“I am, dear Cousin,

“Your humble Servant,

“D.  DISTAFF.

“From the Heralds’ Office, May 1.”

St. James’s Coffee-house, May 4.

As politic news is not the principal subject on which we treat, we are so happy as to have no occasion for that art of cookery, which our brother-newsmongers so much excel in; as appears by their excellent and inimitable manner of dressing up a second time for your taste the same dish which they gave you the day before, in case there come over no new pickles from Holland.  Therefore, when we have nothing to say to you from courts and camps, we hope still to give you somewhat new and curious from ourselves:  the women of our house, upon occasion, being capable of carrying on the business, according to the laudable custom of the wives in Holland; but, without further preface, take what we have not mentioned in our former relations.

Letters from Hanover of the 30th of the last month say, that the Prince Royal of Prussia arrived there on the 15th, and left that Court on the 2nd of this month, in pursuit of his journey to Flanders, where he makes the ensuing campaign.  Those advices add, that the young Prince Nassau, hereditary governor of Friesland, consummated on the 26th of the last month his marriage with the beauteous princess of Hesse-Cassel, with a pomp and magnificence suitable to their age and quality.

Letters from Paris say, his most Christian Majesty retired to Marli on the 1st instant, N.S., and our last advices from Spain inform us, that the Prince of Asturias had made his public entry into Madrid in great splendour.  The Duke of Anjou has given Don Joseph Hartado de Amaraga the government of Terra-Firma de Veragua, and the presidency of Panama in America.  They add, That the forces commanded by the Marquis de Bay had been reinforced by six battalions of Spanish and Walloon guards.  Letters from Lisbon advise, That the army of the King of Portugal was at Elvas on the 22nd of the last month, and would decamp on the 24th, in order to march upon the enemy, who lay at Badajos.

Yesterday, at four in the morning, his Grace the Duke of Marlborough set out for Margate, and embarked for Holland at eight this morning.

Yesterday also, Sir George Thorold was declared Alderman of Cordwainers’ Ward, in the room of his brother Sir Charles Thorold, deceased.[179]

[Footnote 172:  Jabez Hughes (died 1731), the author of these verses, was the younger brother of John Hughes.  He published several translations, and his “Miscellanies in Verse and Prose” appeared in 1737.]

[Footnote 173:  “Honest Ned” was a farmer on the estate of Anthony Henley, who mentions this saying in a letter to Swift.]

[Footnote 174:  D’Urfey’s “Modern Prophets” attacked the enthusiasts known as “French Prophets,” who were in the habit of assembling in Moorfields to exert their alleged gifts.  Lord Chesterfield says that the Government took no steps, except to direct Powell, the puppet-show man, to make Punch turn prophet, which he did so well, that it put an end to the fanatics.]