other night were to be free for general accommodation. But about two months after, the Arm-Chairs were removed, and a long bench was substituted.

On this great event, the Editor has no Intercepted Letters to lay before the public by authority, and therefore he has not applied to Mr. Canning for a Preface, nor for Notes to Mr. Gifford. There is no Egyptian Fast to be solemnized, nor Festival to be celebrated. He can assure them also, that neither the Mustapha Raschid Effendi and Mustapha Ressichi Effendi for the Grand Vizir; nor General Dessaix and Citizen Poussielgue for General Kleber, were Commissioners on signing this Convention. But THE EVACUATION OF THE ARM-ED CHAIRS was effected without bloodshed or loss on either side, by LORD GALLOWAY and Mr. BELL, Commissioners on the part of the Amateurs and Conoscenti, and by Signor

conceiving, rather hastily, that this measure was intended as a personal slight to himself, retired disconcerted, without taking his seat; and, as he is a votary of the Muses, penned the fol lowing Lamentation, which he sent to Lord Salisbury the next day, and recovered his wonted good humour, cheerfulness, and gayety.

PANDOLFO ATTONITO!

OR,

LORD GALLOWAY's

POETICAL LAMENTATION

ON THE

REMOVAL OF THE ARM-CHAIRS

FROM THE

-

WHAT!-the proud honours of the chair
Must I no more, with CECIL (a), share?
Still be my soul serene
Virtu, or virtue's but a name,
Brutus and Galloway exclaim,

And sighing quit the scene.
Too sure I heard a warning knell,
And told my Critic Brother BELL (6)

The fall of seats (c) and stocks;
Yet fondly sooth'd by BOLLA's airs,
Thought TAYLOR's bottom, and his chairs
Secure with keys and locks. (d)
But ah! how Fortune loves to joke!
Expell'd am I, who sung and spoke
As loud as at the Fair: (e)
While yearly, with six thousand pound,
The Commons ADDINGTON have bound
Their Servant TO THE CHAIR.
My purer taste, my classic eye,
Unzon'd Thalia could descry,

Who stepp'd beyond her place:

(a) "Our Midas sits Lord Chancellor of Plays." Dunciad.

very conversant in the Stocks and Funds, (b) Mr. BELL, an ingenious Gentleman, Grand Amateur, and Connoisseur of the Lower Bench.

(c) It is feared that the Noble Lord alludes to the value of seats in a certain House, after the Union. EDITOR.

(d) The bottoms of these lamented Chairs were kept under lock and key.

(e) i. e. As loud as the very Gipsies themselves on the Stage at the Fair. This is poetry, but no fiction. EDITOR.

How oft I warn'd, in either house,
That charms too plain at last would rouse
The Mitre and the Mace!

I with Pandolfo watch'd the sphere,
When Mars on Venus shone so clear,

That Saturn (f) felt the shock: Grave SHUTE and HENRY shrunk at Love, And at the loose flesh-colour'd glove,

That blush'd at twelve o'clock.

I said, some folks would thunder Greek At HILLIGSBERG's Morale lubrique,

And PARISOT's costume! (g)

For this, in arbitrating state,
In presence of the wise and great,

I sung the Sovereign's air: (m) Firm was my voice, for TAYLOR Smil'd; Nor deem'd I then, (too well beguil'd,) How slippery was the Chair.

Nor G-rd-n's coarse and brawny Grace,
The last new Woman IN THE PLACE (n)
With more contempt could blast;
Not Marlb'rough's damp on Blandford's
purse

To me could prove a heavier curse;

My fame, my glory past.

In vest appropriate now be found,

With India's palm and plume?

Old Q-NSB-RY feels his dotard qualm, Terpsichore can pour no balm

O'er half his visual ray;

Nor WILLIAM (i) can console the Sag, Nor Elisée (k) his pain assuage,

Nor Yarmouth smooth his way.

When MARINARI'S (1) magic hand
Traced the bold view in fabled land,

For Fawns and Wood-nymphs meet ·
Ah, soon, I cried, may SAL'SB'RY think,
"Tis just, that they who dance should drink,
And they who sing, should eat. (4)

(f) "Quel Saturno briccon ti guarda trino."

Gli Zingari in Fiera, A. !. (g) Contecta levi velatum pectus amictu, Et tereti strophio luctantes vincta papillas. Catullus.

(h) Alluding to the fascinating Ballet of Paul et Virginie. BACCHUS AND ARIADNE too are now constrained to appear in patch-work dresses. The Costume is lost, and the Graces mourn. Jacet semisepulta Venus. So says the D. of Q. and many others of the ton hold the same doctrine.

If Propertius were Ballet Master he would cast the parts of the HILLISBERG toujours gaie et intéressante, of the PARISOT au geste animé et sublime, and of the LABORIE à sourire doux et enchanteur, with exquisite and appropriate taste.

Hæc hederas legat in thyros, Hæc carmina nervis

Aptet, et Illa manu texat utraque rosam ! (i) Lord William Gordon. (4) PERE ELISE'E, Conoscente e Medico di camera al Serenissimo Duca.

"Corpo dotato di Sanitá.”

Gli Zingari in Fiera. (1) The painter of various exquisite scenes at the Opera House

(1) Les Chanteurs et les Danseurs, des deux Sexes, a Monsieur T. si tendre et si cruel; "Il faut que nous vivions."-REPONSE de Monsiur R." Je n'en vois pas la nécessité.”·

Like the dark Peer on STORER's urn, (m)

Reflecting on his seat!

In vain that mean mysterious Sire
In embers would conceal the fire;
While Honour's pulse can beat.

For me shall droop th' Assyrian Queen, (o)
With softest train and tragic mien,

The SIDDONS in her art;
E'en BOLLA (p) shall forget to please,
With sparkling eye and playful ease,
And Didelot shall start.

LE TABLEAU,

Présenté à Monseigneur le Chambellan POLONIUS!

"Chanteurs, Danseurs, assailants, assaillis,
Battans, battus, dans ce grand chamaillis:
Ciel, que de cris, et que de hurlemens!
PERE ELISE'E reprit un peu ses sens;
Il se tenoit les deux côtés de rire,
Et reconnut que ce fatal empire
De l'Opera, des Jeux, et du grand Ton,
Etoit sans doute une œuvre du Démon."
THE EDITOR.
(m) The Air of Midas in the Burletta, be-
ginning thus:

I'm given to understand that you're all in
a pother here,
Disputing whether, &c."

(n) An expression used, with a curious felicity, by her Grace for "the Manufactured Ladies of Fashion" imported from Yorkshire and other Counties into Portland Place, &c. whose houses she condescended to enter. But once she was most unfortunately mistaken. Car Madame M-LLS, ouvrant un large bec, (Ayant en un Palais changée sa chaumière, Son air de drap devint démarche fiere;) Disoit tout haut, que G-RD-N parloit Grec. Les Grands surpris admirent sa hauteur, Et les Petits l'appellént Dame d'honneur.

LEÇON à deux tranchans, tant à la Bourgeoisie, qu'à la Noblesse. THE EDITOR. (nn) ANTONY STORER, Esq. formerly Member for Morpeth, (as some persons may possibly recollect,) a gentleman well known in the circles of fashion and polite literature. (0) BANTI la Sovrana. (p) BOLLA la Vezzosa.

"A PIE SAT ON A PEAR TREE." To the Editor of the Every-Day Book. May 3, 1826.

Sir,-There is a custom at Yarmouth dinners, which in my opinion would be "more honoured in the breach than the observance." After the cloth has been removed, and the ladies have retired, some one in the company, who is an adept in the game, sings the following lines,→ "A pie sat on a pear tree,

A pie sat on a pear tree,
A pie sat on a pear tree,

Heigh oh! heigh oh! heigh oh!” At the conclusion, the person sitting next to the singer continues the strain thus,— "And once so merrily hopp'd she;" during which the first singer is obliged to drink a bumper, and should he be unable to empty his glass before the last line is sung, he must begin again until he succeeds.

The difficulty consists in swallowing the before they are able to accomplish it. liquor fast enough, many getting tipsy This of course goes round the party, until the whole are either completely" knocked up," save a few who from the capacity of their throats are so fortunate as to escape. Your inserting the above in the EveryDay Book will much oblige, Sir, &c.

J. F.

The language, indeed, has retained its olden character, but of peculiar customs little is known. In Lysons' Magna Britannia," the practices of rush-bearing, of hanging up white gloves and garlands of roses in the churches, at the funerals of young inaidens,-of foot-ball plays, now confined to Derby, and this well-dressing of Tissington are the sum total of those notices under the head of "Country Customs." A correspondent communicated to the Every-Day Book in March, a custom existing near Tideswell; and I have seen it stated in a provincial paper, that a right is claimed in the Peak Forest of marrying after the fashion of Gretna Green, and that such a wedding actually took place not very long ago. Something more of this should be known. Tissington well-dressing is a festivity, which not only claims a high antiquity, but is one of the few country fêtes which

are kept up with any thing like the ancient spirit. It is one which is heartily loved and earnestly anticipated. One which draws the hearts of those who were brought up there, but whom fortune has cast into distant places, homewards with an irresistible charm. I have not had the pleasure of witnessing it, but I have had that of seeing the joy which sparkled in the eyes of the Tissingtonians as they talked of its approach, and of their projected attendance. Long before the time arrives, they have canvassed the neighbourhoods where they reside, for flowers to take with them and these flowers, in all the instances which have come under my notice have been red daisies, and none else. If, however, John Edwards, in his poem, "The Tour of the Dove,"

be correct, others must be used, and those wild flowers:

In a note he adds;-"The custom of decorating wells with flowers, and attending them with religious services and festive rejoicings on Holy Thursday, is not peculiar to Tissington. Many other wells have been committed to the patronage of the saints, and treated with reverence; some on account of the purity, and others for the medicinal virtues of their waters. St. Alkmund's well at Derby, is an instance of the former class, where the name has been continued long after the superstition which gave it has passed away. In the dark ages of popery, this veneration for holy wells was carried to an idolatrous excess, insomuch, that in the reigns of Edgar and Canute, it was found necessary to issue edicts prohibiting well-worship. But the principle of veneration for waters, if restricted within its proper bounds, is amiable: indeed, it seems to have been implanted in the breast of man in all ages. A fountain is the emblem of purity and benevolence. From the days when the patriarchs journeyed in the wilderness, down to the

Who could

present period-whether bursting from the arid sands of the African desert, or swelling out its genial waters amid the Greenland snows-its soft melody, its refreshing virtues, and its transparency, have ever been a subject of delight and interest to the human race. have approached the Bethesda of the Jews with a callous heart? Who could have listened to the song of Israel with indifference, when her princes had digged the well, and her nobles and lawgiver stood around it?"

Rhodes, who has traversed almost every part of the peak with indefatigable zeal, gives the following account in his "Peak Scenery." "An ancient custom still prevails in the village of Tissington, to which indeed it appears to be confined, for I have not met with any thing of a similar description in any other part of Derbyshire. It is denominated well-flowering, and Holy Thursday is devoted to the rites and ceremonies of this elegant custom. This day is regarded as a festival; and all the wells in the place, five in num