CITY TAVERNS. In a black-letter Poem of Queen Elizabeth's reign, intituled Newes from Bartholemew fayre,' there is a curious enumeration of Taverns in London, name "There hath been great sale and utterance of Wine, The Swan at Dowgate, a Taverne well knowne ; *The following directions for making Ypocras, which was a favourite drink of our fore-fathers, were extracted from Arnold's "Chronicle." The Crafte to make Ypocras. Take a quarte of red wyne, an vnce of synamon, and half an vnce of gynger; a quartir of an vnce of greynes [of longe pepper,] wythe half a lb. of suger: brose alle these not to smalle, and then putte them in a bagge of wullen clothe (made therfore) with the wyne, and lette it hange ovir a vessell tylle y° wyne be runne thorow.'-We may presume that the wine should be poured over the spices when boiling hot, otherwise it would extract but little of their strength and flavour. The Ressaite to make Ypocras. For a galon and a pynt of red wyne, take synamon iij. vncis, gynger tryed an vnce, greynes and longe peper di. vnce, cloues and masys, a q'rt' of an vnce, spignard a qua'tir of an vnce, suger ij lb. The Bore's Head in Old Fish Street; Three Crowns in the Vintry ; And now, of late, St. Martin's in the Seutree: The Windmill in Lothbury; the Ship at th' Exchange; King's Head in New Fish Street, where Roysters do range: The Mermaid in Cornhill; Red Lion in the Strand; Three Tuns in Newgate Market; Old Fish Street at the Swan. Several of the above Signs have been continued to the present day, in the very places mentioned; but nearly all the original buildings were destroyed in the conflagration of 1666, and the few which escaped have been rebuilt, or so altered, that their former appearance has altogether vanished. STEALING OF THE CROWN, BY COLONEL BLOOD. The daring, and all but successful, attempt made to steal the Crown from the Tower in the reign of Charles the Second, is one of the most curious incidents in the English annals. The ensuing account of that transaction has been principally deduced from Bailey's "History of the Tower," and Strype's edi tion of Stow's" Survey." Strype's narrative was detailed from a relation of the circumstances by old Edwards,* the only sufferer on the occasion, and from a manuscript supposed to have been written by Sir See Heath's" Chronicle of the Civil Wars," p. 580, and Strype's Stow, Vol. I. p. 92-96: edit. 1720. Strype says that he had "this relation from the favour of Mr. Edwards himself, the late keeper of the Regalia;" meaning, probably, the young Edwards' mentioned in the narrative. 6 Gilbert Talbot, who was master and treasurer of the Jewel-house, at the time of the attempted robbery. Soon after the appointment of Sir Gilbert (about 1660,) the Regalia in the Tower first became objects of public inspection, which King Charles allowed in consequence of a reduction in the emoluments of the master's office.* The profits which arose from shewing the jewels, Sir Gilbert assigned, in lieu of a salary, to an old confidential servant of his father's, named Talbot Edwards, who was entrusted with the care of them, and who was keeper of the Regalia when the notorious attempt to steal the Crown was made by one Blood, † a desperate ruffian, on the 9th of May, in the year 1673. *Harleian MSS. No. 1843. He was the son of a blacksmith in Ireland, and deemed small crimes beneath him. He rescued one of his associates who had received sentence of death, in Yorkshire, from the officers as they were leading him to the gallows. In Ireland, he laid a plot for surprising the castle of Dublin; and seizing the magazine there, and usurping the government; but, the conspiracy being discovered by the Duke of Ormond, the night before its intended execution, some of the party were apprehended and suffered as traitors; whose death, Blood, and the other survivors, bound themselves by a solemn oath to revenge upon the Duke's person: and he, with five or six others, accordingly attempted it in the most bold and determined manner: his grace fortunately escaped, and Blood, in consequence, fell into some disrepute amongst his comrades. To redeem his credit, therefore, he is said to have formed the design of stealing the Regalia, which, he thought, would fully compensate for all his former miscarriages. About three weeks before that time, Blood came to the Tower in the guise of a Parson, with a long cloak cassock, and canonical girdle, accompanied by a woman whom he called his wife. They desired to see the Regalia, and just as their wishes had been gratified, the lady feigned "a qualm upon her stomach," and Mrs. Edwards, the keeper's wife, having given her some spirits, courteously invited her into their house to repose herself: she soon recovered, and on their departure, both herself and her paramour professed themselves thankful for this civility. A few days after, Blood brought four pair of white gloves to Mrs. Edwards as a present from his pretended wife; and, having thus begun the acquaintance, they made frequent visits to improve it. After a short. respite of their compliments, the disguised ruffian returned again, and told Mrs. Edwards that his wife could discourse of nothing but the kindness of those good people in the Tower: that she had long studied, and, at length, bethought herself of a handsome way of requital." You have," quoth he, "a pretty gentlewoman to your daughter, and I have a young nephew, who hath two or three hundred a year in land, and is at my disposal. If your daughter be free, and you approve it, I will bring him here to see her, and we will endeavour to make it a match." This was easily assented to by old Mr. Edwards, who invited the parson to dine with him on that day; he readily accepted the invitation, and, taking upon him to say grace, performed it with great seeming devotion, and, casting up his eyes, concluded "his long-winded grace," with a prayer for the King, Queen, and Royal Family. After dinner he went up to see the rooms, and, observing a handsome case of pistols hang there, expressed a great desire to buy them, to present to a young Lord who was his neighbour: but this was merely a pretence, by which he thought "to disarm the house" against the period intended for the execution of his design. At his departure, (which was with a canonical benediction of the good company,) he appointed the day before mentioned to bring his young, nephew to see his mistress; and as he wished, he said, "to bring two friends with him to see the Regalia, who were to leave town early that morning," the hour was fixed at about seven o'clock. The old gentleman had got up ready to receive his guest, and the daughter was in her best dress to entertain her expected lover," when, behold, parson Blood, with three more, came to the Jewel-house, all armed with rapier blades in their canes, and every one a dagger, and a brace of pocket pistols. Two of his companions entered in with him, and the third stayed at the door, it seems, for a watch." The daughter, who thought it not modest to come down till she was called, sent the maid to take a view of the company, and bring a description of her gallant; and the servant regarding the person standing without as the intended bridegroom, because he was the youngest of the party, returned to sooth the anxiety of her young mistress with the idea she had formed of his person. Blood told Mr. Edwards, that they would not go up stairs till his wife came, and desired him to shew |