THE GREAT AUDLEY.

A CELEBRATED USURER OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

(Concluded from our last.)

When

THIS philosophical Usurer never pressed hard for his debts; like the fowler he never shook his nets lest he might startle, satisfied to have them, without appearing to hold them. With great fondness he compared "his bonds to infants, which battle best by sleeping." To battle is to be nourished, a term still retained at the University of Oxford. His familiar companions were all subordinate actors in the great piece he was performing; he too had his part in the scene. not taken by surprise, on his table lay open a great Bible, with Bishop Andrew's folio Sermons, which often gave him an opportunity of railing at the covetousness of the Clergy: declaring their religion was "a mere preach," and that "the time would never be well till we had Queen Elizabeth's protestants again in fashion." He was aware of all the evils arising out of a population beyond the means of subsistence, and dreaded an inundation of men, spreading like the spawn of a cod. Hence he considered marriage, with a modern political economist, as very dangerous; bitterly censuring the clergy, whose children he said never thrived, and whose widows were left destitute. An apostolical life, according to Audley, required only books, meat, and drink, to be had for fifty pounds a year! Celibacy, voluntary poverty, and all the mortifications of a primitive Christian, were the virtues prac tised by this Puritan among his money-bags.

Yet Audley's was that worldly wisdom which derives all its strength from the weakness of mankind. Every thing was to be obtained by stratagem, and it was his maxim, that to grasp our object the faster, we must go a little round about it. His life is said to have been one of intricacies and mysteries, using indirect means in all things; but he walked in a labyrinth, as it was, to bewilder others; for the clue was still in his own hand; all he sought was that his designs should not be discovered by his actions. His word, we are told, was his bond; his hour was punctual; and his opinions

were compressed and weighty; but if he was true to his bond-word, it was only a part of the system to give facility to the carrying on of his trade, for he was not strict to his honour; the pride of victory, as well as the passion for acquisition, combined in the character of Audley, as in more tremendous conquerors. His partners dreaded the effects of his law-library, and usually relinquished a claim rather than stand a suit against a latent quibble. When one menaced him by shewing some money-bags, which he had resolved to empty in law against him, Audley, then in office in the Court of Wards, with a sarcastic grin, asked "whether the bags had any bottom?" "Aye!" replied the exulting possesor, striking them. "In that case I care not," retorted the cynical officer of the Court of Wards; "for in this Court I have a constant spring, and I cannot spend in other Courts, more than I gain in this." He had at once the meanness which would evade the law, and the spirit which could resist it.

The genius of Audley had crept out of the purlieus of Guildhall, and entered the Temple, and having often sauntered at "Powles" down the great promenade which was reserved for "Duke Humphrey and his guests," he would -turn into that part called "The Usurer's Alley," to talk with Thirty in the hundred," and at length was enabled to purchase his office at the then Court of Wards; a remarkable institution, on which I propose to make some re searches. It is now sufficient to observe that the entire fortune of those whom we now call wards in Chancery, were in the hands, and often submitted to the arts, or the tyranny, of the officers of this Court.

When Audley was asked the value of this new office, he replied, that " it might be worth some thousands of pounds to him who after his death would instantly go to heaven; twice as much to him who would go to purgatory; and no body knows what to him who would adventure to go to hell." Such was the pious casuistry of a witty Usurer. Whether he undertook this last adventure, for his four hundred thousand pounds, how can a sceptical biographer decide? Audley seems ever to have been weak, when temptation was strong.

Some saving qualities, however, were mixed with the vicious ones he liked best. Another passion divided dominion with the sovereign one: Audley's strongest impressions of character were cast in the old law-library of his youth, and the pride of legal reputation was not inferior in strength to

the If in the "Court of Wards" he pouncrage for money. ed on incumbrances which lay on estates, and prowled abour to discover the craving wants of their owners, it appears that he also received liberal fees from the relatives of young heirs, to protect them from the rapacity of some great persons, but who could not certainly exceed Audley in subtility. He was an admirable lawyer, for he was not satisfied with hearing, but examining his clients; which he called "pinching the cause where he perceived it was foundered."

He made two

observations on clients and lawyers, which have not lost their poignancy. "Many clients, in telling their case, rather plead than relate it, so that the advocate heareth not the true state of it, till opened by the adverse party. Some lawyers seem to keep an assurance-office in their chambers, and will warrant any cause brought unto them, knowing that if they fail, they loose nothing but what was lost long since, their credit."

The career of Audley's ambition closed with the extinction of the "Court of Wards," by which he incurred the loss of above L.100,000. On that occasion he observed that "his ordinary losses were as the shavings of his beard, which only grew the faster by them; but the loss of this place was like the cutting off of a member, which was irrecoverable." The hoary Usurer pined at the decline of his genius, discoursed on the vanity of the world, and hinted at retreat. A facetious friend told him a story of an old rat, who having acquainted the young rats that he would at length retire to his hole, desiring none to come near him, their curiosity after some days led them to venture to look into the hole; and there they discovered the old rat sitting in the midst of a rich parmesan cheese. It is probable that the loss of the last L.100,000 disturbed his digestion, for he did not leng survive his Court of Wards.

Sustine et

Such was this man, converting wisdom into cunning, invention into trickery, and wit into cynicism. Engaged in no honourable cause, he, however, shewed a mind resolved, making plain the crooked and involved path he trod. abstine, to bear and forbear was the great principle of Epictetus, and our monied Stoic bore all the contempt and hatred of the living smilingly, while he forbore all the consolations of our common nature to obtain his end. He died in unblest celebacy-And thus he received the curses of the living for his rapine, while the stranger, who grasped the million he had raked together, owed him no gratitude at his death.

ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST ESTABLISHMENT OF COFFEEHOUSES AT CONSTANTINOPLE, A. D. 1555,

THERE was no coffee used, nor was there even a single shop where it was sold, either in Constantinople or any other part of Romelia, before the year 962 of the Hegira. In that year two private persons, one of whom was a native of Damascus, called Chems, and another from Aleppo, named Hakim, came to Constantinople, and opened two shops in the quarter Takhtecala, where they sold that excellent beverage. At first these coffeehouses were only resorted to by the indolent and idle, but they soon became popular among the wits and men of letters, who assembled in perhaps twenty or thirty different knots in each house. Parties were formed for reading, others for chess or trictrac; some discussed new poems, and others pursued scientific conversations. As the expence only amounted to a few aspres, (an aspre is worth about a halfpenny) it was a cheap mode of entertaining a friend, to carry him to a coffeeroom. All persons out of employment, and paying their court to obtain it, kadis, moudaries, and all who had no great business, crowded to these places, as affording the best amusements; in short, the rooms became so crowded, that it was difficult to obtain a seat; and their reputation was such, that many distinguished persons, always excepting ministers, went to them without scruple. But the Imaums, the Meuzzins, and the professed devotees, declaimed against them, saying, the people ran to the coffeehouses instead of the mosque. The Oulemas in particular, cried out against coffee, they declared that an alehouse was better than a coffeeroom. The preachers endeavoured to scold down the favourite beverage. The muftis declared, that all substances roasted to charcoal were prohibited by the law, and brought forward solemn decisions to confirm their opinions.

In the reign of Murad III. the prohibitions were renewed, but some amateurs obtained leave of the police-officers to sell coffee in back shops and courts out of the public view. From that time the use of coffee became so general, that government was tired of forbidding it. The preachers and muftis revised their doctrines, and declared, that as the burning of coffee did not really convert it into charcoal, it might be drank without endangering salvation; and the sheiks, oulemas, vizirs, and nobles, began to take it without distinction. At length, the grand vizirs themselves built coffeerooms, and got a sequin or two for their daily rent.

FOR THE COILA REPOSITORY.

A QUESTION.

Who is entituled to the Title Esquire?

"Shoot folly as it flies."- -POPE.

MR. EDITOR,

As one of your ingenious Correspondents, has, in your valu able Repository, given us a just and well-written definition of the noun, "GENTLEMAN," (which few holding that cha racter seem to be thoroughly acquainted with,) I am of opinion that your philosophical correspondent would confer a particular favour on the community by giving it a definition of the title ESQUIRE, and an answer to the above Question. The title, I should observe, is now almost universally adopted by all classes of Plebeians, from the Taylor, who can build him a box out of town, to the Manufacturer, whose lady can roll about in her chariot.

The cause that excites my curiosity to know this important designation, occurred to my notice a few days ago, and may be worth remarking.

My mother, who is a very good house-wife in her own way, had occasion to order a load of oatmeal from an honest farmer, whose father, by dint of industry, had scraped together Siller sufficient to purchase about forty acres of muirland when land was cheaper than at present-being one of the refuse points of a dissipated bankrupt Laird's estate:but I am straying from my subject. The oatmeal came, and with it, of course, the account-but, though my mother can read plainly written English, as well as most other matrons of her age and sight in the country, and though she had the assistance of what she thinks a pair of good spectacles, yet she was much puzzled to decipher part of the account. It is enough for my purpose to tell you, that the meal was calculated by pecks, and that the sum total was signed

"ADAM THAMPSON, Esq.
Of Bogend."

Now, Mr. Editor, I think it were unnecessary for your

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