Of Weeding.

67

OF WEEDING.

EVEN here I perceive are plentiful remains of the old curse upon man's disobedience. "Thorns and thistles shall the ground bring forth to thee," said God to our father Adam: and we his children, feel the effects of the sentence to this day.

Here are no thorns indeed, the cultivation of the ground preventing the growth of them; but all the cultivation in the world will not wholly prevent the growth of weeds. All I can do is little enough to keep them from growing to such a head as to overtop and choke the corn. And now what I find in my field, the same do I feel in myself, the corruption of my nature producing nothing but evil fruits, which, if neglected, would soon choke the seed of eternal life which God hath sown in my heart. I may indeed, by the power of his Grace, wholly abstain from such gross and crying sins as murder, adultery, drunkenness, swearing, &c. but still I find some wanderings in prayer, some coldness in charity, and such like failings, which though I daily strive against, I fear I shall never quite destroy.

To thy mercy therefore, O Lord, do I betake myself, and not to my own merits. Ó consider me, not as I am in myself, for I am vile and corrupt; and if Thou shouldst be extreme to mark what is amiss in me, how should I stand before Thee? In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I feel a law in my members warring against the law in my mind; but grant, I beseech Thee, that it may never so far prevail as to bring me into captivity to the law of sin. Assist me, I pray Thee, with thy Grace, that I may not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. Do Thou utterly destroy the remains of the old man in me, mortify my evil inclinations, subdue my lusts, and so bless and prosper those seeds

of Religion which Thou hast sown in my heart, that they may bring forth plentifully, thirty, sixty, nay an hundred fold.

(From the Farmer's Golden Treasury.)

SUGGESTION ON THE SUBJECT OF GODFATHERS AND GODMOTHERS.

SIR,

Ir the following idea meets with your approbation, you will, perhaps, give it currency, by means of your Monthly Visitor.

"Among the means of real improvement which are now occupying the attention of the benevolent and enlightened of all classes, has it ever occurred to any one, as a very sure one, under God's blessing, and a very practicable one, that the well-educated, and pious members of society, should voluntarily undertake the part of sponsors to one or more children of the lower and less instructed classes? Might not a great deal of good arise from this single and simple means? Would not the rite of baptism become more honourable in the eyes both of the poor parent and child? Would not provision be thus made for the Christian training of the children who had such sponsors? Would not the opportunity be thus afforded, for giving the parents a just understanding of the nature and importance of Christian baptism? Would not a new and very endearing link be thus formed between the different classes of a community-entirely free from the sordid objects which have hitherto too much prevailed among all classes in the choice of that connexion which was designed to be so holy a one? Might not the several members of a single pious, well

instructed family, thus become blessings, or the medium of blessings, to a whole parish? Lastly, might not the good, resulting to those thus offering themselves to the responsible charge, be very great? Any young person, himself, or herself, fit for confirmation, would be qualified to undertake the charge. Would not the advantage of such a fresh tie to personal watchfulness and circumspection, and of such a demand for Christian love and charity, be probably very great?"

I am, with much respect,

Your constant Reader,

J. L.

ENGLISH KINGS.

THE following list of the Kings of England, taken from the Morning Herald, shews that the present King of England is connected, by blood, with William the Conqueror; and that every King of England, since the conquest, has been so connected. Our young readers may be glad to see all these Kings in one point of view; and may have an opportunity of learning them by heart.

The following is the genealogy of the Kings of England, from his present Majesty to William the Conqueror:-George the Fourth was the son of George the Third, who was the grandson of George the Second, who was the son of George the First, who was the cousin of Anne, who was the sister-in-law of William the Third, who was the son-in-law of James the Second, who was the brother of Charles the Second, who was the son of Charles the First, who was the son of James the First, who was the cousin of Elizabeth, who was the sister of Mary, who was the sister of Edward the Sixth, who was the son of Henry the Eighth, who was the son of Henry the Seventh, who was

the cousin of Richard the Third, who was the uncle of Edward the Fifth, who was the son of Edward the Fourth, who was the cousin of Henry the Sixth, who was the son of Henry the Fifth, who was the son of Henry the Fourth, who was the cousin of Richard the Second, who was the grandson of Edward the Third, who was the son of Edward the Second, who was the son of Edward the First, who was the son of Henry the Third, who was the son of John, who was the brother of Richard the First, who was the son of Henry the Second, who was the cousin of Stephen, who was the cousin of Henry the First, who was the brother of William Rufus, who was the son of William the Conqueror.

ESCAPE OF CHARLES THE SECOND, AFTER THE BATTLE OF

WORCESTER.

(From a very scarce Pamphlet.)

We have, in a former Number, laid before our Readers, the very interesting account which Lord Clarendon gives of the escape of King Charles the Second. The following particulars, which are extracted from a very rare pamphlet, entitled, “A Proper Memorial for the Twenty-ninth of May," &c. 8vo. London, 1715; printed for A. Bettesworth, do not appear in his Lordship's narrative of that

event.

The King, in the pamphlet, is there described as having effected his escape in the following garb :— "He had on a white steeple-crowned hat, without any other lining besides the grease, both sides of the brim so doubled up with handling, that they looked like two spouts; a leather doublet full of holes, and almost black with grease about the sleeves, collar, and waist; an old green woodman's coat, threadbare,

Escape of Charles the Second.

71

and patched in most places; with a pair of breeches of the same cloth, and in the same condition, the slops hanging down to the middle of the leg; hose and shoes of different parishes; the hose were grey, much darned and clouted, especially about the knees, under which he had a pair of flannel riding stockings of his own, the tops of them cut off. His shoes had been cobbled, being pieced both on the soles and seams, and the upper leathers so cut and slashed to fit them to his feet, that they were quite unfit to defend him from either water or dirt. This strange dress, added to his short hair, cut off by the ears, his face coloured brown with walnut-tree leaves, and a rough crooked thorn stick in his hand, had so changed him, that it was hard, even for those who had been before well acquainted with his person, to have discovered who he was.' This description agrees with the account taken from the King's own mouth, by Mr. Pepys. "It having been resolved that the King should go with the sister of Colonel Lane to the house of Mr. Norton, at Abbot's Leigh, in Somersetshire, his clothes were changed to a better habit, like a servant's, being a kind of grey cloth suit. The next day Mrs. Lane and he began their journey towards Bristol, resolving to lie at a place called Long Marston, in the vale of Evesham. They had not set out above two hours, when the mare the King rode casting a shoe, they were forced to ride to a bye village to get another put on; and, as he was holding up his horse's foot, he asked the smith, "What news?" The fellow saying," there was none that he knew of, since the good news of beating the rogues, the Scots." The King then asked him, "whether there were any of the English that joined the Scots taken?" He answered, that " he did not hear whether the rogue, Charles Stuart, was taken, but some of the others were." And, upon the King's telling him," if that rogue was taken, he deserved