ETON BOYS

Two Eton boys were spending their holidays with a friend at Sunninghill, and had wandered into the forest, where they met a fresh-looking old gentleman in the Windsor uniform, who stopped them, and jestingly asked if they were playing the truant? They gave an account of themselves, and said they had come to see the king's stag-hounds throw off. "The king does not hunt to-day," said the kind stranger; "but when he does I will let you know; and you must not come by yourselves, lest you should meet with some accident." They parted; and two or three days after, while the family at Sunninghill was at breakfast, one of the royal yeomen prickers rode up to the gate, to acquaint them that the king was waiting till he brought the two young gentlemen to a place where they might see in safety.

VETERAN PRACTICE.

At the conclusion of a review of the 2d regiment of life guards, in June, 1798, two privates went through the sword exercise before the king; after which Lord Cathcart inquired if his majesty would be pleased to see two of the youngest officers display their science in the use of the sword? He assented, and was much gratified with their execution. His majesty then turned to the general, and inquired who were the oldest officers present and on being answered that Lord Cathcart and Major Barton were, he desired to see them perform, laughing heartily, and telling his lordship that he had brought the exhibition on himself. They accordingly turned out to the great amusement of those present: and though the major's system savored a little of the old school, they acquitted themselves very respectably.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

The queen, hearing that Mr. Raikes of Gloucester was at Windsor, on a visit to one of his relations, sent for him to the lodge, and expressed a desire to know by what accident a thought which promised so much benefit to the lower orders of the people, as the institution of Sunday Schools, was suggested to his mind, and what effects were observable in consequence of the manners of the poor. In a conversation which lasted more than an hour, her majesty said, that she envied those who had the power of doing good, by thus personally promoting the welfare of society, in giving instruction and morality to the general mass of the poor people, a pleasure from which, by her situation, she was unfortunately debarred.

CROYDON VOLUNTEERS.

As the volunteer corps of the metropolis and its neighborhood were once passing in review before the king on Wimbledon Common, the officer who carried the colors of the Croydon corps was so taken up with gazing on his majesty, that he forgot to pay the usual compliments of lowering the colors. Some time after his majes

In the queen's library at Frogmore there is a port folio of drawings, about fifty in number, done by his Majesty George III. when Prince of Wales; they represent problems from a work on practical geometry, with vignettes to each, drawn in India ink, on small folio paper. His Majesty had an early predilection for the study of architecture, and this preparatory department of science was the ground-work of the king's It is probable tha knowledge of that noble art. these drawings were made with Mr. Kerby, the father of Mrs. Trimmer, as that ingenious artist had the honor to instruct his majesty in the science of lineal perspective. They were found by the queen a few years since, in a desk, and placed in a red morocco folio; on the first page of which the queen inscribed with her own hand, that they were discovered by her majesty, and that they were executed by the king, when Prince of Wales.

THE DUCHESS OF YORK.

A company of strolling players having obtained leave to exhibit in a barn at Weybridge, petitioned her royal highness to honor the performance with her presence; to which she consented, and gave tickets to all her servants. Soon after an itinerant methodist came to preach a charity sermon in the same building (the barn), and application was again made to the duchess to visit the place, with which she complied; but the servants desired to be excused, on the plea that they did not understand English. "Oh!" said her royal highness, "you had no objection to go to the comedy, which you understood much less, and so you shall go to the sermon." The duchess accordingly went with all her train, and contributed liberally on the occasion, as well for them as for herself.

THE ROYAL DOWER.

The parliament proceeded, like loyal subjects, to make provision for the queen, in case of his majesty's decease. Her majesty was allowed a jointure of one hundred thousand pounds, with Somerset House, and the lodge at Richmond Old Park, for her town and country residence. When the act passed, her majesty, who sat on a chair of state on the king's right hand, 1ose up and made her obeisance to the king, not to the representatives of the people; perhaps unconscious that it was the nation, and not the sovereign, who bestowed upon her this liberal grant.

LET HIM THAT LOVES ME, FOLLOW ME.

"Armies of fearful hearts will scorn to yield, If lions be their captains in the field."

Alleyn.

Francis I. of France had not reached his twentieth year, when he was present at the celebrated battle of Marignan, which lasted two days. The Marshal de Trivulce, who had been in eighteen pitched battles, said, that those were the play of infants; but that this of Marignan was the combat of giants. Francis performed on this occasion prodigies of valor; he fought less as a king than as a soldier. Having perceived his standard-bearer surrounded by the enemy, he precipitated himself to his assistance in the midst of lances and halberts. He was presently surrounded; his horse pierced with several wounds; and his casque despoiled of its plumes. He must have been inevitably overwhelmed, if a body of troops detached from the allies had not hastened to his succor. Francis hazarded this battle against the advice of his generals; and cut short all remonstrance by the celebrated expression, which became afterwards proverbial, "Let him that loves me, follow me.'

PRINCE MAURICE OF NASSAU,

At the battle of Nieuport, in the year 1600, Prince Maurice sent away his ships, that there might be no means of retreat for his troops; in leading them to engage, he said, "My friends, you have Nieuport behind you, which is in possession of the enemy; the sea on your left; a river on the right; and the enemy in front: there is no other way for you to pass, but over the bodies of these men." By this heroic resolution he gained a battle which saved the republic, and did himself the highest honor.

SPECKBACHER, TYROLEAN LEADER. When the Austrians abandoned the Tyrol to the merciless invasion of the French, in 1809, Speckbacher and Hofer, the two leaders of the Tyrolese, retired to their respective valleys, and roused the peasantry to a continuance of the war by their eloquence and their example. Speckbacher undertook himself to convey the intelligence of the ardor which prevailed in his valleys across the Inn, that was then occupied by the French troops. He set out accordingly, accompanied by his tried friends, George Zoppell and Simon Lechner, and endeavored to penetrate across that part of the valley which seemned most weekly guarded. But in the middle of the night, while they were treading softly through a broken tract of rocks and under-wood, they came upon a detachment of one hundred Bavarian dragoons. They had gone too far to recede; but neverthe

less they hesitated for a moment before they ventured to attack their opponents, who were leaning on their arms round a blazing fire, with their horses standing on the outside of the circle. Being determined, however, to risk everything rather than abandon their purpose, they levelled their rifles, and by the first discharge killed and wounded several of the enemy. During the confusion which ensued upon this unexpected attack, they loaded their pieces, and hastily mounting the cliffs, fired again before their numbers were perceived. The Bavarians conceiving that they were beset by a large body of the peasantry, fled in all directions; and Speckbacher, with his brave associates, succeeded in penetrating before morning to the outposts of their countrymen.

PHILIP OF MACEDON.

A commander must

Use pretty cheats; dark stratagems devise."
Alleyn's Cressey.

Philip of Macedon won Prinassus by the following stratagem. He attempted first to undermine the city, but found the ground so rocky as to resist his most vigorous and repeated efforts. He still however persevered, and commanded his pioneers to make a more than ordinary bustle and noise below ground. In the night he caused earth to be secretly brought from a distance, and raised enormous mounds at the entrance of the mine, in order to inspire the besieged with the belief that the work went forward with astonishing rapidity. At length he informed the townsmen, that two acres of their wall were undermined, and stood upon wooden props, to which if he set fire and entered by a breach, they might expect no mercy. The Prinassians were deceived, and surrendered at discretion to an enemy, who could not with his utmost exertions have taken the town by real force.

RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.

Xenophon accompanied Cyrus, the younger, in the expedition against his brother Artaxerxes, King of Persia. In the army of Cyrus, Xenophon showed that he was a true disciple of Socrates, and that he had been educated in the warlike city of Athens. After the decisive battle in the plains of Cunaxa, and the fall of young Cyrus, the prudence and vigor of his mind were called conspicuously into action. The ten thousand Greeks who had followed the standard of an ambitious prince, were now at a distance of above six hundred leagues from their native home, in a hostile country, and surrounded on every side by a victorious enemy, without money, without provisions, and without a leader.-Xenophon was selected from among the officers to superintend the retreat of his countrymen; and though

he was often opposed by malevolence and envy, yet his persuasive eloquence and unceasing activity convinced the Greeks of the justness of their choice, and that no general could extricate them from every difficulty better than the disciple of Socrates. To every danger he rose superior; across rapid rivers, through vast deserts, and over lofty mountains; exposed continually to the attacks of a vigilant enemy; without any other resources than his own prudence and the devotion of his troops; he succeeded at last, after a perilous march of two hundred and fifteen days, in restoring his countrymen to their native home.

THE GREAT DUKE OF ARGYLE.

At the siege of Mons, during the glorious career of Marlborough, the Duke of Argyle joined an attacking corps when it was on the point of shrinking from the contest; and pushing among them, open-breasted, he exclaimed, "You see, brothers, I have no concealed armor; I am equally exposed with you; I require none to go where I shall refuse to venture. Remember you fight for the liberties of Europe, and the glory of your nation, which shall never suffer by my behavior; and I hope the character of a Briton is as dear to every one of you." This spirit animated the soldiers; the assault was made, and the work was carried.

RACE FOR A CROWN.

In the year 776, on the death of Premislaus, or Lescus I. King of Poland, the people, to determine who should succeed, appointed a race; and declared whoever won it, should be king. On this, one of the candidates secretly strewed iron hooks in certain parts of the course, by which, on the day of competition, the horses of all the other candidates were lamed, while he knowing how to avoid them, came first to the goal. The fraud, however, being discovered, he was killed on the spot, and a poor fellow, called Lescus, who had run the race on foot, being next to the impostor, the people saluted him prince. It is said that he always kept his mean clothes, to remind him of his humble origin. The throne descended to his son and grandson; when a new election taking place in 820, the Poles exalted to the royal dignity Piastrus, a wheelwright.

REWARD OF INDUSTRY. "This is only witchcraft I have used." Shakspeare. Pliny tells us of one Cressin, who so tilled and manured a piece of ground, that it yielded him fruits in abundance, while the lands around him remained extremely poor and barren. His simple neighbors could not account for this wonderful difference on any other supposition, than that of his working by enchantment; and they actually proceeded to arraign him for his supposed sorcery, before the justice seat. "How is it," said they, "unless it be that he enchants us, that

he can contrive to draw such a revenue from his inheritance, while we, with equal lands, are wretched and miserable?" Cressin was his own advocate; his case was one which required not either ability to expound, or language to recommend. "Behold," said he, "this comely damsel; she is my daughter, my fellow laborer; behold, too, these implements of husbandry, these carts, and these oxen. Go with me, moreover, to my fields and behold there how they are tilled, how manured, how weeded, how watered, how fenced in! And when," added he, raising his voice, "you have beheld all these things, you will have beheld all the art, the charms, the magic, which Cressin has used !"

The judges pronounced his acquittal, passing a high eulogium on that industry and good husbandry which had so innocently made him an object of suspicion and envy to his neighbors.

FISHER-BOY OF NAPLES.

In the year 1647, there lived at Naples a poor fisher-boy, of the name of Tomaso Anello, vulgarly corrupted into Masaniello. He was clad in the meanest attire, went about barefoot, and gained a scanty livelihood by angling for fish, and hawking them about for sale. Who could have imagined that in this poor abject fisher-boy, the populace were to find the being destined to lead them on to one of the most extraordinary revolutions recorded in history? Yet so it was. No monarch ever had the glory of rising so suddenly to so lofty a pitch of power, as the barefooted Masaniello. Naples, the metropolis of many fertile provinces, the queen of many noble cities, the resort of princes, of cavaliers, and of heroes,-Naples, inhabited by more than six hundred thousand souls, abounding in all kinds of resources, glorying in its strength; —This proud city saw itself forced, in one short day, to yield to one of its meanest sons, such obedience as in all its history it had never before shown to the mightiest of its liege sovereigns. In a few hours, the fisher-lad was at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand men; in a few hours, there was no will in Naples but his; and, in a few hours, it was freed from all sorts of taxes, and restored to all its ancient privileges. The fishing wand was exchanged for the truncheon of command, the sea-boy's jacket for cloth of silver and gold. He made the town be entrenched; he placed sentinels to guard it against danger from without; and he established a system of police within, which awed the worst banditti in the world into fear. Armies passed in review before him; even fleets owned his sway.-He dispensed punishments and rewards with the like liberal hand; the bad he kept in awe; the disaffected he paralysed; the wavering he resolved by exhortations; the bold were encouraged by his incitements; the valiant made more valiant by his approbation.

Obeyed in whatever he commanded, gratified in whatever he desired, successful in whatever he attempted, never was there a chief more absolute never was an absolute chief for a time more

powerful. He ordered that all the nobles and cavaliers should deliver up their arms to such officers as he should give commission to receive them. The order was obeyed. He ordered that men of all ranks should go without cloaks, or gowns, or wide cassocks, or any other sort of loose dress, under which arms might be concealed; nay, that even the women, for the same reason, should throw aside their farthingales, and tuck up their gowns somewhat high. The order changed in an instant the whole fashions of the people, not even the proudest and the fairest of Naples' daughters daring to dispute in the least the pleasure of the people's idol. Nor was it over the high and noble alone that he exercised this unlimited ascendency. The " fierce democracy" were as acquiescent as the titled few. On one occasion, when the people in vast numbers were assembled, he commanded with a loud voice, that every one present should, under pain of rebellion and death, retire to his home. The multitude instantly dispersed. On another, he put his finger on his mouth to command silence; in a moment every voice was hushed.

The reign of this prodigy of power was indeed short, lasting only from the 7th till the 16th of July, 1647; when he perished, the victim of another revolution in affairs. It was a reign marked too with many atrocious excesses, and with some traits of indescribable personal folly; yet as long as it is not an every-day event for a fisher-boy to become a king, the story of Masaniello of Naples must be regarded with equal wonder and admiration, as exhibiting an astonishing instance of the genius to command existing in one of the humblest situations of life, and asserting its ascendency with a rapidity of enterprise to which there is no parallel in history.

MAGDALENE DE SAINT NECTAIRE. Magdalene de Saint Nectaire, the widow of Gui de Saint Exaperi, was a protestant, and distinguished herself very much in the civil wars of France. After her husband's death, she retired to her château at Miremont, in the Limousin, where, with sixty young gentlemen, she used to make excursions upon the catholic armies in the neighborhood. In the year 1575, M. Montel, governor of the province, having had his detachments often defeated by this extraordinary lady, took the resolution to besiege her in her château with fifteen hundred foot and fifty horse. sallied out upon him, and defeated his troops. On returning, however, to her château, and finding it in the possession of the enemy, she galloped to a neighboring town, Turrenne, to procure a reinforcement for her little army. Montel watched for her in a defile; but his troops were defeated, and himself mortally wounded.

COUNTESS DE MONTFORT.

She

When the dispute arose concerning the succession to the Dukedom of Bretagne, in the middle of the fourteenth century, the interests of John de Montfort were supported by the courage and

perseverance of his wife, Jane, sister to the Earl of Flanders. As soon as she heard of her husband's captivity, she presented her infant son to the citizens and garrison of Rennes, and exhorted them to defend the cause of the child, the only male issue, besides his father, of their ancient princes. During the winter, she retired to the fortress of Hennebon; and in the spring, when Charles de Blois, with a numerous army, invested the fortress, the heroine on horseback, and in armor, directed and encouraged the garrison. On one occasion during an assault, she sallied out at the opposite gate, set the camp of the besiegers on fire, retired to the neighboring castle of Aurai, and shortly after fought her way back into Hennebon. The same lady afterwards, with a small force of archers and men at arms, besieged and took the city of Vannes.

BLACK AGNES.

During the war which Edward III. maintained in Scotland, part of the English army, led on by Montague, besieged Dunbar, which the Countess of March, commonly called Black Agnes, defended with uncommon courage and obstinacy. This extraordinary woman exhibited her scornful levity towards the besiegers, by ordering her waiting maids to brush from the walls the dust produced by their battering engines, and this in sight of the English; and when a tremendous warlike engine, called a sow, approached the walls, the countess called out, Montague, beware! your sow shall soon cast her pigs: " which she verified; for an immense mass of rock, thrown from a lofty tower, accompanied her threat, and crushed the ponderous missile, and the besiegers which it contained.

ROYAL FEMALE PIRATE.

Avilda, daughter of the King of Gothland, contrary to the manner and disposition of her sex, exercised the profession of piracy, and was scouring the seas with a powerful fleet, while a sovereign was offering sacrifices to her beauty at the shrine of love. King Sigar perceiving that this masculine lady was not to be gained by the usual arts of lovers, took the extraordinary resolution of addressing her in a mode more agreeable to her humor. He fitted out a fleet, went in quest of her, engaged her in a furious battle, which continued two days without intermission, and thus gained possession of a heart to be conquered only by valor.

MIRACULOUS SHOT.

The hero of this ittle narrative was a Hottentot, of the name of Von Wyhk, and we give the story of his perilous and fearful shot in his own words: "It is now," said he, "more than two years since in the very place where we stand I ventured to take one of the most daring shots that ever was hazarded: my wife was sitting in the house near the door, the children were playing about her. I was without,

near the house, busied in doing something to a wagon, when suddenly, though it was mid-day, an enormous lion appeared, came up, and laid himself quietly down in the shade upon the very threshold of the door. My wife, either frozen with fear, or aware of the danger attending any attempt to fly, remained motionless in her place, while the children took refuge in her lap. The cry they uttered attracted my attention, and I hastened towards the door; but my astonishment may be well conceived, when I found the entrance barred in such a manner. Although the animal had not seen me, escape, unarmed as I was, appeared impossible. Yet I glided gently, scarcely knowing what I meant to do, to the side of the house, up to the window of my chamber, where I knew my loaded gun was standing. By a happy chance, I had set it in a corner close by the window, so that I could reach it with my hand; for, as you may perceive, the opening is too small to admit of my having got in; and still more fortunately, the door of the room was open, so that I could see the whole danger of the scene. The lion was beginning to move, perhaps with the intention of making a spring; there was no longer any time to think; called softly to the mother not to be afraid, and invoking the name of the Lord, fired my piece. The ball passed directly over my boy's head, and lodged in the forehead of the lion immediately above his eyes, which shot forth as it were sparks of fire, and stretched him on the ground, so that he never stirred more.

LORD NELSON.

When Nelson was second lieutenant on board the Lowestoffe, they came up with an American letter of marque. The first lieutenant was ordered to board her, and immediately went below to put on his hanger; but it was mislaid, and could not immediately be found. In the mean time Captain Locker came on deck; and extremely anxious that the prize should be instantly taken in charge, as he apprehended it must otherwise founder, he exclaimed, "Have I no officer in the ship will board the prize?" Lieutenant Nelson, with his usual goodness of heart, still waited for the return of his superior officer; but on hearing the master volunteer his services, immediately hastened to the gangway, and getting into the boat, said, "It is my turn now; if I come back, it is yours." The opportunity did not occur to the master, as Nelson took possession of the prize.

EARL HOWE.

Earl Howe, when not more than eighteen years of age, was lieutenant of a sloop of war. An English merchantman had been captured at the Dutch settlement of Eustatia, by a French privateer, under the guns and protection of the governor. Lieutenant Howe, at his own earnest request, was sent with orders to claim her for the owners. This demand not being complied with, he desired leave to go with the boats, and

attempt cutting her out of the harbor. The captain represented the danger of so adventu→ rous a step; and added that he had not sufficient interest to support him in England, on a representation of the breach of neutrality. The lieutenant then requested that he would quit the ship for a short time, and leave the command to him. This being done, the gallant lieutenant went with the boats, cut out the vessel, and restored it to the proprietors.

In 1775, Lord Hawke gave the following seamanlike testimony to the merit of Lord Howe in the House of Lords. "I advised his majesty," said he, "to make the promotion (to be ViceAdmiral of the blue.) I have tried my Lord Howe on important occasions; he never asked me how he was to execute any service, but always went and performed it."

GENERAL MEADOWS.

At the siege of one of the forts of Tippoo Sultan, the breach was found practicable, and the storming party ordered for two o'clock in the morning. General Meadows determined to be one of it; but when he came to the breach, finding it impossible to get up without assistance, he called out to his soldiers, "Bravo, my fine fellows, well done; but is there none of you that can stop to help your little general?" "Oh!" replied an Irish grenadier, "is it you, general? then, by the powers, we 'll not go without you. I'll help you up, let what will come of it!" And he was as good as his word.

The same general, with a small army, was once surrounded by a superior force, in the Coimbatore country, and all his communications cut off. Colonel, afterwards General, Sir John Floyd, was despatched in quest of him, and so arduous was the enterprise, that he actually passed three days without eating. He at length met two native horsemen of General Meadows' body guard, from whom he received such infor mation of the general's situation, as enabled him to join him at Velladi. The meeting of these officers may well be conceived, after each had foreboded the worst fate for the other; General Meadows flew into Floyd's arms, and exclaimed, with his usual wit and spirit, "My dear colonel, your's is the feat, and mine the defeat.

General Meadows gave out in general orders, that the word difficulty was unknown in the military dictionary, and among such troops as he then had the honor to command. He did but justice to his gallant comrades; for led on by the brave Floyd, they cut their way through Tippoo's grand army, and before their swords all difficulties vanished.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Fuller in his Worthies, gives the following account of Sir Walter Raleigh's first rise in life.

"This Captain Raleigh," he says, "coming out of Ireland into the English court in good