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AMUSING CHRONICLE, a Weekly Repository for

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

No. V.]

OCTOBER 17, 1816.

[VOL. I.

Price only Four Pence.

WHY SHOULD A WHOLE FAMILY SUFFER DISGRACE FOR THE CRIMES OF AN INDIVIDUAL?

THE rigour of our laws has not, hitherto, restrained delinquen cies; nor will the parade of criminal judgment prevent the perpetration of crimes. The sufferings and the death of individuals are become spectacles to the curious, and are considered as pastimes by the idle and flagitious: nay, the bodily endurance of our fellowcreatures, their last agonies and convulsions, hold a price in proportion to the dignity of the victim; and the gallows draws together more unreflecting crowds, than the lord mayor's shew, the gardens, or the Theatre.

When an unfortunate man has sacrificed to the extremities of his fate that life which has become a forfeit to the jurisprudence of his country, and severity is thus appeased, by the earthly annihilation of one individual of the community,-why insult his memory by an exaggeration of his trespasses, and add to the disgrace, and to the afflictions of his family and friends, by an uncharitable repetition of his crimes and sufferings?

I have been in some measure encouraged in these reflections by the vociferation of those street-declaimers, who, to the disgrace of the feelings, as well as the policy of the capital, are suffered to intrude upon the comforts of society, by the clamorous annunciation of the last words of the unhappy malefactor.

The bare dissolution of a creature like ourselves, even under the most common contingencies of nature, ought surely to be considered as a melancholy privation; but when this removal from the world is accompanied by violence or disgrace, and the consequences are mortifying to the characters of some, and distressing to the sympathy of others, some tenderness of sentiment should be surely felt for those, who, having partaken of his misfortunes, are become destitute from his non-existence.

Macpherson, Printer, Russell Court, Covent Garden.

We find, by woeful, and I might also add, from daily experience, that good examples and moral practice are not derived from the more exalted situations in life. A refinement in luxury too often leads to a refinement in crimes; and those who know themselves to be, in some instances, above the laws, do not feel contrition to be above remorse and shame.

That conduct which would blast the reputation of a mechanic, would be only considered as levity in a prince, a statesman, or a peer. The sighs of innocence are unheeded, the afflictions of a parent despised, and the feelings of an insulted family, not only disregarded amidst the vortex of dissipation, but the individuals rewarded, instead of finding redress, with poverty, abstraction, and a jail.

ANECDOTES.

A LIVING CHARACTER. He never opens his mouth but at the expence of others; he always eats at others' tables, and speaks ill of all the world.

THE NOTORIOUS MR. C.-The approach of death obliterates all the reigning passions of the human heart except avarice. The miser never loses sight of his favourite object. This character, when dying, wished to make his will, but requested his friends would not send for a certain notary, whom he mentioned, because he was extravagant in his charges.

THE tradesmen of a certain great man, or scoundrel, having dunned him for a long time, he desired his servant one morning to admit the taylor, who had not been so constant in his attendance as the rest. When he made his appearance, "My friend," said he to him, "I think you are a very honest fellow, and I have a great regard for you, therefore I take this opportunity to tell you, that I'll be dd if ever I pay you a farthing! Now go home, mind your business, and don't lose your time by calling here. As for the others, they are a set of vagabounds and rascals, for whom I have no affection, and they may come as often as they chuse."

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A Combat between Law and PHYSIC.-Doctor Saunders, some time since, going to his country house in his carriage, was delayed by a turnpike-man, who refused to take the sixpence tendered, saying "it was a bad one." The Doctor looking at it again, would have that it was good, and upon the fellow's persisting, bade his man drive on. The turnpike-man directly seized the

horses reins, when the coachman whipped him most unmercifully, till he was obliged to let go his hold. Doctor Si being known, an action was immediately commenced, but put aside in two courts by the eloquence or interest of the defendant. However it was instantly renewed in another against the coachman, and not against the doctor. Here the plaintiff obtained a verdict of £30. damages, and cast the defendant in costs of suit. But, when he came to Dr. S. thinking he would pay for his servant, he found, unfortunately for him, that the coachman, having fallen sick whilst the action was pending, had been put under the care of- a friend of his master, in Guy's hospital, who had put him safe under the ground three days before! Thus physic got the better of law.

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VICONTE D'ORTE.-Viconte D'Orte was Governor of Bayonne in the reign of Charles the Ninth, and received the same infamous orders from his sovereign respecting the Hugenots, which were sent to the Bishop of Lisieux, and behaved in the same noble and generous manner. He wrote to the King in

these terms:

"SIRE,

"I have communicated your Majesty's letter to the garrison, and to the inhabitants of this town. I have been able to find among them only brave soldiers, good citizens,--but not a single executioner.

WORDSWORTH'S WHITE DOE,

OF BOLTON PRIORY,

(Concluded from page 56.)

There did she rest, with head reclined,
Herself most like a stately flower
(Such have I seen) whom chance of birth
Hath separated from its kind

To live and die in a shady bower,

Single in the gladsome earth.

When with a noise like distant thunder

A troop of deer came sweeping by,

And suddenly behold a wonder!

For, of that band of rushing deer,

A single one in mid career

Hath stopped, and fixed its large full eye

Upon the lady Emily,

A doe most beautiful, clear white,

A radiant creature silver bright.

Thus checked, a little while it stayed;
A little thoughtful pause it made;
And then advanced with stealth-like pace,
Drew softly near her and more near,
Stopped once again; but as no trace
Was found of any thing to fear,
Even to her feet the creature came
And laid its head upon her knee.

From this moment, on whatever side Emily looked, all was trouble-haunted ground;' so strongly did the sight of her former favourite recal to her memory the scenes and circumstances in which they had formerly met. She therefore once more quitted the neighbourhood, and secluded herself on the deep forth of Annerdale,' attended by her faithful friend the White Doe; and a very pleasing description follows of the mutual attachment which grew up between them, and of the consolation which Emily in particular derived from it.

In this frame of mind she returned again to Rylstone, and with softened feelings was now able to visit the spots which had formerly overwhelmed her fortitude.

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But most to Bolton's sacred pile

On favouring nights she loved to go;

There ranged through cloister, court, and aisle,
Attended by the soft-paced Doe;

Nor did she fear in the still moonshine
To look upon Saint Mary's shrine,
Nor on the lonely turf that shewed
Where Francis slept in his last abode;
For that she came; there oft and long
She sate in meditation strong;

And, when she from the abyss returned

Of thought, she neither shrunk nor mourned,
Was happy that she lived to greet

Her mute companion as it lay

In love and pity at her feet.'

At length the feeble bands which tied Emily to this world were broken asunder by death-she was buried by the side of her mother in Rylstone church, and the White Doe, faithful to the memory as she had been to the person of her mistress, continued

'Haunting the spots with lonely cheer

Which her dear mistress once held dear:
Love's most what Emily loved most-
The enclosure of this church-yard ground;
Here wanders like a gliding ghosty
And every Sabbath here is found;

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