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think, also connected with the old church at the former place; at all events he occasionally officiated at that church. He rented the fine ancient structure nearly opposite thereto, called "Mary-le-bone Manor House," a view of which, with the gardens, park, and environs, as they appeared in Queen Elizabeth's reign, I have in my possession; and the engraving, perhaps, may be had of Messrs. Nichols, Son, and Bentley. Tradition reports, that this was a palace of Elizabeth; from her it came by grant to the Forsyths, and thence to the Duke of Portland. The plate alluded to is "dedicated to the noblemen and gentlemen educated at this noble mansion;" where, in the early part of the last century, a considerable school was kept bya Mr.De la Place, whose daughter, my grandfather, the Rev. John Fountayne, marrying, succeeded him in the school. About 1786, or 7, as I should think, he died, and in 1791 the house was pulled down, and some livery stables were upon the site of it when I was last in London. Having been at this school, from my infancy almost, down to about 1790, I have a perfect recollection of this fine and interesting house with its beautiful saloon and gallery, in which private concerts were held occasionally, and the first instrumental performers attended. My grandfather, as I have been told, was an enthusiast in music, and cultivated, most of all, the friendship of musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often and had a great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote which I have on the best authority, but first I must speak of Mary-le-bone Gardens :

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Until 1735, or 7, the public had free access to these gardens; but, the company becoming very respectable, the manager demanded a shilling on admission. The Evening Post, of March 19th, announced, "On Monday next, the 31st of March, the bowling-green will be opened by order of the nobility and gentry." Towards the middle of the century these gardens seem to have been on the decline. In 1790 they were nearly built over, and had, some time, been disused. A wooden, or boarded house, adjoining upon our playground, was used, it seems, as a theatre of pugilism, or a show for wild beasts.

While Mary-le-bone gardens were flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of Arne, was often heard from the orchestra here. One evening, as my grandfather and Handel were walking

together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the band. "Come Mr. Fountayne," said Handel, "let us sit down and listen to this piece I want to know your opinion of it." Down they sat, and after some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said, "It is not worth listening to-It's very poor stuff." "You are right Mr. F.," said Handel, "it is very poor stuff-I thought so myself when I had finished it." The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was beginning to apologise; but Handel assured him there was no necessity; that the music was really bad, having been composed hastily, and his time for the production limited; and that the opinion given was as correct as it was honest. I relate this anecdote by way of admonition to those who imagine that all music which is foreign, or by a great composer, must be "fine;" and because I have often been disgusted by the affectation and folly of people who will applaud a piece of vocal music merely because it is Italian, and for the sake of display, while they can sit unmoved by the enchanting compositions of Calcott, King, Webbe, and many of our old mu

sicians.

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Mary-le-bone was a sweet place in the days of my youth, but now, alas! how changed! Our only walk, beyond the play ground, was to "Primrose-hill," and "Green Berry-hill," across Welling's Farm." I well remember we used to gather sorrel, or goose-grass (greensauce it is here called); and we were permitted to buy "alicampane," and "parliament," at the gingerbread stalls by our way side. I cannot, however, look back to the "haunt of my boyish days," with the same pleasant reminiscence" as your correspondent (though among relations) A large public school I found a Pandemonium. I thought (as Lord Brougham is reported to have said some years ago of "another place") "that I had got into a den of lions;" the world had few charms, and my life was a burthen to me. what I have seen of "Grammar Schools," in the last century, I can imagine what they were in the 17th; and from what I have known of parents and schoolmasters I can well believe the anecdote of Ascham, respecting Lady Jane Grey and her tutor, Aylmer, though few such as Aylmer have been known.

From

"What a piece of work is Man!" how curious and wonderful the construction and operations of the human intel

lect !

I can remember Mary-le-bone in 1790 better than the lakes of Cumberland, &c., which I saw only in 1828; my recollection traverses every room in the palace, or manor-house. I can remember persons and events, then before me, more distinctly, by far, than such as engaged my notice only last year. I remember the "Jew's Harp," and another house kept by one Karleton (if I spell the name right), perhaps the "Old Queen's Head." I remember the fine gardens and mulberry trees, and seeing Lunardi, or Blanchard, in his balloon high over them. I remember anecdotes of Dr. Arne, and many eminent men; and especially of those wonderful men, Samuel and Charles Wesley, who, when children, were stars of the first magnitude in the musical world, and lived at or near Marylebone. But time and space fail me, and I have, perhaps, intruded too far upon your

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address of attachment to the Brunswick family, signed by about 600 persons. The influence of his personal character, and great landed property, with his ability, and devotion to the principles of the Revolution of 1688, rendered him an able supporter of the government. Mr. Noble speaks of his "great singularities," and alleges, as an instance, that on May 5, 1723, a sermon was preached at his funeral by Mr. Jeremiah Hunt, a dissenting minister, who apologizes in the preface, for not giving a character of the deceased, by quoting this clause from his will.-"I give to my Rev. friend, Mr. Jeremiah Hunt, pastor to the congregational church at Pinner's Hall, the sum of £- to preach a sermon on the last chapter of St. James, provided he makes no mention of my name in the said sermon: I would have it printed." There is no singularity in this, unless it be deemed singular for an upright man to do what may seem to him to be upright in the face of all men. Mr. Nevil was an able, honest, unflinching servant of his constitutents in the house of commons.

WAGES OF PARLIAMENT MEN.

By an act of parliament in 1544, temp. Henry VIII., 100 acres of meadow and 100 of pasture land at Maddingley, in Cambridgeshire, are declared to be of the yearly value of £10, and to be let to hire to John Hinde, serjeant at law, for that sum yearly, to the use and intent that the profits thereof should be for the fees and wages of the knights in parliament for the county of Cambridge. In consequence of this appropriation, the land was called the shire manor, and is so termed in the act of parliament.

Sun rises.

sets

Twilight ends

On the 24th of April, 1723, died at Billing beare, in Windsor Forest, Grey Nevil, Esq., of whom there is a mezzotinto portrait by G. White, after a paint ing by Dahl in 1720. He was descended from the family of the earl of Abergavenny. April 24. Day breaks His great ancestor, Sir Henry Nevil, knight, a gentleman of the bedchamber to king Edward VI., received a grant from that sovereign of the manor of Wargrave hundred, in Berkshire, of which he was deprived by queen Mary, but which was restored to him by Elizabeth. Mr. Grey Nevil was very popular among the dissenters, and was elected a member of parliament for Abingdon in 1705; for Wallingford and Wendover in 1708; for Wallingford in 1710; for Berwick upon Tweed in 1714; and with lord Barrington, as representatives for the latter place, presented to king George I. a memorable

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Moonwort, or Irish honesty, flowers in plenty. Buttercups begin to appear.

April 25.

ST. MARK.

The custom of the dumb cake on St. Mark's eve, and the usages upon this festival, are related at sufficient length in the Every-Day Book.

PRIVATE ENDS.

On Monday the 25th of April, 1825, in a lecture at the Leeds Philosophical Hall, Mr. Michael Sadler, mentioned, as a strange instance of perverted taste, the case of a respectable gentleman in the county of Derby, who has a strong penchant for the halters in which malefactors have been executed, and who, having made friends with the Jack Ketches of all the neighbouring counties, has collected a large number of nooses which have done their duty, and which now hang as lines of beauty, with the names of their former tenants attached to each, round a museum in his house. He is known as "a cut and

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the law in London.

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devote his energies, so long as they continued, to the improvement of mankind, we observe a growing indifference to passing scenes, and an elevation of mind that raised his contemplations to spiritual objects. Those religious impressions which he had imbibed early, and carried with him through life, were sharpened by the asperities of his situation. They became his solace under the frowns of the world, aud the staff of his old age. Disciplined in the school of affliction, he had been taught submission to the hand that inflicted it; and aware of the difficulties that beset a conscientious adherence to the path of duty, he made them a motive for vigilance, and frequent self-examination. In one of his latest publications, he says, 'I know not whether of the two is most difficult, in the course of a Christian's life, to live well or to die well.' In a former work, he has the following reflections suggested by a future state. I believe nothing would contribute more to make us good christians, than to be able to look and all things, causes, persons upon here, with the same eyes as we do when we are looking into eternity. Death sets all in a clear light; and when a man is, as it were, in the very boat, pushing off from the shore of the world, his last views of it being abstracted from interests, hopes, or wishes, and influenced by the near view of the future state, must be clear, unbiassed, and impartial.' With a mind elevated above the grovelling pursuits of the mere worldling, and steadily fixed upon the scenes that were opening to him as he approached the boundaries of time, De Foe could not be unprepared for the change that was to separate him from his dearest connexions. The time of his death has been variously stated; but it took place upon the 24th of April, 1731, when he was about seventy years of age."

Shall I, who, some few years ago, was less
Than worm or mite, or shadow can express,
Was nothing, shall I live, when every fire
And every star shall languish and expire?
When earth's no more, shall I survive above,
And through the radiant files of Angels move!
Or, as before the throne of God I stand,
See new worlds rolling from His spacious hand,
Where our adventures shall perhaps be taught,
As we now tell how Michael sung or fought?
All that has being in full concert join,
And celebrate the depths of LOVE DIVINE.

Young.

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The band once set off, the conductor leads, sometimes at a rapid, and sometimes a slow pace; some hold on, some hold off, some rest against the bars with breathless care, ready to start again, give chase, relief, or swell, as the notes prescribe. Feet correspond with heads, elbows with fingers, eyes with scores, gamuts, and themes. If some brows are knit and features distorted while charming the auditory, others are smooth and calm as the unruffled waters of summer. Their smiles are as the rays of the tones, reflected on admiring and sympathising listeners, whose spirits inhale the sweetness of the melody.

A peep at an orchestra is irresistibly droll. In spite of subdued feelings, and of a nature kind to all science, the assemblage of vocalists, with voices raised to the highest pitch, arms fixed to the firmest purpose, the war of strings, carnage of rosin, escape of air, crashes of sound, and earnestness of all engaged in the conflict, is to me immeasurably

humorous.

An orchestra, like "Quarle's Em

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On the 28th of April, 1738, Shakspeare's tragedy of Julius Cæsar was performed at Drury-lane theatre, for the purpose of raising a subscription for a monument to his memory, which was afterwards erected in Westminster Abbey.

The first collection of anecdotes of English composition is "Shakspeare's Jest Book," an elegant reprint, by Samuel Weller Singer, esq., of three tracts, containing

1. "The Hundred Merry Tales," 1557. It is to this book that Beatrice alludes, when she asks Benedict, "Will you tell me who told you that I was disdainful, and that I had my good wit out of the hundred merry tales?

2. "Tales and Quicke Answeres, very mery, and pleasant to rede." 1556. It contains 114 tales.

3. "Mery tales, Wittie Questions, and Quicke Answeres, very pleasant to be redde. 1567." This collection is alluded to by sir John Harrington, in his "Ulysses upon Ajax," where he says, 66 Lege the boke of Mery Tales." The general design of the book is to expose the friars, who preached against Erasmus as a heretic, including, however, some of no particular bent.

It is imagined, on the presumed internal evidence of the two following passages from Shakspeare's sonnets, that he was lame.

Sonnet 37.

So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give,

That I in thy abundance am suffic'd,
And by a part of all thy glory live.

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Pack clouds away, and welcome day,
With night we banish sorrow;
Sweet air blow soft, mount lark aloft,
To give my love good morrow.

Wings from the wind to please her mind,
Notes from the lark I'll borrow:
Bird, prune thy wing, nightingale sing,
To give my love good morrow.

To give my love good morrow,
Notes from them all I'll borrow.
Wake from thy nest, robin-red-breast,
Sing, birds, in every furrow:

And from each bill let music shrill |
Give my fair love good morrow.
Black-bird and thrush, in every bush,
Stare, linnet, and cock-sparrow,
You pretty elves, amongst yourselves,
Sing my fair love good morrow.
To give my love good morrow,
Sing, birds, in every furrow.

Thos. Heywood, 1638.

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April 30.

THE MEADOWS IN SPRING. [For the Year Book.]

These verses are in the old style; rather homely in expression; but I honestly profess to stick more to the simplicity of the old poets than the moderns, and to love the philosophical good humor of our old writers more than the sickly melancholy of the Byronian wits. If my verses be not good, they are good humored, and that is something.

"Tis a sad sight

To see the year dying;
When autumn's last wind

Sets the yellow wood sighing:
Sighing, oh sighing!

When such a time cometh,

I do retire

Into an old room,
Beside a bright fire;'
Oh! pile a bright fire!
And there I sit

Reading old things
Of knights and ladies,
While the wind sings:
Oh! drearily sings!

I never look out,

Nor attend to the blast;
For, all to be seen,

Is the leaves falling fast:
Falling, falling!

But, close at the hearth,
Like a cricket, sit I;
Reading of summer
And chivalry:

Gallant chivalry!

Then, with an old friend,
I talk of our youth;
How 'twas gladsome, but often
Foolish, forsooth ;'

But gladsome, gladsome!

Or, to get merry,

We sing an old rhyme That made the wood ring again In summer time:

Sweet summer time!
Then take we to smoking,
Silent and snug :

Nought passes between us,
Save a brown jug;

Sometimes! sometimes!

And sometimes a tear

Will rise in each eye,

Seeing the two old friends, So merrily;

Serrily!

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