, Pembroke, Devonshire, Shrewsbury, and Earls of Dorset
and Portland, 500_l._ each; with others amounting to upwards of
9,000_l_. According to a note by the Treasurer, four months after the
foundation, the work done amounted to upwards of 5,000_l._ towards which
the treasurer had received only 800_l._, there being among the
defaulters the king's 2,000_l._, paid by exchequer tallies on the
post-office, "which," says he, "nobody will take at 30 per cent
discount:" so that we see the suspension of great works for want of
friends was never uncommon; though this was a "season of debt and
disgrace" in England. The sum paid in Evelyn's time towards building
Greenwich Hospital, seems to have been upwards of 69,000_l_.

_Major Mason and George II._--During the siege of Fort St. Philip, a
young lieutenant of the Marines was so unhappy as to lose both his legs
by a chain shot. In this miserable and helpless condition, he was
conveyed by the first opportunity to England, and a memorial of his case
presented to an honourable Board, in order to obtain some additional
consideration to the narrow stipend of half-pay. The honourable Board
pitied the youth, but disregarded his petition. Major Mason had the poor
lieutenant conducted to court on a public day, in his uniform, where,
posted in the guard-room, and supported by two brother officers, he
cried out as George II. was passing to the drawing-room, "Behold, great
sire, a man who refuses to bend his knee to you; he has lost both in
your service." The king, struck no less by the singularity of this
address, than by the melancholy object before him, stopped, and hastily
demanded what had been done for him. "Half-pay," replied the lieutenant,
"and please your majesty." "Fie, fie, on't," said the king, shaking his
head, "but let me see you again next levee-day." The lieutenant did not
fail to appear at the place of assignation, when he received from the
immediate hands of royalty, five hundred pounds, smart money, and a
pension of two hundred a-year.

* * * * *

_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset
House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G.
BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and
Booksellers._

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT,
AND INSTRUCTION, VOL. 19, ISSUE 552, JUNE 16, 1832***

******* This file should be named 11616.t