the king's spurs, which had become the fee of the
choristers at Windsor, perhaps at installations, or at the
annual celebration of St. George's feast.' No notice of the
subject occurs in Ashmole's or Anstis's _History of the Order
of the Garter_. Mr. Markland, quoting a note to Gifford's
edition of Ben Jonson, vol. ii. p. 49., says, 'In the time
of Ben Jonson, in consequence of the interruptions to Divine
Service occasioned by the ringing of the spurs worn by persons
walking and transacting business in cathedrals, and especially
in St. Paul's, a small fine was imposed on them, called
"spur-money," the exaction of which was committed to the
beadles and singing-boys.' This practice, and to which,
probably, the items in Henry's household-book bear reference,
still obtains, or, at least, did till very lately, in the
Chapel Royal and other choirs. Our informant himself claimed
the penalty, in Westminster Abbey, from Dr. Fisher, Bishop of
Rochester, and received from him an eighteenpenny bank token
as the fine. He likewise claimed the penalty from the King
of Hanover (then Duke of Cumberland), for entering the choir
of the Abbey in his spurs. But His Royal Highness, who had
been installed there, excused himself with great readiness,
pleading 'his right to wear his spurs in that church, inasmuch
as it was the place where they were first put on him!'--See
further, _European Mag._, vol. iii. p. 16."]

* * * * *

MINIMUM DE MALIS.

(_FROM THE LATIN OF BUCHANAN._)

Calenus owed a single pound, which yet
With all my dunning I could never get.
Tired of fair words, whose falsehood I foresaw,
I hied to Aulus, learned in the law.
He heard my story, bade me "Never fear,
There was no doubt--no case could be more clear:--
He'd do the needful in the proper place,
And give his best attention to the case."
And this he may have done--for it appears
To have been his business for the last ten years,
Though on his pains ten times ten pounds bestow'd
Have not regain'd that one Calenus owed.
Now, fearful lest this unproductive strife
Consume at once my fortune and my life,
I take the only course I can pursue,
And shun my debtor and my lawyer too.
I've no more hope from promises or laws,
And heartily renounce both debt and cause--
But if with either rogue I've more to do,