SENTIMENTALISM WELL SERVED.

A DELICATE young lady, who was fond of lamb, took occasion often to reprove the butcher for killing such an innocent animal. She was surprised one morning, after ordering a hind-quarter, to find a live lamb sent to her, with orders to cut off what she wanted, and send the animal home.

STORY OF TAPESTRY.

POETS compare human eyes to stars. It struck us that we preferred those real stars, shining through the wall, to certain glittering human eyes which a lady once saw shining from her wall. As the story goes, this poor lady, destined to a terrible fright, was sitting alone before the fire, opposite a mirror, which rested on a mantelpiece, and taking off her jewelled necklace and bracelets, before retiring to rest, when she looked up accidentally, and saw in the mirror, what must have made a tapestried room terrible to her as long as she lived, for it was in a room hung with tapestry that she was sitting. She saw shining eyes rolling in the head of one of the woven figures, a sight which we, safe from all ambush of the kind, can never think of without a quiver of sympathetic dread. She knew that a thief was watching her, and that there must be some accomplice in the house, who had cut out the eyes of the figure to enable him to do so. She did not go into hysterics, nor do anything else that was not to the purpose. She took no notice, sat awhile longer, without looking into the mirror; no doubt with a deadly horror of being approached from behind. She unfastened some part of her dress, yawned, put on a natural appearance of sleepiness, lighted her chamber candle, locked her jewel case, and -the only suspicious proceeding-left it on the table, walked steadily towards the eyes, the door being in that direction, quickly took the key from the lock, left the room, locked the door on the outside, and quickly went to seek help, which she could better trust than that of her own servants.

ORIGIN OF EXCHEQUER BILLS.

IN the year 1696 and 1697, the silver currency of the kingdom being by clipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c., reduced to about half its nominal value, acts of Parliament were passed for its being called in and recoined, and whilst the recoinage was going on, Exchequer bills were first issued to supply the demands of trade.

A NEW YORK paper says, "the greatest bull they ever saw was a notice in a shop window, stating that two new apprentices were immediately wanted, and that they should both be treated as one of the family." Not such a wonderful bull after all! We have known a number of instances where, in the matter of board, two, and even three apprentices, were treated, as one of the family."

VOL. II.

66

H

THE REMUNERATION OF A VOCALIST. DURING the trial of John Felwell, for highway robbery, in New York, a curious piece of information came into possession of the court. The prosecutor, Thomas Weldon, who was robbed of 6s. 6d. on his way home, described himself as a vocalist, singing at free-and-easies at the rate of a penny per pint, on all the ale that was drunk by the customers.

NOTES ON GOOD FRIDAY, 1853.

IN connection with the present Good Friday a somewhat unusual circumstance should be noticed, viz., that the solemn Fast Day and Lady Day came together. A curious examination of the batch of Moore's almanacks has led to the information that one Nixon, a Cheshire prophet, who lived in the reign of Richard III., prophecied thus:

"When Easter falls in my lady's lap,

Let England beware of a sad mishap." And an equally received authority on these matters has recorded

"Should e'er it come, as come it may,
Good Friday falls on Lady Day,
Let all the land take hint and heede,
For it forebodes ill fate indeed."

Of these prophecies the weather may be the realisation applying them to the present time. The storms, rains, snows, and lengthened winter of 1852-3 have undoubtedly been unparalleled for at least a quarter of a century. The summer of 1829 throughout proved to be the coldest and wettest ever known. The rains commenced toward the end of June, and fell almost incessantly to the end of October. But the summer and winter of 1852-3 have exceeded any depth of inclemency on record.

THE COUNSEL PUZZLED.

A WITNESS examined in one of our Courts the other day, upon a trial concerning a horse, was asked by the counsel for the defendant, "how the plaintiff generally rode ?" "He generally rides a straddle, sir." "How does he ride in company ?" asked the counsel. 66 If he has a good horse he always keeps up," was the reply. "How does he ride when he is alone ?" was the next enquiry. Really sir, I cannot say," replied the witness," for I never was in company with him when he rode by himself." may stand aside, sir," said the counsel snappishly.

66

TENANTS.

"You

"My tenants are a world of bother to me," said a testy landlady

to her nephew.

Quite likely; ten aunts might be considered

enough to bother any one," was the reply.

OBSERVATION ON THE LATE KING OF HANOVER, (DUKE OF CUMBERLAND).

To survive prejudice and live down calumny, to be denounced as a tyrant abroad, and to be reputed as the most truly constitutional sovereign by his people, are contrarities that seldom fall to the lot of either man or monarch. Yet such was the fate of Ernest, King of Hanover, whose earthly career is ended.

CHLOE's answer to a gentleman, who, in a rhyming epistle, offered to serve her in the capacity of a surgeon, physician, manmidwife, politician, tailor, or friend :

In doggerel rhyme, for once I'll answer,
Your odd epistle, if I can, sir,-
You think it sure prodigious pretty,
And very smart, and very witty;
But I who am sincere and rough,
Pronounce it whimsical enough;
The product of a flighty skull,
And very strange and pitiful.
For first, you come with a petition,
To be my surgeon or physician:
Hold, sir, I'm in a sound condition.
You next would be man-midwife, pat:
I who can sometimes smell a rat,
Conceive you are not fit for that.
You'd aid me with your politics,
But I suspect you of bad tricks.
To serve a lady and not fail her,
You're willing to become my tailor.
Your modesty is somewhat striking,
But I've a tailor to my liking.
Pray, Mr. Stitch, where are your gears?
Your yard, your measure, and your shears?
I greatly fear you've worn them out,
And yet you bear your goose about.
At last you humbly recommend
Yourself to serve me as a Friend.
Poet and friend's a contradiction,
For poets always deal in fiction.
I thank you for your kind assistance,
And own I like you-at a distance.

MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE AND DR. ARNOLD. LATE HEAD MASTER OF RUGBY, WRITING TO JUDGE COLERIDGE, IN 1840. DR. ARNOLD says "I doubt whether you ever submitted to another with the same complete difference as I did to you when I was an undergraduate; and I believe I never think of you but with entire respect and admiration; and I never talked with you on any subject without gaining something." And again, "I never look upon our differences as by any possibility diminishing my love for you." On the other hand, Judge Coleridge thus closes his delightful letter to Dr. Arnold's biographer :-"Whoever sets

a right value on the events of his life, for good or for evil, will agree that next in importance to the rectitude of his own course, and the selection of his partner for life, and far beyond all the wealth of honours which may reward his labour-far even beyond the unspeakable gift of bodily health-are the friendship he forms in youth. This is the season when nature soft and pliant grow together, each becoming part of the other, and coloured by it; thus to become one in heart with the good, and generous, and devout. Arnold's friendship has been one of the inany blessings of my life. I cherish the memory of it with mournful gratitude, and I cannot but dwell with lingering fondness on the scene and the period which first brought us together. Within the peaceful walls of Corpus, I made friends, of whom all are spared but Arnold-he has fallen asleep; but the bond there formed, which the lapse of years and our different walks in life did not unloosen, and which strong opposition of opinions only rendered more intimate, though interrupted in time, I feel not to be broken. May I venture, without unseasonable solemnity, to express the firm trust, that it will endure for ever in eternity."

A BATH.

OUR Dan says when he wants a hot bath, and hasn't the money to pay for it, he has only to tell his girl that he is about to make up his mind to select another sweetheart, and he is in hot water directly.

THE COMPLETENESS OF CHARACTER. CHARACTER to be truly excellent, and particularly to be great, requires the bold, strong lines; still, the lighter touches should be added, the graceful filling up which finishes, the portrait.

SPEECH OF SIR JAMES GRAHAM ON THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON GIVING THE TOAST

"ARMY AND NAVY."

SIR JAMES GRAHAM said "The duty of presiding over the Board of Admiralty at the present moment, having been confided to him by Her Gracious Majesty, he had been commanded by the Lord Mayor, in the absence of any admiral, though in the presence of brave and distinguished officers of the navy, to return thanks on behalf of that gallant profession. The duty was a proud and grateful one to him. The recollections of the British navy were dear to the heart of every Englishman, formed the most conspicuous portion of the history of this country, and were written indelibly in the annals of the world. In peace that gallant profession was the protector of British commerce throughout every quarter of the world, and itself was mainly dependent for its strength on the success of the mercantile marine. It was a subject of no jealousy, because it could not be the enemy, but was always

the guardian of the liberties of the people of this country. Should that sad event, which he could not contemplate, should unhappily war occur, then he was satisfied the marine of England, which had been so often trusted by the people of this country, and which had never disappointed their expectations, would, as heretofore, be found the safeguard of the seagirt shores of our native island. It had ever repelled the foreign invader, and it would do so again, should at any future time any attempt at invasion be made; and whether in peace or in war, the naval force of the country would, he was sure, always be ready to meet the expectations of the country, to defend its liberty, and to secure the honour and character of that flag, which

""A thousand years had braved the battle and the breeze.'"

HISTORICAL REMARKS ON READING. It is one of the great drawbacks to the pleasure of reading history, that it is such a painful record of human crimes. One cause of this is to be found in the nature of the human heart, which is so formed that rank and power and fortune all tend to incline it to what is wrong. Kings and statesmen, and others, who, from the greatness of their station are most prominent in history, are more liable to err than people in a lower and happier condition of life. And, perhaps, there is another cause why history is so much fuller of wicked than of virtuous deeds; the virtuous deeds are passed over, as not affording so much to be said about them.

FABLE.

'Twas, if the muses well remember,

The third of this same month September,

Scandal, a dame of fashion known,

To all great families in town,

Forsook the almost desert air,

Of Grosvenor and St. James's Square;

In London nothing can be done,

All the best company are gone:

No drum, no hurricane, or rout,

Where prudes may help loud slander out.

Nay not so much as cards or balls,

At any of the city halls,

No votaries of gain or Cupid,

But all is dead, and dull, and stupid.

Wherefore, as modern story tells,

Scandal drove down to Tunbridge Wells,
With Falsehood ever her dependent,
By way of Abigail attendant;

Now with sly leers and envious smiles,

She trails her robe along the tiles;

Now seeks with more than usual glee,

Her proper element of tea,

Whence first she sprung like Venus from the sea.

And now with a malignant look,

Runs o'er the names in Porter's book;