lines accurately. Their import impressed me in my boyhood, and one fine summer's afternoon, a year or two ago, I involuntarily repeated them while musing beside that part of the "New River" represented in the engraving. I had strolled to "the Compasses," when "the garden," as the landlord calls it, was free from the nuisance of" company;" and thither I afterwards deluded an artist, who continues to "use the house," and supplies me with the drawing of this sequestered nook.

This "gentle river" meanders through countless spots of surprising beauty and variety within ten miles of town. When I was a boy I thought “Sadler's Well's arch," opposite the "Sir Hugh Myddelton," (a house immortalized by Hogarth,) the prime part of the river; for there, by the aid of a penny line, and a ha'porth of gentles and blood-worms, "mixed," bought of old Turpin, who kept the little fishing-tackle shop, the last house by the river's side, at the end next St. John'sstreet-road, I essayed to gudgeon gudgeons. But the "prime" gudgeon-fishing, then, was at "the Coffin," through which the stream flows after burying itself at the Thatched-house, under Islington road, to Colebrooke-row, within half a stone's throw of a cottage, endeared to me, in later years, by its being the abode of "as much virtue as can live." Past the Thatched-house, towards Canonbury, there was the "Horse-shoe," now no more, and the enchanting rear-since despoiled-of the gardens to the retreats of Canonbury-place; and all along the river to the pleasant village of Hornsey, there were delightful retirements on its banks, so far from the busy haunts of men," that only a few solitary wanderers seemed to know them. Since then, I have gone "over the hills and far away," to see it sweetly flowing at Enfield Chase, near many a "cottage of content," as I have conceived the lowly dwellings to be, which there skirt it, with their little gardens, not too trim, whence the inmates cross the neat iron bridges of the "New River Company," which, thinking of "auld lang syne," I could almost wish were of

wood. Further on, the river gracefully recedes into the pleasant grounds of the late Mr. Gough the antiquary, who, if he chiefly wrote on the manners and remains of old times, had an especial love and kind feeling for the amiable and picturesque of our own. Pursuing the river thence to Theobalds, it presents to the " contemplative man's recreation," temptations that old Walton himself might have coveted to fall in his way and why may we not "suppose that the vicinity of the New River, to the place of his habitation, might sometimes tempt him out, whose loss he so pathetically mentions, to spend an afternoon there." He tells "the honest angler," that the writing of his book was the "recreation of a recreation," and familiarly says, whole discourse is, or rather was, a picture of my own disposition, especially in such days and times as I have laid aside business, and gone a fishing with honest Nat. and R. Roe; but they are gone, and with them most of my pleasant hours,even as a shadow that passeth away and returns not.”

"the

I dare not say that I am, and yet I cannot say that I never was, an angler; for I well remember where, though I cannot tell when, within a year, I was enticed to "go a fishing," as the saying is, which I have sometimes imagined was derived from Walton's motto on the title of his book :-"Simon Peter said, I go a fishing: and they said, we also will go with thee.-John xxi. 3." This passage is not in all the editions of the " Complete Angler," but it was engraven on the titlepage of the first edition, printed in 1653. Allow me to refer to one of "captain Wharton's almanacs," as old Lilly calls them in his "Life and Times," and point out what was, perhaps, the earliest advertisement of Walton's work: it is on the back of the dedication leaf to "HEMEROSCOPEION: Anni Eræ Christianæ 1654." The almanac was published of course in the preceding year, which was the year wherein Walton's work was printed.

This advertisement I deem a bibliomaniacal curiosity. Only think of the first edition of Walton as a "booke of eighteen-pence price!" and imagine the good old man on the day of publication, walking from his house "on the north side of Fleet-street, two doors west of the end of Chancery-lane," to his publisher and neighbour just by, "Richard Marriot, in S. Dunstan's Churchyard," for the purpose of inquiring "how" the book "went off." There is, or lately was, a large fish in effigy, at a fishing-tacklemaker's in Fleet-street, near Bell-yard, which, whenever I saw it, after I first read Walton's work, many years ago, reminded me of him, and his pleasant book, and its delightful ditties, and brought him before me, sitting on a primrose bank" turning his" present thoughts into verse"

THE ANGLER'S WISH.

I in these flowery meads would be:
These crystal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise
I with my angle would rejoice:
Sit here, and see the turtle-dove
Court his chaste mate to acts of love :

Or, on that bank, feel the west wind
Breathe health and plenty: please my mind,
To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers,
And then washed off by April showers:
Here, hear my Kenna sing a song;
There, see a blackbird feed her young,
Or a leverock build her nest:
Here, give my weary spirits rest,
And raise my low-pitch'd thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love:

Thus, free from law-suits and the noise
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice:

Or, with my Bryan, and a book,
Loiter long days near Shawford-brook ;
There sit by him, and cat my meat,
There see the sun both rise and set;
There bid good morning to next day;
There meditate my time away;

And angle on; and beg to have
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 52 05.

October 11

This is "Old Michaelmas Day."

"DUNCAN'S VICTORY." On the 11th of October, 1797, admiral

Duncan obtained a splendid victory over the Dutch fleet off Camperdown, near the isle of Texel, on the coast of Holland. For this memorable achievement he was created a viscount, with a pension of two thousand pounds per annum. His lordship died on the 4th of August, 1804; he was born at Dundee, in Scotland, on the 1st of July, 1731. After the battle of Camperdown was decided, he cailed his crew together in the presence of the captured Dutch admiral, who was greatly affected by the scene, and Duncan kneeling on the deck, with every man under his command," solemnly and pathetically offered up praise and thanksgiving to the God of battles;-strongly proving the truth of the assertion, that piety and courage should be inseparably allied, and that the latter without the former loses its principal virtue.”*

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature. . . . 51 82.

October 12.

CHRONOLOGY.

On the 12th of October, 1748, was born at St. John's near Worcester, Mr. William Butler, the author of "Chronological, Biographical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Exercises," an excellent work, for young persons especially, a useful compendium in every library, and one to which the editor of the Every-Day Book has been indebted as a ready guide to many interesting and important events.

In the seventh edition of Mr. Butler's work just mentioned, we are informed by his son, Mr. John Olding Butler, that his father was educated in the city of Worcester. Having acquired considerable knowledge, and especially an excellent style of penmanship, he in 1765 repaired to the metropolis, and commenced his career as a teacher of writing and geography. In these branches of education he attained the highest repute on account of the improvements which were introduced by him in his mode of instruction. His copies were derived from the sources of geography, history, and biographical memoirs. A yet more extensive and permanent benefit was conferred upon young persons by the many useful and ingenious

* Butler's Chronological Exercises.

works which he published, a list of which is subjoined. They contain a mass of information, both instructive and entertaining, rarely collected in one form, and are admirably adapted to promote the great design of their author-the moral, intellectual, and religious improvement of the rising generation; to this he consecrated all his faculties, the stores of his memory, and the treasures of his knowledge.

As a practical teacher Mr. Butler had few superiors, and his success in life was commensurate with his merit: he was the most popular instructor in his line.

A strict probity, an inviolable regard to truth, an honourable independence of mind, and a diffusive benevolence, adorned his moral character; and to these eminent virtues must be added, that of a rigid economy and improvement of time, for which he was most remarkable. How much he endeavoured to inculcate that which he deemed the foundation of every virtue, the principle of religion, may be seen in his "Chronological, &c., Exercises" to impress this principle on the youthful heart and mind was considered by him as the highest duty. Mr. Butler's professional labours were commenced at the early age of seventeen, and were continued with indefatigable ardour to the last year of his life, a period of fifty-seven years. In estimating the value of such a man, we should combine his moral principle with his literary employments; these were formed by him into duties, which he most conscientiously discharged: and he will be long remembered as one who communicated to a large and respectable circle of pupils solid information, examples of virtue, and the means of happiness; and who, in an age fruitful of knowledge, by his writings instructed, and will long continue to instruct the rising generation, and benefit mankind. His virtues will live and have a force beyond the grave.

Mr. Butler died at Hackney, August 1, 1822, after a painful illness, borne with exemplary patience and resignation. He was one of the oldest inhabitants of that parish, and was interred there, by his own desire, in the burying-ground attached to the meeting-house of his friend, the late

Rev. Samuel Palmer

A list of Mr. Butler's books for the use of young persons.

1. CHRONOLOGICAL EXERCISES, already mentioned. Price 6s. bound.

2. An engraved INTRODUCTION to ARITHMETIC, designed to facilitate young beginners, and to diminish the labour of the tutor. 4s. 6d. bound.

3. ARITHMETICAL QUESTIONS, on a new plan; intended to answer the double purpose of arithmetical instruction and miscellaneous information. 6s. bound. 4. GEOGRAPHICAL and BIOGRAPHICAL EXERCISES, on a new plan. 4s

5. EXERCISES on the GLOBES, interspersed with historical, biographical, chronological, mythological, and miscellaneous information, on a new plan. The ninth edition. 68. hound.

6. A numerous collection of ARITHMETICAL TABLES. 8d.

7. GEOGRAPHICAL EXERCISES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; with maps, and a brief account of the principal religious sects. 58. 6d. bound.

8. MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS, relating principally to English history and biography. Second edition, enlarged. 48.

Mr. BOURN, son-in-law of Mr. Butler, and his associate in his profession upwards of thirty years, purchased the copyright of the greater part of Mr. Butler's works. They have passed through a number of editions, and if the EveryDay Book extend a knowledge of their value, it will be to the certain benefit of The envious and suspicious may deny those for whose use they were designed. that there is such a quality as interestedness in human actions," yet the editor has neither friendship nor intimacy with any one whom this notice may appear to favour. He only knows Mr. mends them as excellent aids to parents

"dis

Butler's books, and therefore recom

and teachers.

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 50 10.

October 13

TRANSLATION K. EDWARD. CONF.

This notice of the day in the church of England calendar and almanacs, denotes it as the festival of the translation of king

Edward the Confessor.*

Edward the Confessor died on the 5th of January, 1066, and was buried in the

See vol. 1. 1376.

abbey church of St. Peter, Westminster. "His queen, Edgitha, survived the saint many years;" she was buried beside him, and her coffin was covered with plates of silver and gold. According to his biographers, in 1102, the body of St. Edward was found entire, the limbs flexible, and the clothes fresh. The bishop of Rochester "out of a devout affection, endeavoured to pluck onely one hayre from his head, but it stuck so firmly that he was defeated of his desire." This was at the saint's first translation. Upon miracles " duly proved, the saint was canonized by Alexander III., in 1161." It appears that "there are commemorated severall translations of his sacred body." In 1163, "it was again translated by S. Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of king Henry II. This translation seems to have been made on the 13th of October; for on that day" he is commemorated in our martyrologe, whereas in the Roman he is celebrated on the 5th of January." It further appears that, "about a hundred years after, in the presence of king Henry III., it was again translated, and reposed in a golden shrine, prepared for it by the same king.*

The see of Rome is indebted to Edward the Confessor for a grant to the pope of what was then called Rome-scot, but is now better known by the name of " Peterpenny." The recollection of this tribute is maintained by the common saying "no penny, no paternoster;" of which there is mention in the following poem from the Hesperides:"

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 50 62.

October 14.

A LUCKY DAY.

"SOME MEMORABLE REMARQUES upon the FOURTEENTH OF OCTOBer, being the Auspicious Birth-Day of His Present Majesty The Most Serene King JAMES II. Luc. xix. 42 In Hoc Die Tuo. In This THY DAY. London, Printed by A. R. And are to be sold by Randal Taylor, near Stationers-Hall 1687." Folio.

In this curious tract, the author purports to set forth "how lucky the Fourteenth of October hath been to the princes of England," and because he discovers "out of Wharton's Gesta Britannorum, and the collections of others, that his late royal highness, our inagnanimous magnificent sovereign, (James II.,) was also born upon that augural day,” he observes-"It made more than ordinary impression upon me, so that I never saw him, but, I thought, in his very face there were extraordinary instances and tokens of regality."

There were some, it seems, who, after "his late royal highness "the dukes recess into Holland," "exceedingly tryumphed, wishing he might never return; nay, that he durst not, nor would be permitted so to do; using, moreover, opprobrious terms." These persons, he tells us, he "prophetically characteris'd" in his "Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam ;" hence, he says, "Indignation made me print my ensuing sentiments," which "found good acceptance among the better and more loyal sort;" and hence, he further says, 66 things by me forethought, and publickly hinted, being come to pass, my Day Fatality began to be remembred; and one whom I wish very well, desiring I would give him leave to reprint that, and two other of my small pieces together, I assented to his request." These form the present treatise, from whence we gather that the Fourteenth of October

"6 'gave the Norman duke That vict'ry whence he England's scepter took,"

and was remarkable for the safe landing of Edward III., after being endangered by a tempest at sea on his returning victorious from France. Wherefore, says our author, in Latin first, and then in these English lines