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HOUSE OF COMMONS' LIBRARY.-Architects in fitting or adapting libraries, as receptacles for books, rarely give themselves any trouble as to the height, depth, or other calculations required for their proper disposition. A flagrant instance occurs in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament; in that of the Commons' House, its inconveniences have become a complete grievance, and on the 20th ult., the last day of the Session, elicited the following remonstrance.

Lord D. STUART said, as there was no business before the House, he would take the opportunity of calling attention to the state of the library. It was a most beautiful room, and it was, no doubt, very much admired; but its real beauty depended upon its usefulness, and its adaptation to its purpose. At present, however, much inconvenience, and even danger, arose from being compelled to get at the books by means of ladders. Every one of the librarians complained of it, and several of them had had serious falls. One of them had only saved himself by a most perilous leap, and a messenger had fallen from a height upon a coal-scuttle and smashed it. The fact was, that although the architect had made a most beautiful room, had paid no attention whatever to the wants and requirements of those who used it. The inconvenience might easily be removed by means of a light gallery round the apartment.

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Mr. MILNES stated, that the attention of the Library Committee had not hitherto been directed to the subject, but he had no doubt that something would now be done to remedy the evil of which the noble lord complained.

Lord PALMERSTON admitted, that in the arrangement of the building generally, utilitarianism had rather been sacrificed to ornament, and that the purposes for which different portions of it had been destined had not always been kept in view to an equal extent with the decorative principle. He thought that such a gallery as his noble friend proposed, or some kind of self-supporting ladders which moved upon castors, might answer the purpose.

SPANISH REVERENCE FOR THE DEAD.-The intolerance of the Spaniards in refusing a fitting burial-place in Madrid, for Protestant heretics, reminds one of their one-sided blindness in favour of those who have held, or hold opinions in accordance with the bigotry of the religion professed by the Pope of Rome. I enclose you an extract from Elmes' Annals of the Fine Arts, 1818, vol. iii. p. 573; as it may afford amusement to some of your readers.

"Some short time since, a foreign ambassador (the Spanish we believe) applied to the Vergers at Westminster Abbey, for the sacred dust that covered the tomb of Edward the Confessor, as a relique, for which they were offered to be paid by the bushel; the industrious sweepers not only cleared this ancient tomb, but every other in the whole Abbey, and sold it to His Excellency, who sent it to Spain, with a lively faith in its identity and efficacy.' C. W.

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ROYAL AUTOGRAPHS. Where is deposited the earliest known letter, bearing the autograph of a King of England? A COLLECTOR.

PAINTINGS BY POPE.-Current Notes, pp. 47, 55, the picture of Betterton was a copy of Kneller's admirable portrait, of which there is a rare print, mezzotinto, by Williams. It was formerly at Lord Mansfield's seat, at Caen Wood, but would seem to be no longer extant, as in the Gent.'s Mag. for April 1794, p. 315; the painting is there stated to have been accidentally burned and destroyed. Pope used to say, had not his eyes been bad, he should have made a tolerable painter. C. R. S.

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ROYALTY UNSTEADY.-William, Prince of Orange, after his marriage with the Princess Mary, in reference to King Charles the Second, and his ministers, once made the observation to Sir William Temple, Was there any thing so hot, and so cold, as this court of yours? Will the King, who is so often at sea, never learn the word that I shall never forget since my last passage, when in a great storm, the captain was cry- | ing out all night to the man at the helm, Steady! Steady! Steady!"

CHARLES THE SECOND," AN UGLY FELLOW."

The King, being with Nell Gwynne, and some other personages of his Court, in attendance at the house of Riley the painter, who was busied on a portrait of his Sovereign, and pourtraying his iron features with unflattering truth, as faithful as the life, exclaimed, on seeing this blunt and veritable likeness: "Is this like me? if so, then, odds' fish, I am an ugly fellow!" From a print by the younger Riley's picture, there is Faithorne.

It was the custom of the State painters of this period to paint the King in a black or very dark flowing wig. In one instance he is stated to have said: "Odds fish! how is this, I am always painted in a black wig, and the greatest villain in the kingdom, in a light one?" The allusion was possibly to Shaftesbury.

PROVIDING FOR A RAINY DAY.-Thomas Williamson of Castlerigg, in Cumberland, by will, dated Dec. 14, 1674, devised twenty pounds, to be laid out in land, to be bestowed upon poor people born within St. John's Chapelry, or Castlerigg, in mutton or veal, at Martinmas yearly, when flesh might be thought cheapest, to be by them pickled, or hung up, and dried, that they might have something to maintain them, within doors, upon rainy or stormy days. The Commissioners of Charities, vol. v. p. 82, found forty pounds, in money, of this charity unexpended.

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CAVALIER BALLADS AND VERSES.-A very in teresting volume might be compiled by a judicious selection from the Songs, Glees and Parodies which were fashionable among the Cavaliers during the Great Civil War, very many are of such a nature as to preclude their being reprinted now in this age of refinement in speech, but there are some against which no exception can be taken, such as have rarely been surpassed for wit, and possessing a high degree of poetic merit. Those which are satirical are almost all levelled at the Puritans, and surely the appar ent sanctity, and real profligacy of those men, who, to use the words of Dr. South, "expressed their honour to God, and their allegiance to their prince, by murdering the one, and desecrating the temples of the other," have never been laid bare more unsparingly; there is, of course, much comic exaggeration, in what is said, as there is always in satire, but the main ground work is truth; one of the best known of this class is the Mad Puritan," printed by Bishop Percy in his "Reliques," but there are many others of equal merit. Take for instance a few verses, from one written about 1640.

Know this my brethren, Heav'n is clear,
And all the clouds are gone.

The righteous men shall flourish now,
Good days are coming on.

Come then my brethren and be glad,

And eke rejoice with me,

Lawn sleeves and Rochets shall go down,
And Hey, then up go we!

We'll break down all the windows which
Babylon hath painted,

And when the Popish saints are down,
Then Burges shall be sainted.
There's neither Cross nor Crucifix

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Shall stand for men to see;
Rome's trash and trumpery shall go down,
And Hey, then up go we.

Whate'er the Popish hands have built,

Our Hammers shall undoe;

We'll break their pipes and burn their copes,

And pull down churches too:

We'll exercise within the groves,

And teach beneath a tree;

We'll make a pulpit of a cask,
And Hey, then up go we!
We'll down with all the 'Versities
Where Learning is profest,
Because they practise and maintain
The language of the Beast:
We ll drive the Doctors out of doors,
And parts, whate'er they be;
We'll cry all arts and learning down,

And Hey, then up go we!

One very singular form of the poetry of the day, was that of Echo verses. When these toys were invented is doubtful. A prose Echo dialogue was written by Erasmus,* with his usual ease and beauty of style; it

*Colloquia, edit. Elzevir, 1650, p. 400.

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LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL'S EXECUTION.-An hitherto unpublished letter of Sir Thomas Clarges.

MY LORD,-Yesterday, Walcott, Rous, and Hone, were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburne; and this day, my Lord Russell's head was severed from his body, at three strokes, on a scaffold in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The three first made long speeches, and gave them afterwards in writing to the Sheriffs. My Lord Russell sayd little, but gave a writing also to the Sheriff, and I suppose, at the beginning of the week, all these papers will be published. The Dean of Canterbury, and Doctor Burnet, were on the scaffold with him. I have nothing more to add to this hasty account, but that

I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most humble, and obedient servant,

July 21, 1683.

THO. CLARGES.

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JOE MILLER'S JEST-BOOK.-Josiah Miller, the Liston, or Compton, of his day, according to the obituaries of the time, died in August 1738; and was interred in the burial-ground of St. Clement's Danes, in Portugal Street, at the west end, near the watch-house, in front of the door of which, occupying the place of the now curbstone, formerly stood the parish stocks and whipping post.

Yesterday, on passing the gates, I strolled in; the grave stones are all moved, and building materials for the new hospital now obtrude irreverently over the graves. These chronicles of death's doings in by-gone days-the grave-stones-are, I learn, to be used and worked up in the progressive erection, so that the inscriptions in memory of the dead will be soon, if they are not so already, irremediably lost. Jo. Miller's

stone I found flat on the earth, at the east end, near the present hospital, the face upwards, with a great beam lying across it. Evidently some curiosity has been excited about the stone, but its present position seems to be the harbinger of its fate: its destruction may be thus foreseen.

With some difficulty, the inscription being much defaced by the operation of the weather, I transcribed the following:

Here lye the Remains of honest JO. MILLER, who was

a tender Husband,

a sincere Friend,

a facetious Companion,
and an excellent Comedian.
He departed this Life the 15th day of
August 1738, aged 54 years.

If humour, wit, and honesty could save
The humourous, witty, honest, from the grave,
The grave had not so soon this tenant found,
Whom honesty, and wit, and humour crown'd;
Could but esteem and love preserve our breath,
And guard us longer from the stroke of Death,
The stroke of Death on him had later fell,
Whom all mankind esteem'd and lov'd so well.
S. DUCK.

From respect to social worth,
mirthful qualities, and histrionic excellence,
commemorated by poetic talent in humble life;
the above inscription, which Time
had nearly obliterated has been preserved
and transferred to this Stone by order of
Mr. JARVIS BUCK, Churchwarden.
A.D. 1816.

The Jests ascribed to Jo. Miller, derived, however, from a variety of sources, were the compilation of John Mottley, a literary drudge of that day. The first edition, price one shilling,' was published in December 1738, but the title is not dated. The rarity of this dateless edition has greatly enhanced its price; at the Bindley sale, part ii, no. 974, Messrs. Longmans purchased his copy for eleven pounds five shillings. Sept. 13.

SEXAGENARIAN.

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H. A., is informed the third volume of Mr. Charles Roach Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, is restricted to Subscribers; the subscription is 248., payable on delivery of the first part; to be had only of the Author, 5, Liverpool Street, Finsbury Circus.

Dirty Dick's, (Current Notes, p. 37,) was No. 46, Leadenhall Street, the fourth house past Billiter Street end. It is now divided into two houses, the eastern part, No. 464, is Dick's Coffee House. The western portion is tenanted by Mr. Simkin, a furnishing ironmonger, while the contiguous premises, with its richly carved doorstead, formerly the Crown Tavern, is now in the occupation of Messrs. Hobappearance of the house remains the same, without the son, Export Ale and Porter merchants. The architectural dinginess of Dick Bentley's dirt. I remember him well.

A.

T. N. Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, after being published for more than a century, ceased on Saturday March 26, 1853. The copyright and interest of the veteran journal was purchased by the proprietors of the Bristol Times, to incorporate it with that paper, now entitled the Bristol Times and Felix Farley's Bristol Journal.

hare:

but is

No. XXXIV.]

WILLIS'S CURRENT
CURRENT NOTES

FOR THE MONTH.

"I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."-SHAKESPEARE.

CHARTER-HOUSE AND THE HOWARD FAMILY.

IN August, 1852, the kitchen of Sutton's Hospital in Charter-House, underwent a complete repair, the ceiling was raised, and the old oak tables and forms, on which, from its establishment in the days of King James the First, the recipients of Sutton's bounty, were wont to be seated, were withdrawn, for tables less cumbrous in form and size; and chairs took place of the forms. During the repairs, the room above the kitchen was despoiled of its flooring to give greater altitude to the kitchen; and while moving some woodwork from the wall, a large parcel of papers was discovered. The Irish labourers finding no hidden wealth, shovelled, without further heed, the debris, papers and all, into baskets, and carried them to a heap, on the other side of the square, behind the new buildings, to be carted off when required. One of the inmates in passing took two of the papers, but unable to read them, took no further notice of the affair, till recently, when a more practised eye, having deciphered both, the mischief in the destruction of these concealed papers is apparent.

The Priory of Carthusian Monks, hence the name of the Chartreuse, since perverted into Charter-House, was finally suppressed on June 10, 1537, and Edward, Lord North, having obtained it from the persons to whom it had been granted, made it his residence. After his decease, his son and heir, Roger, Lord North, with the concurrence of his father's executors, sold the Chartreuse in June 1565, to Thomas Howard, Earl and fourth Duke of Norfolk, for 28207. He resided here, till his commital to the Tower, in 1569, for meditating a marriage with Mary, Queen of Scotland, but Queen Elizabeth interposed her good offices, and under the pretext that the plague was then raging with direful virulence in the Tower Hamlets, permitted on August 4, 1570, his return to the Chartreuse, then called Howard House; under the promise of abandoning in future his intrigues with the Scottish Queen, and remaining under the surveillance of Sir Henry Nevill. Lord Henry Howard, the Duke's brother, who had shortly before appeared at Court, had order from the Queen never more to appear there, and his annuity from her, being withdrawn he became a dependant on the Duke, who granted him apartments in Howard House, but appears to have made him no certain provision, and at best treated him illiberally.

The Duke was again involved by his resuming his chimerical design of espousing the royal widow, and accordingly recommitted to the Tower, Sept. 7, 1571, being taken thence, never to return, from Howard House. Some particularly important papers, which the Duke had ordered Hickford his secretary to destroy, were found

VOL. III.

[OCTOBER, 1853.

under the matting leading to the Duke's bed-chamber; and the key, that led to the deciphering the characters, was found hidden under the tiles on the roof of the Chartreuse. Lord Henry Howard, the Duke's brother, was for a time not suspected, till at length Banister, the Duke's confidential agent, confessed in one of his examinations, that "the Duke being at first unwilling to attempt the marriage of the Queen of Scots himself, proposed his brother, the Lord Henry, for that object, to which the party, the Scottish Queen, objected, as not being well assured of him.”* Upon this information, the Lord Henry Howard was arrested, and committed to the custody of Edmund Grindall, Archbishop of York; he underwent many examinations, and again Queen Elizabeth appears to have been his friend, and prevented his enemies from including him in the same sentence with the Duke his brother, who was declared guilty by his peers in January 1572, and whose execution followed on June 2, in that year, with forfeiture of all his honours. The lynx-eyed Burleigh, and other ministers of Queen Elizabeth, were not to be deceived; from family connections, the Queen was disposed to deal most leniently with the Howards, but the tenets of the Popish faith inherent in the family, led them imperceptibly to conduct certainly not then tolerated, or permitted by the government. Lord Henry Howard, was indisputably secret and confidential adviser" of Queen Mary, and obstinately remained about the court of his Sovereign, whose clemency had saved him from the scaffold; his reasons subsequently admitted by himself were, “he did that, he might supply real information to the Queen of Scots, and not vague reports, which could only mislead her, and injure her cause." It was therefore the subject of his frequent accusations of treasonable propensities, and at the close of 1583 he became seriously involved. He was twice closely questioned before Lord Hunsdon, on Dec. 13th in that year, and on the ensuing January 1, 1584. Nothing was proved against him, so subtle were all his proceedings, but Queen Elizabeth piqued doubtless at being thus outwitted, did not liberate him. He was closely confined in the Fleet prison, and from thence it would seem he addressed to his cousin Philip, Earl of Arundel, the following letter, one of those adventitiously preserved from the rubbish at the CharterHouse.

"the

* See Murdin's State Papers, p. 134, and Camden's Annals, sub an. 1570.

+ Philip Howard, the eldest son of Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, born in 1557, and baptized in the presence of Queen Mary and Philip, the latter being his godfather, and left England for ever on the day the ceremony was performed. Having early adopted the faith of

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If I be bounden to God for anie one benefite in this world aboue othr, mine owne most swete and most dere Lord, it is for preparinge that interest and assured anchore holde in yor most honorable fauor wch from time to time hath bene a refuge vnto all my miseries. I could repeat a beade roll of yor so graciouse dealinge toward me wch neuer fayled in my nede. If yor Lo. could expect returne yor owne dewe praise, as I am ready to discharge my dutie, but till I may have better opportunity to expresse my dutifull and thankefull mynde, my prayerrs shall be my prologutorye.

Assure yor selfe, swet Lord, that it is a most inestimable comfort vnto me, that it pleaseth the swetest Lord that Liues, to interpose himselfe as a partye in defence of my credit, who wth the honor of his birth defaceth the presumption of a varlette, wth the weight of his word quaileth all that arrogancye dare avowe, and by the sufficiency of his penne and iudgement putteth spight to silence. I protest to God, I flatter not, but beside the aduauntage of myne owne cause wch receyueth most in able countenance and strength by the honor of yor name, but reioyse from the bottome of my harte that this occasion setteth yor delightfulle penne one work and giueth a plaine proufe of yor abilitye to those wch dwellinge furder of could not be witnesses of those rare giftes wch haue bene manifest to those that haue hard you speake in matteres of great moment. For myne owne part, I protest to God, I knowe not well, which to reioyse more in, the swetenesse of yor nature wch retaineth in it selfe that honorable sympathie that ought to rest in blood, and throbbeth at my wronge; or, in the strength that ariseth by yor countenance to so good a cause as I take myne to be; or, in the praise wch shall accompany yor good desart as the shadowe doth the body. All that I can doe, is to fall downe prostrat and kisse the swet foot of that swet Lord, who alwaies aydeth and assisteth me in my chefe extremities.

Thus beseching or Lord to comfort and strengthen yor Lo. in yor kind attempte, and to reward your goodnesse wth the greatest fauores that riches, heaven or earth can yeld, I most affectionately and humbly kisse the swet hand of the best Lord that Liues,

In hast this 15 of February.
Yor Lo. most affectionate
humble and professed
S'uant till death,

I most humbly beseech yor Lo. to thanke my Lo Thomas for his goodnesse toward me who hath acted more lyke a fathr than a nephewe. Or Lord make me thankefull to you, and for yor goodnesse, who as I have cause to saye, have been rare examples of good nature.

To the Night Esnorable my most Jerely beloved Lord the Erte of Acundas

[The paper, eleven inches by eight, folded to this size, and shewing the superscription; with the Howard family seal, on the back.]

Thomas Butler,† Earl of Ormonde and Ossory, are adAs the preceding letter, and also the following from

ence in the Tower, where he died in his thirty-eighth year, Nov. 19, 1595. His name over the chimney in Beauchamp's tower, yet remains.

The Lansdowne MS. 94, art. 39; is a very interesting paper by a popish priest named WILLIAM BENET, dated Jan. 23, 1588-9, denying his own accusations against the Earl. It is printed in the Archæologia, vol. xxxi. pp. 392393.

Brother of Philip, Earl of Arundel, to whom this sup

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Har plicatory letter was addressed.

the Romish Church, he succeeded to the title of Earl of Arundel, in right of his mother, and was summoned to Parliament by that title in 1580. He shewed his aversion to the Protestant faith, by declining to carry the Sword of State before the Queen to chapel; and endeavoured to escape abroad, but was arrested on the Sussex coast, sentenced in the Star Chamber to imprisonment, and a fine of ten thousand pounds. On the arrival of the Spanish Armada in the Channel, he most indiscreetly expressed his joy at the event; and his misdemeanours were then charged on him as treasons, for which he was tried in Westminster Hall, in 1589. Nothing beyond his being a Papist was substantiated against him, and his sentence was respited, but he was attainted in 1590, and suffered to languish his exist

+ Thomas Butler, Tenth Earl of Ormonde, educated at the Court of England, with Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward the Sixth, in whose reign he was distinguished as a volunteer at Musselburgh; in Queen Mary's for his exertions in repressing the rebellion of Wyatt; and in that of Elizabeth, having been appointed Lord Treasurer of Ireland, in 1559, for his appeasing the troubles there, he suppressed the rebellion of his brothers, in 1569, and took the Earl of Desmond prisoner in 1578. In 1581, he was appointed Lord Marshal of England, which office he declined as incompatible with his already defined duties in Ireland. The Earl was eminently distinguished in four reigns, as a man of great ability, comely in person, but of so dark and swarthy complexion, the Irish gave him the soubriquet of "Duffe;" and Queen Elizabeth good-humouredly called him her "black husband." His hospitality and great housekeeping, at his castles of Kilkenny and Carrick, caused him to be regarded as the most considerable

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