jury returning a verdict of Not Guilty. The evidence is singularly curious. We may extract, for example, that of Sir John's uncle, Mr. Mault, who, of

66

course, appears for the defence: First, I pray consider with yourselves, all trades will live, and altho' I sometimes, with my cousin Sir John's help, make a cup of good liquor, and many men come to taste it, yet the fault is in neither of us, but in them that make the complaint, else let 'em stay till they are sent for. Who can deny but that Mr. Mault can make a cup of good liquor by the help of a good brewer, and when it is made it must be sold; I pray which of you all can live without it? Where else would you sop your toast and nutmeg, and what should asswage the thirst of gammons and red-herrings? Were I to suffer, lords, knights, and esquires would want their March beer and October to treat their tenants and their friends : bottle-ale and stout would be wanted at Islington and Highgate to treat your wives with: old women would want hot-pots of brandy and ale, and the good-wife that lies in could have no caudle." The tract concludes with a song "to the tune of Sir John Barleycorn". An old ballad, from which this tract may perhaps be taken, is printed in Evans, ed. 1810, iv, 214; and Burns was no doubt indebted to the former for his celebrated song on the same subject.

18. THE HISTORY OF THE TWO CHILDREN IN THE WOOD REVIV'D, or Murder REVENG'D, containing the sad and lamentable Story of the Death of two Children of a Gentleman, who, after the Decease

of their Parents, were delivered, by their uncle, to two ruffians, to be murdered for their estates, but in the end they were left in an unfrequented wood, and there starved to Death, and covered over by a Robin Redbreast: Together with the sad relation of the heavy judgements that befel their unnatural uncle, who died miserable in prison, and how it came to be discovered by one of the ruffians upon his being condemned for a notorious robbery. With many other passages and circumstances at large. 12mo. Licensed and entered according to order, n. d.

This tale is founded on the same story which is the subject of the second part of a tragedy by Robert Yarrington, 4to. 1601, entitled, "Two Lamentable Tragedies; the one of the murther of Maister Buch, a chandler in Thames-street, and his boy, done by Thomas Merry; the other of a young childe murthered in a wood by two Ruffins, with the consent of his uncle." In the play, however, one child only is murdered. The chapters are thus entitled :—1. How Pisaurus, seeking a wife, accidentally fell in love with the fair Eugenia. 2. How Pisaurus found means to discover his passion to Eugenia, and how she consented; also the marriage-day appointed. 3. How the happy nuptials were celebrated, and of the ominous presage. 4. How Androgus, brother to Pisaurus, desirous of his estate, laid this unsuccessful project. 5. How Cassandar and Jane being born, Pisaurus and Eugenia fell sick, and by what means. 6. How Androgus returned, visited his brother and sister, and of his dissimulation. 7. How Pisaurus made his will, de

livered his children to Androgus, and died as did his wife. 8. What thought Androgus had about putting to death his brother's children, but had not the heart to put it in practice himself. 9. How Androgus met with Rawbones and Woudkill, and agreed with them to murder his brother's children. 10. How the ruffians fell out about the disposal of the children, and how Rawbones killed his partner, and covered him up in a pit. 11. How Rawbones left the children in an unfrequented wood, where they died. 12. How the murder came to be discovered at the gallows. The ballad on the same story, so highly commended in the Spectator, No. 85, is printed by Percy, ed. 1840, p. 238. It is also alluded to again in the Spectator, No. 179.

19. MOTHER BUNCH'S CLOSET NEWLY BROKE OPEN, containing rare Secrets of Art and Nature, tried and experienced by learned Philosophers, and recommended to all ingenious young Men and Maids, Teaching them in a natural way how to get good wives and husbands. By our loving friend Poor Tom, for the King, a lover of mirth, but a hater of treason. 12mo. With wood-cuts, n. d. In two parts.

This very curious collection of vernacular customs, digested into the form of a narrative, seems to have escaped the notice of our writers on popular antiquities. The present edition was printed about 1770, but it was published very long before, being thus referred to in Wit and Drollery, 1682, p. 42:

Wit that shall make thy name to last,
When Tarleton's jests are rotten,
And George à Green, and Mother Bunch,
Shall all be quite forgotten.

your

Husband.

"Take

A Way to tell who must be a St. Thomas's onion, pare it, and lay it on a clean handkerchief under your pillow; put on a clean smock, and as you lie down, lay your arms abroad, and say these words :

Good St. Thomas, do me right,

And bring my love to me this night,
That I may view him in the face,
And in my arms may him embrace.

Then, lying on thy back with thy arms abroad, go to sleep as soon as you can, and in your first sleep you shall dream of him who is to be your husband, and he will come and offer to kiss you; do not hinder him, but catch him in thy arms, and strive to hold him, for that is he. This I have tried, and it was proved true. Yet I have another pretty way for a maid to know her sweetheart, which is as follows:-Take a summer apple of the best fruit, stick pins close into the apple to the head, and as you stick them, take notice which of them is the middlemost, and give it what name you fancy; put it into thy left hand glove, and lay it under thy pillow on Saturday night after thou gettest into bed; then clap thy hands together, and say these words :

If thou be he that must have me,

To be thy wedded bride,

Make no delay, but come away

This night to my bedside.”—(pp. 10-11.)

20. THE HISTORY OF THOMAS OF READING, AND OTHER WORTHY CLOTHIERS OF ENGLAND, setting forth their mirth, great riches, and hospitality to the poor, and the great favour they gained with their Prince. Concluding with the woeful death of Thomas of Reading, who was murdered by his host. 12mo. London, Aldermary Church-yard,

n. d. An abridgement from the larger history by Deloney, 4to. 1632, which has been reprinted by Mr. Thoms. On the title is the annexed cut of a barber's shop:

It is a curious illustration of the old custom of the person who was waiting for his turn playing on the ghittern. There are innumerable allusions to this practice in our old dramatists:-"A barber's cittern for every serving-man to play upon", Dekker's Honest Whore, Second Part, 1630. Stubbes, 1583, mentioning barbers and shaving, says :-"You shall have also your orient perfumes for your nose, your fragrant