The following will, as an exhibition of strange eccentricity, is not inappropriate to our pages. Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who died in 1810, bequeathed one penny to every child that attended his funeral (there came from 600 to 700); 1s. to every poor woman in Wath; 10s. 6d. to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they were putting him into the grave. To seven of the oldest navigators, one guinea for puddling him up in his grave. To his natural daughter, £4 4s. per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph Pitt, £21 per annum. To an old woman who had for eleven years tucked him up in bed, £1 1s. only. Forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on Christmas day for ever. Two handsome brass chandeliers for the church, and £20 for a set of new chimes.
EXTRAORDINARY FROST.
As an instance of great rarity in England of the severity of a frost, it is worth notice, that in January, 1808, the rain froze as it fell, and in London the umbrellas were so stiffened that they could not be closed. Birds had their feathers frozen so that they could not fly, and many were picked up as they lay helpless on the ground.
ANCIENT SNUFF-BOXES.
These ancient snuff-boxes furnish proof of the love of our ancestors for the titillating powder. An admiring writer of the last century, reflecting on the curious and precious caskets in which snuff was then imprisoned, asks—
"What strange and wondrous virtue must there be,
And secret charm, O snuff! concealed in thee,
That bounteous nature and inventive art,
Bedecking thee thus all their powers exert."