"The History of England being now brought down to that period which was at first proposed, the Publisher takes this opportunity of returning his thanks to his friends and subscribers for the kind encouragement they have given his News Paper; and hopes that as he has steadily persevered in going through with, and given gratis, The History of England, at the Expence of upwards of One Hundred Pounds, they will still continue their Subscription to his paper, which he will spare neither pains nor assiduity to render worthy their perusal.
Jos. Harrop."
Composition During Sleep.
Condorcet is said to have attained the conclusion of some of his most abstruse, unfinished calculations in his dreams. Franklin makes a similar admission concerning some of his political projects which, in his waking moments, sorely puzzled him. Sir J. Herschel is said to have composed the following lines in a dream:—
"Throw thyself on thy God, nor mock Him with feeble denial;
Sure of His love, and, oh! sure of His mercy at last!
Bitter and deep though the draught, yet drain thou the cup of thy trial,
And in its healing effect, smile at the bitterness past."
Goethe says in his "Memoirs," "The objects which had occupied my attention during the day often reappeared at night in connected dreams. On awakening, a new composition, or a portion of one I had already commenced, presented itself to my mind. In the morning I was accustomed to record my ideas on paper." Coleridge composed his poem of the "Abyssinian Maid" during a dream. Something analogous to this is what Lord Cockburn says in his "Life of Lord Jeffrey." "He had a fancy that though he went to bed with his head stuffed with the names, dates and other details of various causes, they were all in order in the morning; which he accounted for by saying that during sleep 'they all crystallized round their proper centres.'"
A Bill of Particulars.
A certain gentleman of Worcester (Mass.) sent a very fine French clock to a well-known jeweler to be repaired, saying that he wished each item of repairing specified. The following is a copy of the bill as rendered:—
| To removing the alluvial deposit and oleaginous conglomerate from clock a la French, | $0.50 |
| To replacing in appropriate juxtaposition the constituent components of said clock, | .50 |
| To lubricating with oleaginous solution the apex of pinions of said clock, | .50 |
| To adjusting horologically the isochronal mechanism of said clock, | .50 |
| To equalizing the acoustic resultant of escape wheel percussion upon the verge pallets of said clock, | .50 |
| To adjusting the distance between the centre of gravity of the pendulum and its point of suspension, so that the vibrations of the pendulum shall cause the index hand to indicate approximately the daily arrival of the sun at its meridian height, | .50 |
| $3.00 |