In October, 1743, a cobbler, at Bristol, died of a bite in the finger inflicted by a cat, which was sent to his house by an old woman in revenge for his calling her “Witch,” against which dipping in salt water proved ineffectual. “This, they say, was well attested;” and well it might be; for doubtless the cat was mad, and the woman, bewitched by the unhappy cobbler of Bristol, had no more to do with the bite, than “the old woman of Ratcliff-highway.”
The 15th day of October was dedicated by “the Merchants to Mercury,” and is so noted in the calendar of Julius Cæsar. This name is derived a mercibus, because he was the god of merchandize; and, in that quality, he is sometimes represented as a young man without a beard, holding on his wrists a cock as an emblem of vigilance, and in his hand a purse as its reward. A beautiful head of this deity on hiacynth, in the possession of lord Clanbrassill, when it was charmingly etched by Worlidge, is pictured in the present [engraving]. It suggests itself as one of the most elegant forms for a seal that can be presented to the eye.
Gather your rose-buds while you may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And that same flower that blooms to-day,
To-morrow may be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,
The higher he is getting,
The further still his course is run,
And nearer he’s to setting.