rich gold laced waistcoat, with a blue coat, red collar, &c. &c. which was the fashionable undress of that time. On the second day of this transformation, a friend, looking in upon him, found him before a glass in the following soliloquy : "No, this won't do, this is both troublesome and expensive; it may lead me into vanity, and when once in, 'tis not so easy to get out. I'll therefore return to my old brown again;" which colour, with an occasional suit of black, he continued dur ing the remainder of his life. M. S. As I entered Twer, a young man was seated with a party not far from the Volga, and sung in a pleasing voice the old French air, "Oh Mahomet, ton paradis de femmes est le sejour de la felicité." I forget whether you know the music-it is one of the liveliest airs ever composed even by a Frenchman. The notes were still vibrating on the drum of my ear, when I arrived at the gate, where the centinel treated me with a counterpart, which he bellowed loudly forth, and the burden of which frequently repeated, was droll enough, after what I had just heard: "I ya schenilsa kak durak." I took a wife, and was a fool. Seume's Tour. On the first parliament of lord Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, when deputy of Ireland in 1633, he issued a proclamation, that none of the members, either peers or commoners, should enter with their swords on: and the black rod accordingly stood at the door of the lord's house to take away their swords. As my lord of Ormond came in, he demanded his; but being refused, black rod shewed the proclamation, and made some rough reply. To this his lordship answered, "That if he needs must have his sword, it must be in his guts;" and so marched on to his seat, where he sat as the only peer with a sword that day. . The lord deputy being informed of this, took fire, and called his lordship at night to answer for it. His lordship shewed him his writ which called him to parliament, "Cinctus cum Gladio." Upon this answer, the deputy and his two friends, sir George Ratcliffe and Mr Wandesford, consulted whether to suppress or oblige so daring a spirit: but sir George advising the latter, it was resolved on: and this begot such an intimacy through life between lord Ormond and Strafford, that the latter made it one of his dying requests to the king, "That his garter might be given to the earl of Ormond." His majesty accordingly did offer it; and his lordship's refusal of it was very honourable to his character:-"That at such a time of danger, such a mark of royal favour might tie some other nobleman to the crown, who by principles was less resolved than himself: he begged his majesty, therefore, to bestow this garter as his service required, and to reserve his bounty for him till all the dangers were over." He therefore had no garter, till 1649, when it was given him by Charles II. who soon after created him a marquis. European Mag. July, 1797. Ir is related of lord chief justice Holt, who had been very wild in his youth, that being once at the bench at the Old Bailey, a fellow was tried for a highway robbery, and very narrowly acquitted, whom his lordship recollected to have been one of his early dissipated companions. After the trial was over, curiosity induced him to send for the man in private, in order to inquire the fortune of the cotemporaries with whom he was once associated: he therefore asked the fellow what was become of Tom such-a-one, and Will such-a-one, and the rest of the party to which they belonged? when the fellow, fetching a deep sigh, and making a low bow, replied:-"Ah! my lord, they are all hanged, except your lordship and myself." Anecdotes of Illustrious Characters. BEFORE the prince of Wales's palace are thirty columns planted in a row. The architect of this building was employed to build a palace for the second prince of the blood, and in the front, towards the street, he constructed a large oven-like room, completely obscuring the house to which it was to serve as an entrance-hall. These two buildings being described to the late lord North, who was blind in the latter part of his life, he facetiously remarked, "Then the duke of York it should seem has been sent to the round house, and the prince of Wales is put into the pillory." Letters from Spain, v. 1, p. 79. WHEN Forbes met Wilkes at a coffee-house in Paris, he first asked him, "Whether his name was Wilkes!" To this he made no answer. The other however, softening his tone a little, asked him, "Whether he was not the celebrated John Wilkes?" This took him in; but did not entirely take him off his guard: for, when the other immediately challenged him, Wilkes told him he did not think himself engaged to fight every adventrous Scotchman, merely for giving general opinions on particular countries: and when the other said he would not be trifled with, but that he must meet him directly, Wilkes again parried the attack by gravely pulling out his pocket book, and seeming to look over some memorandums, told him he must wait for his turn, for that he had nineteen upon his list before him. This raised the laugh against Forbes, when Wilkes quitted the coffee-house, and very prudently kept out of his way ever after. Anecdotes of Wilkes. CAPTAIN VANCOUVER used to say, that he had been nearer the pole than any other man-for that when the immortal Cook, in latitude 72, was stopped in his progress by impenetrable mountains of ice, and was preparing to tack about, he went to the very end of the bowsprit, and waving his hand, exclaimed—Ne plus ultra. Naval Anecdotes, p. 277. PRICE of wines, set and appointed by the vicechancellor of the University of Oxford, Oct. 21st, 1667, according to which they are to be sold rateably in all measures: Canary wines, Allecent and Muscadel, 1s. 8d. the quart, and no more. Sack and Malagoes, 1s. 6d. the quart, and no more. French wines. 1s. the quart, and no more. SIR JOHN MEADE, the ancestor of the great Dr Meade, was bred to the law in Ireland, and was deservedly distinguished as one of the finest orators that ever that nation produced. It happened that sir Edward Seymour had an estate of 50001. a year fallen to him in Ireland; but this was a fortune too considerable to hope to get possession of without difficulty, as there were other claimants under the same title, and therefore he found his personal appearance in that kingdom absolutely necessary. It is to be observed, that sir Edward Seymour was accounted the proudest man in England; and sir John Meade was no less remarkable for that same fault in Ireland. Sir Edward landed at Dublin, filled with that sovereign contempt which Englishmen generally have for the whole country; and meeting with some of his old friends, who held the principal posts of honour here, he enquired, "Whether there were any such creatures as lawyers to be met with in this damn'd place?" They answered, "Yes, and those very good ones; but if he had any cause of importance to try, he must apply himself to sir John Meade if he hoped to carry it." "Well, (said he) let one of my fellows go and fetch him." "Your fellows! sir Edward, (said one of the gen " |