one in a dance: to which he gravely answered, “That if his majesty thought him a wise man all day, he ought not to command him to play the fool at night." When the business of the divorce was suspended, through the frivolity and inactivity of the court of Rome, the king complained to Sir Thomas, who said, "Lord! Lord! what an age do we live in, that a man cannot repent him of his sin without leave from the pope !" This speech is said to have been so successfully explained to the universities of Europe by Dr. Cranmer, that it paved the way for the Reformation.

When the king was displeased with the mismanagement of Wolsey, Sir Thomas repeated to him an apologue, the subject of which was, "The Street Curs baiting the Butcher's Mastiff;" which, it is said, facilitated that great man's ruin.

The rage of the popish clergy, upon the dissolution of the monasteries, was so great, that the king was afraid of a revolution. "Butter their nests, that is, grant and sell them to the nobility and gentry," said Sir Thomas, "and the old birds will never trouble your majesty."

One day he told the king, he had found out a preferment which he begged he would bestow upon him, because it was just a hundred pounds a year more than enough. "Sure," said the astonished monarch, “ we have no such places in England.”— "_" We have indeed, sire," said Sir Thomas; “and the provostship of Eton College, where the provost has his diet, his lodging, his horse-meat, his servants' wages, his riding charges, and a hundred pounds per annum besides, is one of them.”

FRANCIS FAWKES, M.A.

He

This truly ingenious poet was a native of Yorkshire. He was collated, by Archbishop Herring, to the vicarage of Orping ton and St. Mary Cray, in Kent. was one of the chaplains to the Princess Dowager of Wales, the author of many poems, and particularly celebrated for his translations of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus, and Musaus, printed in 12mo. 1760; his Idylliums of Theoeritus, 1767; and his Argonantics of Apollonius Rhodius. About the time that he published his original poems by subscription, he associated much with the artists, was a visiting member of the club at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard· Europ. Mag. Vol. LIV. Sept. 1808.

street, and, we think, at least, once offi ciated as their chaplain, and preached a sermon in Covent-garden church, at their annual celebration, on St. Luke's day. He has, in his poems, frequently taken occasion to compliment some of the members of the Academical Society. Of the late James Paine, Esq. he says,

"Tis thine to bid the pile ascend,*

The pillar rise, the arch to bend," &e. In his contemplation of the print of the section of St. Paul's cathedral, he consigns to the celebrity of the remotest ages the names

"Of Rooker,t Gwin,‡ and Wale."Ş He has also celebrated Hayman, and many other artists.

We believe that he alluded to his own figure in these lines:

Emerging awful from a cloud of smoke, The tall lean doctor snapt his box, and spoke, Peace to the bean, and ev'ry scented belle; Who cries tobacco has an odious smell.""

In his elegy upon "OLD DOBBIN," he is said, under the appellation of "DAME JOLT," to have made his friends merry with a character well known in the Kentish rounds.

"Ye maids of Cray, your butter'd rolls deplore,

Dame Jolt's brown horse, Old Dobbin, is no more!

***

of the faculty, who thought this situation extremely desirable, and the doctor literally an incumbent, most naturally looked forward to the termination of his existence. However illiberal, and indeed barbarous, the practice of speeulating upon the conclusion of the lives of placemen may be, we fear it is still too common. The applications to the minister to succeed Dr. Monsey, who was, from his great age, supposed to be dropping into his grave, were innumerable. Of these applications “his d→→→→d good natured friends" frequently informed him; but he was not to be frightened out of his life quite so easily. He smiled at the idea of waiting for dead men's shoes, and sarcastically observed, that he hoped those learned members of the faculty who interested themselves so much in his wel fare would possess the faculty of bearing disappointments. I am, however, resolved," he added, “in spite of the saying that none but a fool would be either his own lawyer or physician, not to take any of their prescriptions."

In consequence of their ardent hopes of the place, the court of Chelsea college used to be the favourite walk of the medical candidates. Here they used to enjoy themselves in the contemplation of the advantages of the situation, its vicinity to the nietropolis, and the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Coachbouses* gratis, and a inndred other agrémens, had certainly their due weight; while the doctor, sitting at his window, used to enjoy his own thoughts, and smile at their presumption. One day, this humourist saw, from his observatory, a physician, accompanied by bis friend, who were taking a survey of the spot. The friend was pointing out to the candidate the pleasant situation of the medical apartments, and enumerating the various advantages of the college residence. As Monsey was fond of teizing, he immediately descended. A few words served for his introduction; when, turning to the physician, he said,

* Dr. M. did not keep a coach, and seems to have entertained an antipathy to that vehicle; (a) for, in his will, he prohibited his daughter, Mrs. Alexander (the widow of Mr. Alexander, an opulent Irish factor), from setting up or keeping her carriage.

(a) This could not be his reason, for le was frequently seen in the coach of his pafron, Lord Godolpinn.-EDITOR,

"So, sir, I find you are one of the candidates to succeed me."

The physician bowed, and he proceeded.

"But you will be confoundedly disappointed."

Disappointed!" said the physician, with quivering lips.

"Yes," returned Dr. M. "you expect to outlive me, but I can discern from your countenance, and other concomitant circumstances, that you are deceiving yourself you will certainly die first though, as I have nothing to expect from that event, I shall not rejoice at your death, as I am persuaded you would at mine."

This was actually the case: the candidate lived but a short time. But, to return to the doctor: he was so diverted with checking the aspiring hopes of his brethren of the faculty, that whensoever he saw a physician on the look out, he used to go down and comfort him in the like manner. He had done so to several, and, which is very extraordinary, his prognostications were in every instance verified: the medical speculators shrunk aghast from Chelsea; so that, at the death of Dr. Monsey, the minister was not engaged by a single promise, nor had for some time had a single application for the place of physician to the college.

M.

Among the expedients to which Charles 1. was reduced for the purpose of raising supplies, I know not if the following singular resource is noticed in any regular History of England. The Appendix to Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. iii. 1751, Edinburgh (No. 39), contains se veral propositions to the king, by the well-known Earl of Strafford. He recommends the exaction of the ensuing premiums, for the creation of two hundred peers: Duke, 30,0001. Marquis, 15,000l. Earl, 10,0001. Baron or Fiscount, 5,0001. [Page 271.] We ought to congratulate ourselves, that nobility in modern times is acquired solely by

MERIT!

DUKE OF SCHONBERG.

To the Editor of the European Magazine.

SIR,

Torder of the Duke of Schonberg, THE following is a literal copy of an written in a very fine hand, but signed by himself. I have endeavoured to give you a fac-simile of the duke's signature; by which, as well as by the heading, it will appear, that the correct method of spelling that illustrious general's name is with an n, and not with an m. The authenticity of the paper (before me now) may be depended on; I copy it by the permission of the immediate descendant of Mr. Warren, inentioned in the order.

By Frederick, Duke of Schonberg, Generall of all their Majesties Forces, &c.

WHEREAS Wee have directed Bartho

Endorsed,

An Order for Warrenstowne to make Ovens & Stores.

lemew Van-Homrigh, Esq. Con issary Gen" of the Provissions to make Magazines of Provisions and to build ovens for baking bread for the Army at Warrenstowne. Wee doe hereby appoint and direct for the said use the Houses, Malthouses & Barnes of William Warren Esq' and the Widdow Dines, and the Officer Commanding in Chief att Warrenstown is hereby required to be aiding and assisting to the said Commissary Generall and his Deputies in the execution of this Our Ord, and to appoint Convenient quartrs for the said Agent's Waggon's & Bakers, and forrage for Six Horses yt shall be Employ'd in this Worke.

Given at our head Quart's at Lisburne the 25th day of January

1689.

POSTHUMUS.

A Treatise on the Coins of the Realm, in a Letter to the King. Py Charles, Earl of Liverpool. Quarto, pp. 266, London, 1805.

T was our intention, soon after we

work of which we have just announced the title, but as men always intend more than they perform, we have suffered ourselves to be hurried away by the stream of our other avocations,

nent and venerable statesman, the Earl of Liverpool,* to have reviewed the

* European Magazine, Vol. LIII. page 85,

1808.

to retreat till this hour. Yet we had many reasons to induce us to peruse the

*This gentleman was, we believe, the father of Swift's Vanessa.-EDITOR,

volume before us: first, the importance of the subject, MONEY, which, whether considered philosophically or morally, must, in the enlarged sense of the word, certainly be deemed the chain which links society together, the band that circumscribes the commercial world, the measure by which the exertions of mankind are appretiated, the political balance, which, like the ideal engine of Archimedes, seems to move the earth, and, consequently, to involve every thing that can be termed valuable.

Secondly, we wished to turn our thoughts once more to this subject, because, having formerly considered the desire of obtaining money as a general, an all-pervading principle, we were anxious to view its object in its various species, as detailed and published under the appellation of coins, particularly those of this country. We were, therefore, glad that a nobleman of such long experience, who had been in situations, the business of which must have rendered him so perfectly master of the subject, whose judgment must govern, and whose opinions must decide, had, through the medium of a letter to his majesty, given to the public a treatise on the coins of this realm.

Such a treatise, we are certain, was much wanted; for although the standard of metallic, and sometimes of nominal valuation, has long since been affixed to every species of coin, the ideal value of the thing, subject to all the fluctuations and operations which his lordship notices, has, as it impresses itself upon the human mind, ever been erratic and diffuse, changing in its estimation, and liable to eyery mental vicissitude, as its plenty or scarcity procured more or less of the conveniences, the necessaries, or the luxuries of life. This difference in the estimation of coins Lord L. notices under four distinct heads, comprising the imperfections to which, as a standard measure, they are subject, and with respect to a more particular investigation of the last of these, refers to a subsequent part of the work.

It has in many instances, but particularly in considering this as a treatise upon one of the most important matters that can attract the attention of a monarch, given us great pleasure to observe, that his lordship has, in every respect, kept so extremely close to his interesting subject. It would have been of little use had he extended his te

searches over the wide field which, even in this nation, the coin of different periods, from A.D. 14, presents to the imagination; and of still less, except as a ground of occasional comparison, to have diverged into other countries. Had he said more, it would have been superfluous; had he neglected an observation, the page would have been deficient.

In the beginning of his address to his majesty, his lordship says,

SIRE,

"It is a part of your royal functions to attend to the state of the coins of your realm, and to cause every defect to be removed, which mistaken policy has introduced, or the waste of time may have wrought in them. It is also, I well know, your majesty's earnest wish and inclination, on this, and on every other occasion, to consult the convenience, and provide for the interests of your people. For these reasons, I have thought it my duty to address to your majesty a treatise, which has for its object to explain and elucidate the true principles of coinage, to point out the errors committed in this respect under the authority of your royal predecessors, and to suggest the best methods of preventing such evils in future."

He then observes, that in the year 1760 the coins of this realm were in an imperfect state; but although the imperfection of the gold coin was, at that period, less than that of the others, still it was on the decline, and that, in 1773, the deficiency of weight in the gold coin had become very considerable.*

"Indeed," his lordship continues, "the general deficiency of the gold coins in circulation was so notorious, that it was estimated

in all our exchanges with foreign countries, and all payments to such countries were enhanced in proportion to the deficiency of these coins; and such was, at that time, the state of the currency of this country, that there was very little good or perfect coin of any metal circulating in it. The evil was so great, that government found it ne cessary to take this difficult subject into their immediate consideration, and to endeavour to apply a remedy to it."

On this pressing occasion, we find that he addressed a letter to the noble

This is a circumstance that many must remember: we have seen gumeas of that time which, in consequence of some ingenious arts that had been practised upon them, did not weigh more than the value of seventeen shillings!