of a large black dog, which entering one of the rooms overturned two or three chairs, and then disappeared under a bed. The next day noises were heard overhead, as of persons walking, though they knew that all the doors were locked. The wood of the king's oak was brought by parcels from the diningroom, and thrown with great violence into the presence-chamber. Giles Sharpe, their secretary, was active in attempting to discover the causes of these disturbances, but his inquiries were unsuccessful. On unlocking the door of the room, in the presence of the commissioners, the wood was found all thrown about in different directions. The chairs were tossed about, the papers torn, and the ink spilt; which mischief, it was argued, could only have been perpetrated by one who must have entered through the key-hole.

At night the beds of Giles Sharpe and two other servants were lifted up, and let down violently, so as to throw them out; again, on the nineteenth, when in bed, the candles were blown out, with a sulphureous smell, and the trenchers of wood hurled about the

room.

On the twentieth the commissioners themselves, when in bed, were attacked with cruel blows, and the curtains drawn to and fro with great violence. This sort of attack upon the peace and safety of the commissioners was repeated almost every night. They were also assaulted from without, for a vast number of stones and horses' bones were thrown through the windows, to the great risk of those within.

A servant, who was rash enough to draw his sword, perceived that an invisible hand had hold of it too, which, pulling it from him, struck him a violent blow on the head with the pommel of it. Dr. Plot concludes his relation of this affair with observing, that " many

of the circumstances related are not reconcileable to juggling," and he adds, "all which being put together, perhaps may easily persuade some man, otherwise inclined, to believe that immaterial beings might be concerned in this business, provided the speculative theist be not after all a practical atheist."

"The secret History of the good Devil of Woodstock," a pamphlet published not long after these events, unravelled these mysteries. It appears that one Joe Collins, commonly called “ Funny Joe," was that very devil. He hired himself as a servant to the commissioners, under the name of Giles Sharpe, and, by the help of two friends, an unknown trap-door in the ceiling of the bedchamber, and a pound of gunpowder, played all these amazing tricks.

The sudden extinguishing of the candles was contrived by inserting gunpowder into the lower part of each candle, destined to explode at a certain time. The great dog was no other than a bitch, that had whelped in that room shortly before, and which made all that disturbance in seeking her puppies, and which, when she had served his purpose, Giles Sharpe let out, and then pretended to search for.

The circumstance that had most effect in driving the commissioners from Woodstock was this:-they had formed a reserve of a part of the premises to themselves, and having entered into a private agreement among themselves, they hid the writing in the earth, under the roots of an orange-tree, which grew in a tub in the corner of the room. In the midst of dinner one day this earth took fire, and burned violently with a blue flame, filling the room with a strong sulphureous stench; the explanation of which phenomenon may be found in modern books of experimental chemistry, under the head of " receipt to

make an earthquake." This last attack so completely terrified the commissioners, that, fearing the very devils from hell were rising against them, they speedily took to flight.

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So early as the reign of Henry the Second, Woodstock was famed for being the residence of the beautiful Rosamond, and it is thus quaintly described by Speed. Henry the Second built an intricate labyrinth at Woodstock, and therein he stowed this pearl of his esteem (Rosamond), unto whose closet, for the inexplicate windings, none could approach but the king, and those instructed by him. Notwithstanding, his jealous queen, Eleanor, favoured by accident, thus discovered the privacy of the favourite, for a clewe of silk having fallen from Rosamond's lap, as she sat to take the air, and was suddenly fleeing from the sight of the searcher, the end of silk fastened to her foot; the clewe, still unwinding, remained behind, which the queen followed up till she had found what she sought, and upon Rosamond so bestowed her spleen, that the gentle ladye lived not long after."

CHAPTER VIII.

MILITARY STRATAGEMS.

Characteristic Mark of a skilful General-Importance anciently attached to military Stratagems -The Stratagem of Joshua at Ai, the first which is recorded-Stratagem of Julius Cæsar in Gaul-Favourable Omen derived from Sneezing-Artifice of Bias at Priene-Telegraphic Communication-Mode adopted by Hystiæus to convey Intelligence-Relief of Casilinum by Grac chus-Stratagem of the Chevalier de Luxembourg to convey Ammunition into Lisle-Importance of concealing the Death of a General-The manner in which the Death of Sultan Solyman was kept secret-Stratagem of John Visconti-Stratagem of Lord Norwich at Angoulême-Capture of Amiens by the Spaniards-Manner in which the Natives of Sonia threw off the

Yoke.

THE part of a skilful general does not only consist in the capability of gaining a great battle, but also in knowing when to avoid the risk of an engagement. So numerous, and so variable, are the chances of war, that a commander of even the best appointed army should be prepared to meet all emergencies, in the event of its strength being destroyed, or its numbers diminished, by famine, fatigue, or desertion; so that, notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, he may still have a chance of overcoming by policy those enemies whom he had hoped to subdue by the sword.

Discretion is always the better part of valour, and, in some cases, a handful of men may decide the event of a campaign, in which, otherwise, the blood of thousands might be spilt in vain. The old writers on the art of war did not fail to attach great importance to those stratagems, by which much was effected, or attempted, when one side was reduced to the necessity of maintaining a defensive system of warfare.

The earliest account of recourse being had to mili

tary stratagem is that recorded in the eighth chapter of Joshua, where that leader of the Israelites, besieging the city of Ai, said, "Behold ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. For they will come out after us, till we have drawn them from the city; then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand."

Thus fell the city of Ai into the hands of Joshua, and a similar kind of stratagem has since frequently turned the day between contending armies. Julius Cæsar did not consider it beneath a general or warrior to have recourse to almost a similar stratagem, when part of the army under Q. Cicero, in Gaul, was besieged. By the apparent flight of his troops, Julius Cæsar drew the enemy into a convenient spot for an engagement, and, turning, overcame them.

A circumstance most trifling in itself, when it has been ushered in by superstition, as a good omen, has often raised the spirits of an army. Xenophon relates, in the Anabasis, that when the Greeks in some alarm were consulting, previous to the celebrated retreat of the ten thousand out of Asia, an accident, which in itself was even ridiculous, did nevertheless, through the importance attributed to it by the Grecian superstition, assist not a little to infuse encouragement. Xenophon was speaking of that favour from the gods which a righteous cause entitled them to hope for, against a perjured enemy, when somebody sneezed: immediately, the general voice addressed ejaculations to protecting Jupiter, whose omen it was supposed to