Abchurch, for the election of a common councilman, in the room of Mr. Deputy Davis, His lordship went sooner than was expected by Mr. Clay's friends, and arriving at the church, ordered proclamation to be made, when Mr. Edward Yeates was put up by every person present; then the question being asked, whether any other was offered to the ward, and there being no person named, his lordship declared Mr. Yeates duly elected, and ordered bim to be sworn in, which was accordingly done; and just at the words 'So help you God,' Mr. Clay's friends (who were numerous, and had been at breakfast at the Boar's Head Tavern, in Eastcheap) came into the church, but it was too late, for the election was over. This has created a great deal of mirth in the ward, which is likely to continue for some time. The Boar's Head is said to be the tavern so often mentioned by Shakspeare, in his play of Henry the Fourth, which occasioned a gentleman, who heard the circumstances of the election, to repeat the following lines from that play "Falst. Now Hall, what a time of day is it, lad?" "P. Hen.What a devil has thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons,' " &c. The above account gives a specimen of the sobriety of our fathers; another of their virtues is exemplified in the following: "By a letter from Penzance, in Cornwall, we have the following account, viz. :- That on the 12th instant at night, was lost near Portlevan (and all the men drowned, as is supposed), the queen Caroline, of Topsham, Thomas Wills, master, from Oporto, there being some pieces of letters found on the sands, directed for Edward Mann, of Exon, one for James La Roche, Esq. of Bristol, and another for Robert Smyth, Esq. and Company, Bristol. Some casks of wine came on shore, which were immediately secured by the country people; but on a composition with the collector, to pay them eight guineas for each pipe they brought on shore, they delivered to him twenty five pipes; and he paid so many times eight guineas, else they would have staved them, or carried them off."" The order maintained in England at that time was nothing compared to the strictness of discipline observed on the continent. "They write from Rome, that count Trevelii, a Neapolitan, had been beheaded there, for being the author of some satirical writings against the Pope: that Father Jacobini, who was sentenced to be beheaded on the same account, had obtained the favour of being sent to the gallies, through the interces sion of cardinal Guadagni, the pope's nephew, who was most maltreated by the priest and the count." These were times, as Dame Quickly would say, when honourable men were not to be insulted with impunity. We sometimes hear of a terrible species of mammalia, called West India Planters, and there is an individual specimen named Hogan, or something like it, whose wonderful fierceness has been sounded in our what will the abolitionists say to the exears for some ten or twelve years. But tract of a letter from Antigua? Compared with these dreadful doings, Mr. Hogan's delinquencies were mere fleabites. 15, 1736-7:- We are in a great deal of "Extract of a letter from Antigua, January trouble in this island, the burning of negroes, hanging them on gibbets alive, racking them on the wheel, &c. takes up almost all our time; that from the 20th of October to this day, there has been destroyed sixty-five sensible negro men, most of them tradesmen, as carpenters, masons, and coopers. I am almost dead with watching and warding, as are many more. They were going to destroy all the white inhabitants on the island. king of the negroes, who was to head the Court, the insurrection; Tomboy, their general, and Hercules their lieutenant-general, were all obstinacy. Mr. Archibald Hamilton's Harry, racked upon the wheel, and died with amazing after he was condemned, stuck himself with a mortal, which killed him. Colonel Martin's knife in eighteen places, four whereof were Jemmy, who was hung up alive from noon to eleven at night, was then taken down to give information. Colonel Morgan's Ned, who, after nights, that his hands grew too small for bis he had been hung up seven days and seven hand-cuffs, he got them out and raised himself high, without any harın; he was revived with up, and fell down from a gibbet fifteen feet confession, but he would not confess, and was cordials and broth, in hopes to bring him to a hung up again, and in a day and night after expired. jumped out of the fire half burnt, but was Mr. Yeoman's Quashy Coomah thown in again. And Mr. Lyon's Tim jumped out of the fire, and promised to declare all, but it took no effect. In short, our island is in a poor, miserable condition, that I wish I could get any sort of employ in England.' The following notice is of a more pleasing character: "In a few days, a fine monument to the memory of John Gay, Esq., auther of the Beggar's Opera, and several other admired pieces, will be erected in Westminster-abbey, at the expense of his grace the duke of Queensberry and Dover, with an elegant inscription thereon, composed by the deceased's intimate and affectionate friend, Mr. Alexander Pope." There are two more observations which we have to make; 1st. "the Old Whig," as was meet, was a strong Orangeman; and 2d. the parliament was sitting when the number before us was published, and yet it does not contain one line of debate! NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 53. 77. October 8. ANCIENT MANNERS. Elias Ashmole, the antiquary, enters thus in the diary of his life :-" 1657, October 8. The cause between me and my wife was heard, when Mr. Serjeant Maynard observed to the court, that there were 800 sheets of depositions on my wife's part, and not one word proved against me of using her ill, nor ever giving her a bad or provoking word." The decision was against the lady; the court, refusing her alimony, delivered her to her husband; "whereupon," says Ashmole, "I carried her to Mr. Lilly's, and there took lodgings for us both." He and Lilly dabbled in astrology; and he tells no more of his spouse till he enters 1668, April 1. 2 Hor. ante merid. the lady Mainwaring my wife died." Subsequently he writes" November 3. I married Mrs. Elizabeth Dugdale, daughter to William Dugdale, Esq. Norroy, king of arms at Lincoln's-inn chapel. Dr. William Floyd married us, and her father gave her. The wedding was finished at 10 ho post merid." 66 Ashmole's diary minutely records particulars of all sorts:-" September 5, I took pills; 6, I took a sweat; 7, I took leeches; all wrought very well. December 19, Dr. Chamberlain proposed to me to bring Dr. Lister to my wife, that he might undertake her. 22. They both came to my house, and Dr. Lister did undertake her." Though Dr. Lister was her undertaker on that occasion, yet Ashmole records-" 1687, April 16, my wife took Mr. Bigg's vomit, which wrought very well.-19. She took pulvis sanctis; in the afternoon she took cold.' Death took Ashmole in 1695. He was superstitious and punctilious, and was perhaps a better antiquary than a friend; he seems to have possessed himself of Tradescant's museum at South Lambeth in a manner which rather showed his love of antiquities than poor old Tradescant. It is to be regretted that Ashmole's life, "drawn up by himself by way of diary," was not printed with the Life of Lilly in the "Autobiography." Lilly's Life is published in that pleasant work by itself." Tom Davies" deemed them fit companions. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 53. 80. October 9. ST. DENYS. This name in the church of England calendar is properly noticed in vol. i. ccl. 1370. On the celebration of this saint's festi val in cathclic countries he is represented walking with his head in his hands, as we are assured he did, after his martyrdom. A late traveller in France relates, that on the 9th of October, the day of St. Denis, the patron saint of France, a procession was made to the village of St. Denis, about a league from Lyons. This was commonly a very disorderly and tumultuous assembly, and was the occasion some years ago of a scene of terrible confusion and slaughter. The porter who kept the gate of the city which leads to this village, in order to exact a contribution from the people as they returned, shut the gate at an earlier hour than usual. The people, incensed at the extortion, assembled in a crowd round the gate to force it, and in the conflict numbers were stifled, squeezed to death, or thrown into the Rhone, on the side of which the gate stood. Two hundred persons were computed to have lost their lives on this occasion. The porter paid his avarice with his life: he was condemned and executed as the author of the tumult, and of the consequences by which it was attended.* NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Miss Plum ptre. To the present time Pack Monday fair, annually announced three or four weeks previous by all the little urchins who can procure and blow a cow's horn, parading the streets in the evenings, and sending forth the different tones of their horny PACK MONDAY FAIR, AT SHERBORNE, bugles, sometimes beating an old sauce DORSETSHIRE To the Editor of the Every-Day Book. Sherborne, September, 1826. Sir,-Having promised to furnish an account of our fair, I now take the liberty of handing it to you for insertion in your very entertaining work. This fair is annually held on the first Monday after the 10th of October, and is a mart for the sale of horses, cows, fat and lean oxen, sheep, lambs, and pigs; cloth, earthenware, onions, wall and hazle nuts, apples, fruit trees, and the usual nick nacks for children, toys, gingerbread, sweetmeats, sugar plums, &c. &c. with drapery, hats, bonnets, caps, ribands, &c. for the country belles, of whom, when the weather is favourable, a great number is drawn together from the neighbouring villages. Tradition relates that this fair originated at the termination of the building of the church, when the people who had been employed about it packed up their tools, and held a fair or wake, in the churchyard, blowing cows' horns in their rejoicing, which at that time was perhaps the most common music in use. The Gentleman's Magazine. Hutchins, in his History of Dorset," says, this "Fair is held in the churchyard,t on the first Monday after the feast of St. Michael, (O. S.) and is a great holyday for the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. It is ushered in by the ringing of the great bell, at a very early hour in the morning, and by the boys and young men perambulating the street with cows' horns, to the no small annoyance of their less wakeful neighbours. It has been an immemorial custom in Sherborne, for the boys to blow horns in the evenings in the streets, for some weeks before the fair." The fair has been removed from the churchyard about six or seven years, and is now held on a spacious parade, in a street not far from the church. pan for a drum, to render the sweet sound more delicious, and not unfrequently a whistle-pipe or a fife is added to the band. The clock's striking twelve on the Sunday night previous, is the summons for ushering in the fair, when the boys assemble with their horns, and parade the town with a noisy shout, and prepare to forage for fuel to light a bonfire, generally of straw, obtained from some of the neighbouring farmyards, which are sure to be plundered, without respect to the owners, if they have not been fortunate enough to secure the material in some safe part of their premises. In this way the youths enjoy themselves in boisterous triumph, to the annoyance of the sleeping part of the inhabitants, many of whom deplore, whilst others, who entertain respect for old customs, delight in the deafening mirth. At four o'clock the great bell is rang for a quarter of an hour. From this time, the bustle commences by the preparations for the coming scene: stalls erecting, windows cleaning and decorating, shepherds and drovers going forth for their flocks and herds, which are depastured for the night in the neigbouring fields, and every individual seems on the alert. The business in the sheep and cattle fairs (which are held in different fields, nearly in the centre of the town, and well attended by the gentlemen farmers, of Dorset, Somerset, and Devon) takes precedence, and is generally concluded by twelve o'clock, when what is called the in-fair begins to wear the appearance of business-like activity, and from this time till three or four o'clock more business is transacted in the shop, counting-house, parlour, hall, and kitchen, than at any other time of the day, it being a custom of the tradespeople to have their yearly accounts settled about this time, and scarcely a draper, grocer, hatter, ironmonger, bookseller, or other respectable tradesman, but is provided with an ample store of beef and home-brewed October, for the welcome of their numerous customers, few of whom depart without taking quantum suff. of the old English fare placed before them. Now, (according to an old saying,) is the town alive. John takesJoan to see the shows, -there he finds the giant-here the learned pig the giantess and dwarf-the menagerie of wild beasts-the conjuror and Mr. Merry Andrew cracking his jokes with his quondam master. Here it is “ Walk up, walk up, ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to begin, be in time, the price is only twopence." Here is Mr. Warr's merry round-about, with 66 a horse or a coach for a halfpenny."Here is Rebecca Swain with her black and red cock, and lucky-bag, who bawls out, Come, my little lucky rogues, and try your fortune for a halfpenny, all prizes and no blanks, a faint heart never wins a fair lady."-Here is pricking in the garter.-Raffling for gingerbread, with the cry of "one in ; who makes two, the more the merrier."-Here is the Sheffield hardwareman, sporting a worn-out wig and huge pair of spectacles, offering, in lots, a box of razors, knives, scissors, &c., each lot of which he modestly says, "is worth seven shillings, but he'll not be too hard on the gaping crowd, he'll not take seven, nor six, nor five, nor four, nor three, nor 66 A tall and portly dame, six feet full, with a particular screw of the mouth, and whom the writer recollects when he was a mere child, thirty years ago; none who have seen and heard her once, but will recollect her as long as they live. two, but one shilling for the lot,--going at one shilling-sold again and the money paid."-Here are two earthenware-men bawling their shilling's worth one against the other, and quaffing beer to each other's luck from that necessary and convenient chamber utensil that has modestly usurped the name of the great river Po. Here is poor Will, with a basket of gingerbread, crying "toss or buy." There is a smirking little lad pinning two girls together by their gowns, whilst his companion cracks a Waterloo bang-up in their faces. Here stands John with his mouth wide open, and Joan with her sloe-black ogles stretched to their extremity at a fine painted shawl, which Cheap John is offering for next to nothing; and here is a hundred other contrivances to draw the "browns" from the pockets of the unwary, and tickle the fancies of the curious; and sometimes the rogue of a pickpocket extracting farmer Anybody's watch or money from his pockets. This is Pack Monday fair, till evening throws on her dark veil, when the visiters in taking their farewell, stroll through the rows of gingerbread stalls, where the spruce Mrs. or Miss Sugarplum pops the cover of her nut-cannister forth, with "buy some nice nuts, do taste, sir, (or ma'me,) and treat your companion with a paper of nuts." By this time the country folks are for jogging home,and vehicles and horses of every description on the move, and the bustle nearly over, with the exception of what is to be met with at the inns, where the lads and lasses so disposed, on the light fantastic toe, assisted by the merry scraping of the fiddler, finish the fun, frolic, and pastime of Pack Monday Fair. R. T. I am, &c. SONNET. For the Every-Day Book. Me, men's gay haunts delight not, nor the glow Of lights that glitter in the crowded room; - And shadowy groves where birds their light wings plume, |