To the Editor of the Analyst.

THE following anecdote, connected in some degree with the annals of Worcester, may not be inappropriate to the objects embraced by your new publication. Should similar communications suit you, I shall be glad to make "The Analyst" the vehicle of some biographical as well as bibliographical memoranda, which I have transcribed into my common-place book.

J. M. G.

The father of Dr. Samuel Johnson, the celebrated Lexicographer, it is well known, in early life, kept a book-stall in Lichfield, and attended on market days, as was then customary, the neighbouring towns. There was, a few years ago, a copy of one of his original Sale Catalogues, in the possession of Thomas Fernyhough, Esq. of Peterborough, from which the following Title of the Catalogue, and Mr. Johnson's address to his customers are extracted :

"A Catalogue of choice Books in all Faculties, Divinity, History, Travels, Law, Physick, Mathematicks, Philosophy, Poetry, &c.; together with Bibles, Common Prayers, Shop Books, Pocket Books, &c. Also fine French Prints for stair cases, and large Chimney Pieces, Maps, large and small-To be Sold by Auction, or he who bids most, at the Talbot, in Sidbury, Worcester, the sale to begin on Friday the 21st this instant March, exactly at six o'clock in the afternoon, and continue till all be sold. Catalogues are given out at the Place of Sale, or by MICHAEL JOHNSON, of Lichfield. The Conditions of Sale :

"I. That he who bids most is the buyer, but if any difference arise which the company cannot decide, the book or books to be put to sale again.

II. That all the books, for ought we know, are perfect; but if any appear otherwise before taken away, the buyer to have the choice of taking or leaving them.

III. That no person advance less than 6d. each bidding, after any book comes to 10s. nor put in any book or set of books under half value. ***Note.-Any gentleman that cannot attend may send his orders, and they shall be faithfully executed. Printed for Mich. Johnson,

1717-18.

"To all Gentlemen, Ladies, and others, in and near Worcester.—I have had several auctions in your neighbourhood, as Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Evesham, &c. with success, and am now to address myself, and try my fortune with you. You must not wonder, that I begin every day's sale with small and common books; the reason is a room is some time a filling, and persons of address and business, seldom coming fast, they are entertainment till we are full; they are never the last books of the best kind of that sort, for ordinary families and young persons, &c. But in the body of the catalogue you will find Law, Mathematicks, History: and for the learned in Divinity, there are, Drs. South, Taylor, Tillotson, Beveridge, and Flavel, &c. the best of that kind; and to please the Ladies, I have added store of fine pictures, and paper hangings; and by the way I would desire them to take notice that the pictures shall always be put up by noon of that day they are to be sold, that they may be viewed by day light. I have no more, but to wish you pleas'd, and myself a good sale, who am,

"Your humble Servant,

"M. JOHNSON."

CRÉPU; OR, "IS IT POSSIBLE?"

A TALE OF BLOOD.

THE solemn bell of Brussels cathedral had given warning of that most portentous of all hours, which, according to ancient crones and chronicles, releases the interred body from the bondage of the grave, and permits of its temporary re-union with the spirit, to roam awhile on earth, to scare the conscience of the wicked, fright babes and old veterans, clank chains, lift bed-hangings, wave tapestry, turn tapers blue, and howl and gibber in the lone court, or by the still loner way-side. In short it was midnight, and as the last echo of the last chime died away, the painted, carved, and highly-polished door of a sumptuous edifice near the Hotelde-Ville, was thrown open, and discovered a group of merry roisterers, who had evidently bowed fervently at the shrine of Bacchus, and were still reeling from their genuflections. Their mirth was loud and daring; "quip and crank" prevailed, as the strong flames of a couple of torches held aloft by liveried lackeys, showed a candle-light effect" which Schalcken would have contemplated with rapture. Half a dozen gallants, attired in the full mode of 1680, with an immense mass of curls on their shoulders, long cravats of Mechlin lace, deep ruffles of the same, and richly embroidered suits of velvet, with diamond buckles in their square-toed high-heeled shoes, were bidding adieu to a booncompanion, and pledging him in what might have been the stirrup-cup had the stranger been otherwise than a pedestrian. A stout, middleaged, muscular man, with blunt features, twinkling grey eyes, and a complexion pretty well bronzed in its natural state, but now heightened to a dull brick colour by its proprietor's late orgies, was the object of these valedictory courtesies. His steeple-crowned hat, set jauntily on one side, was ornamented with a long feather and a precious stone of great brilliancy; a wide Flanders ruff, somewhat disordered, encompassed his neck, and a short full cloak of black velvet, opening in front, displayed a close-fitting doublet of military cut, crossing which a broad white leathern belt sustained a sword of rather extravagant longitude: trunk hose and maroquin shoes, with trim rosettes, completed the costume of the departing guest. Bursts of laughter, jests, and gibes, and sarcasms, with sentiments more memorable for their good-will and jollity than their sober philosophy, stunned the martial visitant as he raised a huge bell-mouthed drinking glass to his lips, and, at one draught, decanted the Rhenish which it contained. A peevish refusal of attendance, a muttered "good night," a striking down of his beaver upon his brow, a fierce flinging out of his right leg, and a correspondent flourish of his dexter arm, as he prepared for his homeward march, raised an uproar of merriment from his friends; he heeded it not, but, steadying himself for a moment to recover the gravity partially endangered by his too vigorous outset, went off at a pace remarkable for nothing but sundry vacillations from right to left, similar to those practised by fresh-water sailors on stepping from stem to stern in a rough sea.

*Godfrey Schalcken, the celebrated painter of fire-lights, who desired William III. to hold a candle while he sketched in his Majesty's portrait.

In a few seconds, the shouts of his comrades and the glare of the flambeaux waxed faint and dim, and the turn of a corner brought our hero into obscurity, illumined only by occasional gleams of the moon, which struggling in a rebel drift of tempestuous clouds, threw out a beam now and then, as if asserting her prerogative to enlighten the world. The imagination of the soldier-for such he appeared-was apparently alive to all the glories of warlike enterprise; words of mighty import of death and wounds and cannon's roar; of attack and slaughter, siege and sortie; battle and ambuscade, broke from him at intervals, and these were curiously intermixed with the fond phrases of a floral enthusiast wandering through his flower beds. Roses, tulips, peonies, anemonies, hyacinths-all the favourites of the parterre, with their bright minions the butterflies, were apostrophised and verbally transplanted to the field of carnage; nor must we omit to state that ejaculations of less warrantable purity, and more like the rude oaths of the halbert, ever and anon varied the oratory of the speaker. In this chequered mood he was zigzagging on, when a rough salutation manual, on the shoulders, roused his belligerent propensities, and, foaming with ire indescribable, he whirled out his bilboa, faced round, and with a biting anathema, made a deadly lunge at his antagonist. The pass was effectual,-hot blood gushed into the face of the soldier, a heavy groan, and a heavier fall, succeeded the blow-then a bubbling sound, and all was silent. The fumes of inebriation instantly fled from the brain of the conqueror; appalled at the consequence of his rashness, he stood for a moment rooted to the very ground, his crimsoned blade in his hand, and his hair bristling on his head like " quills on the fretful porcupine." Detection, arrest, a criminal process, judgment and execution-a scaffold, and all its sickening accompaniments, rushed before him in momentary but hideous display. "San Jago, assist me!" at length uttered the unhappy soldier, throwing down his sword, and stooping to take note of the dying man. One glance was sufficient, he sprung back as if galvanised, poured out a hearty thanksgiving, made a summerset in the air, took off his beaver, bent it double with delight, and, finally, kicked it into the kennel; then, rushing up to the victim who lay lifeless before him, he hastily unbuckled his buffalo belt, fastened it securely round the feet, and, raising the corpse on his back, tottered home as speedily as he could, dreading an encounter with the watch. Alarm lent wings to his heels, and thus transformed him into a modern Mercury; the moon peeped out pryingly as he knocked with subdued eagerness at the back gate of a fair house, on the outskirts of the good city of Brussels: the baying of a dog at some distance returned the demand, and while banning the tardiness of those within, the soldier leaned his burthen upon a fence and proceeded to fan his brow with his broad hat. His resting-place was a long slip of garden ground, at the end of which, close to the trellised door-way of a quaint, old, tall-chimneyed dwelling, he stood panting from the effects of his flight. Narrow paths, neatly gravelled and bordered with close-clipped edgings of box, intersected the place at right angles, a summer-house, gilded and painted and surmounted with a fantastic weather cock, stood in the centre; and miniature plantations fenced in the spot, and protected the flower plots from too boisterous a salute from the winds. These small treasuries of Flora were disposed in bizarre fashion and mathematical form, but they exhibited some of the rarest and costliest roots that ever a Dutch bulb buyer gloated on with ecstacy. There were tulips worth the Muscovite's diadem, and hyacinths, one individual of which were cheap at the wealth of a dynasty" of Burgomasters.

Indeed, there were blossoms of all hue and shape, and shade, and grade of loveliness, and the perfume that arose from this little wilderness of sweets as the breeze wantoned over it, might have wooed a Peri from Paradise. But dreams of perfume and Peris played not over the olfactory organs, or the poetical fancy of the impatient and jaded soldier; a less cautious tapping than previously-in fact a tremendous application of his fists to the old oaken panels brought, first the hurried apparition of a taper to the lozenged window above, and secondly, the bodily semblance of a tall, slender, spindle-shanked, sleepy-eyed youth, to the door. With a quick fling the soldier strode through a dark sinuous passage, and entering a warm kitchen, glittering with culinary utensils of the brightest pewter, brass, and copper, he deposited the corpse on the floor, and surlily bade his shambling attendant fast bar the door. But he spoke and exorcised in vain. Karl stood still, an image petrified; his large leaden eyes fully expanded, his mouth drawn down, his arms depending rigidly at his side, with the hands spread out, and fear and terror written most legibly on his colourless visage. "How now!" angrily demanded his master, "what is the elfin dreaming of? By the blade of my sword you look more like a mandrake uprooted, than any thing Christian." This greeting of brief ceremony dissolved the spell that sate on the panic-struck youth, his lips parted, and in a quick, shrill, half-agonized tone he cried out-" The governor's favourite stag-slain outright!" and, making one stride to the back gate, he barred and bolted till the battering-ram of the ancients might have found it tough work to break away. "Is it possible? The governor's favourite!-the fawn!-the tame fawn that followed him every where!" cried Crépu, the delinquent, eying the poor victim fearfully. 'Aye! and that was fed at his table-eat out of his own hands, drank of his cup, and lay in his ante-room!" mournfully responded Karl, gazing on the inanimate beast. Holy Mother preserve me!" ejaculated Crépu, wringing his hands and bitterly striding across the kitchen. "His Serene Highness will raise the whole city! we shall all be hanged, drawn, and quartered!" pursued Karl. "Peace, villain! or I will stew thee alive!" roared his master, turning on him in an agony of passion and fright. With one bound Karl made to the door, and his lank personage vanished in an instant at the top of a wide dark-grained staircase of oak, which he had ascended with the celerity of lightning. In a few seconds he re-appeared, followed by a young man of fair handsome features, with bright tresses waving gracefully on his shoulders, and a gallant figure well set off in a suit of forester's green. "Hans!Hans! what is to be done?" cried out Crépu, on his entering the kitchen, see what mischief Beelzebub and his imps have led me into ! Alas! alas! that I should have lived to behold this ruin!" and the miserable man again wrung his hands with dismay." "The governor's fawn! who-o-o!" exclaimed the young man in an under tone, indicative of strong surprise, and whistling inwardly as he stooped over the beautiful creature, and raising the head showed a rich silver collar, bearing the arms and titles of the most irascible of all men. A groan of horror burst from Karl, and Crépu re-echoed it with awful vehemence. "Had you knocked a fat citizen on the sconce, or pinked him into eternity, all might have been well, good master," said the young student, still scrutinizing the poor beast with the sharp glance of a sportsman"but by the Tun of Heidelbergh, the death of his stag will be never forgiven!" Karl melted into loud wailings, "Perdition!" groaned Crépu-" Perdition, indeed," returned Hans, "to loiter with the brute in the house! Come, come-out with the knives-flay it and quarter

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it!-ere day-light it must be made so that no man shall know it!" Crépu's eye kindled as the youth spoke, and Karl ceased to shed tears; but the business was urgent, all lent a hand, the dappled fawn was dragged into the cellar, and there, amidst flasks of old Hock, and pipes of Tokay, it was speedily divested of its leathern coat, carved and cut and slashed most adroitly, rapidly, and silently, by the anxious trio, and, long before dawn, divers large pickling-pans, well filled with brine, exhibited the novel appearance of venison in salt. The skin and the collar, that bore marked evidence of the assassination, were consigned to the temporary guardianship of a flag raised for the purpose in the floor of the vault; and, having washed away the sanguinary traces of their occupation, the master, his pupil, and domestic, issued from the subterranean scene of their labours, and ventured to retire to repose.

Now Crépu being at this time a bachelor, had no fair female inquisitor on the premises to take cognizance of the ruthless proceedings of the night; his tortoiseshell cat, it is true, was of the softer sex, and following them into the cellar with ten thousand blandishments, had testified extraordinary affection for the defunct, insomuch that sundry morsels were administered to her by her master, in recompense for her attentions; but she was prudential and aged, and her taciturnity might be relied upon. Karl was sworn to secrecy,-Hans was well born, indeed nobly descended, and his honour was unimpeachable,-the fawn was in pickle and its skin under ground, there was an end to the matter; the dead could not whisper the deed, and Crépu, breathing freely, resigned himself most quietly to Morpheus.

But man's wisdom is gossamer, and his conclusions are smoke! The morrow came, and the governor's domestics shrunk into grasshoppers when the fawn was reported "absent without leave!" They looked upon one another like men stricken with pestilence,-visions of swords at their throats and a thick storm of curses flitted before their eyes, and made them willing to exchange shoes with the commonest mendicant in the market place of Brussels. Despair turned their blood into vinegar, bitter words rose amongst them, menace, and reproach; even the timorous became valiant, and the shoe-black plucked the scullion-boy by the nose, and challenged him on the spot. In the midst of their panic the silver bell of the governor rang loud and furious; a quick choleric voice was heard rising in paroxysms of wrath, and the valet made but one step and a half backwards down stairs, to assure the terrified servants that "all Brussels would be burnt to the ground, if the fawn were not forthcoming instanter." The lackeys would have taken to flight and rushed into rat-holes for security, but a light, firm foot descended the staircase, and terrible as the god of war, "His Serene Highness," slippered and morning-gowned, stood in their midst. The affrighted vassals fell on their knees, and begged for their lives. "How now, villains!" thundered their Lord, “by what disobedience of orders has the animal been lost? answer me, scoundrels! and on your peril speak truth, or I'll hang you up thick as acorns on the park trees!" And in good truth His Serene Highness scowled as if he would verily act as he promised: he was a gallant, knightly-looking man, of some forty-five years of age, middle-sized, square built, and unencumbered with flesh; with short golden hair, a blue eye bright as the kestrel's, a straight nose, full mouth, and ruddy complexion; in short, he seemed a man of heady mood but of warm heart; swift at a word and a blow, and yet not a very Herod withal. The domestics flew with alacrity to search every crevice, but in vain ;-the palace, the park, the grounds, the garden, the streets, the lanes, and even the market-women's panniers