John, not to exercise that privilege on his manor in Sussex.  The pension is payable out of, or secured upon, lands in four different counties, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Warwickshire, and entitles the party enjoying it to a vote in each of these counties; but whether this has been acted upon, I cannot possibly say.  I have seen in the possession of a branch of this loyal family, only a few days ago, a scarce print of the arms, &c. published in 1756, under the regulation of the act of parliament; besides other prints on the subject.  This family, being commoners, is I believe, the only one which have supporters.[6]

    [6] Another correspondent, Amicus, states that the grant of the
        Pension was in the possession of the Rector of Cheriton, in
        Hampshire, and was “lost by him to Government, a short time
        before his death, in the year 1825.”

C.C.

* * * * *

THE FRIENDS OF THE DEAD.

(For the Mirror.)

  They’ve seen him laid, all cold and low;
    They’ve flung the flat stone o’er his breast: 
  And Summer’s sun, and Winter’s snow
    May never mar his dreamless rest! 
  They’ve left him to his long decay;
    The banner waves above his head: 
  Funereal is their rich array,
    But hark! how speak they of the dead.

  In his own hall, they’ve pledg’d to him
    ’Mid mirth, and minstrelsy divine;
  When, at the crystal goblet’s brim
    Hath flash’d, the od’rous rosy wine;
  When viands from all lands afar
    Have grac’d the shining, sumptuous board,
  And now, they’d prove their vaunted star,
    The Cobbold, of his priceless hoard.[7]

  Hark! how they scandalize the dead! 
    They spake not thus,—­(their patron here)
  When they were proud to break his bread,
    To watch his faintest smile, and fear
  His latent frown; they did not speak
    Of vices, follies, meanness:  then
  A crime in him, had been, “the freak
    Of youth,” and “worthiest he, of men!”

  Off with those garbs of woe, false friends! 
    Those sadden’d visages, all feign’d! 
  Or have ye yet, some golden ends
    To be, by Death’s own liv’ries gain’d?
  Ye mourn the dead forsooth! who say
    That which should shame the lordly hall
  His late ancestral home!  Away! 
    And dream that he hath heard it all!

    [7] Cobbold, in mining countries, especially Cornwall, is the
        legendary guardian spirit of the mine, and severe master of
        its treasures.  In Germany, Sweden, &c. the Cobbold may be
        traced under various modifications and titles.

M.L.B.

* * * * *