his appearance, Blackbeard "stuck lighted at the mizzen peak, and a Jac Matches under his Hat, which, appearing of the same. The flag "ha on Each Side of his Face, his Eyes naturally it," with an hour-glass in o looking fierce and wild, made him alto- cross bones in the other, a d gether such a figure, that Imagination underneath a Heart droppin cannot form an Idea of a Fury from Hell of blood. The Jack had a n to look more frightful." He was a frolic- in it, with a flaming sword some fellow, this Captain Teach, in his and standing on two skul grim way. One day, being at sea, and a A. B. H. and A. M. H., sign little flushed with drink, he determined to badian's and a Martinican' make an inferno "of his own ;" and to that going into action for the last end went down into the hold, with two or a gallant figure, "being dre three others, and having filled several pots crimson damask Waistcoat a full of brimstone, set them on fire, and was a red Feather in his Hat, a gol very proud of having held out the longest his Neck, with a Diamond Cr against suffocation. Another evening, it, a sword in his hand," ar being in a pleasant mood, drinking and slung bandolier fashion. O playing cards with a few choice kindred on a gun-carriage, he was spirits, he blew out the light, and crossing to his request-thrown i his hands under the table fired his pistols, with all his bravery upon hir laming one man for life; and when asked Roberts may be styled the the meaning of this said "if he did not as Blackbeard was the Tur now and then kill one of them, they would Blueskin, and Captain Kid forget who he was." One eerie story of Wild, of piracy. Blackbeard and his crew runs thus: "Once upon a Cruize, they found out that they had a Man on Board more than their crew; such a one was seen several days among them, sometimes below and sometimes on Deck, yet no man in the Ship could give an account who he was or from whence he came; but that he disappeared a little before they were cast away in their great ship; but, it seems, they verily believed it was the Devil." Like many other great men, Blackbeard did not improve upon acquaintance, and his friends the planters at last got tired of his society. Redress from the governor of North Carolina was hopeless, and the governor of Virginia was applied to. This gentleman at once sent Lieutenant Maynard, with a couple of sloops, to capture the pirate. A desperate fight ensued. After some heavy firing, Blackbeard, after hurling on to the enemy several "new-fashioned sort of grenades"-case-bottles, filled with powder and slugs-boarded him; but this time met his match, and fell dead, after receiving twenty-five wounds, fighting like a fury to the last. His head was cut off, and hung to the bowsprit of the victorious sloop. The Captain Bartholomew Roberts previously alluded to, by no means affected the terrific style of Blackbeard. A far 1 Ned Low was born in and was educated in t the neighbourhood, not t write, for those accomplis unsuited to his genius, peculiarly "mean" line of rob nated the "kinchin lay." W acquired in this way he to in a small way, with the fo lobby of the House of Con he used to "play the whole cheated all he could. W objected to his style of pla fight, like rufflers of a Genius ran in Low's family brother, when but seven y carried in a basket upon a into a crowd, to snatch ha both costly articles a centu quarters ago. This precociou a short but splendid career, degrees from picking pock breaking, and ending his day company with Stephen Bunc brated Jack Hall, the chimney Low himself mutinied duri cutting expedition, and hois flag, and becoming one of th pirates of his day, showed, skill than courage in givin cruisers. Lord Macaulay's sketc Kid is so well known, that he may be dismissed in a few lines as a by no means brilliant or successful brigand, although, in posthumous renown, second to none of the craft. Perhaps his advantage over others in this respect is due to his having been hanged at Execution-dock, instead of killed in action, or cast away in remote tropical seas. Kid was an old privateer in the West Indies, and being known as a brave seaman, was recommended by Lord Bellamont, then governor of Barbadoes, and several other persons, to the home government, as one admirably fitted to command a king's ship cruising against pirates, on account of his knowledge of those seas and practice in warfare. The project met with no favour in England, and would have fallen through altogether, had not Lord Bellamont and his friends fitted out the Adventure galley at their own private charge. Kid was put in command and furnished with the king's commission, charging him to hunt down pirates, all and sundry, especially Thomas Too, and others specified by others specified by name. He also held a commission of reprisals, for it was then war time, empowering him to take French merchant ships, in case he should meet any. The Adventure galley sailed from Plymouth in May, 1696, carrying thirty guns and eighty men; and, after scouring the North and South Atlantic, tried the Indian Ocean, picking up a French merchantman or two; but of pirates never a one. At last, the patience of Kid, who appears to have meant well originally, wore out; his crew turned mutinous, and he became, according to his defence, a pirate malgré lui. After a fairly lucky cruise he sailed for New York, thinking his offence would be winked at, but was immediately seized, with all his books and papers, sent home for trial, and hanged at Executiondock with six of his associates. His career proved an exception to the rule, that it is well to set a thief to catch a thief. Few pirates were endowed by popular imagination with more romantic attributes than Captain Avery. He was represented in Europe as one who had raised himself to kingly rank, and was likely to prove the founder of a new monarchy, having amassed immense riches and married the Great Mogul's daughter, whom he had taken in an Indian ship. He was the happy father of a large family of tawny princeleta. Ha bad built forts and erected magazines; he was great royalty and state; and w of a squadron of tall ships, manne and desperate men of every nat was elevated, not to Tyburnian dramatic honours: "A play upon him, called The Successfu and so complete was the popular his greatness, that schemes were for fitting out fleets to capture others for entering into treaty w lest his growing greatness should the commerce between this cou the East Indies." So rapidly had myths acc round this man Avery, that, in lifetime, he was said to be w crown while he was really in w shilling-to be enjoying enormou in Madagascar, when he was real ing in England. The fact is, acts and deeds of the Madagasca generally were, at home, attrib Avery, whose own career was by glorious or successful. Like ma of the brotherhood of the Black was a West-countryman who con life by carrying on a smugglin with the Spaniards of Peru. The government, exasperated but p being ill provided with ships, res an evil hour to engage a couple of ships to defend that part of th These were fitted out at Bristol, and of them Avery shipped as mate. up a mutiny, he set the captain an half-dozen of the crew ashore, and set sail for Madagascar, where he upon a couple of sloops, also in the business. Engaging them under mand, he went cruising for plunde the Arabian coast. As he near mouth of the Indus the man at th head spied a sail, upon which the gave chase, hoping she might be a East Indiaman homeward bound turned out a better prize. When she hoisted the Great Mogul's colou after showing fight was boarded, and an immense booty. On board were persons of the Emperor's court, whom was his own daughter, boun pilgrimage to Mecca, and carryin offerings to the shrine of Mohamme this lucky stroke the pirates found selves in possession of jewels and galore, a vast sum in money, and we every kind. To show how little there was among pirates it is only to cite the boborzioun of And and, if he would but allow Commission, would do the I fully." The merchants agre "fence" for Avery, came ov took his diamonds and so gold, advanced some ready they parted. Living at Bid feigned name, Avery, doubtl enough with money in his grog enough on board; but ran short, and he applied to Bristol merchants, they do such small supplies, that t sufficient to give him brea last, being weary of life, Bristol and "had it out merchants aforesaid. He men packed their booty in chests, duly some who were very fit for marked and sealed up, and confided them to Avery and his crew, with a faith which would be sublime if it were not comical. That great commander had no sooner got all the loot aboard than he gave the sloops the slip-with the fall consent of his own men-nor did any of them feel "any Qualms of Honour rising in his Stomach to hinder them consenting to this piece of Treachery." Taking advantage of a dark night, they got clear away to Providence, where they sold their ship, pretending she was on the privateering account, and immediately bought a sloop, as likely to create less suspicion in New England. Touching at various ports, they disposed of their cargo by degrees, and some of them went on shore and dispersed themselves over the country, "having received such dividends as Avery would give of them, for he concealed the greatest part of the Diamonds from them, which, in the first Harry of plundering the ship, they did not much regard-not knowing their value." At Boston the goodly company was partially dispersed; but Avery, feeling that any attempt to dispose of his diamonds in New England would not only produce bad prices, but probably lead to his apprehension as a pirate, set sail for Ireland, where he disposed of the sloop and eighteen of his men obtained pardons of King William. Now Avery was an astute but not a bold man. Richly stocked with diamonds, he found them but as white elephants. He had accomplished four acts in the real drama of The Successful Pyrate he had stolen a ship from its owners; he had taken prizes from the Great Mogul; he had robbed his allies, in the sloops, of their share of the booty; he had financiered and swindled his own comrades out of their dues. The fifth act remained to be played. Ignorance as well as cowardice now weighed down his scale. Dreading to offer his jewels for sale in Ireland he passed over into England, and going into Devonshire his native county-sent to some people in Bristol whom he thought he might venture to trust. One of these friends, having met the ex-pirate at Bideford, advised him that the safest plan was to " put them in the hands of some Bristol merchant was to on pirate and a half. He "met ing Repulse, for when he des come to an Account with silenced him by threatening him." The rover was bro knees; but they gave him n and, being reduced to begg himself aboard a trading vess actually worked-his way t and travelled on foot to Bide he had been but a few day fell sick, and died, not bei much as would buy him His career leads to the co he had mistaken his V lacked that courage whic pensable to the freebooter. or Roberts would have shot merchants dead, set their h and either have escaped in or ended their days legitim gallows. Avery, in spite reputation, was but a one-l after all. The defrauded comrades returned to Madagascar, and with Captain Tew, a comma different calibre. This famou originally fitted out on the priv by the governor of the Berm junction with Captain Dre structions to make the best of the river Gambia, and then, w and assistance of the agent African Company, to attempt the French factory of Goree, Tew, becoming separated fro Bermudas, for his owners' accoun times the value of the sloop in originally put to sea, lived tranquillity for awhile. He he was respected, and became citizen; but the Nemesis of ac had not forgotten him. In a his old comrades had squande riches, and besought him to 1 on another cruise-if it were Ulysses-like, he too had grown the shore and of respectabi consented to sail on that voyag proved his last. In the Red During the piratical period t rished many more sea-dogs th enumerated. There were eve pirates-like Ann Bonny and M and men of mark like Captain England, who escaped the Engl of-war by surrendering to the at Porto Bello, just in time to ill-gotten wealth. Of this rover companions it was said that: had known what was doing in at the same time by the So Company and its Directors, the certainly have had this Reflection consolation-viz., that whatever I they had committed, they might sure they were not the greatest then living in the world." jutor in a storm, called his hands together, and telling them that the expedition was very injudicious, and that there was nothing but danger in the undertaking, without the least prospect of booty; that he could not suppose any man fond of fighting for fighting's sake without a view to his particular interest, or the public good; and that there was no prospect of either, proposed that he and his crew should do the best they could for their own hand. The crew accepted this view by acclamation, crying out: "A gold chain or a wooden leg." Doubling the Cape of Good Hope, Tew steered for the Straits of Bab-attacked a ship belonging to 1 el-Mandeb, and entering the Red Sea, Mogul, and in the engagement fel came up with a mighty argosy bound from valiantly, like the doughty old p the Indies to Arabia, richly laden and he was. heavily armed, with three hundred soldiers on board besides her seamen. Tew now told his men that this ship carried their fortunes, and they wanted but skill and courage to carry her. So it proved, for he boarded and took her without loss, acquiring perhaps the richest booty ever made by a single capture, as, after rummaging and abandoning the ship, they shared three thousand pounds per man. Encouraged by this success, Tew was for following it up; but his crew, thinking they had got enough, refused to risk anything, and determined to return to Madagascar. Here they found the ground already occupied by Captain Misson's colony of pirates, duly organised and fortified. Misson, Carracioli, and the other foreign leaders entered into alliance with Tew, and he, finding the island a pleasant spot, entered in and dwelt there. While in Madagascar, they subdued and enslaved the natives, underwent a notable siege from the Portuguese, and lived generally in great glory. The pirates, after a fashion, settled the country; established such plantations as they needed; fomented, and took part in, native wars; and became a power in the land for many years. They had a fleet of their own, and scouring the Indian seas, made them an abode of terror to merchantmen. At last Misson-a man of good French familyand Tew tired of this semi-savage life, and having accumulated wealth, felt yearnings towards respectability. Bidding farewell to their old comrades they set sail for America. Captain Misson's ship went down in a gale with all hands; but Tew, more fortunate, reached Rhode Island without accident. Here his men dispersed themselves, and Tew, having sent to the COMFORT. Ir there should come a time, as well there How shall I bring the sunshine to thy face Nor mar the counsel by mine own heart- So, if thy dark hour, come, I am thy stay. God helping me, to higher life, and gain HALL, SHOREDITCH, BY HENRY IRVING. THERE have been times when my art was warmly recognised as a refining influence, or, at any rate, as an innocent and classic recreation by members of the clerical profession. They attended the theatre, and they wrote plays; they had friends amongst our greatest actors; and they enjoyed hours of ease in private intercourse with them. But were these times, in the Church of England, of great activity? I believe not. Is it not true that the clergy of the Church in the last century, or even at the beginning of this, if not satisfied with a perfunctory performance of their duties, were to a large extent devoid of that spiritual zeal which has since possessed all schools of the Church-a zeal for the salvation of men in every sense of that significant and comprehensive word? Of such zeal I desire to speak-I should do violence to my feelings if I did not-with the utmost reverence. No one can be more conscious than a thoughtful member of my profession of the value of profound religious emotion; and I believe it is a thing almost unknown -except in cases where somewhat ribald authors have misled us-for actors to speak otherwise than with respect, even of those extreme types of religion which are most hostile to our art. Still we must not shut our eyes to the fact, that the feelings of a more active and personal religion have been attended by a certain alienation of the ministry of the Church from general culture, and, therefore, from the stage. I do not wish to overstate the case, or put it unfavourably. The truth seems, this insisting more intently on conscious religiousness, the clergy looked with less indulgence on secular distractions and dissipations. They found the theatre surrounded and infested with many abominations. Those abominations, it is often alleged, Mr. Macready tried, in vain, to repress; he certainly struggled hard to do so, but, whether he failed or not it is certain that those abominations have been, now, absolutely swept away, and that the audience portion of any theatre is as completely free from immoral, or even indecorous associations, as Exeter Hall during the performance of the Elijah. But this is not known, even now, to thousands of religious people. It is a curious cir see plays, rush to see them the Crystal Palace, or att greatest ease of mind, a pro the audience at which, really taminated with the evil wh disappeared from our thes being rendered all the more b the whole assembly is const lating the floor of the opera If such mistakes are ma is not wonderful that at lea generations of devoted c grown up amidst righte against all theatrical amuse I am glad to suppose, these prejudices are weari era of Christian earnestness away. On the contrary, it in loving beneficence, and time, in uncompromising h evil. Because it is so, and a being so, we are met here is also a sign of the times invited an actor to read a p Already the stage is doing I may speak plainly to you to reflect how little the mas towns are under the acti religion; to what a poor educated; how limited is and, comparatively, hov frequent the galleries ar minor theatres. At the f this, your professional Christian impulse, bids y But a little reflection, h produce a different feeling. theatres is vulgar, and the things that are deleterious deny that even good teac figured on the minor stag the major also-as they oft and books. None the less true that the main strea sentiment in all veins i righteous, and, in a sense justification of the stage bearing on humble life an I will quote words not m those of any actor. I tal speech delivered in a I some months ago, the arg seemed to my mind especia and sound. The words w "A thoughtful mind must |