that he had deftroyed that article to prevent the rebels from ill-treating any of the inhabitants of the town, in order to extort it from them; as they were known, on account of their foreign trade, to have always a confiderable quantity by them. Our young practitioner's fame and bulinets now grew every day more and more extenfive, particularly as to his fkill and dexterity in cutting for the tone, and he quickly became acquainted with feveral of the firit gentlemen in the neighbourhood and the country. Uncommon fuccefs, alto, fill feemed to favour his practice; infomuch, that his reputation was in a fhort time not confined to his native diftrict, but had reached to the metropolis, and even the remoteft corners of the kingdom, from whence were frequently fent him both patients and cafes of difficulty. It will be found in the fequel, that the activity of his mind directed his attention to feveral things foreign to his profeffion; which, joined with the hurry of his great practice, prevented him a good while from drawing up any thing in writing relating to it, except now and then a flight effay in the newspapers or magazines. At length, however, he was ftimulated to do fomething more by the late Lord Strange and Sir Nathaniel Curzon, who withed to have his opinion of Captain Burdon's Pocket Farrier, and who, equally with hipfelf, were admirers of the noble animal to which the book relates. This he gave in a series of notes so much to their fatisfaction, that they withed him to print them. They then further urged him to write fomething more at large on the subject, which he did in a work, in two volumes, called, Farriery Improved; or, A Complete Treutise on the Art of Farriry, which was published by fubfcription in 1737, and was fo well received as to pals through a number of editions. He then continued to write occafionally on different branches of his profefion; as en Midwifery, the Small Pox, the Difeafes of the Eye, the Nature and Origin of the Stone and Gra vel, &c.; and, befides what he fent thus to the prefs, he was often inferting little eff ys in the new pipers; to which he always thought it proper to fign his name. But a complete lif of his works his widow was not able to fupply, nor does the writer of this account find one eafy to procure. In all this we fee grounds for great popularity; but there were others which tended materially to increase its extent. He was of a molt pleasant and facetious temper; fond of a joke, either verbal or playful; had an agreeable voice, and ftili more agreeable manner of fpeaking, which he could accommodate to people of all ranks in life; and he ever, and on principle, would ufe the fame freedom in talking with thofe of the lowelt clafs as he would ufe with his equals. This made him generally beloved, and almost adored by those who efteemed his notice a degree of condefcenfion. And hence it was, that the public-houfe in Chinalane, where he used often to spend his threepence in the evening, was much reforted to for the fake of enjoying his converfation. Under thefe circumftances, with a mind of his lively caft, conscious of fuperior abilities, and of an undaunted fpirit, it is natural to think he would, at times, be inclined to speak pretty freely of perfons and things, and to fay there was meanness and folly where he fancied he faw a mean and a foolish action. I am far from withing to inti. nuate by this, that he was prone to calumny; I believe he was not; but to fuggen, that by the force and point ednefs with which he generally made his remarks, be mutt, like other men, by thele remarks have given occafional offence. Few people are without their ene. mies: thofe of fuperior abilities never. Envy, fays the poet, will merit as its fhade purfue. And, putting all the above circumftances together, we cannot be furprifed to find that Dr. Bracken had his thare. Indeed he had his full fhare, and thote equally malevolent and powerful, who made it their bu Thefe pages were favoured with the perufal of my ingenious friend, Mr. Mofs, of Liverpool, one of the Doctor's laft pupils, who has here oblerved, that it appears from a printed letter of the Doctor to a Dr. Kennedy, that probably on account of his fuccefs in bufinefs (for it could not be from the want of it), when he had been near twenty years fixed in Lancatter, he had entertained fome thoughts of going to practice in London.”—A few further retnarks of this Gentleman will be found authe bottom of the enluing pages, with the Signature M. finefs, Tales of this fort are now best buried in oblivion, or elfe many of them have come currently enough to the writer's ears. He has pleasure, however, in faying, that he has alfo heard counter-fiories to the chief of them, apparently to fuil of truth, as often to convince him of their envious life and perfect tallehood. Nor are thefe counter flories yet fo lot to remembrance, as wholly to relt on the writer's affertion. To call a man a Collier, when he undertook in part to fupply the town with coals from Burton in Lonsdale (and in which butnefs he employed a number of fmall horfes);-a Landlord, when, concerned with Mr. Borrantkill*, as Keeper of the Jail, he provided it with unufually good beer, and moderated fome of its fees; a Maltfter, when in this appointment he made his own malt; a Brewer, when, on account of fome ale he fent of his making to the Weft Indies, he was inclined to try how a quantity would there fucceed on falet-and a Horfe Jockey and Cockfeeder, when he was engaged in a darling purfuit, the breeding of horfes and game-cocks for the turf and the fod, &c. to give him thefe appellations, on thefe accounts, though not handfome, may be thought fair and excufable, and worth no ferious regard. But when he was charged with the crimes of forgery, Barratry, and Treufon, it is but juftice to his memory to employ a few pages of defence against fach foul and ignominious flanders, as there may be till thofe who are inclined to believe them true. And, Firft, refpecting the Forgery. This charge was grounded on the fact of the Doctor taking hold of and guiding the hand of one of his patients, who was paralytic, and at times infane, while he figned a letter intended to prevent fome meditated foul-play as to his effects. This was done with the concurrence of the patient while in his right mind, and in the prefence of his fifter and other friends. The act, therefore, was not only legal, but kind and worthy of • This was in the year 1725. praife. But inftead of receiving unmixed praife, an action was commenced against him for forgery; though, as might be fuppofed, without any cifect as to crimination, it turning out, when fully investigated, much to his credit with all except the friends of the profecution. Second, as to his Barratry. He had learned, that it was believed there was an orphan child in America who was heir at law to considerable property in this country which had belonged to a deceased uncle, and which two of the uncle's fitters were then improperly getting into their hands. Finding that he had fuch connexions, both at home and in America, as promifed a good chance to difcover if there was fuch a child, he mide ufe of them for that purpofe. And, it proving to be really the cafe, he had the boy brought over to Englan 1, (I believe accompa nied by his mother, brother, and a necellary witnefs,) with proper documents to fupport his claim. This the Doctor got into chancery; and, after it had been there fome years, a decree was iffued in the young man's favour. During all this time the Doctor was at the expenfe of his education, and of every thing elfe that went to his fupport, as well as to the fupport of those who came along with him; which expenf, joined to the colts of law, amounted to a very confiderable fum, and, in the end, the Doctor was unfor tunate enough to lofe: for though the young man promifed, and no doubtmeant to remember him, he married foolishly, and continued to forget what was fo justly due to his active benefactor. This interference, of course, greatly exafperated the two filters, and they found an Attorney (in the Castle) fufficiently bafe to being an action againt the Doctor for barratry; but it, alto, as it deferved, met with nothing but the derifion of the Court. But the crime of High Treafon, with which he was charged a little after the laft incurfion of the rebels into England, was indeed a serious, as well as a most unhappy affair; and, trange as it may now feem, it is an instance of a perfon being accufed as an enemy of "It may be added to the list of thefe odd vocations, that he also had a veffel with which he traded to Portugal and the Levant for wine and fruit."-M. that that to which every action of his life proved him to be the particular friend: fo blind are personal hatred and party fpirit! No man, perhaps, was ever more loyal than Dr. Bracken; and thefe facts may ferve in part to fhew it: Conftantly before the rebellion in 1745 this was esteemed one trait in his character. And when the rebels paffed first through Lancaller, befides getting their numbers taken as they entered into the town, he difcovered fomething of their intentions, which, along with thefe numbers, he fent to the Duke of Cumberland, then at or near Newcastle-under-Line; and for which interesting intelligence he had his Royal Highness's thanks communicated to him through his Secretary, Sir Evered Falconer, with a request of the continuance of his correfpondence +. In confequence of a letter from Ge neral Wade to the Magiftrates of Lancalter and other places, defiring them to use their be endeavours to obftru& the progrefs of the rebels through the country, not many hours after they had left Lancalter for the South, the Doctor, with Mr. Lettenby and fome others, to the amount of about twenty or thirty horfemen, followed them, and ventured to take prifoners feven or eight fragglers before they reached Garftang. Alfo, three miles on this fide of Predon, the Doctor himself fecured one of their meffengers, fculking through the fields, who was going into Scotland; and in a belt he had under his fhirt were found forty-nine letters, and fome of them of material importance. These letters were also fent to the Duke of Cumberland along with another letter from the Doctor ‡. (To be continued.) CHRISTMAS AND NEW-YEAR'S CUSTOMS ABROAD. EVERY where in the Chriftian world, the feftivity, in honour of the birth of our Saviour, brings with it mirth as well as confolation. The faithful acknowledges, with gratitude, the immeafurable goodness of a Divine Pro vidence; the Philofopher admires its utility, its neceffity, was it even a human institution; the Deift cannot but envy the confolatory belief of the Christian and Atheists must tremble for a futurity, in which fo many wife men have confided, and which fo many good men expect with certainty. It carries with it numerous pleafing remembrances for virtuous old age; it 26th of November. holds forth happiness to man; it gives pleafure to youth, and hope to all ages; to the cradle as to the death-bed. It encourages the young to ftruggle with conftancy against the temptations of vice and torments of misfortunes; and rewards labour and victory on the borders of the grave with the pleafing profpect of a blessed eternity. In the South and in the North of Europe, among the Roman Catholics as well as among the Lutherans and the Proteftants, Chriftmas is kept holy, more than Easter or Whitfunday. Children then receive prefents from their parents, fervants from their maf This letter was feen by many before it was put (with other documents) into the hands of the Doctor's Solicitor, Mr. Walling, of London, where it finally remained. It was not till lately that I found the honour of feizing the rebels near Garstang and Preston to be claimed by Ray, in his meagre Hiftory of that Rebellion, page 146, as belonging to himself. I relate what Mrs. B. ufed to tell; nor have I heard y thing talked to the contrary. But it feems this volunteer, if we may wholly truft his narrative, was very dextrous, all along, in picking up fraggling rebels; as if it were probable a difcreet man, without the affiftance of others, would make fuch dangerous attempts near the enemy; in parts, too, where he was a stranger, and through which he was often obliged to pafs under a borrowed appearance, to facilitate his avowed aim of reconnoitring and dogging the enemy as afpy. For the purpose of these enterprizes, the fpirit of a fcore of horsemen feems fo much better adapted, as to make the above account by far the more credible of the two. ters, ters, friends compliment friends, and lovers are permitted to explain, in verfe or profe, the caule of their fighs. Fa milies and friends then meet together; the rich in fumptuous repasts, in bril. liant balls, in fplendidly ornamented halls; whilft the poverty of garrets fhares its fcanty meals with the wretchednefs of cellars. They all alike repeat the facred and refpectable hofpi. tality and cuftom of eighteen centu ries; and, from the more or lefs fimplicity of fome of the ufages, it may be concluded, that they originate, with little change, from the times of the Apostles, when all Chriftians were regarded as brothers, and all thared the fame tables as well as the fame dangers. More corrupted and richer than the North, in the South of the European continent every thing is profufion and pageantry. A Chriftian of the first century would, at a midnight mafs on Christmas Eve, at Rome or Madrid, at Naples or Vienna, believe himself in the Temple of Heathen Divinities, crowded with the pompous fhews of vows, from trembling fuperftition or repenting crime. A Chrift in a cradle of gold or filver, fet round with diamonds, and a Virgin Mary dreffed in lace and embroidery, and decorated with jewels, are exhibited to adoration in the churches of the Roman Catholics, all richly and artfully illuminated with chrystal lamps and luftres, and numerous large tapers; communion bread is devoutly offered and handed about; and, whilst a perfume of the first odours pleases or strikes the fentes with admiration, mufic, vocal and inftrumental, and a concert of the first musicians, finished by a chorus of hundreds of the first fingers, penetrate into the heart, command melancholy, or infpire recollection. All convents, epifcopal hotels, and the houses of the inferior clergy, are ornamented with woven or embroidered tapestries, reprefenting the history of the birth of our Saviour; and, until the twelfth night, alms in provifions or money are diftributed to all the poor who prefent themselves, and collections are made at the churches, or in private houfes, for those who, from ficknefs, infirmity, or modeity, are prevented from appearing in public. During these twelve days, private balls are very frequent, accompanied by entertainments and prefents, and continue until the public balls and mafquerades of the Carnival reftore a community of pleafure, between the inhabitants and visitors, between the people of the country and ftrangers, between all who can afford to pay, who have curiofity to fee others, or vanity to exhibit themselves. Even in Proteftant Germany, the Christmas customs are moftly the fame with thofe of the Roman Catholics, except in Hanover, in the Lutheran part of Pruflia, and in Holstein, where the fame ufages are obferved by all claffes of the inhabitants as only among the lower claffes in England; but in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, in differing little from each other, they are totally different from all other nations of Europe. In Sweden and Norway, where the winter often fets in with October, the people count every day, nay almoft every hour, that approaches to Christmas, and they enjoy for months the feafting of fome days. The peafants of thofe countries feldom talte a morfel of bread unmixed with ground bones or bark of trees, and wheaten bread never but at Chriftmas dried fifh, and particularly pickled herrings, are their common nourishment instead of meat, except at Chriftmas, Eafter, and Whitfunday, when falted or fmoaked meat oftener than fish is enjoyed. In October, every year, beer is brewed all over the country; and chofen pieces of meat, from oxen, rein-deers, or bears, are fmoaked, to be preferved until Christmas Eve. The dinner-hour that day is eleven, and the dinner is rather a lunch. At fix, the fo-much-defired fupper is upon the table, and confiits of a dish of rock-fith dreffed in milk, a piece of fmoaked beef, or, for the poor, fmoaked mutton, a large rice pudding, which is eaten with cream, and with wine by the very rich; a kind of white partridge roafted (bought for a penny) is ferved to each perfon; and the fupper ends with fome dried fruits and fmall nuts. The drink is corn brandy intermixed with water, and the Chriftmas beer a fort of brown ale, pleafing to the palate, but heady. At this repait, all perfons are dreffed in their holiday clothes, and try to have fomething new, to be congratulated upon for their good choice, and to obtain wishes to wear it with health and profperity. In the middle of fupper, the door is fuddenly opened by a man, who has his head covered fo as to be unknown, unknown, and carries a basket containing the Christmas boxes, confifting, indeed, of trifles, but giving more real and innocent pleafure than prefents of value, which the dependent or needy receive oftener from pride and oftentation than from humanity or generofity. A prayer-book, worth one filling and xpence, is one of the moft valuable gifts, even where the first people in the place, the Collector and the Filcal, with their wives, are prefent. What is intended for the fervants is diftributed to them by their mafters and miftreffes, and they appear in an inftant in the room to fhew it, and to make a courtely. During the fupper, fome children of the village fing feveral hymns in praise of the Virgin and her Son. After fupper, they visit the children's chamber, illuminated with coloured candies upon a large table, containing round cakes, gingerbread, and other cakes, heaped up one upon another in a pyramidical form, one for each child, more or lefs high, as the conduct of the child has been during the year. Thofe cakes are to remain untouched until Chriftmas is over. Nearly the fame ufage prevails in Spain, Italy, and Germany, with this difference, that between thofe pillars of cakes is an artificial tree, containing wax figures of the Virgin, of Chrift, of Jofeph, &c. among the leaves. Before nine o'clock, frangers retire, and every body goes to bed. No fooner is midnight over, than a chorus of the children and fervants comes to your chamber-door, and wifhes you a good Chriflmas. At one o'clock in the morning you are called up to breakfast, and the firft fervice begins at two. In entering the wooden church, all painted, or rather daubed over, you fee every perfon with one or two can. dles before him or her, painted in different colours and manners; all perfons carrying with them their own candles and candlesticks, of the fize they can afford, and the colour they like. No filver candlesticks were feen, few of other metals, but most of them of carved or gilt wood. The fervice, fays our Correfpondent, began with a short pfalm, and then the Curate's fon, a young school-boy, after many bows to the congregation, placed himfelf before the altar, and fung, in a kind of folo, fome paragraphs from a chapter in the Bible, about the birth of Christ. That done, the Curate afcena ed the pulpit, and preached extempore for near an hour, and a pfalm again finifhed the fervice. At four, another, and at fix the last fervice began, both nearly refembling the fit and all three were over before eight o'clock in the morning. In antwer to my queftion, why the fervice commenced fo early? the Curate told me, that the extent of the parishes, in fome parts of his country, goes to thirty and forty miles, and the parishioners would not be home in time to enjoy Christmas Day, the only happy day for most of them in the year, was he to detain them later. He added, this is the only holiday I am obliged to preach three extempore fermons. This cuftom is, howe ever, more probably, a remnant of the Roman Catholics' midnight mafs. At our return from church, a warm beer foup, fweetened with molaffes, and the beef from the fupper, were offered as refreshments. At twelve o'clock we all dined with the Collector, nearly in the manner we had fupped, with the addition of a roasted wild fowl of the fize of a turkey, called in their language Kaeder, of an agreeable flavour, and a pot of artificial coffee from burned oak, dried forrel, &c. After dinner, the Collector made a fmall bowl of punch from arrack, containing juft a wine glass of liquor for each of us. At five o'clock, the fupper was upon the table, and plenty of beer drank, with withes that they might all meet again happy at another Christmas. During the whole day, and all the following days of my stay, the children of the village were finging hymns before the houfes of the Curate, of the Collector, and of the Fifcal; and these three perfons continued each in turn to treat the two others and their families nearly in the fame manner as on Christmas Day, only with the difference that, except New Year's Day, every evening was finished by a dance for an hour, of their children, at the finging of their mothers, no musician being in the parish. At mid ight, on New Year's Eve, I was again disturbed by the chorus of the children and fervants, to with me a good new year, and called to attend divine fervice, which began an hour later, and was over an hour earlier, than Christmas morning, and confifted only of two fermons. All the parishioners now followed their paftor to his houfe, where they brought him pre fents |