Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

"In works of humour, especially when a man writes under a fictitious personage,

the talking of oneself may give some diversion to the public."—ADDISON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

NA

BIBL

LONDON:

HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,

SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

[blocks in formation]

PRINTED BY CHARLES BEVAN AND SON,

STREET'S BUILDINGS, CHAPEL STREET, GROSVENOR SQUALE.

PHILIP COURTENAY.

CHAPTER I.

'How beautiful is youth!
How often as it passes by

With flowing lips, and flashing eye,
With soul that not a care hath cross'd

With cheek that not a tint hath lost;

How often in my heart I
How beautiful is youth!'

cry

HOWITT.

I BELIEVE it is Horace Walpole who says, quoting a remark of Gray, "that if any man would keep a faithful account of what he has seen and heard himself, it must, in whatever

VOL. I.

B

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

hands, prove an interesting one. Addison, too, no mean authority, writes" In works of humour, the talking of one's self may give some diversion to the public." Sincerely do I trust that the following pages will not only be humorous, but savour as little as possible of "self;" and in order to avoid the charge of egotism, I shall touch lightly upon events of a personal nature, and draw largely upon others which have come under my immediate observation.

As I write under a fictitious name, it would be needless to inflict upon the reader a detailed history of my birth, parentage, and education; suffice it to say that I was the fourth son and seventh child of a family of thirteen, the truth of the old adage, "medio tutissimus ibis" was not realised in this instance, nor can it ever be so long as the law of primogeniture remains valid, for the younger boys were doomed to be food for powder in the army or navy, while the elder one was, in due course of time, to hold the sinecure situation of receiver of rents.

The "Human Stud Book," as the "Peerage" has not inaptly been termed, dated the family pedigree from the period when the eighth Harry ruled over the destinies of the land; but it was not until the days of the Virgin Queen that my ancestor was ennobled. This distinguished individual served in the most brilliant naval enterprises of the day, in the expedition to Normandy in aid of Henry the Fourth of France, and took a prominent part in the capture of Cadiz, which the impetuous valour of the English troops, under the gallant and highminded Essex, had carried sword in hand.

Elizabeth, who loved valour, was profuse in liberality she gave this new favourite a present of thirty thousand pounds, thus realizing the common saying of the time-"The Queen pays bountifully, though she rewards sparingly;" fortunately my ancestor reaped the benefit of this munificence. Captain Courtenay was raised to the peerage, a large sum of "secret service" money was presented him, and some valuable manors, pillaged from the see

« PoprzedniaDalej »