N° 2561 cast several reflections upon the honourable Mr. Gules; as, that he was not worth a groat; that no body in the city would truft him for a half-penny; That he owed him money, which he had promifed to pay him feveral times, but never kept his word: And in fhort, that he was an idle beggarly fellow, and of no use to the public. This fort of language was very feverely reprimanded by the Cenfor, who told the criminal, that he fpoke in contempt of the Court, and that he fhould be proceeded against for contumacy, if he did not change his ftyle. The prifoner therefore defired to be heard by his council, who urged in his defence, That he put on his hat through ignorance, and took the wall by accident. They likewife produced feveral witneffes, that he made feveral motions with his hat in his hand, which are generally understood as an invitation to the perfon we talk with to be covered; and that the Gentleman not taking the hint, he was forced to put on his hat, as being troubled with a cold. There was likewise an Irishman who depofed, That he had heard him cough three and twenty times that morning. And as for the wall, it was alledged, that he had taken it inadvertently, to fave himself from a fhower of rain which was then falling. The Cenfor having confulted the men of HoPour, who fat at his right-hand on the bench, found they were all of opinion, that the defence made by the prifoner's counfel, did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime, that the motions and intimations of the hat, were a token of fuperiority in converfation, and therefore not to be used by the criminal to a man of the profecutor's Quality, who was likewife vefted with a double title to the wall at the time of their converfation, both as it was the upper hand, and as it was a fhelter from the weather. The evidence being very full and clear, the jury, without going out of Court, declared their opinion unanimously by the mouth of their foreman, that the profecutor was bound in honour to make the fun fhine through the criminal, or, as they afterwards explained themfelves, to whip him through the lungs. The Cenfor knitting his brows into a frown, and looking very sternly upon the jury, after a little paufe, gave them to know, that this Court was erected for the finding finding out of penalties fuitable to offences, and to refrain the outrages of private juftice; and that he expected they should moderate their verdict. The jury therefore retired, and being willing to comply with the advices of the Cenfor, after an hour's confultation, declared their opinion as follows: That in confideration this was Peter Plumb's first offence, and that there did not appear any Malice prepense in it, as alfo that he lived in good reputation among his neighbours, and that his taking the wall was only Se defendendo, the profecutor fhould let him efcape with life, and content himself with the flitting of his nofe, and the cutting off both his ears. Mr. Bickerstaff, fmiling upon the Court, told them, that he thought the punishment, even under its prefent mitigation, too fevere; and that fuch penalties might be of ill confequence in a trading nation. He therefore pronounced fentence against the criminal in the following manner: That his hat, which was the inftrument of offence, fhould be forfeited to the Court; that the criminal fhould go to the warehouse from whence he came, and thence, as occafion fhould require, proceed to the Exchange, or Garraway's Coffee-house, in what manner he pleased; but that neither he, nor any of the family of the Plumbs, fhould hereafter appear in the streets of London, out of their Coaches, that fo the foot-way might be left open and undisturbed for their betters. Dathan, a pedling Jew, and T. R, a Welshman, were indicted by the keeper of an alehouse in Weftminfter, for breaking the peace and two earthen mugs, in a difpute about the antiquity of their families, to the great detriment of the houfe, and difturbance of the whole neighbourhood. Dathan faid for himself, that he was provoked to it by the Welshman, who pretended, that the Welsh were an ancienter people than the Jews; whereas, fays he, I can fhew by this Genealogy in my hand, that I am the fon of Mefbeck, that was the fon of Naboth, that was the fon of Shalem, that was the son of The Welshman here interrupted him, and told him, that he could produce Shennalogy as well as himfelf; for that he was John ap Rice, ap Shenken, ap Shones. He then turned himself to the Cenfor, and told him in the N° 256. the fame broken accent, and with much warmth, that the few would needs uphold, that King Cadwallader was younger than Ifachar. Mr. Bickerstaff feemed very much inclined to give fentence against Dathan, as being a Jew; but finding reafons, by fome expreffions which the Welshman let fall in afferting the antiquity of his family, to fufpect that the faid Welshman was a Pre-Adamite, he fuffered the jury to go out, without any previous admonition. After fome time they returned, and gave their verdict, That it appearing the perfons at the Bar did neither of them wear a fword, and that confequently they had no right to quarrel upon a point of Honour; to prevent fuch frivolous appeals for the future, they Ifhould both of them be toffed in the same blanket, and there adjust the fuperiority as they could agree on it between themselves. The Cenfor confirmed the verdict. Richard Newman was indicted by Major Punto, for having ufed the words, "Perhaps it may be fo," in a difpute with the faid Major. The Major urged, that the word Perhaps was questioning his veracity, and that it was an indirect manner of giving him the Lye. Richard Newman had nothing more to fay for himself, than that he intended no fuch thing; and threw himfelf upon the mercy of the Court. The jury brought in their verdict fpecial. Mr. Bickerstaff ftood up, and after having caft his eyes over the whole affembly, hemmed thrice. He then acquainted them, that he had laid down a rule to himself, which he was refolved never to depart from, and which, as he conceived, would very much conduce to the shortening the bufinefs of the Court; I mean, fays he, never to allow of the Lye being given by conftruction, implication, or induction, but by the fole ufe of the word itfelf. He then proceeded to fhew the great mifchiefs that had arifen to the English nation from that pernicious monofyllable; that it had bred the moft fatal quarrels between the dearest friends: That it had frequently thinned the guards and made great havock in the army; that it had fometimes weakened the city trained bands; and, in a word, had deftroyed many of the bravest men in the ifle of Great-Britain. For the prevention of which evils for the future, he inftructed the jury to Pre fent 259 fent the Word itself as a nuifance in the English tongue; and further promifed them, that he would, upon fuch their preferment, publish an edict of the Court, for the intire banishment and exclufion of it out of the difcourfes and converfations of all civil focieties. This a true copy," Charles Lillie. Monday next is fet apart for the trial of feveral fe • male caufes. N. B. The cafe of the haffock will come on be* tween the hours of nine and ten." N° 257. Thursday, November 30, 1710. In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas OVID. Met. lib. 1. ver. 1. Of bodies changed to various forms I fing, E From my own Apartment, November 29. VERY nation is diftinguished by productions that are peculiar to it. Great-Britain is particularly fruitful in Religions, that shoot up and flourish in this climate more than in any other. We are fo famous abroad for our great variety of fects and opinions, that an ingenious friend of mine, who is lately returned from his travels, affures me, there is a fhow at this time carried up and down in Germany, which reprefents all the Religions of Great-Britain, in wax-work. Notwithftanding that the pliancy of the matter, in which the images are wrought, makes it capable of being moulded into all shapes and figures; my friend tells me, that he did not think it poffible for it to be twisted and tortured into fo many fcrewed faces, and wry features, as appeared in feveral of the figures that compofed the show. I was indeed fo pleafed with the defign of the German artift, that I begged my friend to give me an account of it in all its particulars, which he did after the following manner. I have often, fays he, been prefent at a fhow of ele. phants, camels, dromedaries, and other frange creatures, but I never faw fo great an affembly of fpectators as were met together at the opening of this great piece of wax-work. We were all placed in a large hall, according to the price that we had paid for our feats: The curtain that hung before the fhow was made by a master of tapestry, who had woven it in the figure of a monstrous Hydra that had feveral heads, which brandished out their tongues, and feemed to hifs at each other. Some of thefe heads were large and entire; and where any of them had been lopped away, there fprouted up feveral in the room of them; infomuch, that for one head cut off, a man might fee ten, twenty, or an hundred of a fmaller fize, creeping through the wound. In short, the whole picture was nothing but confufion and bloodshed. On a fudden, fays my friend, I was ftartled with a flourish of many mufical inftruments that I had never heard before, which was followed by a fhort tune, if it might be fo called, wholly made up of jars and difcords. Among the reft there was an Organ, a Bagpipe, a groaning board, a ftentorophonic trumpet, with feveral wind inftruments of a moft difagreeable found, which I do not fo much as know the names of. After a fhort flourif the curtain was drawn up, and we were prefented with the most extraordinary affembly of figures that ever entered into a man's imagination. The defign of the workman was fo well expreffed in the dumb fhow before us, that it was not hard for an Englishman to comprehend the meaning of it. The principal figures were placed in a row, confifting of feven perfons. The middle figure, which immedi ately attracted the eyes of the whole company, and was much |