'there be not any going abroad out of the gates of this House, by any lord or others, to break open any house, or take any thing in the name of rent or a distress.'

These Lords of Misrule,' and their mock court and royalty, appear to have been only extinguished with the English sovereignty itself, at the time of our republican government. Edmund Gayton tells a story, to show the strange impressions of strong fancies as his work is of great rarity, I shall transcribe the story in his own words, both to give a conclusion to this inquiry, and a specimen of his style of narrating this sort of little things. A gentleman importuned, at a fire-night in the public hall, to accept the high and mighty place of a mock-emperor, which was duly conferred upon him by seven mock-electors. At the same time, with much wit and ceremony, the emperor accepted his chair of state, which was placed in the highest table in the hall; and at his instalment all pomp, reverence, and signs of homage, were used by the whole company; insomuch that our emperor, having a spice of self-conceit before, was soundly peppered now, for he was instantly metamorphosed into the stateliest, gravest, and commanding soul, that ever eye beheld. Taylor acting Arbaces, or Swanston D'Amboise, were shadows to him: his pace, his look, his voice, and all his garb, was altered. Alexander upon his elephant, nay, upon the castle upon that elephant, was not so high; and so close did this imaginary honour stick to his fancy, that for many years he could not shake off this one night's assumed deportments, until the times came that drove all monarchical imaginations out, not only of his head, but every one's.'* This mock emperor' was unquestionably one of these 'Lords of Misrule,' or 'a Christ

* Pleasant notes upon Don Quixote, by Edmund Gayton, Esq. folio, 1654, p. 24.

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mass Prince.' The public-hall' was that of the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn. And it was natural enough, when the levelling equality of our theatrical and practical commonwealths were come into vogue, that even the shadowy regality of mockery startled them, by reviving the recollections of ceremonies and titles, which some might incline, as they afterwards did, seriously to restore. The Prince of Christmass' did not, however, attend the Restoration of Charles II.

The Saturnalian spirit has not been extinct even in our days. The Mayor of Garrat, with the mock addresses and burlesque election, was an image of such satirical exhibitions of their superiors, so delightful to the people. France, at the close of Louis XIV's reign, first saw her imaginary Regiment de la Calotte,' which was the terror of the sinners of the day, and the blockheads of all times. This regiment of the scull-caps' originated in an officer and a wit, who, suffering from violent head-aches, was recommended the use of a scull-cap of lead: and his companions, as great wits, formed themselves into a regiment, to be composed only of persons distinguished by their extravagances in words or in deeds. They elected a general, they had their arms blazoned, and struck medals, and issued 'brevets,' and 'lettres patentes,' and granted pensions to certain individuals, stating their claims to be enrolled in the regiment for some egregious extravagance. The wits versified these army commissions; and the idlers, like pioneers, were busied in clearing their way, by picking up the omissions and commissions of the most noted characters. Those who were favoured with its brevets' intrigued against the regiment; but at length they found it easier to wear their 'calotte,' and say nothing. This society began in raillery and playfulness, seasoned by a spice of malice. It produced a

great number of ingenious and satirical little things. That the privileges of the 'calotte' were afterwards abused, and calumny too often took the place of poignant satire, is the history of human nature, as well as of the calotins.'*

Another society in the same spirit has been discovered in one of the lordships of Poland. It was called The Republic of Baboonery.' The society was a burlesque model of their own government: a king, chancellor, counsellors, archbishops, judges, &c. If a member would engross the conversation, he was immediately appointed orator of the republic. If he spoke with impropriety, the absurdity of his conversation usually led to some suitable office created to perpetuate his folly. A man talking too much of dogs, would be made a master of the buck-hounds: or vaunting his courage, perhaps a field-marshal; and if bigoted on disputable matters and speculative opinions in religion, he was considered to be nothing less than an inquisitor. This was a pleasant and useful project to reform the manners of the Polish youth; and one of the Polish kings good-humouredly observed, that he considered himself as much King of Baboonery, as King of Poland.' We have had in our own country some attempts at similar Saturnalia; but their success has been so equivocal that they hardly afford materials for our domestic history.

* Their brevets,' &c, are collected in a little volume, 'Recueil des pièces du Regiment de la Calotte; a Paris chez Jaques Colombat, Imprimeur privilegié du Regiment. L'an de l'Ere Calotine 7726.' From the date we infer, that the true calotine is as old as the creation.

RELIQUIE GETHINIANE,

IN the south aisle of Westminster Abbey stands a monument erected to the memory of LADY GRACE GETHIN. A statue of her ladyship represents her kneeling, holding a book in her right hand. This accomplished lady was considered as a prodigy in her day, and appears to have created a feeling of enthusiasm for her character. She died early, having scarcely attained to womanhood, although a wife; for all this goodness and all this excellence was bounded within the compass of twenty years.'

But it is her book commemorated in marble, and not her character, which may have merited the marble that chronicles it, which has excited my curiosity and my suspicion. After her death a number of loose papers were found in her hand-writing, which could not fail to attract, and, perhaps, astonish their readers, with the maturity of thought and the vast capacity which had composed them. These reliques of genius were collected together, methodized under heads, and appeared with the title of Reliquiæ Gethinianæ ; or some remains of Grace Lady Gethin, lately deceased being a collection of choice discourses, pleasant apothegms, and witty sentences; written by her for the most part by way of Essay and at spare hours; published by her nearest relations to preserve her memory. Second Edition, 1700.'

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Of this book, considering that comparatively it is modern, and the copy before me is called a second edition, it is somewhat extraordinary that it seems always to have been a very scarce one. Even Ballard, in his Memoirs of Learned Ladies, 1750, mentions that these remains are very difficult to be procured;' and Sir William Musgrave in a manuscript note observed, that this book was very scarce.' It

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bears now a high price. A hint is given in the preface that the work was chiefly printed for the use of her friends; yet, by a second edition, we must infer that the public at large were so. There is a poem

prefixed with the signature W. C. which no one will hesitate to pronounce is by Congreve; he wrote indeed another poem to celebrate this astonishing book, for, considered as the production of a young lady, it is a miraculous, rather than a human, production. The last lines in this poem we might expect from Congreve in his happier vein, who contrives to preserve his panegyric amidst that caustic wit, with which he keenly touched the age.

'A POEM IN PRAISE OF THE AUTHOR.

I that hate books, such as come daily out
By public licence to the reading rout,
A due religion yet observe to this;
And here assert, if any thing's amiss,

It can be only the compiler's fault,

Who has ill-drest the charming author's thought -
That was all right: her beauteous looks were join'd
To a no less admired excelling mind.

But oh! this glory of frail Nature's dead,

As 1 shall be that write, and you that read.*

Once, to be out of fashion, I'll conclude

With something that may tend to public good:

I wish that piety, from which in heaven

The fair is placed to the lawn sleeves were given;
Her justice to the knot of men whose care

From the raised millions is to take their share.

W. C.'

The book claimed all the praise the finest genius could bestow on it. But let us hear the editor. - He tells us, that 'It is a vast disadvantage to authors to

* Was this thought, that strikes with a sudden effect, in the mind of Hawkesworth, when he so pathetically concluded his last paper?