Renfrewshire, which he accepted. With short intervals, he remained there till the day of his death. He was of such a character, that he considered no man or class of men his superior, and no man his inferior.

Feeling the infirmities of old age approach, a Mr. Harvey placed him at his west gate as gatekeeper, where he fell into a lingering disease, which soon put a period to his mortal career. As he had no friends nor relations (his wife having died about two years before), he was destitute of the means to support himself during his illness.

The night before he died, he called for a halfmutchkin of whiskey, and as a particular friend of his sat by the side of the bed, and who personally informed the writer of this, he took a glass of it in his hand, held it between him and the light, and eyed it for some time with a peculiar exhilarating expression of countenance. Then, while pleasure sparkled in his eyes, he took his friend by the hand, and pressing it warmly, exclaimed, "This is the last whiskey I, in all probability, will ever drink; and many and often is the times I have felt its power. Here's to thee, Jamie, and may

thou never want a drap when thou art dry." He died next morning, about eight o'clock.

THE TABARD. CHAUCER'S INN.

As the Borough High Street was formerly the great passage into a great part of the kingdom, to and from the capital, it was well furnished with Inns; one of which has been immortalized by Chaucer. The sign is now perverted into The Talbot.'-It originally was The Tabard;' so called from the sign,-a sleeveless coat, open on both sides, with a square collar, and winged at the shoulders; worn by persons of rank in the wars, with their arms painted on them, that they might be known. The use of this coat is now transferred to the heralds. This was the rendezvous of the jolly pilgrims, who formed the group which our father of poetry describes, sallying out to pay their devotions to the great saint, Thomas à Becket, whose shrine, for a long time, superseded, in England, almost every other, being resorted to down to the Reformation by pilgrims from all parts of Christendom.

"Befelle that in that season, on a day,

In Southwerck, at the Tabard, as I lay,

Redy to wander on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury, with devoute corage,
At night was come into that hostellerie,
Wel, nine and twenty in a compagnie
Of sondry folk, by adventure yfalle

In felowship, and pilgrims were they alle,
That toward Canterbury wolden ride;
The chambres and the stables weren wide,
And wel we weren essed atte beste."

ISABELLA ANDREINI,

celebrated actress,

a native of Padua, was a very towards the beginning of the seventeenth century. But her excellence was not confined to the stage: she was also an admirable poetess. Many learned and ingenious men have bestowed eulogiums upon her, and her own works sufficiently justify their panegyrics. The intenti of Pavia (so the academicians of this city style themselves) were of opinion that they did their society an honour, by the admission of Isabella as a member of it. In acknowledgment of this honorary distinction, she never forgot amongst her titles that of Academica Infanta.-Her titles were these: "Isabella Andreini, comica getosa, academica infanta detta l'accessa. She had a singular advantage which is not frequent among

the most excellent actresses: she was very handsome. Her beauty and her fine voice united, enabled her to charm both the eyes and the ears of all who saw and heard her. Under her picture the following inscription is written: "Hoc histricæ eloquentiæ caput lector admiraris, quod si auditor scies?"-"If you admire, reader, this glory of the theatre, when you only see her, what would you do if you heard her?”

Cardinal Cinthio Aldobrandini, nephew to Clement VIII., had a great esteem for her, as appears by several of her poems. When she went to France, she was kindly received by their Majesties, and by all the highest quality at Court. She wrote several sonnets in their praise, which are to be seen in the second part of her poems.

She died at Lyons, the 10th of June, 1604, in the forty-second year of her age. Her husband had her interred in the same city, and honoured her with the following epitaph:

"Isabella Andreini, Patavina, mulier magna virtute predita, honestatis ornamentum, maritalisque pudicitiæ decus, ore facunda, mente fæcunda, religiosa, pia, musis amica, et artis scenicæ caput, hîc resurrectionem expectat.

"Ob abortum obiit 4 Id. Junii, MDCIV. annum

agens

42. "Franciscus Andreinus mæstissimus posuit."

Translation.

"Isabella Andreini, of Padua, a woman of great virtue and honour, the ornament of conjugal chastity, of an eloquent tongue, and an elegant mind, religious, pious, beloved by the Muses, and the glory of the stage, here lies in expectation of the resurrection. She died of a miscarriage, the 11th of June, 1604, in the forty-second year of her age. Francis Andreini, her sorrowful husband, erected this monument to her memory."

The death of this actress and poetess being matter of general concern and lamentation, there were many Latin and Italian elegies printed to her memory. Several of these pieces were printed before her poems in the edition of Milan, in 1609. Besides her sonnets, madrigals, songs, and eclogues, there is a pastoral of hers, entitled, "Mirtilla," printed at Venice, in 1610. She sung with great taste, and played on several instruments in a masterly manner. She was, also, acquainted with philosophy, and understood the French and Spanish languages.