The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

BIRMINGHAM, WOLVERHAMPTON, AND STOUR VAL-
LEY RAILWAY.—BIRMINGHAM, TUESDAY.—At an
ad-
journed special general meeting of the shareholders in
this railway, held at Dee's Royal Hotel to-day, the lease
of the line to the London and North-Western was con-
firmed, and the seal of the company affixed thereto. The
lease is for 1,000 years, and;the terms are two-thirds of
the London and North western dividend. The shares
are to come into this dividend on the first of January,
1850, the first payment being on the 15th of September
in that year, and in future halt-yearly on that day and
the 15th of March. Until the time just specified, the
shareholders will continue to receive four per teat., as
at present. This company is to pay the expense of
keeping itself together as a company out of the dividend
received from the lessees. In the event of a new stock
being created by the London and North-Western Com-
pany, the proprietors of the Stour Valley Company are
to receive a share in proportion to the two-thirds capital
on which they receive dividend. There are to be no
further calls on these shareholders, the London and
North-Western Company engaging to find the remainder
of the capital required, for which purpose the borrowing
powers of the Stow Valley Company may be used.
LEASE OF THE EAST LINCOLNSHIRE TO THE GREAT
NORTHERN.—The necessary instruments, after consider-
able delay, are now being prepared for the transfer of
the line, about fifty miles in length, and which runs from
the Great Grimsby and Boston to the Great Northern,
which will commence paying on it the six per cent. divi-
dend from the Ist of November last.
Captain Laws, who lately resigned the management of
the Great Northern, has been re-appointed managing
director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, which he left
to join the Great Northern, at a salary of 1,500/. per ann.
ORLEANS AND VlEnzoN.._.lhe following is a roturn
of the receipts on the Vierzon Railway, for the week
ending the 4th of December, 1848:—Passengers,
29,071 f. 65e.; luggage, parcels, &c., 4,995 f. 35c.; goods,
13,723 f. 14c.; carriages and horses, 2,578 f. 30c.; cattle,
2,440 f. 45c. Total for the week, 52,739 f. 30c. For the
corresponding week of 1847, 70,279 f. 41c; total re-
ceipts since Ist January, 1848, 2,627,378 f. 78c.

PIrtYHOLINESS
eeTorifEhPisohcEol.—inePssrapyoepres
- --
e
are being offered up, throughout the entire of Catholic
Pius the Ninth from all enemies.—Cork Examiner.
Irearild,foltrs theT OR
speelllsdy
BATTERSEA NEW PAR •
X.—Active operations for
the formation of the new park at Battersea are now in
progress, and the inhabitants of the metropolis may
hope, in the course of a year or two, to be in undis-
puted enjoyment of a most delightful suburban retreat.
The site chosen for the park extends from the Red
House nearly to Battersea Bridge, is remarkably level,
smooth as a bowling-green, and capable of producing
shrubs, trees, or flowers, in the greatest luxuriance.
At the present time it is cropped to the very verge by
its industrious occupiers, the agriculturists and market
gardeners of the neighbourhood. The frontage next
the Thames is cut up into numerous small properties,
and for years has been put to no productive purpose.
When the tides run high, the water overflows the adja-
cent lauds. This contingency her Commissioners of
Woods and Forests propose to provide for by the pur-
chase of the frontage property, and the conversion of
it into a noble marine terrace, but the difficulty of com-
pleting the various negotiations has hitherto prevented
the commencement of the works. As in many other
cases, private enterprise steps in, and nnticipates the
tardy movements of the executive. Messrs. Cubitt,
Chabot, Payne, Procter, and others, are embanking
their respective frontages. For more than two months
past about three barges have been daily employed in
conveying the sweepings of the streets of the metro-
polis to Battersea, where several men are employed in
conveying it from the vessels and depositing it on the
embankment. Mr. Chabot, in like manner, draws his
supplies Docks.
from the London The soil is particu-
larly soft and slushy when first deposited, but soon con-
solidates, and forms a fine, firm, substantial stratum.
The embakment, which is about five feet above high
water mark, and is about seventy or eighty yards in
width, starts from near the British Flag, and is car-
ried on regularly to the chemical works near Battersea
Bridge.
THE LATE MR. CALLAWAY.—It is stated that this
gentlemen has left to each of his four children 10,0001.,
and 7001. to his widow ; altogether, the property left by
the deceased is upwards of 60,0001.—Lancee
THE NEW CATTLE•MARKET AT ISLINGTON.—We
are given to understand that a great number of farmers
visited the Islington Cattle market last week, all of whom
were astonished at the extent and excellence of the ac-
commodation. The market is capable of accommodating
conveniently within the walls 8,000 head of cattle and
50,000 sheep, besides horses, pigs, &c. A junction rail.
way, which is now in the course of formation, passes
within 380 yards of the market, and from which a tram-
road will be laid into the market. This railway runs
from Blackwell, and will unite the Northern and Eastern,
VIP Eastern Counties, the Great Northern, the North-
Western, and the Great Western Railways, and will
hereafter be extended over the Thames to ;the South-
Western, thus rendering it unnecessary for any animals
to pass through the streets of the metropolis to arrive at
the market, it being ascertained that seven-eighths of all
the cattle brought to London arrive by the Northern and
Eastern lines. We are informed that a committee for
carrying out the arrangements of the Islington Market is
in course of formation.—Mark-lane Express.

LITERATURE.

THE F.iD7 FAX CO IZZIESPOADENCE.— 31e-
lixirs of tlie'fin of Clt,trles• i. Eel;l',l by G. TV.
Johnson, I;arri,ter-at-Law. 2 Vols. Bentley,
IVew Burlington arect.
The publication of this correspondence comes very
opportunely at the present period when the Young
Englanders are endeavouring to revive the political
system ofiCharlcs 1., and the Puseyites the ecclesi-
astical polity of Laud. The correspondence, which
consists of letters written by different members of the
Fairfax family, who were all prominent actors in
the stirring scenes of the great civil war, embraces
the whole period from the accession of Charles I. to
the Restoration, and we see the actors in that great
tragedy, behind the scenes in undress, as they ap-
peared to their contemporaries. My Lord John Man-
ners would scarcely have exclaimed—
" Let laws awl learning, wealth and commerce die,
But give us still our own nobility,"
had he, before writing that celebrated couplet, had an
opportunity of perusing the Fairfax Correspondence,
and of ascertaining from such perusal the exact
method in which that idol, " Old Nobility," which
he calls upon all mankind to fall down and worship,
was originally manufactured. It appears from this
correspondence, that in the reign of Charles I. peer-
sges were matters of regular bargain and sale. The
King kept a peerage shop, and whoever chose might
become the purchaser, provided buyer and seller could
agree upon the price to be paid. In this manner Sir
Thomas Fairfax, the grandfather of the Parliamentary
General, purchased of King Charles 1., in the year
1628, the Scottish peerage of Fairfax for the sum of
1,5001., stipulating that he should be exempt from all
ether charges in the way of fees, but when the money
was paid over an attempt was made to extort further
sums from him under various pretences, of which at-
tempt he complains in the following letters, and com-
plains very justly, too, considering that accorling to
his own account he had been offered a better title for
the same sum.

" THOMAS, LORD FAIRFAX, TO LORD COLVILLE.
- -

"My very good Lord,—l did, about six weeks since,
write to your Lordship by the postmaster of Borow-
bridge, in answer of letters which I received from Mr.
James Colville, your kinsman, who did signify unto me
that the fees for my patent were undischarged; and that
his Majesty's officers did expect them from me, which is
directly against my agreement, both as I did signify to
your Lordship in my letters from Stilton, and to Mr.
Colville himself, when he came by my house in his
journey towards London. At which time he seemed to
more require a gelding of me than the 1,5001. promised
towards the charges of the patent. Whereunto I
answered that if the patent were not freely delivered into
my hand without one penny charges more for fees,
soliciting, or whatsoever, I would refuse it, for I was
then offered a better title for the same sum; yet because
of the noble respect which I have long time borne to
your Lordship, I would perform my word with you,
which Mr. Colville undertook on your Lordship's behalf;
desiring that I would advance the second payment a
little sooner, which was the 500/. promised by my letters
to your Lordship, within six months after 1,000/. were
paid. I told him I had some moneys, which, if I might
spare, I would pay with the first payment. Coming
from London, he did show me the bill assigned. After-
wards he and a worthy gentleman, one Mr. Calunder,
brought me the patent; upon receipt of which I did
deliver unto them to your Lordship 1,5001, for which I
have their acquittances.
I did accommodate them with bags and other com-
modities to pack the moneys in. I sent my horses and
servants to Borowbride to carry the money and attend
them, for which Mr. Colville promised me some remem-
brances of pistols, and other things which I am careless
to mention.

" The next news which I heard from Mr. Colville
after his arrival in Scotland, was a letter that I must be
made deniz Al of that kingdom, also that I must contri-
bute towards the plar.tation of New Scotland in America,
and that his Majesty's officers and servants had put me in
the senate for the fees of my patent, but he had taken
course to stay proceedings until I were advertised.
Truly, my Lord, I dare adventure my life that your Lord-
ship is not acquainted with these things ; and I assure
myself that the letter which I did lately write unto you
was not delivered, though I think it came to Mr. Col-
ville's hands. But having now sent my servant for a cer-
tain messenger, I doubt not but your Lordship is so
noble as to take that care for discharge of these fees as
I would do in the like if it did concern you. Thus
kissing your Lordship's hands, I take leave.
" Your Lordship's humble servant,
" Denton, 12th April, 1628." " T. FAIRFAX.
" THOMAS, LORD FAIRFAX, TO LORD COLVILLE.

" My very good Lord,—Some letters which I received
from Mr. James Colville is the cause of my now sending
to your Lordship. The contents of one was, first, that I
must be made denizen of that kingdom; secondly, that
I must contribute to the plantation of New Scotland;
thirdly, that I must pay fees to his Majesty's officers for
my patent. To the first, I answer, the patent enables
me; for the second, my dwelling exempts me from the
necessity; and the third is directly against my covenant;
for your Lordship knows, and none better than Mr. Col-
ville, that I did refuse, if I might not have it freely do-
livered upon payment of the sum agreed upon.
" My letter from Stilton did intimate so much to your
Lordship (u copy of which I have) : my speeches with
Mr. Colville, when he went for the bill assigned, ex-
pressed the ;same. How I have performed, both Mr.
Colville, and that worthy gentleman, Mr. Cullender, do
know, and their acquittances will show. I did, not long
since, write to your Lordship, from my house at York,
but I have received no answer ; so, as I think, the let-
ters have miscarried, and also I do assure myself that
your Lordship doth not know of these letters of Mr.
Colville's. I know you are too noble not to perform with
any man, much more with an old friend, who, if he had
hearkened to another's motion, might have had better
pennyworths. Thus, not doubting to find you as you
have ever been—truly noble—l take leave. Resting,
" Your Lordship's brother and humble servant,
" T. FAIRFAX.

" Denton, this 16th of April, 1628."
" I pray your Lordship let my servant bring some
testimony that the officers be satisfied, because Mr. Col-
ville writes that they have put me in suit for the fees. I
forbear to write of some tokens which Mr. Colville did
promise to send me from your Lordship and himself, in
regard of some accommodation which he had of me, be-
sides the advancing of the payment before the time
agreed upon."

These letters let us completely into the art and mys-
tery of the manufacture of the idol " Old Nobility" in
the palmy days of the " Martyr Monarch."

fa
x"
moFlaiamimuiittlryeu:n:ceups ecru:. ficpluel nu us si,ninutile o gnum ;
tlovreic:Calluemaarnnfadbefrroiwnmcertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
Biographical
s gvgiven
o admirablymb Memoir
r wworafi
yttentohfe"Fliaiirs-
intro-
duction to these volumes, an 1 which may be cited
as a model for all future writers of family history,
that the family of the Fairfaxes derived their blood
from a Saxon stock, and were seated at Tow-
cester at or before the Conquest. The family seem
always to have preserved with extraordinary care any
MSS. relating to the history of the house, and among
these MSS. there was discovered a paper in the hand-
writing of the first Lord Fairfax, in which the line is
traced hack to the Conquest. The " Analectica
Fairfaxiana," compiled by Air. Charles Fairfax,
one of the younger children of the first Lord Fairfax,
and uncle of the Parliamentary General, contain
several interesting particulars of the family, and are
illustrated by portraits of the third Lord Fairfax (the
Parliamentary General) and his lady, by Gerard
Zoust, engravings of which illustrate the volumes
now under review. The first Lord Fairfax had seve-
ral children besides Sir Ferdinando Fairfax, who suc-
ceeded him in the title. Among these were two
sons, John and William, who took part with the
Elector Palatine in the war which he was carrying on
to gain the kingdom of Bohemia, and who were both
killed at the defence of Frankenthal. Their portraits
were in the family mansion at Denton, and when
Prince Rupert " lay" at Denton, in his march to
York, Anno 1644, he saw the pictures, and com-
manded that the house should not be injured for their
sakes. After the execution of Charles 1., of which
General Fairfax loudly expressed his disapproval, Fair-
fax retired to Denton and Appleton, where he spent
the remainder of his life. lie was visited there
by General Monk, on his road from Scotland
to London, after the death of Cromwell,
and during this visit the restoration of Charles
11. was planned by Fairfax and Monk. This trans-
action is thus described by Brian Fairfax :
"Declaring for General Monk, then in Scotland, at
his earnest request, against Lambert's army, which
pressed hard upon him as he lay at Coldstream, whither
amyveLrboarldaFnasiwrefarxtosenhtismelehtitserc,oubsrinou,
gßhrtiabnyFsaiir Thomasrfax,with
Clargis, that he would appear at the head of what
forces he could raise in Yorkshire the Ist of January,
1659, which he did to so good effect, that in three days'
time (the report of my Lord Fairfax opposing them
)detshereteldrishhibmr,igaadned
sent to offer their service to my Lord Fairfax,* and,
cboeninsgistisnpgreoafd
tawbeoluvteLhaumndbreerdeshoarrsmey,
several foot regiments at the same time declared for
their old general, Fairfax; and in five days Lambert
himself, with ten men, stole away from his own army.
"Then General Monk marched into England, and
offered the command of the army to my Lord Fairfax,
but he refused it, only advised him (at his house at Ap-
pleton, where Monk gave him a visit) to consider there
would be no peace in England till the nation was settled
upon the old foundation of monarchy, and King Charles
the Second restored ; in the meantime, to call the old
secluded members to Parliament which had now got into
their places again. The General was more reserved than
he needed to be upon this free discourse of my Lord
Fairfax, being alone with him in his study, which gave
my Lord occasion to suspect him ever after, till he de-
clared himself the spring following to be of the same
mind, having received another letter at London from my
Lord Fairfax (delivered by the same hand, B. F.), and ac-
companied with the address of all the gentloment of York-
shire fora free Parliament, and that they would pay no
taxes till it met.
" King Charles himself did often acknowledge these

* "My Lord Fairfax was then at Arthington with
about one hundred men, when an officer of the brigade
came and inquired for Mr. Brian Fairfax to bring him
to my Lord with this kind and seasonable offer of their
assistance.--B. F."

" At their desire my Lord writ a particular letter to
General Monk."

services, not only by granting him a general pardon, bit
upon all occasions speaking kindly of him, and praising
his courage, his ni,)disV, his honesty," &c.

He died in Novemb?r, 1671, leaving an only child,
Mary, who was married to the wild and witty Duke
of Buckingham of Charles ll.'s reign, and who
appears to have been cruelly treated by her reprobate
husband. Fairfax had cut off the entail of the
landed property, and had settled all he could of it on
his daughter ; the title, at his death, descended to a
collateral branch, but without the estates. The suc-
ceeding Peers appear to have become constantly
poorer, until at length the title descended to a Fairfax
'who had settled in Maryland, and who had become
possessed of vast estates there. It is still in the de-
scendants of his family, and the present Lord Fairfax
is a citizen of the United States of America, and re-
sides at Woodburn, in Maryland. The history of
this discovery of the MSS. is most curious. Among
the possessions of the family was Leeds Castle, which
ultimately became the property of Mr. Fiennes
Wykeham Martin, its present possessor.
"It was in Leeds Castle that the vast mass of corre-
spondence was discovered, from which the succeeding
volumes have been compiled. Mr. Martin having occa-
sion to make some alterations in the castle in the spring
of the year 1822, set apart for sale a quantity of useless
furniture; and amongst the lumber which was thus to be
swept away was an old oaken chest, filled apparently
with Dutch tiles. It was purchased for a few shillings
by Mr. Gooding, a shoemaker, in the neighbouring vil-
lage of Lenham. Upon the inspection of its contents,
expecting, perhaps, to light upon treasures of another
kind, Mr. Gooding found an enormous quantity of MSS.,
carefully arranged and deposited beneath the Dutch
tiles which were piled up to the lid of the box. Mr.
Gooding, not attaching any special value to treasures of
this description, consigned the papers to a cellar to be
destroyed, as occasion served, for waste paper.
" It was fortunately suggested to Mr. Gooding to
offer the MSS. to Mr. Newington Hughes, a banker at
Maidstone, and well known as a collector of antiquities.
By this lucky accident the whole collection was pre-
served, Mr. Hughes becoming their purchaser. But in
the mean while some havoc had been committed amongst
them. ' Some of the parchments,' says Mr. Johnson,
under whose editorship the first two volumes of the Cor-
respondence are 'now issued, ' had been cut into strips
for shoemakers' measures ; and a fragment of one, a
grant of lands to Sir Anthony Saint Leger, is now before
me in the form of a child's drum pelt. Some of the letters
Mr. Hughes recovered from the thread-papers of the vil-
lage mantua-makers ; others had been taken by a gen-
tleman's servant, and had found their way into the col-
lections of Mr. Jadis, of the Board of Green Cloth, and
of Mr. Upcot, the well•known collector of autographs.
These were nearly all recovered • and the whole form
that valuable and richly illustrated series of manuscripts
from which this work has been prepared.'
" The correspondence, which extends over two cen-
turies, chiefly concerns the affairs of the Civil War and
the period of the Restoration. It embraces all the great
events intervening between the accession of the Stuarts
and that of the house of Hanover; and touches, in
greater or lesser detail, upon the actions of the principal
persons who were engaged in them. The confidential
character of these voluminous papers enhances the in-
terest and importance of their disclosures.
" From the careful manner in which they appear to
have been preserved, it may be inferred that the family
were at some pains to conceal the treasures they pos-
sessed, under a justifiable apprehension perhaps that the
knowledge of the existence of such documents might have
led to dangerous consequences. The papers of the
family were originally deposited in Yorkshire, and were
no doubt removed to Leeds Castle, upon the marriage
of the fifth Lord Fairfax with the daughter of Lord Cul-
pepper."
In presenting the first two volumes of these MSS. to
the public, the editor, Mr. G. W. Johnson, has made
them almost subsidiary to his own labours. He has
presented us with a well-written history of the reign
of Charles 1., from his accession to the commence-
ment of the civil war. We shall not follow Mr.
Johnson in his history, but shall confine our attention
to the correspondence and to those portions of it more
particularly which bear on any historical fact, or
which illustrate the social usages of the period. We
have already given the letters of Lord Fairfax on the
subject of his purchase of a peerage. These are fol-
lowed by a long correspondence between Lord
Fairfax and his son, Sir Ferdinando Fairfax, who
represented Boroughbridge in the Parliament which
sat in 1626, and which resisted the attempts of the
King to collect money by Privy Seal. Sir
Ferdinando Fairfax describes the King as
being "in his own nature extremely stiff,"
and as willing rather "to refuse his moneys
than satisfy our expectations in the Duke"—
meaning the Duke of Buckingham, whose flagrant
corruption and proved incompetency had then exaspe-
rated all classes against him. The eldest son of
Ferdinando Fairfax, who was afterwards the Parlia-
mentary General, was at this time studying at Cam-
bridge, and old Lord Fairfax, who declared
Ferdinando was fit for nothing but a country justice,
but that Ferdinando's son Tom would make a soldier,
was, it appears, exceedingly anxious that Tom should
be sent abroad to learn the art of war. Sir Ferdi-
nando, writing on this subject to his father, in 1629,
says—
"My Lord of Clare adviseth to send my son to my
Lord Vere's company, at Dort; he saith he may there
practise arms, fencing, dancing, and study the mathe-
matics; and my Lord Houghton promiseth his best care
over him whilst he is there. He goes over about six
weeks hence, and all the companies have order to be
ready the Ist of April. I could not resolve anything
herein until I knew your Lordship's pleasure, and there-
fore what you shall be pleased to command, I shall care-
fully observe to my best understanding of your direc-
tions; and with my prayers for your happiness, will
ever remain, your Lordship's humble and obedient son,
" FER. FAIRFAX."
This proposal was adopted, and under Lord Vere,
in the Low Countries, this celebrated General
learned the art of war. On his return he was mar-
ried to Lady Anne Vere, the daughter of his Ge-
neral,
and from the letters published in this corre-
spondence it appears that in those days wives were as
completely a matter of bargain and sale as peerages.
The negotiation was entered upon shortly after the
death of Lord Vere, which happened in 1635, and
was commenced by Sir W. Constable, the brother-
in-law of Sir Ferdinando Fairfax, at his request.
Sir William thus reports to Sir Ferdinando—

"TO SIR FERDINANDO FAIRFAX.

" Sir,—l received your letter about three weeks since,
and I would gladly, before this time, have given you
some account of the business, if besides my own being
unsettled and more full-handed than I have activeness
for, there had not also been so much in your instructions
as could not admit a sudden dispatch. For the first
point, I cannot perceive that Mr. White hath any such
interests in those persons that I could know much by
him ; but I used Dr. Gouge who (without naming any
person as occasioning the question) asked the lady
(Vere) herself what portions are intended to her daugh-
ters who are yet unmarried. her answer is that she
intends to each of them 3,0001. or 4,0001., according as
she shall like the party ; and that there is no haste on
her part of having them bestowed, since the longer they
stay, the better she shall be able to do for them, my Lord
having left her indebted. Yet she hopes, by means of
some moneys duo to her from the King, to better her
daughters' portions, in some reasonable time.
" The second thing which I desired to do was, that my
wife or myself, or both of us, might have had a sight of
these two young gentlewomen; but my lady having
been out of town, and daily expected, is not yet come,
except it be this very night."
That fathers and mothers should so act may not,
perhaps, be considered matter of surprise, but what
shall we think of a suitor who could thus write of his
ladye-love ?

" TO THE HONOURABLE MY VERY GOOD FATHER, FER-
DINAND° FAIRFAX, KNIGHT, KNARESBOROUGH, THIS

PRESENT.
" Sir,—Since my coming to London I have studied to
do my best in effecting the business I came up about;
but whether my Lady Vero disliked me, the conditions,
or us both, I cannot tell; but she put me off with an un-
willingness to marry her daughter in a time of such per-
plexity as she pretends to be in. The money the King
owes her is hard to get, and she is loth to impoverish
herself by parting with anything that she hath now;
whether I should proceed farther in this business or no,
I refer it to you. I waited on my Lord Mulgrave once
or twice; he was desirous to know my business here; I
told him all that my Lord had given me in charge, he
approved well of it, yet his wishes for my good were
more hearty than his assistance powerful to direct me
to that end. They are all well in that house. The
report that Mr. James Chaloner was married is
not so, for he was never more earnest in that suit than
now, for the :other day he had almost got my cousin's
portion out of my Lord Molesworth's hands, had he
stood to his word. Sir, I paid to my brother Widdring
ton 25/.; he will give you account of it himself. The
other 25/. I paid to the tailor, and here is his acquittance
e
for it ; but the odd money I could not get him to abate it.
Sir, I humbly desire your blessing, so I rest
" Your obedient son,
" February G.
THO. FAIRFAX
" I lie at the Three Black Birds, in Fleet-street." •
Yet this marriage, thus negotiated, turned out most
happily. Lady Ann Vere proved a most exemplary
wife, and Sir Thomas Fairfax an excellent husband.
The result, in this instance, certainly affords a strong
argument in 3 favour: of marriages de l'argent. The
Long Parliament met in 16401; in that Parliament
Sir Ferdinando Fairfax represented the county of
York, and in the passing of all those great measures
which consolidated the liberties of the people, such,
for instance, as the Act for Triennial Parliaments, the
proposal for making the j udges independent of thecrown,
by appointing the quamdiu bane se gesserint instead
of " during pleasure," Sir Ferdinando took an active
part. He was also actively engaged in Yorkshire
during the time of the invasion by the Scotch army
in 1640. During this time he was in constant cor-
respondence with his agent, Thomas Stockdale, whose
letters are perhaps some of the most interesting of
the collection. His management of the Knares-
borough election, by which he secured the return of
Sir IV. Constable for that place on petition, would
have done credit to the late Mr. Joseph Croucher
himself, and in his management of the billetting the
troops he showed himself a consummate tactician.
Sir Ferdinando (now become, by the death of his
father, Lord Fairfax) was one of the deputation sent
from the Parliament to the King, when the latter was

S IT N
S
at York, evidently preparing to commence. ~. f,agkilit .
the Parliament. The King at first imag A :thiaThe;,::: ,''
Yorkshire gentry would declare in ',',,,f3t-ou.
and had intended raising his st ' ayl\- .42-,
York, but a petition representing t "inotl*-
venience of his remaining in Yorkshi ,d; A ...; Al Si
beseeching him to refrain from all warlike .1
d'Ota-
lions, and to return to an amicable course with his
Parliament, which was signed by a large majority of
the freeholders of the county, soon convinced him of
his error. This petition the King at first refused to
receive, but at a public meeting of the freeholders of
the county, held on the 3d of June, 1642, on Hey-
worth Common, summoned by the King himself, and
at which from 80,000 to 100,000 freeholders attended,
Sir Thomas Fairfax, " in the presence of that assem-
blage of the county, pressed so closely upon the King
that at last he tendered the petition on the pommel
of his saddle." The King shortly after unfurled his
standard at Nottingham, but before he left York-
shire he gave orders for the arrest of Lord Fairfax,
orders which were never carried into effect, but which
were most unfortunate for the King, inasmuch as they
compelled Sir Thomas Fairfax at once, in self-defence,
to take an active part in the contest, and to commence
that series of victories which ended in the total de-
struction of the Royalist cause. The circumstance is
thus related in a MS. by Sir Thomas Fairfax, en-
titled " A short Memorial of some things to be cleared
during my command in the Army " :
" Now the Lord is visiting the nation for the trans-
gression of their ways, as formerly he did to one sort of
men, so doth he it to another sort, so that all may see
their errors, and his justice; and as we have cause to
implore his mercy, having sinned against him so much,
we still vindicate his justice, who is always there when
he judgeth.
" Now, therefore, by his grace and assistance, I shall
truly set down the grounds that my actions moved upon
during that unhappy war, and those actions that seemed
to the world most questionable in my steering through
the turbulent and perilous seas of that time. The first
embarking in the sad calamities of war was about the
year 1641, when the general distemper of the three
kingdoms had kindled such a flame in the earth; I mean
the ,difference between the King and Parliament; as
every one sought to quench his own house by the autho-
rity of both these; but the different judgments and ways
were so contrary, that before the remedy could be found
out, almost all was consumed to ashes.

" I must needs say, my judgment was for the Parlia-
ment, as the King and kingdom's safest council, as others
were for the King and averse to Parliaments, as if it
could not go high enough for the prerogative. Upon
which division, different parties were set up, viz., the
commission of array for the King, and the militia for
the Parliament; but that of the array so exceeded their
commission, by oppressing many honest people, whom
by way of reproach they called Roundheads, being for
religiun, estates, and interest, a very considerable part
of the country, that it occasioned them to take up arms
in their own defence, which was afterwards confirmed by
Parliamentary authority.
" Now, my father being yet at his own house at Den-
ton, where I then waited on him, though he had notice
from his friends that it was resolved that he should be
sent for as a prisoner to York, yet he resolved not to stir
from his own house, not knowing anything in himself to
deserve it; but the country suffering daily more and
more, many were forced to come and entreat him to join
with them in defence of themselves, and country, which
were sorely oppressed by those of the array, which after-
wards had the name of Cavaliers; and being much im-
portuned by those who were about him, he resolved,
seeing his country in this great distress, to run the same
hazard with them in the preservation of it."

The portion of the correspondence contained in
these volumes only extends to the year 1642, the
commencement of the civil war. The next portion
will be of deep interest, and of immense historical
importance. These volumes are illustrated with
portraits of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his lady, of Pym,
and of Strafford.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
WOLVERHAMPTON GRAND ANNUAL
STEEPLE CHASES.—TUESDAY.
Handicap Sweepstakes of 20 soya, each, h ft; the second
to save his stake. Four miles. (17 subs.)
Mr. T. Eskrett na Prince George, lOst 81b...(Oliver) 1
Mr. Moseley's Richard the First, lOst Mb ... 2
Mr. J. Storey's The Victim, list 3
The following also started, but were not placed:—
Captain Peel na Proceed, 12st 81b—Mr. T. Wesley na
Peter Simple, lOst 91b—Mr. Buchanan's Alfred, lOst 91b
—Mr. W. Wallace na Equinox, lOst 71b—Mr. Daven-
port's Thurgarton, lOst Mb—Mr. Tilbury's Khondooz,
lOst 51b—Mr. Moseley's Jerry, lOst 31b—Mr. Harrison's
Venom, lOst—Mr. J. Hoof na Profligate, 9st 121b—Mr.
W. Holman's Verax, 9st 81b.

Betting-3 and 4to 1 agat Richard the First, 4to 1
agat Prince George, 4 to 1 agst Victim, 5 to 1 agst
Equinox, and 7to 1 agst Alfred. Won easy by three
parts of a length. Proceed only run half the distance.
The Selling Stakes of 5 sous. each, and 25 added. Four
miles. (11 subs.)
Mr. T. Maltby's Little Fanny, lOst 71b ...(Boxall) 1
Mr. Laud's The Painter, l lst 2
Forest Boy, lOst 71b—The Rover, list—and Water-
loo, lOst 71b, also ran.

Betting-5 to 4 agst Painter, 2to 1 agst Forest Boy,
and 7to 2 agst Waterloo. Little Fanny made all the
running, and won by nearly half a distance ; she was
sold for 1701

The Free Handicap Hurdle Race Sweepstakes of 5 sm.
each, and 40 added. Twice round and a dis. (13 Subs.)
Mr. W. Archer's Teresa, lOst 91b ... (Archer) 1
Mr. Frost's Yard-arm, 9st 91b... ••• 2
Mr. W. Shirley's Novelist, lOst 121b—Mr. J. Phil-
lips's Tally-ho, lOst 91b—Mr. Sandbach's Hieover, lOst
81b—Mr. Drew's Widred, lOst 71b—Mr. J. Hargrave's
Rochester, lOst 61b—Mr. Middleton's The Young'un,
lOst—Mr. W. Mytton's Mind-your-own-Business, 10st
—Mr. Brown's Vent Rien, 9st 71b—Mr. Well's Cynthia,
9st 61b—and Mr. Wildman's Megara, 9st 51b also started.
Betting-2 to 1 agst Teresa, 4to 1 agst Novelist, and
sto 1 agst Widred. Won easily by two lengths.

A
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