immense
amount of bowing, with backward steps according to true courtly
fashion, went to the due uttering of these adieux on that spot of the
high-road over the Apennines. Unfortunately, there chanced to be a
heap of broken stones for the mending of the road which encroached a
little on the roadway. And it so happened that His Imperial and Royal
Highness, never very dexterous in the use of his limbs or an adept in
the performance of such courtly gymnastics, backed in bowing on this
unlucky heap of stones, and was tripped by it in such sort that the
imperial and royal heels went into the air, and the grand duke made
his last exit from Tuscany in a manner more original than dignified.

T. ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE.

OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.

OLD ENGLISH CHARITIES.

The local charities connected with the family history of great
landowners in England form one of the most interesting classes of
public relief. They date chiefly from ante-Reformation times, and
often embody a hidden symbolism into which none save the antiquary now
cares to inquire. It is a mistake to suppose that _all_ the dying
bequests of pious folk in the Middle Ages were devoted to the "Church"
proper: the larger part certainly were, although the spirit that
prompted even the making of such bequests was symbolical of the belief
in the dispensing (rather than the appropriating) powers of churchmen:
but many were also the sums left to be yearly spent in the relief of
the poor and starving. Thus originated the alms-(or bede-) houses so
frequently met with in the retired villages of England. _Bede_ (from
the German _beten_, to "pray") meant prayer, hinting at the pious duty
of those benefiting by the founder's legacy to pray for his eternal
welfare. When the Reformation, among many abuses, also obliterated
many beautiful and poetical customs, the meaning of these "houses of
prayer" was forgotten, and their chapels were often ruthlessly
whitewashed. The material part of the foundation, however, still
remained, and the bedesmen, twelve or thirteen (in commemoration of
the number of the apostles, or the apostles and their Master),
continued to be chosen by the clergyman of the parish and the lord of
the manor. In other places, instead of this more costly mode of
relief, a custom prevailed of distributing a "dole" at stated times
to a large number of poor people, the number corresponding to the age
of the giver: if alive, of course the number increased every ye