MEMOIRS. N my 22d year I found a violent affection for my cou danger of fucceeding, if I had not upon that account begun my travels into foreign countries. A LITTLE after my return into England, at a private meeting with my uncle Francis, I refufed the offer of his eftate, and prevailed upon him not to difinherit his fon Ned. Mem. Never to tell this to Ned, left he fhould think hardly of his deceased father; though he continues to fpeak ill of me for this very reafon. PREVENTED a fcandalous law-fuit betwixt my nephew Harry and his mother, by allowing her under-hand, out of my own pocket, fo much money yearly as the dispute was about. 1 PROCURED a benefice for a young divine, who is fifter's fon to the good old man who was my tutor, and hath been dead twenty years. GAVE ten pounds to poor Mrs, my friend H widow. Mem. To retrench one dish at my table, till I have fetched it up again. Mem. To repair my house and finish my gardens, in order to employ poor people after harvest-time, ORDERED John to let out Goodman D-'s fheep that were pounded, by night: but not to let his fellowfervants know it. PREVAILED upon M. T. Efq; not to take the law of the farmer's fon for fhooting a partridge, and to give him his gun again. PAID the apothecary for curing an old woman that con、 feffed herfelf a witch. GAVE away my favourite dog for biting a beggar. MADE the minifter of the parish and a Whig juftice of one mind, by putting them to explain their notions to one another. Mem. To turn off Peter for fhooting a doe while fhe was eating acorns out of his hand, VOL. VIII. U WHEN WHEN my neighbour John, who hath often injured ame, comes to make his requests to-morrow: Mem. I HAVE forgiven him. LAID up my chariot, and fold my horfes, to relieve the poor in a fcarcity of corn. IN the fame remitted to my tenants a their rents. fifth part of As I was airing to-day, I fell into a thought that warmed my heart, and fhall, I hope, be the better for it as long as I live. Mem. To charge my fon in private to erect no monument for me; but not to put this in my last will. N° 623. I Monday, November 22. Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehifcat, Virg. Æn. 4. v. 24. But firft let yawning earth a passage rend, Dryden. AM obliged to my friend, the love-cafuift, for the following curious piece of antiquity, which I fhall communicate to the public in his own words. Mr SPECTATOR, OU may remember, that I lately tranfmitted to Y you may ancient cult tha to nors of East and Weft Enborne, in the county of Berks, and and elsewhere. If a customary tenant die, the widow 'fhall have what the law calls her free-bench, in all his copy-hold lands, dum folo et cafta fuerit; that is, while fhe lives fingle and chafte; but if the commits incontinency, the forfeits her eftate: yet if she will come into the court riding backward upon a black ram, with his tail in her hand, and fay the words fol lowing, the steward is bound by the custom to re-admit « her to her free-bench. Here I am, Riding upon a black ram, And, for my Crincum Crancum, Have done this worldly fhame; : Therefore, I pray you Mr Steward, let me have my land again.. AFTER having informed you, that my lord Coke obferves, that this is the moft frail and flippery tenure of any in England, I fhall tell you, fince the writing of that letter, I have, according to my promise, been at great pains in fearching out the records of the Black Ram; and have at laft met with the proceedings of the courtbaron, held in that behalf for the space of a whole day. The record faith, that a strict inquifition having been 'made into the right of the tenants to their several estates, by a crafty old steward, he found that many of the lands ' of the manor were, by default of the feveral widows, forfeited to the lord, and accordingly would have entered on the premifes: upon which the good women defired the benefit of the ram. The steward, after having perufed their feveral pleas, adjourned the court to Barnaby-bright, that they might have day enough be⚫fore them. THE Court being fet, and filled with a great concourse of people, who came from all parts to fee the folemnity, the first who entered was the widow Frontly, who had made her appearance in the last year's cavalcade. The register obferves, that finding it an easy pad-ram, U 2 and * and foreseeing the might have further occafion for it, fhe purchased it of the fteward. • MRS Sarah Dainty, relict of Mr John Dainty, (who was the greateft prude in the parish), came next in the proceffion. She at firft made fome difficulty of taking the tail in her hand; and was obferved in pronouncing *the form of pennance, to foften the two moft emphatical words into Clincum Clancum: but the fteward took care to make her speak plain English, before he would • let her have her land again. THE third widow that was brought to this worldly * fhame, being mounted upon a vicious ram, had the mif⚫ fortune to be thrown by him; upon which the hoped to be excufed from going through the rest of the ceremony: but the fteward being well verfed in the law, ⚫ obferved very wifely upon this occafion, that the breaking of the rope does not hinder the execution of the • criminal. THE fourth lady upon record was the widow Ogle, a famous coquette, who had kept half a score young fellows off and on for the fpace of two years; but having ⚫ been more kind to her carter John, the was introduced with the huzzas of all her lovers about her. MRS Sable, appearing in her weeds, which were very new and fresh, and of the fame colour with her whimfical palfry, made a very decent figure in the folemnity. ANOTHER, who had been fummoned to make her appearance, was excufed by the steward, as well knowing in his heart, that the good fquire himself had qualified her for the ram. MRS Quick, having nothing to object against the indictment, pleaded her belly. But it was remembered that fhe made the fame excufe the year before. Upon which the steward obferved, that the might fo contrive it, as never to do the fervice of the manor. THE widow Fidget being cited into court, infifted that he had done no more fince the death of her hufband, than what she used to do in his lifetime; and withal defired Mr Steward to confider his own wife's cafe, if he should chance to die before her. • THE THE next in order was a dowager of a very corpulent make, who would have been excused as not finding any ram that was able to carry her; upon which the ⚫ steward commuted her punishment, and ordered her to 'make her entry upon a black ox. THE widow Mafkwell, a woman who had long lived with a most unblemished character, having turned ⚫ off her old chambermaid in a pet, was by that revengeful creature brought in upon the black ram nine times s the fame day. "SEVERAL Widows of the neighbourhood, being brought upon their trial, they fhewed that they did not hold of the manor, and were discharged accordingly... 'A PRETTY young creature who clofed the proceffion came ambling in, with fo bewitching an air, that the fteward was observed to cast a sheep's eye upon her, and married her within a month after the death of his wife. N. B. MRS Touchwood appeared, according to fummons, but had nothing laid to her charge; having lived irreproachably fince the decease of her husband, who left her a widow in the fixty-ninth of her age. I am, SIR, &c. year N° 624.. Wednesday, November 24. Audire, atque togam jubeo componere, quifquis & Quifquis luxuria Hor, Sat. 3. 1. 2. v. 77. Sit ftill, and bear, thofe whom proud thoughts do fwell, MANKIND Creech. ANKIND is divided into two parts, the bufy and the idle. The bufy world may be divided into the virtuous and the vicious. The vicious again into the covetous, the ambitious, and the fenfual. The idle part of mankind are in a fiate inferior to any one of these. All the other are engaged in the purfuit of happinefs, though often mifplaced, and are therefore more likely to be atten U 3 |