NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



APPALLING THREAT. -We beg leave most respectfully to call the 

 attention of Lord Melbourne, and all that portion of society, which 

 is properly termed the public at large, in contra- distinction ^ to the 

 public in limbo, to the following ferocious advertisement, which has 

 recently appeared in a country paper : 



CHILD'S ERCALL ASSOCIATION. 



*4>* The Annual MEETING on the second Tuesday in May, at the Talbot Inn 

 Standford's Bridge. 



WHEREAS divers of burglaries, felonies, grand and petit larcenies have 

 frequently been committed in the Townships of Ercall, Ellerton, Eaton, 

 Shovel, Mill, Meeson, Ollerton, Pixley, Hickstock, Pickstock, Hill, Cheswell, 

 and Chetwynd, in the county of Salop ! and the offenders have escaped 

 justice with impunity, for want of proper pursuit and exertion on the part of 

 the sufferers, or on account of the charges attending such pursuit and pro- 

 secution ; to obviate the same in future, we, whose names are hereunto sub- 

 scribed, have raised a fund, and formed ourselves into an Association, deter- 

 mining to prosecute to the utmost rigour of the law, all persons guilty of any 

 of the above offences, AND TO RIDE ENGLAND THROUGH at the JOINT expence 

 of the Society, AFTER any house-breaker, horse -stealer, incendiary, or any 

 kind of cattle or beasts, such as cows, sheep, pigs, &c, as well as all robbers of 

 orchards, gardens, and lien-roosts ; stealers of springles, posts and rails, 

 hooks and thimbles, TURNIPS! pulling down stiles and gates, and all sorts of petit 

 larceny whatsoever, at the above joint expence of this Society, and do hereby offer 

 the following rewards, &c. &c. 



Good heavens! are we come to this? Is there a colony of 

 Cossacks already established in the county of Salop ? And are they 

 bold enough to give public notice of their delinquencies ? Strike on 

 the toscin ! Ring the alarm bell ! " To your tents, oh, Israel ! " 

 For lo ! the townships of Ercall and Ellerton ! Eaton, Shovel, Mill, and 

 Meeson ! ! Ollerton and Pixley ! ! ! Hickstock and Pickstock ! ! ! ! 

 Hill, Cheswell and Chetwynd all in the county of Salop, have declared 

 war against England. The divers of burglaries, calling themselves 

 " Child's Ercall Association," in a proclamation, displaying for its 

 device, an upraised dagger, constellated between two revolutionary 

 stars, threaten " to ride England through " at their joint expence, 

 after ee any kind of cattle or beasts, such as cows, sheep, and pigs, 

 &c " ''pulling down stiles and gates, and all KINDS OF PETTY LARCENY 

 WHATSOEVER, at the above joint expence of the society ! ! " 



If this be tolerated if the Child's Ercall Association the divers 

 of burglaries, having a drawn dagger for their arms, supported by 

 twin stars, be permitted to ride England through at this rate, there 

 is an end to government : society will be dissolved into its primitive 

 elements, and every man must look to his own pigs ! Posts and rails 

 it seems, are no protection ; for these marauders, give public notice, 

 that doubtless, with a view to facilitate their operations they will 

 level all such impediments with the earth. Nor is this all : for with 

 a congenial feeling towards malefactors, and with a view to revo- 



M. M. No. 90. 4 N 



