Character of England
.
Anglia, 1 Mons, 2 Pons, 3 Fons, 4 Ecclesia, 5 Faemina, 6 Lana.
(That is to say:)
For 1, Mountains; 2, Bridges; 3, Rivers; 4, Churches faire; 5, Women; and 6, Wool, England is past compare.
G.K.
On our Lady Church in Salisbury.
How many dayes in one whole year there be,
So many windows in one church we see,
So many marble pillars there appear,
As there are hours throughout the fleeting year.
So many gates, as moons one year do view,
Strange tale to tell, yet not so strange as true.
G.K.
Astronomical Toasts.—Lord Chesterfield dined one day with the French and Spanish ambassadors. After dinner, toasts were proposed. The Spanish ambassador proposed the King of Spain under the title of the Sun. The French ambassador gave his king as the Moon. Lord C. then arose, "Your excellencies," said he, "have taken the two greatest luminaries, and the Stars are too small for a comparison with my royal master. I therefore beg to give your excellencies, Joshua."
Talleyrand.—(The following bon mot is worthy of extract from the Literary Gazette, and smacks of the raciest days of the noble utterer.) M. Talleyrand was enjoying his rubber, when the conversation turned on the recent union of an elderly lady of respectable rank. "However could Madame de S——— make such a match? a person of her birth to marry a valet-de-chambre!" "Ah," replied Talleyrand, "it was late in the game; at nine we don't reckon honours."
Remarkable Circumstance.—William Coghan, who was at Oxford in the year 1575, when the sweating sickness raged at that place, and who has given a brief account of its ravages, says, "It began on the sixth day of July, from which day to the twelfth day of August next ensuing, there died five hundred and ten persons, all men and no women."
P.T.W.
A Loyalist.—The Earl of St. Alban's was, like many other staunch loyalists, little remembered by Charles II. He was, however, an attendant at court, and one of his majesty's companions in his gay hours. On one such occasion, a stranger came with an importunate suit, for an office of great value, just vacant. The king, by way of joke, comsired the earl to personate him, and demanded the petitioner to be admitted. The gentleman addressing himself to the supposed monarch, enumerated his services to the royal family, and hoped the grant of the place would not be deemed too great a reward. "By no means," answered the earl, "and I am only sorry that as soon as I heard of the vacancy, I conferred it on my faithful friend, the Earl of St. Alban's," pointing to the king, "who constantly followed the fortunes, both of my father and myself, and has hitherto gone unrewarded." Charles granted, for this joke, what the utmost real services looked for in vain.
T. GILL.
Footnote 1:[(return)]
Picture of Scotland, vol. i.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
Built by David I. in 1136.
Footnote 3:[(return)]
Corbells, the projections from which the arches spring, usually cut in a fantastic face, or mask.
Footnote 4:[(return)]
Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel."
Footnote 5:[ (return) ]
Has Scotland no paupers to whom the gift of wood fuel might prove acceptable, in spite of peat? We have in England abundance of wood, yet our own poor are distressed for it, glad to pick up sticks for firing, and often steal it from fences, &c. in their necessity, and the gift of wood is to them a charity, as well as that of coals. Why should aught that could he made of use, be wantonly destroyed? It is contrary to Scripture; it is in opposition to common sense.
Footnote 6:[ (return) ]
From the following lines of Oppian, the rambling spirit of eels seems to have been known to the ancients—
The wandering eel,
Oft to the neighbouring beach will silent steal"
Footnote 7:[ (return) ]
I have been informed, upon the authority of a nobleman well known for his attachment to field sports, that, if an eel is found on land, its head is invariably turned towards the sea, for which it is always observed to make in the most direct line possible. If this information is correct (and there seems to be no reason to doubt it.) it shows that the eel, like the swallow, is possessed of a strong migratory instinct. May we not suppose that the swallow, like the eel, performs its migrations in the same undeviating course?
Footnote 8:[ (return) ]
See MIRROR, vol. xii. p. 253.
Footnote 9:[ (return) ]
ERRATA in one of our correspondent's "Legal Rhymes"—the Grant of Edward the Confessor:
for "six beaches," read "six braches."
for "book ycleped," read "bock ylered."
for "token" read "teken."
for "Hamelyn" read "Howelin."Corrected from Blount's Tenures, p. 665, ed. 1815.
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