JOHN ADAMS.

Prior to his appearance in Congress, Adams had obtained great celebrity at the bar. He defended Captain Preston, prosecuted for firing on the people, in 1770. Indeed, the ablest advocate on the floor was John Adams, "who poured forth his passionate appeals in language which moved his hearers from their seats." He was, as Jefferson called him, "The Colossus of the Congress, and his speech in support of the Declaration is above all praise. This is the way he would commence, with his accustomed directness and earnestness: "Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence; but there is a Divinity which shapes our ends.' Independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why then should we defer the Declaration? For myself, having, twelve months ago, in this place, moved you, that George Washington be appointed Commander of the Forces, raised or to be raised, for defence of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver in the support I give him! The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the Declaration of Independence?

But,

It

Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs; but I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die! die colonists! die slaves! die, it may be, ignominiously, and on the scaffold! Be it so -be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country should require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country. whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured that this Declaration will stand. may cost treasure, it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honour it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tearscopious, gushing tears-not of subjection and slavery-not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before heaven, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began-that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration.

It is my living sentiment; and, by the blessing of heaven, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now, and INDEPEND

ENCE FOR EVER!"

GARTH'S PATIENTS.

Dr. Garth, who was one of the Kit-Kat Club, coming there one night, declared he must soon be gone, having many patients to attend; but, some good wine being produced, he forgot them. When Sir Richard Steele reminded him of his appointments, Garth immediately pulled out his list, which amounted to fifteen, and said, "It's no great matter whether I see them to-night or not, for nine of them have such bad constitutions, that all the physicians in the world can't save them, and the other six have such good constitutions, that all the physicians in the world can't kill them."

INTENSE EFFECT.

Pacchierotti, on one occasion, when playing at Rome the character of Arbaces, pronounced the three words "Eppui sono innocente" in so touching a manner, that the very orchestra stopped; a short symphony, which should have immediately succeeded his declaration of innocence, was neglected; and, on his demanding, somewhat angrily, of the leader what he and his subordinates were about, the flattering answer was, "Sir, we are weeping."

LOST AND FOUND

Some gentlemen of a Bible Association calling upon an old woman to see if she had a bible, were severely reproved with the spiritual reply, "Do you think, gentlemen, that I am a heathen, that you should ask me such a question?" Then, addressing a little girl, she said, "Run and fetch the bible out of my drawer, that I may show it to the gentlemen." The gentlemen declined giving her the trouble, but she insisted on giving them ocular demonstration. Accordingly, the bible was brought, nicely covered; and, on opening it, the old woman exclaimed, "Well, how glad I am you have come here are my spectacles, that I have been looking for these three years, and didn't know where to find 'em."

ORIGIN OF THE "BEGGAR'S OPERA."

At Schomberg House, Pall-mall, was first concocted the dramatic scheme of the "Beggar's Opera." It was originally proposed to Swift to be named the "Newgate Opera," as the first thought of writing such a gross and immoral drama originated with him. Swift, also, who was an ardent admirer of the poetic talents of Gay, delighted to quote his Devonshire pastorals, they being very characteristic of low, rustic life, and congenial to his taste; for the pen of the Dean revelled in vulgarity. Under the influence of such notions, he proposed to Gay to bestow his thoughts upon the subject, which he felt assured would turn to good account, namely, that of writing a work, to be entitled "A Newgate Pastoral;" adding, "and I will, sub rosa, afford you my best assistance." This scheme was talked over at Queensberry House, and Gay commenced it, but it was soon dropped, with something of disgust. It was ultimately determined that he should commence upon the "Beggar's Opera." This scheme was approved, and written forthwith, under the auspices of the Duchess, and performed at the theatre in Lincoln's-inn-fields, under the immediate influence of her Grace; who, to induce the manager, Rich, to bring it upon his stage, agreed to indemnify him all the expenses he might incur, provided that the daring speculation should fail. The offer had first been proposed to Fleetwood and his partners, at Drury-Lane Theatre; but it was at once rejected by them, as a piece that would not be tolerated by a public audience: indeed, they stoutly refused it a rehearsal. The success of the "Beggar's Opera" mainly depended upon two pointsthe hatred of one party against the Italian Opera, and the hatred of another party against the Court. The ridicule of sing-song, united with operatical acting, was complete, and the satire levelled in the original against the King, the Queen, and the Court, by Gay,

*The schoolmaster himself deserves correction here; the orrery being named after the Earl of Orrery, and not invented by him, and for whom the first instrument of the kind was made.

who was a disappointed courtier, was too bitter, too witty, not to be felt. It was received with applause.

see

CONSOLATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

Joseph Lancaster carried his enthusiastic and imaginative temperament into everything he did; or, as his biographer says, "carries the same spirit into the world with him, and applies it, without discrimination, to his pecuniary circumstances. He is pressed for money, but he cannot believe that, if the Almighty had designed the education of the poor of London, a few poor pitiless creditors can prevent it;' only let the eyes of his friends be opened, and they will 'the mountain full of horses of fire,, and of chariots of fire, round about Elijah.' He is in watch and ward,' arrested for debt, and in a sponging-house; he has been there three days, and no one has been to see him; but he is as happy as Joseph was in the King's prison in Egypt.' Corston, his friend, visits him, and stays an hour or two with him. 'After his departure, he rang for the sheriff's officer to take him to the Bench, but obtained leave to call at home on their way thither. When he got. home, his wife and child, and all his young monitors were assembled, overwhelmed with grief, because he was going to prison. After being with them a little, he opened the parlour door, and said to the man, Friend, when I am at home I read the Scriptures to my family; hast thou any objection to come in ?' He replied, "No, sir,' and went in. After he had read a chapter or two, he went to prayer. The man soon became deeply affected, and joined the common grief. After prayer, the man returned into the other room, and Joseph in a few minutes said to him,

Now, friend, I am ready for thee.' They had not gone many paces from the door, when the man said, Sir, have you got no friend to be bound for you for this debt?' Joseph replied, 'No; I have tried them all.' 'Well,' replied the man, then I'll be bound for you myself, for you are an honest man, I know.' He surrendered him at the King's Bench, and they took his security for the debt. About ten o'clock next morning," says Mr. Corston, he came jumping into my warehouse, at Ludgate-hill, saying, "Ah, friend William, did I not tell thee that thou wast not to assist me this time?" This arrest brought matters to a crisis. A friendly docket was struck against him, and his creditors were called together. The result was, that in 1808 his affairs were transferred to trustees, a fixed sum was allowed for his private expenses, a correct account of all receipts and expenditure was for the first time kept; and shortly after an Association was formed, originally entitled "The Royal Lancasterian Institution for promoting the Education of the Children of the Poor,' and subsequently, for the sake of greater simplicity, comprehension, and brevity, "The British and Foreign School Society.'

66

GUTTING THE FISH.

One evening, a red-headed Connaught swell, of no small aristocratic pretensions in his own eyes, sent his servant, whom he had just imported from the long-horned kingdom, in all the rough majesty of a creature fresh from the "wilds," to purchase a hundred of oysters on the City-quay. Paddy staid so long away, that Squire Trigger got quite impatient and unhappy lest his "body man might have slipt into the Liffey; however, to his infinite relief, Paddy soon made his appearance, puffing and blowing like a disabled bellows, but carrying his load seemingly in great triumph. "Well, Pat," cried the master, "what the devil kept you so long?" Long! ah thin, may be it's what you'd have me to come home with half my arrant?" says Pat "Half the oysters ?" says the master. "No; but too much of the fish," says Pat. "What fish?" says he. "The oysters, to be sure," says Pat. "What do you mean, blockhead?" says he. "I mean," says Pat, "that there was no use in loading myself with more nor was useful." "Will you explain yourself," says he. "I will," says Pat, laying down his load. "Well, then, you see, plaise your honour, as I was coming home along the quay, mighty peaceable, who should. I meet but Shammus Maginus: 'Good morrow, Shamien,' sis I; 'Good morrow, kindly, Paudeen,' sis he; What is it you have in the sack?' sis he; A hundred of oysters,' sis I; 'Let us look at them,' sis he; I will, and welcome,' sis I; Orrah! thunder and pratees!' sis he, opening the sack, and examinin them, who sould you these?' • One Tom Kinahan that keeps a small ship there below,' sis I; Musha then, bad luck to that same Tom that sowld the likes to you,' sis he; 'Arrah, why avick?' sis I; To make a bolsour ov you an give them to you with. out gutting thim,' sis he; An arn't they gutted, Jim, aroon,' sis I; Oh! bad luck to the one o' thim,' sis he; 'Musha then,' says I, what the dhoul will I do at all at all? fur the master will be mad;' Do!' sis he, 'why I'd rather do the thing for you mysel, nor you should lose your place,' sis he; so wid that he begins to gut them wid his knife, nate and clain; an afeered ov dirtying the flags, begor, he swallowed the guts himself from beginnin to ind, tal he had thim as dacent as you see thim here"-dashing down at his master's feet his bag of oyster-shells, to the no small amazement of the Connaught worthy, as you may suppose.

GENERAL GENERALISSIMO.

Bayle tells us of a General of the Jesuits at Rome, once exulting of his greatness and his order, who thus expressed himself to a friend: "I will tell you, in this very chamber, I govern Rome-what am I talking about? Rome! I govern all Italy-what do I say? Italy! I govern all Europe itself; and not Europe alone, but the whole world."

MR. HUSKISSON AND FREE TRADE.

The following dialogue, in his own handwriting, and bearing various marks of correction in the same, was found among Mr. Huskisson's MS. papers; and as there is every reason to believe it to have been his own composition, it is inserted as a specimen of that easy playfulness which has been mentioned as one of the charms of his private society.

"Fraternal Dialogue between John Bull and his brother Jonathan. (Date July, 1825.)Jonathan. You are a very good and constant customer, John, at my shop, for flour, hoops, staves, and many other articles of my trade; you are good pay, and I'm always glad to deal with you.-John. I believe all you say. I wish to continue a good customer; but I must say your mode of dealing with me is rather hard. Every time I travel to, or send to your shop (Sunday or not), I am obliged to pay double toll at the turapike-gate, which is close before it.-Jon. You need not take that trouble. I prefer sending my goods to my customers by my own porters; and as they are always ready and punctual in delivering the packages, I do not see why you should complain.-John. I complain because my own cart and horses have nothing to do, and my people are upon the poor-rate, whilst I am paying you for porterage. I will not go on in this way.-Jon. Well, we will consider of it next Christmas, when the partners in our firm meet to talk over the concern. (John remains patient for another year; when, finding the Sunday toll still continued, he asks what brother Jonathan and his firm have decided? (July, 1826.) Jon. We have resolved to grant a new lease of the tolls, without making any alteration in the terms.-John. You have! Then I withdraw my custom.-Jon. The devil you do! (Aside.) We mistook him for a more patient ass than he proves to be. How shall we contrive to bring him back to our shop?"

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON'S DESCENT UPON BOULOGNE.

On Sunday, the 4th of August, 1840, a small hired steamer, the City of Edinburgh, Captain Crow, commander, dropped down the Thames from London, with what seemed a pleasure-party of foreigners on board. There were about sixty passengers in all, including Prince Louis Napoleon, his gentlemen, grooms, lacqueys, &c.; and the place of destination was said to be Hamburgh. But when the steamer was out at sea on the 5th, the Prince harangued his companions, told them the object of the voyage, distributed money among them, and caused them all to put on false French uniforms which he had brought with him. Captain Crow received orders to make for Boulogne; and during the rest of the voyage, the cabin was the scene of feasting and uproar. Captain Crow had never seen people drink so much, he afterwards deposed in the witness-box; and poor Hobbs the steward did nothing all night but draw corks. By midnight, the steamer was off the French coast, and at six o'clock on the morning of the 6th the party landed at Vimereux, near Boulogne. Having formed in marching order, they set out for the town, the Prince at their head, after him an officer carrying a gilt eagle, and then the men in uniform. The Prince had with him a sum of 500,000 francs (£20,000) in bank-notes and gold; his companions likewise carried bags of money and bottles of rum.

Other

parts of the furniture of the expedition were a live eagle, which, however, never made its appearance; and copies of three proclamations privately printed in England, one addressed to the French people, another to the army, and a third to the department of Pasde-Calais. Passing a custom-house station, where the men would have nothing to do with them, the band, with a crowd of fishermen, children, &c., hallooing in their train, reached Boulogne, the garrison of which consisted of two companies of the 42d line. The soldiers were at breakfast in the barracks when the party entered. Rum was distributed as well as money; the soldiers were ordered to cry "Vive l'Empereur ;" and Louis Napoleon, addressing them, promised them promotion if they would join him. Totally confused and bewildered, and seeing one of their own lieutenants in the Prince's company, the soldiers_offered no resistance; some cried" Vive l'Empereur !" uncertain, as afterwards appeared, whether to believe the person before them to be the Emperor himself come back, or his son, or only his nephew. By the presence of mind of a sergeant, however, any decided act of adhesion was prevented; and meanwhile, the alarm having been given, the colonel and other officers rushed to the barracks. The parleying now gave way to vehement altercation; the soldiers gathered round their officers; the Prince fired a pistol at the colonel, missing his aim, but wounding a soldier in the neck; and, at last, totally defeated in their

object, the whole party left the barracks, and took to their heels through the town, showering pieces of money among the crowd that ran after them. The Prince seemed out of his senses; he ran at the head of his little band, brandishing his cocked-hat which he had stuck on the point of his sword, and crying out" Vive l'Empereur !" Meanwhile the soldiers had set out in pursuit ; and with little difficulty the whole party was captured.

Brought to trial before the Chamber of Peers, the prisoners were found guilty, and condemned as follows: the Prince to perpetual imprisonment; his chief associates, such as Count Montholon, M. de Parquin, and M. de Persigny, to twenty years' detention; and the minor culprits, such as Dr. Conneau, to lesser terms of the same punishment. The · Prince escaped from confinement, in the disguise of a labourer, on the 25th of May, 1846.

LOVE AND COOKERY.

The Earl of Peterborough, whilst in Spain, once pointed some artillery against a convent in which a beautiful woman of rank had taken refuge, so that, by terrifying her to come forth, he might obtain a view of her admirable person.

Cookery was quite as much the Earl's hobby as war. It appears to have been far from unusual for him to assist at the preparation of a feast over which he was about to preside; and, when at Bath, he was occasionally seen about the streets, in his blue ribbon and star, carrying a chicken in his hand, and a cabbage, perhaps, under each

arm.

BEAUTIFUL BALLAD SINGER.

In Gay's time, there was a young creature among the ballad-singers, known to the world by no other title than Clara, who drew much attention at this time by the sweetness and pathos of her tones. She was the original singer of "Black-eyed Susan," and one or two songs which were afterwards introduced into the "Beggar's Opera;" but her recommendation to particular notice was the circumstance of her being for many years the object of Bolingbroke's enthusiastic affection. The poor girl strayed for some time, during which his Lordship had not seen her: it was after this interval, that, meeting her, he addressed to her the following tender lines, beginning

"Dear, thoughtless Clara, to my verse attend,

Believe for once the lover and the friend." And concluding thus:

"To virtue thus, and to thyself restored, By all admired, by one alone adored : Be to thy Harry ever kind and true, And live for him who more than died for you."

A series of calamities totally ruined her vocal powers, and she afterwards subsisted by the sale of oranges at the Court of Requests.

TRAFALGAR.

In the battle of Trafalgar, an officer was wounded by a grape-shot entering the abdomen, and the surgeon candidly assured him that he had but a short time to live. The officer desired that some person would lend him a shirt "to caulk himself with, while he made his will." This was furnished, and he stuffed it into his side, while he thus addressed his friend :-"You know that my poor mother depends solely on my exertions: take notice how many ships have struck before I die, and mind that she shares for them."

DE FOE'S WIT.

Daniel De Foe said there was only this difference between the fates of Charles the First and his son James the Second; that the former was a wet martyrdom, and the other a dry one.

When Sir Richard Steele was made a member of the Commons, it was expected from his ingenious writings that he would have been an admirable orator; but it not proving so, De Foe said, "He had better have continued the Spectator than the Tatler."

FIRST WAGGON AND POST-CHAISES.

Joseph Brasbridge, writing in 1824, says: -"I recollect the first broad-wheeled waggon that was used in Oxfordshire, and a wondering crowd of spectators it attracted. I believe at that time there was not a post-chaise in England, except two-wheeled ones. Lamps to carriages are also a modern improvement. A shepherd, who was keeping sheep in the vicinity of a village in Oxfordshire, came running over to say that a frightful monster, with saucer eyes, and making a great blowing noise, was coming towards the village. This monster turned out to be a post-chaise with two-lamps."

THEATRICAL WIT.

Hatton, who was a considerable favourite at the Haymarket Theatre, and particularly in the part of Jack Junk, was one night at Gosport, performing the character of Barbarossa. In the scene when the tyrant makes love to Zapphira, and reminds her of his services against the enemies of her kingdom, he was at a loss, and could not catch the word from the prompter. Another moment and a terrific hiss would have driven him from the stage, when, seeing the house crowded with sailors, and regardless of the gross anachronism, he exclaimed, with all the energy of tragedy

"Did not I,

By that brave knight Sir Sidney Smith assisted,

And in conjunction with the gallant Nelson, Drive Bonaparte and his fierce marauders From Egypt's shores? "

The jolly tars thought that it was all in his part, and cheered the actor with three rounds of applause.

The expedient of throwing shot from a tower, to preserve its globular form, was first hit upon by a Bristol plumber, of the name of Watts, in the year 1782; the experiment being first tried from the Tower of St. Mary, Redcliffe. Watts subsequently sold his patent to the eminent firm of Walker, Maltby, and Co., and with the money commenced making excavations and building walls to form a crescent at Clifton. The foundations were scarcely completed, when his fortune was expended, and the spot, for many years, bore the designation of "Watts's Folly."

SOMERSET HOUSE AND LORD NELSON.

Mr. P. Cunningham, in his "Hand-book for London," relates:-A little above the entrance door to the office of Stamps and Taxes, in Somerset House, is a white watch face, regarding which the popular belief has been, and is, that it was left there by a labouring man who fell from a scaffold at the top of the building, and was only saved from destruction by the ribbon of his watch, which caught in a piece of projecting work. In thankful remembrance (so the story runs) of his wonderful escape, he afterwards desired that his watch might be placed as near as possible to the spot where his life had been saved. Such is the story told fifty times a week to groups of gaping listeners-a story I am sorry to disturb, for the watch of the labouring man is nothing more than a watch face placed by the Royal Society as a meridian mark for a portable transit instrument in one of the windows of their ante-rooms. To this account of Somerset House, I may add a little circumstance of interest which I was told by an old clerk on the establishment of the Audit-office. "When I first came to this building," he said, "I was in the habit of seeing, for many mornings, a thin spare naval officer, with only one arm, enter the vestibule at a smart step, and make direct for the Admiralty, over the rough round stones of the quadrangle, instead of taking what others generally took, and continue to take, the smooth pavement of the sides. His thin frail figure shook at every step, and I often wondered why he chose so rough a footway; but I ceased to wonder when I heard that the thin frail officer was no other than Lord Nelson, who always took," continued my informant, "the nearest way to the place he wanted to go to."