the avarice of others, for they are almost all, badly clothed and armed, and worse mounted. Others on the contrary, are superbly mounted and loaded with magnificence and useless splendour. This ostentation makes them prefer the beauty of their arms to their goodness. When they see a fusil, or pistol, engraved, or damasked with silver, it matters little what are its other qualities. The grand seignor's cavalry is a little better equipped than the other divisions; and are armed with lances. The cavalry furnished by Kara Osman-Oglou, and other princes, resembles much that of the pachas. These are composed for the greater part of “brigands," who have acquired a reputation for bravery, in robbing caravans, pillaging villages, &c. and are sought for by the pachas, in proportion to their atrocities. Another defect in the cavalry, is, that they are mounted, too often, on fine, well-made horses, but much too small; such as should only be admitted in light cavalry. They are delicate, and ruined after a campaign.

As no system is followed in a charge, the best mounted or bravest horsemen soon leave their comrades behind them; and im→ petuously fall upon the foe. The rest follow in disorder, and every one takes his rank, according to his valour and his horse's vigour. It follows, that if the enemy's infantry; be not broken, by the vivacity of the first attack; and if they use the bayonet, the horses are terrified and fly. The crowd which presses from behind, stops them, throws them into the enemy's fire; in a similar case our horses are, in spite of themselves, thrown upon the hostile ranks by the impulse of the charge.

In short, one can form no good idea of the Turkish cavalry, but by supposing 70,000 men, taken by chance, aud mounted, armed, and equipped, according to their own separate ability and fancy, We must not judge of the Turkish cavalry by the Mamalukes, as, though these are hardly better tacticians, they are much more warlike, and better exercised in arms and horsemanship. Their horses, too, are infinitely superior to those of the Turks.

An Account of the Burial of King Charles the First, and of Oliver Cromwell: in which it appears how Oliver's Friends contrived to secure his Body from future Disgrace, and so expose the Corpse of King Charles to be substituted in the Punishment and Ignominy designed for the Usurper's Body.

AMONGST other papers the following MS. was carefully preserved by my Lord Oxford.

It contains an extract from the Journal of the House of Commons: which honourable house resolving to disgrace the name of the late usurper Oliver Cromwell, as far as lay in their power, ordered his body to be taken up, and to be first hanged on the gallows at Tyburn, and then to be burnt. This order was pursued by the serjeant of that honourable house so far, as to find a coffin with Oliver's name and usurped title at the east end of the middle aisle of Henry the seventh's chapel, in Westminster Abbey.

This,

This, with an account where the said inscription is, or, was within a few years ago, to be seen, is written in a very fair hand, Then, in two different hands, there follows the most remarkable account of a counter-interment of the arch-traytor, as well as the reason and contrivance to secure his body from that expected ignominy, and to continue the revenge of King Charles's enemies, even to the disgrace of substituting the body of the deceased king, in the punishment intended by a justly enraged people, upon the dead body of the usurper.

Soon after the restoration, the then serjeant of the house of commons was ordered, by the house, to go with his officers to St. Peter's, Westminster, and demand the body of Oliver Cromwell, buried there, to be taken up, in order to be disposed in the manner the house should adjudge fitting.

Whereupon the said serjeant went, and, in the middle aisle of Henry the seventh's chapel, at the east end, upon taking up the pavement in a vault, was found his corpse; in the inside of whose coffin, and upon the breast of the corpse, was laid a copper plate, finely gilt, inclosed in a thin case of lead; on the one side whereof were engraven the arms of England, impaled with the arms of Oliver; and, on the reverse, the following legenda, viz.

Oliverus Protector Republica Angliæ, Scotia, & Hiberniæ, Natus 25°. April 1599. Inauguratus 16o. Decris. 1653. Mortuus 3o. Sepris. Anno 1658, Hic Situs est.

The said serjeant, believing the plate to be gold, took it, pretendingly, as his fee; and Mr. Gifford, of Colchester, who married the serjeant's daughter, has now the plate which his father-inlaw told him he came by in the manner above related.

A counter-interment of the aforesaid arch-traytor, as averred, and ready to be deposed (if occasion required) by Mr. Barkstead, who daily frequents Richard's coffee-house, within Temple-bar, being son to Barkstead, the regicide, that was executed as such soon after the restoration, the son being, at the same time of the said arch-traytor's death, about the age of fifteen years.

That the said regicide, Barkstead, being lieutenant of the tower of London, and a great confidant of the usurper, did, among other such confidants, in the time of the usurper's sickness, desire to know where he would be buried; to which he answered, where he had obtained the greatest victory and glory; and as nigh the spot as could be guessed, where the heat of war, viz. in the field of Naseby, Co. Northampton; which accordingly was thus performed: at midnight (soon after his death), being first embalmed and wrapped in a leaden coffin, he was, in a hearse, conveyed to the said field, the said Mr. Barkstead, by order of his father, attending close to the hearse; and, being come to the field, there found, about the midst of it, a grave dug, about nine feet deep, with the green sod carefully laid on one side, and the mould on the other; in which the coffin being soon put, the grave was instantly filled up, and the green sod laid exactly flat upon it, care being taken that the surplus mould was clean taken away.

Soon after, like care was taken that the said field was intirely ploughed up, and sown three or four years successively with wheat.

Several

Several other material circumstances, relating to the said interment, the said Mr. Barkstead relates (too long to be here inserted); and, particularly after the restoration, his conference with the late (witty) Duke of Buckingham, &c.

Talking over this account of Barkstead's with the Reverend Mr. Sm- of Q, whose father had long resided at Florence as a merchant, and afterwards as minister from King Charles the second, and had been well acquainted with the fugitives after the restoration; he assured me, he had often heard the said account by other hands: those miscreants, always boasting that they had wreaked their revenge against the father, as far as human foresight could carry it, by beheading him whilst living, and making his best friends the executors of the utmost ignominies upon him when dead. Asking him the particular meaning of the last sentence, he said, that Oliver and his friends, apprehending the restoration of the Stuart family, and that all imaginable disgrace, on that turn, would be put upon his body as well as memory, he contrived his own burial, as averred by Barkstead, having all the theatrical honours of a pompous funeral paid to an empty coffin, into which, afterwards, was removed the corpse of the martyr (which, by Lord Clarendon's own account, had never truly or certainly been interred; and, after the restoration, when most diligently sought after by the Earls of Southampton and Lindsey, at the command of King Charles the second, in order to a solemn removal, could no where, in the church where he was said to have been buried, be found); that, if any sentence should be pronounced, as upon his body, it might effectually fall upon that of the king. That, on that order of the commons, in king Charles the second's time, the tomb was broken down, and the body taken out of a coffin so inscribed as mentioned in the serjeant's report; was from thence conveyed to Tyburn, and, to the utmost joy and triumph of that crew of miscreants, hung publicly on the gallows, amidst an infinite crowd of spectators almost infected with the noisomeness of the stench. The secret being only amongst that abandoned few, there was no doubt in the rest of the people, but the bodies, so exposed, were the bodies they were said to be; had not some, whose curiosity had brought them nearer to the tree, observed, with horror, the remains of a countenance they little had expected there; and, on tying the cord, there was a strong seam about the neck, by which the head had been, as was supposed, immediately after the decollation, fastened again to the body. This being whispered about, and the numbers that came to the dismal sight hourly increasing, notice was immediately given of the suspicion to the attending officer, who dispatched a messenger to court to acquaint them with the rumour, and the ill consequences the spreading or examining into it farther might have; on which the bodies were immediately ordered down, to be buried again, to prevent any infection. Certain it is, they were not burnt, as in prudence, for that pretended reason might have been expected, as well as in justice, to have shewn the tmost detestation for their crimes, and the most lasting mark of

infamy

infamy they could inflict upon them. This was the account he gave: what truth there is in it is not certain; many circumstances make the surmise not altogether improbable; as all those enthusiasts, to the last moment of their lives, ever gloried in the truth of it.

A DUTCH BURGOMASTER'S ATTEMPT TO RESTRAIN LUXURY.

IN the reign of King James II. an eminent Burgomaster having

with great grief observed the degeneracy which began to shew itself among the Dutch, and the excesses which were the issue of wealth and idleness, took this method to shew them their folly and danger. He invited the whole Magistracy, consisting of thirtysix persons, and their ladies, to a dinner; which they did not doubt, both for delicacy and variety, would be worthy of him and them: but how great was their disappointment, when they saw the first course on the table, consisting of apples boiled in butter-milk, stock fish, with turnips and carrots, red herrings, à lettuce salad, and for drink small-beer!-The host invited his guests to fall to: the ladies pleaded want of appetite; the men looked like the young Prophets, when they called out that death was in the pot; and, till the table was cleared, scarce a word was spoke: but then appeared under every plate a scroll of verses, intimating, that such was the fare of their fore-fathers, when their city first began to thrive, and the States to have a name among the nations.The second course was served up; which consisted of butchers meat of every sort, roasted and boiled, but undisguised with the arts of cookery, and without any other sauce than what a good stomach was to supply: English beer and French wine were added to the side-board. When the table was cleared a second time, appeared another chain of verses, which informed them, that with regard to the wants of nature, these were luxuries; that it was the office of reason to regulate both the taste and appetite; and, by living thus, they would leave both their wealth and temperance to their heirs; who, being used to such examples, would blush to be thought degenerate by their children.-The table was again spread with all sorts of fish and fowl, wild and tame, exquisitely dressed, and relished with the most poignant sauces, served in plate, and wines of the finest growth of the Rhine, Moselle, Champagne, and Burgundy; and followed with a memorial, importing, that all beyond nourishment was luxury, and all beyond decency was extravagance; that intemperance had a smiling aspect, but a dreadful retinue, consisting of the whole assemblage of diseases; that death had been their cook, and had infused a slow poison in every sauce. This seemed to strike a momentary damp on their spirits, which was soon forgot on the appearance of a magnificent desert, to which Europe and both the Indies had contributed, followed by the wine of Tokay, and the water of Barbadoes, and every other delicacy that wealth without bounds could produce. Again the hand-writing denounced that luxury is to prosperity, as a plague is to health, equally contagious and destructive; that it is a disease

of which the most flourishing States have died; that when it is become epidemical in a country like their's, depending on commerce, a dissolution must inevitably follow; in consequence of which, the rich and renowned city of Amsterdam would again be reduced to a fishing village, and their posterity become as poor as their ancestors were, without their continuance in industry, virtue, and sobriety.

FOR THE UNION MAGAZINE

MR. EDITOR,

THE following characteristic sketch is, I assure you, not the

coinage of the brain," but taken from real life.

My friend Classic is a zealous admirer of ancient literature and looks down with contempt upon those whom he calls the witling 'narrators, the puny versifiers, and the would-be metaphysicians of the present day. Absorbed in these favourite studies, he wholly forgets the business which should command his attention; and Homer or Virgil, Livy or Tacitus, Aristotle or Isocrates, are the object of his enthusiastic pursuits, while he neglects every species of knowledge useful to his interest. He is at present employed in literature; but of that species which requires very little of ancient learnnig and less of abstract science. This to a classical enthusiast is torture; but his ingenuity here found a remedy by forming his sentences according to the Latin and Greek constructions. Whether they are understood by his Readers is to him of little moment. Many good judges, however, are decidedly of opinion that my learned friend does not write English; but if these gentlemen will critically investigate his language, they will find after poring over it for some time, that they can understand it, if they please. They 'will find that it' soars far above our vulgar tongue; that it snatches a grace from Rome and a beauty from Greece, and though some ill-naturedly call it the patch-work of Joseph's coat, and others vox et preterea nihil, yet they must confess that it is far removed from the dialect and comprehension of our modern readers. His 'conversation forms a curious and amusing medley, of which little is appropriate to the common intercourse of life. Ask him how he does and he has a quotation from Aristotle, ready to make part of an answer; talk to him of the weather, and Pliny is at his fingers ends: converse with him on parliamentary affairs, or the status quo ante pacem, and Livy and Tacitus become his prompt supporters. This Classical Mania is undoubtedly harmless but unfortunately it unfits my friend for business, and renders him what is usually called a Bore in conversation. His quotations are lugged in in all directions and of all sorts and sizes and whilst he thinks he commands the attention of his Auditors, they are quizzing the unfortunate orator, and giving each other the cue to attack his weak side for, their own amusement. Some ludicrous incidents frequently happen in consequence of his unfortunate propensity, and thus does my friend wear away his life in contemplating the learning and the genius of antiquity, and in retailing out the words instead of the sense of his favourite authors, without attempting to gain any useful information, or adding one grain to the stock of public Utility.

HODIE