friend the butler mentions, in the simplicity of his heart, several circumstances the others have passed over in silence, I shall give my reader a copy of his letter, without any alteration or diminution. HONORED SIR,-Knowing that you was my old master's good friend, I could not forbear sending you the melancholy news of his death, which has afflicted the whole country, as well as his poor servants, who loved him, I may say, better than we did our lives. I am afraid he caught his death the last country sessions, where he would go to see justice done to a poor widow woman, and her fatherless children, that had been wronged by a neighboring gentleman; for you know, my good master was always the poor man's friend. Upon his coming home, the first complaint he made was that he had lost his roast-beef stomach, not being able to touch a sirloin, which was served up according to custom: and you know he used to take great delight in it. From that time forward he grew worse and worse, but still kept a good heart to the last. Indeed we were once in great hopes of his recovery, upon a kind message that was sent him from the widow lady whom he had made love to the forty last years of his life; but this only proved a lightning before his death. has bequeathed to this lady, as a token of his love, a great pearl necklace, and a couple of silver bracelets set with jewels, which belonged to my good old lady his mother: he has bequeathed the fine white gelding, that he used to ride a hunting upon, to his chaplain, because he thought he would be kind to him, and has left you all his books. He has, moreover, bequeathed to the chaplain a very pretty tenement with good lands about it. It being a very cold day when he made his will, he left for mourning, to every man in the parish, a great frieze coat, and to every woman a black riding hood. It was a most moving sight to see him take leave of his poor servants, commending us all for our fidelity, whilst we were not able to speak a word for weeping. As we most of us are grown grayheaded in our dear master's service, he has left us pensions and legacies which we may live very comfortably upon the remaining part of our days. He has bequeathed a great deal more in charity, which is not yet come to my knowledge, and it is peremptorily said in the parish that he has left money to build a steeple to the church: for he was heard to say some time ago that if he lived two years longer, Coverley church should have a steeple to it. The chaplain tells everybody that he made a very good end, and never speaks of him without tears. He was buried, according to his own directions, among the family of the Coverlies, on the left hand of his father Sir Arthur. The coffin was carried by six of his tenants, and the pall held up by six of the quorum: the whole parish followed the corpse with heavy hearts, and in their mourning suits; the men in frieze, and the women in riding hoods. Captain Sentry, my master's nephew, has taken possession of the hall house, and the whole estate. When my old master saw him, a little before his death, he shook him by the hand, and wished him joy of the estate which was falling to him, desiring him only to make a good use of it, and to pay the several legacies, and the gifts of charity, which he told him he had left as quitrents upon the estate. The captain truly seems a courteous man, though says but little. He makes much of those whom my master loved, and shows great kindness to the old house dog, that you know my poor master was so fond of. It would have gone to your heart to have heard the moans the dumb creature made on the day of my master's death. He has never joyed himself since; no more has any of us. It was the melancholiest day for the poor people that ever happened in Worcestershire. This being all from, Honored sir, your most sorrowful servant, EDWARD BISCUIT. P.S. My master desired, some weeks before he died, that a book which comes up to you by the carrier, should be given to Sir Andrew Freeport in his name. This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner of writing it, gave us such an idea of our good old friend, that, upon the reading of it, there was not a dry eye in the club. Sir Andrew, opening the book, found it to be a collection of acts of parliament. There was, in particular, the act of uniformity, with some passages in it marked by Sir Roger's own hand. Sir Andrew found that they related to two or three points which he had disputed with Sir Roger the last time he appeared at the club. Sir Andrew, who would have been merry at such an incident on another occasion, at the sight of the old man's handwriting, burst into tears, and put the book into his pocket. Captain Sentry informs me that the knight has left rings and mourning for every one in the club. THE WINDSOR PROPHECY. BY SWIFT. [For biographical sketch, see p. 36.] [This famous lampoon cost Swift dear, as it ought: the Duchess of Somerset never forgave the shocking (and false) charge of being privy to her husband's murder.] ABOUT three months ago, at Windsor, a poor knight's widow was buried in the cloisters. In digging the grave the sexton struck against a small leaden coffer, about half a foot long and four inches wide. The poor man, expecting he had discovered a treasure, opened it with some difficulty, but found only a small parchment, rolled up very fast, put into a leather case; which case was tied at the top and sealed with a St. George, the impression on black wax, very rude and Gothic. The parchment was carried to a gentleman of learning, who found in it the following lines, written in a black Old English letter, and in the orthography of the age, which seems to be about two hundred years ago. . . . The lines seem to be a sort of prophecy, and written in verse, as old prophecies usually are, but in a very hobbling kind of measure. Their meaning is very dark, if it be any at all; of which the learned reader can judge better than I. When a holy black Swede, the Son of Bob, With a saint at his chin and a seal at his fob,1 1 John Robinson, simultaneously bishop of Bristol, dean of Windsor, and Lord Privy Seal. 2 New Style had not yet been adopted in England. 8 Robinson went to Utrecht as peace commissioner. Marlborough, his wife, and his sons-in-law Sunderland and Godolphin. 7 White staff, the Lord Treasurer's badge of office. 8 Harley, Earl of Oxford, second title Lord Mortimer (dead sea). The red-haired Duchess of Somerset, a Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland. Carrots sown thynne1 a deep root may get If so be they are in Somer set: 2 Their Conyngs mark thou; for I have been told 4 THE HISTORY OF JOHN BULL. BY JOHN ARBUTHNOT. [JOHN ARBUTHкот, Scotch physician and wit, was born at Arbuthnot, Scotland, in 1667. He was physician to Queen Anne from 1705 until her death in 1714, and enjoyed the friendship of Pope, Swift, Lord Bolingbroke, and other distinguished literary men. He contributed to the "Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus," first published among Swift's works, and wrote the witty political allegory, "The History of John Bull" (1712). He died at London in 1735.] THE OCCASION OF THE LAWSUIT. I NEED not tell you of the great quarrels that happened in our neighborhood since the death of the late Lord Strutt [Charles II. of Spain]; how the parson [Cardinal Portocarrero] and a cunning attorney [Marshal Harcourt] got him to settle his estate [Spain] upon his cousin Philip Baboon [Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV.], to the great disappointment of his cousin Esquire South [Archduke of Austria]. Some stick not to say that the parson and the attorney forged a will, for which they were well paid by the family of the Baboons : let that be as it will, it is a matter of fact, that the honor and estate have continued ever since in the person of Philip Baboon. You know that the Lord Strutts have for many years been possessed of a very great landed estate, well conditioned, wooded, watered, with coal, salt, tin, copper, iron, etc., all within themselves; that it has been the misfortune of that family to be the property of their stewards, tradesmen, and inferior servants, 1 Her second husband. 2 Count Koningsmark, who hired braves to murder Thynne, hoping to gain his wife. 4 Masham. 5 Lady Masham was Abigail Hill. 3 Anna. which has brought great incumbrances upon them; at the same time, their not abating of their expensive way of living has forced them to mortgage their best manors. It is credibly reported that the butcher's and baker's bill of a Lord Strutt, that lived two hundred years ago, are not yet paid. When Philip Baboon came first to the possession of the Lord Strutt's estate, his tradesmen, as is usual upon such occasions, waited upon him to wish him joy and bespeak his custom. The two chief were John Bull [the English], the clothier, and Nic. Frog [the Dutch], the linen draper: they told him that the Bulls and Frogs had served the Lord Strutts with drapery ware for many years; that they were honest and fair dealers; that their bills had never been questioned; that the Lord Strutts lived generously, and never used to dirty their fingers with pen, ink, and counters; that his lordship might depend upon their honesty; that they would use them as kindly as they had done his predecessors. The young lord seemed to take all in good part and dismissed them with a deal of seeming content, assuring them he did not intend to change any of the honorable maxims of his predecessors. How BULL AND FROG GREW JEALOUS THAT THE LORD STRUTT INTENDED TO GIVE ALL HIS CUSTOM TO HIS GRANDFATHER, LEWIS BABOON [LOUIS XIV.]. It happened unfortunately for the peace of our neighborhood that this young lord had an old cunning rogue, or (as the Scots call it) a false loon, of a grandfather, that one might justly call a Jack of all trades: sometimes you would see him behind his counter selling broadcloth, sometimes measuring linen; next day he would be dealing in mercery ware; high heads, ribbons, gloves, fans, and lace he understood to a nicety; Charles Mather [a famous toy man] could not bubble a young beau better with a toy; nay, he would descend even to the selling of tape, garters, and shoe buckles; when shop was shut up, he would go about his neighborhood, and earn half a crown by teaching the young men and maidens to dance. By these methods he had acquired immense riches, which he used to squander away at backsword, quarterstaff, and cudgel play, in which he took great pleasure, and challenged all the country. You will say it is no wonder if Bull and Frog should be jealous of this fellow. "It is impossible," says Frog to Bull, “but this |