be rung, for the assembly of the citizens to their Folke-motes."

* * * * *


ALDERMAN KENNETT.

Passing by Blackfriars Bridge, I missed the magnificent gates (iron)
erected by Brackly Kennett, Esq. the inactive Lord Mayor of London, A.D.
1780, during the time of the riots, and who used to pass his time at the
"Jacob's Well," Barbican. I could not help remembering these lines,
which were related to me long ago--

"When Rome was burning, poets all agree,
Nero sat playing on his tweedle-dee;
So Kennett,[3] when he saw sedition ripe,
And London burning, calmly smoked his pipe."


[3] For which he was committed to the Tower, where he died.

* * * * *


VALENTINE'S DAY

Had its origin with the Romans, and was fathered upon St. Valentine in
the early ages of the Church to christianize it. Brand, in his Popular
Antiquities, supposes that the observance originated in an ancient Roman
superstition of choosing patrons on this day for the ensuing year--a