JOHN BLAGRAVE.

Blagrave, the eminent mathematician, was a man of great beneficence in private life. Having been born in the town of Reading, and spent most of his time there, he was desirous of leaving in that place some monuments of his bountiful disposition. He accordingly bequeathed a legacy to the three parishes of Reading, of which Ashmole gives the following account: "You are to note, that he doth devise that each churchwarden should send on Good Friday, one virtuous maid that has lived five years with her master; all three maids appear at the town hall before the mayor and aldermen, and cast dice. She that throws most, has £10 put in a purse, and she is to be attended with the other two that lost the throw. The next year come again the two maids, and one more added to them. He orders in his will, that each maid should have three throws before she loses it; and if she has no luck in the three years, he orders that still new faces may come and be presented. On the same Good Friday, he gives eighty widows money to attend, and orders ten shillings for a good sermon; and so he wishes well to all his countrymen. It is lucky money, for I never heard but the maid that had the £10, suddenly had a good husband."

EXTRAORDINARY GIFT.

Mr. William Law, the author of the "Serious Call to the Unconverted," and other popular works, was once standing at the door of a shop in London, when

a person unknown to him stepped up, and asked whether his name was William Law, and whether he was of Kingscliffe?" On Mr. Law's answering in the affirmative, the stranger delivered to him a sealed packet, addressed, "The Rev. William Law," and then hastily walked away. On opening the packet, Mr. Law was astonished to find that it enclosed a bank note for £1000. The worthy divine, having no personal occasion at the time for pecuniary assistance, looked upon this extraordinary gift as sent to him from Heaven, to be employed for the good of others; and he accordingly founded with it an almshouse at Cliffe, for the reception and maintenance of two old women, either unmarried aud helpless, or widows; and also a school for the instruction and clothing of fourteen girls.

INTERCESSION.

In the year 1790, a man was convicted of a burglary at Gloucester Assizes; but some circumstances afterwards transpired, which led to a belief that he was innocent. William Peacey, a respectable farmer at North Leach, exerted himself to procure a pardon, and for that purpose set off to London on the 13th of April, the execution of the poor man being fixed for the 16th. He arrived in town about four o'clock, and hastened to the house of Judge Wilson, who had presided on the trial. The Judge was at dinner; but he was no sooner informed of the business, than he quitted it, and before he had heard the whole story, said he would send a respite for a month by Peacey; and that he would also write by that

evening's post, for fear of accidents. His lordship actually wrote three letters to this effect, which he despatched by different conveyances. The respite arrived in time, and pardon soon followed.

THOMAS GUY.

Before Thomas Guy had founded the hospital to which he gave his name, he had contributed £100 annually to St. Thomas's Hospital, for eleven years; and had erected the stately iron gate with the large houses on each side. Guy was seventy-six years of age when he formed the design of building his own hospital, which he just lived to see roofed in. The expense of erecting this hospital was £18,793, and he left £219,499 to endow it; being a much larger sum than had ever been dedicated to charitable uses in England by any one individual.

The beneficence of Guy was not limited to the building and endowing of this hospital, for he was a great benefactor to the town of Tamworth in Staffordshire, where his mother was born; he also not only contributed towards the relief of private families in distress, but erected an alms-house in that borough for the reception of fourteen poor men and women, to whom he allowed a certain pension during his life; and at his death, he bequeathed the annual sum of £125 towards their future support. To many of his relations he gave, while living, annuities of twenty pounds a year; and to others, money to advance them in the world. At his death, he left to his poor aged relations the sum of £870 a year during their lives; and to his younger relations and executors he be

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queathed £75,589. nuity of four hundred pounds to the Governors of Christ's Hospital, for taking in four children annually, at the nomination of the governors; and bequeathed £1000 for discharging poor prisoners in the city of London, aud in the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, by which above six hundred poor persons were set at liberty within the bills of mortality.

He also left a perpetual an

GEORGE THE THIRD.

An application was once made to the benevolent compassion of George III. out of the due order, by a person who was reduced, with a large family, to extreme distress. It succeeded far beyond his hopes. He was so overpowered by the graciousness and extent of the benefaction, that upon receiving it, he fell on his knees, and with a flood of grateful tears, thanked and blessed the donor for his goodness. "Rise," said the condescending sovereign; "go and thank God for having disposed my heart to relieve your necessities."

When one of the sheriffs of London, who had announced the formation of a fund for the relief of the wives and children of prisoners, was at a levee, the king called him aside; and after stating his pleasure at the plan, gave the sheriff a bank note of fifty pounds, desiring that it might be appropriated to the purposes of the fund, but that the name of the donor might not be suffered to transpire.

GENEROUS WARFARE.

At the siege of Kalunga, in India, it was observed that the Ghoorkas exhibited a spirit of the most accomplished and generous courtesy towards their enemies. They showed no cruelty to wounded prisoners. They used no poisoned arrows; no wells or waters were poisoned; no rancorous spirit of revenge animated them. They permitted the wounded and dead to lie till they were carried away, and none were stripped. Even in the midst of the warfare, they had the greatest confidence in the British, frequently soliciting and obtaining medical assistance. One day while the British batteries were playing, a man was perceived advancing and waving his hand. The guns ceased, and he came into the batteries. He was a Ghoorka, whose lower jaw had been shattered by a cannon ball, and he came thus frankly to seek aid from his foe. The officer who commanded the fort, immediately ordered him the best surgical assistance; and he continued in the hospital until perfectly recovered, when he was allowed to return to bis corps.

GAMESTER ADMONISHED.

Colonel Daniel, when an ensign in the English army in Spain during Queen Anne's wars, was so inveterate a gamester, that he scarcely allowed himself time to rest; and he once covered his room with the fruits of a successful night, and rolled on it, that he might say he had wallowed in gold. In the