among all sorts of people; to which the knight added that she had a very great jointure, and that the whole country would fain have it a match between him and her; and truly, says sir Roger, if I had not been engaged, perhaps I could not have done better.

His discourse was broken off by his man's telling him he had called a coach. Upon our going to it, after having cast his eye upon the wheels, he asked the coachman if his axle-tree was good; upon the fellow's telling him he would warrant it, the knight turned to me, told me he looked like an honest man, and went in without further ceremony.

We had not gone far, when sir Roger, popping out his head, called the coachman down from his box, and upon his presenting himself at the window, asked him if he smoked; as I was considering what this would end in, he bid him stop by the way at any good tobacconist's, and take in a roll of their best Virginia. Nothing material happened in the remaining part of our journey, till we were set down at the west end of the abbey.

As we went up the body of the church, the knight pointed at the trophies upon one of the new monuments, and cried out, a brave man, I warrant him! Passing afterwards by sir Cloudes ly Shovel, he flung his hand that way, and cried, sir Cloudesly Shovel, a very gallant man! As we stood before Busby's tomb, the knight uttered himself again after the same manner, Dr. Busby, a great man! he whipped my grandfather; a very great man! I should have gone to him myself, if I had not been a blockhead; a very great man!

We were immediately conducted into the little chapel on the right hand. Sir Roger planting himself at our historian's elbow, was very attentive to every thing he said, particularly to the account he gave us of the lord who had cut off the king of Morocco's head. Among several other figures, he was very well pleased to see the statesman Cecil upon his knees; and concluding them all to be great men, was conducted to the figure which represents that martyr to good housewifery, who died by the prick of a needle. Upon our interpreter's telling us that she was a maid of honour to queen Elizabeth, the knight was very inquisitive into her name and family; and after having regarded her finger for some time, I wonder, says he, that sir Richard Baker has said nothing of her in his Chronicle.

We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, where my old friend, after having heard that the stone underneath the most ancient of them, which was brought from Scotland, was called Jacob's pillar, sat himself down in the chair; and looking like the figure of an old Go-. thic king, asked our interpreter, what authority they had to say, that Jacob had ever been in Scotland? The fellow, instead of returning him an answer, told him, that he hoped his honour would pay his forfeit. I could observe sir Roger a little ruffled upon being thus trepanned; but our guide not insisting upon his demand, the knight soon recovered his good humour, and whispered in my ear, that if Will Wimble were with us, and saw those two chairs, it would go hard but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or t'other of them.

upon

Sir Roger, in the next place, laid his hand Edward the third's sword, and leaning upon the pommel of it, gave us the whole history of the black prince; concluding, that, in sir Richard Baker's opinion, Edward the third was one of the greatest princes that ever sat upon the English throne.

We were then shown Edward the Confessor's tomb, upon which sir Roger acquainted us, that he was the first who touched for the evil; and afterwards Henry the fourth's, upon which he shook his head, and told us there was fine reading in the casualties of that reign.

Our conductor then pointed to that monument where there is the figure of one of our English kings without a head; and upon giving us to know that the head, which was of beaten silver, had been stolen away several years since; some whig, I'll warrant you, says sir Roger; you ought to lock up your kings better; they will carry off the body too, if you don't take care.

The glorious names of Henry the fifth and queen Elizabeth gave the knight great opportunities of shining, and of doing justice to sir Richard Baker, who as our knight observed with some surprise, had a great many kings in him, whose monuments he had not seen in the abbey.

For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see the knight show such an honest passion for the glory of his country, and such a respectful gratitude to the memory of its princes.

I must not omit, that the benevolence of my good old friend, which flows out towards every one he converses with, made him very kind to our interpreter, whom he looked upon as an ex

traordinary man; for which reason he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him, that he should be very glad to see him at his lodgings in Norfolk buildings, and talk over these matters with him more at leisure. L.

No. 330. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19. By Steele.

From the Letter-Box.

Maxima debetur pueris reverentia

To youth the tenderest regard is due.

Juv.

THE following letters, written by two very considerate correspondents, both under twenty years of age, are very good arguments of the necessity of taking into consideration the many incidents which affect the education of youth.

'SIR,

'I have long expected, that, in the course of your observations upon the several parts of human life, you would one time or other fall upon a subject, which, since you have not, I take the liberty to recommend to you. What I mean is, the patronage of young modest men to such

as are able to countenance and introduce them into the world. For want of such assistances, a youth of merit languishes in obscurity or poverty when his circumstances are low, and runs into riot and excess when his fortunes are plentiful. I can not make myself better understood than by sending you a history of myself, which I shall desire you to insert in your paper, it being the

only way I have of expressing my gratitude for the highest obligations imaginable.

'I am the son of a merchant of the city of London, who by many losses was reduced from a very luxuriant trade and credit to very narrow circumstances, in comparison to that of his former abundance. This took away the vigour of his mind, and all manner of attention to a fortune which he now thought desperate; insomuch that he died without a will; having before buried my mother in the midst of his other misfortunes. I was sixteen years of age when I lost my father, and an estate of £200 a-year came into my possession, without friend or guardian to instruct me in the management or enjoyment of it. The natural consequence of this was (though I wanted no director, and soon had fellows who found me out for a smart young gentleman, and led me into all the debaucheries of which I was capable) that my companions and I could not well be supplied without running in debt; which I did very frankly, till I was arrested, and conveyed with a guard, strong enough for the most desperate assassin, to a bailiff's house, where I lay four days, surrounded with very merry, but not very agreeable company. As soon as I had extricated myself from that shameful confinement, I reflected upon it with so much horror, that I deserted all my old acquaintance, and took chambers in an Inn of Court, with a resolution to study the law with all possible application. But I trifled away a whole year in looking over a thousand intricacies, without a friend to apply to in any case of doubt; so that I only lived there among men, as little children are sent to school before they are capable of