l Register_, 1 Aug., of "A NEW WAY OF PAYING CHURCH
RATES.--Mr. Osborne, a dissenter, of Tewkesbury, having declined to pay
Church Rates, declaring that he could not conscientiously do so, a
sergeant and two officers of the police went to his house for the purpose
of levying under a distress warrant to the amount due from him. The
officers were asked to sit down, which they did, and Mr. Osborne went
into his garden, procured a hive of bees, and threw it into the middle of
the chamber. The officers were, of course, obliged to retreat, but they
secured enough of the property to pay the rate, and the costs of the
levy, besides which, they obtained a warrant against Mr. Osborne, who
would, most likely, pay dearly for his new and _conscientious_ method of
settling Church Rate accounts."

CHAPTER X.

The Eglinton Tournament--Sale of Armour, &c.--The Queen of Beauty and her
Cook--Newspapers and their Sales.

The Earl of Eglinton had a "bee in his bonnet," which was none other than
reviving the tournaments of the Age of Chivalry, with real armour, horses
and properties; and he inoculated with his craze most of the young
aristocracy, and induced them to join him in carrying it out. The
preliminary rehearsals took place in the grounds of the Eyre Arms Tavern,
Kilburn. The last of these came off on 13 July, in the presence of some
6,000 spectators, mostly composed of the aristocracy. The following is a
portion of the account which appeared in the _Times_ of 15 July:

"At 4 o'clock the business of the day commenced. There might be seen
men in complete steel, riding with light lances at the ring,
attacking the 'quintain,' and manoeuvering their steeds in every
variety of capricole. Indeed, the show of horses was one of the best
parts of the sight. Trumpeters were calling the jousters to horse,
and the wooden figure, encased in iron panoply, was prepared for the
attack. A succession of chevaliers, _sans peur et sans reproche_,
rode at their hardy and unflinching antagonist, who was propelled to
the combat by the strength of several stout serving-men, in the
costume of the olden time, and made his helmet and breastplate rattle
beneath their strokes, but the wooden

. . . Knight
Was mickle of might,
And stiff in Stower did stand,

grinning defiance through the barred aventaile of his headpiece. It
was a sight that might have roused the spirit of ol