trary power, brass money, and wooden shoes. May we never want a Williamite to kick-a Jacobite ! .. and he that won't drink this, whether he be bishop, priest, deacon, bellows-blower, grave-digger, or any other of the fraternity of the clergy, may a north wind blow him to the south, a west wind blow him to the east; may he have a dark night, a lee shore, a rank storm, and a leaky vessel to carry him over the river Styx."

It is scarcely necessary to say that the ladies were honoured long before the period of "toasts" proper arrived. The amorous young gentlemen of Elizabeth's days, as each sped the cup with the name of his mistress to further it, pricked their arm with a dagger, and wrote their mistresses' names, in their own blood, on the table! When the wit was cut, they fell to honouring more ignoble names. Lady Littleworth and Mistress Lightheels came in for their share of homage, and if any of the sisterhood was present, the least modest would not scruple to call for a health to some Sir Rayleigh D'Isgustin!

In course of time came the "reigning toasts," and noble ladies felt flattered at knowing they were the "toasts of the town." Clubs engraved their names on the club glasses, and the first poets of the day added a tribute of laudatory verse. Then came fashion of a grosser sort, when each gallant, toasting the lady next to him, swore he would drink no wine but what was strained through her petticoat! We may fancy with what boisterous politeness the edge of the petticoat was seized, with what hilarious coyness it was defended, how some of the damsels looked over, under, or from the sides of their fans, while others affected to close the eyes which they kept open, to look through the interstices of the convenient screen. Then, the hems of the garments were placed over the glasses, the wine was poured through, and the Quixotic fellows quaffed the draught in honour of the fair ones! There came a time, however, when men had more refinement, and would not give up to the tipsy salutations of "health-drinkers" the names of the true and modest mistresses of their hearts. The lover who was a gentleman, and yet who was also a "good fellow," always kept his gentility before him, and his mistress's name to himself. An illustration of this is afforded us through Mr. John Bruce having luckily inserted in his admirable edition of Cowper, that writer's "Early Poems." In one of these, "The Symptoms of Love," written to "Delia," but really addressed to the author's early and only love, his cousin Theodora, are the following lines:

And lastly, when summoned to drink to my flame,
Let her guess why I never once mention her name,
Though herself and the woman I love are the same.

Connected with this subject of toasting the ladies, ill-fortune has sometimes come of it when it might have been least expected. For example, "Honest men and bonnie lassies!" is a toast which one would think could never bring offence with it; but while the rule holds, the exception presents itself. A young minister in Scotland was about to preach a pro

bationary sermon in a church for the ministry of which he was a candidate. Being a stranger, he was housed and entertained by a parishioner, who invited many of his fellows to sup with the candidate on the Saturday night. The elders had quietly saturated themselves with toddy and smoke, when the unlucky probationer, in his innocence, proposed, before they parted, "Honest men and bonnie lassies!" The unco righteous looked through the smoke and over their glasses with orthodox horror, and the most solemn tippler present arose and said, that no minister would have their sympathy who could not stick quietly to his liquor, but whose thoughts were running on the lassies so near the Sabbath! The company assented, and the candidate had to forego the honour he coveted.

There was fine and generous delicacy and great readiness of wit in George II. when, during one of his absences abroad, on being asked if he would object to a toast which wished health to the Pretender, he replied that he would readily drink to the health of all unfortunate princes. This expressed readiness, however, did not encourage the Jacobites in openly drinking to the only king they acknowledged. They continued, as they and their fathers before them had done, to have a bowl of water on the table, and holding their glasses over it, to drink to "the king," implying, of course, the king over the water.

If it be true that Pitt, at Kidderminster, gave a toast in compliment to the carpet-manufacturers, it cannot be said that there was much outlay of brains in the making of it. "May the trade of Kidderminster," said Pitt, "be trampled under foot by all the world!" If this may be simply called "neat," in that term lies as much praise as the occasion warrants. It is weak, compared with the more audacious toast, freighted with double meaning, and which has been variously attributed to Smeaton, to Erskine, and some others. This after-dinner trade sentiment was delivered in this form :-"Dam the canals, sink the coal-pits, blast the minerals, consume the manufactures, disperse the commerce of Great Britain and Ireland!"

In May, 1798, the Duke of Norfolk gave a toast at a dinner of the Whig Club, at the Crown and Anchor, which caused some sensation. This was the duke who, when Earl of Surrey, renounced the Church of Rome. He wore short hair when queues were in fashion, and was the most slovenly-dressed man of his day. At the Whig Club dinner he called on the two thousand guests" present to drink the toast of "Our Sovereign-the People!" This was considered such grave offence in days when men were ostentatiously seditious, that the duke was dismissed from the Lord-Lieutenancy of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and was deprived of the command of his regiment of militia. Fox resented the application of this penalty for asserting a sentiment which, when put into action, had deposed James II., and ultimately carried the family of Brunswick to the throne. He went down to a subsequent meeting of the Whig Club, and there proposed "The Sovereign People," a proposition which was speedily followed by an outery on the part of the supporters of the Ministry that Fox should be prosecuted for sedition. Pitt, however, wisely

declined a course so perilous, and contented himself with erasing Fox's name from the list of Privy Councillors.

A Duke of Norfolk of a later period,-he in fact who died in 1856,designed to celebrate the completion of his restoration of Arundel Castle, by inviting as his guests all the living descendants of his ancestor, Jockey of Norfolk, who fell at Bosworth. The assembled cousins were to drink continued good fortune to the House of Howard; but when the duke discovered that to carry his project out, he should have to invite six thousand persons, he relinquished his intention, and the toast was not given.

Some toasts, and those special and "proper for the occasion," speedily die out of memory. Fourscore years ago, Baddeley, the actor, left funds wherewith to procure cake, wine, and punch, on Twelfth Night, for the Drury Lane players, in green-room assembled, "for ever." An old formal toast used to be given on those occasions-"The memory of Baddeley's skull ! ” -in honour of the brain in that skull which had conceived the thoughtful kindness. It is long since this toast has been given, but on the last "cutting of Baddeley's cake," one of the guests proposed that it should be revived; and the veteran actor, Mr. W. Bennett, the trustee of the fund, gazed with an air of quaint reproof at this audacious guest, and then solemnly gave "The memory of David Garrick!" All knowledge of the original toast had perished; but that obtrusive guest ceased to wonder when an actor, who was drinking Baddeley's wine or punch, and eating his cake, asked, "Who was Baddeley, and why did he do this?" Poor Baddeley! The visitor, as he withdrew by the dark back of the stage, saw, "in his mind's eye, Horatio," the figure of the benevolent old player, as he used to come to rehearsal, in scarlet and gold-the uniform of the gentlemen of the household, who were "their Majesties' servants," playing under royal patent at Drury Lane. Baddeley was the last actor who wore that uniform.

Chancery Funds.

COMPOSED Of Government stocks, of various other securities, and of cash uninvested, the funds belonging to the Suitors of the Court of Chancery amount in the aggregate to nearly 60,000,000l. Acting on behalf of the court, the Masters had, prior to 1726, committed to their care the moneys and effects in the suits referred to them, while the Usher of the court took charge of any property involved in causes which required no reference to the Masters. In a manner somewhat analogous to the system of modern banking, these functionaries employed for their own benefit the moneys placed in their hands, reserving of course such balances as were deemed sufficient to meet the recurring claims of the suitors. Investments in the stock of the South Sea Company had been made by several of the Masters on their own account; and on the failure of that scheme it was found that defaults on their part amounted to over 100,000l. This sum was ultimately made good out of the public revenue; but precautions were taken to prevent the recurrence of so great an abuse.

The Lord Chancellor, by an order of 17th December, 1724, directed each Master" to procure and send to the Bank of England a chest with one lock and hasps for two padlocks." The key of the lock of each chest was to be kept by the Master, and the key of one of the padlocks by one or other of two of the six clerks in Chancery, and the key of the other padlock by the Governor, Deputy-Governor, or Cashier of the Bank. Each Master was ordered to deposit in his chest all moneys and securities in his hands belonging to the suitors; the chests were then to be locked and left in charge of the Bank. But as the vault where the chests were kept could not be opened unless two of the Directors of the Bank were present, it of course happened, on every occasion when access was wanted to them in order to comply with the mandates of the court, that the attendance of all these high officials was necessary. The inconvenience and trouble so caused became at length too great for endurance, and led to a change. On the 26th of May, 1725, a general order was made by the Lords Commissioners holding the Great Seal, which directed the money and effects of the suitors to be taken from the Masters' chests, and given into the direct custody of the Bank. A subsequent order extended the plan to the moneys in the hands of the Usher. These orders still remain in force; the Bank of England from that time until the present has acted, and now acts, as the custodier of the Chancery funds.

In 1726, an officer under the designation of the Accountant-General was appointed, pursuant to Act of Parliament, to keep the Chancery accounts, and to carry out the orders of the court respecting the receipt

and disposal of the funds. This officer, by the Act creating his office, is not allowed to meddle with the actual money either in receipt or payment. All dealings with funds are to be accomplished under his direction, and with his privity; but he himself is debarred from touching a single coin ; yet his office is not the less one of great responsibility. At the period of the appointment of the first Accountant-General, upwards of 140 years since, the cash and securities made together a total of 741,9501., and the number of accounts was 415. The amount, as we have already stated, now verges upon 60,000,000l., and the number of accounts have increased to well nigh 30,000. Almost without exception the volume of the funds in court has year by year shown a steady increase. Of late that increase has been at the rate of about half a million annually. This is only what might be expected from the growth of the population and the everaugmenting national wealth. Litigation is, of course, one of the main feeders of the Chancery reservoir. Upon the application of a party to a suit, the court orders the property under dispute to be placed in its hands, where it is retained until the question of right is settled, or until such time as the interests of those entitled are most fully secured. It is then, upon petition, transferred out of court. Legacies bequeathed to minors. are not unfrequently paid into court by executors. The sums of cash so paid are in every case invested in consols without expense, and the interest also from time to time as it accumulates; so that the amount of the legacy with compound interest is, in the form of stock, when application is made, transferred to the person entitled, on the attainment of majority. A kindred source of supply is furnished by trust moneys. Trustees or executors who may have doubts of the legality of their proceedings in carrying out the provisions of a trust, or who may be at a loss as to the rights of parties claiming under a will, and desiring to free themselves from responsibility, may, under what is known as the Trustee Relief Act, transfer or pay the trust funds into court. Such funds, if not already in the form of stock, are, as a matter of course, invested by the AccountantGeneral, and the accruing dividends are also invested solely for the benefit of the parties entitled, who may at any time apply to have the funds paid to them.

For the enfranchisement of land under the Copyhold Acts, and in connection with railway undertakings, very many payments of cash are made to the Accountant-General. These latter are usually for the purchase of land and houses. Where parties labour under a disability to convey, or where an agreement cannot be come to, the railway company, on an award being made by two surveyors, pays the sum into court, and at once takes compulsory possession. The promoters of new undertakings, whether railways, docks, or waterworks, and such like, for which the sanction of the legislature is necessary, are required to deposit with the Court of Chancery a sum amounting to one-eighth of the estimated cost of the undertaking, as preliminary to the application to Parliament. Such deposits in the aggregate usually reach a large annual amount.