Old Booty

In 1830 there appeared a humorous versification, by W. T. Moncrieff, of this story, for the authenticity of which he prudently says he cannot vouch. He furnishes a sort of account of the affair, and of an action at the suit of Booty's widow, the records of which, it says, are at Westminster, Jan. 2. 1687. Notwithstanding this apparent circumstantial account, we find in a very entertaining anonymous work, entitled *The History of Man; or, the Wonders of Human Nature*, 2nd edit. Edinb. 1790, 8vo., vol. i. p. 376., a similar incident related of a Mr. Gresham, an eminent merchant of London, which…