manufacture of lace. In the above list are, however, included nine or ten families whose livelihood is chiefly obtained by the business of conveying calves bred on the dairy farms in this and the neighbouring parishes, to distant markets, and a few others who follow mechanical trades and handicrafts. Some of the houses of the village bear evident marks of antiquity; and a considerable number have been taken down within the last century, several small freeholds having been sold to the larger proprietors, or to other purchasers, so that the number of persons who have a right of voting at the election of representatives in Parliament for the county, scarcely exceeds one fourth of those who about fifty or sixty years ago enjoyed that privilege. The number of houses was also reduced by a destructive fire about the year 1700, which, according to tradition, consumed many of the buildings in "High Street," as the main road or street is in the old writings denominated. At present the farms are from about 40 to 200 acres each. There is one flour-mill in the parish, of recent erection.

There are two manors in the parish; the superior or paramount manor holden by Mrs. Heaton, as lessee under St. John's College in Oxford; and the inferior manor (which pays tithes to the former), held by lease from Magdalen College, Oxford, by John Ingram Lockhart, Esq. who married the daughter of the late lessee Francis Wastil, Esq. formerly Lieutenant-colonel of the Oxfordshire Militia, and High Sheriff of that county, whose first wife became entitled to it under the will of her maternal aunt Gibbert, to whom, with other property, it had reverted, on the decease of. Saunders, Esq. heir of an antient family long resident at North-Marston, and originally lessees under the before-mentioned College. It is believed that this estate, which was included amongst the early possessions of Magdalen College, had previously belonged to the Hospital of St. John at Oxford, and was granted to William of Waynfleet the founder, by King Henry VI. about the year 1457: but no account on which any reliance can be placed being preserved of the foundation of the said Hospital, besides that of its

having been in existence in the reign of King John, it seems very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain through whose hands this manor passed after the time of the Domesday survey, until it was vested in the Hospital; it certainly, however, admits of conjecture, that that establishment having been professedly devoted to the use and accommodation of pilgrims and sick persons resorting to certain salubrious fountains* or sacred springs (as they were then esteemed), might have been originally endowed with the estate under consideration, as an offering piously made by some of Sir John, or St. John, Schorne's devotees. This circumstance, however, is merely conjectural.

The manor house, which had been the mansion of the Saunderses, was taken down in the last century, and part of the stables was then converted into a farm house, which is now occupied by one of Mr. Lockhart's tenants.

In the year 1785 the open and common fields were inclosed, under an Act of Parliament, by which an allotment of land was assigned to the Dean and Canons of Windsor, as impropriators, in lieu of tithes and about ten or twelve acres set apart as a compensation for the right of common belonging to the poor inhabitants of the parish.

The effect of such inclosure is stated in the Agricultural Survey of the County, to have been a decrease of breeding stock, and of the produce in wheat and other grain, and an increase of feeding stock." It is also fair to remark, that besides the advantage of bringing into cultivation the whole extent of waste and unproductive land, the inclosure has had a manifest tendency to improve the roads, and to ameliorate the coudition of the lower classes, whilst it must be acknowledged to have diminished the number of small farms,

"The Hospital of St. John the Baptist was, about the year 1233, either rebuilt or repaired by Henry III. and is said to have been intended for infirm persons, or poor strangers travelling to St. Frideswyde's, St. Edmund's Well, and other places of superstitious resort. They were possessed of several churches and manors," &c.-Chalmers's Hist. of Oxford, vol. I. p. 196.

and

walks diverge, and the angular spaces are divided into flower plats, surrounded with lattice work, and shaded with a great variety of trees and shrubs peculiar to the soil and climate; it is fenced towards the Bay by a lofty terrace, ornamented with a bulustrade; from this spot there is an extensive view of the Bay and mouth of the Harbour. Owing to the bad construction of the foundation of this work, at its first erection, the walls are cracked, and enormous masses of the masonry have tumbled into the water, which have completely sapped the foundation and basement, so that it verges fast to ruin, being in a miserable state of dilapidation, and several workmen are continually employed in driving piles and laying down enormous blocks of granite to preserve the remains from the inroads of the tide, which sets in at this point with a heavy swell from the mouth of the Harbour. At each end of the terrace there were two alcoves, adorned with paintings in fresco, but they are overthrown, and not a vestige remains. At the foot of the Terrace there is an artificial mount composed of rocks. At the base of this work there are two crocodiles admirably executed in bronze; they are intertwined, and as large as life.

From the reservoir underneath the mount, the water is conveyed through the bodies of these figures, and discharged from their mouths into a large basin; from this basin the element was forced upwards through a pipe to the floor of the terrace, and conveyed into the body of a bronze figure, representing an angel holding a tortoise in his right

hand, and the tortoise was made to discharge the water on a perforated marble slab, from which it trickles in rills down the side of the mount, forming several miniature cascades—this magnificent fountain is now completely out of order. At each end of

the terrace there are marble busts of the late Queen, and his present Majesty, King John, when Prince Regent. Opposite the fountain, at each end of the main avenue, and opposite the grand entrance, there are two Pyramids of granite; they are built on rocks, in the centre of basins, filled with water, which was forced into a cavity, in the basement of each, and discharged from the shaft through a pipe into the basin beneath. The entrance to the garden is ornamented with a lofty iron gate, supported by triple columns of rustic work in granite, crowned with vases of flowers, and enriched with the royal arms, emblazoned in gilt brass. In various parts of the walls there are seats and windows, barred with iron, through which the prospect opens to the country; and in the centre of the garden, where the walks diverge, there are four circular stone benches, adorned with vases. In the inclosed ground there are two cottages, an alcove and a summer-house.

The Castle of St. Sebastian is the most antient military structure in the place; it is built on a lofty hill, a the extremity of the City, and contains a Church, Barracks, and Hospitaf. The principal promenade is the Palace-square, which opens te the Bay, and is fenced by a terrace, composed of immense blocks of gramite, with a range of benches formed

The re

of

of the same material. Here the inhabitants of all classes inhale the evening breeze, which, after the intense heat of the day, is very salubrious in this burning climate; here priests, lawyers, merchants, and tradesmen, with their wives and daughters, parade, repose, and pass the cool hours in conversation, sipping_coffee, and smoking segars. Several boys attend with baskets of cakes and confectionery for sale; they carry each an earthen jug, ycleped a monkey, filled with water, from the spouts of which vessels all classes drink, without the aid of a glass or tumbler, and nothing loath.

The Town may be computed at three miles in length, from the Monastery of Saint Benedict to the Misericordia, the whole length of the Rua de Direta, or main street, which extends along the margin of the Bay; but in consequence of the inequality of the ground on which it is built, being partly on hills and in deep vallies, it is difficult to ascertain its extent with precision or exactness. Some of the cross streets diverge from the main street, nearly a mile in length, whilst others extend only half that distance. On the whole, on a rough estimation, it may be considered to be about 7 miles in circumference, and the population is said to be (since the emigration of the Royal Family in 1808) about 90,000 souls, including all colours.

The principal avenue into the Town from the country is the Rua de Ovidore. At the entrance of this street there are two squares, in one of which the opera-house is built. It is a spacious edifice, with a heavy portico of massive masonry, in rude architecture. The scenery is wretched, and the performance, with the exception of the music, below mediocrity. From the Misericordia, a pleasant walk extends along the edge of the Bay, towards the Sugar-loaf. On the side of this road there is a small church, dedicated to Saint Lucy, which is filled with the votive offerings of mariners who have considered themselves saved from shipwreck through the intercession of this female Saint. houses in the suburbs, and towards the country, are generally of one story; the doors and windows are fenced with lattice work, without glass, in consequence of the heat of

The

the climate, and to admit the cool air. In the Rua de Directa, the Rua de Ovidero, Rua de Piscatoris, Rua de Rosario, and some of the other principal streets there are many lofty uniform and spacious houses, constructed of the best materials that the country affords, a close grained granite and white shining freestone, with balconies and terraces. The different avocations are classed here, on a plan worthy of the imitation of the cities of Europe; thus, the Jewellers, Silver-smiths, Cabinet-makers, and almost every other trade or occupation, are confined to separate A. SINNOT.

streets.

Mr.

(To be continued.)

URBAN, Marylebone, Dec. 4. N your Magazine for November, (p. 409) I observed a note, stating that John Scogan, the Jester to Edward IV. was sometimes confounded with Henry Scogan, the Poet, who flourished at an earlier period. The following particulars relating to the latter literary character, and which are generally (but erroneously) fastened upon the former, although not adapted to the History of Anecdote now in progress, may perhaps find a place elsewhere in your Miscellany.

Scogan is commonly supposed to have been a contemporary with Chaucer, which Henry certainly was: in that great Poet's works, are several pieces under his name; the chief of which is entitled, "A Moral Balade," addressed to the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester, and sent to them from a tavern, belonging to Lewis John, in the Vintry. This piece, (says Mr. Warton, in his History of Poetry), is the dullest sermon that ever was written in the octave stanza: -it must have been composed before the year 1447, and the writer complains of old age, whereas Scogan the Jester did not flourish till about 1480.

The lines in which he makes that complaint are as follows:

"I complain sore when I remembre me,
The sodain age that it upon me fall *,
But more complain my mispent juventate
The whiche is impossible ayen † to call,
But certainly the most complaint of all
Is to thinken that I have been so nice
That I would in ne vertues to my call,
In all my youth, but vices aye cherue,"

Fallen. Again. Query, Me?

The

The poetical trifle, entitled "Flee from the Presse," is also attributed to Scogan, and elsewhere termed "Proverbium Joannis * Scogan. After the specimen given above, your readers will probably be content, without an additional narcotic.

Shakspeare has also made mention of him in Henry IV. part 2.

Sir

JUSTICE SHALLOW. "This same John [Falstaff], the very same. I saw him break Skogan's head at the court gate, when he was a crack, not so high."+

Ben Jonson, in his "Masque of the Fortunate Isles," has comprised in a few lines nearly all that is known of him :

MEREFOOL-" Skogan? what was he? JOHPHIEL-0, a fine Gentleman, and a Master of Arts

In Henry the Fourth's time, that made disguises

For the King's sones, and writ a balladroyal

Daintily well."

"But though labour be the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities, it is not that by which their value is commonly estimated."

And he then proves that there is now a valuation by money as well as by labour: for he thus continues,

"But when barter ceases, and money has become the common instrument of commerce, every particular commodity is more frequently exchanged (sold) for money than for any other commodity.

The butcher seldom carries his beef or mutton to the baker or the brewer, in order to exchange them for bread or for

Should we not read Henrici? † An old Islandic word, signifying a boy or child-Chalmers.

Mr. Chalmers, in his edition of Shaks. peare, actually affirms that this passage relates to the Jester; either the Commentator has fallen into error, or the Dramatist into an anachronism.

beer, but he carries them to the market where he exchanges (sells) them for money, and afterwards exchanges that money for bread and for beer (buys with that money bread and beer). The quantity of money which he gets for them regulates too the quantity of bread and beer which he can afterwards purchase. It is more natural and obvious to him therefore to estimate their value by the quantity of money, the commodity (price) for which he immediately exchanges (sells) them, than by that of bread and beer, the commodities for which he can exchange them only by the intervention of another commodity (medium); and rather to say

that his butcher's meat is worth three pence or four pence a pound, than that it is worth three or four pounds of bread, or three or four quarts of small beer. Hence it comes to pass, that the exchangeable value of every commodity is more frequently estimated by the quantity of money, than by the quantity either of labour or of any other commodity which can be had in exchange for it." (Is more frequently estimated by the price than by the labour.)

Dr. Smith likewise joins in with the error, that gold and silver are commodities to be bought and sold at a price; for he says,

"Gold and silver, however, like every other commodity, vary in their value, are sometimes cheaper and sometimes dearer, sometimes of easier, and sometimes of more difficult purchase."

Even the late Lord Liverpool, who has written with such extraordinary ability, precision, and perspicuity, misuses the term value: for he says,

"The gold coin had risen to an extraordinary value, while the re-coinage of the silver coins was under consideration.”

The gold coin had risen to an extravagant nominal price, but that could not affect its value.

His Lordship also says, "In exchange with foreign countries the value of the metal is the only measure." It surely is not the value, it is the weight, which of course creates the value.

But the most notable misuse of the word price, occurred in the year 1810, when the House of Commons appointed a Select Committee expressly "to inquire into the cause of the high price of gold bullion."

If, as I endeavoured to prove in a former Letter, the precious metals cannot be bought, and consequently cannot have a price, then the

Com