I have no newes at al to send yo", this weeke, there came some of the princes servants home, about 3 dayes since, but they bring no good tydings wth them, more then only report of the health of the prince, and his company but no word eth of the marriage or of his returne-the ships, that should fetch him, ly still at the Downes. Or kyndest comendations to yo'self & all our frends wth you. I comitt you to Gods holy protecon & rest London Junij 13 1623. yors ever assured Sr Salutem in Xro. concerning your library I promised that a fourth hundreth pounds should be payd you by midsomer & it is some trouble to me, that at the first there should be any fayling-the reason is this-my lo: keeper is to pay me 100', wch he promised should be payd for my vse to Mr Lane at Cambridge, now at the comencement tyme by his servant abiding at Buckden, now Mr Lane being here I doubt whether it be payed to any other & hereof I would entreat you make some enquyry & certify me the next weeke, that I may take order for the performance of my promise, before I goe hence to Exeter, & it be recd as for my vse, then I pray you let me have an acquittance of the receept of it, in the same forme as your other acquittances were made. I have spoken with my lo: keeper, about timber trees, but his lop rather wisheth vs to provide out of our own meanes, then to rely vpon his lop for that, vnles the partyes had bene forward & free to present the same from where he expected them he would not engage himself to them or make himself beholden to them by request or suite for any such thing. Therefore you must cause your carpenters to provide in tyme good & well seasoned timber & if your mony (viz: the 400 now receaved) will not serve for providing the materialls both of brick & timber we must be fayne to bespeake them vpon creditt till Xrmas next, when wth out fayle payment shalbe made for them. It will be yet the space of 10 or 12 days before I set forward towards Exeter before wch tyme I shall expect to heare from you I doe thinke that it wilbe within one or 2 dayes of michaelmas before I returne, because I would tary the Sonday appoynted for the ordeyning of ministers. Nevertheles if you would come so farr as Bath, if not to Exeter, I would vpō your appoyntment dispatch all, a weeke sooner & be reddy for you there, you may (if it shall stand with your library) come away frō Cambridg, presently after Sturbridge fayer, is begun, & be at be at Bath about the 17 or 18 day of September, and if you will appoint so I will not fayle (God willing) to meete you there about that tyme, ordeyning ministers one Sonday sooner, the ordinary— but I would be more glad of your comyany somewhile sooner & larger at Exeter. There is no notes at all from Spayne, no messenger fro thence since my lo: Rochford-the expectation is dayly & desires earnest of the returne of the prince. God send him well home. I send you comendations frō not myself only, but also from wife & boyes, who dayly remember you & wish themselves so happy as once agayne to see yo"-sic nos deo 1623 Julij 4. yors ever assured EXON R. F. S. (To be continued.) HIBERNIS HIBERNIOR. HEY had chosen a new field for their observations this year, and had only lately recovered from what is known as ploughing the briny ocean adjoining it. But the poet's soul was vexed when the philosopher suggested this poetical metaphor, and he broke out into verse: "Vex not thou the poet's mind, Or he'll vex yours with a stick: Bright or not, if clear of wind! Dark brown sophist, come not anear-" "I suppose you mean me," interrupted the philosopher, who had returned from his travels somewhat sunburnt; and interpreting the allusion by the doctrine of contraries, he went for the poet promptly. However, they soon settled down again, and the philosopher began his discourse as follows: "I may preface my remarks," he said, "by observing that we did not visit Ireland with the intention of solving the Irish or any other question: nor, indeed, were we properly equipped for such a task, travelling as we did with nothing more dignified than cloth caps on our heads. For it cannot fail to be recognised that the proper headgear of the politician is the hat, of the top or some other closely cognate species, which, if the politician do but conduct himself in a truly political manner, becomes at one fell blow of the constable's truncheon a kind of martyr among hats, to be venerated accordingly, while the politician's head remains as sound as his judgment in all probability isn't. But it's no use for a politician to go in a cap; for a cap may even pass through a Kilkenny election without appearing any the better for it, politically speaking of course, and besides it's not so convenient for the head in that case. However, let us pass on and speak of Ireland. Now, to put the matter appropriately, the chief fault in Ireland is outside it; that is to say, the sea. For the Irish Channel is not only the sea, but a peculiarly aggravating part of it. Whenever any of my friends and acquaintances cross it, it is, almost without exception, desperately mild and atrociously calm; but when I go myself, it always manages to wipe off all arrears and pay a bonus of quite uncalled-for amount before we are half-way over. "Vast heavin'," interrupted the poet, trying with a ghastly smile to look nautical, "my watch on deck now." And so he began. "Down they bore me to my berth, Laid me in it limp and still; Told me with unfeeling mirth, 'You must eat, or you'll be ill.' Then they started to repeat Stole the steward from my side, But I couldn't though I tried, Though 'twas steak and bottled stout. Rose a wave of extra weight, Just one wave too much for me: I was ill outrageously." VOL. XVII. D "Let us draw a veil over the harrowing scene," continued the philosopher, "and proceed to a disquisition on our travels in the country itself. And first let us speak of the North of Ireland, which is justly famous as the nursery of great oarsmen and presidents of the Union Society. But the principal production that we came across there was the smell of the flax, which is as unspeakable as the Turk of romantic journalism, and I will therefore not attempt to describe it further than by saying that it reminded us of all the bad odours we had ever encountered, with a good many we hadn't thrown in. We also found the potato disease very flourishing in the refreshment rooms of certain of the Railway Stations which we patronised. "Having no more notes on the North, let us pass on to Dublin-dear, dirty Dublin, as the inhabitants of the same delight in calling it, being apparently almost proud of the epithet-where we unwittingly arrived during the Horse Show week. This is the best time for making such a visit, if only your parents have had sufficient forethought to engage you a room at the same time as they registered your entrance upon the stage of life; otherwise you may be left, as we very nearly were, to inform the policeman that your lodging is on the cold, cold ground. That may be very romantic under ordinary circumstances, but if you have to say that your lodging is on the cold, cold pavement, the romance and poetry of the thing somehow die away, especially as there is sure to be a puddle of considerable depth and extent superimposed upon your temporary habitation. "The City of Dublin is chiefly remarkable for the production of porter and furious driving. We tried in vain to get up a race between an outside car and an Irish express train, but unfortunately the latter found no backers, and the match fell through. "And here," continued the philosopher, "let me |