A PERSECUTION CHECKMATED BY A WOMAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2140, 27 March 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A PERSECUTION CHECKMATED BY A WOMAN.

Dr. Colk was a celebrated dignitary of the Church, who, upon the restoration of the Roman Catbolio party under Queen Mary, came" for a second time into favour, and Was raised to the Provostehip of Eton. He preaohed at the execution of Cranmer, was made Dean of St. Paul's, and judiafß of the Arches Court. He tojoyed hte prosperity, hqwever,. but a very short time, Queen Mary, with whom he was in great favour, dying' within two years of his elevation to the deanery. Towards the conclusion of Que'en Mary'i reign a commission was signed for the persecution of the Irish Protestants'; and Dr. 'Cole was nominated one of the commission. The doctor, on his way to Dublin, > stopped at Chester, where 'he was waited upon by the mayor, to whom in the course of conversation he imparted the object of his mission, and exhibited the leather box which contained his credentials. The mistress of the inn where this interview took place beinp a Protestant, and having- overheard the conversation, seized the opportunity, while the doctor was attending the mayor to the bottom of the stairs, of exchanging the commission fora dirty pack' of cards, on ttie top of whioh she facetiously turned up tho knave of .clubs. The dootor, little suspecting the trick, secured hia box, pursued his journey, and arrived in Dublin' on the 7th of October 1558. He then lost no time in presenting himself before Lord Fitzwalter and the privy Counoil, to whom, after an explanatory speech, the box was presented, when to the. astonishment of all present it was found to contain only a pack ' of cards ; The doctor, greatly chagrined returned , immediately to London to have his commission renewed ; but while waiting the secdnd time on the coast for a favourable wind, the news reached him of the Queen's decease, which prevented the persecution that' would otherwise- have proved an : awful calamity. Queen Elizabeth was so much gratified with these facts, which were related to'Jier by Lord Fitzwalter, after his return to England, tbat she aeht for the -woman, -whose name was Elizabeth Edwards, and gave her a pension of £40 a year during her life. Dr Cole was stripped of his honours and emoluments and sent into confinement. He survived the ruin of his party till 1579.

Frank Bower, a favourite negro minstrel of olden time, walked into the bar-room of the ftletropolitan one morning, dusty and unkempt from a long journey, and asked for a gla9S of brandy. The barkeeper handed out the brandy, aud then, suspicious of Frank's appearance, .said ' Just pay for that before you drink it will you V Frank, who was as well known in New York as any mau about town, looked up astonished, and stammered, ' W-w-what ?' ' Just pay for that before you drink it,' repeated the bar-tender. ' W-w-what,?' said Frank, leaning confidentially across the counter, 'is it so im-m-m-ediately f-'f -fatal in its effect?' The Town Council of Kiraberley, Cape Colony (says the " Pali Mall Gazette") has a supreme contempt for unmarried men. One of these unhappy creatures complained to the Council on the subject of tie howling of dogs and scraaching of ca^s caused by the use of the 'bus bugles. The Chairman remarked that only a bachelor would make such a complaint ; no one would think much of the noise if ho were used to having children around him.. Another ' councillor added tbat " anyhow the fish horns in Cape Town were ever so much worse than the 'bus bugle." And this w&s all the consolation the complainant g6t. People who do not pojsfeaa babies , will naturally sympathise with him, and those who do should rejoice that they have English' and nbt Cape Colony babies ; for a child whose crying can drown the combined ntterance of 'bus bugles and 'cats and dogs' must .prove a reroedyiar worse than the disease.,