Part 159

This morning at five o’clock the steeple of All Saints’ church fell down. An act of parliament passed the 22d May, 1775, to unite the service in St. Vigor’s church, and to enable the vicar and churchwardens to sell the materials and the bells, towards repairing the church of St. Vigor’s--the amount was 150_l._ 0_s._ 6_d._ The two broken bells were sold towards the expenses; the other three, with the two of St. Vigor’s, and the saints’ bell, were new cast by E. Arnold at St. Neot’s Hunt’s, and six new bells were put up on the 9th of May, 1776. The subscription amounted to 141_l._; the bells cost 262_l._ 2_s._ 3_d._; the frames 45_l._, the six new ropes 1_l._ 15_s._; making together the sum of 308_l._ 17_s._ 3_d._

The poor inhabitants were so attached to the old bells, that they frequently watched them in the evening, lest they should be carried away and sold; for the broken bells lay among the ruins of All Saints’ church. At last their fears subsiding, they neglected their watching, and the churchwardens set a waggon in Monk’s barn, (hard by,) and carried away two of them in the night, delivering them to the Cambridge waggon for St. Neot’s, and returning before morning, which occasioned the following

_Ballad._

There are some farmers in Fulbourn town, They have lately sold what was not their own; They have sold the bells, likewise the church, And cheat the poor of twice as much. And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!

Some estate there was left, all for the poor, They have robb’d them of half, and something more, Such dirty tricks will go hard on their sides. For the d--l will have them, and singe their hides. And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!

Before the bells they could be sold, They were forc’d to swear, as we’ve been told, They forswore themselves--then they cried. For this, my boys, we shall be tried. And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!

There is old Twig, and young Twig--the whining dissenter, Says one to the other, this night we will venture; And says little Gibble-Gabble, I long for to go. But first I will call my neighbour Swing-toe: And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!

In the dead of the night this thievish crew Broke into the church, as other thieves do, For to steal the bells and sell them all, May the d--l take such churchwardens all; And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!

This ballad is said to have been the production of one William Rolfe, a labourer. It was probably written soon after the act passed. The new peal was brought home on the 9th of May, 1776, so that it was not a year from the passing of the act to the casting of the bells.

After the bill had been perused by counsel, Mr. Edward Hancock, the rector’s churchwarden, conducted it through both houses of parliament without the expense of a solicitor; sir John Cotton, one of the members for the county, forwarding it in the different stages through the House of Commons. So earnest were the populace about the bells, (when they were satisfied they were to have a new peal of six,) that after they were loaded they drew them a furlong or more before the horses were put to the waggon. The tenor was cast in _G_ sharp, or old _A_. Mr. Edmund Andrews Salisbury rode on the great bell, when it was drawn up within the steeple, and his was the first death this bell was rung for; he was buried 8th July, 1776. The motto on this bell is--

“I to the church the living call-- And to the grave I summon all.”

Mr. Charles Dawson was the author of the complete peal of _Plain Bob_, called “_The Fulbourn Surprise_” with 154 bobs, and two singles, and 720 changes. The peal was opened December 7, 1789.

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ST. THOMAS’S DAY.

MR. DAY’S SHORT DAY.

Mr. Thomas Day, of D----t, Wilts, used, when living, to give his workmen on St. Thomas’s Day a holiday, a short pint of his ale, an ounce of short-cut tobacco, and a short pipe, in remembrance of his name. “For,” said he,--in a couplet decidedly his own,--

“Look round the village where ye may; Day is the shortest day, to-day.”

PUCERON.

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A PAGE FROM MY NOTE BOOK.

_For the Table Book._

ELECTION BRIBERY.

The first instance that occurs of this practice was so early as 13 Eliz., when one Thomas Longe (being a simple man of small capacity to serve in parliament) acknowledged that he had given the returning officer and others of the borough for which he was chosen FOUR POUNDS, to be returned member, and was for that premium elected. But for this offence the borough was amerced, the member was removed, and the officer was fined and imprisoned.--4 _Inst._ 23. _Hale of Parl._ 112. _Com. Journ._ 10 and 11 May, 1571.

WONDER-WORKING PRECEDENTS.

“Unless,” said vice chancellor Leach, (11th March, 1826, in Mendizabal _v._ Machado,) “_Unless I am bound hand and foot_ by precedents, _I will not follow_ such a practice.”

MEM.

Blackstone, speaking of apprenticeships, says, “They are useful to the commonwealth, by employing _of_ youth, and _learning_ them to be _early_ industrious.”

The same author says, “These payments (alluding to first fruits) were only due if the heir was of full age, but if _he_ was under the age of twenty-one _being a male_, or fourteen being a _female_, the lord was entitled to the wardship of the heir, and was called the guardian in chivalry.”--_Comm._ book ii. c. 5. p. 67.

DOWER.

The seisin of the husband, for a _transitory instant only_, when the same act which gives him the estate conveys it also out of him again, (as where, by a fine, land is granted to a man, and he immediately renders it back by the same fine,) such a seisin will not entitle the wife to dower: for the land was merely _in transitu_, and never rested in the husband, the grant and render being one continued act. But if the land abides in him for the interval of but a _single moment_, it seems that the wife shall be endowed thereof.--_Black. Comm._ book ii. c. 8. p. 132.

The author adds in a note: “This doctrine was extended very far by a jury in Wales, where the father and son were both hanged in one cart, but the son was supposed to have survived the father, _by appearing to struggle longest_; whereby he became seised of an estate in fee by survivorship, in consequence of which seisin his widow had a verdict for her dower.”--_Cro. Eliz._ 503.[520]

AN UNINTENTIONAL IMITATION EXTEMPORE _of the 196th and 7th stanzas of the 2d canto of Don Juan_.

A mother bending o’er her child in prayer. An arm outstretch’d to save a conquer’d foe. The daughter’s bosom to the father’s lips laid bare. The Horatii when they woo’d the blow That say’d a nation’s blood, a young girl fair Tending a dying husband’s bed of woe, Are beautiful; but, oh, nor dead nor living. Is aught so beautiful as woman wrong’d forgiving.

For there she is, the being who hath leant In lone confiding love and weakness all On us--whose unreproaching heart is rent By our deed; yet on our cheek but fall A tear, or be a sigh but spent. She sinks upon the breast whence sprang the gall That bitter’d her heart’s blood, and there caressing. For pain and misery accords a blessing.----

_Note for the Editor._--“An unintentional imitation” may sound something like a solecism, although a very little reflection will prove it to be far otherwise. I had been reading Don Juan till I had it by heart, and nightly spouted to the moon Julia’s letter and the invocation to the isles of Greece. I had a love fracas; a reconciliation, as one of the two alternative natural consequences, took place, and the foregoing were part of some propitiatory measures that effected it. At the time of writing them I had no more idea of imitating Byron, than has my Lord Chief Justice Best, in his charge to the jury in a newspaper cause, or crim. con. I wrote them rapidly, scarcely lifting my pen till they were finished, and certainly without bestowing a word or thought on any thing, except the image I pursued; but my mind had received a deep impression from my late reading, and my thoughts assumed the form they did from it, unknown to me. Some months afterwards, I was reciting the passage from Byron alluded to; I had heard something like it; I repeated it: I was more struck; I rack’d my brain and my lady’s letter-box, and made this discovery.

J. J. K.

[520] On a similar taking by the contingency of drowning, Fearne, the elegant writer on “Contingent Remainders,” has an admirable argument--a masterpiece of eloquent reasoning.--EDIT.

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~Original Poetry.~

_For the Table Book._

CHRISTMAS.

Old Christmas comes again, and with him brings, Although his visits are in times austere, Not only recollections of good things. But beareth in his hands substantial cheer: Though short and dark the day, and long the night. His joyous coming makes all faces bright.

And when you make your doors and windows fast. And to your happy cheerful hearth retire, A paradise is yours, safe from the blast, In the fair circle gathering round the fire; Whilst these, with social converse, books, and wine. Make Winter’s ragged front almost divine!

W. M. W.

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SONNET.

AN AUTUMNAL MIDNIGHT.

I walk in silence and the starry night; And travellers with me are leaves alone. Still onward fluttering, by light breezes blown. The moon is yet in heaven, but soon her light, Shed through the silvery clouds and on the dark Must disappear. No sound I hear save trees Swayed darkly, like the rush of far-off seas That climb with murmurs loud the rocky steep. There wakes no crowing cock, nor watch-dog’s bark. I look around, as in a placid dream Existing amidst beauty, and I seem Relieved from human weakness, and from sleep, A happy spirit ’neath the boundless heaven, To whom not Day alone but Night is given!

W. M. W.

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SEASONABLE STANZAS.

Winter, with hoary locks and frozen face, Hath thrown his naked sceptre from his hand; And he hath mended now his sluggish pace, Beside the blazing yule-block fire to stand. His ice-bound visage ’ginneth to expand; And, for the naked pine-branch which he swayed. He, smiling, hath a leaf-green sceptre planned; The ivy and the holly he doth braid, Beneath whose berries red is many a frolick played.

Now not in vain hath been the blooming spring, The fruitful summer and the autumn sere; For jolly Christmas to his board doth bring The happy fulness of the passed year; Man’s creeping blood and moody looks to cheer. With mirthful revel rings each happy dome; Unfelt within the snows and winds severe; The tables groan with beef, the tankards foam, And Winter blandly smiles to cheer the British home.

W. M. W.

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~Original Poetry.~

_For the Table Book._

The accompanying lines were written in allusion to that beautiful _Gem of Dagley’s_ which _Mr. Croly_ (page 21 of the vol.) supposes a Diana, and which Tassie’s Catalogue describes as such. I have, however, made bold to address her in her no less popular character of

EURYDICE.

“Ilia quidem dam te fugeret per flumina præceps Immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella Servantem ripas altâ non vidit in herbâ.”

_Virg._ Georg. IV.

Art can ne’er thine anguish lull, Maiden passing beautiful! Strive thou may’st,--’tis all in vain; Art shall never heal thy pain: Never may that serpent-sting Cease thy snow-white foot to wring. Mourner thou art doom’d to be Unto all eternity.

Joy shall never soothe thy grief; Thou must fall as doth the leaf In thine own deep forest-bower, Where thy lover, hour by hour, Hath, with songs of woodland glee. Like the never-wearied bee. Fed him on the fond caress Of thy youth’s fresh loveliness.

Youth!--’tis but a shadow now;-- Never more, lost maid, must thou Trip it with coy foot across Leafy brooks and beds of moss; Never more, with stealthy tread, Track the wild deer to his bed, Stealing soft and silently, Like the lone moon o’er the sea.

Vain thy lover’s whisper’d charm; Love can never death disarm; Hush’d the song he oft hath sung,-- Weak his voice, his lyre unstrung. Think, then, if so hard to heal Is the anguish thou dost feel. Think--how bitter is the smart When that wound is in the heart!

‘ϵ . . .

_Hampstead._

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~Notice.~

THE INDEX, &c. _to the present volume of the_ TABLE BOOK will _conclude the work_.

I respectfully bid my readers Farewell!

*

* * * * *

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

OF

THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

Perhaps I may be excused for noticing the forthcoming octavo edition of “THE SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF ENGLAND,”--a work of very curious research and remarkable information, written and published in quarto by the late MR. JOSEPH STRUTT.

THE OCTAVO EDITION will be printed in a superior manner, on fine paper, with at least 140 Engravings. It will be published in Monthly Parts, price One Shilling each, and each part, on an average, will contain fourteen engravings. Above half of the drawings and engravings are already executed, and other means are taken to secure the punctual appearance of the work. The printer is already engaged on it, and the first part will certainly appear before the first of February.

A COPIOUS INDEX will be prepared, and the work be edited by

_January 1, 1828._

W. HONE.

Vol. II.--55.

INDEXES.

I. GENERAL INDEX.

II. CORRESPONDENTS’ INDEX.

III. INDEX TO THE POETRY.

IV. INDEX TO THE ENGRAVINGS.

I. THE GENERAL INDEX.

Abduction, curious respite from execution for, 414. Abershaw, Jerry, 148, 149. Aborigines, 447. Abraham, heights of, in Derbyshire, 136. Accidents to one man, 127. Accompaniment to roasting, 201. Actors--acting of old men by children, 526. See Plays. Advertisements, singular, 222, 511, 616, 722. Advice. See Counsels. Age, reason for not reckoning, 352. Air, philosophy of, 503. Airay, (Tom) manager at Grassington, 247. Ale, old English, 351; antiquity of beer, 746. Alfred, tomb of, 734. Alia Bhye, East Indian princess, 520. Alleyn, actor, the Roscius of his day, 498, (note.) Amadeus, duke of Savoy, 594. “Ambitious Statesman, (The)” old play, 551. Amilcas the fisherman, 639. Amsterdam, notices of, 157, 460. Anaximander, and other ancients, 819. See Ancients. Ancients and moderns, discoveries of, 58, 83, 120, 182, 202, 214, 245, 342, 375, 406, 438, 472, 503, 632, 724, 742, 788, 819. ----; mode of writing of the ancients, 196; superiority of their music, 202; casualties among, 574. “Andronicus,” old play, 456. Animals, theories on generation of, 792. Animated nature, 216. Anne, queen, 243. Antipathies, instances of, 190. “Antipodes, (The)” old play, 361. Anty Brignal and the Begging Quaker, 761. Aphorisms, 160, 181. See Counsels. “Apostle Spoons,” 817. Apothecary or Dramatist, 411. Apprentices, to be found in sufficient wigs, 432. Archimedes, and other ancients, 821. See Ancients. Argyll, customs of, 10. Aristarchus, and other ancients, 820. See Ancients. Aristotle, former bondage to, 59. Armstrong, Dr., notice of, 109. Artists, letter of one to his son, 129. Arts and Sciences, skill of the ancients in. See Ancients. Arum, herb called, 369. Ashburton Pop, 356. “Asparagus Gardens, (The)” 363. Assignats, (French) engraving, 209. Astronomy, curious tract on, 252; ancients’ knowledge of, 794. See Ancients. Atheism, scandals to, 773. Attraction, 342. Audley, Hugh, usurer, life of, 72. Augustus, anecdote of, 231. Aurora Borealis, opinions on, 633. Authors, difficulties of, 123, 174; vanity of, 263, 811. Avarice, sorts of, 77. See Misers. Avenues of trees near Scheveling, 461. Avon Mill, Wilts, 346.

Babylon, 822. Bachelors; bachelor’s desk, 195; budge bachelors, 237; miserable home of bachelors, 269; pocket-book of one, 405. Bakewell, in Derb.; monuments, &c. in church of, 198. “Ballad Singer,” 666. Bans, happy, 116. Baptizing, customs touching, 23. Bargest, the spectre hound, 655. Barnes, Joshua, epitaph for, 33. Barrington, George, notice of, 152. “Bastard, (The)” old play, 171. Bathing, (earth) 562. Bear and Tenter, boys’ play, 364. Beards on women, superstition about, 23. Bears, habits of, 369. Beaus, English and French, 774. Beauty, ingenuous disclaimer of, 414; beauties at church, 774. Bed, (celestial) 562. Bede, (venerable) a hot spicer, 545. Beer, antiquity of, 746. Beethoven, musician, memoir of, 204. Begging Quaker, &c. 761. Bellows and bellows-makers, 603. Bells. See Ringing. “Belphegor,” old play, 552. Beverley, a strong porter, 550. Beverley, St. John of, 545. Bhye, Alia, amiable character of, 520. Bilbocquet, a royal amusement, 348. Bill of fare, 44. Birds; water-fowl at Niagara, 534; Dr. Fuller’s account of one, 287; Sandy’s method of hatching their eggs, 681. See Storks, &c. Birmingham, clubs of, 89; manufactures, &c. of, 595. Bishops; resignation of one, 103. Blacking, notices about, 435. Blackthorn, old custom of, 240. Blake, W., hostler, engraving of, 47. Blood, circulation of, notices about, 724. Bloomfield, George, poet’s brother, engraving, 801. ----, Robert, poet, notice of, 802. “Blurt, Master Constable,” old play, 739. Bodies, elements of, 214. Bolton, John, of Durham, 409. Bonaparte at Torbay, 360. Bones, advice for breaking, 511. Booker, Rev. L., notice of, 163. Books; lending of, 285, 287; my pocket-book, 403; device taken from a book of prayers, 615, (note.) Boots, importance of shape of, 512. Boswelliana, 255. Bowel complaints, receipt for, 256. Braco, Lord, and a farthing, 242. Brandon, Gregory, hangman, 699. Brass-works, 601. Bribery, in England, by foreigners, 16. Bridal, public, 374. “Bride, (The)” old play, 134. Bridlington, custom at, 582. Bristol, opulence and inns at, 243; prince George of Denmark at, 243; high cross at, 715. Bromley, bishop’s well at, 65; engraving of the church-door, 97; extraordinary ringing at, 527. Bruce, lord Edward, notices about, 225. “Brutus of Alba,” old play, 711. Brydges, sir E., epitaph on his daughter, 280. Buckles, notices of, 597. Budeus, (the learned) blunder of, 413. Budge, [Fur] notices about, 236; budge-bachelors, 237; Budge-row, 237. Building estimates should be doubled, 352. Bunyan’s holy war dramatized, 24. Burial in gardens, 460. See Funerals. Burkitt, Dan., an old jigger, 278. Bush tavern, Bristol, 44. Butler, (Hudibras,) hint adopted by, 410. Buttons, notices about, 596. Buying and selling, 211.

Cabalistic learning, 20. Cabbage-trees, vast height of, 471. Calvin and Servetus, 730. Cann, Abraham, wrestler, 499. CAPITAL extempore, 480. Capon, William, scene painter, notice of, 709. Carlisle, customs at, 373. Castle-baynard, tale of, 242. Casualties of the ancients, 574. Cataracts of Niagara, 531. Caverns, tremendous one, 541. Centenaries; medal for the centenary of the diet of Augsburgh, 321; centenary of the revolution, 515. Cesar and Amilcas, 638. “Chabot, Admiral of France,” old play, 6. Chains, hanging in, 149. Chairs, (arm) curious ones, 436, 622. “Challenge to Beauty,” old play, 498, 622. Charlemagne, misfortunes in family of, 397. Charles I. and treaty of Uxbridge, 521. ---- II., anecdote of, 33; procession on his restoration, 505; his court, 832. ---- V., bribery of English parliament by, 16. Charost, M. de, a royal favourite, 512. Chartres, duke of, notice of, 209. Chateaubriand, viscount de, anecdote of, 415. Chatsworth, 135. Chemistry of the ancients, 743, 746, 789. Chequers at public-houses, 38. Chester, custom at, 613. Chiari and rival dramatists, 11. Children, customs relating to, 21; children and mother, 441; children and split trees superstition concerning, 465; affection for children, 491. Christening, customs at, 23. Christian Malford, plague at, 553. Christmas-pie, 506. Chrysanthemum Indicum, 737. Churches, remarks on beautifying, 25; custom of strewing with rushes, 277. See Fonts. Church-yards, beautiful one at Grassmere, 278. Cigar divan of Mr. Gliddon, 673. Cinderella, origin of, 719. Circle, squaring the, 797. Circulation of the blood, 724. Cities, ancient, 822. Civilisation promoted by trade, 212. Cleopatra’s pearl, 789. Clergy, luxurious dress of, 236; weekly expenses of a clergyman, 283; devoted attachment of one to his flock, 483. Clerk’s desk, 195. Clocks, difference between, accounted for, 409. Closing the eyes, 27. Clubs at Birmingham, 89. Coachman, considerate, 146. Coats, how speedily made, 86. “Cock and Pynot” public-house, 513. Colossus of Rhodes, 823. Colours, philosophy of, 406. Comets, philosophy of, 472. Commerce, tendency of, 214. Compliment to a young laird, 256. Confession of Augsburgh, medal about, 321. Controversy, 160. Cookery aided by music, 204. Copernican system, 438. Cordon, sanitary, 493, 495. Corineus, a Trojan giant, 615, 617. Cornwall, wrestling in, 499. Corporations, fools kept by, 353. Corpuscular philosophy, 245. Corral,--a poor cottager, 784. Cottagers, singular difficulties of one, 385, &c. Counsels and cautions, 160, 181, 352, 478, 541, 817. Country, (native) 809. ---- dances, 32. Courtiers, humiliation of one, 174. Courtship, patient, 818. Coward, Nathan, glover and poet, 259. Crabbing for husbands, 465. Craven, notices of, 243, 721; stories of the Craven dales, 653, 775. Cries, old London, 431. Criticism, killing, 651. Crystal summer-house, 253. Cuckoo-pint, a plant, 369. Cumberland, customs of, 373, 559. Cup and ball, a royal amusement, 348. Cyrus, his love of gardening, 459.