_Morland._--George Morland's brother was telling me the other day, that he
well remembered going with his brother in a hack to Smithfield, buying a
young donkey there, and bringing it home with them in the coach; his
brother laughing almost all the time. M.L.E.
* * * * *
_The Three Death's Heads._--The following words (much altered) are from a
poem entitled, "The Thre' Deid Powis", (The Three Death's Heads, by
Patrick Johnstoun.)
"O, lady gay, in glittering garments drest,
Enrich'd with pearl, and many a costly stone,
Thy slender throat, and soft and snowy breast
Circled with gold and sapphires many a one.
Thy fingers small, white as the ivory bone,
Arrayed with rings, and many a ruby red;
Soon shall thy fresh and rose-like bloom be gone,
And naught of thee remain, but grim and hollow head.
O, woeful pride! dark root of all distress!
With contrite heart, our fleshless scalps behold!
O wretched man, to God, meek prayers address.
Thy lusty strength, thy wit, thy daring bold,
All shall lie low with us in charnel cold:
Proud king, 'tis thus thy pamper'd corpse shall rot;
Thus, in the dust thy purple pomp be roll'd,
Mark then, in peeled skull, thy miserable lot."
* * * * *
_Bushy._--Bushy, a small village, near Watford, seems to have been very
unfortunate in its ancient owners. Its first Norman possessor, Geoffrey de
Mandeville, having incurred the Pope's displeasure, was obliged to be
suspended in lead, on a tree, in the precinct of the Temple, London,
because Christian burial was not allowed to persons under such
circumstances. Edmond of Woodstock, was beheaded through the vile
machinations of Queen Isabella, and her paramour, Mortimer, on a suspicion
of intending to restore his brother, Edward II. to the throne; and so much
was he beloved by the people, and his persecutors detested, that he stood
from one to five in the afternoon before an executioner could be procured,
and then an outlaw from the Marshalsea performed the detested duty. Thomas,
Duke of Surrey, was beheaded at Cirencester, in rebellion against Henry IV.
Thomas de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, after obtaining the highest honour
in the campaigns in France with Henry V. was killed by the splinter of a
window-frame, driven into his face by a cannon ball, at the siege of
Orleans. Richard, the stout Earl of Warwick, another possessor, was killed
at Barnet. George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey.
Richard III. was the next possessor. Lady Margaret de la Pole, was
beheaded at the age of seventy-two, by the cruel policy of Henry VIII., in
revenge for a supposed affront by her son the Cardinal. In this parish
also lived the infamous Colonel Titus, who advised Cromwell to deliver the
nation from its yoke, in a pamphlet, entitled _Killing no Murder_.
* * * * *
_West._--A New York paper states that the old sign of the Bull's Head,
which has hung at a house in Strawberry-street, for nearly seventy years,
is ascertained to be one of the first productions of Benjamin West, and is
said to be the first painting of the kind ever executed in America. The
wood on which it is painted is much decayed, but the paint and figures are
visible.
* * * * *
_Congreve_ is said to have written his comedy of the _Old Bachelor_ and
part of the _Mourning Bride_, in a grotto formed in a steep rocky hill in
the grounds of Ham Hall, in Dove Dale, Derbyshire. This romantic retreat
was furnished with a stone seat and table, and herein the poet and
dramatist was accustomed to seek refuge from the license of a London life.
* * * * *
_Rousseau_ appears to have been one of the unhappiest as well as the most
unamiable of men. He imagined himself the persecuted of all persecutors,
and sought an asylum in England from his supposed enemies. In April, 1766,
having just settled in Derbyshire, he wrote "Here I have just arrived at
last at an agreeable and sequestered asylum, where I hope to breathe
freely, and at peace." He lived chiefly at Wootton Hall, and delighted to
pass his leisure in the romantic Dove Dale. He did not, however, long
remain "at peace," for in April following, he returned to the continent,
heaping reproaches on his best friends. The rent of the house in which he
lived had been greatly reduced, to allure him into the country; his spirit
revolted at this; and as soon as he heard of it he indignantly left the
place. Whilst at Wootton Hall, he received a present of some bottles of
choice foreign wine; this was a gift, and his pride would not permit him
to taste it; he therefore left it in the house untouched for the next
comer. For some reason or other, or more probably for none, he had
determined not to see Dr. Darwin. The Doctor, aware of his objections,
placed himself on a terrace, which Rousseau had to pass, and was examining
a plant. "Rousseau," said he, "are you a botanist?" They entered into
conversation, and were intimate at once; but Rousseau, on reflection,
imagined that this meeting was the result of contrivance, and the intimacy
proceeded no further.
* * * * *