NO. CCIV.-TWINS.

Nicholas and Andrew Tremaine were twins so like in all lineaments they could not be distinguished but by their severall habits, they felt like paine though at distance, and without any intelligence given they equally desired to walke, travaile, set, sleep, eat, and drinke at the same time, and being souldiers they were both slain together, at New Haven in France, in the year of our Lord 1564. Collet, p. 118.

NO. CCV.-BONEWELL.

There is a little fountaine called Bonewell, nigh Richard's Castle, in the county of Hereford, the water whereof is allwayes full of bones of little fishes, or as others conceive of little frogs. This spring can never be emptied of them, but as fast as some are drawen out others instantly succeed them. Collet, p. 121.

NO. CCVI. JEFFREY HUDSON.

One Jefferey, the late Queen Mother's dwarfe, was son to a proper broad shoulder and chested man. When he was nine years of age hee was scarce a foote and a halfe high. Hee was without any deformity wholly proportionable. Hee was presented in a cold baked pye to King Charles I. at an entertainment. Hee was high in mind, not knowing himself, and hee would not knowe his father, for which by the King's command he was soundly corrected. Hee was a Captain of Horse in the late King's army. Collet, p. 126.

This " one Jefferey" was, no doubt, the well-known Jeffrey Hudson, who having been served up to table in a cold pie at Burleigh-on-the-Hill, the seat of the Duke of Buckingham, was, as soon as he made his appearance, presented by the Duchess to the Queen, who retained him in her service.-(See Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ii. 8, 9, 10, &c.) The readers of "Peveril of the Peak" need scarcely be reminded of the part which Jeffrey plays in bringing about the denouement of that interesting historical tale.

The custom of keeping dwarfs as appendages to state and royalty was formerly so widely spread, that Flögel, in his "Geschichte der Hofnarren," has devoted one chapter to the sub

ject; and to what an extent the practice has prevailed in Russia, the following somewhat lengthy description of the manner in which Fools and Dwarfs are exhibited in the Houses of the Nobles of Moscow will serve to show.

"They are here the pages and the playthings of the great; and, at almost all entertainments, stand for hours by their lord's chair holding his snuff-box or awaiting his commands. There is scarcely a nobleman in this country who is not possessed of one or more of these frisks of nature; but, in their selection I cannot say that the noblesse display their gallantry, as they choose none but males.

"These little beings are generally the gayest drest persons in the service of their lord, and are attired in a uniform or livery of very costly materials. In the presence of their owner, their usual station is at his elbow, in the character of a page; and, during his absence, they are then responsible for the cleanliness and combed locks of their companions of the canine species.

"Besides these Lilliputians, many of the nobility keep a fool or two, like the motleys of our court, in the days of Elizabeth, but like in name alone; for their wit, if they ever had any, is swallowed up by indolence. Savoury sauce and rich repasts, swell their bodies to the most disgusting size; and, lying about in the corners of some splendid saloon, they sleep profoundly till awakened by the command of their lord to amuse the company. Shaking their enormous bulk, they rise from their trance, and supporting their unwieldly trunks against the wall, drawl out their heavy nonsense with as much grace as the motions of a sloth in the hands of a reptile fancier. One glance was sufficient for me of these imbruted creatures; and, with something like pleasure, I turned from them to the less humiliating view of human nature in the dwarf.

"The race of these unfortunates is very diminutive in Russia, and very numerous. They are generally well-shaped; and their hands and feet particularly graceful. Indeed, in the proportion of their figures, we should no where discover them to be flaws in the economy of nature, were it not for a peculiarity of feature and the size of the head, which is commonly exceedingly enlarged. Take them on the whole, they are such compact, and even pretty little beings, that no idea can be formed of them from the clumsy deformed dwarfs, which are exhibited at our fairs in England. I cannot say that we need envy Russia this part of her offspring. It is very curious to observe, how nearly they resemble each other; their features are all so alike, that you might easily imagine, that one pair had spread their progeny over the whole country."

We have only to add, that further particulars of Jeffrey Hudson may be seen in Hone's "Year Book," p. 16 et seq. where the reader will find also a very neat cut of a Domestic Dwarf, from an engraving in Wierix's Bible, 1594.

NO. CCVII.-WALTER PARSONS.

Walter Parsons, born in Staffordshire, was first apprentice to a Smith, when hee grew so tall in stature that a hole was made for him in

the ground, to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate to his fellow-workmen. Hee afterwards was porter to King James. Hee was proportionable in all parts, and had strength equall to his height, valour to his strength, temper to his valour; hee would make nothing to take two of the tallest yeomen of the guard under his arms at once, and order them as hee pleased.

Collet, p. 128.

A more detailed account of Parsons will be found in Plot's Staffordshire, 1686, p. 294, where we are told that his picture then hung in the Guard-chamber at Whitehall, and another in the great room at the Pope's Head Tavern, Cornhill.

NO. CCVIII.-A LEARNED MAID.

When a learned maid was presented to King James for an English rarity, because shee could speake and write pure Latine, Greek, and Hebrew, the King ask'd,-" but can shee spin?" Collet, p. 129.

James appears to have been of Luther's opinion, who, in his “Divine Discourses at his Table," &c. Lond. 1651, p. 72, under the head, "What becomes the women ill," says, "There is no gown nor garments that becomes a woman wors then when shee will bee wise."

NO. CCIX.- CARPS.

Carpes are a fish that have not been long naturalized in England, and of all fresh water fishes, the eel excepted, lives longest out of his proper element. They breed severall months in one year, and, though their tongues are counted most delicious meat, yet to speak properly they have no tongues in their mouths, but their mouths are filled with a carneous substance, their teeth being in their throats. There is not one bone in a carpes body which is not forked or divided into two parts at the end thereof.

Collet, p. 129.

Honest Old Isaak Walton devotes the ninth chapter of his "Complete Angler" to the carp; and in this he tells us, "The Carp is the Queen of Rivers; a stately, a good, and a very subtle fish, that was not at first bred, nor hath been long in England, but is now naturalised. It is said, they were brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plumsted, in Sussex, a county that abounds more with this fish than any in this nation."

"You may remember what I told you," Gesner says, "there are no pikes in Spain; and doubtless there was a time, about a hundred or a few more years ago, when there were no carps in England, as may seem to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle you may find these verses,

" Hops and turkies, carps and beer,

Came into England all in a year.'"'

Some curious instances of the docility of the carp will be found in Walton's fifth chapter, and also in the " British Angler's Manual," lately published by that accomplished artist and skilful angler, T. C. Hofland.

NO. CCX.-KING CHARLES'S PORTER And dwarf.

William Evans, a Monmouthshire man, porter to King Charles the First, was full two yards and an halfe in height, exceeding Walter Parsons two inches, but far beneath him in equall proportion of body. Hee, dancing in an antimask at Court, drew little Jeffrey the dwarf out of his pocket, first to the wonder, then to the laughter of the beholders. Collet, p. 134.

In Newgate Street, over the entrance to Bagnio Court, still remains a small sculpture of these two remarkable personages, thus inscribed: "M. P. A. (probably the initials of the builder) THE KING'S PORT' AND DWARF." Little Jeffrey's height was only three feet nine inches.

The race of tall men is by no means extinct; the tall porter of George the Fourth, who used to look over the gates of Carlton House, must be still remembered. Monsieur Bibi the French giant, who appeared last winter on the boards of the Adelphi, was another lengthy specimen of humanity; and, lastly, have we not heard lately from America, of a gentleman (probably a descendant from this William Evans, if any of his family ever emigrated to the New Country), who is so tall as to be obliged to go up a ladder to shave himself!

END OF THE THIRD PART.

L'ENVOY.

GO FORTH, MY LITTLE BOOK. Thou wilt, I know, find some friendly hands outstretched to give thee welcome. Yet, peradventure thou mayest meet also with unfriendly frowns-kindly meant but hard to bear withal-signs of disapproval from good men and true, amongst whom it is the orthodox opinion that, as antiquarian matters are as old as the Desert, they should be made as dry. Such men may view with displeasure the attempt to treat old matters after a new fashion and doubt whether they ought to pardon a heresy so perilous even for the sake of the heretic.

Nevertheless, be of good cheer. Thy course may run more smoothly than he who starts thee on it dares to hope. Farewell, and mayest thou be received in the spirit in which thou art sent forth-as an offering to the Manes of William Camden, and as an addition to his Remains !

W. J. T.