Confectionery Decorations.
Probably the ancients exceeded us in the art of decorating confectionery. After each course in solemn feasts there was a "subtilty." Subtilties were representations of castles, giants, saints, knights, ladies and beasts, all raised in pastry, upon which legends and coat-armor were painted in their proper colors. At the festival, on the coronation of Henry VI., in 1429, there was a "subtilty" of St. Edward and St. Louis, "armed, and upon either his coat-armor, holding between them a figure of King Henry, standing also in his coat-armor, and an inscription passing from both, saying, 'Beholde twoe perfecte kynges vnder one coate-armoure.'"—Fabyan-Dallaway's Heraldic Inq.
Superscription to a Letter.
A letter upon which the following was written, passed through the Atlanta (Ga.) post-office:—
"Steal not this for fear of shame—
There is no money in the same;
True, it does a check contain,
But 'tis for baggage on a train."
In Search of a Looking-Glass.
"When I was last in Lisbon, a nun made her escape from the nunnery. The first thing for which she inquired, when she reached the house in which she was to be secreted, was a looking-glass. She had entered the convent when only five years old, and from that time had never seen her own face."—Southey.
Bleeding for Nothing.
"Whereas, the majority of Apothecaries in Boston have agreed to pull down the price of Bleeding to sixpence, let these certifie that Mr. Richard Clarke, Apothecary, will bleed anybody at his shop, gratis."—Stamford Mercury, March 28th, 1716.