Adventures of a Mirror.

263

are difpofed to be eafy and indolent, and the remains of his paffion and authority were now fo fcanty as only to amount to a fhort dialogue fuch as I have related, after which he relapfed into his ufual calmness, and as he often faid in my prefence, let things take their own turn. He had been a wit and a kind of wag in his day, when the requifites to conftitute a wit were a kind of low cunning grafted upon weakness of intellect; and in his youth it was often a point in difpute whether he really was the fool he appeared to be, or

fmiled upon him and asked where I was to be placed. The pannels of all the rooms were already fo fully engaged, that fomething must be difplaced to make way for ine. The fituation which the chofe was occupied by the great duke of Marlborough, and the late lord Chat ham. Mr. Simple, who was a politician, did not like to part with his two favourites, and recommended another fituat on where all the mifchief I could do was to remove the Eruption of Mount Vefuvius, and raife the Siege of Gibraltar about a foot higher. Mrs. Simple, bow-whether he did not conceal under it ever, was inflexible. The Eruption was a picture of her father's, and the Siege of Gibraltar was fuch a bargain that he could not bear it out of her fight.-The duke and the earl were accordingly fent up to the garret, and placed over Sufanna and the Elders, and I was promoted to their rank in the common fitting parlour

Here I forefaw that I fhould have ample employment. The whole family, though good natured, had a ftrong tincture of vanity, and my daily employment was to adjuti my matter's wig, to rectify his wife's head drefs, and decorate the perfons of their fon and daughter. It was foon evident that I had an afcendance over all my brethren in every part of the house, and, as at my lord's houfe, I was always confulted for the finishing and completing of their perfons.

Mr. Simple was one of thofe gentlemen who with moderate fortunes court the alliance of opulent families; he had a good fortune with Mrs. Simple, but as the thought that what was her own before marriage, ought to be fo after, fhe had, by one kind of extravagance or another, left herself very little to reproach her husband with on the fcore of fortune. He was now at that time of life, when men who have feen the world, and partook of its follies,

fomething of the knave. This, however, does not appear to have been the cafe; in all the time I reflected upon him, he was one of thofe negative characters of which you cannot from admiration fay inuch good, nor from envy are tempted to fay any thing bad.

Mrs. Simple, however, was a character. Joined to her love of bargains, he was a woman who went deep into all the whims of fashionable amufements, places, an hours. The iat er e pecially was a fevere circumftance upon her hufband; he had a regular vulgar appetite, and could not bear to dine in the evening, and fup at midnight. She, on the contrary, confidered all these matters as incumbent duties, and was punétilious in the most minute circumstance of fashion. She had indeed no very clear ideas of fashion, for the confidered what any person of rank, equal or fuperior to herself, did as fashionable. I could not otherwife account for her continually confulting me. When abroad vifiting the probably faw fome new fold, or trifling arrangement of the cap or handkerchief. This brought her home inftantly, and after half an hour of ferious looking at me, her face brightened up, and the departed again with the confcious fatisfaction of having attained a point of infinite importance. One thing on

which

which the prided herfelf very much was inviting great crowds of people to her houfe at the fame time. See feemed to enjoy the inconveniencies of rooms filled to the door, and the noife of the coachmen and footmen in the fireet was fweet mulic to her

ears.

mation I picked up from our visitors, only went to let me know that he had none of thefe prominent vices upon which young gentlemen of the prefent age pique them felves; he gamed in no fhape, was temperate and modeit, defpifed intrigue, and his heart, as you will hear bye and bye, was matched to a young lady who had beauty, virtue, and good tense, and wanted rank, family, and fortune. This of courfe was a fc

Whimsical as this pair were, none could be more happy in their chil dren, a fon and daughter. It must be faid, indeed, and I learnt it from the fervants while they were confult-cret paffion, for his parens would ing me on a Sunday, that the chil- never accept what the lacy had, if dren were not ducated at home, but at the expence of what he had not. at the houfe of a clergyman, a rela- His converfation was well-bred in tion, from whofe inttruction they the extreme, but not trifling; he had had imbibed all that could improve wit, good fenfe and learning, quaand ornament the mind, and whe-lities which though they did not ther he fufpected that the example much recommend him to the comthey would fee at home might not pany that ufually made up Mrs. be the belt, he did not part with Simple's parties, yet fendered them them until their priociples appeared more tolerable to bim-for I cannot to be fixed, and there was no dan- but give you a fentiment which he ger of their being caught with the expreffed one day in my hearing; affectation and follies incident to" If good fenfe," fays he, "is of no their years. other ufe in the world, at least it enThe day after my arrival I favables us to bear with the folly and imthem both. The daughter, with- pertinence of others." This fentiout deferving to be called perfectly ment, I remember received the apbeautiful, was certainly perfectly plaufe of all prefent, except pehaps amiable. This from me is a candid his father who followed it by faying confeffion, for at first he looked at "he did not underland fuch logic," me with an air of fo much indiffer- and his mother, who faid that, ence that it was eafy for me to dif-peop'e thould not be too nice in cover that I had fewer attractions in their notions of people, for there her eyes than in thofe of her mo- | were fome people who had perhaps ther, or the other females who con- as much fenfe as other people, but falted me. Accustomed as I had did not make fuch a tufs about it." been almost to adoration, this could not be very agree ible to me; but, in time, I difcovered fo many perfections in her to which I could make no addition, that he became my chief favourite, and the repayed my at tention by looks molt fweet and affable.

The fon was a polite gentleman, and a scholar; his politeness was eafy, unaffected and graceful; his follies, if he had any, were fuch as I could not difcover; and the infor

"True, madim," faid Caroline, "but you must allow, that what my brother favs is very true."-Here ! the converfation ended, and here I end my letter. In my next I have to relate fome incidents of this family.

I am, fir,

[

Some Account of Northampton.

Some Account of NORTHAMPTON.

255

Northampton was burnt down but was foon rebuilt in a regular, and more handfome manter, and is now a very neat agreeable town. Of the

[With an exact Engraving of the old ancient churches, only four remain,

N

Church]

WORTHAMPTON

was ac

cording to Camden, fo called from its northern fituation on the river Nen, upon whofe banks it is feared, and where another river named North Fandon, falls into it on the western hde of the town: others maintain, that it was anciently called Hamptun in the Saxon Annals, and that North was prefixed to it foon after the conqueft, to dif. tinguish it from Southampton, which was alfo before that time known only by the name of Hamptun.

It is thought to be very ancient, though no mention is made of it during the Saxon heptarchy; but Henry of Huntingdon obferves that it was burnt down to the ground by the Danes yet it was foon afterwards rebuilt by the affiftance of king Canute. It has fent members to parliament ever fince the reign of Edward the First, and as it lies in the heart of the kingdom, feveral parlia ments have been held there.

Leland obferves, that in his time it was encompaffed with a wall, and had four gates, named Eaft, Weft, North, and South gate. It had then a cafile, which flood near the west gate. There were alfo feveral parish churches within the walls, of which Allhallows was the principal, and flood in the heart of the town. In the fuburbs were two

par th churches. Befides thefe churches there were many religious foundations. The walls, gates, and religious houfes, though ftanding in the fime of Leland, who died in the year 1552, are now entirely demolished: but on the west fide of the town are Bill to be feen the ruins of the ifle.

Allhallows, St. Giles's, St. Sepul chre's, and St. Peter's, the largeft of which, called Allhallows, or AllSaints, ftands in the centre of the town, at the meeting of four fpacious streets. It has a dome and a noble' portico, with eight lofry columns of the Ionic order, erected at the expence of king Charles the Second. The top is encompaffed with a balustrade, adorned with vafes and a ftatue of the above

and

prince. Here is the town county hall, which laft is a magnificenc ftone building, adorned with columns and pilafters of the Corinthian order; and the market place is fo regular and fpacious, as to be accounted one of the finest in England, the buildings being heat, uniform, and of a confiderable height. There are alfo a county jail, three hofpitals, and an inn, called George Inn, the building of which coft zoocl. and was given by John Dryden, efq. towards the endowment of a charity-school, for thirty boys, and ten girls. The town has two bridges over the Nen, which has been made navigable for lighters, by which means coals are brought by water to the town. It has a market on Saturdays which is efeemed the moft confiderable Forfe market in the kingdom; for being fituated be tween York and London, it is the rendezvous for the jockies of both places.

The barons began their rebellion against king Henry the Third in this town, and that prince took it by affault. About the end of that reign, fome difcontented fcholars retired thither from Oxford and Cambridge, and with the king's leave profecuted their ftudies, during three years, and formed a college On the 3d of September, 1695, here, fo that there appeared to be VOL. XXII.

M m

аг