e enclosure referred to is the following extract from ly Advertiser of November 29, 1742: "Stolen from v. Dr. Denne, Archdeacon of Rochester, on Saturst, a large polish'd Silver Waiter, weighing 38 oz. ts., with a Coat of Arms engrav'd, viz. two ds Heads on two Haunches (Flaunches), impal'd ree Staggs Heads, on a Fess, the Crest a Stag t; a Silver Waiter of a less size, the Arms as two Hand-Waiters, weighing 12 oz., the Crest as two large Silver Candlesticks, with Snuffers and weighing 47 oz., the Crest as above; a small ng Candlestick, the Crest as above; three Silver , weighing 19 oz., the Crest as above; a Silver d, mark'd IDE; a Silver Cup with two Handles, ID; two Pair of Silver Salts, one pair mark'd he other WB; a small silver Saucepan, the Crest ve; a small Silver Porringer, with Arms of Brunlarge Soup-Spoon, the Crest as above; a large Scuer; a Marrow-Spoon, marked IDS; a Punchmark'd ID; eleven large Silver Spoons, mark'd three ditto, mark'd B; one ditto, mark'd ID, a Shagreen Case, with eight Silver Tea-Spoons, and Strainer, mark'd D; five other Tea-Spoons, D; two Tea-Spoons, mark'd B; and a Silver Pot, the crest as above. If any Person into whose the above Plate, or any part of it may fall, will otice to Mr. Pemberton, Bookseller, at the Buck in treet, he shall have Ten Shillings in the Pound dupon producing the said Plate; and Ten Guineas rovided the Person offering any part of it to Sale r'd, so as to be brought to Justice." arly all Denne's long series of letters to Kerrich, from 1755, are sealed with his arms impaling those of e, Susanna, younger daughter of Samuel Bradford, of Rochester. It is noteworthy that no silver forks luded among the plate stolen. They were always than spoons, up to almost the end of the century. The "Smoaking Candlestick" has a displeasing sound. It was simply what is now known as a taper candlestick, and was the attribute of every gentleman's study, placed together with the tobacco-box on the small round top of a mahogany table. Kerrich's silver smoking candlestick, without nozzle (an item which was not introduced before 1740), and the tall mahogany table belonging to it, are in the Editor's possession. Dignitaries of the church then smoked contemplative long flat-spurred clays from Broseley, like gentlemen, in the quiet of their rooms, a procedure in pleasing contrast with that of the present time, when the clergy may be seen with short wooden pipes in their mouths in every third-class carriage, and on all public promenades. It is not edifying. Some of Denne's plate, marked WB, appears to have belonged to his late brilliant brother-in-law, William Bradford—a delightful correspondent of Kerrich -whom Denne succeeded as Archdeacon of Rochester on Bradford's death, at the early age of thirty-two. The strainer, part of the contents of the shagreen case, is a small spoon ornamentally pierced in the bowl, with a long handle spiked at the end for clearing out the leaves from the bottom of the sprout of the teapot, before the fixed strainer was introduced. A spoon of precisely the same character was used by the revellers up to the end of the century for taking the lemon pips out of the punch bowl, and spearing the floating lemon-peel. Spoons of this form have also been considered, but apparently upon no definite authority, as specially for mulberries and olives, LETTER X "Mar. 1, 1742-3. "DEAR SIR, "I was abroad when Mr. Pierce came hither with your letter. But yesterday I received one from him, & in my answer to it this day I have desired him to come hither one day this week that I may talk with him about a curacy of £40 a year, well paid, which perhaps I may be able to help him to. I am laid up with the gout, & it would be charity to come & see me, & to bring tackle in your pocket for a Sunday's work, for by the poor condition of Mr. Phelps's health, & his melancholy for the disappointment of Barsham living, we are very scantily provided with labourers at this time. The old gentleman works hard. "I am, Yours very affectionately "E. PYLE. "Service to Mrs. Kerrich above stairs. "My Lord of Norwich certainly goes to York at Lancelot's Death." Mrs. Kerrich's situation "above stairs" refers to her long weakness after the birth of her first living child, Matilda, who died in 1823. With reference to the approach of this event Elizabeth Townshend, daughter of Bishop Sherlock, and sister of Bishop Gooch's first wife, thus expressed herself in a letter to the prospective mother: "I remember 'twas remarkable Dr. Trimmel's Lady never Bred till he was made A Bishop. I would not have you stay for that, but begin with A Dr of Divinity first & ye Bishop may come in time." Lancelot Blackburne thus familiarly alluded to had been translated from Exeter to York in 1724. He was a prelate notorious for the extraordinary freedom of his manners. It is recorded that on the occasion of a visitation at St. Mary's, Nottingham, he ordered pipes and tobacco and liquors to be brought into the vestry "for his refreshment after the fatigues of confirmation." Blackburne is said to have acted early in life as chaplain on board a buccaneer, and many unsavoury slanders were propagated concerning him, and readily credited by the town, and to which his free and easy manners gave colour. F His considerable knowledge of the world-for he was "hackneyed in the ways of men "-well fitted him for discerning the characters of the clergy in his diocese, many of which, Pyle tells us later on, he left behind him for the benefit of his successor. "DEAR SIR, LETTER XI "St James's, Apr 21, 1743. "The King having been pleased to give leave for my father to resign his living in Lincolnshire to me, I shall have so much to do to get this affair signed twice by the King before he goes abroad, then to get it through the offices of the Privy & Great Seal, then through the office at Lambeth, & then to the Great Seal again, & then institution, that I cannot possibly be at Lynn till the middle of next month, on the 8th day of which I earnestly beg of you to preach for me there. "Lord Orford's illness & absence for air &c., occasioned this affair to be entered upon so late, that I have had infinite trouble to prevent its being hung up till the King comes back, which God grant &c― "Dear friend excuse my freedom who am yrs most heartily, "E. PYLE. He was "His Grace of York sends you his service. confirmed to-day." (Addressed) To The Revd Dr Kerrich at Dersingham, To be left at Mr Smith's at the corner of the Grass Market in Free Bener.] Winchester. Parlia The absence of the King was on this wise. ment was prorogued on April 21, the date of this letter. Votes had been passed for 40,000 seamen, 11,000 marines, 23,000 men for home guard and garrison, and 16,000 further British troops for Flanders. In the King's speech he informed the Houses that he had ordered his army to cross the Rhine for the support of the "King" of Hungary, Maria Theresa. These additions were required for what turned out both a difficult and a glorious campaign against the French. It may be recalled that its crowning feature was the Battle of Dettingen, June 27, 1743, the last occasion on which an English king commanded in person. George II. then fought with the greatest gallantry; his people, up to the end of his life, never forgot his bravery, and looked with leniency upon his many shortcomings. The Cheshire Regiment, which rallied round the King at Dettingen in a moment of extreme danger, was then granted the privilege of wearing the Oak Leaf— one of the signs of its heroic past which is always displayed on occasions of ceremony. Among the troops that were ordered abroad in 1743 was Lord Sempel's Highland regiment. A panic among these men as to their real destination led to the romantic incident known as "The Mutiny in the Black Watch," while temporarily in camp at Finchley on their way to the Continent, the capture of the deserters to the number of a hundred and sixteen in a wood near Oundle, Northamptonshire, May 22, 1743, and the execution of the ringleaders. A narrative of the mutiny was compiled by the Duke of Athole, from the original proceedings of the General Courts-Martial, and published at Perth in 1893. In a letter from James Hoste, M.P., of Sandringham Hall, to Kerrich, June 25, 1743, he says that he had just seen an Extraordinary Gazette which had been sent down and reprinted at Lynn; he enclosed a copy, a reproduction of which appears here. The date of the |