t her balance and fell into the
river, then racing in high tide under the arches of the bridge.
Fortunately for Mistress Anne the young apprentice saw the accident;
quick as thought he threw off his shoes and surcoat, and, plunging into
the swollen waters, caught the maiden by her hair as she was being swept
away, and with difficulty dragged her to a passing barge, on which both
found safety.

There was only one proper sequence to this romantic incident; Mistress
Anne lost her heart to her gallant rescuer, the grateful parents smiled
on his wooing, and one fine August morning, not many months later, the
wedding-bells of St Magnus Church were spreading far and wide the news
that young Osborne had found a bride in one of the fairest and richest
heiresses of London town. In due time Osborne became, as his
father-in-law had been before him, Lord Mayor of London; the son of this
romantic alliance was knighted for prowess in battle; Edward Osborne's
grandson was made a Baronet; and his great-grandson, Sir Thomas, added
to the family dignities by becoming in turn, Baron, Viscount, Earl and
Marquis, and, finally, Duke of Leeds. Thus only two generations
separated the 'prentice lad of Philpot Lane from his descendant of the
strawberry-leaves, the first of a long and still unbroken line of
English dukes, whose blood has mingled with that of many noble families.

The noble house of Ripon has its origin in Yorkshire tradesmen who
carried on business in York, some of whom were Lord Mayors of that city
two or three centuries ago. These early Robinsons added to their fortune
and enriched their blood by alliances with some of the oldest families
in the north of England--such as the Metcalfes of Nappa and the
Redmaynes of Fulford--and slowly but surely laid the foundation of one
of the wealthiest and most distinguished of great English houses. For
four generations the head of the family was a Cabinet Minister, while
one of them was Prime Minister of England.

The Marquises of Bath derive descent from one John o' th' Inne, who
was, probably, a worthy publican of Church Stretton, and who was
descended in the seventh generation from William de Bottefeld, an
under-forester of Shropshire in the thirteenth century; while, through
his mother, the late Marquis of Salisbury derived a strain of 'prentice
blood from Sir Christopher Gascoigne, the first Lord Mayor of London to
live in the Mansion House.

Until a few years ago there might be see