The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-19 00:00:00

ANECDOTES, &c.

REMARKABLE DAT.—This day is remarkable
as the anniversary of the birth of King Charles
the First, 1600 ; of the Block House at Brighton
being washed away and grit damage done by
the sea, 1786 ; and of Saint Domingo being sur-
rendered by the French to the Black Native
'Troops, 1803.

VALUE OF MONEY IN ANCIENT TIMES—About
the year 900, KING ALFRED left to each of his daughters
1001. in money. In 1221, Joan, eldest daughter to King John,
upon her marriage with Alexander, King of Scotland, had a
dowry of 1,0001. In 1270, Edward I. gave with his daughter
Joan, contracted to the son of the King of the Romans, 10,000
marks sterling, and this to be returned in case the Prince died
before her. In 1314, Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce, King
of Scotland, being imprisoned in England, was allowed, for
herself and family, 20s. a week. In 1330, Joan of Oxford,
nurse to the Black Prince, had a pension of 101. per annum ;
and Aland Plunipton, a rocker, had ten marks. In 1351, work.
men were to take their wages in wheat, at 10d. the bushel; a
master carpenter, mason, or tyler, was to be allowed at the rate
of 3d. a day ; their journeymen 2d., and boys lid In 1402,
the salary of the Lord Chief Justice of the king's Bench was
40/. a year. In 1408, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas hail 55 marks per annum. In 1545, the Chief Justice of
the King's Bench had an addition of 30!. made to his salary,
and the Justices of 20/.

CoLLEY CHIBUIt gives the following spirited de.
scription of a famous theatrical manager in his day:—" That he
was as sly a tyrant as ever was at the head of a theatre; for he
gave the actors more liberty, and fewer days' pay, than any of
his predecessors ; he would laugh with them over a bottle, and
trick them in their bargains ; he kept them poor, tkat they
might not be able to rebel; and sometimes merry, that they
might not think of it."
The EMPEROR GALBA having condemned a Ro-
man citizen to the punishment ofcrucifixion forpoisoninghis ward,
the gentleman in his way to the place of execution made grievous
complaint that a citizen of Rome should undergo such a servile
death, alleging the laws to the contrary. The Emperor, hear-
ing his complaint, promised to alleviate the shame of his sen-
tence, and ordered a cross much larger and more neat than or-
dinary to be erected, and to be painted white, that the gentle-
man who stood so much upon his quality might have the
honour to be crucified in state. Something like this delicacy
appeared in Lord Stourton, who having, in the reign of Queen
Mary, killed a gentleman and his son at his own table, and
thereby forfeited the usual favour of being beheaded, petitioned
that he might be hanged in a silken halter; but when his friends
pressed for his burial in Salisbury Cathedral, the good Bishop
would not allow it, unless the silken halter was placed over his
tomb as a monument of his crime ; and for years a wire, instead
of a halter, marked the spot, and probably remains there to
this day.

LORD CLARENDON mentions a very extraor-
dinary regard to the honour of Nobility in King Charles the
First, when that untOrtunate 11Ionarch was at York, in the
beginning of the civil war. " Some of his courtiers applied
to him to grant the patent of a Baron to a rich man, who was
willing to give 10,0001. for it, but the King refused to grant
it, although at the same time he wanted money to furnish his
table, because (says Lord Clarendon) the man was not worthy
of it."