Autobiography And Halieutics. -I.

extinguished , as Avas fondly hoped , for ever—but , rekindled to blaze Avith the ancient fury in his old age . During his life the wealth , territory and poAver of his native country haA'e increased to an extent that sounds like an Eastern fable . Surely there is hardly to be found in tho whole page of

history a period compassing greater Avondcrs and more extraordinary changes . Our author ' s first reminiscences take us to . Dartford in Kent , the scene of his earliest childhood , where his father and mother inhabited a handsome mansion surrounded by beautiful groundsancl containing among other delights a pond

, full of fish , the sig ht of Avhich as captured by dozens at a time , seems to have implanted in his youthful breast a taste Avhich grcAV with his groAvth and strengthened Avith his strength . His school clays take us back to the time of hoops and patches , of square skirted coats ancl poAvdered Avigs , and lie tells of an encounter Avhich he Avituessed at the church

door between tAvo irate vestrymen which resulted in their throAving their caulifloAver wigs in each other ' s faces , and pommelling each other furiously—a mode of settling parish matters Avhich appears of late j'ears to have gone out of vogue . Those Avere the days when that most popular of the European sovereigns of his day , George III ., used to delig ht in

revieAving his troops , regular ancl irregular , surrounded by the handsome striplings of his family—then England Avas one great camp , and a really martial spirit pervaded all ranks . Of course the fair sex were ambitious of assisting- at these Avarlike displays , and the lad Wright ' s astonishment and admiration were excited tit seeing ladies in military costume ( as to the npper part , that is to say , of their dress ) , proceeding either Avith or Avithout military companions to the cam }) at Coxheath .

" Strange indeed , " says our author , " are the mutations ot this life , "—ancl stranger still , Ave may add , are the alterations in the opinions of society Avithin the last three quarters of a century . Before that time it was by no means uncommon for ordination to be freely granted to persons of little or no education ; and in this A ery book we are told of a journeyman

cabinet-maker AVIIO , though merely able to read and write , became incumbent of tAvo parishes , married a rich widoAv , and died respected . To a felloAV workman of this handicraft parson the public were indebted for the Adelphi theatre ( lately in ruins , and noAV resuscitated with brighter glories under the auspices of Bro . Webster)—then called the

Sauspareil . This Avas the well-known " True Blue" Scott , as he was called , whose nickname arose from the source by Avhich he made a fortune . He , like the divine , married a AVICIOAV , relict of a colourman—and carefully considering the stock which he had acquired Avith his neAV wife , by a lucky stroke

of genius hit upon that blue colour , which , strange as it may seem to our modern notions , speedily became the rage as the fashionable tint for ladies' stockings . " True Blue" Scott became rich and famous , and built the Sanspareil to bo the deli ght of thousands of London playgoers . Startling , in truth , are the many changes and contrasts

Avhich the present day SIIOAVS , as compared with Bro . Wri ght ' s youth . To say nothing of the alteration in travelling , in manufactures , in manners and mode of life , of the wonders of steam ancl electricity , as compared with the clumsy mechanical contrivances of the last century , tho very commonplace item ( as it seems to our everyday eyes ) of policeexhibits a state

, of societ y in tho lifetime of one still among us , which astonishes us , but would be simply impossible in our day . Lot the reader picture to himself an army of highwaymen on a turnpike road levying their contributions on her majesty ' s lieges ; yet such was the case sixty years ago . Hear our diarist : —

• I remember a Mr . II ds , as a good-looking and pleasant gentleman , a frequent visitor at our house , AVIIO I think had some dealings in corn or malt , and some of his descendants arc still inmiential inhabitants at Dartford . Some time after we left this

part of the country , he ( Mr . II . ) was returning from London , with a friend in his chaise , Avhen about three miles from his home he was attacked by seven footpads ; Mr . II . shot the man AVIIO held the horse ' s head , the animal ran aAvay into the next village , an alarm Avas given , parties Avcnt out , and found the Avounded in a chalk pit , stripped by his companions , and nearly dead .

Medical assistance Avas immediately rendered , ancl the robber stated that their gang consisted of about seventy men , but he Avould only impeach the dastardly companions Avho had treated him in such a cruel maimer . The six men Avere taken , but before he could legally identify these i ' elloAVS he expired ; aud as nothing could be brought home to them , they Avere reluctantly discharged . Mr . H . received many threatening letters , supposed to emanate

from the gang , and he never went out uuanucd with jiistols One afternoon , in Avalking home from Cranford , two men begged of him ; he gave them some halfpence , but immediately after thought he recognized their faces as being two of the six AVIIO had been taken up , and as they Avcrc following him closely , he took his pistols from his pocket , and said , ' I have seen you before , my lads , ancl I do not like you ; IIOAV either go before me into Dartibrcl , or go back . ' They chose the former alternative , and lie thus by his determination probably saved his life , and was aftenvards left in peace . "

Our friend passes over a considerable period of his life in silence , but invites us to accompany him to France in the year 1801 , Avhere ho intended like many Englishmen—the peace of Amiens having thrown the continent open—to make the grand tour , and especially to indulge in the gaieties ancl , kmt soil pen , of the dissipation of the gay city of Paris . Fate

had decreed that Wrig ht ' s trip should end at Boulogne , Avhere he landed , and to his SOITOAV made the acquaintance of two compatriots of a class which then as IIOAV , it appears , Avere but tAvo common in that Anglo-French colony—they Avere , sooth to say , swindlers . Having persuaded him to join them in a bubble speculation , they plundered and left him a wiser

and a poorer man . The effect of this change in his circumstances was to make him . more observant than before , Avith a vieAV to avoid the extortions and impositions for Avhich he , as a milord , was considered fair game by the unsophisticated Boulogners . Better times Avere in store for him , ancl a removal to Calais , under a UCAV partnership with an honest SAvede , turned out to be a profitable speculation .

At Avhat period of his life our hero entered into Masonry , we are not informed , but the sequel of our narrative will SIIOAV that at the time of which Ave are writing he Avas in the enjoyment of the privileges of our fraternity . We have never had the pleasure to meet Bro . Wright in the Craft , but Ave have little doubt that he is a worthy and consistent brother

among us ; there is a truly Masonic spirit of piety Avhich pervades his book , shoAving the feeling of a really reli gious man , at the same time that it displays that disgust Avhich honest men must always feel at the manifestation of bigotry in any shape . Our friend's passion for angling might well harmonize with his Masonic pursuits—for if angling be justly

termed the contemplative man ' s recreation , surely it must accord Avith the study of that queen of sciences , Avhich is fairly entitled to the same designation . Bro . Wrig ht ' s life has been an active and a bustling one , but he has thought deeply and studied extensively ; ho may claim to have fulfilled the duty enjoined upon the neAvly initiated member of our body to devote his energies to the improvement of his OAvn mind and the benefit of his felloAvs .

FOAV of us have enjoyed tho society and tough yarns of any of those veterans AVIIO have survived the shot and steel of the Nile and Trafalgar , the Peninsula and Waterloo—Avithout being made the Avilling recip ients of many passing strange stories of the Avonders Avhich tho mystic tic has effected under various circumstances in time of Avar . Some of these

anecdotes , indeed , have fallen upon such fertile soil as to bear fruit at an undesirably copious rate ; AVO may instance a celebrated and voluminous modern historian AAIIO has trotted out one or tAvo of these hard worked stories at so unmerciful a rate , at every Masonic celebration honoured with his presence for a dozen years past , as to become to thoae