N° 104. Friday, July 10. Qua è longinquo magis placent. Tacit. N Tuesday laft I published two Letters written by a Gentleman in his Travels. As they were applauded by my best Readers, I shall this Day publifh two more from the fame Hand. The first of them contains a Matter of Fact which is very curious, and may deferve the Attention of those who are versed in our British Antiquities. SIR, Blois, May 15, N. S. B ECAUSE I am at prefent out of the Road of News, I fhall fend you a Story that was lately given me by a Gentleman of this Country, who is defcended from one of the Perfons concerned in the Re⚫lation, and very inquifitive to know if there be any of the Family now in England. I fhall only premife to it, that this Story is preferved with great Care among the Writings of this Gentleman's Family, and that it has been given to two or three of our English Nobility, when they were in these "Parts, who could not return any Satisfactory Answer to the Gentleman, whether there be any of that Family. 6 now remaining in Great Britain. IN the Reign of King John there lived a Nobleman called John de Sigonia, Lord of that Place in Touraine. • His Brothers were Philip and Briant. Briant, when very young, was made one of the French King's Pages, ⚫ and ferved him in that Quality when he was taken Prifoner by the English. The King of England chanced to fee the Youth, and being much pleased with his Perfon and Behaviour, begg'd him of the King, his Prifoner. It happened, fome Years after this, that John, the other Brother, who, in the Courfe of the War, had raised. • him/elf to a confiderable Poft in the French Army, was taken 6 taken Prifoner by Briant, who at that time was an ⚫ Officer in the King of England's Guards. Briant knew nothing of his Brother, and being naturally of an haughty Temper, treated him very infolently, and more like a Criminal than a Prisoner of War. This John refented fo highly, that he challenged him to a fingle Combat. The Challenge was accepted, and Time and Place affigned them by the King's Appointment. Both appeared on the Day prefixed, and entered the Lifts com. pletely armed amidst a great Multitude of Spectators.. Their first Encounters were very furious, and the Suc · cefs equal on both Sides; till after fome Toil and Bloodfhed they were parted by their Seconds to fetch Breath, < and prepare themselves afresh for the Combat. Briant, in the mean time, had caft his Eye upon his Brother's Escutcheon, which he faw agree in all Points with his own. I need not tell you after this with what Joy and Surprise the Story ends. King Edward, who knew all the Particulars of it, as a Mark of his Efteem, gave to ⚫ each of them, by the King of France's Confent, the following Coat of Arms, which I will fend you in the original Language, not being Herald enough to blazon it in English. Le Roi d'Angleterre par permiffion du Roi de France, pour perpetuelle memoire de leurs grands faits d'armes & fidelité envers leurs Rois, leur donna par Ampliation à leurs Armes en une croix d'argent Cantonée de quatre Co quilles d'or en Champ de Sable, qu'ils avoient Auparavant, un endenteleufe faite en façons de Croix de gueulle inferée au dedans de la ditte croix d'argent & par le milieu d'icelle qui eft participation des deux Croix que portent Les dits Rois en la Guerre. I am afraid, by this time, you begin to wonder that. I fhould fend you for News a Tale of three or four hundred Years old; and I dare fay never thought, when you defired me to write to you, that I fhould trouble you with a Story of King John, especially at a Time when there is a Monarch on the French Throne that 'furnishes Difcourfe for all Europe. But I confefs I am the more fond of the Relation, because it brings to mind the noble Exploits of our own Countrymen : Tho' at the fame time, I must own it is not fo much the Vanity of an Englishman which puts me upon writing it, as that I have of taking any Occafion to sub• fcribe my self, 6 6. SIR, I SIR, Yours, &c. Blois, May 20, N. S. A M extremely obliged to you for your last kind Letter, which was the only English that had been spoken to me in fome Months together, for I am at prefent forced to think the Abfence of my Countrymen my good Fortune : Votum in amante novum! vellem quod amatur abeffet. This is an Advantage that I could not have hoped for, had I ftaid near the French Court, tho' I must confefs. I would not but have seen it, because I believe it fhowed me fome of the finest Places and of the great'eft Perfons in the World. One cannot hear a Name ⚫ mentioned in it that does not bring to mind a Piece of a Gazette, nor fee a Man that has not fignalized him⚫ felf in a Battle. One would fancy ones felf to be in ⚫ the inchanted Palaces of a Romance; one meets with fo many Heroes, and finds fomething fo like Scenes of Magick in the Gardens, Statues, and Water-Works. I am afhamed that I am not able to make a quicker Pro grefs through the French Tongue, because I believe it is impoffible for a Learner of a Language to find in any • Nation fuch Advantages as in this, where every Body is fo very courteous and fo very talkative. They always take care to make a Noife as long as they are in Company, and are as loud, any Hour of the Morning, as our own Countrymen at Midnight. By what I have feen, there is more Mirth in the French Converfation, and more Wit in the English. You abound more in Jefts, but they in Laughter. Their Language is indeed extremely proper to tattle in, it is made up of so much Repetition and Compliment. One may know a Foreigner by his answering only No or Yes to a Questi on, which a Frenchman generally makes a Sentence of: They have a Set of Ceremonious Phrases that run 6. thro thro' all Ranks and Degrees among them. Nothing is more common than to hear a Shopkeeper defiring his Neighbour to have the Goodnefs to tell him what it is o' Clock, or a couple of Coblers that are extremely glad ' of the Honour of feeing one another. THE Face of the whole Country, where I now am, is at this Seafon pleafant beyond Imagination. I cannot but fancy the Birds of this Place, as well as the Men, a great deal merrier than those of our own Nation. I am fure the French Year has got the Start of ours more in the Works of Nature than in the New Stile. I have paft one March in my Life without being ruffled by the Winds, and one April without being ⚫ washed with Rains. I am, SIR, Yours, &c. N° 105. Saturday, July 11. Quod neque in Armeniis tigres fecere latebris : At tenera faciunt, fed non impunè, Puella; Ovid. HERE was no Part of the Show on the Thankf giving Day that fo much pleafed and affected me as the little Boys and Girls who were ranged with fo much Order and Decency in that part of the Strand which reaches from the Maj-pole to Exeter-Change. Such a numerous and innocent Multitude, clothed in the Charity of their Benefactors, was a Spectacle pleafing both to God and Man, and a more beautiful Expreffion of Joy and Thanksgiving than could have been exhibited by all the Pomps of a Roman Triumph. Never did a more full and unfpotted Chorus of Human Creatures join together in a Hymn of Devotion. The Care and Tenderness which appeared in the Looks of their feveral Inftructors, who were disposed among this little Helpless Peo ple ple, could not forbear touching every Heart that had any Sentiments of Humanity. I am very forry that her Majesty did not fee this Affembly of Objects, fo proper to excite that Charity and Compaffion which the bears to all who ftand in need of it, tho' at the fame time I queftion not but her Royal Bounty will extend itself to them. A Charity beftowed on the Education of fo many of her young Subjects, has more Merit in it than a thousand Pensions to those of a higher Fortune who are in greater Stations in Life. I have always looked on this Inftitution of CharitySchools, which, of late Years, has fo univerfally prevailed through the whole Nation, as the Glory of the Age we live in, and the most proper means that can be made ufe of to recover it out of its prefent Degeneracy and Depravation of Manners. It feems to promife us an honeft and virtuous Pofterity: There will be few in the next Generation who will not at leaft be able to Write and Read, and have not had an early Tincture of Religion. It is therefore to be hoped that the feveral Perfons of Wealth and Quality, who made their Proceffion thro' the Members of these new-erected Seminaries, will not regard them only as an empty Spectacle, or the Materials of a fine Show, but contribute to their Maintenance and Increase. For my part, I can scarce forbear looking. on the aftonishing Victories our Arms have been crowned with to be in fome measure the Bleffings returned upon that National Charity which has been fo confpicuous of late, and that the great Succeffes of the laft War, for which we lately offered up our Thanks, were in fome Measure occafioned by the feveral Objects which then ftood before us. SINCE I am upon this Subject, I fhall mention a Piece of Charity which has not been yet exerted among us, and which deferves our Attention the more, because it is practised by most of the Nations about us. I mean a Provifion for Foundlings, or for those Children who through want of fuch a Provifion are exposed to the Barbarity of cruel and unnatural Parents. One does not know how to speak on fuch a Subject without Horror: But what Multitudes of Infants have been made away by thofe |