From Gravesend, by easy journeys, I went to Dover, where I took shipping, with a train of an hundred and odd persons, and arrived shortly after at Calais, where I remember my cheer was twice as good as at Dover, and my reckoning half as cheap; from whence I went to Boulogne, Monstrevile, Abbevile, Amiens, and in two days thence to St. Dennis, near Paris, where I was met with a great train of coaches, that were sent to receive me, as also by the Master of the Ceremonies, and Monsieur Mennon my fellow scholar, with Monsieur Disancour, who then kept an academy, and brought with him a brave company of gentlemen on great horses, to attend me into town.

It was now somewhat late when I entered Paris, upon a Saturday night; I was but newly settled in my lodging, when a Secretary of the Spanish Ambassador there, told me that his Lord desired to have the first audience from me, and therefore requested he might see me the next morning; I replyed it was a day I gave wholly to devotion, and therefore intreated him to stay 'till some more convenient time. The Secretary replyed, that his master did hold it no less holy; howbeit that his respect to me was such, that he would prefer the desire he had to serve me before all other considerations; howsoever I put him off 'till Monday following.

Not long after I took a house in Fauxbourg St. Germains Rue Tournon, which cost me 2007. sterling yearly; having furnished the house richly, and lodged all my train, I prepared for a journey to Tours and Touraine, where the French Court then was: being come hither in extream hot weather, I demanded audience of the King and Queen, which being granted, I did assure the King of the great affection the King my master bore him, not only out of the ancient alliance betwixt the two crowns, but because Henry the Fourth and the King my master had stipulated with each other, that whensoever any one of them died, the survivor should take care of the other's child: I assured him further, that no charge was so much imposed upon me by my instructions, as that I should do good offices betwixt both kingdoms and therefore that it were a great fault in me, if I behaved myself otherwise than with all respect to his Majesty: This being done, I presented to the King a letter of credence from the King my master: The King assured me of a reciprocal affection to the King my master, and of my

particular welcome to his court. His words were never many, as being so extream a stutterer, that he would sometimes hold his tongue out of his mouth a good while before he could speak so much as one word; he had besides a double row of teeth, and was observed seldom or never to spit or blow his nose, or to sweat much, though he were very laborious, and almost indefatigable in his exercises of hunting and hawking, to which he was much addicted: Neither did it hinder him, although he was burst in his body, as we call it, or herniosus; for he was noted in those sports, although often times on foot, to tire not only his courtiers, but even his lackies, being equally insensible, as was thought, either of heat or cold: His understanding and natural parts were as good as could be expected, in one that was brought up in so much ignorance, which was on purpose so done that he might be the longer governed; howbeit he acquired in time a great knowledge in affairs, as conversing for the most part with wise and active persons. He was noted to have two qualities incident to all who were ignorantly brought up, suspicion and dissimulation; for as ignorant people walk so much in the dark, they cannot be exempt from fear of stumbling; and as they are likewise deprived of, or defi cient in those true principles, by which they should govern both public and private actions, in a wise, solid, and demonstrative way, they strive commonly to supply these imperfections with covert acts, which though it may be sometimes excusable in necessitous persons, and be indeed frequent among those who negotiate in small matters, yet condemnable in princes, who proceeding upon foundations of reason and strength, ought not to submit themselves to such poor helps: Howbeit I must observe, that neither his fears did take away his courage, when there was occasion to use it, nor his dissimulation extend itself to the doing of private mischiefs to his subjects, either of one or the other religion. His favorite was one Monsieur De Luynes, who in his none-age gained much upon the King, by making hawkes fly at all little birds in his gardens, and by making some of those little birds again catch butterflies; and had the King used him for no other purpose, he might have been tolerated; but as, when the King came to a riper age, the government of publick affairs was drawn chiefly from his counsells, not a few errors were committed.

The Queen-mother, princes, and nobles of that kingdom repined that his advices to the King should be so prevalent, which also at last caused a civil war in that kingdom. How unfit this man was for the credit he had with the King may be argued by this; that when there was question made about some business in Bohemia, he demanded whether it was an inland country, or lay upon the sea? and thus much for the present of the King and his favorite.

After my audience with the King, I had another from the Queen, being sister to the King of Spain; I had little to say unto her, but some complements on the King my master's part, but such complements as her sex and quality were capable of. This queen was exceedingly fair, like those of the house of Austria, and together of so mild and good a condition, she was never noted to have done ill offices to any, but to have mediated as much as was possible for her, in satisfaction of those who had any suit to the King, as far as their cause would bear. She had now been married divers years without having any children, though so ripe for them, that nothing seemed to be wanting on her part. I remember her the more particularly, that she shewed publickly at my audiences that favor to me, as not only my servants but divers others took notice of it. After this my first audience, I went to see Mousieur de Luynes, and the principal Ministers of State, as also the Princes and Princesses, and ladies then in the court, and particularly the Princess of Conti, from whom I carried the scarf formerly mentioned; and this is as much as I shall declare in this place, concerning my negotiation with the King and state; my purpose being, if God sends me life, to set them forth apart, as having the copies of all my dispatches in a great trunk in my house in London; and considering that in the time of my stay there, there were divers civil wars in that country, and that the Prince, now King, passed with my Lord of Buckingham and others through France into Spain; and the business of the Elector Palatine in Bohemia, and the battle of Prague, and divers other memorable accidents, both of state and war, happened during the time of my imployment; I conceive a narration of them may be worth the seeing to them who have it not from a better hand; I shall only therefore relate here, as they come into my memory, certain little passages, which may serve in some part to declare the history of my life.

(To be concluded in our next.)

THE LOUNGER'S PIC NIC.

"Dulce est desipere in loco."-HOR.
""Tis sweet to trifle now and then."

No. V.

SHERIDAN ON OATH.

In the trial of the Earl of Thanet, Mr. Fergusson, and others, for an attempt to rescue O'Connor, at Maidstone Assizes, in 1799, the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, appeared as a witness for the defendants. The following are extracts from the examination of this distinguished individual.

Mr. Erskine. Do you know Mr. Fergusson?

Mr. Sheridan. Perfectly.

Q. If he had been upon the table, flourishing and waving a stick in the manner that has been described, in his bar dress, must you not have seen it ?

A. Yes; it must have been a remarkable thing indeed, for a counsel in his bar dress to have a stick flourishing in his hand; he had a roll of paper in his hand.

Q, Does that enable you to swear that Mr. Fergusson was not in that situation?

A. Certainly.

Q. Do you think if he had taken such a part in the riot, in the presence of the judges, that you must have observed it?

A, I must have observed it.

Cross-examined by Mr. Law, (afterwards Lord Ellenborough.)

Q. You have said you saw Lord Thanet going towards the judges, as if he was going to complain; did you hear him make any complaint to the judges?

A. I did not hear him, certainly.

Q. I will ask you, whether you do or do not believe that Lord Thanet and Mr. Fergusson meant to favour O'Connor's escape, upon your oath.

A. Am I to give an answer to a question which amounts merely to an opinion?

Q. I ask, as an inference from their conduct, as it fell under your observation, whether you think Lord Thanet or

Mr. Fergusson, or either of them, meant to favour Mr. O'Connor's escape, upon your solemn oath?

A. Upon my solemn oath, I saw them do nothing that could be at all auxiliary to an escape.

Q. That is not an answer to my question.

A. I do not wish to be understood to blink any question; and if I had been standing there, and been asked whether I should have pushed or stood aside, I should have had no objection to answer that question.

Q. My question is, whether from what you saw of the conduct of Lord Thanet and Mr. Fergusson, they did not mean to favour the escape of O'Connor, upon your solemn oath?

A. The learned counsel need not remind me that I am upon my oath: I know as well as the learned counsel does, that I am upon my oath; and I will say, that I saw nothing that could be auxiliary to an escape.

Q. After what has passed, I am warranted in reminding the honourable gentleman that he is upon his oath. My question is, whether from the conduct of Lord Thanet or Mr. Fergusson, or either of them, as it fell under your observation, you believe that either of them meant to favour O'Connor's escape?

A. I desire to know how far I am obliged to answer that question? I certainly will answer it in this way, that from what they did, being a mere observer of what passed, I should not think myself justified in saying that either of them did. Am I to say whether I think they would have been glad if he had escaped? That is what you are pressing me for.

Q. No man can misunderstand me; I ask, whether from the conduct of Lord Thanet or Mr. Fergusson, or either of them, as it fell under your observation, you believe, upon your oath, that they meant to favour the escape of O'Connor?

A. I repeat it again, that from what either of them did, I should have no right to conclude that they were persons assisting the escape of O'Connor.

Q. I ask you again, whether you believe from the conduct of Lord Thanet or Mr. Fergusson, or either of them, upon your oath, that they did not mean to favour the escape of O'Connor?