may, or may not, have had some grounds for his assertions. At all events, it gives a few curious details, and, in its general outline, agrees singularly with the incidents on which Mrs. Behn's play, The Round Heads; or The Good Old Cause, is founded: sufficiently so to give it at least an air of authenticity, so far as the popular belief of the day was concerned.

S. H. H.

"After Cromwell had been declared General of the Commonwealth's Forces, he seized the possessions of the Royalists, who had escaped his implacable resentment; and the New Hall fell to the share of the Usurper, who, flushed with the victory of Worcester, disposed at pleasure of the forsaken seates of the noble Fugitives, who still supported Charles II.'s Drooping Standards; and adding insulte to oppression, commanded the domesticks of the Duke of Buckingham to follow their master's desperate fortune, and to carry him five shillings, which he might want in his exile, for the purchase of a Lordship, whose yearly value exceeded then 1300l. Cromwell kept possession of New Hall till he assumed the title of Protector, and was instaled at White Hall, in the Pallace of the English Kings: Then he chose Hampton Court for his Summer Residence. He led at New Hall an obscure life, without pomp, without luxury, having but two servants in his retinue. Though his manners were natuaraly austere, he had some private amoures, which he indulged with great Caution and Secrecy. His favourites were General Lambert's wife and Major-General Vernon's sister: the first was a well-bred, genteel woman, fatheless to her husband from natural aversion, and attached to Cromwell from a conformity of inclination in a mysterious enjoyment and stolen embraces, with mask of religious deportment and severe virtue: the other was a person made to inspire lust and desire, but selfish, revengfull, and indiscreet. These too rivals heartily detested each other: Mrs. Lambert reproached Cromwell for his affection to a worthless, giddy, and wanton woman; and Mrs. Vernon laughed at him for being the dupe of the affected fondness and hipocry of an artful Mistress. They once met at the house of Colonel Hammond, a Creature of Cromwell's, and reviled each other with the most virulent sarcasms. Mrs. Lambert, fired with rage and resentment, went immediately to New Hall, where Oliver was at that juncture, and insisted upon her Rival's dismission for her unprovoked outrage. Cromwell, who was then past the meridian of voluptuous sensations, sacrificed the person he was no longer fit to enjoy, to a woman who had gained his esteem and confidence, and delegated to Mrs. Lambert all the domestic concerns of his house in Essex. Cromwell's wife, called afterwards the Protectress, was a sober helpmate, who, dressed in humble stuff, like a Quaker, neither interfered in his amours or politics. She never went to New Hall but once, and that was on the 25th of April, 1652, when he invited all his family to a grand entertainment on account of his Birthday. The other Guests were, his mother, who survived his elevation to the Protectorship: she was a virtuous woman of the name of Stewart, related to the Royall Family; Desborough, his brother-in law; and Fleetwood, who had married his daughter; his Eldest Son, Richard, a man of an inoffensive and unambitious Character, who had been married some years, and lived in the country on a small estate which he possessed in right of his wife, where he spent his time in acts of benevolence: at the trial of Charles I. he fell on his knees and conjured his Father in the most pathetic manner to spare the life of his Sovereign; his brother Henry, afterwards Govonor of Ireland, where he was universally beloved for his mild administration; Mrs. Claypole, the darling of her father; and his three other daughters: Mrs. Rich, married to the Grandson and heir of the Earl of Warwick; Lady Falconbridge; and the Youngest, who lived in celibacy. They spent a week at New Hall, in innocent mirth and jollity; Oliver himself joining in convivial pleasure with his children, disengaged the whole time from state affairs and Political Speculations.

"His constant visitors at New Hall were some Regicides, and the meanest, lowest, and most ignorant among the Citizens on whome he had decreed that the Sovereign power should be vested. To excell in Fanaticism seemed a necessary qualification in this new parliment; and Oliver foresaw that they would soon throw up the reins of Government, which they were unqualified to guide, and raise himself to an unlimited power far beyond that of former Kings.

"It seems Mrs. Lambert continued to reside at New Hall during Cromwell's Protectorship, and that Col. Wite, his trusty friend, was often sent with kind messages and preasants from Oliver, who travelled himself in the night, with hurry and precipitation, to enjoy with her some moments of domestic comfort and tranquility."

SPURIOUS EDITION OF BAILY'S ANNUITIES.

In the course of last year a curious and impudent bibliographical fraud was perpetrated by some parties unknown. I am not aware that it has been publicly exposed as yet.

The celebrated work on annuities, by the late Francis Baily, was published in 1810 by Richardson, and printed by Richard Taylor. It was at first in one volume: but on the publication of an appendix in 1813, two titles were printed with this last date, and the stock then remaining was sold in two volumes. As the book became scarce, it gradually rose in price, until, when by a rare chance a copy came to the hammer, it seldom fetched less than five guineas. This price was lowered, as well by the general decline in the price of old books, as by the sale of Mr. Baily's own library in 1844, which threw a few copies into the market; but the work was still saleable at more than the original price. In the course of last year, copies, as it was pretended, of the original edition were offered at the assurance offices, and to individuals known to be interested in the subject, at twenty-five shillings. Some were taken in, others saw the trick at once. There has been, in fact, a reprint without any statement of the circumstance, and without a printer's name; but with a strong, and, on the whole, successful attempt at imitation of the peculiar typography of the work. If the execution had been as good as the imitation, the success would have been greater. But this is wretchedly bad, and will amuse those who know how very particular Mr. Baily always was in his superintendence of the press, and how plainly his genuine works bear the marks of it.

The spurious edition may be known at once by the title-page, in which the words "an appendix" are printed in open letter, which is not the case in the original. Also by "Leienitz," instead of "Leibnitz" in page xi. of the preface. Also by the Greek letter

throughout, which is, in the spurious edition, never anything but an inverted δ, which looks as if it were trying to kick backwards.

In all probability, the agents in this shabby trick are beneath reproof; but it is desirable that the reputation of the author whom they have chosen for its object should not suffer from the effects of their misprint. And as the work they have appropriated is only used by a small public, and a reading one, the mode of exposure which I here adopt will probably be sufficient.

The spurious edition is now on the stalls at a few shillings; and, as a curiosity, will be worth its price.

A. DE MORGAN.

Minor Notes.

Les