ilkes's Luckiest Number_.--A rich farmer in Devonshire made a will,
in which the following article was found:--"I bequeath to John
Wilkes, late member of parliament for Aylesbury, five thousand pounds
sterling, as a grateful return for the courage with which he defended
the liberty of his country, and opposed the dangerous progress of
arbitrary power."

_Owen's Alms-houses, Islington_, were founded by Dame Alice Owen, in
consequence of a providential escape. In the fields, near this spot,
in the reign of Queen Mary, the archers frequently exercised with bows
and arrows. Dame Owen walking with her maid, and observing a woman
milking a cow, was desirous of trying to milk the cow herself, which
she did, when on leaving the cow, an arrow pierced the crown of her
hat, without doing her the least injury. In gratitude for her escape,
she built the school and houses. For many years an arrow was fixed on
the top of them. SWAINE.

_Origin of Tory_.--Our friend, Mr. George Olaus Borrow, who has
devoted his attention specially to the Celtic dialect, suggests that
the long-disputed etymology of the word Tory may be traced to the
Irish adherents of Charles II., during the Cromwellian era. The words
_Tar a Ri_ (pronounced _Tory_,) and meaning _Come, O King_, having
been so constantly in the mouths of the Royalists as to have become
a by-word to designate them. Mr. Borrow's paper on the subject has
appeared in the _Norfolk Chronicle_.

_Toast_.--May the man who wins a woman's heart never be instrumental
in breaking its peace.

_Progress of Life_.

When man full thirty years has spent,
The road at times both rough and stony,
To clear life's vapour, and repent
He seeks the stream of Matrimony!

_Caught at last_.--Sir Jervis Elwayes, lieutenant of the Tower, being
much addicted to gaming, used to say, in his prayers, "Lord, let me
hanged, if ever I play more." He broke this serious prayer a thousand
times, and at last was hanged on Tower Hill, in 1615, for the murder
of Sir Thomas Overbury.

Edward the Confessor took great delight in Haverley Bower, in Essex,
it being woody, solitary, and fit for devotion; but it so abounded
with warbling nightingales, that they disturbed him in his devotions.
He earnestly prayed for their absence, since which time it is
superstitiously said, never nightingale was heard to sing in the park,
though occasionally the warbler is heard outside the pales.

_Wages_.--In 1352, (2