Fiddling Poetry.—­The following may be seen in the first volume of Purcell’s Catches, on two persons of the name of Young, father and son, who lived in St. Paul’s Churchyard; the one was an instrument maker, and the other an excellent performer on the violin:—­

“You scrapers that want a good fiddle well strung,
You must go to the man that is old while he’s Young,
But if this same fiddle you fain would play bold,
You must go to his son, who’ll be Young when he’s old. 
There’s old Young and young Young, both men of renown,
Old sells, and Young plays, the best fiddle in town;
Young and old live together, and may they live long,
Young to play an old fiddle, old to sell a new song.”

P.T.W.

Greenwich Hospital.—­The foundation-stone of this magnificent building was laid June 30, 1696, by John Evelyn (the treasurer), with a select committee of the commissioners, and Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, precisely at five in the evening, after they had dined together!  Flamstead, the royal astronomer, observing the punctual time by instruments.  The time is not unworthy of remark.  The King (Charles II.) subscribed 2,000_l._; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Keeper Sommers, Dukes of Leeds, Pembroke, Devonshire, Shrewsbury, and Earls of Dorset and Portland, 500_l._ each; with others amounting to upwards of 9,000_l_.  According to a note by the Treasurer, four months after the foundation, the work done amounted to upwards of 5,000_l._ towards which the treasurer had received only 800_l._, there being among the defaulters the king’s 2,000_l._, paid by exchequer tallies on the post-office, “which,” says he, “nobody will take at 30 per cent discount:”  so that we see the suspension of great works for want of friends was never uncommon; though this was a “season of debt and disgrace” in England.  The sum paid in Evelyn’s time towards building Greenwich Hospital, seems to have been upwards of 69,000_l_.

Major Mason and George II.—­During the siege of Fort St. Philip, a young lieutenant of the Marines was so unhappy as to lose both his legs by a chain shot.  In this miserable and helpless condition, he was conveyed by the first opportunity to England, and a memorial of his case presented to an honourable Board, in order to obtain some additional consideration to the narrow stipend of half-pay.  The honourable Board pitied the youth, but disregarded his petition.  Major Mason had the poor lieutenant conducted to court on a public day, in his uniform, where, posted in the guard-room, and supported by two brother officers, he cried out as George II. was passing to the drawing-room, “Behold, great sire, a man who refuses to bend his knee to you; he has lost both in your service.”  The king, struck no less by the singularity of this address, than by the melancholy object before him, stopped, and hastily demanded what had been done for him.  “Half-pay,” replied the lieutenant, “and please your majesty.”  “Fie, fie, on’t,” said the king, shaking his head, “but let me see you again next levee-day.”  The lieutenant did not fail to appear at the place of assignation, when he received from the immediate hands of royalty, five hundred pounds, smart money, and a pension of two hundred a-year.