The Gatherer.

I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."- Wootton.

POLISH NOBILITY.

THE emperor of Russia's last decree on titles ordains, that in Poland no person shall assume the title of baron unless his income be 251. per annum; of count, unless he have 75l. per annum; and of prince, unless he can command 1201.

THE ABSENT MAN. MR. L― receives a letter; he knows the hand writing; he wants to read it in haste-it is already dark, he strikes a light, tears a paper, and lights a candle, but the letter is gone.-He had used it to light the candle !

MARQUIS OF HASTINGS. THE late marquis of Hastings, in a letter found amongst his papers after his death, requested that on his decease his right hand might be cut off, and preserved until the death of the marchioness,

when it was to be interred in the same coffin with her ladyship! In pursuance of his direction, the hand was amputated.

Two gentlemen, a few days since, took a boat at Blackfriars' Bridge, to go to the Tower. One of them asked the other, who sat beside him, if he could tell him, what countryman the waterman was? He replied, he could not, “Then,” said his friend, "I can, He is a Ro-man." A cockney being told the above, said, "the pun was wherry good."

SINGULAR EPITAPH.

The following Epitaph is in Wood Ditton Church-yard, in memory of William Symonds, gamekeeper to the late duke of Rutland, at Cheveley, Cambridgeshire. It is said to be written by himself. A dripping-pan is carved on the head of the tomb.

HERE lies the corpse, who was the man,
That lov'd a sop in dripping-pan,
But now believe me, I am dead,
See here, the pan stands at my head,
Still for sop to the last I cry'd,
I could not eat, and so I dy'd.

A CURIOUS FACT.

WERE a person, who is well acquainted with London, asked how many butchers' shops there are on the north side of the way, from Tyburn turnpike to Whitechapel, a distance of four miles, along Oxford-street, Holborn, Newgate-street, Cheapside, and Cornhill, he would scarcely answer, "Two;" but such is (or was very lately) the fact!

THE following appears on the outside of a tailor's shop in the Kent-road :-Messieurs habiliments fashionably fabricated, invisibly renovated, metamorphosed and deprecated, by Samuel ****, Cosmopolitan.

66

PREACHING AND PROPHESYING.

a

A COUNTRY clergyman, who on Sundays, is more indebted to his manuscript than to his memory, called unceremoniously at a cottage, whilst its possessor, a pious parishioner, was engaged, daily exercise) in perusing a paragraph of the writings of an inspired prophet. Weel, John," familiarly inquired the clerical visitant, "what's this you are "I am prophesying," was the prompt reply. "Prophesying!" exclaimed the astounded divine, "I doubt you are only reading a prophecy.' "Weel," argued the religious rustic, "gif reading a preachin' be preachin, is na' reading a prophecy prophesying ?"

about ?"

A PROPHECY.

THERE existed in Bhurtpore a prophesy that that fort never could be taken until all the water in the ditch was swallowed up by an alligator. Now the natives pronounce the name of lord Combermere in such a way as to make it sound "Commeer," which, in their language, is alligator, and thus they thought the prophecy accomplished.

10 CORRESPONDENTS.

P. T. W.; Tim Tobykin; Janet; Jacobus ; F. R. Y.; J.; M. L. B.; Pasche; G. W. N.; and A. B. C.; are requested to send to our Publisher's for letters, any day after Monday next. A note is left for ** H., at 143, Strand.

The EIGHTH VOLUME of the MIRROR, Containing a fine Portrait of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, with a Biographical Memoir, and numerous Engravings, may now be had in boards, price 5s. 6d.

When they do read my epitaph.

Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

OF

[PRICE 2d.

No. 233.]

THE village of West Wickham is pleasantly situated in the north-eastern part of the county of Kent, distant about twelve miles from the metropolis, and four from Croydon and Bromley. The principal object in its vicinity is the ancient manor house of Wickham Court, which stands about a mile from the village, near the church. This building was erected in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Henry Heydon, but has undergone considerable alterations and repairs, yet, notwithstanding, it still retains much of its original form and character. It is a square structure of brick, with an octagonal tower at each corner, which, for merly, terminated pyramidically above the roof, but which now, together with the whole walls of the building, are ornamented with embrasures. In the window of the hall are the arms of Sir Henry Heydon, and Anne, his wife, daughter of Sir Geffry Bulleyn, the arms and quarterings of Hussey, and several other

coats.

The parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands to the right of the manor house. It was rebuilt by Sir Henry Heydon, in the reign of Henry VOL. IX.

VII. and consists of a cliancel, nave, and north aisle; on the south side, at the west end, is a low square tower. The windows of this church contain several pieces of stained glass, particularly a representation of a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, with a label issuing from its mouth, intended for that of Sir Henry Heydon, as is evident from a helmet and shield with his arms lying at the feet. In the same window are the figures of the Virgin Mary, and St. Anne, with some coats of arms. In one of the south windows is the crest of Hussey, viz. a boot, with a golden spur, over which are two hands holding a human heart, with this inscription, "Cor mobile, Cor mobile." This church is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester, and in the deanery of Dartford.

The manor of West Wickham was in the reign. of Edward the Confessor, held of the king by Godric, at which time it was merely known by the name of Wicheham, in the hundred of Ruxley. It was afterwards granted by William the Conqueror to Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, and was when the survey of Domesday was taken, held

233

him by Adam Fitzhubert. In the year 1284, Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells, had a charter of free-warren here; but whether he had the manor does not appear. In the year 1318, license was granted to Walter de Bellingfield, for a market to be held here on Mondays, as likewise an annual fair on the eve and festival of St. Mary Magdalen, both of which, however, have for several years been discontinued.

Not far from Wickham, on a part of what was a few years ago known by the name of Keston Common, but which is now enclosed within the bounds of Holwood park, are the remains of an ancient camp, with double rampires and ditches, which some antiquaries suppose to be that which Julius Cæsar pitched previous to his last engagement with the whole forces of the Britains, in which they were completely defeated. In this parish also, on what is usually termed Hayes Common, is an intrenchment, which, says Dr. Holland, in his insertions to Camden's Brittania, was thrown up by Sir Christopher Heydon, in the reign of Elizabeth, when he trained the country people. J. B

Death of His Royal Highness the Duke of York.

Two short weeks only have elapsed since we presented our readers with a portrait of His Royal Highness, and a biographical memoir of his life. To that memoir we have now to add, that the Duke of York is no more an inhabitant of this world. The event, for which the public mind had been for some time prepared, Look place on the evening of Friday, January 5, 1827. At two o'clock on Saturday morning a Gazette Extraordinary was published, announcing the decease of his royal highness in the following terms :

"Whitehall, January, 5, 1827. "This evening, at twenty minutes past nine o'clock departed this life, after a painful and protracted illness, his royal highness Frederick, duke of York and Albany, his majesty's next brother; to the grief of his majesty and of all the royal family."

As we shall again have occasion to resume this melancholy subject, we conclude with the following observations, copied from a respectable evening jour. nal.

FROM THE STAR.) "We cannot close these brief remarks

* MIRROR, p. 433, vol. viii.

upon the loss which the country has sustained by the death of his royal highness, without adverting with satisfaction to the manner in which this painful subject is taken up by all our contemporaries. The public, too, have not been backward in displaying their grief, and the shops are every where closed, and other signs or respect are shown for the memory of his, royal highness, as if it were a domestic loss which every family in this great metropolis had sustained by his death.

"In unison with the sentiments we have just expressed, we copy from a MS. poem, on this sad subject, the following verses, written by Mr. Mayne, author of the poem of The Siller Gun. "Although his mortal course is run

Immortal shall his memory be-
The fastest friend, the kindest son,

The noblest, best of men was he "Ask of our hosts and armed bands,

O'er whom the princely YORK bore sway,
To them, his wishes were commands-
With them, 'twas glory to obey! *
"When war had render'd fatherless

The helpless children of the brave,
He sought them out in their distress,
And stretch'd his friendly arm to save!
"With every social virtue fraught,

Endow'd with every mental grace,
He practis'd what his Saviour taught—
Akin to all the human race."

DEATH AND INTERMENT.

(For the Mirror.)

drawn aisles and dreary pensive vaults diffuse over the mind a pensiveness and solemnity of feeling not unpleasing; while the wandering eye is attracted on every side by the storied urn and animated bust, which commemorate the virtues of the mouldering dead, such as the great abilities of the statesman, or achievements of the martial hero.

"We read their monuments-we sigh—and while We sigh, we sink, and are what we deplored : Lamenting or lamented all our lot."

Spelman says, "Much more joyous was the ceremony of sepulture among the Anglo-Saxons than that of marriage. The house in which the body lay till its burial was a perpetual scene of feasting, singing, dancing, and every species of riot. This was very expensive to the family of the deceased; and in the north it was carried so far, that the corpse was forcibly kept unburied by the visiting friends, until they were certain that they had consumed all the wealth the deceased had left behind him in games and festivity. In vain did the church exert itself against such enormities. The custom had prevailed during the times of paganism, and was much too pleasant to be abandoned by the half Christians of the early centuries."-The funerals of the Anglo-Normans were magnificent. Paris tells us that the body of Henry II. was dressed in the royal robes, a golden crown on the head, and shoes wrought with gold on the feet. In this manner it, was shown to the people with the face uncovered. The same author describes the pompous ceremonies and dresses used at the interment of each church-dignitary; and has even left a drawing by his own hand to illustrate the subject. Stone coffins and large wooden chests, says Strutt, were used to enclose the bodies of the deceased. It was also the custom with the Anglo-Norman race to celebrate a solemn dirge, and to mourn for the decease of foreign princes.

M.

The terrific honours wnich the ferocious nations paid to their deceased monarchs are recorded in history by the interment of Attila, king of the Huns, and Alaric, king of the Goths. Attila died in 453, and was buried in the midst of a vast champaign in a coffin, which was enclosed in one of gold, another of silver, and a third of iron. With the body were interred all the spoils of the enemy; harness embroidered with gold and studded with jewels; rich silks, and whatever they had taken most precious in the palaces of the kings they had pillaged; and that the place of his interment might for ever remain concealed, the Huns deprived of

The

life all who assisted at his burial! Goths had done nearly the same for Alaric, in 416, at Cosenca, a town in Calabria. They turned aside the river Vasenta, and having formed a grave in the midst of its bed where its course was most rapid, they interred this king with a prodigious accumulation of riches. After having caused the river to re-assume its usual course, they murdered, without exception, all those who had been concerned in digging this singular grave.

Men, says lord Bacon, fear death as children fear the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by frightful tales, so is the other. Groans, convulsions, weeping friends, and the like, show death terrible; yet there is no passion so weak but conquers the fear of it, and therefore death is not such a terrible enemy. Revenge triumphs over death, love slights it, honour aspires to it, dread of shame prefers it, grief flies to it, and fear anticipates it. The same noble author thinks it the office of a physician to procure easy deaths as well as to restore health. In like manner it is the business of true philosophy to communicate serenity of mind amidst the carc, the anxieties, the tumult, and turmoils of the world.

"Unhappy mortals!" says Lucian, "why do ye lament and grieve for your departed friends? they are more fortunate than you; their sorrows are at an end. Why then do you term them wretched ?" And the emperor Adrian, on his death bed, said, "Alas! my soul! thou fleeting companion of this body! whither art thou flying? To what unknown region? Thou art all trembling, fearful, and pensive. Now what has become of thy former wit and humour? Thou shalt jest and be gay no more." Death, it has been said, only closes a man's reputation, and determines it as good or bad. Thus Epaminondas being asked whether Chabrias, Iphicrates, or he himself, deserved to be most esteemed, replied, "You must first see us die, before that question can be answered." Cæsar thought that the quickest death was the most desirable, because it freed the mind from dreadful apprehensions. "It is impossible," says dean Swift, "that any thing so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind." Mason on SelfKnowledge remarks," If our hopes and joys centre in this world, it is a mortifying thought, that we are every day departing from our happiness; but if they are fixed above, it is a joy to think that we are every day drawing nearer to the object of our highest wishes." Dr. Franklin's idea is perhaps as beautiful as the foregoing:

ditor of the Mirror.) the following anecdote on not known to your corres., and may be interesting

al, who is alluded to in dent's letter, (and better Quatremère d'Isjouval) soner in Holland in the 1794, when the French chegru invaded that counmeans to carry on a corth the French general, -efully watched the operaders, he wrote to Pichegru -e; and from his observaspiders, that a severe winwhich would, of course, perations of the invading French general, who had of retreating, acted upon n a few days after took he whole country, which

n inaccessible to him had the ice, which was soon ong to allow the French. he rivers. I am, &c.

B. H.

sketched out in mimic landscapes; crusted over with white film, fancif fields and orchards, so recently gay the treasures of Pomona and Ceres, now barren as a rock and nearly as -the limpid streamlet no longer gl over its pebbled path, but seems m cally chained to its banks-and yor river, where the finny shoal were rece roving, upholds on its crystal surfac But enoug crowd of nimble skaters. dull prosing: let us try a hand at rhyme or two.

Adieu! engaging scenes of nature's pride, Winter's stern reign begins with rapid stride Disrob'd of verdure all the trees are found, Sharp, hoary frost has whiten'd o'er the grou Keen, chilling winds transpierce the hum frame;

Conceal'd by snow, the roads scarce seem t

same:

Hush'd is the music of the groves, and still
The murm'ring bubbles of th' adjacent rill :

One solid mass congeal'd the streams appear.
The eye no more discerns yon fountain clear.
In icy chains the rivers' currents bound,
Are frozen firmly as their banks around:
'Tis here, the old and young in crowds resort,
And brace their half-chill'd limbs in manly spor
Too oft, the dang 'rous track they madly brave,

Too oft, incautious meet a watʼry grave.
Herbs, flowers, and fruits forsake their usu
spot,
Neglected gardens form a void forgot:
Almost deserted seems the village plain,
No cultur'd fields, adorn'd with yellow grain,
For harvest ripe, employ th' industrious

swain.

Such winter's pow'r, to change the varied scene

Thus frigid chills prevail o'er skies serene; And earth productive cheers the eye again. 'Till balmy spring once more revives the plain,

To return to our subject.-Freezing may be defined the fixing a fluid body into a firm mass by the action of coldbut although we are fully sensible of its