Saturday has been a fatal day to the royal family of England during the last hundred and sixty years, as is shown by the following list:—
William III. died Saturday, March 18th, 1702.
Queen Anne died Saturday, August 1st, 1714.
George I. died Saturday, June 10th, 1727.
George II. died Saturday, October 25th, 1760.
George III. died Saturday, January 29th, 1820.
George IV. died Saturday, June 26th, 1830.
Duchess of Kent died Saturday, March 16th, 1861.
Prince Albert died Saturday, December 14th, 1861.
Princess Alice died Saturday, December 14th, 1878.
Edicts Against Fiddlers.
An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular amusements were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendency, from the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling or making music in any inn, ale-house or tavern, etc. If they proffered themselves, or offered to make music, they were adjudged to be rogues and vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such.
John O'Gaunt's Will.
Perhaps the shortest deed of land by a will in the world is the following:—
"I, John of Gaunt,
Do give and do grant
To John of Burgoyne
And the heirs of his loin,
Both Sutton and Potton
Until the world's rotten."
It is by this tenure, it is said, that the estates of Sutton and Potton, in the county of Bedford, England, are now held by the house of Burgoyne.