chant hearing this, crept away as fast as he could; for if the mob had fallen upon him for an enchanter, he had passed his time but very indifferently amongst them."

And again :

"But all these different professors of religion have a firm faith in what they call reading over; and they use it promiscuously. For if a common Turk hath a horse sick, he will have the Alcoran read over it, and rather than fail, the law of Moses, or the gospel of Christ. And there are poor Christians that will get an holy man, though a Turk, to read over a sick child, and the poor Jews the like. It is the reading over that they value, together with the venerable phiz of the holy man, that performs without much distinction what it is he reads."

Again, in their belief of a life in the grave :

"The Turks have an opinion, that men that are buried have a sort of life in their graves. If any man makes affidavit before a judge that he heard a noise in a man's grave, he is by order dug up and chopt all to pieces. The merchants once airing on horseback, had (as usual for protection) a janizary with them. Passing by the buryingplace of the Jews, it happened that an old Jew sat by the sepulchre. The janizary rode up to him, and rated him for stinking the world a second time, and commanded him to get into his grave again."

When Mr. North returned to England, he had been too long engaged in scenes of active exertion to remain at home without employment. Accordingly, he soon engaged himself in extensive mercantile transactions, and by his commissions supported the house he had left behind him in the east. He also early became a principal member in the Levant company, and took a chief part in managing its concerns. His name became celebrated, and in very turbulent times, at a crisis when the shrievalty of the city was a service of danger, he accepted the office, at the personal request of the king, Charles the Second, made to his brother, who was then Lord Chief Justice. Mr. North's general ability, and his peculiar talents for business, and skill in the management of intricate accounts, together with the influence of Lord Guilford, so on recommended him to a principal place in the customs, and thus extended his sphere of usefulness. Two or three circumstances, which came under the actual inspection of the king, conspired to give him so high an opinion of Sir Dudley North's talents, that he removed him into the treasury. When James II. ascended the throne, Sir Dudley came into parliament, where he took a principal part in debates, concerning the revenue, until the dissolution. At the Revolution, he was left out of the commission of

the customs, to which place he had previously returned from the treasury, and then retired into private life, in which he died in London, in the year 1691.

In the course of the narrative, which describes the period of his life, from his return to England to his death, we have various anecdotes, which display his character in a remarkable point of view, and also scattered notices, which let in a light upon this eventful stage of English history; of these, we can afford to extract only a very few.

Our merchant returned to England at the point when the credit of the famous Titus Oates and his confederates began to decline. But so extensively had his fame been spread, that we are told, his name was idolized among the loyal merchants of Constantinople, where, in all their jollities, they celebrated his health immediately after that of the king. When Mr. North returned, the method of keeping accounts at bankers' houses was commencing, and the goldsmiths just in the act of metamorphosis from their proper trade to that of banker. This seemed a novel and pernicious scheme to our trader; but after long resistance, he was obliged to yield to the prevailing fashion, and it is recorded, first" used the shop of Sir Francis Child, at Temple Bar, for the paying and receiving all his great sums." Such is the antiquity of this ancient house. When the Prince of Orange landed, the loyalists were, of course, in great alarm, especially those who had in any way, like Sir Dudley North, rendered their attachment to the Stuarts remarkable. such were flying from the metropolis in every direction; but Sir Dudley, relying, as was his wont, on the integrity of his actions, and the goodness of his motives, with his usual boldness, refused to stir.

All

"At this time, Sir Dudley North and myself were seldom asunder, but walked about from one bustle to another, to observe what was doing, and were in all public places to see how matters wrought. For he, according to his true character, so long as he could justify his actions, feared nothing, and scarce thought he had any concern in the turn more than any other men had. This was a foul disappointment to his enemies; for they made a sure account that he, a ringleader of the Tory party, must needs run away, and then they had him fast, in prison at least. Once we walked together into the Exchange; and one that stood in a company said, What! is not he gone yet? We passed on, and took no notice. He was looked at almost as much as when he was named sheriff; and the wonder that he was not gone, was as great as when he was to be sheriff. And it was in his good stars, that he secured himself a safety, by staring his enemies in the face."

He had little to fear. Though, when the important con

cerns of government were settled, he was examined before a committee of the House of Lords, and also before the House of Commons, respecting his taking upon him the shrievalty. Of this examination, an amusing account is given the following is part of it:

"But there being some cessation, Mr. Dutton Colt made silence by speaking. Mr. Foley,' said he, since this gentleman is so tender that he must not be asked questions concerning himself, we will let that go, and presume him guilty of all that has been alledged against him. But I hope I may ask him a question concerning somebody else.' At this, Sir Dudley North, knowing the man, and expecting he would have named his brother, the Lord Keeper, began to warm and his blood to mend its pace. And had that been perceived, any one, that knew him, would have expected something extraordinary to follow. Then, Mr. Colt went on; and I ask him,' said he, if Secretary Jenkins did not come down to the city, and persuade him to take the office of sheriff upon him.' You hear the question,' said the chairman. After which, there was a profound silence, expecting the answer. All which time, Sir Dudley North was gathering as much breath as he could muster, and then out came a long No-0-0-0, so loud, as might have been heard up to the House of Lords. This was so violent and unexpected, that I could see a start of every one in the house all at the same instant, as if each had had a dash of cold water in his face. And immediately all called out, Withdraw;' and my neighbour, Titus Oates, being I suppose frustrated of his expectations, cried out, Aw Laard, Aw Laard, Aw, Aw,' and went his way. Sir Dudley North went out, and never was called upon more about this affair.'

It is, however, time to turn to the life of the Doctor, which, though much less busy, is to us much more interesting.-The Hon. John North was born at London in 1645. His reserved and studious temper, even in childhood, early marked him for the church. "If any thing," says his brother, "seemed amiss in him, it was a non-natural gravity, which, in youths, is seldom a good sign; for it argues imbecility of body and mind, or both; but his lay wholly in the former, for his mental capacity was vigorous, as none more." At the proper age, he was sent to Bury, where he was placed under Dr. Stephens, then master of an eminent school there. This was in the time of the Commonwealth, the period which the biographer designates as "the dregs of time." Of this Dr. Stephens, a character is given, which affords a lively idea of a cavalier pedagogue, obliged to submit to the puritanical regulations of the time.

"The master was pedant enough, and noted for high flights of poetry and criticism, and what we now call jingling, not a little derived from the last age, all which qualities were not amiss in his em

ployment. The worst of him was what his corpulence declared, and being a wet epicure, the common vice of bookish professions.

One happiness was, that he was a noted Cavalier, then the title of the king's friends in opposition to the rebels, who, from a precise cut they affected, were styled Roundheads. In the worst of those times, the master, in his family, used the forms of loyalty and orthodoxy, but being reputed little better than a malignant, he was forced to use outwardly an occasional conformity, by observing the church duties, and days of super-hypocritical fastings and seekings, wherewith the people, in those days, were tormented; though now worn out of almost all credibility; and he walked to church after his brigade of boys, there to endure the inflictions of divers holders forth, tiring themselves and every body else. And by these means, he made a shift to hold his school."

In the year 1661, Mr. North was sent to Cambridge, where he was entered a fellow-commoner, and afterwards a nobleman, of Jesus College. Here commenced that severe course of study and constant habit of thought, which, together with a tendency to inaction, ended in bringing upon him a premature old age, and, in the mean time, encouraged that timidity of disposition, and that irritability of the nervous system, which rendered the latter part of his life a prey to gloomy whims and melancholy forebodings.

"The doctor's greatest, or rather only infirmity, was a natural timidity, owing to a feeble constitution of body, inclining to the effiminate. This, under some circumstances, and without a mind as vigorous and strong as his body was weak, might have oppressed him. He was always sensible of this weakness, and, during the whole course of his life, laboured to conquer it, and, as to outward appearance, prevailed; and what was insuperable lay dormant in himself. One would have expected that a youth at the university, no freshman, nor mean scholar, should have got the better of being afraid in the dark; but it was not so with him; for when he was in bed alone, he durst not trust his countenance above the clothes. For some time he lay with his tutor; who, once coming home, found the scholar in bed with only his crown visible. The tutor, indiscreetely enough, pulled him by the hair; whereupon he sunk down, and the tutor followed, and at last, with a great outcry, the scholar sprung up, expecting to see an enormous spectre. Another time, which was after he was Fellow of the College, in a moon-shine night, he saw one standing in a white sheet. He surveyed it with all his optics, and was confirmed it was a spirit, (as they call it,) and resolved with himself, if he could, to find out what it came for. He got out of his bed, and, being still of the same opinion, went nearer and nearer, till he might touch it; and then, reaching out his hand, he perceived it was only his towel hung against the wall, with the moon shining full upon it, and then he went to bed and slept well."

While an under-graduate, he maintained a high character for learning and conduct: the simple and honourable nature of his feelings; his few wants; his intense application, and contented, cheerful, and affectionate disposition, in this his first outset in life; are well described in some of the passages which we shall select: as, for instance,

"He had in his nature a principle of justice and duty inexpugnable; and was fortified with a resolution not to run in debt, nor to help himself by any wicked compliances, whatever otherwise became of him. And while he was at the college, he just shifted, with a small exhibition from his family; and if it had been less, (according to his strict economy,) he had still shifted; and more he did not expect, knowing that the hereditary honour must devour the fat of the land. And as to future preferments, nothing more uncertain. All his hopes hung upon mutable interests, and he found in himself little inclination to courtship and flatteries for favours. His sheet-anchor was the life of his life, a dear brother and friend who might drop from him. He had an ambition to be master of a good library, but scarce hoped ever to obtain it; and when he became able to make a small purchase of books, he was so far happy, and, in himself, pleased that his management succeeded so well, which created in him a sort of joy in a perseverance, even after the just cause, by his being better provided for, ceased."

In 1666 he was admitted a fellow of his college, and began to indulge himself in the warmest passion which animated him, the purchasing of books.

"He courted, as a fond lover, all best editions, fairest characters, best bound and preserved. If the subject was in his favour, (as the classics,) he cared not how many of them he had, even of the same edition, if he thought it amongst the best, either better bound, squarer cut, neater covers, or some such qualification caught him. He delighted in the small editions of the classics by Seb. Gryphius; and divers of his acquaintance, meeting with any of them, bought and brought them to him, which he accepted as choice presents, although perhaps he had one or two of them before. He said, that the black Italic character agreed with his eye-sight (which he accounted but weak) better than any other print, the old Elzevir not excepted, whereof the characters seemed more blind and confused than those of the other."

"His soul was never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop; for having (as the statutes of the college required) taken orders, he was restless till he had compassed some of that sort of furniture, as he thought necessary for his profession. He was, for the most part, his own factor, and seldom or ever bought by commission; which made him lose time in turning over vast numbers of books; and he was very hardly pleased at last. I have borne him company at shops for hours together, and, minding him of the time, he hath made me a dozen proffers before he would quit. By this care and industry,