While martial bands with nodding plumes appear, Here too a Chief the opening ranks display, A Mr. Alderman Wood on the first day of his second mayoralty, in 1916, deviated from the usual procession by water, from Westminster-hall to London, and returned attended by the corporation, in their carriages, through Parliament-street, by the way of Charing-cross, along the Strand, Fleet-street, and so up Ludgateaill, and through St. Paul's churchyard, to Guildhall: whereon lord Sidmouth, as high steward of the city and liberties of Westminster, officially protested against the lord-mayor's deviation, " in order, that the same course may not be drawn into precedent, and adopted on future occasion." any During Mr Alderman Wood's first mayoralty he committed to the house of correction, a working sugar-baker, for having left his employment in conse quence of a dispute respecting wages. The prisoner during his confinement not having received personal correction, according to the statute, in consequence of no order to that effect being specified in the warrant of committal, he actually brought an action against the lord-mayor in the court of common pleas, for nonconformity to the law. It was proved that he had not been whipped, and therefore the jury were obliged to give a farthing damages; but the point of law was reserved.* On the 6th of September, 1776, the then lord-mayor of London, was robbed near Turnham-green in his chaise and four, in sight of all his retinue, by a single nighwayman, who swore he would shoot Gentleman's Aagazine. the first man that made resistance, or offered violence.* NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. November 10. A FATHER'S WISHES. Richard Corbet, bishop of Norwich, wrote the following excellent lines TO HIS SON, VINCENT CORBET, What I shall leave thee none can tell, Not to build on, but support; To keep thee, not in doing many Bishop Corbet, a native of Ewell in Surrey, was educated at Westminster school, and Christchurch, Oxford; took the degree of M. A. in 1605, entered into holy orders, became doctor of divinity • Gentleman's Magazine. + Bp. Corbet's Poems, by Gilchrist. obtained a prebend in the cathedral of Sarum, and other church preferment, and being a man of ready wit, was favoured by king James I., who made him one of his chaplains. In 1618, he took a journey to France, of which he wrote an amusing narrative. In 1627, his majesty gave him the deanery of Christchurch; in 1629, he was raised to the bishopric of Oxford, and in 1632, translated to that of Norwich. He died in 1635. The poems of bishop Corbet are lively and amusing compositions, such as might have been expected from a man of learning and genius, possessed of a superabundance of constitutional hilarity. The latter quality appears to have drawn him into some excesses, not altogether consistent with the gravity of his profession. After he was a doctor of divinity, being at a tavern in Abingdon, a ballad-singer came into the house, complaining that he could not dispose of his stock; the doctor, in a frolic, took off his gown, and assuming the ballad-singer's leather jacket, went out into the street, and drew around him a crowd of admiring purchasers. Perhaps he thought he could divest himself of his sacerdotal cha racter with his habit; for it seems he shut himself up in his well-stored cellar, with his chaplain, Dr. Lushington, and taking off his gown, exclaimed: "There goes the doctor;" then throwing down his episcopal hood, " there goes the bishop"-after which the night was devoted to Bacchus. Riding out one day with a Dr. Stubbins, who was extremely fat, the coach was overturned, and both fell into a ditch. The bishop, in giving an account of the accident, observed, that Dr. Stubbins was up to the elbows in mud, and he was up to the elbows in Stubbins. Bishop Corbet was not distinguished as a divine; his sentiments however were liberal, and he inclined to the Arminian party, which then began to prevail in the church of England.* In the bishop's lines "to his son on his birth-day," there is something of the feeling in the wise man's supplication, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. November 11. ST. MARTIN. retained in the church of England calen dar and almanacs, are related under th day in last year's volume. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 44. 40 November 12. ADMIRAL VERNON'S BIRTH-DAY. "a To the mention of the pageant Chancery-lane end," in honour of admira! Vernon on this day, in the year 1740, may be added some ingenious verses commemorative of Vernon's exploits. They were written in the same year by John Price, a land-waiter in the port of Poole, and are preserved in Mr. Raw's "Suffolk Garland," with the following introduction : ADMIRAL VERNON'S ANSWER TO AD MIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST. In Dr. Percy's "Reliques of Ancient Poetry," vol. ii. p 376. is an admirable ballad, intituled "Hosier's Ghost," being an address to admiral Vernon, in PortoBello harbour, by Mr. Glover, the author of Leonidas. The case of Hosier was briefly this : In April, 1726, he was sent with a strong fleet to the Spanish West Indies, to block up the galleons in the ports of that country; but being restricted by his orders from obeying the dictates of his courage, he lay inactive on that station, until he became the jest of the Spaniards. He afterwards removed to Carthagena, and continued cruizing in those seas, till far the greater part of his crews perished by the diseases of that unhealthy climate. This brave man, seeing his officers and men thus daily swept away, his ships exposed to inevitable destruction, and himself made the sport of the enemy, is said to have died of a broken heart. The ballad concludes "O'er these waves, for ever mourning, After this proud foe subduing, In 1739, vice-admiral Vernon was ap. The customs of this festival, which is pointed commander-in-chief of a squadron • General Biographical Dictionary, 1826, vol. i. In vol. i. col. 1478. then fitting out for destroying the settle ments of the Spaniards in the West Indies; and, weighing anchor from Spithead on the 23d of July, arrived in sight of PortoBello, with six ships only, under his command, on the 20th of November following. The next day he commenced the attack of that town; when, after a most furious engagement on both sides, it was taken on the 22d, together with a considerable number of cannon, mortars, and ammunition, and also two Spanish ships of war. He then blew up the fortifications, and evacuated the place for want of land forces sufficient to retain it; but first distributed ten thousand dollars, which had been sent to Porto-Bello for paying the Spanish troops, among the forces for their bravery. The two houses of parliament joined in an address of congratulation upon this success of his majesty's arms; and the nation, in general, was wonderfully elated by an exploit, which was certainly magni fied much above its intrinsic merit. Hosier! with indignant sorrow, I have heard thy mournful tale For our country's wrongs and thine. Fierce thy image glar'd on high, And with gen'rous ardour warm'd me, To revenge thy fall, or die. My lov'd sailors work'd their way. And in accents, undissembling, Carthagena, tow'ring wonder! Still rememb'ring thy sad story, And I neer will cease pursuing Spain's proud sons from sea to sea, With just vengeance for thy ruin, And for England sham'd in thee. As we are to-day on a naval topic, it seems fitting to introduce a popular usage among sailors, in the words of captain Edward Hall, R. N., who communicated the particulars to Dr. Forster, on the 30th of October, 1823. CROSSING THE LINE. The following is an account of the custom of shaving at the tub by Neptune, as practised on board vessels crossing the Equator, Tropics, and Europa Point. The origin of it is supposed to be very ancient, and it is commonly followed on board foreign, as well as British ships. Europa Point at Gibraltar being one of when that was considered the western the places, it may have arisen at the time boundary of Terra Firma. On the departure of a vessel from England by either of the aforesaid routes, much ingenuity is exerted by the old seamen and their confederates to discover the uninitiated, and it is seldom that any escape detection. A few days previous to arriving at the scene of action, much mystery and reserve is observed among the ship's company: they are then secretly collecting stale soapsuds, water, &c., arranging the dramatis personæ, and preparing material. At this time, also, the novices, who are aware of what is going forward, send their forfeits to the captain of the forecastle, who acts as Neptune's deputy; the forfeit is either a bottle of rum, or a dollar: and I never knew it refused, except from a cook's mate who had acted negligently, and from a steward's mate who was inclined to trick the people when serving provisions. On board of a man-of-war it is generally performed on a grand scale. I have witnessed it several times, but the best executed was on board a ship of the line of which I was lieutenant, bound to the West Indies. On crossing the Tropic, a voice, as if at a distance, and from the surface of the water, cried "Ho, the ship ahoy! I shall come on board:" this was from a person slung over the bows, near the water, speaking through his hands. sently two men of large stature came over the bows; they had hideous masks on: one personated Neptune-he was naked Pre to his middle, crowned with the head of a huge wet swab, the ends of which reached to his loins to represent flowing locks; a piece of tarpaulin, vandyked, encircled the head of the swab and his brows as a diadem; his right hand wielded a boarding pike manufactured into a trident, and his body was marked with red ochre to represent fish scales: the other personated Amphitrite, having locks also formed of swabs, a petticoat of the same material, with a girdle of red bunten; and in her hands a comb and looking-glass. They were followed by about twenty fellows, also naked to their middle, with red ochre scales as Tritons. They were received on the forecastle with much respect by the old sailors, who had provided the carriage of an eighteen-pounder as a car, which their majesties ascended, and were drawn aft along the gangway to the quarter-deck by the Tritons; when Neptune, addressing the captain, said he was happy to see him again that way, that he believed there were some Johnny Raws on board that had not paid their dues, and who he intended to initiate into the salt water mysteries. The captain answered, he was happy to see him, but requested he would make no more confusion than was necessary. They then descended on the main deck, and were joined by all the old hands, and about twenty barbers, who submitted their razors, brushes, and suds to inspection; the first were made from old iron hoops jagged, the second from tar brushes, and the shaving suds from tar, grease, and something from the pigsty; they had also boxes of tropical pills procured from the sheep pen. Large tubs full of stale suds, with a movable board across each, were ranged around the pumps and engine, and plenty of buckets filled with water. Thus prepared, they divided themselves into gangs of a dozen each, dashed off in different directions, and soon returned with their subjects. The proceedings with each unlucky wight were as follows:-Being seated on a board across a tub of water, his eyes were quickly bandaged, his face lathered with the delightful composition; then a couple of scrapes on each side of the chin, followed by a question asked, or some pretended compassionate inquiry made, to get his mouth open, into which the barber either dashed the shaving-brush, or a pill, which was the signal for slipping the board from under the poor devil, who was then left to flounder his way out of the tub, and perhaps half drowned in attempting to recover his feet, by buckets of water being dashed over him from all quarters; being thus thoroughly drenched and initiated, I have often observed spirited fellows join their former persecutors in the remainder of their work. After an hour or two spent in this rough fun, which all seem to enjoy, Neptune disappears somewhere in the hold to unrobe, the decks are washed and dried, and those that have undergone the shaving business, oil or grease their chins and whiskers to get rid of the tar. This custom does not accord with the usual discipline of a manof-war; but, as the old seamen look on it as their privilege, and it is only about an hour's relaxation, I have never heard of any captain refusing them his permissicn. Perennial Ca.endar. A SEA-PIECE-IN THREE SONNETS At night-fall, walking on the cliff-crowned shore, E. H. The morn was beautiful, the storm gone by; Far down the beach had roll'd the low neap-tide, Is this," methought, " is this the doom of pride, Check'd in the outset of thy proud career, Spring-tides return'd, and fortune smiled; the bay THE "BRIDEWELL BOYS," AND BAR- On the 13th of November, 1755, at a court of the governors of Bridewell hospital, a memorable report was made from the committee, who inquired into the behaviour of the boys at Bartholomew and Southwark fairs, when some of them were severely corrected and continued, and others, after their punishment, were ordered to be stripped of the hospital clothing and discharged.* The " bridewell-boys" were, within recollection, a body of youths distinguished by a particular dress, and turbulence of manners. They infested the streets to the terror of the peaceable, and being See vol. 1. col. 1473. Montgomery. allowed the privilege of going to fires, did more mischief by their audacity and perverseness, than they did good by working the Bridewell engine. These disorders occasioned them to be deprived of their distinguishing costume, and put under proper arts'-masters, with ability to teach them useful trades, and authority to controul and regulate their conduct. The bridewell. boys at this time are never heard of in any commotion, and may now, therefore, be regarded as peaceable and industrious lads. NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature... 42.85 November 14. A TRIFLING MISTAKE. The "Carbonari," a political association in the Italian states, occasioned considerable disturbance to the continental governments, who interfered to suppress an order of persons that kept them in continual alarm: "His Holiness" especially desired their suppression |