The subsequent communication, accompanied by a drawing of the carving represented in the engraving

[For the Year Book.]

An escutcheon surmounted by a canopy, on the eastern wall of the old archiepiscopal palace of Croydon, fell down, together with the wall, on the 8th of June last year. In a few days afterwards, the escutcheon having been removed with the rubbish on which it lay, I took the accompanying sketch of it. The wall is reinstated without this ancient ornament. I forward the drawing in the hope that it may find a place in the Year Book.

The arms are party per pale--Dexter division-az: a cross patence, or: between five martlets, or.-Sinister quarterly, first and fourth, az: three fleurs-de-lis, or; for France. Second and third, gules: three lions passant guardant, or; for England. The dexter division bare the arms of Edward the Confessor.

Croydon, April 1831.

G. S. S.

Croydon Palace.

Dr. Ducarel says, the oldest part of Croydon Palace, which is entirely of brick, was one of the earliest brick buildings in the reign of Henry VI. Here, in 1573, archbishop Parker entertained Elizabeth and her court for seven days. Under the commonwealth the palace was let to the Earl of Nottingham at £40 a year; and afterwards to Sir William Brereton, colonel general of the Cheshire forces, who resided in it, and turned the chapel into a kitchen. On the restoration archbishop Juxon repaired and fitted it up; and many of his successors repaired it at a great expense; most of them occasionally resided here except archbishops Secker and Cornwallis. In 1780, after remaining uninhabited for twenty years, it was sold under an act of parliament to Abraham Pitches, Esq., afterwards Sir Abraham Pitches, for £2520, and the proceeds were applied towards the expense of building Westminster Bridge. The chapel is now used for the Sunday school; and, in the week, for the school of in

June 13, 1823, Mr. Robert Bowman of Irthington, near Carlisle, died, at the age of one hundred and eighteen years. Dr. Barnes published some account of this Cumberland patriarch, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 1820. He says his birth-day is not known; and, "as some doubts have been entertained with respect to his age, to put it beyond dispute, I have examined the register of his baptism, in the parish church of Hayton. His name, and place of nativity, as well as the year of baptism, which was 1705, are very legible, but, from his name having been placed at the foot of the page, the month and day are worn out." He was born at Bridgewood-foot, a small farm-house, and hamlet, about two miles from Irthington, in the month of October, 1705, in the house where his grandfather had resided, and where his father also was born, both of whom were brought up to husbandry. His ancestors were Roman Catholics, and in the early part of his life he professed that religion;— but, many years ago, he became a member of the church of England, and was a constant and orderly attendant upon its worship, until prevented by age and infirmity. From early youth he had been a laborious worker, and was at all times healthy and strong, having never taken

Manning and Bray's Surrey.

medicine, nor been visited with any kind of illness, except the measles when a child, and the hooping-cough when above one hundred years of age. During the course of his long life he was only once intoxicated, which was at a wedding; and he never used tea or coffee, his principal food having been bread, potatoes, hastypudding, broth, and occasionally a little flesh meat. He scarcely ever tasted ale or spirits, his chief beverage was water; or

milk and water mixed. This abstemiousness arose partly from a dislike to strong liquors, but more from a saving disposition, being remarkably careful of his money, and strongly attached to the things of this world. For the same reason, as he himself acknowledged, he never used snuff or tobacco. With these views, his habits of industry, and disregard of personal fatigue, were extraordinary; he having often been up for two or three nights in a week, particularly when bringing home coals or lime. In his younger days he was rather robust, excellent in bodily strength, and was considered a master in the art of wrestling-an exercise to which he was particularly attached. He was of a low stature, being not above five feet five inches in height, with a large chest, well-proportioned limbs, and weighing about twelve stone. His vigor never forsook him till far advanced in life; for, in his hundred and eighth year, he walked to and from Carlisle (sixteen miles), without the help of a staff, to see the workmen lay the foundation stone of Eden bridge. In the same year he actually reaped corn, made hay, worked at hedging, and assisted in all the labors of the field, with, apparently, as much energy as the stoutest of his sons. As might be expected, his education was very limited, but he possessed a considerable share of natural sense, with much self-denial, and passed a life of great regularity and prudence, without troubling himself by much thought or reflection. His memory was very tenacious: he remembered the rebellion in 1715, when he was ten years of age, and witnessed a number of men running away from the danger. In the second rebellion, in the year 1745, he was employed in cutting trenches round Carlisle, but fled from his disagreeable situation as soon as an opportunity afforded for escaping. He did not marry till he was fifty years of age, and his wife lived with him fifty-two years, dying in 1807, aged

eighty-one. In 1810 one of his brothers died at the age of ninety-nine; and in 1818 a cousin died, aged ninety-five; another cousin, eighty-seven years old, survived him. He left six sons, the youngest fifty years of age, and the eldest sixty-two; his grand-children were twenty in number; his great grand-children only eleven: he never had any daughters. About the year 1799 he lost all his teeth, but no mark of debility appeared about his person before 1813, when he took to his bed, and never was able to use his limbs afterwards. During the first nine years of his confinement his health and spirits continued good, and he was free from corporeal pain; but for the last twelve months his intellects became rather impaired. On the day before his death he was seized with illness; the next day he grew weaker, and weaker as the day declined, but experienced no sickness. At about eight in the evening he slept silently away in the arms of death.

Mr. Bowman resided, during the latter part of his life, with one of his sons, upon his own estate, and died possessed of considerable property-the fruit of unwearied perseverance and active industry, through a longer portion of time than usually falls to the lot of man.

To this account the editor of the Wakefield Journal adds, "We understand from a grandson of Mr. Bowman, residing at Wakefield, that he had attained his hundred and eighteenth year and some months."

This is the anniversary of the death of the great John, duke of Marlborough ; and also of the famous battle of Dettingen, when the British and allied troops, commanded by king George II. in person, obtained a decisive victory over the French army.

THOMAS BROWN, OF BLAND'S REGIMENT. [To Mr. Hone.]

Sir,-You notice under this day, both in your first volume, and also in your second volume of your Every-Day Book, the death of the most able, and most successful chieftain that our British Islands ever produced, with the exception of one now living, as happening in 1722. Exactly twenty-one years afterwards, an English dragoon signalized himself in a way which proved to the world that, from the general to the private soldier, England was as unmatched in the last century as she is in the present.

On the 16th of June, 1743, was fought the battle of Dettingen. In this battle served a private dragoon, in Bland's regiment, of the name of Thomas Brown; he was about twenty-eight years of age, and had not been one year in the army. The French gen-des-arms, in a charge,

took the standard from the regiment. Brown dashed after the gen-d'arms who bore off the trophy—laid hold of it, and then pistolled the Frenchman; with his sword in its scabbard, his hands grasping both bridle and standard, he put spurs into his horse, and, exposed to fire and sword, as when recapturing the standard, made his way through a lane of the enemy. He received eight cuts in the face, head, and neck; two balls lodged in his back, and three went through his hat. His nose and upper lip were nearly severed from his face-a terrible gash from the top of his forehead, crossed his left eye-he received two other wounds on the forehead, and two on the back of the neck-besides having two fingers of the bridle hand chopped off. His regiment welcomed him back into their ranks with three huzzas, such as none but Britons know how to give. In this battle Brown had two horses killed under him. Brown's father was a blacksmith. Thomas was born at Kirkleatham, not far from Scarborough; he was bound apprentice to a shoemaker at Yarm. He stood five feet eleven inches. George II. offered Brown a commission in the army, but his not being able to write prevented his acceptance of it. The king placed Brown near his person in the life guards. As the balls in his back could not be extracted, he was obliged to quit the service. He had a pension of £30 per annum, and died at Yarm, of his wounds, January, 1746, aged thirty-one.

I have an engraving of this hero. The print is 124 inches, by 8. Head and bust. Two compartments are below the portrait; in one he retakes the standard, firing his pistol at the gen-d'arm, who falls backward off his horse; three Frenchmen are hacking at Brown, and two firing their pistols at him. In the second vignette he is steady in his saddle, galloping back to the British line,-one French Dragoon hacking-one giving point- and one firing his pistol. My print is by L. Boitard, very rare, and in fine condition: it was published November 8, 1713,"Price one Shilling." What is it worth now? You quote some beautiful verses from "Scott of Amwell." On the 12th of January, 1809, being at that period a loyal and a royal volunteer, I composed, in my military ardour, the following Parody on Scott's Verses.

I love the drum's inspiring sound,
Parading round, and round, and round;

To daring youths it pleasure yields,
Who leave gay cities, quiet fields,
To win themselves a glorious name,
Uphold their country, and her fame;
And, when their sovereign's voice commands,

To march, to fight, and fall in foreign lands.
I love the drum's enlivening sound,
Parading round, and round, and round;
To me it speaks of safety won,

Of Home secure, the Foe undone,
The Widow smiling through her tears,
The Bride dismissing all her fears,
The Sire, whilst weeping o'er his warlike son,
Redeeming Trophies he in Battle won.
J. M. OF M. H.

A whimsical letter to the Secretary of the Horticultural Society in the "Comic Annual by Thomas Hood, Esq., 1830," may enable speculators to determine whether the value of "the article" is increased or not, by this singular information :

"Sir-I partickly wish the Satiety to be called to consider the Case what follows, as I think mite be maid Transaxtionable in the next Reports:

“My Wif had a Tomb Cat that dyd. Being a torture Shell and a Grate faverit, we had Him berried in the Guardian, and for the sake of inrichment of the Mould I had the carks deposited under the roots of a Gosberry Bush. The Frute being up till then of the smooth kind. But the next Seson's Frute after the Cat was berried, the Gozberris was all hairy-and more Remarkable the Catpilers of the same bush was All of the same hairy Discription.

I am, Sir, your humble servant,
THOMAS FROST."

June 18.

CHARTER OF LONDON.

June 18, 1683, Mr. Evelyn says, "I was present, and saw and heard the humble submission and petition of the lord mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen, on behalf of the city of London, on the quo warranto against their charter, which they delivered to his majesty [James II.], in the presence chamber. My lord keeper [North] made a speech to them, exaggerating the disorderly and riotous behaviour in the late election, and polling for Papillon and Dubois [for sheriffs], after the common hall had been dissolved, with other misdemeanors, libels on the government, &c., by which they had incurred his majesty's high displeasure; and that, but for this submission, and under such articles as the king should require their obedience to, he would certainly enter judgment against them. The things required were, that they should neither elect mayor, sheriff, alderman, recorder, common-serjeant, town-clerk, coroner,

or steward of Southwark, without his majesty's approbation; and that, if they · presented any his majesty did not like, they should proceed in wonted manner to a second choice; if that was disapproved, his majesty to nominate them; and, if within five days they thought good to assent to this, all former miscarriages should be forgotten-And so," says Evelyn, "they tamely parted with their so ancient privileges, after they had dined and been treated by the king. Divers of the old and most learned lawyers and judges were of opinion that they could not forfeit their charter, but might be personally punished for their misdemeanors; but the plurality of the younger judges, and rising men, judged it otherwise."

On the 19th of June, 1707, died at Hampstead Dr. William Sherlock, dean of St. Pauls and master of the temple. He was born in Southwark about 1641. At the revolution he was greatly embarrassed how to act. The government gave him time for consideration, and, aided by his wife's intreaties, he complied. A little while after an arch bookseller seeing him handing her along St. Paul's Church-yard, said, "There goes Dr. Sherlock, with his reasons for taking the oaths at his fingers' ends."