and the proprietor, Mr. Henneman. We take two, and see three,
newspapers a week. We take the Leeds _Intelligencer_, Tory, and the
Leeds _Mercury_, Whig, edited by Mr. Baines, and his brother,
son-in-law, and his two sons, Edward and Talbot. We see the _John
Bull_; it is a high Tory, very violent. Mr. Driver lends us it, as
likewise _Blackwood's Magazine_, the most able periodical there is.
The editor is Mr. Christopher North, an old man seventy-four years of
age; the 1st of April is his birthday; his company are Timothy Tickler,
Morgan O'Doherty, Macrabin Mordecai, Mullion, Warnell, and James Hogg,
a man of most extraordinary genius, a Scottish shepherd. Our plays
were established, 'Young Men,' June, 1826; 'Our Fellows,' July, 1827;
'Islanders,' December, 1827. These are our three great plays that are
not kept secret. Emily's and my best plays were established the 1st of
December, 1827; the others March, 1828. Best plays mean secret plays,
they are very nice ones. All our plays are very strange ones. Their
nature I need not write on paper, for I think I shall always remember
them. The 'Young Men's' play took its rise from some wooden soldiers
Branwell had; 'Our Fellows' from 'Aesop's Fables'; and the 'Islanders'
from several events which happened. I will sketch out the origin of
our plays more explicitly if I can. First, 'Young Men.' Papa brought
Branwell some wooden soldiers at Leeds; when papa came home it was
night, and we were in bed, so next morning Branwell came to our door
with a box of soldiers. Emily and I jumped out of bed, and I snatched
up one and exclaimed, 'This is the Duke of Wellington! This shall be
the Duke!' When I had said this Emily likewise took one up and said it
should be hers; when Anne came down, she said one should be hers. Mine
was the prettiest of the whole, and the tallest, and the most perfect
in every part. Emily's was a grave-looking fellow, and we called him
'Gravey.' Anne's was a queer little thing, much like herself, and we
called him 'Waiting-boy.' Branwell chose his, and called him