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sooner had the attorney left Mr. C-, than the latter rushed in, and, in no measured phrase, began abusing me for the "trick" I had played him. The word did not suit me, as he himself perceived by my instant application to the poker, which I intended making the arbiter of the dispute, had he not sullenly retired. His brutishness drove me to the expedient of pawning the only legacy of my deceased friend, a silver hunting watch; a resource of no mean use in the ways and means of one so unencumbered with wealth.

In itself the incident of the brief was insignificant, and so I considered it at the time. It proved afterwards a link in the chain of those inauspicious contiguities, which I call ill-luck. Their sinister influence on the fortunes of Gregory Hipkins, will not be denied even by those who reject his theory.

So far forth, ye impugners of the Hipkinean hypothesis, my conduct has not been my fate. Nor, perhaps, shall I be found more the accomplice of my own evil fortunes in the sequel. By some means hardly worth specifying, but chiefly through the kindness of one who himself wanted the little aid he imparted, I was enabled to join the Circuit. I arrived at Maidstone just as the Bar were sitting down to dinner, of course taking the lower end of the table, as became a decorous junior. To my infinite astonishment, however, my reception was a freezing one. No hand, as is usual on such occasions, was stretched out to greet me. It was clear I had incurred what might be called a professional proscription. How I had incurred it was a mystery. I ate my dinner notwithstanding; but no one, I observed, asked me to join in a glass of wine, or addressed to me one syllable of discourse. This was perplexing, and I remained for some minutes in no very enviable state of feeling. Yet my own bosom knew no ill, and I shrunk not from the studied contempt of which I was the object. At last observing a barrister, whose looks I did not dislike, leaving the room, I followed him, trusting to find in him some sympathy for a young man who had innocently fallen under condemnation, and besought him to explain the mystery.

"Mr. Hipkins, is it possible," he said, "you should be unapprised of our determination after dinner to discuss your admissibility to the Circuit-table?"

"Admissibility! Is it called in ques

tion ?"

"You will hear soon. It is the awkward affair of a brief, intended for the gentleman occupying the chambers next to your own, and the appropriation of the fee to your own uses.'

"Heavens! Am I accused of theft?" "Whatever you are accused of, your defence will be heard; and if you are innocent, you have nothing to fear." "Defence! Never will I make one," was my reply. "He who defends himself under such an imputation, half admits it to be just."

The barrister, not entering into my refinements, shrugged up his shoulders, and went his way. I retired also, with the twofold resolve to bid adieu to bar and barristers, after I had obtained from the person, whose inauspicious proximity to my chambers had brought this persecution on my head, a written recantation of what he had said to my prejudice; it being clear that he must have spoken of me unfairly and untruly. Nor was it long before I obtained, in his own hand-writing, the attestation I demanded. In strength and size he was a Polyphemus, (as to manners, the Cyclops would have appeared a polished gentleman by his side,) and might have jerked me out of his window, had he been so minded, but he quailed in every limb whilst he was writing and subscribing the document of his shame. This I instantly forwarded to the senior of the Circuit, by whom I was unanimously acquitted, and Mr. C- severely stigmatized for his baseness. Indeed, it was pure defecated malice on his part to throw so false a colouring upon an innocent mistake. The man died not long ago, unhonoured and undistinguished in his profession, and neither loved nor respected out of it.

And there is one, the gentlest of her kind and sex, who having taken the liberty which Alexander indulged to Parmenio, of peeping over my shoulder as I was recording this passage of my history, asks me in the tone of affectionate remonstrance, why I did not brave the inquiry with the pride and confidence of an innocent man? Friend of my later days, prolonged by your cares-never may you know the ragged film out of which the world spins its judgments! Dream

on,

dear creature, the dream that tells you they are swayed by justice and virtue. Other men, I admit, might have done so, and been acquitted, and taken a seat at the same board, stunned with congratulations on all sides, from those whose hearts yearned to convict

him. Not so Gregory Hipkins the Unlucky. His inward, his outward pride, the whole bundle of habits and opinions that make up his individuality -forbade it. He would have been an outcast from himself—a thousand times worse than an exile from the whole herd of humanity-had he bowed to such a jurisdiction. Where moral infamy is the question, inquiry is conviction. Infinitely did I prefer having it supposed that I had done what I was accused of, than that I was capable of doing it.

From this time things went on with me indifferently. Days revolved, bringing on the usual changes in their round. The sterility of winter was succeeded by the second life of spring-but there was no second life to my black coat, which had arrived, through successive transmigrations of colour, at that dingy brown which is generally considered as its euthanasia. Was I to sink without an effort? I should not, indeed, have met with much interruption in so doing. The whole world was before me, and I might choose what hole or corner I liked to die in. Indolence, for penury is naturally indolent and irresolute, came over me, or I might have tried my chance in the field of literary labour, which was not then overrun, as it is now, with half-pay officers and the literature of the quarterdeck. Yet I shrunk from the hemming and hawing of booksellers, editors, and critics, and gave up the notion.

To beguile unpleasant reflections, I occasionally heard the debates of the House of Commons, which, at that unreforming era were really worth listening to. Your ears were not then shocked with the coarse Lancastrian burr of tedious delegates from the clothing districts. Fox, Pitt, Windham, were in the fulness of their fame, and the setting glories of Burke were still above the horizon. I observed the reporters plying their nightly labours, and understanding that they were not badly paid, again I said with Corregio, "I too will be a reporter." I could not, it is true, write short-hand, but I could rely upon a strong memory, having more than once borne away an entire speech of one of those great men, with a truth and fidelity that rendered it at once, as a verbal and intellectual copy, far superior to the reports of the papers. In particular, I addressed myself to the peculiar character of Fox as a speaker, having often heard it remarked, that it resembled that of Demosthenes. I found the

parallel, however, erroneous. In appalling or sarcastic interrogatory, in rapid lightning flashes of indignation, withering where it fell, there was some analogy. But the compression of Demosthenes, close and adamantine,-even the graces, equally the result of severe, perhaps midnight toil, that play over his discourses, like the smiles of the terrific ocean, rendered his manner unlike that of Fox, whose eloquence, seemingly impeded by the rapidity of his conceptions, and like a great stream hiding itself among tangled thickets, and then re-appearing in its full expanse of waters, rushed forth like a torrent from his soul. In Fox's reasoning, I thought also that I could discover what was too evanescent for the commonplace reporter, a refined logic, conducting to the most beautiful of moral demonstrations.

(To be continued)

The Antiquary.

PRIVY PURSE EXPENSES IN THE REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH.

THE following extracts are taken at random, from a list of the privy purse expenses of the family of Lestrange of Hunstanton, given by the Society of Antiquaries in their last volume of the Archaeologia. They were communicated by Daniel Gurney, Esq. who, in an introductory article, observes that "the average money value of things in these accounts is about one-tenth of what they are at present; and where this does not hold good, it probably arises from the article being more or less scarce by comparison with the present day; manufactured goods being of higher value from the absence of any but the most simple machinery at that period; and the very great variation in the price of wheat; shewing the uncertainty of the supply.""11 Henry 8, 1819.

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ship without being hurt. a trial was given him in the Thames, accompanied by a boatswain to one of his Majesty's ships, who had been married only a week before, in a boat of a xviij similar construction to the one before described, to a barge moored in the middle of the stream. They sunk their boat, made fast the torpedo to the bottom of the barge, and lighted the match. Johnson then perceived that his vessel remained fast, having got (as the sailors express it) his cable athwart hawse of the barge. Upon which he pulled out his watch, and having looked at it attentively, told the boatswain that he had only two minutes and a half to live. Upon this the boatswain began to make grievous lamentations-"Oh, my poor dear Nancy!" said the boatswain, "what will she say?"-" Avast, blubbering," said Johnson; "Doff your jacket, and be ready to stuff it in the hawse-hole while I cut the cable." Upon saying this, Johnson seized an axe, and cut the cable. The boatswain stuffed his jacket into the hole, and they got out of the reach of the torpedo, which blew up the barge.

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FOR EFFECTING THE ESCAPE OF NAPOLEON FROM ST. HELENA.

Ir is not, perhaps, generally known that a few years since a vessel was engaged to be built at Battersea, by the renowned Johnson the smuggler, for the purpose of liberating Buonaparte from the island of St. Helena. The vessel was about 90 feet long, and of the burden of 100 tons. It was built of half-inch plank; the grain of two of such planks was placed in a vertical and the other two in a horizontal position. These planks were so well caulked and cemented together that the thickness of the sides of the vessel did not exceed that of an ordinary washing-tub. The masts were so contrived that they could be lowered to a level with the deck, and the whole vessel might be sunk in shoal water, with the crew on board, without danger. Ample means were provided for supplying the vessel with fresh air. The plan was, to sail up at night, within a short distance of St. Helena, and sink the vessel until the next or some subsequent night, when the emperor would be enabled to make his escape to the beach, at which time the vessel was to be raised, Buonaparte to get on board, and sail away in the dark. It happened, however, that Buonaparte died before the vessel was quite finished; and it is a curious coincidence that she was to be coppered the very day the news of his death arrived. Johnson was to have received 40,000l. as soon as the vessel had got into blue water, exclusive of the reward to be given in case the enterprise succeeded. This Johnson had previously offered his services to the Admiralty, and affirmed that he could blow up any

A REBELLION OF FEMALES IN MADA

GASCAR.

A female rebellion took place a little while ago, in consequence of the following extraordinary grievance:-It was the privilege of persons of that sex to dress the king's hair; and in the beauty of their long black locks, both men and women take great pride. When Prince Rataffe returned to Madagascar from England, his head had been shorn of its barbarous honours, and converted into a curly crop. Radama was so pleased with this foreign fashion that he determined to adopt it,―to rid himself, probably, of the periodical plague of hairdressing, which, according to the costume of his country, was a work of no little labour on the part of his female barbers, and of suffering patience on his part. Accordingly, he took an opportunity, when he happened to be at some distance from his capital, to have his head polled nearly to the scalp. His first appearance in public, so disfigured, threw the women, whose business was thus cut up, into equal consternation and frenzy. They rose in mass, and their clamours threatened no little public commotion. But Radama was not a man to be intimidate or averted from his purpose, by such means. His measures were severe and decisive. He surrounded the whole insurgent mob with a body of

well-disciplined soldiers, and demanded the immediate surrender of four of their ringleaders. These being given up, he turned to his guards and said, 'Will no body rid me of these troublesome women?' when those present rushed upon the poor creatures, and slaughtered them at once. Radama then commanded the dead bodies to be thrown into the midst of their companions, who were kept three days without food in the armed circle of military, while the dogs, before their eyes, devoured the putrid corpses of their friends. The consequences did not stop here; infection broke out, some died, and the rest fled, and returned to their homes. — Bennet and Tyerman's Voyages and Travels.

THE GOD OF THIEVES.

HAVING occasion to recur to the former state of society in these islands, we have just heard that, among other idols, there was a god of thieves, held by his worshippers in the highest honour. He was called Hiro; and among his votaries were many of the cleverest men, not from the lower ranks only, but even some of the principal chiefs. The arts and contrivances which these resorted to, in order to obtain the property of their neighbours and strangers, proved that this strange representative of Satan was served with more than ordinary devotion. His rites were celebrated in darkness, at the change While the husband prowled forth to rob, the wife went to the marae to pray for his success; yet, if success were not always found, it would be with an ill grace if they should charge Hiro with bad faith towards his followers; for faithful as they were in making vows, they were knavish enough in forming them: thus, if a hog had been stolen, an inch or two of the tail was deemed sufficient thank-offering to him.

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meries. The book was lying before him; a small quantity of rice and some betelnuts was then poured on the ground at his feet; after which a few green leaves, and a little red powder, on a piece of paper, were brought. First he made a brief poojah or prayer; he then mixed some of the rice with the red powder, and distributed the grains among those who sat near him. A piece of camphor was next placed on a green leaf, and, being ignited, was carried round, when all that pleased held their hands over the flame, and then folded them in the attitude of supplication. Afterwards the betel-nuts and cere-leaves were given away by him to persons on the right hand and on the left. All this was done over the new almanack, which being thereby consecrated, the astrologer began to gabble over its pages with marvellous fluency, but, apparently, with not less precision. This fool's calendar (as it was, assuredly, in many parts, though equally suited to wiser men's occasions in others,) contained the usual heterogeneous prognostications, calculations, and lucubrations, on the weather, the hea

venly bodies, the prevailing vices, and the impending judgments, which characterize similar compositions in Christian Europe. The ceremony was concluded with another fit of music, singing, and dancing; after which chaplets of sweetscented flowers, sandal-wood, snuff, and plantains, were presented, as new year's gifts, to the chief inhabitants, and those strangers who happened to be there— among the rest to ourselves, with a modest expression of a hope, on the part of the astrologer, that the gentlemen would give him cloth for a mantle."

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A GIANT. Grimstone, in his history of the Netherlands, speaks of one Klaes van Knyten, a man of enormous size and stature. "This giant, (says he), was born in the village of Sparenwoude near Harlem: his father and mother were of ordinary stature, yet no man might be compared unto him, for the tallest men of all Holland might stand under his arm and not touch him; and yet there are commonly seen at this day (1627) verie tall men in that countrie. He would cover four ordinary soles of shoes with his foot: he terrified little children to behold him; and yet there was not any roughness or malice in him, but was gentle and mild as a lambe. For if he had been fierce and cruel answerable to his greatnesse and proportion, hee might have chased a whole armie before him."

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"In our owne times Sathan hath bin busie with divers persons, and in the time of our forefathers the devyls were wont to plaie strange prankes with men."

Witchcraft Unveiled, 1649. "I'm a happy fellow-a very happy fellow!" exclaimed Karl Wynck, a poor tailor, who dwelt in one of the oldfashioned narrow streets of Amsterdam. "The money I shall receive from the Burgomaster Harmen for making this cloak, shall be placed along with that I have already laid up, and, if fortune does not jilt me, I'll wed my little Elizabeth before I am six months older."

So saying, he rubbed his hands together with much satisfaction, and drawing his legs still closer under him, resumed his needle, singing merrily as he worked. But fate interferes with the humble as well as with the exalted; and the cup of felicity is as often dashed from the lips of tailors, as from those of more dignified professions; and Karl had soon experience of the truth of this axiom. His song, which in the fulness of his heart he was caroling at the top of his voice, was suddenly hushed, for a handsomely dressed cavalier dashing violently into the house, seized an old sword which hung over the fire-place, and disappeared as quickly as he had entered.

"This is strange!" muttered Karl,

P. 18.

"my visitor does not look like a thief." So he flung aside his work, jumped from the board, and running to the door, beheld at a short distance, two gentlemen engaged in fierce strife. One of the combatants almost instantly fell dead, while the victor casting away his weapon, fled precipitately up the street. Karl paid little attention to the fugitive, but flew to the assistance of the fallen cavalier, whose hand still grasped his rapier: he had been thrust through the heart, with the sword which had remained for many years a harmless occupant of the nail over the poor tailor's fire-place, but now lay near the corpse of the cavalier stained with gore,-the sight for the moment deprived Karl of speech and motion. His horror increased as he heard several voices in the crowd which had been drawn to the spot, denounce him as the assassin. Karl gave himself up for a lost man:-he attempted to explain the matter, but he did it in such a confused manner, and trembled so violently that many of the bystanders, who knew him to be a peaceable and inoffensive young man, now considered him guilty; in short, he was immediately hurried off to prison as a murderer. Here he was left to feel the horrors of his miserable situation: he paced his dungeon with a throbbing heart and racking brain, and thought on his blighted hopes and his sweetheart, who he felt persuaded would erase his very name from her remembrance. He

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