes which, when excessive, break the hearts of the people; a glorious achievement for an individual, though a bloodless one, and such as only can be conceived possible in a small community like theirs.

Alas, how little did he know of human nature! How little had he reflected on the ruling passion of his countrymen, so injurious to others and at length so fatal to themselves! Almost instantly they grew arrogant and quarrelsome; almost instantly they were in arms again; and, before the statue was up that had been voted to his memory, every tax, if we may believe the historian, was laid on as before, to awaken vain regrets and wise resolutions.

With the above selection we take leave of this unique performance, which, in our estimation, is worthy of the best place in the first library in the kingdom,

Tales of other Days, by J. Y. A.; with Illustrations by George Cruik shank. Effingham Wilson.

As these tales made their bow to the public in our pages, it behoves us to be silent on their merits; although we feel convinced that the most partial critic would acquit us of egotism if we were to bestow upon them the warmest approval. We have a fact to make known, and we should be wanting in justice to our talented young contributor if we did not now mention it; which is, that the numbers of our work wherein this collection first appeared have been and are still so anxiously sought for, that we have been compelled to reprint them over and over again; a circumstance that speaks volumes in their praise. We believe and it seems pretty generally the opinion of our contemporaries, that they are correct and vivid pictures of society and manners in the dark ages, both abroad and at home.

The illustrations of the Tales of other Days are worthy of them, and of the reputation of that adroit penciller George Cruikshank, and though we cannot estimate all the present designs before those which accompanied the narratives in our pages, we, nevertheless, think most highly of the engravings, they are admirably conceived and in

execution not a jot behind the spirit and chasteness of the design. In fact there are but few volumes produced with so much attention to neatness and elegance; and not many so admirably suited for a Christmas Present.

ROYAL PORTRAITS.-No. 6. (For the Olio.)

JOHN.

If we may credit the accounts of our chief historians, this king was one of the most despicable tyrants that ever filled a throne; for, unlike many celebrated despots, he added to his other bad qualities those of meanness and cowardice. It would be a task of great difficulty to describe the state of this kingdom whilst under his sway. Craft, fraud, and impiety, flourished like rank weeds around his throne, and spread over a land that might, under another king, have been powerful and happy. That John had few qualities that could recommend him either as a man or a monarch, is evident, for not an act of generosity is recorded of him; on the contrary, many heinous crimes are laid to his charge. It should not, however, be forgotten that the historians of that time were of that party which held him in abhorrence. His impiety and profligacy rendered him odious to the clergy, who have handed him down to posterity as a monster of crime-a hollow faithless friend, an unnatural brother and the murderer of his nephew Arthur. With respect to the death of this prince, it should be said that nothing positively is known, and at this distance of time the whole affair must necessarily be wrapt in impenetrable mystery. Speculation has been as busy upon this event as upon the death of the king himself. An absurd story is told of John being poisoned by a monk, who brought him a cup of wine into which he had put the venom of a toad; but it is quite clear that his death was occasioned by grief and vexation, added to the fatigue of a long and tiresome march in a time of distraction and danger. Baker says, that when the physician opened his body, he found no signs of poison.* Caxton appears

I have a copy of Baker's Chronicle, and against this passage there is written in the margin, in the hand-writing of the seventeenth century, the following note-"Query, whether be knew all the signes of poison; for it is probable yt but few signes of poison did appeare, he dying in a shorte time.

I heard Mr. Thomas Forthe, our lecturer here at Chesterfield, say that he having occasion to ride that way,

to have been the first who laid hold of the tradition that he was poisoned.

Of this king's ingratitude and base ness history has not been silent; of his impiety many extraordinary anecdotes are given, from among which I select the following as the most conspicuous.

Shortly after his being reconciled to the Pope, some troops of his were defeated in France, upon which he was heard to exclaim, that "nothing had prospered with him since he had made his peace with God and the Pope." We are told that in the midst of his trouble he sent over two knights as ambassadors to the Emperor of Morocco, offering him his kingdom if he would come and assist him against his enemies; and promising, moreover, to embrace the Mahomedan religion, if fortune should declare in his favour. Yet, nevertheless, he was one of the three kings who bore the coffin of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln, a celebrated prelate of that time, whom he had repeatedly visited whilst lying sick. He founded many religious houses, among which were those at Winchester, Farringdon, Hales Owen, and the New Forest.

His figure was of the middle size, and somewhat corpulent; his countenance stern and forbidding. A very faithful old Chronicler, who appears to have considered his character attentively, thus sums it up. "He won more of his enemies by surprizes than by battles, which shews he had more of lightning in him than thunder. He was never so true of his word as when he threatened, because he meant always as cruelly as he spake, not always as graciously. He was neither fit for prosperity nor adversity; for prosperity made him insolent, and adversity dejected. He neither came to the crown by justice, nor held it with honour, nor left it in peace."

He died on the 19th of October in the year 1216, and his body, wrapped in a monk's habit, was interred under the went to see ye place where this abbey stood, and met with an ancient gentleman who tould him he knew, when he was a boy, an old man

who had been barber to ye last abbot, and was wont to take him with him, and tell him stories of the abbey, and he said this barber had shown the place where ye monk took up the toad by a pond side close by the house, and showed him the room where it was reported yt he mixed the poison of the toad with the wine which was a low room within the gate, (for the King alighted not off his horse) and into which, after

the King had drunk, he returned and died."

Matthew Paris tells us that this prelate, who left behind him many excellent works, was famous for the miracles wrought during his lifetime, and after his death. He was a man of great learning and piety.

high altar in the church of Worcester. In this king's reign the common council of the city of London was first ordained; he also gave to the citizens the privilege ofelecting a mayor and sheriffs annually, offices which had heretofore continued for life. ALPHA.

The Note Book.

HEDGE PRIESTS.

It is curious to observe, that in every state of society, some sort of ghostly consolation is provided for the members of the community, though assembled for purposes diametrically opposite to religion. A gang of beggars have their Patrico, and the banditti of the Apennines have among them persons acting as monks and priests, by whom they are confessed, and who perform mass before them. Unquestionably, such reverend persons, in such a society, must accommodate their manners and their morals to the community in which they live; and if they can occasionally obtain a degree of reverence for their supposed spiritual gifts, are, on most occasions, loaded with unmerciful ridicule, as possessing a character inconsistent with all around them.

Hence the fighting parson in the old play of Sir John Oldcastle, and the famous friar of Robin Hood's band. Nor were such characters ideal. There exists a monition of the Bishop of Durham against irregular churchmen of this class, who associated themselves with Border robbers, and desecrated the holiest offices of the priestly function, by celebrating them for the benefit of thieves, robbers, and murderers, amongst ruins, and in caverns of the earth, without regard to canonical form, and with torn and dirty attire, and maimed rites, altogether improper for the occasion.

Scott's Notes to Ivanhoe.

NEWSPAPER IMPROVEMENT.

A paragraph in a Scottish newspaper, in some fierce controversy about roasting coffee, gives a capital conception for the improvement of newspapers :

"Let a boiler be well filled with a due proportion of high pressure puffs, poems, paragraphs, parliamentary speeches, politics, intrigues, despatches, deaths, births, marriages, disasters at sea, &c.; these being well stirred together, after the manner of the witches in Macbeth, as soon as the steam is up, a cran is turned with much dexterity and ingenuity on a pipe like the waterconductor of a fire-engine, when, squirt,

out flies high-pressure type by the thousand yards, which, being skilfully directed first against one sheet, then against another, a whole publication comes spouting to light in no time."

POWERS OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.

On the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, we are told as many as ten engines were entered for the run. Five, however, only started, and in the course of the trial the contest was limited to three. The premium was awarded to the engine called the Rocket, belonging to Mr. Stephenson, the son of the engineer of the rail-road; but it was more on account of its performance being in conformity with the technical conditions of the trial, than for any superiority of principle or execution, that the prize was granted to its owner. As far as we can form an opinion on the subject, the "Novelty" engine of Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericson was the most admirable performer of the whole. The weight of this engine, fully equipped, was three tons, ten hundred and ninety pounds. The Rocket weighed five tons, sixteen hundred weight; and the Sans Pareil six tons, one hundred weight: The cost of fuel per mile, was: the Sans Pareil twopence, Rocket threepence, Novelty one farthing. The rate of speed was as follows:

Sans Pareil
Rocket
Novelty

With a load equivalent
to 3 times the weight
of the engine.

Anecdotiana.

FRANCESCO SFORSA.

His father, when at work in the field, was accosted by some soldiers, and asked if he would enlist. "Let me throw my mattock on that oak," he replied, "and, if it remains there, I will." It remained there; and the peasant, regarding it as a sign, enlisted. He became soldier, general, prince; and his grandson, in the palace at Milan, said to Paulus Jovius," You behold these guards and this grandeur. I owe everything to the branch of an oak, the branch that held my grandfather's mattock."

ECCENTRIC CHARITY.

More notoriety has been given, (says Galt, in his Life of Byron,) to an instance of lavish liberality of his Lordship at Venice, than the case deserved, though it was unquestionably prompted by a charitable impulse. The house of a shoemaker, near his Lordship's residence, in St. Samuel, was burnt to the ground, with all it contained, by which the proprietor was reduced to indigence. Byron not only caused a new but a superior house to be erected, and also presented the sufferer with a sum of money equal in value to the whole of his stock in trade and furniture. I should endanger my reputation for impartiality if I did not, as a fair set-off to this, also mention that it carriage & is said he bought, for five hundred crowns, a baker's wife. There might be charity in this, too.

With a

passengers

12) per hour

12/
201

21
82

It will be seen that the powers of the Novelty engine are quite marvellous, inasmuch as what we should have formerly called the principle of power of draught being in the rates of weight, is literally reversed in this instance, the Novelty being capable of drawing a burthen equal to that which could be drawn by a competitor twice its weight. It is, therefore, the best example of the triumph of that grand improvement in the employment of steam power, which will make our day one of the most remarkable in the remarkable history of the steam engine.

Monthly Rev.

On Friday evening, the 1st instant, between 10 and 11, P. M. the very unusual phenomenon of a lunar rainbow was visible for about twenty minutes; it formed a very beautiful pale arch, and gradually faded away.

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Diary and Chronology.

Tuesday, October 5.

Sun rises 19m after 6—sets 40m after 5.

October 5, 1821.-Expired at Shiraz, T. 35, J. Claudius Rich, late resident of the East India Company at Bagdad, to which office he was raised before be had completed his seventeenth year, in consequence of his uncommon literary attainments and great merit. moirs of Ancient Babylon display great historical erudition,

Wednesday, October 6.

High Water 41m after 4 Morn-4m after 5 Aftern.

His Me

October 6, 1644.-On this day, during the Civil-war, (it being Sunday) there happened a dreadful fire in Oxford; It began in a small house on the south side of Thames Street, leading from the North Gate to the High Bridge. It was occasioned by a foot-soldier's roasting a pig which he had stolen, and destroyed many houses.

Thursday, October 7.

St. Osith, Virgin, 870.—Sun rises 23m after 6-sets 36m after 5.

October 7, 1571.-Te-day was fought the great naval battle of Lepanto, between the Venetlans and Turks at Lepanto, in Livacia, Turkey in Europe; when the latter were utterly defeated with the loss of 30,000 men. The former were commanded by Don John of Austria, one of the greatest captains of the age. He was the illegitimate son of the Emperor Charles V., and was born at Ratisbon In 1547. He was made Governor of the Low Countries in 1517; and, after gaining many battles, and taking several towns, he died in his tent near Namur, in 1578.

Friday, October 8.

St. Keyne, Virgin.—Moon's last Quarter, 32m after 10 Aftern

Our saint was daughter to Braghan, Prince of Sonth Wales, who left his name to Brecknockshire. The inhabitants of South Wales called her by distinction The Virgin. She dwelt continually in an obscure wood in Somersetshire, where, according to tradition, she turned many serpents into stones, still to be found in a very odd serpentine shape in that country. October 8, 1744.-Lost on this day, in the Race of Alderney, a straft between that island and the French coast, Admiral Balchen, in the Victory, man-of-war, of 110 guns, and 1100 men. The king settled £500 per annum on the admiral's widow. Dr. Young, In his Night Thoughts, alludes to the unhappy loss of this brave officer in the following lines:

Ocean! thou dreadful and tumultuous home

Of dangers, at eternal war with man!
Death's capital, where most he domineers,
With all bis chosen terrors frowning round,
And lately feasted high on Albion's coast.

Night 8th, Line 170.

Nearly on the same spot that proved fatal to the gallant admiral, was drowned the son of Henry the First, with above a hundred and forty young noblemen of the principal families in England and Normandy. The king, on hearing of the calamity, fainted away, and never was ween to smile from that moment to the day of his death.

Saturday, October 9.

St. Gaislan, Abboi, 6×1.-High Water 14m after 7 Morn-45m after 1 After. October 9, 1826.-Died at Margate, Michael Kelly, the vocalist and composer. Mr. Kelly was for many years the musical director and first singer at Drury Lane Theatre; he composed the music to nearly seventy dramatic pieces, besides Italian and English songs, duetts, trios, &c., many of which are still favourites with the musical world.

Sunday, October 10.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Lessons for the Day-20 chapter Ezekiel, morn-24 chapter Ezekiel, Even.

St. Francis Borgia, Confessor, 1379.

October 10, 1791.-Expired the accomplished German lyric poet, C. F. D. Schubart. This author, who excelled in every branch of study, by an imprudent course of life, ruined his fortunes. He was alternately a private tutor, an organist, a lecturer, a newspaper writer, and sometimes nothing at all, his unsettled habits seldom letting him follow any capacity for a long time together. His rashness made him many enemies, among which were the clergy, who at last accomplished his ruin. Banished from Augsburg, he fled to Ulm, where for raising a false report of the Empress Maria's death, he was sent by the Duke of Wirtemberg to the fortress of Asperg a prisoner, without any form of trial, for ten years, which period he languished out in extreme misery. At length, in the year 1797, he was set at liberty, and the Duke of Wirtemberg, whose arbitrary mandate had destroyed his health and peace of mind, made him poet to the theatre. Three years after his liberation he died. The most celebrated of his works are Die Deutsche Chronik, a political pamphlet, and his lyric poems.

Monday, October 11.

St. Gummaz, Confessor, A.D. 774.-High Water 43m aft 9 Morning-22m aft 10 Afternoon Oetober 11, 1705.-Anniversary of the death of Monsieur Amontous, a native of Normandy, and the reputed inventor of the telegraph, an instrument by which information may be almost instantaneously conveyed to a considerable distance. In modern times, the athlity of telegraphic signals was first suggested by the Marquis of Worcester, in his Century of Inventions, published in 1663, but was not practically carried into effect till the year 1793, when the French government, at the recommendatiou of Citizen Chappe, erected telegraphs in various parts of France. The Admiralty telegraph, the first of the kind in England, was erected in 1796.

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Ellustrated Article.

CHEROCKEE* :

AN AMERICAN TRADITION.

By John Galt, Esq.

AT the time when the French and English were striving for the ascendancy in North America, immense forests covered the bases of the Allegany mountains, stretching along the shores of Lake Champlain, far and wide. They were the resort of a fierce tribe of Indians, who took every opportunity of showing their just hate to the invaders of their country. One of these named Cherockee, was alike noted for the cunning with which he devised plots for the destruction of his enemies, and for the courage and cruelty with which he carried them into execution.

On the other side of these mountains was a small settlement of whites, which might be said to be an island in the woods, as it was surrounded for many

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leagues by forests impenetrable to all. but the Indians, who knew their hidden paths. There was, it is true, a track across the mountains frequented by the settlers, but it was impassable at certain seasons of the year, when the swamps were swollen by heavy rains in the autumn, and the snow by melting on the mountains in the spring.

On the evening of a sultry summer's day, Amidab Heckels and Noah Howard were seen immerging from the woods, upon the cleared lands of the settlement, beguiling their dreary way by light conversation.

"Those dark clouds," said Amidab, "which are gathering round the tops of the mountains, threaten us with a storm."

The person addressed was a tall and very powerful man, who carried on his shoulder a rifle, the usual weapon of the few who dared to travel the forest, then full of dangers, both from wild beasts and still more savage men.

"Yes," was the answer, uttered in a low and solemn tone, as if in unison with the gloomy and almost unearthly silence which reigned around.

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