The Shreveport weekly news., 1861-05-20
TAs Wtle Or seven Ha stands.
4 IEaEND OF ANCIENT LONDON.

memory, there lived upon CSrles
hille, ever against The spot where
the watex-tonne WIS few Years af-
AspssAsds huilt, q scsrtAiM hli.ile4 and
huxolne widow, very wealthy, and as
fair withall as she was wealthy she
WAS only In her twenty eighth year,
Of a tall and stately shape and ,bear-
Ing. and with commanding and set
right u,Oslest features her face was
e,ral, her NJ rand eyessofbright black
her forehead high; her eyebrows
asEhs,l. almost into seiaf-circles; her
nose slightly aqnhine; her cheeks
high colored. and yet delicately so !;
her lips small, and prettily bent !;
her teeth white and regular; her
Chin rather forward and dimpled !;
aud her complexion dark though not
swarthy; SO that upon the whole she
had rather a Jewish cast of counte-
n nee, and yet there was no righttul
reason to- suspect that there was
oven adropof israelitish blood in her
veins, for her father, and his fathers
before him, for many generations
back, had been rich and respectable
gold-workers, citizens OF London, and
had always married among their
equals and. friends. Busy tongues,
however, there We're that whispered
something or other to this eject
that the maternal grandmother of Mrs.
Alice (my young and pretty widow
during the absence of her husband,
who was merchant, had become
pretty closely acquainted witha young
Hebrew, at that time staying in Lon
don; and that when her husband re-
turned, he was, for some reason or
other, SO angry with his wife, that
he put her away from him, and would
never after see her, though he provi-
ded for her during her life, and him
self educated the children she had
borne up to the period of their par
ting. Now. though the latter part
of the story is undoubtedly true, /
would nevertheless caution my rea-
ders, gentle and simple, not to put
too much trust in the former part
thereof; remembering that husbands
nre husbands, and, from the Begin
ming Of the world to the present day,
have been and are, 4 jealous and way
ward race; and, moreover, that the
breath Of Islander will at all times
snlly the brightest regulations and,
besides, that conclusions are too fire.
quently drawn which the premises
Will by no fair means justify.
But be this as it may, Mistress
Alice was very handsome woman,
and, as has been before said, very
wealthy, for her father always pet
tedher,and although The had two other
children, sons, he quarrelIed with
them both, and turned them out of
doors, and very solemnly vowed he
would disinherit them, and there is
little doubt he would have kept his
vow, but that they prevented him,
the eldest by being drowned in the
Fleet river, and the other by get
ting murdered in an ARRAY with the
city watch. At the old mans death,
therefore, he left all his property.
real and personal, to his ssdeare
daughter Alice" who was then TWEEN
ty-one years old, and had lately been
married for the FIRST time in her life.
She has been introduced to the rea-
der MS a widow, and if he was temp
ted to be surprised at her being So
lopng one, what will he think
when he reads that she was widow
for the fifth time ?-ay, am was now
Oh the eve of being married to her
sixth hnsband-this was Master
Simon Shard, a draper of Corne-hille,
who had well-filled purse, a rather
corpulent figure, a round and rudy
face, and was about two-and thirty
years of age. 1t was said he had
been enamoured of the fair Alice
previously to her three last maria
gees, but that he had not had cour-
age enough to break his mind to her
. till some tiMe after the death of her
fourth husband, and when he did so,
he found she was engaged to her I'M
mediate torerunner, at whose death
he again pressed his suite-was ac-
ceptcd, and they We're married.
After living together for about SIX
months on the most seemingly low
ing and comfortable terms, Master
Shsssd was found dead in his bed,
without any previous illness or indis-
position; this was very strange, at
least arrange it will probably seem to
the reader, though ii was not so to
Mrs. Alice's neighbours, for, wonder
ful to relate, all her other husbands
had died In the same way, and under
the same circumstances. There had
been from time to time many vari-
orts opinions afioat upon this sub
lect, and they had become more pre-
valsnt. stronger, and oflonger lasting
upon the successive deaths of each Of
her husbands. The most moderate
had merely observed, that ..foir certes
Mrs. Alice was a very nnincky, or a
very lucky woman" according to
the speakers appreciation Of wedlock :