man;

and the sooner you get out of my shop the 'better; or, by the Eternal God, I'll throw one of 'these packets at your head; and that, I hope, will teach you better manners for the future.'

Calling to mind the dignified precept, that

'He, who fights and runs away,

May live to fight another day;'

I made as safe a retreat as Xenophon did out of Asia; and as quick an one as our neighbours are said to have done at the celebrated battle of Spurs ; but I had never the pain of seeing the secrets of masonry exposed for sale in that shop afterwards *.

I must confess that masonry, to me, who have never conquered the dignity of Royal Arch, often calls to my recollection the German poet, Lessing. Having been initiated at Hamburgh; 'Well,' said one of his friends, you have found nothing against the church, or the state, have you?' 'I wish to Heaven I had,' answered the poet; for then I should have found some

'thing.'

There were two celebrated masons at my initiation; Preston and Da Costa. Preston had rendered himself famous for having written Illustrations of Masonry,' and remarkable for having fallen in love with his wife for having sung in a very agreeable manner one of his masonic songs. He was the father of masonic literature. Da Costa was a Portuguese; and he after

* In 1819 the chief of the Society of Masons in Germany died, and left among his papers a MS. containing a complete history of all the secret ceremonies, &c. of the institution. This MS. was printed, and caused a great sensation throughout the conti

nent.

wards published an account of the persecution and trial he underwent in the dungeons of the Inquisition at Lisbon, for being a freemason; to which he added the bye-laws of that mysterious institution.

The lodge, to which we belonged, is called the 'Lodge of Antiquity;' between which and the Athol lodges there had subsisted a schism from the supersedal of Sir Christopher Wren in 1718;—that is, nearly one hundred years. In 1813, however, a reunion took place under the auspices of the Dukes of Kent and Sussex; the Duke of Athol having resigned the Grand Mastership of the Athol lodges in favour of the Duke of Kent expressly for that purpose.

The Duke of Sussex being our Master, I had frequent opportunities of seeing the manner in which one royal personage, at least, received the friendly respect of persons in a different station of life; and I must confess, that His Royal Highness seemed to take as much pleasure in conversing with private persons as with any of the peers by whom he was accompanied.

I mention all this for the purpose of remarking what, I believe, all know, who ever came in contact with any of the royal family; viz., that a more gracious, gentlemanly description of persons never adorned the precincts of a throne. A friend of mine, however, (a member of the lodge) having had the misfortune to offend the Royal Duke, and His Royal Highness having, in consequence, shown that he was offended, thought himself so ill-used, that he employed the best part of three months in writing a laboured invective against him. Having closed his labours, he brought his lucubra

VOL. II.

L

tions to me, and desired my advice as to the best mode of publishing them. It is all very ingenious,' said I, after having occupied two hours in reading, 'well 'written, and may be all true;;-every word that you ' have said. But, if you publish, I think you stand in 'chance of a prison.' God bless my soul! For 'what?' 'Is it possible, that you are unconscious of ' having written, not only one libel, but many?' 'Not ' one! It is truth, every word of it.' 'I am sure you 'think so.' 'I am certain of it.' 'Suppose it to be 'all truth; are you not aware that Lord Ellenborough 'has declared truth to be a greater libel than false'hood?' 'I do not care one farthing for Lord Ellen'borough. Truth was never a libel yet, and never can ' be so. I'll brave all Lord Ellenborough's law can do.' My friend, however, thought proper to pause; and well it was he did so; for he learnt, shortly after, that the entire substance of his supposed facts was founded on misconstruction.

'

The duke, though of a noble mind and thoroughly good-humoured, was at one period of his life pestered, beyond any other man's endurance, with libels; but no one ever bore the annoyance of them more good-humouredly, or in a manner more gracefully dignified. His Royal Highness once said, 'Libels are infamous; but they keep us in health. Bitters, you know, are nauseous; but they are, nevertheless, very good for the stomach.'

I related this speech, one evening, to Fuseli.

• It

was admirably said,' said he. I wish I had heard 'it many years ago, and I should not have suffered 'myself to be so dreadfully annoyed by critics and

'would-be critics as I have done. It is a fine sentence. 'I do not think it quite original; but falling from the ' lips of a prince, it is worth a thousand ounces of gold.' I am here reminded of the late Lord Byron and the present Marquis of Hertford. A libeller is the vilest ' of miscreants,' said Byron. the Marquis, in reference to regard to my tragedy of the Italians;' never read anything against yourself: I never do.'

CVIII.

'Take my advice,' said the storm then raging in

WHO ARE EVER READY TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF OTHER MEN'S ATROCITIES.

THIS is a prevailing sin with all men, who mount high stations against the law of a land or the will of a people. They are more ready, however, to avail themselves, than to confess themselves. When Menas tells Sextus Pompey to let him cut the cable of the ship where he, Octavius, Anthony, and Lepidus, held a conference, that he may assassinate his rivals, Sextus replies:

This thou shouldst have done,

And not have spoken of it. In me 'tis villany;

* It is now nearly eighteen years since this tragedy was sacrificed to the benign spirit of Party. The wound, given, has long been healed; but not the consequences. Time, however,—so just, for the most part, to others,-will, one day, perhaps, be just even to me. In this hope, I have written another drama; founded on the best parts of the last; and with what little farther skill, study and experience may have given. I have even had courage to perfect it for the stage:

'But I must wait till Party shall be dead,
And Time propitious.'

In thee it had been good service.

Being done, unknown,

I should have found it afterwards well done;

But must condemn it now.'

Anthony and Cleopatra, act 2, sc. 7.

Cæsar declared, that if any one served him, he would, however bad in other respects, reward him as amply as if he were the best of men.

CIX.

WHO HAVE OBTAINED GREAT POWER IN THE FACE OF

CRAFT.

SOME men arrive at eminence, and retain their consequence, in a very fortunate manner. Thus, notwithstanding the worldly wisdom of Burleigh, the grace of Essex, the activity of Walsingham, and the intrigues of Leicester, Lord Howard's sturdy virtues gained for their possessor some of the highest offices of the government. He was Earl-Marshal, Lord High-Steward of the Household, Lord High-Admiral, and Lord Lieutenant-General of England, having, thus, not only the command of the royal household, but of the army and the fleet; and, what is scarcely less remarkable, he was a favourite with his sovereign, popular with the people, and unenvied by the nobility.

I am not aware, that there is a similar instance of this kind on record; and the more we consider it the more remarkable it becomes.

CX.

HONOUR AMONG THIEVES.

THE keeping of contracts is so convenient to all the pursuits of man, whether of good or of evil, that even