turned into the paths of righteousness. Reader, admire the virtues of this excellent man, but do not stop short at admiration - "Go thou and do likewise." daughter Elizabeth at her confirmation. This antiquarian curiosity was (it is stated) stolen from its deposit at Hampstead Court about the beginning of the last century, and the librarian Robert Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln. dismissed for losing so valuable a vo- When a husbandman claimed kin- lume. It is enriched with notes or motship with this prelate, and thereupon toes in manuscript, and is even conjecrequested from him an office," Coutured to be the actual token by which Essex might have saved his forfeit life, sin," replied the bishop, "if your cart be broken, I'll mend it; if your plough if it had been delivered to the queen. The title-page represents a triumphal be old, I'll give you a new one; and even seed to sow your land! but a hus- arch, and has these words in black letter: "C. Certeine, Prayers and Godly bandman I found you, and a husbandMeditacyions very nedefull for euery man I'll leave you !" Christien." The imprint is: "Em= printed at Marlboro, the pere of our Lord a Meccccxxxviii, per me Joanis Philoparion." The volume is in good preservation, bound in velvet, with the royal arms and roses emblazoned. Wheatley, Mayor of Coventry.-Bablake Hospital, in Coventry, was founded by Mr. Thomas Wheatley, Mayor of Coventry, in 1566. It is an asylum for old men and boys, and owes its origin to the following singular circumstance: Being engaged in the iron trade, Mr. Wheatley sent an agent to Spain to purchase some barrels of steel gads. When the casks arrived and were examined, they were found to contain cochineal and ingots of silver. After fruitless endeavours to rectify the mistake, and restore this valuable treasure to its right owner, he bestowed the money it produced, to which he added his own estate, on the building and endowment of this institution. A Robber converted into a Bishop.Kirk Maughold, in the Isle of Man, although now a poor place, is not destitute of ancient fame, arising from the following circumstance:-The captain of a band of Irish robbers, repenting of his crimes, retired hither, and became eminent for his piety, on which account he was chosen bishop of the island. There still remains, near the church gate, a square pillar, inscribed with a testimony of his virtues and exploits. The church is built on a lofty promontory, in the middle of a very large burial ground. - When Bonaparte and the Koran. Bonaparte was in Egypt, one of the principal Osmanlis was lavish in praise of the Koran, in the general's presence, "It contains," said he, "every thing." "Does it contain the service of cannon?" asked Bonaparte, with a smile. The Turk paused for a moment. "Certainly it does, general; for as it contains every thing, it must contain that." Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book. An obscure individual at Blackburn is said to be in possession of the prayer book presented by Henry VIII, to his SPIRIT OF THE Public Journals. THE KING. Authentic narrative of a plan, (now first made public,) for capturing Prince William Henry, his present Majesty, during his stay at New York in 1782; with the original letters of General Washington. (From the Athenæum.) IT must be remembered that, wild as this project may seem, it was sanctioned by the cool deliberate judgment of Washington; and it cannot, therefore, be doubted, that his Royal Highness was, for a time, in a situation of great though unknown danger. We leave it to our readers to speculate on the possible consequences, had the plan succeeded. When his present Majesty William IV. served as a midshipman in the British navy, he was for some time on the coast of the North American colonies, then in a state of revolution, and passed the winter of 1782 in the city of New York. He is still borne in lively recollection by many of the elder inhabitants of that city, as a fine bluff boy of sixteen: frank, cheery, and affable; and there are anecdotes still told of his frolicsome pranks on shipboard. Among these, is the story of a rough, though favourite, nautical joke, which he played off upon a sailor boy, in cutting down his hammock while. asleep. The sturdy sea urchin resented this invasion of his repose; and, not knowing the quality of his invader, a regular set-to of fisty-cuffs ensued in the ment. dark. In this, it is said, the Prince To Col. Ogden of the 1st Jersey Regishowed great bottom; and equal generosity on the following morning, when he made the boy a handsome present of money. His conduct in this boyish affair is said to have gained him the hearts of all his shipmates. The Prince manifested, when on shore, a decided fondness for manly pastimes. One of his favourite resorts was a small fresh-water lake in the vicinity of the city, which presented a frozen sheet of many acres; and was thronged by the younger part of the population for the amusement of skating. As the Prince was unskilled in that exercise, he would sit in a chair fixed on runners, which was pushed forward with great velocity by a skating attendant, while a crowd of officers environed him, and the youthful multitude made the air ring with their shouts for Prince William Henry. It was an animating scene, in the bright sunny winter-days, so common in that climate, and probably still retains a place in his Majesty's memory. While the Prince was thus enjoying himself in the city of New York, a daring plan was formed, by some adventurous partisans of the revolutionary army, to pounce upon him and carry him off from the very midst of his friends and guards. The deviser of this plan was Colonel Ogden, a gallant officer, who had served with great bravery in the revolutionary army from the very commencement of the war, and whose regiment at that time was stationed in the province (now state) of New Jersey. The present statement is drawn up from documents still preserved by the family of Col. Ogden, a copy of which has been obtained from one of his sons. The Prince at the time was living on shore, with Admiral Digby, in quarters slightly guarded, more for form than security, no particular danger being apprehended. The project of Colonel Ogden was to land secretly on a stormy night, with a small but resolute force, to surprise and carry off the Prince and the Admiral to the boats, and to make for the Jersey shore. The plan was submitted to General Washington, who sanctioned it, under the idea that the possession of the person of the Prince would facilitate an adjustment of affairs with the mother country, and a recognition of the United States as an independent nation. The following is a copy of the letter of General Washington to Col. Ogden on the occasion. The whole of the original is in the handwriting of the General: "SIR, The spirit of enterprise so in their quarters, and bringing off, the conspicuous in your plan for surprising Prince William Henry and Admiral Digby, merits applause; and you have my authority to make the attempt in any manner and at such a time as your judgment shall direct. "I am fully persuaded, that it is unneinsult or indignity to the persons of the cessary to caution you against offering Prince or Admiral, should you be so fortunate as to capture them; but it may not be amiss to press the propriety of a proper line of conduct upon the party you command. "In case of success, you will, as soon them with all possible respect; but you as you get them to a place of safety, treat to Congress, and report your proceedare to delay no time in conveying them ings, with a copy of these orders. "Given at Morris Town, this 28th day of March, 1782. "G. WASHINGTON." "Note.-Take care not to touch upon the ground which is agreed to be neutral viz., from Raway to Newark, and four miles back." Before relating the particulars of this plan, it may be expedient to state, that the city of New York is situated on the point of an island which advances into the centre of a capacions bay. A narrow arm of the sea, vulgarly called the East River, separates it on the left from Long or Nassau Island; and the Hudson, commonly called the North River, separates it from the state of New Jersey. The British army was in possession of the city, and was strengthened by a fleet; but the opposite bank of the Hudson, which is about two miles wide, was under the power of Congress, and the revolutionary army was stationed at no great distance in New Jersey, in a winter encampment of wooden huts. The party that should undertake this enterprise would have to embark in boats from the Jersey shore: and it was essential that the whole affair should be accomplished between sun and sun. The following is the plan intended to be observed, copied literally from the original, in the handwriting of Col. Ogden :— "It will be necessary to have four whale-boats (which can be procured without cause for suspicion); they must be well manned by their respective crews, including guides, &c.; beside these, one captain, one subaltern, three sergeants, and thirty-six men, with whom the boats can row with ease.-N. B. It is known where the boats are, and that they can be collected without suspicion, with their oars-men; and it is taken for granted, the owners will not object, though, for fear of giving the least cause of alarm, nothing has as yet been said to them. "The time of embarkation must be the first wet night after we are prepared. The place is not yet agreed on, as it will be necessary to consult those skilled in the tides previous to determining, which must be put off until we are as nearly prepared as possible, for fear of inferences being drawn from our inquiries. We must, however, set off from such part of the Jersey shore, as will give us time to be in the city by half past nine. The men must be embarked in the order of debarkation. "The Prince quarters in Hanover Square, and has two sentinels from the 40th British regiment, that are quartered in Lord Stirling's old quarters in Broad Street, 200 yards from the scene of action. The main guard, consisting of a captain and forty men, is posted at the City Hall-a sergeant and twelve, at the head of the old slip-a sergeant and twelve, opposite the coffee-housethese are the troops we may be in danger from, and must be guarded against. The place of landing at Coenties Market, between the two sergeants' guards, at the head of the old slip and opposite the coffee-house.. "The order of debarkation to agree with the mode of attack, as follows:"First-Two men with a guide, seconded by two others, for the purpose of seizing the sentinels-these men to be armed with naked bayonets and dressed in sailors' habits-they are not to wait for anything, but immediately execute their orders. "Second-Eight men including guides with myself, preceded by two men with each a crow-bar, and two with each an axe, these for the purpose of forcing the doors should they be fast, and followed by four mer, entering the house and seizing the young Prince, the Admiral, the young noblemen, aides, &c. "Third-A captain and eighteen to follow briskly, form, and defend the house until the business is finished, and retreat a half gun-shot in our rear. "Fourth-A subaltern and fourteen, with half of the remaining boats' crew, and form on the right and left of the boats, and defend them until we return -the remainder of the crews to hold the boats in the best possible position for embarking. "Necessary-Two crow-bars, two axes, four dark-lanterns, and four large oil-cloths. "The manner of returning as follows: "Six men with guns and bayonets, with those unemployed in carrying off the prisoners, to precede those engaged in that business, followed by the captain (joined by the four men from the sentry) at a half gun-shot distance, who is to halt and give a front to the enemy, until the whole are embarked in the following order "First-The prisoners, with those preceding them. "Second-The guides and boatmen. "Third-The subalterns and fourteen. "Fourth-The rear." Such was the daring plan laid for the capture of the Prince, and which, even if not fully successful, might have placed his Royal Highness in a most perilous predicament. It appears, however, from a fragment of a letter addressed by General Washington to Col. Ogden, and apparently written almost immediately after the preceding one, that some inkling of the design had reached Sir Henry Clinton, then in New York, and Commander-in-chief of the British forces. General Washington communicates, in his letter, the following paragraph from a secret despatch, dated March 23rd, which he had just received from some emissary in New York : "Great seem to be their apprehensions here. About a fortnight ago a great number of flat boats were discovered by a sentinel from the bank of the river (Hudson's), which are said to have been intended to fire the suburbs, and in the height of the conflagration to make a descent on the lower part of the city and wrest from our embraces His Excellency Sir H. Clinton, Prince William Henry, and several other illustrious personages, since which great precautions have been taken for the security of those gentlemen, by augmenting the guards, and to render their persons as little exposed as possible." In another letter, dated Newburgh, April 2nd, 1782, General Washington observes, "After I wrote to you from Morris Town, I received information that the sentries at the door of Sir Henry Clinton were doubled at eight o'clock every night, from an apprehension of an attempt to surprise him in them. If this be true, it is more than probable the same precaution extends to other personages in the city of New York, a circumstance I thought it proper for you to be advertised of. This intelligence of the awakened vigilance and precautionary measures of the British commander, effectually disconcerted the plans of Colonel Ogden, and His Royal Highness remained unmolested in his quarters until the sailing of the squadron. The Selector AND LITERARY NOTICES OF MICHAEL SCOTT, THE WIZARD. No. 22 of the Family Library is another volume of pleasant biography; for, to speak the truth, the biographies, or biographetts of this series are the most agreeable reading of the day. The Lives are not of undue length, and anecdote and judicious remark are abundantly scattered along each of them. There are no dry details of "birth, parentage, and education;" but these particulars are given with more attractions. In short, the Lives are just suited for parlour and drawing-room libraries, and many a reader who could not be persuaded to turn to Dr. Chalmers's lengthy two-and-thirty tomes of Biography, would be tempted to sit down and read a volume of the Family Lives outright. The volume before us is the first of "the Lives of Scottish Worthies," by Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler, author of an excellent History of Scotland. It comprises Alexander III., Michael Scott, Sir William Wallace, and Robert Bruce. We quote from Scott, who, though a wizard, deserves rank among "Worthies," and the philosophers and scholars of his time. Thus, Mr. Tytler says "he was certainly the first who gave Aristotle in a Latin translation to the learned world of the West. He was eminent as a mathematician and an astronomer, learned in the languages of modern Europe deeply skilled in Arabic, and in the sciences of the East; he had risen to high celebrity as a physician-and his knowledge of courts and kings, had recommended him to be employed in a diplomatic capacity by his own government." The following passage is, however, from "his more popular and wider honour"his superstitious character, whilst, as Mr. Tytler prettily observes, "his miracles and incantations are yet recorded beside the cottage fire, by many a greyheaded crone, and his fearful name still banishes the roses from the cheeks of the little audience that surround her." In the brief but interesting accounts of this singular man, which we meet with in the ancient Chronicles of Italy, it is mentioned that he was the inventer of a new species of casque or steel basnet, denominated a cervilerium, which he commonly wore under the furred or velvet cap, used by the learned of those times. The origin of this invention is curious. In those dark periods, when the belief of magic was universal, not only amongst the lower ranks, but with the learned and educated classes of the community, it was reported that the Wizard, having cast his own horoscope, had discovered that his death was to be occaskull. With that anxiety which clings to sioned by a stone falling upon his bare life, he endeavoured to defeat the demon' whom he served, and by repeated incantations constructed this magic casque, which he vainly deemed invulnerable. But his fate, according to the tradition of Italy, was not to be avoided. In passing a cathedral, when the bell was ringing for vespers, Michael entered to pay his devotions, and forgetful of his cervilerium, which was fixed inside his cap, uncovered as he reverentially knelt upon the stone floor. The moment of his fate had loosened one of the carved corbels was arrived. The rope of the belfry which ornamented the interior of the roof beneath which the Magician knelt; before he could remove, the sharp and heavy mass descended on his forehead, and whilst it confirmed the infallibility of his prescience, in an instant deprived him of life. Michael, however, according to the account of Benvenuto da Imola, had strength enough to lift up the stone, and ascertain its weight, after which he declared it was of the exact size he expected; and that nothing was left him but to die, which he did accordingly, after very properly making his will. It is needless to remark that this chael to his native country; but it apfable is confuted by the return of Mipears to have been the origin of a tradition still current amongst the peasantry of Scotland, and which ascribes a miraculous power to the bonnet of the Wizard. It is curious to find the tale of the invulnerable cervilerium of the Italians, travelling on the breath of credulity and superstition into the "far north countrie" of which the Magician was a native, and only changed by tradition from the blue steel worked and welded by magic art, into the blue bonnet which was waited on by Scottish demons, who were heard wailing in mid air when it was waved by its dreaded master. Riccobaldi Ferrariensis Historia Imperatorum- in Muratori, vol. ix p 128. book xx. c. 115. It is well known to the student of Italian literature, that the Magician has obtained a niche in the Inferno of Dante. "Quel altro che ne fianchi e cosi poco Michele Scoto fu, che veramente Delle magiche frode seppe il gioco." Another poet of Italy, but of infinitely inferior note, Theophilo Folengi, who published a collection of Latin Macaronic verses, under the fictitious name of Merlinus Coccaius, has given, in strange and almost unintelligible language, a singular picture of his incantations. "Behold renown'd Scotus take his stand Who gives him power o'er Nature: next he limns heav'n; His magic cap, invisible may walk, And none so lynx-eyed as detect his presence, Such is a somewhat free translation of the verses of the pretended Merlinus Coccaius. It is well known that many traditions are still prevalent in Scotland concerning the extraordinary powers of the Wizard; and if we consider the thick cloud of ignorance which overspread the country at the period of his return from the continent, and the very small materials which are required by superstition as a groundwork for her dark and mysterious stories, we shall not wonder at the result. The Arabic books which he brought along with him, the apparatus of his laboratory, his mathematical and astronomical instruments, the Oriental costume generally worn by the astrologers of the times, and the appearance of the white-haired and venerable sage, as he sat on the roof of his tower of Bal * Merlini Coccaii Macaronica, xviii, p. 273. wearie, observing the face of the heavens, and conversing with the stars, were all amply sufficient to impress the minds of the vulgar with awe and terror. "Accordingly," says Sir Walter Scott, in his Notes on the Lay of the Last Minstrel, "the memory of Sir Michael Scott survives in many a legend, and in the south of Scotland any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil." Some of the most current of these traditions are so happily described by the above-mentioned writer, that we cannot refrain from quoting the passage. "Michael was chosen," it is said, "to go upon an embassy to obtain from the King of France satisfaction for certain piracies committed by his subjects upon those of Scotland. Instead of preparing a new equi page and splendid retinue, the ambassador retreated to his study, and evoked a fiend, in the shape of a huge black horse, mounted upon his back, and forced him to fly through the air towards France. As they crossed the sea, the devil insidiously asked his rider what it was that the old women of Scotland muttered at bedtime. A less experienced wizard might have answered, that it was the Pater Noster, which would have licensed the devil to precipitate him from his back. But Michael sternly replied, What is that to thee? Mount, Diabolus, and fly!' When he arrived at Paris, he tied his horse to the gate of the palace, entered, and boldly delivered his message. An ambassador with so little of the pomp and circumstance of diplomacy, was not received with much respect, and the king was about to return a contemptuous refusal to his demand, when Michael besought him to suspend his resolution till he had seen his horse stamp three times. The first stamp shook every steeple in Paris, and caused all the bells to ring, the second threw down three towers of the palace, and the infernal steed had lifted his foot to give the third stamp, when the king rather chose to dismiss Michael with the most ample concessions, than to stand the probable consequences. Another time, it is said, when residing at the tower of Oakwood, upon the Ettrick, about three miles above Selkirk, he heard of the fame of a sorceress, called the witch of Falsehope, on the opposite side of the river. Michael went one morning to put her skill to the test, but was disappointed, by her denying positively any knowledge of the necromantic art. In his discourse with her, he laid his wand inadvertently on the table, which the hag observing, |