in vain did she assure the marauders that the apartment she was guarding was exclusively her own, and contained not a single article belonging to Mr. Beverning; in vain did she endeavour to propitiate their favour by declaring that she had always detested his politics, that she believed him to be guilty, and hoped he would be apprehended and punished. This sordid and ungrateful artifice only exciting their suspicions that there must be some important treasure to conceal, they burst open the door in spite of all her obtestations, and entered the apartment.

For some time they discovered nothing to justify their presentiments. A closet, however, still remained unsearched. This also was broken open, and found to contain some female apparel, and an old deal box, of which she voluntarily tendered the key, most solemnly declaring that it contained nothing but some children's books, which had remained in her possession ever since she kept school. It did indeed exhibit a copious store of well-thumbed Dutch accidences and bescribbled grammars, to the bottom of which the searchers rummaged with some difficulty, but without meeting any thing to reward their pains. They were about to quit the closet, when one of the men attempted to move the box from the wall its great weight excited his attention; he lifted up one end; a betraying chink from within gave them a clue to the concealed trea2 *

VOL. III.

sure; the books were tumbled out; the false bottom was discovered; and the double ducats, which Miss Vanspaacken had for so many years been dropping in, one by one, congratulating herself all the time on her superior prudence and sagacity, were, in a few minutes, the objects of a general scramble among the very refuse of the population.

At the time that the Justiciary Vanderhoof had extricated Winky Boss from the fury of the mob in the manner we have related, it was his intention to have detained him in safe custody, until he could be examined by the competent authorities; but forgetting, in the agitation of the moment, to give immediate orders for his detention, his prisoner marched through the private dwelling-house, passed out of the front door into another street and seizing time by the forelock, made the best of his way out of the town, intending to proceed a-foot, and join his master at Maaslandsleys. For the execution of this purpose, however, he arrived too late. De Witt, who was entrusted with the plans of his friend, had instantly despatched a messenger to apprize him of Boss's arrest, and the sacking of his house; and the Burgomaster, who had taken with him a plentiful supply of gold, lost no time in chartering a small neutral vessel, and sailing for the river Thames. The voyage proved short and prosperous, and in due time he and his daughter were

landed at Greenwich Wharf, immediately opposite to the new house, then building for the King.

In order that Constantia might enjoy the advantages of female society, Beverning wished to take up his residence in a private family, rather than in a lodging-house; and with this view it was his first intention to betake himself to his correspondent, Alderman Staunton, in Aldersgate-street; but recollecting that he was in close connexion with the government, and that his own delicate situation, as a refugee Dutchman, rendered it imperatively necessary to avoid all such society as might lead to a suspicion of his being engaged in political intrigue, and thus obstruct his return and the vindication of his character, he resolved to take up his abode in the vicinity of London, and live in as sequestered a manner as possible. For these objects no place appeared so eligible as the residence of his friend, Elias Ashmole, at South Lambeth. With that curious collector, he had long been in habits of intimate correspondence; and by constantly transmitting to him, for the enlargement of his celebrated museum, a portion of the rarities which were brought by his captains from the remotest parts of the earth, he had laid him under obligations which he felt with a peculiar satisfaction, and for which he was most eager to testify his gratitude. He accordingly proceeded with Constantia to

Turret House, which was the name of Mr. Ashmole's residence, surprising that gentleman not a little by his unexpected appearance, but receiving from him a most cordial and hospitable welcome. At the moment of his arrival he found him in close confabulation with his intimate associates, Sir Jonas Moore, the mathematician, and the celebrated astrologers, William Lilly and John Booker, the object of their conference being to fix a day for the annual astrologers' feast, of which Ashmole was steward, at Painters' Hall. Lilly was decorated with the gold chain and medal he had received from the King of Sweden,† and talked with pride of the deference that had been

* This mansion would hardly be recognised in our days, from the following passage in Evelyn's Diary"The prospect from a turret is very fine, it being so neere London, and yet not discovering any house about the country." Vol. ii. p. 427. The turret, whence it took its name, has been pulled down, but the house itself, materially enlarged and embellished, and with all its original grounds re-annexed, is still in existence, and in the occupation of the author's friend, William Heseltine, Esq. to whom he takes this opportunity of offering his acknowledgments, not only for the use, at all times, of his extensive and curious library, but for several suggestions which, he trusts, have improved the interest of the present work.

Estimated to be worth above 50l. and presented to him in the year 1659, on account of his having mentioned that monarch with great respect in his almanacks

shown him on various occasions by the great ones of the earth, as well as of the general confidence in his knowledge of the celestial sciences, his use of the Mosaical rods, and his supernatural gifts of vaticination. The Burgomaster, who had always understood that his friend's house was the resort of philosophers, and men of enlightened intellect, was

of 1657 and 1658. Lilly might well vaunt the homage with which he had been honoured in that credulous and superstitious age. Besides amassing a fortune by the sale of his prophetical powers, he tells us that he was twice consulted by Mrs. Whorwood, on the part of King Charles the First, when that monarch was meditating his escape from Hampton Court, in the first instance, and subsequently from Carisbrook Castle. In 1647 he and Booker were both sent for to the head-quarters of Fairfax, the Parliament General, who addressed them in an obscure speech, of which, however, the object seems to have been to bespeak their interest and good offices for the cause in which he was embarked. To secure this point, Lilly received next year a present of 50l. in cash, and an order from the Council of State for a pension of 1007. per annum. During the siege of Colchester, Lilly and Booker were summoned thither to encourage the soldiers, by predicting the capture of the place, in which they were luckily justified by the event. We have smiled, in our school exercises, at the Athenian general, who wrote home for some more cattle, and a fresh supply of soothsayers, for the use of his army; but we see that the custom was not extinct in the 17th century; and although the form of the superstition may be altered in our own times, the feeling and the credulity still exist.