on from line to line, living for the next rhyme, with hardly a thought of the rhythm on the way to it or of the sense beyond it. These virtues and defects of Elderton are amusingly shown in a ballad of 1578, an account of one of Elizabeth's narrow escapes. It is called 'A Newe Ballade, declaryng the dangerous Shooting of the Gunne at the Courte. To the tune of Siche and Siche.' Its stanzas are far too numerous to quote; and these will more than suffice: 'The seventeene daie of Julie last, at evenyng toward night, Our noble Queene Elizabeth took barge for her delight: And bad the watermen to row, her pleasure she might take, About the river to and fro, as much as thei could make. Weepe, weepe, still I weepe, and shall doe till I dye, To think upon the gonne was shot at court so daungerouslie. But all this while upon the Thames, in Schuller's boat unknown. A wretched felloe got a gun, that was none of his owne, And gave no greate regard to see what time the Queene went out. Weepe, weepe, etc.' One of the bullets struck a waterman in the Queen's barge through both his arms. 'His gushyng blood could not abashe her noble courage then, But she was readier to give help than all the noble men.' This is probably true, for Elizabeth is known to have fairly earned the reputation for courage, which is so easily granted to crowned heads. The offender, Thomas Appletree, of courte a serving man,' was quickly arrested. 'He was committed to the gaile, at counsellors grave regarde, That thei might judge what vilest death were fit for his reward.' He reaches the gibbet, and the populace weep to think of their narrow escape from losing the Queen. 'They tolde againe, if that mishap had happened on her Grace, The staie of true religion, how perlous were the case.' The Queen pardons the rash young man; all kneel and say a prayer for her long life; the sky resounds with acclamations, and 'explicit valde feliciter.' In 1584, as an old man, Elderton came thorow the North countrye The fashions of the world to see,' and passed through York, witnessing an archery match there, on which he wrote a laudatory ballad, 'A new Yorkshyre Song,' with the refrain 'Yorke, Yorke, for my monie, Of all the Cities that ever I see, The following stanza from it has some interest, as showing that there was a direct connexion between the authors and the singers or hawkers of ballads; perhaps, too, it succeeded in impressing the men of York with Elderton's importance in the south. 'Farewell, good Cittie of Yorke to thee, But let us part from Elderton with an example that will force us to admit that he had both poetry and humour in him-a memorial poem to My Ladie Marques,' 'whose Death is bewailed to the Tune of New lusty gallant': 'Ladies, I think you marvell that I writ no mery report to you, And what is the cause I court it not So merye as I was wont to doe; * She may have been Elizabeth, Marchioness of Northampton, to whose funeral in 1565, as well as to her debts, there are many references in the State Papers. Alas, I let you understand, It is no newes for me to show; Was caught from Court a great while agoe. For, under the roufe of sweete Saint Paull That ever in court I joyed to see; But sure I am, ther liveth yet In court a dearer frinde to mee, I am sure the like will never bee; Unworthie most maie seeme to bee, Then have amongste ye once againe; When any good venison cometh in.' The moralists were more severe than the men of letters on the ballads. Most condemned them altogether; yet one wrote himself a homoeopathic antidote in the shape of a ballad Against filthy writing and such like delighting;' and popular ballads were sometimes 'moralised,' or parodied for pious purposes, with lamentable results. Moreover, good advice for the balladist and his printer was provided in 'an Exhortation to such as write in metres' by an unknown R. B. 'To such as write in metres I write In such as be worthy commendation . But now, lest ye thinke me to use excesse, Their pen to metres, let them not spare The printer should 'Pourge chaff from corne, to avoyde offence, Excellent good advice! The conclusion is 'Let writers not covet the bottom or dale, And thus every day, before we drinke, Let us pray God to save our Queene.' The motto at the head of this piece is perhaps the best utterance of the whole ballad literature of that generation, and will make a fitting close: 'When we have doen al that ever we can, Let us never seke prayse at the mouth of man.' ARUNDELL ESDAILE. The only contemporary in the list, one of two dramatists of that name. † Alexander Barclay, priest, translator of 'The Ship of Fools,' etc. John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, cataloguer of English writers, and author of violent Reformation plays and pamphlets. Art. 5. THE POSTAGE STAMP AND ITS HISTORY. 1. Catalogue des timbres-poste créés dans les divers états du globe. [By Alfred Potiquet.] Paris: Lacroix, 1862. 2. A Hand-Catalogue of Postage Stamps. By John Edward Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., of the British Museum. London: Hardwicke, 1862. 3. Histoire de la poste aux lettres et du timbre-poste. Par Arthur de Rothschild. Fifth edition. Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1880. 4. The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain. By Frederick A. Philbrick and William A. S. Westoby. London: Sampson Low, 1881. 5. The Origin of Postage Stamps. By Pearson Hill. Second edition. London: Morrison, 1888. 6. Catalogue officiel de la Société française de Timbrologie : Timbres-poste et Télégraphe. Troisième édition. Paris: Bernichon, 1908. 7. Catalogue of the Philatelic Library of the Earl of Crawford, K.T. By E. D. Bacon. London: The Philatelic Literature Society, 1911. And other works. 'WHO invented the postage stamp?' If we use the words in their wider sense, as including stamped envelopes, wrappers and the like, the answer is that the first postage stamp of which we have any record was issued in Paris in 1653. In July of that year Louis XIV issued letters patent giving to the Comte de Nogent and the Sieur de Villayer, Masters of Requests, a forty years' monopoly for the establishment, 'in our good city of Paris' and other cities, of a local post. The way in which this post was to be worked was indicated in some detail, and one of the conditions prescribed the setting up of 'a good number of boxes' in different places in the various quarters of the town; from these boxes the letters were to be collected at least twice a day and brought to a central shop or office in the Cour du Palais for distribution. The post began working in the following month; and a printed Instruction' to the public stated that every communication transmitted by it was to have a billet, costing one sol and inscribed Port payé, fastened to, wrapped round, or slipped inside it, so that the postal |