against his character, and prepossess the rest of the company in his favour. He concluded his speech by saying : “And now, ladies and gentlemen, I am come to live among you, and it shall be no fault of mine if we do not pass our time agreeably."

In a short time all restraint on his account disappeared. He entered readily into all the little schemes for promoting mirth, and every day, with the assistance of his coadjutor, produced some new one, which afforded a good deal of sport and merriment. In short, never were such joyous scenes known at Thomastown before. When the time came which obliged Sheridan to return to his school, the company were so delighted with the Dean, that they earnestly entreated him to remain there some time longer, and Mr. Mathew himself, for once, broke his rule of never soliciting the stay of any guest. any guest. Swift found himself so happy, that he readily yielded to their solicitations, and, instead of a fortnight, passed four months there, much to his own satisfaction and that of all those who visited the place during the time.

Mr. Mathew continued long to enjoy the pleasure arising from this establishment, as much the offspring of a genuine spirit of hospitality as of an eccentric disposition. His method of spending a fortune was assuredly much better calculated to afford happiness and rational enjoyment, than that pursued by many who have thrown away theirs on the turf or at the gaming-table! and it was productive of infinitely greater advantage to the community in general, than if, like others, he had locked up the receipts of his estates in his coffers, for the sole purpose of feasting his eyes on his accumulated hoards.

He married twice :-1st, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Shelley, Bart. ; and, 2ndly, Anne, Dowager Countess of Tyrone; but died without surviving issue. His cousin and heir, George Mathew, Esq., of Thomastown,

also died sine prole, when the estates devolved on the representative of a junior branch of the family, Thomas Mathew, Esq. of Thurles, father of Francis Mathew, 1st Earl of Llandaff.

A SINGULAR WAGER.

A CURIOUS document, dated in 1689, lies before us. It is the original manuscript of a wager laid between two gentlemen in Ireland, with regard to the reduction of the town they lived in, by the arms of the Prince of Orange. Trifles such as these are valuable to the historian, as indicative of the state of public feeling at the time of their occurrence. They are the unconstrained revealings of the hopes or fears of those who acted in them, and in this way set forth more pointedly the real circumstances of the age than could the most laboured dissertation. How utterly must the unfortunate James II. have been ruined, when, nearly a twelvemonth previous to the Battle of the Boyne, men could thus coolly anticipate his downfall! The reader will remark, that neither party, in the following document, questions the success of the Prince of Orange-the matter in debate is merely the time. The wager assumes the form of a promissory note, and runs thus:

"I doe hereby acknowledge to have recd. of Mr. Francis Baker the sum of Twenty Shills ster., and in consideration thereof doe oblige myselfe, my heirs, Exects. &c. to pay to the said Baker [his heirs and assigns] (interlined) the sum of Four guineas, provided

the town of Youghall, in the kingdom of Ireland, be not reduced to ye obedience of this present gov'm in England, sometime 'twixt this day and the first of May, wch shall be in the year Sixteen Hundred Ninety. Which if it be so reduc'd, that then this present obligation to be void, oth'wise to be in full force and power of law. As witness my hand seale, this tenth day of October, Sixteen Hundred Eighty nine. 1689.

Being present, and when the words (his heirs and assigns) were interlin'd

"JOHN HAYMAN." (Seal.)

JNO. SILVER.

THOMAS COSENS.

ED. NICHOLAS.

On the 2nd of August, 1690, Youghall surrendered to King William, upon fifty dragoons of Colonel Levison's regiment, who were conducting the garrison that marched from Waterford, appearing before it-(vide "Annals of Youghal," p. 33;) consequently, Mr. Hayman lost his wager.

A LADY OF FASHION IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.

ELIZABETH SPENCER, wife of William, Lord Compton, (afterwards Earl of Northampton,) was the greatest heiress of her time. Her father, Sir John Spencer, Lord Mayor of London in 1593, left a fortune variously estimated at three, five, and eight hundred thousand pounds. His opulence was so noted, that one of the pirates of Dunkirk, who, during the reigns of James and Charles I., exercised their outrages with impunity on the English coasts, had laid a plot for carrying the rich London citizen off to France, to extort a ransom; but the design failed. At Sir John's funeral, about a thousand persons followed in mourning cloaks and gowns. The amount of the inheritance seems to have exceeded all the expectations of Lord Compton; insomuch, that on the first news, "either through the vehement apprehension of joy for such a plentiful succession, or of carefulness how to take it up and dispose of it,” he became distracted, and so continued for a considerable length of time. It must probably have been soon after his lordship's recovery, that his wife addressed to him the following letter, which may be regarded as the most perfect exposition we possess of the wants and wishes of a lady of quality in the time of James I:

66

"MY SWEET LIFE,-Now I have declared to you my mind for the settling of your state, I suppose that it

were best for me to bethink and consider within myself what allowance were meetest for me. I pray and

beseech you to grant to me, your most kind and loving wife, the sum of 26007. quarterly to be paid. Also I would, besides that allowance, have 6007. quarterly to be paid, for the performance of charitable works: and those things I would not, neither will be accountable for. Also, I will have three horses for my own saddle, that none shall dare to lend or borrow; none lend but I, none borrow but you. Also, I would have two gentlewomen, lest one should be sick, or have some other let. Also, believe it, it is an undecent thing for a gentlewoman to stand mumping alone, when God hath blessed their lord and lady with a great estate. Also, when I ride a-hunting, or a-hawking, or travel from one house to another, I will have them attending; so, for either of those said women, I must and will have for either of them a horse. Also, I will have six or eight gentlemen; and I will have my two coaches, one lined with velvet to myself, with four very fair horses; and a coach for my women, lined with cloth and laced with gold, otherwise with scarlet and laced with silver, with four good horses. Also, I will have two coachmen, one for my own coach, the other for my women. Also, at any time when I travel, I will be allowed not only caroches and spare horses for me and my women, but I will have such carriages as shall be fitting for all, orderly, not pestering my things with my women's, nor theirs with either chamber-maids, nor theirs with wash-maids. Also, for laundresses, when I travel, I will have them sent away before with the carriages, to see all safe. And the chambermaids I will have go before, that the chamber may be ready, sweet, and clean. Also, for that it is undecent to crowd up myself with my gentleman-usher in my coach, I will have him to have a convenient horse to attend me,