their appearance. himself, and having fired two pistols at the Duke, which providentially missed their aim, the whole party rode off as fast as they could. When the Duke's servants reached the spot, his Grace was so exhausted by the struggle as to be unable to speak, and so dark was the night that it was only from the light reflected from the diamonds in his star, that they were enabled to discover the spot where he lay.

The ruffian then disengaged

There is said to be honour among thieves, and consequently, notwithstanding that a a thousand pounds, a vast sum in the days of Charles the Second,-was offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of this impudent outrage, Blood remained, if not without suspicion, at least unmolested It was not till the following year, when he was captured in his famous attempt to seize the crown jewels, that it became generally known that he was the instigator of the attempt on the life of the Duke of Ormond. He was immediately conducted to the Tower, where, with that calm intrepidity which was the constitutional characteristic of this extraordinary man, he patiently and sullenly awaited the ignominious death which he could not fail to expect would be the inevitable consequence of his crime.

To the astonishment however of the world, Charles the Second expressed his determination of examining the daring culprit in person before his Privy Council. Blood, who seems to have been intimate

ly acquainted with the character and failings of his sovereign, took every advantage of this unexpected piece of good fortune; and, indeed, his conduct while under examination was a masterpiece of cunning. He excited the admiration of the King by his indomitable courage; he charmed him with the readiness of his wit, and ingeniously flattered him by the high respect which he expressed personally for his sovereign: The interview, indeed, was altogether a remarkable one. He candidly told the King, who put several questions to him in person, that on one occasion he had been engaged to kill his Majesty, and with this purpose had concealed himself, with a loaded carbine, in some reeds by the side of the Thames above Battersea, where Charles was accustomed to bathe; but, he added, that he was struck with so great an awe at the sight of majesty, that his heart failed him, and he relinquished the design.

He candidly confessed that he was author of the outrage on the Duke of Ormond, but when asked to name his associates:-"I would never," he said, "betray a friend's life, nor be guilty of a falsehood to save my own." When asked what provocation he could have received from the Duke, -his Grace, he said, had deprived him of his estate, and had executed some of his friends; and he added, that he belonged to a gang of ruffians as desperate as himself, who had bound themselves by the most solemn oaths to revenge the death of any of their associates. When asked

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by Charles how he could have the audacity to make his attempt on the crown jewels,father," said Blood, "lost a good estate for the crown, and I considered it no crime to recover it by the crown."-"What," said the King, "if I should give you your life?"—"I shall endeavour," replied Blood, "to deserve it."

Charles was evidently predisposed to pardon, but the Duke of Ormond was too powerful a subject not to be consulted on the occasion, and how could he be expected to overlook either the insolent outrage, or the daring attempt on his life? His reply, however, was worthy of the man. "If your Majesty," he said, "forgive his attempt on the crown, how can I withhold my forgiveness at his attempt on my life?" Blood was accordingly not only pardoned, but became even a favourite at court, had a pension conferred on him, and was subsequently the means of screening from the hands of justice more than one of his associates in treason and in crime.*

The Cocoa Tree Tavern, the lounging place of the wits, the dandies, and the adventurers of the days of Queen Anne, stood apparently on the site of the present building, which still bears its name, No. 64, on the west side of St. James's Street. Addison

* For a full account of Blood's extraordinary offences and adventures.-See Echard's "History of England," Carte's "Life of the Duke of Ormond," Bishop Kennett's "Complete History," Stowe's "Survey of London," Oldmixon's "History of the Stuarts," and Baxter's "History of his own Life and Times."

mentions it as a place of fashionable resort as early as 1710. "Sometimes," he says, "I am seen thrusting my head into a round of politicians at Wills', and listening with great attention to the narratives that are made in those little circular audiences. Sometimes I smoke a pipe at Childs', and while I seem attentive to nothing but the Postman, [newspaper] overhear the conversation of every table in the room. I appear on Sunday nights at St. James's Coffee-house, and sometimes join the little committee of politics in the inner room, as one who comes there to hear and improve. My face is likewise known at the Grecian, the Cocoa Tree, and in the theatres both of Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I have been taken for a merchant upon the Exchange for above these ten years, and sometimes pass for a Jew in the assembly of stock-jobbers at Jonathan's. In short, whenever I see a cluster of people, I always mix with them, though I never open my lips but in my own club.”*

It may be interesting, perhaps, to point the site of the different places here mentioned. Child's coffeehouse, then the resort of the clergy, was in St. Paul's Churchyard; St. James's stood at the bottom of St. James's Street, the corner house on the west side, opposite the palace; the Grecian stood in Devereux Court, outside Temple Bar, and continued to be styled the Grecian Coffee-house till within the last year or

* "Spectator," No. 1.

two, when it was converted into sets of hired chambers; and Jonathan's, the resort of the merchants and stock-jobbers, was in Change Alley.

The Cocoa Tree was the resort of Swift during his occasional visits to London, after he had become Dean of St. Patrick's. Prior, the poet, writes to him on the 30th of July 1717,-"I have been made to believe that we may see your reverend person this summer in England; if so, I shall be glad to meet you at any place; but when you come to London, do not go to the Cocoa Tree, (as you sent your letter,) but come immediately to Duke Street, where you shall find a bed, a book, and a candle; so pray think of sojourning nowhere else.” *

Gibbon, the historian, was a member of the Cocoa Tree after it had been converted into a fashionable club. On the 24th of November, 1762, he inserts in his private journal,-"I dined at the Cocoa Tree with Holt. We went thence to the play, (the "Spanish Friar,") and when it was over, returned to the Cocoa Tree. That respectable body, of which I have the honour of being a member, affords every evening a sight truly English. Twenty or thirty, perhaps, of the first men in the kingdom, in point of fashion and fortune, supping at little tables covered with a napkin, in the middle of a coffee-room, upon a bit of cold meat or a sandwich, and drinking a glass of punch. At present, we are full of king's counsellors and lords

*Swift's "Correspondence."