“Henry VII. (says Pennant,) often resided at Baynard Castle, and from hence made several of his solemn processions.  Here, in 1505, he lodged Philip of Austria,[7] the matrimonial King of Castille, tempest-driven into his dominions, and showed him the pomp and glory of his capital.”

P.T.W.

    [7] There is an old (full-length) engraving of this personage, and
    I am in the possession of one.

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COVENTRY CHARITY.

(FOR THE MIRROR.)

Bablake Hospital, in the city of Coventry, was originally founded in 1506, by Thomas Bond, Mayor.  Part of this hospital furnishes a residence for a number of boys, who are educated and clothed in blue, through the justice and benevolence of Thomas Wheatley, Mayor, in 1556, whose servant, sent to Spain by him to purchase some barrels of steel gads, brought home through an unaccountable mistake, a number of casks filled with ingots of silver and cochineal, which were offered for sale in an open fair, as the articles alluded to, and bought as such.  This worthy ironmonger and card-maker made every possible effort to discover the person who sold them, but without success.  He then honourably converted the profits to this charity, to which he added part of his own property.  P.T.W.

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CURIOUS PARLIAMENT.

(FOR THE MIRROR.)

Acton Burnel, is a village in Shropshire, about three miles from Great Wenlock, where a Parliament was held in the reign of Edward I., 1284.  Many of the Welsh nobles who had taken up arms were pardoned by this Parliament, and the famous act, entitled Statutum de Mercatoribus, was passed here, by which debtors in London, York, and Bristol, were obliged to appear before the different Mayors, and agree upon a certain day of payment, otherwise an execution was issued against their goods.  The Lords sat in the castle, and the Commons in a large barn, the remains of which are still to be seen.  P.T.W.

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FOUR LEARNED SISTERS.

(FOR THE MIRROR.)

Sir Anthony Cooke, who was preceptor to King Edward VI., and great grandson to Sir Thomas Cooke, Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1462, was particularly fortunate in his four daughters, who were all eminent for their great literary attainments.

Mildred, the eldest, married William Cecil, Lord Burleigh.  She was learned in the Greek tongue, and wrote a letter in that language to the University of Cambridge.

Anne, the second, was the second wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, and mother of the great Lord St. Alban’s.  She was greatly skilled in Greek, Latin, and Italian, and had the honour of being appointed governess to King Edward VI.