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men, and the relation is thus given by Sir Roger Twisden, who had it from persons of undoubted credit, who were not only inhabitants of Leicester, but saw the murderers executed:-When King Richard III. marched into Leicestershire against Henry Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., he lay at the Blue Boar Inn, in the town of Leicester, where was left a large wooden bedstead, gilded in some places, which after his defeat and death in the battle of Bosworth, was left either through haste, or as a thing of little value, (the bedding being all taken from it,) to the people of the house; thenceforward this old bedstead, boarded at the bottom (as the manner was in those days), became a piece of standing furniture, and passed from tenant to tenant with the inn. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, this house was kept by one Mr. Clarke, who put a bed on this bedstead, which his wife was going to make hastily, and jumbling the bedstead, a piece of gold dropt out. This excited the woman's curiosity; she narrowly examined this antiquated piece of furniture, and finding it had a double bottom, took off the uppermost with a chisel, upon which she discovered the space between them filled with gold, part of it coined by Richard III., and the rest of it in earlier times. Mr. Clarke concealed this piece of good fortune, though by degrees the effects of it were made known, for he became rich from a low condition, and in the space of a few years Mayor of the town; and then the story of the bedstead came to be rumoured by the servant. At his death he left his estate to his wife, who still continued to keep the inn, though she was known to be very rich, which put some wicked persons upon engaging the maid servant to assist in robbing her. These folks, to the number of seven, lodged in her house, plundered it, and carried off some horse-loads of valuable things, and yet left a considerable quantity of valuables scattered about the floor. As for Mrs. Clarke herself, who was very fat, she endeavoured to cry out for help, upon which her maid thrust her fingers down her throat, and choaked her, for which she was burnt; the seven men who were her accomplices were hanged at Leicester some time in 1613.

FIDELITY AND MATERNAL ATTACHMENT.-A celebrated preacher, named Bucholz, who resided at Hasmark in Hungary, had occasion to go to the village of Eperies, distant about twenty

English miles from his own place of abode. He travelled on foot, and took with him a small terrier bitch, then in the last week of her pregnancy. After having been detained several days at Eperies by floods, he was compelled to return home without his dog, which in the mean time had brought forth a litter of five puppies. He had not been in the house an hour when to his surprise the bitch came in bearing a puppy in her mouth, which she carefully placed upon the mat where she ordinarily lay, and immediately rushed out of the house again on the road to Eperies. In the space of twenty-four hours, she went and returned four times more; on each occasion bringing home a puppy in her mouth. It is hardly necessary to state that the puppies were quite dead as the mother brought them into the house. As the poor creature laid the last puppy upon the mat, she could scarcely stand for weariness; she whined and trembled, looking pitifully upon her dead puppies; and after walking once or twice round the mat she laid herself down beside them, and died in a few minutes. In twenty-four hours the animal had run about 180 miles.

CHARACTER OF A GENTLEMAN.-A lawyer, at a circuit town, in Ireland, dropped a ten pound note under the table, while playing cards at the inn.― He did not discover his loss until he was going to bed, but then returned immediately. On reaching the room, he was met by the waiter, who said, "İ know what you want, sir, you have lost something." "Yes, I have lost a ten pound note." ." "Well, sir, I have found it, and here it is." "Thanks, my good lad, here's a sovereign for you." "No, sir, I want no reward for being honest;" but, looking at him with a knowing grin-"wasn't it lucky none of the gentlemen found it?"

How EGGS ARE BOILED.-Mr. Lightfoot Lee was exceedingly particular in boiling his eggs, which he was accustomed to say required more discretion than any other branch of the great art of cookery. The preparations for this critical affair were always made with due solemnity. First, Mr. Lee sat with his watch in his hand, and the parlourdoor, as well as all the other doors down to the kitchen, wide open. At the parlour-door stood Juba, his oldest, most confidential, servant. At the end of the hall leading to the kitchen, stood Pomp, the coachman; at the foot of the kitchen stairs stood Benjamin, the footman; and Dolly, the cook, was watching the

skillet. "It boils," cried Dolly: "It boils," said Benjamin: "It boils," said Pompey the great: and "It boils," echoed Juba, Prince of Numidia. "Put them in," said Mr. Lee: "Put them in," said Juba: "Put them in," said Pomp: and "Put them in," said Dolly: as she dropped the eggs into the skillet. Exactly a minute and a half afterwards, by his stop watch, Mr. Lee called out "Done;" and "Done" was repeated from mouth to mouth as before. The perfection of the whole process consisted in Dolly's whipping out the eggs in half a second from the last echo of the critical "Done."

GEORGE THE SECOND AND THE YOUNG PREtender. The young Pretender is said to have visited this country on more than one occasion, during this reign, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of public feeling in his favour. The king, it is related, one day asked Lord Holderness, then secretary of State, where the Pretender was?— "Upon my word, sire," was the reply, "I don't exactly know; I suppose in Italy; but I'll consult my last despatches."-"Poh, poh! man," said the king, "don't trouble yourself about despatches; I'll tell you where he is: he is now at No. in the Strand, and was last night at Lady -'s rout. What shall we do with him?" Lord Holderness proposed calling a council; but the king said, "No, no; we can manage the business without a council. Let him stay where he is at present; and when the poor man has amused himself with looking about London, he will go home again."

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ADULTERATED FLOUR.

When you

are about to try the quality of flour, proceed as follows:-Grasp a handful, give it a sharp squeeze, and set the lump on the table. If it holds together and preserves the form of the cavity of the hand, the flour is good; but if the lump soon falls down, the flour is adulterated. When the adulterant is ground bones, or plaster of Paris, the lump soon falls down immediately; but when whiting or pipe clay is present, the lump keeps its form a little longer. The presence of much bran is detected by the colour and feel of the flour; but in this case also the grasped specimen soon crumbles. Genuine flour retains the fine impressions of the grains of the skin much longer than any which is adulterated. Rub a little of the flour between the palms of your hands when

they are moist; if you find any resistance, the flour contains whiting.Moisten the fore-finger and thumb with a little sweet oil, and rub a small quantity of the flour between them. If the flour is pure, you may rub it for any length of time without its becoming sticky and adhesive; the flour in the meantime becomes nearly black. But if whiting be present, the flour will soon be worked up into the consistence of putty, which will retain the original white colour, or nearly so. Mix a little flour with water in a tumbler, then drop a little numatic acid into the water. If any chalk or whiting be présent, an effervescence will be produced by the discharge of carbonic acid gas.

THE ROMANCE of War. A French soldier who accompanied the armies of Russia, concealed a small treasure at the entrance of a village near Wilna, with the view of taking it with him on his return. After the defeat of Moscow he was made prisoner, and sent to Siberia, and only recovered his liberty about three years since. On reaching Wilna, he remembered his hidden treasure, and after tracing out the spot where he had hid it, he went to take it away. What was his astonishment to find, in the place of his money, a small tin box, containing a letter addressed to him, in which a commercial house was mentioned at Nancy, where he might receive the sum buried, with interest. The soldier supposed this was all a hoax; he went, however, to the house pointed out, where he received his capital with twelve years' interest. With this sum he established a small business in Nancy, which enables him yet been able, though he has taken to live comfortably; but he has never pains, to ascertain how his money was

taken

and restored to him.

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away MEANS OF RENDERING THE VINE MORE Productive. A foreign Journal, for the purpose above stated, recommends four ounces of alum to be mixed with four pellets of clay, by means of a sufficient quantity of water, and, the roots of the vine being uncovered on a fine day towards the end of the winter, they are to be moistened with this mixture, and the earth then changed, so that what was previously uppermost shall be undermost. It is asserted that through this operation a vine produces a great additional quantity of grapes.

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Ellustrated Article.

CARL SCHWARTZEN THE
NEATHERD

A TALE OF THE HARTZ.
For the Olio.

THE last crimson tinge of the sun's departing glory, which faintly illumined the western horizon, gradually faded away, and gave place to the sombre shades of evening, as Carl Schwartzen, a neatherd, in the service of the Count Fiestenberg von Waxchlunger, trudged his way homewards through the wild vicinity of the Hartz. Carl was one of those dissatisfied mortals who are always grumbling at the hardness of their lot, and murmuring against the wise dispensations of Providence.

"Verily I am weary of this monotonous kind of life," quoth he, as he sauntered along, "tending upon the lazy herd from morn till night, and all the reward I get is coarse food, (and that scanty enow, heaven knows), a bed of dirty rushes, and a hearty drubbing whenever the count (may the foul fiend rive VOL. X.

See page 98.

him), happens to cross my path; I fain would live like the count, my master, who walloweth in his wealth and luxury. Oh that the mountain spirit would Vouchsafe to bestow riches on me! I then perchance might have the power. to revenge me on the count, for the many cudgellings that I have received at his hands; but woe is me, unhappy wretch that I am, there is no such good fortune in store for Carl Schwartzen."

After this strain reasoned he with himself as he pursued his rugged steps, till he sank exhausted and fatigued on a projecting fragment of rock, beneath a clump of tall dark pines, which were gently undulating in the cool evening breeze, to rest his wearied limbs; and finding himself an hungered, unstrapped his wallet, and took therefrom the last remaining crust. "Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than an house filled with sacrifices with strife;" saith the proverbs of the wise man, to which Carl by no means assented; his meal was therefore rendered doubly wretched, by his discontented disposition.

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"Goodly fare this same, for a man who hath toiled from the rising to the setting of the sun," said he aloud. "An the Count von Waxchlunger were to pass a few days after this manner, belike he would vouchsafe to amend the condition of his dependants; would that I had a flask of his highness's old hock, that his cellar is so well stored withal; for I wax marvellously dry after my day's labour."

An thou wilt partake with me, thou shalt be right welcome," said a voice near him.

Carl stared with stupid astonishment, on beholding at his elbow, seated on the self-same rock on which he himself had just taken up his position, a rotund figure, clad in an antique habit, of dark pea-green, thickly studded with silver sugarloaf buttons, sad-coloured hose, his legs were encased with monstrous boots of tanned leather, a large black Spanish cloak was thrown over his shoulders, and his dumpling-shaped goodnatured-looking phiz was surmounted by a thrum cap, in which was stuck by way of ornament a single cock's-tail feather. Whether he dropped from the clouds, or rose from out the earth, Carl could not possibly conjecture; all he knew of the matter was, that there sat his worship, beyond all matter of doubt.

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"Here is liquor that will put the best wine o'the count's cellar to shame,' said he, "drink man, and tell me if thou didst ever taste better."

Carl took the proffered flask, his mouth instinctively opened, and he applied thereunto that of the flask, while the cool delicious liquid gurgled down his capacious gullet.

"By my Halidame, thou hast swilled wondrously well, my master," said the stranger, as Carl returned to him the empty flask, "how likest thou the wine, Carl Schwartzen?"

Carl having taken a long heavy respiration to regain his breath, replied, ""Tis the bravest liquor that I have tasted this many a day; but I fain would know by what means thou hast my name so readily, for I do not remember to have seen thee before."

"That matters not," said the stranger, "I would do thee a service; thou saidst but now, or I grievously err, that thou wouldst fain live after the fashion of the count, thy master, didst thou not?" he enquired.

"Even so, fair sir," said Carl, "but canst thou put me in the way of obtaining wealth?"

66 Ay, an thou wilt," answered the other.

"Then heaven bless thee," exclaimed the delighted Carl.

"Bah!" said the stranger, evidently displeased, his features contracting into a frown; "I want not thy thanks; all I require of thee, is to subscribe thy name at the foot of this scroll."

Carl glanced over the parchment, and discried a numerous assemblage of characters, the meaning of which he was totally unacquainted with, not having, been initiated into the art and mysterie of reading; he therefore requested that the contents might be made known to him; a few words at the commencement, however, sufficed. « Der Duyvel," shrieked the affrighted neatherd, and away he flew as fast as he could lay legs to the ground; his heart bumped hard against his side as he heard the heavy tramp of the stranger close at his heels; panting, and breathless, he turned the sharp angle of a rock, when to his infinite horror he encountered the same figure, whose eyes now resembled two flaming coals.

Wilt thou sign the parchment?" said he, with a hellish grin, at the same time thrusting the scroll full in the teeth of the terrified Carl, who answered not, but dashed down the hill with the velocity of a terror-stricken fawn; he had not proceeded far, when he beheld at a short distance ahead, his former companion, who had coolly seated himself on a large stone, awaiting the approach of his victim; he would have turned, and fled in another direction, but as the timid squirrel falls into the jaws of a rattle-snake, petrified by its gaze, even in a like manner was Carl irresistibly led on, by the fascinating glare of the demon's eyes, which were steadily fixed on him; his impulse was again to rush past him, but for the life of him he could not budge an inch, but stood fixed and immovable, as a leaden statue, confronting his arch enemy: the scroll was again thrust forth.

"Have mercy, good duyvel!" groaned poor Carl; "have mercy, and never again will I be dissatisfied with my lot, or call for thy assistance."

"Of a verity, thou art a fool," returned the other, " to drag on thy miserable way of existence, while riches and power are offered thee; which thou "And thou wouldst become rich?" refusest, rather than perform the simple continued his companion.

"I did," replied Carl.

office of subscribing this parchment;

nevertheless will I give thee yet another opportunity, even will I display before thine eyes the inexhaustible treasures that thou despisest, and if thou neglect to avail thyself of my terms, beware of the doom of those who call on me for assistance in vain."

The night had grown dark, and clouds of pitchy blackness overspread the heavens, indicating the approach of a tempest. A light vapour now enveloped the form of the stranger, which by degrees expanded, and became more and more dense; suddenly it burst forth into a brilliant vivid glare of red light, glooming like a furnace; the crimsoned clouds rolled suddenly away, and discovered to the wondering eyes of our hero the gigantic form of the mountain fiend, in propria persona; his sinewy herculean limbs were covered with glittering scales, a helmet of gold covered his swarthy brow, from beneath which the coal-black flaky locks flowed, and uniting with a grizzly beard, fell on his breast; his meteor-like eyes, gleamed on the shuddering frame of Carl as he took him in his hand, and spreading forth his broad shadowy wings, soared aloft in the murky air. Away he shot "swifter than an arrow from the Athenian's bow," winging his flight high over the rugged mountain peaks, and deep hollow glens; he now descended towards the earth, and plunged with his victim headlong into a deep pool, like a cormorant darting on its prey; downwards they went with incredible velocity, and seemed as if diving to the earth's centre. Carl was rendered insensible; when animation returned, he found himself in a stately hall, the magrificence of which it had never before entered into the imagination of our worthy to conceive; the walls thereof were alabaster, on which curiously wrought devices were emblazoned with diamonds, emeralds, and various other precious stones of inconceivable size and beauty; the pillars that supported the silver fretted roof, were of porphyry and topaz, and the pavement pure gold, studded with innumerable gems; heaps of jewels lay scattered in every direction, as if worthless. Carl was struck with wonderment and admiration on beholding the vast treasures that were disclosed to his glistening eye, of which he might become the possessor; but as the price thereof was nothing less than the eternal damnation of his soul, he could not comply with the terms of the demon.

"These are not the millionth part of what I possess," said the fiend, "follow me, and I will shew thee yet greater treasures than these."

They now passed through sumptuous apartments and galleries, which far surpassed that from which they had just departed; heaps of the glittering treasure were piled in countless profusion; now they entered a grotto composed of rugged gold, besprinkled with jewels which glittered like the innumerable stars of the firmament, from which they emerged into a scene which exceeded all that Carl had yet witnessed. Here he beheld silvery torrents, flashing and foaming over rocks of porphyry, sardine, and chrystal, flowing in a majestic stream across the foreground of this fairy landscape, and ultimately setting itself in a mirror-surfaced lake. On the other hand stood the splendid palace, where the countless riches of the demon had been displayed; it was formed of the purest marble, its gates were of adamant; numberless other palaces and pavillions of like beauty varying in size, and intermingled with groves of trees, on which ripe delicious fruit of every description hung in rich clusters, extended in a vast amphitheatre until lost by the imperfection of vision; fountains spouting molten gold, in the air fragrant, aromatic odours were emitted by the plants and flowers, which sprang up in spontaneous luxuriance around, while the ear was enchanted by the melodious warbling of the feathered tribe, of the most brilliant and beautiful plumage. They were instantly surrounded by myriads of little grotesque figures, some emerging from cavities of the rocks, others from the lake, while some came floating on the liquid air.

"I have now shewn thee," said the fiend, "as much as will enable thee to judge of the immensity of my inexhaustible treasures; thou seest yonder palaces, each of which contain as much as that through which thou hast past but now; thou shalt possess as much thereof as thy heart can desire, if thou wilt now, ere it is too late, sign the scroll."

"I cannot, I dare not," groaned forth Carl.

Spirit of my will," exclaimed the demon, his eyes flashing with indignation, and his huge form quivering with rage, "Spirit, I say, away with the mortal to his doom."

Instantaneously the scene of enchantment fled from before the eyes of

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