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ILLUSTRATIONS OF HUMANITY.

No. XXXI.-THE PAWNBROKER. WHY our worthy friend the PAWNBROKER should have received the affectionate appellation of "Uncle," is to us utterly unknown. Perhaps Shakspeare will help us to discover. Hamlet, we all know, exclaims, "Oh, my prophetic soul, my uncle !"-but that is nothing. King Lear is dubbed "nuncle" by his faithful fool; and the great dramatist represents the foolish passionate old man in a state of feeling exactly like that of a timorous creature on her first visit to a pawnbroker. Just as she approaches the door, over which hang the three significant bulbs, she exclaims, with Lear, "Oh me, my heart, my rising heart!-but down!" To this the fool replies, " cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put them i' the paste alive; she rapped them o' the coxcombs with a stick, and cried, Down, wantons, down. "Twas her brother that in pure kindness to his horse buttered his hay !"

Be all this as it may, the jolly Pawnbroker in our engraving, is a happy representative of "My Uncle." How he reads the riddle!-how he scrutinizes every rent, crack, fissure, seam, and threadbare spot in the shirt which the poor timid creature has brought to pledge! We feel a curiosity about that woman. Is she really in distress, and pledging her husband's shirt for a sixpence, to get a miserable meal?—or, alas, does she love a drop of gin, and is she about to transfer the coin of the pawnbroker to the publican? The little "bull-dog" along with her, whose face appears grinning over the counter, is in ludicrous contrast with the timid aspect of the woman. As for the fop or dandy in the adjoining box, waiting his turn, with his hat over his eyes, and his shaggy locks over his ears, we are more inclined to laugh than to cry with him. "Who'd a thought of seeing you?" Is it his ring or watch-guard he has come to lend his "uncle ?"

Pawnbrokers exist every where-in China and in Ireland, in London and in Moscow. In China they are under very strict regulation, and any one acting without a license is liable to severe punishment. On the continent large establishments exist, known as Monts de Piété, which, as their name indicates, are intended as benevolent institutions. A Mont de Piété in Paris carries on a very extensive business; another in Moscow yields profit to support a foundling hospital; and one which was recently established in Limerick, by an active gentleman of the name of Barrington, the professed object of which was, (in imitation of the continental ones) to lend money to the distressed, on pledges, at a low rate of interest, and to appropriate the profits to the support of charitable

institutions.

Our English notions, however, are somewhat opposed to such institutions, excellent as they may be. We are all disposed to act on the commercial prin

ciple; and therefore, in England, pawnbroking is carried on like any other business, for the benefit of the individuals who own the establishments. There are about four hundred pawnbrokers in London ; about twelve hundred in the rest of England and Wales; and about ninety in Scotland. Those who carry on business in London pay £15 annually for their license, and in other parts of Great Britain, £7 10s. The "Pawnbroker's Gazette" is a weekly stamped publication, containing advertisements of sales, and other information of use to the trade, among whom it chiefly circulates.

It requires no ghost to tell that the business of a Pawnbroker is very profitable; and that the profits are derived almost wholly from the improvident and the poor. That a pawnbroker is a "convenience," there is no doubt; he is, in one sense, as much a convenience as a banker. But it is a convenience for which the public pay very dearly; and while we know, that in such a great country as this, with its fluctuating industry and capital, no prudence can possibly guard against reverses and distress; we also know that pawnbrokers derive far more of their support from the improvidence and the vices of the community, than from legitimate assistance to sudden necessity.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF ENGLAND. THERE are some estates in England, held by grant from the crown, which confer a title or dignity on their possessor, such as Arundel castle, in Sussex, in right of which the Duke of Norfolk claims the earldom of Arundel; and such is the manor of Scrivelsby, in Lincolnshire, the tenure of which constitutes the Dymokes Champions of England. Others are held by similar tenures of services performed to the crown upon particular occasions, some of which are not a little curious. The manor of Blessington, in Kent, is possessed on the tenure of presenting to the sovereign, on the day of his coronation, three maple cups; and the Duke of Norfolk, earl marshal of England, holds the manor of Worksop by the service of presenting on the same occasion, a right-hand embroidered glove, and supporting the sovereign's arm, while he holds the sceptre and cross. The manor of Heydon, in Essex, is possessed by the tenure of presenting a towel and silver basin' for washing, and that of Wimondley, in Hertfordshire, ‘a silver cup gilt, with wine.' The tenure of the manor of Hastings Ashley, in the county of Norfolk (presently belonging to Baroness Grey de Ruthyn) is that of carrying the golden spurs at the coronation. The Barony of Ereshy, in the county of Lincoln, constitutes the holder great chamberlain of England; and the lordship of Bokenham, in Norfolk, that of butler to the king, on the day of his coronation. All these have originated in the feudal system, and the one upon which we propose to make a few remarks here, is not the least imposing among the number.

The manor of Scrivelsby, or Scrivelsby Court, as the Champion's residence is generally called, lies about three miles to the south of Horncastle, and is a very elegant mansion, most of which has been lately modernised. The grounds about it are well wooded, and laid out with taste; so that altogether Scrivelsby forms, what is not very common in this part of the county of Lincoln, a highly picturesque residence.

Of the origin of the office of Champion, no very satis

factory information can be given, but we believe that William the Conqueror introduced it into England, and that the person who was first honoured with the title, was Robert de Marmyon, lord of Fontenoy, who bore the duke's banner on the field of Hastings, and had previously preserved his sovereign's life. The Marmions, it is said, were hereditary champions to the Dukes of Normandy previous to the conquest of England. William rewarded this faithful follower by the grant of several manors in the newly subjugated country, and among the rest, that of Tamworth, in Staffordshire, and that of Scrivelsby, in the county of Lincoln, attaching to the possession of the latter, the honourable office of being champion to every future king of England.'

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The duty required of the champion was, that on the day of the coronation, he should, in complete armour, and mounted on a good war horse, come into the presence of the king and all his court, in Westminster Hall, and make proclamation, that if any one dared to gainsay the right and title of the king, or that he ought not to enjoy it, that man was a liar and traitor, and that he (the champion) was ready to prove it upon him by single combat, on what day soever he should appoint. He was then to throw down his glove or gauntlet, and according to the custom of the time, whoever took it up was considered to accept the challenge. Besides the permanent holding of the manor, the champion at every coronation was entitled to a gold cup and cover, the horse on which he rode, which was stated to be the second best in the king's stables, with its saddle and furniture, a complete suit of armour, and twenty yards of crimson satin; these perquisites of office form a valuable and interesting heir-loom in the armoury of Scrivelsby Court.

The first that bore the office in this country, was, as we have mentioned, Robert de Marmyon; and it seems, with the manor of Scrivelsby, to have remained in that family till 1294, in the time of Edward I., when Philip, the last male heir of the Marmions, died and left two daughters; the eldest (Mazera) took for her dowry the manor of Tamworth, and the youngest (Joane) that of Scrivelsby; and she being married to Sir Thomas Ludlow, he in right of being owner of the manor, became champion, and his grand-daughter and heiress (Margaret de Ludlow) marrying Sir John Dymoke, brought into the family of her husband, the manor of Scrivelsby, by which the Dymokes have, from the accession of Richard II., exercised the chivalrous office of champion at the coronation of the kings of England, and have intermarried with the most eminent families.†

At the eastern end of the aisle, in the parish church of Scrivelsby, are two tombs, on one of which is the figure of a knight in chain armour, cross-legged, and on the other, that of a lady with a lion at her feet. By the side of these, is the tomb of Sir Robert Dymoke, who was champion at the coronations of Richard III., Henry VII., and Henry VIII. In other parts of the church, are inscriptions in memory of other champions of the family, particularly Sir Charles Dymoke, knt., who acted at the coronation of James II., and the Hon. Lewis Dymoke, champion at the coronations of the two first sovereigns of the house of Brunswick. On the north side of the chancel is a marble tablet to the memory of the Hon. John Dymoke,

* One of this family, hailed Lord of Fountenay, of Tamworth and of Scrivelsby,' is, as is well known, the hero of perhaps the best of Scott's metrical romances.

A Sir John Dymoke, grandson of the knight last mentioned, was treacherously beheaded by Edward IV., at Stamford, in Lincoln, along with Lord Welles, of Welles, about 1469.

who performed the duties of champion at the coronation of George III., and who died in 1784.

In the Public Advertiser, of 19th September, 1761, is the following account of a dressed rehearsal of the champion's ceremony, a few days before it took place at the coronation of George III. "Last night, Westminster hall was illuminated, and John Dymoke, esq. put on his armour, and tried a grey horse, which his late majesty rode at the battle of Dettingen, before his royal highness the Duke of York, Prince Henry Frederick, the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Talbot, and many other persons of distinction. There were also another grey horse, and four other horses, which were walked and rode several times up and down the hall. Earl Talbot rode one of them, a very fine brown-bay horse, which his lordship, as lord high constable, proposes to ride on the side of the champion, on the day of the coronation."

Upon this occasion, accordingly, Mr. Dymoke, in a splendid suit of engraved armour, and mounted on a barbed charger, with the Duke of Norfolk, as earl marshal, and Lord Talbot, as high constable, both mounted on richly caparisoned horses, on either side of him, rode into Westminster hall during the royal banquet, and delivered the customary challenge. Upon tossing down his steel gauntlet, which he did very gracefully, a lady's silk glove is said to have been thrown from one of the galleries in answer to the champion's gage. This was understood at the time to have proceeded from some adherents of the pretender; and the silk glove, by the way, was no bad emblem of the feebleness and expiring hopes of the one cause, when contrasted with the iron strength of the other. Most of our readers will recollect that this incident forms a prominent part of Scott's novel of Redgauntlet; and there is now good reason for believing that the young Pretender was actually in London on the day George III. was crowned. Such at least was the general rumour at that time. The following anecdote, extracted from a letter addressed to the Duke of Devonshire, appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1764. "It is publicly said that the young Pretender came from Flanders to see the coronation of George III.; that he was in Westminster hall during the coronation, and in town two or three days before and after it, under the name of Mr. Brown; and being asked by a gentleman who knew him abroad, how he durst venture hither, his answer was, that he was very safe."

This relation receives additional strength from the following account given by David Hume, in a letter, dated

1773.

"The lord marshal, a few days after the coronation of the present king, told me that he believed that the young Pretender was at that time (1761) in London, or at least, had been so very lately, and had come over to see the show of the coronation, and had actually seen it. I asked my lord the reason for this strange fact. Why,' said he, a gentleman told me so who saw him there, and who whispered in his ear, Your royal highness is the last of all mortals, whom I should expect to see here.' curiosity,' replied the prince, that led me; but I assure you, that the person who is the cause of all this pomp and inagnificence, is the man whom I envy the least."

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John Dymoke, the champion last mentioned, died in 1784, leaving issue by his wife Martha, daughter of Josiah Holmes, esq., first, Lewis, who succeeded his father, second, John, Prebendary of Lincoln, and two daughters, Catharine and Sophia; the former married to John Bradshaw, esq., and the latter to John Tyrwhitt, esq.

Lewis served the office of sheriff of Lincolnshire, and at his death, was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. John Dymoke, who was called upon to act as champion at the

coronation of King George IV., but owing to his clerical station, he deputed his son, Henry Dymoke, esq., who executed the office upon that occasion accordingly. The reverend gentleman died, we believe, in 1828, and has been succeeded by his son above mentioned, who is now in his own right, champion of England.

The coronation of George IV. was the last which was celebrated with all the old feudal splendour, and seems from all accounts, to have been one of the most gorgeous spectacles ever witnessed.

It was a ceremony peculiarly calculated to interest the mind of the great poet of the north, Sir Walter Scott, who was present, and who has described with evident gusto, scenes so akin to those in which his imagination revelled. He says, "The effect of the scene in the abbey was beyond measure, magnificent. Imagine long galleries, stretched among the aisles of that venerable and august pile those which rise behind the altar pealing back their echoes to a full and magnificent choir of music-those which occupied the sides, filled even to crowding, with all that Britain has of beautiful and distinguished, and the cross gallery appropriately occupied by the Westminster school boys in their white surplices, many of whom might on that day receive impressions never to be lost during the rest of their lives. Imagine this, I say, and then add the spectacle upon the floor; the altar surrounded by the fathers of the church; the king encircled by the nobility of the land and the councillors of his throne, and by warriors wearing the honoured marks of distinction, bought by many a glorious danger. Add to this the rich spectacle of the aisles crowded with waving plumes, and coronets, and caps of honour, and the sun which brightened and saddened as if on purpose, now beaming in full lustre on the rich and varied assemblage, and now darting a solitary ray, which caught, as it passed, the glittering folds of a banner, or the edge of a group of battle axes or partizans, and then rested full on some fair form, the cynosure of neighbouring eyes,' whose circlet of diamonds glistened under its influence. Imagine all this, and then tell me if I have made my journey of four hundred miles to little purpose."

In regard to the king himself, and the ceremony of the banquet, he adds,

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"The box assigned to the foreign ambassadors, presented a most brilliant effect, and was perfectly in a blaze with diamonds, when the sunshine lighted on Prince Esterhazy, in particular; he glimmered like a galaxy. I cannot learn positively, if he had on that renowned coat which has visited all the courts of Europe, and is said to be worth £100,000, or some such trifle, and which costs the prince one or two hundred pounds every time he puts it on, as he is sure to lose pearls to that amount. This was a hussar dress, but splendid in the last degree, perhaps too fine for good taste, at least it would have appeared so anywhere else. Beside the prince sat a good-humoured lass, who seemed all eyes and ears, (his daughter-in-law, I believe) who wore as many diamonds as if they had been Bristol stones. The Marquis de Miraflores and the Prince of Salerno were also very splendid.

"An honest Persian was a remarkable figure, from the dogged and impenetrable gravity with which he looked on the whole scene, without moving a limb or a muscle for the space of four hours. Like Sir Wilful Witwoud, I cannot find that your Persian is orthodox; for if he scorned every thing else, there was a Mahometan paradise extended on his right hand, along the seats which were occupied by the peeresses and their daughters, which the Prophet himself might have looked on with emotion. I have seldom seen so many elegant and beautiful girls, as sat mingled among the noble matronage of the land; and the waving plumage of feathers had the most appropriate effect in setting off their charms.

"I must not omit that the foreigners were utterly astonished and delighted to see such a revival of feudal dresses and feudal grandeur, and that in a degree of splendour which they averred they had never seen paralleled in Europe."

The banquet scene in Westminster hall, and ceremony of the challenge by the champion, were omitted at the late coronations of William IV. and Victoria.

THE FISHERMAN'S TALE.

THERE is a village in Scotland called Gourloch, situated on the shore of a fine bay, about three or four miles from the town of Delingburn, and inhabited mostly by fishermen, who let part of their houses in the summer months to people who resort thither for the purpose of bathing.

Perhaps no other part of Scotland, or of the British islands, presents so much richness and variety of scenery. From the summit of a hill of very precipitous ascent, a little way to the east of the village, the view is particularly fine, embracing an extent of country unusual in such situations, where the intervention of mountains commonly shuts in the landscape too abruptly.

"The championship was performed, as of right, by young Henry Dymoke, a fine-looking youth, but bearing perhaps a little too much the appearance of a maiden knight, to be the challenger of the world in a king's behalf. He threw down his gauntlet, however, with becoming manhood, and showed as much horsemanship as the crowd of knights (the earl marshal, high constable and When descending one day, during my visit to the west their squires) around him would permit to be exhibited. country, from this commanding spot, I sat down, wearied His armour was in good taste, but his shield was out of with the exertion, on a huge isolated rock, near the narrow all propriety, being a round or Highland target, instead of path by which alone the hill is accessible. Presently, an being a three-cornered or heater-shield, which in time of elderly man, of a grave aspect, and a maritime appearance, the tilt was suspended round the neck. Pardon this anti-winding slowly up the hill, came and sat down near me quarian scruple, which you may believe, occurred to few but myself. On the whole, this striking part of the ceremony somewhat disappointed me, for I would have had the champion less embarrassed by his assistants, and at liberty to put his horse on the grand pas. And yet the young Lord of Scrivelsby looked and behaved extremely well.

"I must not forget the effect produced by the peers placing their coronets on their heads, which was really august.

on the rock. I guessed him to be one of the better class of fishermen from the village, who had purchased, with the toil of his youth and his manhood, a little breathingtime to look about him in the evening of his days, ere the coming of the night. After the usual salutations we fell into discourse together, and after a pause in the conversation, he remarked, as I thought in somewhat a disjointed manner, "Is it not strange, sir, the thoughts that sometimes come into the brain of man, sleeping or waking like a breath of wind that blows across his bosom, coming

he knows not whence, and going he knows not whither, -and yet, unlike the wind that ruffles not the skin it touches, they leave behind them an impression and a feeling; are as things real and authentic, and may become the springs of human action, and mingle in the thread of human destiny?—I was thinking at this moment of something which has sat, for many days past, like a millstone on my mind; and I will tell it to you with pleasure." So I edged myself closer to him on the stone, that I might hear the better; and without more preamble the Scottish fisherman began his story, as nearly as I remember, in the following words :

"About six months ago, a wedding took place in our village, and a more comely and better looked-on couple never came together. Mr. Douglas, though the son of a poor man, had been an officer in the army, an ensign, I'm thinking; and when his regiment was disbanded, he came to live here on his half-pay, and whatever little else he might have. Jeanie Stuart at the time was staying with an uncle, one of our folk, her parents having been taken away from her; and made up for her board as far as she could, by going in the summer season to sew in the families that came out then like clocks from the holes and corners of the great towns, to wash themselves in the caller sea. So gentle she was, and so calm in her deportment, and so fair to look on withal, that even these nobility of the loom and the sugar-hogshead thought it no dishonour to have her among them; and unknowingly as it were, they treated her just as if she had been of the same human mould with themselves.

"Well, they soon got acquainted, our Jeanie and Mr. Douglas, and the end of it was, they were married. They lived in a house there, just beyond the point that you may see forms the opposite angle of the bay, not far from a place called Kempuck-stane, and Mr. Douglas just employed himself like any of the rest of us-in fishing, and daundering about, and mending his nets, and such like. Jeanie was now a happy woman, for she had aye a mind above the commonalty; and I am bold to say, thought her stay long enough among those would-be gentry, where she sat many a wearisome day, and would fain have retired from their foolishness into the strength and greenness of her own soul.

"But now she had a companion and an equal, and indeed a superior; for Mr. Douglas had seen the world, and could wile away the time in discoursing of the ferlies he had seen and heard tell of in foreign lands, among strange people and unknown tongues. And Jeanie listened and listened, and thought her husband the first of mankind. She clung to him as the honey-suckle clings to the tree; his pleasure was her pleasure-his sorrow was her sorrow and his bare word was her law. One day, about two weeks ago, she appeared dull and dis. pirited, and complained of the headache; on which Mr. Douglas advised her to go to bed, and rest herself awhile, which she said she would do; and having some business in the village, he went out. On coming back, however, in the forenoon, he found her just in the same spot, leaning her head on her hand; but she told him she was better, and that it was nothing at all. He then began to get his nets ready, saying he was going out with some lads of the village to the deep-sea fishing, and would be back the next day.

"She looked at him long and strangely, as if wondering at what he was doing, and understanding not any thing that was going on. But finally when he came to kiss her, and bid her good bye, she threw her arms round him, and when he would have gone, she held him fast, and her bosom heaved as if her heart would break-but still she said nothing.

"Stay with me to-day!' said she at last, depart not this night-just this one night-it is not much to askand to-morrow I will not be your hinderance a moment.' "But Mr. Douglas was vexed at such folly, and she could answer nothing better to his questions than that a thought had come into her head, and she could not help it. So he was resolved to go, and he kissed her, and threw his nets on his shoulder, and went away. For some minutes after, Jeanie stood just on the same spot, looking at the door where he had gone out, and then began to tremble all over like the leaf of a tree; at length, coming to herself with a start, she knelt down on both knees, and throwing back her hair over her forehead, turned her face up towards heaven, and prayed with a loud voice to the Almighty, that she might still have her husband in her arms that night.' For some moments she remained motionless and silent, in the same attitude, till at length a sort of brightness, resembling a calm smile, passed over her countenance, like a gleam of sunshine on the smooth sea, and bending her head low and reverently, she rose up. She then went as usual about her household affairs, and appeared not any thing discomposed, but as tranquil and happy as if nothing had happened.

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"Now the weather was fine and calm in the morning, but towards the afternoon it came on to blow-and indeed the air had been so sultry all day, that the old sea-farers might easily tell there would be a racket of the elements before long. As the wind, however, had been rather contrary, it was supposed that the boats could not have got far enough out to be in the mischief, but would put back when they saw the signs in the sky. But in the mean time the wind increased, till towards night it blew as hard a gale as we have seen in these parts for a long time; the ships out there at the tail of the bank, were driven from their moorings, and two of them stranded on their beamends, on the other side; every stick and stitch on the sea made for any port they could find; and as the night came on in darkness and thunder, it was a scene that might cow even the hearts that had been brought up on the water, as if it was their proper element, and been familiar with the voice of the tempest from their young days. There was a sad lamenting and murmuring then among the women folk,-especially them that were kith or kin to the lads on the sea; and they went to one another's houses in the midst of the storm and the rain, and put in their pale faces through the darkness, as if searching for hope and comfort, and drawing nearer to one another, like a flock of frightened sheep, in their fellowship of grief and fear. But there was one who stirred not from her home, and who felt no terror at the shrieking of the night-storm, and sought for no comfort in the countenance of manand that was the wife of Mr. Douglas. She sometimes indeed listened to the howling of the sea, that came by fits on her ear like the voice of the water-kelpie, and starting, would lay down her work for a moment; but then she remembered the prayer she had prayed to Him who holds the reins of the tempest in his hands, and who says to the roaring waters, Be still,' and they are still-and of the glorious balm she had felt to sink into her heart at that moment of high and holy communion, even like the dew of heaven on a parched land. So her soul was comforted, and she said to herself, God is not a man that he can lie,' and she rested on his assurance as on a rock, and laughed to scorn the trembling of her woman's bosom

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for why?-the anchor of her hope was in heaven, and what earthly storm was so mighty as to remove it? Then she got up and put the room in order, and placed her husband's shoes to air at the fire-side; and stirred up the fuel, and drew in the arm-chair for her weary and stormbeaten mariner. Then would she listen at the door, and

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