naturally excited by the deplorable slaughter of one of the most eminent and virtuous men in any rank of the community."

It appears that Mr. John Williams, of Scorrier House, near Redwith, in Cornwall, had a dream representing the assassination of Mr. Perceval on the night after its occurrence, when the fact could not be known to him by any ordinary means, and he mentioned the fact to many persons during the interval between the dream and his receiving notice of its fulfilment. According to the account furnished. to Dr. Abercrombie, Mr. Williams dreamt that he was in the lobby of the House of Commons, and saw a man enter, dressed in a blue coat and white waistcoat. Immediately after, he saw a man dressed in a brown coat with yellow basket-buttons, draw a pistol from under his coat, and discharge it at the former, who fell instantly, the blood issuing from a wound a little below the left breast. Mr. Williams saw the murderer seized by some gentlemen who were present, and observed his countenance; and on asking who the gentleman was who had been shot, he was told it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He then awoke, and mentioned the dream to his wife, who made light of it; but the dream was repeated a second and a third time. At breakfast the dreams were the sole subject of conversation; and in the forenoon Mr. Williams went to Falmouth, where he related the particulars of them to all the acquaintance that he met. Next day Mr. Williams's daughter and son-in-law came to Scorrier House, when Mr. Williams described to the latter Mr. Perceval, although he, Mr. W., had never seen him, had any business with him, or been in the lobby of the House of Commons. Meanwhile, another of Mr. Williams's sons arrived from Truro, where he had seen a gentleman who had come by that evening's mail from London, and who, on the previous evening, had seen Bellingham shoot Mr. Perceval in the House of Commons lobby; and next Mr. Williams described particularly the appearance and dress of the assassin whom he had seen, in his dream, fire the pistol. About six weeks after, Mr. Williams, having business in town, went, accompanied by a friend, to the House of Commons, (where he had never been before,) and there, at the steps at the entrance said, "This place is as distinctly within my recollection in my dream as any in my house," and he made the same observation when he entered the lobby. He then pointed out the exact spot where Bellingham stood when he fired, and which Mr. Perceval had reached when he was struck by the ball, and when and how he fell. The dress, both of Mr. Perceval and Bellingham, also agreed with the description given by Mr. Williams, even to the most minute particulars. Williams died in April, 1841, after the publication of the account of

Mr.

his dream, the narrative of which, or any particulars of it, has never been contradicted; he is described as a man of strict integrity, proof against all temptation, and above all reproach.

Among the persons in the lobby of the House of Commons at the moment of the assassination, was Samuel Crompton, who was looking out for the reward promised him by the Chancellor of the Exchequer for his invention of the spinning mule. Crompton was in conversation with Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Blackburn, upon the subject of his claim, which was about to be brought forward, when one of these gentlemen remarked, "Here comes Mr. Perceval." The group was immediately joined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who addressed them with the remark, "You will be glad to know that we mean to propose twenty thousand pounds for Crompton; do you think that will be satisfactory?" Mr. Crompton did not hear the reply, as he had left the party, and walked down a short stair leading out of the lobby; but before he left it he heard a great rush of people, and exclamations that Mr. Perceval had been shot-which was indeed the fact. The assassin, Bellingham, in an instant, had deprived the country of a valuable minister, and Crompton lost a friend and patron of the most critical importance to his fortune. Crompton did not, however, hear the shot, though so near the scene of the tragedy, nor did he see Mr. Perceval fall. The foundation on which his reasonable hopes were built was thus swept away.French's Life and Times of Crompton, 2nd edit.

Mr Perceval, when he was shot, had in his hand a memorandum, as follows:

which was understood to signify not less than 5,000l., but 20,000. if possible. After having haunted the lobby of the House of Commons for five wearisome months, the paltry sum of 5,000l. was voted to Crompton for what he had done to extend the principal manufacture of the country.

GRAMMAR AND VIRTUE.

When Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, made his first speech in the House of Commons, Charles Townshend asked, with an affected surprise, who he was? He had never seen him before. "Ah! you must at least have heard of him; that's the celebrated Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, who has written a very ingenious book on Grammar, and another on Virtue."-" What the devil, then, brings him here? I am sure he will neither find the one nor the other in

the House of Commons."-Malone, however, states that Townshend knew Harris well, and the above was merely a trap for saying a good thing.

PAIRING OFF.

Soame Jenyns, seeing at the House of Commons some members pairing off in the Speaker's Chamber, said, "I think there are no happy pairs now in England but those who pair here."

WATCHING AND SLEEPING.

When a Bill was introduced into the House of Commons for better watching the Metropolis, in order to contribute towards effecting which object one of the clauses went to propose that watchmen should be compelled to sleep during the daytime, Lord Nugent, with admirable humour, got up, and desired that "he might be personally included in the provisions of the Bill, being frequently so tormented with gout as to be unable to sleep either by day or by by night."

ELECTION REPARTEE.

66

When Mr. Wilberforce was a candidate for Hull, his sister, an amiable and witty young lady, offered the compliment of a new dress to each of the wives of those freemen who voted for her brother; on which she was saluted with the cry of Miss Wilberforce for ever!" when she pleasantly observed, "I thank you, gentlemen, but I cannot agree with you, for really I do not wish to be Miss Wilberforce for ever.'

PARLIAMENTARY PERSONALITIES.

Lord Colchester relates, that during his Speakership of the Commons, in the course of debate, Sir Joseph Yorke angrily called Whitbread 66 a brewer of bad porter." There was a violent uproar in the House. Whitbread instantly took the thing with good humour, and the Speaker refused to let anybody else speak till the uproar subsided. He then rose and said, " Mr. Speaker, I rise as a tradesman to complain of the gallant officer for abusing the commodity which I sell;" upon which the whole House burst into laughter and approbation at the self-command and good humour with which Whitbread put an end to the fury of his friends.

Sir Joseph Yorke was addicted to personalities. One night, when speaking to a motion by Alderman Waithman, who was a linendraper, Sir Joseph illustrated his argument by assuming "a share or a shawl, it mattered not which."

RATIONALE OF RATTING-WRITTEN SPEECHES.

When the late Lord Dudley began life as Mr. Ward, he embraced, like most youthful politicians, the captivating theories of Whigism; but when he grew older, and came to his title, he became (like most men when they acquire "a stake in the country") a Tory. Some time after the change, Lord Byron was asked what it would take to re-whig Dudley? The Poet replied, "he must first be re-Ward-ed."

Lord Dudley and Ward openly avowed and defended the practice of pre-writing speeches, learning them by heart, and reciting them in Parliament. For this notion, and his severe treatment of Fox, in the Quarterly Review he was much assailed by the epigrammatists of the day, and among the results was Rogers's jeu-d'esprit :

"Ward has no heart, they say, but I deny it,

He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it."

A TUMBLE-DOWN.

It is curious to observe how, in some instances, great names and historical reputations are forfeited by some paltry means. Thus, Jörgen Jörgenson, the Dane, who deserves to be remembered for his singular career, and who, with an army of eight persons, established himself as Protector of Iceland, late in life was transported at the Old Bailey for pilfering from his lodgings in Warren-street, Fitzroysquare!

THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Charles Townshend and his brother George were at supper at the King's Arms, with some other young men. The conversation, somehow or other, rambled into politics, and it was started that the National Debt was a benefit. "I am sure it is not," said Mr. Townshend; "I can't tell why, but my brother Charles can, and I will send to him for arguments.' Charles was at supper at another tavern, but so much the dupe of this message that he literally called for pen, ink, and paper, wrote four long sides of arguments, and sent word that when his company broke up he would come and give them more, which he did at one o'clock in the morning.

THE CIVIL LIST.

One of the candidates for the Dublin University, at an election, said of his opponent, that his speech proved but the vulgarity of his own nature, which not even a University education could refine." To this the gentleman assailed replied, that "it was a great pity, when his opponent had secured a retiring pension of three thousand per annum on the consolidated fund, that he had not managed to put his tongue upon the civil list.”

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT ARRESTED, AND COMMITTED TO

THE TOWER.

The great event of the political career of Sir Francis Burdett was his committal by the House of Commons, in 1810, for a letter addressed to his constituents denying the power of the House to imprison delinquents, which he published in Cobbett's Political Register, and which the House voted to be libellous and scandalous. Burdett was taken from the house, No. 80, Piccadilly, on the 6th of April. The arrest had been made by forcing open the area windows and doors of the house, after a fruitless attempt to get by a ladder in at the drawing-room window. Sir Francis was then found in his drawingroom with his family, viz. his brother and son, with some ladies, and a tall, stout Irish gentleman [this was Roger O'Connor, the brother of Arthur O'Connor, the Irish traitor]. About twenty or thirty persons, constables and magistrates, with the serjeant and deputy-serjeant at their head, went into the room. Sir Francis Burdett desired the serjeant to produce his authority and read his warrant, which he did. Sir Francis said it was illegal, and he should not go, unless forced. Then the serjeant touched him by the arm, and Sir Francis Burdett, with his brother and a servant, went downstairs to the coach, which was ready at the door. The deputyserjeant and a messenger went with Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Jones Burdett, his brother, in the coach; Sir Francis's servant behind it the serjeant went on horseback before. The military force present at the arrest were the Guards and a large body of cavalry. The Life Guards attended the coach on each side, and before and behind The 15th Light Dragoons led the way. They went round by Portland-street and the City-road, through Finsbury-square and the Minories, to the Tower. Tower-hill was covered by the mob. Lord Moira received Sir Francis Burdett in the Governor's apartments in the Tower, and the Lieutenant gave Mr. Colman a receipt, and Sir Francis gave Mr. Colman a letter to convey to Lady Burdett. The carriage stopped at the palisade of the Tower, near the lions; and Sir Francis Burdett, with the serjeant, went on foot over the bridge, and under the gateway, to the Governor's apartments. Lord Moira gave him his hand upon his entrance, and offered him the whole range of the Tower if he would give his word and honour not to pass the gates; which Sir Francis undertook-and he kept his word.

While the news of the committal was the subject of conversation, a sentimental young lady inquired what Sir Francis had done? "Alas!" said her lover, "he is the victim of an unfortunate attach