PISTRUCCI.
This gifted improvisatore (who is poet to the King's Theatre,) sometimes astonishes his acquaintance—especially if a new one—by holding his hand close over the flame of a candle, or an argand lamp, for several minutes together. It is a singular fact that several of the male branches of this family—of whom the unrivalled artist who cut the die of the sovereign, with the St. George upon it, is one—have one of their hands covered with a thick coat of horn-like matter, as hard as tortoiseshell, and perfectly insensible.—Ibid.
WRITTEN EXTEMPORE IN A COPY OF COKE UPON LITTLETON, 1721.
O thou who labours't in this rugged mine,
Mays't thou to gold th' unpolish'd ore refine;
May each dark page unfold its haggard brow,
Fear not to reap, if thou canst dare to plough;
To tempt thy care may each revolving night,