his helpmate; for it is related, that, being once in a great storm, as they were sailing from Southampton, and every man being directed to throw overboard the baggage that he could best spare, he offered to throw his wife over, but the company rescued her. This, again, is but an old joke foisted upon him, for the purpose of filling up the pamphlet.

"Much of his merriment," says honest Fuller, "lay in his very looks and actions. Indeed, the self-same words spoken by another, would hardly move a merry man to smile, which, uttered by him, would force a sad soul to laughter." In fact, he was the "Liston" of his age.

"When Queen Elizabeth was serious," continues Fuller, "(I dare not say sullen) and out of good-humour, he could undumpish her at his pleasure. Her highest favourites would, in some cases, go to Tarlton before they would go to the Queen; and he was their usher, to prepare their advantageous access unto her. In a word, he told the Queen more of her faults than most of her chaplains, and cured her melancholy better than all her physicians."

He was the author of a dramatic performance, never published, called "The Seven Deadly Sins," the plot of which was formerly in the possession of Mr. Malone. In one of Gabriel Harvey's controversial pamphlets, mention is made of a work written by Nash,-" right formally conveyed according to the style and tenour of Tarlton's precedent, his famous play of 'The Seven Deadly Sins,' which most deadly, but most lively, play, I might have seen in London, and was very gently invited thereunto at Oxford by Tarlton himself; of whom I merrily demanding which of the seven was his own deadly sin, he bluntly answered after this manner: By- the sin of other gentlemen, letchery.' 'Oh, but that, Mr. Tarlton, is not your part upon the stage; you are to blame that dissemble with the world, and have one part for your friends' pleasure, another for your own.' 'I am somewhat of Doctor Perne's religion,' quoth he, and abruptly took his leave."

In an elegant book of large ornamented capital letters and specimens of fine writing, by John Scottowe, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is a portrait of "Mr. Tharlton,"

playing on his pipe and tabor, and in the margin

these verses.

"The picture here set down,

Within this letter T,

Aright doth shew the form and shape

Of Tarlton unto thee.

When he in pleasant wise

The counterfeit exprest

Of Clown with coat of russet hue,

And sturtups, with the rest.

Who merry many made,

When he appear'd in sight;

The grave and wise, as well as rude,
In him did take delight.

The party now is gone,

And closely clad in clay;
Of all the jesters in the land,
He bare the praise away.

Now hath he play'd his part,
And sure he is of this,

If he in Christ did die, to live
With him in lasting bliss."

He is represented with a flat cap on his head, a flat nose on his face, a budget at his girdle, a short jacket, trousers, and shoes buckled at the

side of the ancle.

VOLTAIRE, AND DR. YOUNG.

"VOLTAIRE, like the French in general, shewed the greatest complaisance outwardly, and had the greatest contempt for us inwardly. He consulted Dr. Young about his Essay in English, and begged him to correct any gross faults he might find in it. The Doctor set very honestly to work, marked the passages most liable to censure; and when he went to explain himself about them, Voltaire could not help bursting out a laughing in his face.

"It was on the occasion of Voltaire's criticism on the Episode of Death and Sin,' that Dr. Young spoke that couplet to him

"Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin,

That thou thyself art Milton's 'Death and Sin.'

"Voltaire's objection to that fine Episode was, that Death and Sin were non-existents." SPENCE.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

BOURNE deduces the word carol from cantare, to sing, and rola, an interjection of joy. It is an imitation of the Gloria in Excelsis by the angels, sung in the Church itself, and by the bishops in their houses among the clergy.

Fosbroke, in his "Encyclopædia of Antiquities," says, "it was usual in ancient feasts to single out a person, and place him in the midst to sing a song to God;" and Mr. Davies Gilbert states, that, till lately, in the West of England, on Christmas eve, about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, "cakes were drawn hot from the oven; cyder or beer exhilarated the spirits in every house; and the singing of carols was continued late into the night. On Christmasday, these carols took the place of psalms in all the Churches, especially at afternoon service, the whole congregation joining; and at the end, it was usual for the parish-clerk to declare, in a loud voice, his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year to all the parishioners."

Hone, in his curious work, the "Ancient Mysteries," says, "The custom of singing carols at Christmas, prevails in Ireland to the present time. In Scotland, where no Church feasts have been kept since the days of John Knox, the custom is unknown. In Wales, it is still preserved to a greater extent, perhaps, than in England: at a former period, the Welsh had carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four seasons of the year, but at