The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE

HORACE WALPOLE'S LETTERS, VOL. VI.
Bentley, London, 1840.
Horace Walpole's Correspondence is now brought
to a close, and a completer edition of his incompa-
rable Letters, or one more sure in the long run to
achieve an extensive popularity, has not yet been
given to the world. On many curious points
in the domestic history of the last century it
throws quite a new light—such, for instance,
as the destrtiction of George the First's will,
which hitherto has been generally attributed
to the instigation of Sir Robert Walpole, but
which his son has now so fully explained as to
prove the entire innocence of the great Whig Pre-
mier. We have several peeps behind the curtain,
too, at the various Ministries that rose and fell in
succession about the middle of the last century ;
and from these brief insights that Walpole gives us,
our respect for politicians—whether as regards their
principles or talents—is by no means increased ;
but on the contrary, we are frequently tempted to
exclaim with Chancellor Oxenstiern, " See, with
how little wisdom this world is governed I"
Prefixed to the present volume, we find a de-
fence of Horace Walpole from the attacks made
on him by Mr. Macaulay in a late number of the
Edinburgh Review. This defence is from the pen
of a lady who knew him well, and who was one of
his favourite correspondents ; and we have no other
fault to find with it, than that it is too panegyrical.
Great stress is laid on the extreme unaffectedness
of Walpole's character; but those who read his
Letters with attention—we allude more particularly
to those which he addressed to eminent literary
contemporaries—will find that affectation was one
of his besetting sins. His constant expression of
indifference to fame, even while he was printing
his Works at his own Strawberry-hill press, in or-
der that they might appear to the greatest advan-
tage, and in the correctest manner ; his avowed
contempt for the opinions of critics, when
he more than once unconsciously exhibits
himself writhing under their lash, especially in
the Chatterton affair ; his dislike of being consi-
dered an author, whet the whole tenor of his Letters
proves—despite his own disclaimers—that to be a
successful one, was the darling and ill-disguised
object of his ambition ; his Gothic show-box at
Twickenham, with its grotesque collection of knic-
knackeries, which was one of the modes he adopted
for fixing men's attention to his proceedings ; his
would-be lofty inattention to the civilities ofCrowned
Heads and their' 'families,. when he minutely. chro-
nicles every visit and compliment they paid him ;
all these facts, which we gather from his own
Letters, wherein he has pourtrayed his character
more accurately than he seems to have been aware
of, convince us that Horace Walpole was one of
the most affected aristocrats of the very af-
fected age in which he lived. As for Miss
Berrys' statement, that his " capacity for sincere
affection continued unenfeebled by age," we have
only to turn for an unanswerable reply to this as-
sertion, to his Letter, now for the first time pub-
lished, addressed to this lady herself, in which,
after mentioning the death of George Selwyn—his
friend of nearly forty years' standing—he starts off,
in the very next sentence, to tell a laughable story
about Caroline Vernon I No word of regret fo r
the loss of one of his oldest and most intimate com-
panions. " Poor Selwyn is gone !" is all he says ;
and then comes his joke, which is so admirably
told, that we feel satisfied that he thought much more
of that, than of his friend. Our impression of Walpole's
character is, that he was a shrewd, clever fop—a
fop in literature—a fop in politics—a fop in the fine
arts—a fop in all the social relations of life. His self-
conceit, however, could never have been offensive,
but, tempered by good breeding, must have sate
easily and gracefully upon him, or. he would never
have been such a favourite in the circles of rank and
fashion. That he was a keener observer than the
world has generally given him credit for being, is evi-
dent from his Letters dated from Paris, wherein he
predicted the advent of that great political hurricane
which soon after swept over the face of Europe.
When to this we add that he has inexhaustible vi-
vacity, but not wit ; elegance, but not vigour of
style ; varied, but not profound, information ; Ca-
paciey, but not genius ; and no more heart than
usually fallerto: theiot of those who-have moved all
their'livesin the polished btit' attifidiatl Circles .of the
aristocracy, we have said all that we feel justified in
saying, whether in praise or depreciation of his qua-
lities as an author and a man.
Sir Charles Grey, however, entertains a far
higher notion of Walpole's powers of mind than
we feel ourselves warranted in entertaining, for in
a letter to the Editor, which follows Miss Berry's
short biographical notice, he has mooted the point
whether or not he was Junius. Our unhesitating
opinion is, that he was not. In the first place, he
had not sufficient energy of mind and strength of
invective ; and, secondly, there are very many pas-
sages in Junius's Philippics which it is utterly im-
possible that Horace Walpole, with his aristocratic
ideas, could ever have written. Is it likely, for in-
tance, that he could have penned this sentence,
which occurs in one of the famous Letters to the
Duke of Grafton ?—" When I think how much is
due to the sacred person of his Majesty, I cannot
with propriety call your Grace the meanest and
basest person in the kingdom !" Surely no well
tutored, constitutional Whig could ever have
brought himself to allude in this insolent, democratic
manner to his Sovereign I Again, Junius—as he
himself assures us in his letter to Horne Took—was
habitually a slow, pains-taking writer; Walpole was a
rapid, and frequently a negligent one. The former
touched and retouched, condensing, amplifying,
and enriching his Phillippics, till:they satisfied his
fastidous notions of excellence ; the latter threw off
his best things at a heat, and cared little for expres-
sion, provided the idea was smart or striking.
Junius abounds in metaphor ; Walpole is unusu-
ally sparing of it. The one bears down all before
him by sheer force of style, he is nothing if not
epigrainatic and antithetical ; the other produces
effect solely by the familiar, unconstrained play of
his vivacity. Junius's main characteristic is ner-
vous energy ; that of Walpole sportive elegance.
Junius is a stern, grave, ruthless savage, who
butchers and mangles his enemies with a tomahawk ;
Walpole is a laughing, dexterous fencer, who
pinks them, like Mercutio, with his rapier. But
the most marked distinction between these two cele-
brated writers, remains to be noticed. Junius was
was at heart a democrat, verging indeed upon a re-
publican ; Walpole was a steady, thorough-going,
constitutional Whig, who—like the Whigs of his
day—had few real sympathies in common with the
people. We cannot, therefore, agree with Sir
Charles Grey, that " Horace Walpole had a prin-
cipal share in the composition and publication of
the letters of Junius ;" though we will readily ad-
mit that he has argued the question with uncommon
ingenuity, and produced certain facts in corrobora-
tion of his theory which are exceedingly puzzling,
and will startle many readers, whose minds are not
yet made up on the subject.
We proceed now to a consideration of the
Letters contained in the volume before us.
A hundred, at least, of these have never
before been published, and not a few of them
are among the liveliest and shrewdest that Wal-
pole ever wrote. They embrace a period of
nearly nineteen years—that is to say, from 1778
to 1797, and touch, with their author's usual ready
felicity, on almost every topic that interested Eng-
lish society during that busy period. s On the sub-
ject of the French Revolution—that bloody con-
vulsion which Walpole had predicted, and which
he lived to see accomplished—the Letters are
sineularly animated ; but it 'is curious to observe
the ignorance which they everywhere show, respect-
ing the leading demagogues of Paris. More than
once the writer expresses his astonishment that no
man of genius or energy, with the sole exception of
Mirabeau,liad appeared among the popular leaders ;
vet at that very time, Vergniaud, Brissot, Roland,
Condorcet, and Dauton—the terrible Denton !
were in the full plenitude of their power ! As was
time case with many others of his party, the disturb-
ances of France had the effect of frightening Wal-
pole into Toryism ; and in this, to him novel, situ-
ation, he cuts, it must be confessed, several very
fantastic capers. His Letters, however, on this

momentous theme, which then absorbed the atten-
tion of every thinking man in the community, are
infinitely diverting, if only for their frequent sallies
of vivacity ; their shrewd guesses at motives and
consequences ; and the exaggerated tone of alarm
which they so often evince. The majority of them
are addressed to the Miss Berrys, to whom, by the
bye, the cleverest Letters in the volume are ad-
dressed. As for those which were written to
Hannah More, there is a staid. formality about

them by no means usual with the author; but we
suppose that the lady's well-known character for
piety kept him on his good behaviour.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF

M. TRIERS.

The late Prime Minister of France is the son of
a locksmith at Marseilles, beneath whose humble roof
he first saw the light on the 16th of April, 1797. His
mother belonged to an old commercial family, which,
in the vicissitudes of time, had fallen into ex-
treme poverty ; and the young Louis Adolphe
was placed by her relatives in the Imperial Lyceum
of Marseilles, where he received the early part of his
education. He is repented to have achieved many
victories over his young competitors before the year
1815, when he proceeded to 'Aix for the purpose of
pursuing the study of the law. There he formed
his friendship with M. Mignet, afterwards the con-
cise and philosophic historian of the same event
which has exercised his own talents. The two
friends pursued a similar course of study, their favourite
pursuits of literature, philosophy, and history, giving
place to just so much of the digest and civil code as
would enable them to pass their examinations. But M.
Thiers, already the leader of a party among the students,
became obnoxious to the Professors by his tirades against
the Government of the Restoration,
At Aix he took his degree as advocate, but disgusted
with that sphere of action, he set off in company with
his friend Mignet to seek h;s fortune in Paris. The
following description of the abode of the future Presi-
dent of the Council will be read with interest : "It is
several years ago since I climbed, for the first time, the
innumerable steps of a gloomy building, situated at the
bottom of the obscure and uncleanly alley de Mon-
tesquieu, in one of the most densely populated and
deafening quarters of Paris. It was with a lively feel-
ing- of interest that I opened, on the fourth floor, the
begrimed panels leading into a small chamber, which is
worth the trouble of describing :—a low chest of
drawers, a deal bed, curtains of white calico, two chairs,
and a little black table, ricketty on its legs, composed
the entire furnishing."*
But Thiers was not a man to be crushed by obscu-
rity and poverty. He presented himself before, M.
Manuel, shortly after that great: orator and popular
idol had been violently expelled from the Chamber of
Deputies, and offered him his services. Manuel Soon
understood his value, and by an introduction
to Laffitte, the young adventurer, was en-
rolled among the contributors to the Constitutionne/,
then the leading Liberal organ. Eminently endowed
with a capacity for literary warfare, he soon became
distinguished for the vigour and hardihood of his ar-
ticles ; and as in France the occupation of a Journalist
is regarded with an estimation proportioned to its in-
fluence over society, the young contributor speedily
found himself the object of high consideration. He
passed into the most brilliant circles of the Opposition,
into the crowded saloons of Lafitte, Casimer Perier,
the Count de Flahault, the Baron Louis, the great fi-
nancier of the era, and even of M. de Talleyrand, who, al-
beit fastidious in his company, is stated to have detected
with his keen glance the capabilities of the briefness
advocate. This introduction to society availed M.
Thiers in facilitating the great undertaking upon
which his eminence principally rests. Combin-
ing with a singular facility of composition an asto-
nishing memory, great fluency and tact in conversa-
tion, and an ad,mirable rapidity of comprehen-
sion, he found time to supply the exigencies of the daily
press, to frequent drawing-rooms, to talk much, to hear
more, and afterwards, in meditation and study, to adapt
the fruit of his intercourse with actors in the grand revo-
lutionary drama—remnants of the constituent and legis-
lative Assemblies, the Convention, the Council of Five
Hundred, the Legislative Body, and the tribunate,
statesmen, generals:, diplomatists, and financiers—
to promote and embellish his History of the
French Revolution, upon which he had been
for some time enga fed. At length that well-known
and great work, "- The History of the French Re-
volution," made its appearance, and at once placed
its author in the highest ranks of literary cele-
brity. The appeexance of his historical compila-
tion, its rapid progress in public esteem, and the
fortunate gift of a share in the Constitutionnel,
conferred upon him by an enthusiastic admirer, raised
M. niers to compr xative affluence. Leaving his garret
alley,Of Mont esquieu, be emerged at once as one of
the most prominent ; men in France, in the two paramount
fields of literature r and politics. Growing discontented
with the somewhr ,t antiquated tone of the Con-
stit utionuel, he es' ;ablished, in 1828, a new paper,
more democratic in principles, called the National.
In this journal an unrelenting war was waged
against the Poli gnat Administration, which, often
suppressing partic Aar numbers, and adopting other
partial remedies against the galling stings of
'Thiers and his assistants—Armand Carrel, and some of
the most talented rr en of the Liberal party—finally took
the desperate measi ire of the ordinances of July. The
revolution of 1830, the result thereof, is known to all.
Under the new Government he was appointed Se-
cretary-General to the Minister of Finance, with-
out any official ti tle, but in the same year he re-
ceived the title oY Under-Secretary of State in
the same depart oe nt to which he was already
attached. At the same time, he was elected
deputy for the town of Aix, his alma mater, and made
his first appearance it the Chamber, where, however, be
experienced an almos t universally unfavourable recep-
tion, probably from ee rtain personal peculiarities, over the
effect of which he sc o n triumphed. In person, M.Thiers is
almost diminutive, with an expression of countenance,
though intellectual, reflective and sarcastic, far from pos.
sessing the traits of beauty. Moreover, the face itself,
small in form, as In tilts the body, is encumbered with a
pair of spectacles to large that, when peering over the
marble edge of the long narrow pulpit, yclept the tri-
bune, whence all speakers address the Chamber, it
is described as api tearing suspended to the two orbs
of crystal. Wit ;h such an exterior, presenting
something of the ludicrous, so fatal to the effect,
especially in volati it France, M. Thiers, full of the
impassioned eloque ce of his favourite revolutionary
orators, essayed to : impart those thrilling emotions re-
corded of Mirabeau. The attempt provoked derision,
but only for a mom.e nt. In his new sphere, as in the
others he had passed, through, he soon outshone compe-
tition. Subsiding i ato the oratory natural to him,
simple, vigorous, aaut rapid, he approved himself one of
the most formidable ,f Parliamentary champions.
Following M. TEA ars in his political career, we find it
chequered by the u 5 ual absorbing alterations of office
and opposition. Fr 0 m the 11th of October, 1832, when
the first Soult Cab inet was constructed, he continued
a Minister, with one short interval, until the 25th
August, 1836, in various capacities,—as Minister of
the Interior, M mister of Commerce and Public
Works, and Mi nister for Foreign Affairs,—under
various chiefs : D larshal Snult, Gerard, Monier, and.
Broglie ; and, fin: illy, under himself, nominated Presi-
dent of the Cot mil on the 22d day of February
1886. In Augus tof that year he passed into opposi-
tion, where he r eraained until again called by Louis
Philippe, in the p re sent year 1840, to the premiership.
In speaking of IV 1... Thiers' general attainments, we shall
be brief. The me ,ref 'act of his position avouches his com-
manding eminen fie, 1 :n competition with all the talents of
his age, he has sum st ripped them all. Not that he is the
first of orators, the : I egitimatist Berryer bears the palm ;
not that he is the most profound thinker, for the doctri-
naire Guizot is the s more searching philosopher ; not that
he is the most unl )ending politician, for the ultra-Liberal
Odillon-Barrot i s more stern and consistent. But
Thiers comprehe ads his country men better ; can adapt
himself better to men and. things ; and though,
perhaps, about the last man to lay down his
life for a principle, his origin, his sympathies,
his whole cart .er, identify him with the great
majority of the • s ati, m. Thus, with his undoubted abi-
lities, he beco. to influential deputy and a popular
minister. TI veil fickleness with which his enemies
upbraid bin-,, prover ; him more incontestably a genuine
son of the sot I.
M.. Locve -V( imar's " Statesmen of Fiance and

.ring the past week the arrivals of
shipping at this p prt have been unprecedented at this sea-
son of the year. The- blot Run continues, with the pros-
pect that it will d, e so,. .until the ice closes the navigation
on the other side. So numerous have been the arrivals.
that great difficult, r has been experienced in fitAling suffi-
cient men to pla,:x .on 1 ooard them in charge, and vessels
have to wait a, cor,a,ide -able time before they can be dis-
charged, notw ithatandiA g the greatest exertions have been
made to accommodate t he trade of the port. The neces-
sity for Imit-eased dock : room becomes more pressingly ap-
parent.--liell Observe; r,
AllY3lit six o'clOck on Tuesday evening an lexplo-
sion or gas took place at Mr. Tate's, baker, hs•h gas
%%hid) occasioned considerable daraag°• Sowhich were
hat. -escaped from some pipes in the street
tuAer repair, and forcm I a quantity of _A, w3y hire, the shop. Itw81
: _I
yignaeo, and the ex
damage°
the glass, and the stwas received greatplosion broke

Sta,—You can scarcely figure to yourself the con-
sternation caused in this part of the Country by the last
robbery of commerce by the Bank of &leiand. From
a gradually improving trade and confidence the whole
is turned into gloom. Merchants, bankers, manufac-
turers, are all in dismay. Its arbitrary proceeding as
to short dated bills has destroyed what little trade we
had, and its increased discounts are robbing all debts
which are collecting. So you see the old she-Devil
injures us, past, present, and to coma. And now, Sir,
I have told you the bad I will tell you the good. it is
rumoured that a banking league is about to be formed,
similar to the Corn-law League, against the Bank of
England. This league to consist of country bankers.
That when the old hag refuses paper better than her
own ; and, also, when her Directors raise the interest
to enrich herself, and rob trade and commerce of 2 or 3
per cent., and, by so doing, cause a ruinous panic
among all classes: when this is done all the l'anke'rs of
the league bind themselves to send in all the " Oid
Lady's" paper on a given day, and put an end to her
robberies and monopoly for ever. You will see at
once that the country banker/ can manage the Direc-
tors if the merchants cannot ; but I see no reason why
the wealthiest merchants may not be members. In-
deed, it is thought the originators of it will invite as
many as will ensure two millions in paper on any given
morning. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
Bolton, Nov. 10, 1840. R. W.

CAPTAIN REYNOLDS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six—lt is only justice to the friend of Captain
J. W. Reynolds, of the 11th Hussars, to state, that it
was in his cause Mr. Harvey interested himself—not
in that of Mr. R. A. Reynolds, the now subservient
and obedient craven of the Horse Guards, and his
newly-acquired friend, Lord Cardigan. That the letter
that person has written will clear the way to his being
replaced on full pay of his rank, there can be now no
doubt ; that is the price of his letter l But it is to be
expected that he will be sent back to the 11th Hussars,
as the corps most worthy of him, and that no other
regiment will be insulted by having him foisted upon
then', which would inevitably lead to disunion, for no
corps of cavalry officers would willingly associate with
such a person.—Your most obedient servant,
H N ESTUS.

ORIGINAL DOCUMENT OF ~ THE
CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE KIRK OF
SCOTLAND."

We have been favoured by Mr. John Henderson,
bookseller, of this town, with an opportunity of inspect-
ing a very curious original document, of no small inte-
rest in an historical point of view, and to the descend-
ants of the Covenanters full of associations with the ve-
nerated memories of their ancestors. It is no other than
one of the originals of " The Confession of Faith of
the Kirk of Scotland ; or the National Covenant."
The following particulars relative to this covenant, and
to the particular document in question, will perhaps
best explain its nature :
The first National Covenant or " King's Confession,"
as it was then called, was drawn up by John Craig,
chaplain to James VI. by the King's command; and,
having been first signed by the King and his HouseleAd
(in 1580) as an example, was afterwards, by an Order
of Council, and an Act of the General Assembly, sub-
scribed by the Nobility, the Clergy, and all ranks
throughout the kingdom (in 1581, and again in 1590.)
It was renewed with additions applicable to the then
emergency—when Charles 1., under the direction of the
Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, attempted to thrust
on the unwilling people of Scotland a hierarchy and
service-book similar to those of the Church of England
—and subscribed with great solemnity by all ranks on
the Ist of March, 1638, in the Grey Friar's church,
Edinburgh ; a copy was sent to each county favourable
to the reformed relig,ion• and presbyterian form of
church government, where it was embraced with zeal ;
many opening a vein, and writing their names with
their blood.
The document we are about to describe—and which
wa understand will probably be placed in a glass-case,
for inspection at the next (Christmas) exhibition of
the Mechanics' Royal Institution, Salford—is the
original " Confession of Faith for the burgh and
county of Peebles." It is upon a large skin of very
strong, thick vellum, and, although preserved with
great care and veneration, in successive generations of
the descendants of covenanters, bears evident marks
of the " tooth of time." It was bequeathed by will
from one possessor to another, and in this way came
into the possession of a respected covenanting minister,
the late Rev. Thomas Henderson, of Kilmalcolm, Ren-
frewshire (father of Mr. Henderson, of this town), who
guarded it with the most jealous care, refusing the offer
of a very large sum for it, for the purpose of its being
placed in the British Museum, and declaring that it
should descend as an heir-loom to his family. The be-
quest by the preceding possessor is noted on the back of
1 the deed, by an indorsement in the following terms :
This was left by the deceased Gavin Veitch, at-Pee-
bles, to Tho. Henderson, Dissenting Minister, to be de-
livered by his wife after his death, and came to hand on
the 18th of August, 1802." Mr. Henderson was so
careful of this document that he kept it under double
locks ; and when once induced to intrust it to a friend
at a distance, he took for its safe return a formal bond,
one of the conditions of which was, that it should not be
forwarded as a coach parcel, but delivered back by the
borrower into the bands of the lender.
The document itself is endorsed, in engrossing hand,
" The Confession of Faith for the burgh of Pebles,
1638."—Within, it has the following title and explana-
toryK i
Kingis
;193 oh
lute i ca ej,
:
oannfdestshioenhooof
seFliaoi,tdhiosu3,b.ose)re}rie)ito,f first God biysstolie;
thereafter by personnes of all ranks in ye yere of God
1581, by ordinance of the Lords of secret C'sall [council]
and actis of the gn'all assemblie : Sub't again by all
sortis of personnes in ye yore of God 1.590, by anc
new ordinance of the Lords of secret Coleman and
actis of gn'all assemblie : Sub't againe by all sortis of
personnes in the yore of God 1591, by ane
new ordinance of counsall et ye desyre of ye gn'all
assemblie ; with ane gn'all bond for maintenance of ye
true religionn and of ye kingis ma'tie ; and now sub't in
ye yere of God 1638 by we, noblemen, barronnes, gen-
tlemen, burgess's, ministers and commones, under sub-
scryvenned ; togidder with ace resolution and promis,
for the causs's expressit, to maintain the true religionn,
and the Kingis ma'tie, according to the confession frsa
[aforesaid] and actis of Parlia't. The termer wherof
tollowes :—"
[The confession itself is engrossed very closely and
in a small hand, and occupies the greater part of the
sheet of vellum. It would fill seven or eight Bvo. pages ;
and as it has been published, and may be referred to in
the book of the Confession of Faith, by those who are
interested in it, we shall not trouble our readersi even
with an abstract of its contents.]
The document under notice is of course chieffy curi-
ous for the signatures of the nobles, gentry, and minis-
ters of the county of Peebles, of the period in question.
Of these there are considerably more than a hundred.
The first is that of (Earl) Rothes, the second " Mon-
trose," is that of the celebrated James Graham, Mar-
quis of Montrose, who was beheaded twelve years
afterwards,—having abandoned the covenant which
he thus signed ; and supported the cause of the Pre-
tender and of his son, in the memorable rebellion of
1648. Next follow the signatures of various nobles in
the order in which we transcribe them :—(Earl) Ben-
toun ; (Earl) Cassilis ; (Earl) Home ; (Earl) Drum-
langrig ; (Lord) Montgornerie ; (Lord) Yester ; (Earl)
Wemyss, Boyd, Fleming (Earl of Wigton), (Baron)
Forrester, (Lord) Balcarres, (an illegible signature,
probably Johnstoun) ; Balmerino, Lindesay, (a doubt-
ful signature, probably Elcho), Fraser, and (a second)
Lindesay. Then commence the signatures of the gen-
try and ministers. The first is " Murray of Blak-
barrony," and amongst them are " Patrick Douglas,
Arthur Erskene, Walt. Swintoun, Mr. [Minister] at
Swintoun, Mr. Will. Arthur, West Kirk, Jno.
Provost of Peebles, Pa. Thomsone, baillie ; [then fol-
low the signatures of several councillors, the treasurer,
commissioners, &c.] Amongst the signatures are those
of several burgesses of Peebles and Fife ; and one signs
J. Peter, Comisnr. of Peebles ;" another " James —,
burgess of Fife and Pebels." Several signatures are
1" for Rutherglen," for " Kircutlbright." One of the
last signatures appears to be " M. Dickeson, Glen-
-1 holme."

ofAvv hp
yipci
rshyciwas a t
On the upper part of the other side of the skin is an
endorsement,oi,vl6,a39nth.”eaded " For the burgh of Pebles, in
within
nn fwolrloititvetnlieab articleea .
ye first subscriptions referred to ye de-
terminationvitlic(lnvtll're.'surrbbscrey
tr. of ye generall assemblie, being now deter-
mined, at the fyve in December, 1638, and yairbyk by
ye
fyve articles of Perth, ye government of yo kir
bi3chops bring declared to be abjured and removed,
and ye civil places and power of kirkmen declared un-
lawfull, we subserybe according to ye determination of
ye said lawfull and Me gencrall assembie, holdin at
Glasgow."—Then follow the signatures of the muni-
cipal officers of the burgh, of Peebles, though they
were already previously signed within the document,
viz.:—John --, provost ; Pa.
Thornsone, baillie ; and.
other baillies, the treasurer. and sundry councillors, and
in another place is the signature of the " minister att
Mannor:' We should not omit to mention, that several
belief
sign-
ing -
gin
of the signatures to this singular document have a reddis‘reddishcolour, and that there is a sort of traditionary
bei
they were inscribed with the bloodaofvethr:
different hue
iforogm them.he
parties
, uenearttairnelsy
aanredotifie
Lowy of
verbjoi
the " cove-
heothTersyi
'
t
neat ;" but this effect might he the result of a larger
proportion of iron or other metallic substance in the
ink. The document is etl altog ler a very curious one,
;and will doubtless attract considerable attention, when
placed where it can be publicly inspected.-111anches-
ter Paper.