The late Mr. Windham, was a very sensible as well as a very humane man: and he patronized bull-baiting. So would I, were I sure that the bulls liked it as well as the dogs, (brutes of course) that bait him. But I have my doubts on that particular. Mr. Cobbett, too, has been and is yet perhaps a great advocate of cudgelplaying, though, by the bye, I never heard of his sharing the sport himself. I believe too he agreed with Mr. Windham in his ideas of single-stick, foot-ball, cudgel-playing and bull-baiting; but, for my part, I would rather take a bull by the horns, than encounter the forcible hits of Mr. Cobbett's brain-cudgel! so I will not hazard the chance of incurring his displeasure. Many of our noble lords, too, patronize boxing and rat-catching. I much wonder that Mr. Cobbett does not exercise his talents in this line. Every body will allow that he is capable of giving quick and knock-down blows! and as to rat-catching, if he were permitted to enter a certain old house in Westminster, how all the Rats would scamper about! I verily believe, if free and unmuzzled, that Billy Cobbett would more speedily clear the said house of rats, than would the Dog Billy, the celebrated canine rat-catcher. But we have not yet quite concluded our history of wrestling and Sir Thomas Perkins. I cannot yet help thinking that broken shins are not quite se bad as broken heads, knock-down blows, and shattered ribs. In the church of the aforesaid place, Bunny, is erected, at least it was visible when I was there more than thirty years ago, a monument sacred to the memory of this illustrious hero. At full length I there

beheld a statue of Sir Thomas Perkins himself, in the attitude of a wrestler. There he stood with a fixed and steady eye, and an admirable stone-like firmness, as if on the watch to lay his adversary as flat on his back, as death, alas! has long since laid poor Sir Thomas. On the pedestal, was engraved a verse from a chapter of the book of Genesis, where Jacob is reported to have wrestled with an angel, and in the encounter is somewhat injured in the hollow of his thigh!

These things were, but, whether they are now, I cannot tell. Lord Rancliff is the present owner of Bunny Hall and the estates round it; I have seen his Lordship, but whether he likes ringing or wrestling, I cannot exactly say. He bears the character of a popular and independent Member of Parliament, where if he chooses to wrestle with ministers he may have no lack of practice !!

I must return for a moment to old Joseph Franks, who would often talk of the wonderful deeds he had done, the matches he had made and won! He would show his scars that told of the battle and the emblems of victory! He would recount the sums of money lavished on him, though he never exhibited any, for it was all spent long before. Then, in his own opinion, he was so illustrious, so exalted in the temple of fame ! and so indeed he was in the estimation of his own circle; for, like Sterne's midwife, every famous personage has a circle of his own, beyond which nobody knows or cares any thing about him. Of a verity, I believe that the "Circle of Fame" enjoyed by old Joseph Franks, and which he conceived would hand down his name to

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posterity, was, at least, a mile and a half in diameter! That is, if we measure it from east to west, but from north to south it was considerably less than half that distance. Altogether, perhaps, making due consideration for projecting points and angles, Joseph enjoyed a "Circle of Fame" almost three miles in circumference! He had also another gratification, which, had he been living, it would have been very hazardous to make known; but now that he is himself beyond the jurisdiction of a Justice of the Peace, there can be no harm in mentioning it. He was most dexterous in destroying Polecats, netting Partridges and snaring Hares; but his fame as a wrestler far exceeded all his other accomplishments. His eyes would flash and his face would glow, whenever he mentioned his achievements ! He would boast of his belt, the badge of bravery, with as much, or even more enthusiasm, than Buonaparte displayed in narrating his passage of the Alps, the storming the Bridge of Lodi, or the voyage to Egypt; nay, more than ever Lord Wellington was heard to boast of the glorious Battle of Waterloo !

Somewhat about this time I began the very useful practice of keeping a kind of note book in which I was wont to register my thoughts and observations on men, manners and opinions. To this committed many little anecdotes and adventures which more particularly attracted my attention, but, of course, in the private memorandums of one so young and so unpractised in composition, much is to be found that would be unfit for perusal, as either too trivial in itself, or as relating only to domestic occurrences which cannot possibly be interesting to any save him by whom they were intrusted.

to paper. From these notes, therefore, if indeed I may be excused for giving a place to any of them in these uncertain pages, I will, with the reader's permission, extract such as may either be amusing in themselves as narratives of singular occurrences or illustrative of the early habits, thoughts and sentiments of the writer.

I have yet another object in view in thus affording a few specimens of my note book. I trust that it will enforce by example the passing observations that I am about to hazard on the utility of this practice, which has proved so pre-eminently advantageous to myself.

In the first place, it creates a habit of thinking. When our memorandum book lies before us, we are desirous of seeing in its leaves some fruits of our intellectual labours, and moreover, when a commencement is once made one subject suggests another, until we are more at a loss what to select than how to obtain matter. It enables us, by comparing the productions of one year with another, to determine the advance which the mind has made, and, by observing the different gradations of improvement at different times, to discover in a great degree, what causes or studies have produced the rapid advance at one period compared with another. It is too, a memorial of feelings which probably would otherwise have vanished from the recollection and a source of amusement and delight in after years when they serve to recal a thousand images of youth and all its warm, generous and expectant feelings. I know of no more delightful companion than a note book which contains the thoughts flung from the soul in the glow of the moment in the early

years of youth, which, if they do exhibit the immaturity of the spring time, yet bear with them all its freshness, fragrance and tenderness. The following are selected from my note book, and the date appended will mark the age and season in which they were written.

JULY 19, 1786.-I have been reading an author who says "I shun the company of agreeable women, for fear of becoming their captives!" Is not this being somewhat too cautious? Tis hard if we cannot enjoy the friendship of agreeable women without sliding into a more embarrassing passion!

JULY 21.-I hate scandal, nobody hates it more; and yet some little may be said in favor of it: at least, in favor of that propensity which many feel to make remarks on the actions of their neighbours; and some people are kept within the line of their duties, more from the dread of gossipping tongues, than from hatred to vice or adherence to virtue.

SUNDAY JULY 23.-I esteem a friend as a Looking glass. The one serves to dress the mind by, as we consult the other to adorn the body. But the former should be as candid as the latter; and equally impartial! A perfect mirror reflects us just as we are, without regard to blots or blemishes;-So should a true friend tell us of our faults, that we may amend them.

AUGUST 5.-I have been reading Sterne: of course am delighted with him. His humour and his sensibility are most fascinating. It is difficult to say, whether he affects most the head or the heart!