- Like two fair flowers that grow in some lone spot,' They droop neglected on the dewy ground. 2. Thus left alone, without a friend or guide To cheer them, through life's drear and rugged way, 3. Low in the grave, o'er which the cypress spreads Unconscious now they rest their weary heads, Nor hear their children sigh, nor see them weep. 4. ་ And see, a tear-drop gems the younger's eye, In silence pleads to every feeling heart. 5. A few years ago a stout old man, with long grey hair, and dressed in the habit of the Society of Friends, was seen begging in the streets of Durham. The inhabitants, attracted by the novelty of a begging Quaker," thronged about him, and several questioned him as to his residence, &c. Amongst them was Anty Brignal," the police-officer, who told him to go about his business, or he would put him in the kitty* "for an imposteror." "Who ever heard," said Anthony," of a begging Quaker?" But," said the mendicant, while tears flowed adown his face, "thou knowest, friend, there be bad Quakers as well as good ones; and, I confess to thee, I have been a bad one. My name is John Taylor; I was in the hosiery business at Nand through drunkenness have become a bankrupt. The society have turned me out, my friends have deserted me. I have no one in the world to help me but my daughter, who lives in Edinburgh, and I Could claim more pity for her hapless state, am now on my way thither. Thou seest, friend, why I beg; it is to get a little money to help me on my way: be merciful, as thou hopest for mercy. 66 Come, come," said the officer, "it won't do, you know; there's not a word of truth in it; 'tis all false. Did not I see you drunk at Nevill's Cross (a public-house of that name) the other night?" "No, friend," said the man of unsteady habits," thou didst not see me drunk there, but I was there, and saw thee drunk; and thou knowest when a man is drunk he thinks every body else so!" This was a poser for the police-officer. The crowd laughed, and "Anty Brignal" slunk away from their derision, while money fell plentifully into the extended hat of the disowned quaker. Not Niobe, when doom'd by cruel fate Than does, for you, that drop of magic power.] 6. Breathes there on earth, of human form possest, 7. For the Table Book. JACK THE VIPER. This is an odd name for a man, who does not bear the appearance of a viper, or "a snake in the grass." He is a rough sort of fellow, has been at Waterloo, but did not obtain a medal. He, nevertheless, carries the hue of a triumphant soldier, wears an honest sunburnt face, and might be trusted with his majesty's great seal, or that of another description in the British Museum. He is a lover of ringing bells and swine; but without regular employment. A singular piece of human construction, lone, and erratic in his love of nature. A shep herd lies down at ease by the sides of his flocks and fountains, listens to the plaints of injured birds, the voice of water and the music of skies, and dreams away his existence, years of youth, manhood, and old age. Jack is more tranquil even than the shepherd. He creeps silently in woods and forests, and on retired hot banks, in search of serpentine amusement-he is a viper catcher. Strange that creatures, generally feared and shunned by mankind, should win Jack's attention and sympathy, Yet, true it is, that Jack regards them as the living beauties of solitude, the lovely but startling inhabitants of luxuriant spots in the sultry summer. Were we to look round us, in the haunts of men, we could, perhaps, discover beings as fearful and awakening. Jack has travelled, seen the world, and profited by his travels; for he has learned to be contented. He is not entirely idle, nor wholly industrious. If he can get a crust sufficient for the day, he leaves the evil if it should visit him. The first time I saw him was in the high noon of a scorching day, at an inn in Laytonstone. He came in while a sudden storm descended, and a rainbow of exquisite majesty vaulted the earth. Sitting down at a table, he beckoned the hostess for his beer, and conversed freely with his acquaintance. By his arch replies I found that I was in company with an original a man that might stretch forth his arm in the wilderness without fear, and, like Paul, grasp an adder without harm. He playfully entwined his fingers with their coils and curled crests, and played with their forked tongues. He had unbuttoned his waistcoat, and as dexterously as a fish woman handles her eels, let out several snakes and adders, warmed by his breast, and spread them on the table. He took off his hat, and others of different sizes and lengths twisted before me; some of them, when he unbosomed his shirt, returned to the genial temperature of his skin; some curled round the legs of the table, and others rose in a defensive attitude. He irritated and humoured them, to express either pleasure or pain at his will. Some were purchased by individuals, and Jack pocketed his gain, observing, a frog, or mouse, occasionally, is enough for a snake's satisfaction." 66 The Naturalist's Cabinet" says, that "in the presence of the grand duke of Tuscany, while the philosophers were making elaborate dissertations on the danger of the poison of vipers, taken inwardly, a viper catcher, who happened to be present, requested that a quantity of it might be put into a vessel; and then, with the utmost confidence, and to the astonishment of the whole company, he drank it off. Every one expected the man instantly to drop down dead; but they soon perceived their mistake, and found that, taken inwardly, the poison was as harmless as water." William Oliver, a viper catcher at Bath, was the first who discovered that, by the application of olive oil, the bite of the viper is effectually cured. On the 1st of June, 1735, he suffered himself to be bitten by an old black viper; and after enduring all the agonising symptoms of approaching death, by using olive oil, he perfectly re covered. Viper's flesh was formerly esteemed for its medicinal virtues, and its salt was thought to exceed every other animal pro duct, in giving vigour to a languid consti tution. Sir,Allow me to draw your attention to a veteran, who in the Egyptian expedi tion lost his sight by the ophthalmy, and now asks alms of the passenger in the little avenue leading from Sadler's Wells to Spa Fields, along the eastern side of the New River Head. 1 His figure, sir, would serve for a model of Belisarius, and even his manner of soliciting would be no disgrace to the Ro man general. I am not expert at drawing portraits, yet will endeavour by two of three lines to give a slight conception of this. His present height is full six feet, 0. N.B. An old woman must lead him. Extracts FROM MY NOTE BOOK, For the Table Book. MOORE, in his life of Sheridan, says, that he (Sheridan) had a sort of hereditary fancy for difficult trifling in poetry; particularly to that sort which consists in rhyming to the same word through a long string of couplets, till every rhyme that the language supplies for it is exhausted:" and quotes some dozen lines, entitled "My Trunk," and addressed "To Anne," where in a lady is made to bewail the loss of her trunk, and rhymes her lamentation. The editor, in a note, says, "Some verses by general Fitzpatrick on lord Holland's father, are the best specimen I know of this scherzo." The general's lines I have never seen, and it is probable they are only in MS.; but le Seigneur des Accords, in his Bizarrures, (ed. 1585, Paris, Richer, feuillet 27,) quotes sixty lines, rhyming on a very indecent word from "un certain hure contre les femmes," composed by Drusac, Tolosain rimailleur imitant Marot," and who is there stated to have composed 300 or 400 verses on the same subject, and to rhyme. And at feuillet 162 of the same work and edition, the Seigneur adduces two other remarkable instances of "difficult trifling in poetry." Speaking of one of which, he says, "Vn Allemant nommé Petrus Porcius Porta, autrement Petrus Placentius, a fait un petit poëme laborieux le possible auquel il descrit PUGNAM PORCORUM en 350 vers ou environ, qui commencent tous par P, dont j'ai rapporté ces xvi suivās pour exemple, et pour the same 66 un contenter ceux qui ne l'ont pas veu." The quotation referred to commences with "Præcelsis Proauis Pulchrè Prognate Patrone," and concludes with "Pingui Porcorü Pingendo Poemate Pugnam." The other instances adduced by the Seigneur of this laborious folly, is related also of a German, by name Christianus Pierius ; who, says the author, "depuis peu de temps a fait un opuscule d'environ mille ou douze ces vers, intitulé Christus Crucifixus, tous les mots duquel commencent par C." Four lines are quoted; they are as follows: Currite Castalides Christi Comitante Camœnæ I myself recollect seeing and copying at Notting Hill some lines written (I think) on the battle of Waterloo, (the copy of which I have however lost;) which, although short, were sufficiently curious. They were in an album belonging to the sister of a schoolfellow, (W. O. S.,) and, as far as I have ever seen, were unique in their species of the paronomic genus. The first line began with " A," and each subsequent one with a successive letter of the alphabet, and each word alliterated to the initial letter of the line where it was placed. The poem went through the whole of the alphabet, not even excepting X or Z, and must have required a world of Patience and Perseverance to Perfect. MAROT, christened Clement, the French poet, who is said, in a quotation from le Seigneur des Accords in the foregoing note, to have been imitated by Drusac, lived in the reign of Francis I., and was a Protest-ant. There is a portrait of him at page 161 of "Les Vrais Portraits des Hommes Illustres" of Théodore de Bèze, Geneva, 1581, whereto a short sketch of his life is attached; which says, that " par une admirable félicité d'esprit, sans aucune cognoissance des langues ni des sciences, il surpassa tous les poetes qui l'auoient dévancé." He was twice banished on account of his religion; and when in exile translated one-third of the Psalms into French verse. "Mais au reste," says Théodore," ayant passé presque toute sa vie à la suite de cour, (où la piété et l'honesteté n'ōt guères d'audiance,) il ne se soucia pas beaucoup de réformer sa vie peu Chrétienne, ains se gouuernoit à sa manière accoutumée mesmes en sa vieillesse, et mourut en l'âge de 60 ans à Turin, où il s'estoit retiré sous la faueur du Lieutenant du Roi." He was a Quercinois, having been born at Cahors, in Quercy. The following lines were written after his death by Jodelle, who was famed for these "vers rappoṛtez." Quercy, la Cour, le Piedmont, l'Univers Me fit, me tint, m'enterra, me cognent, GUILDHALL. Misson, in his "Mémoires et Observations faites par un Voyageur en Angleterre," published anonymously at the Hague in 1698, under this head, accounts thus philologically for the name:-" "Il est à croire que la grande salle étoit autrefois dorée, puisque le mot de Guild ou Gild-hall, signifie SALLE DOREE." To do him justice, however, after quoting so ridiculous a passage, I must annex his note, as follows "D'autres disent que Guild est un ancien mot qui signifie incorporé: Guildhall; la salle des incorporez ou associez.”—p. 236. JULIET was no doubt a delectable little creature, but, like most of the genus, she was but a flimsy metaphysician. "What's in a name?" that depends now-a-days on the length or age of it. The question should be put to a Buckinghamshire meeting man, if one would desire to know the qualities of all the component parts of an Abraham or Absolam. In some parts of the country, people seem to think they have bilked the devil, and booked sure places in heaven for their children, if, at their christening, they get but a scripture name tacked to the urchins. "In proof whereof,". Esther, Aaron, and Shadrack Puddyfat, with master Moses Myrmidon, formed a blackberrying party that I fell in with a summer back near Botley, on the road between Chesham and Hemel Hempstead. At a farm-house in Bucks it is no uncommon sight for the twelve apostles to be seen tucking in greens and bacon, or for the tribes of Israel to be found drunk together in a pot-house. Some poor drunken-brained bigots would not accept even the free services of a ploughman, whose name was not known before the flood. NOTE. The names above seem so very ludicrous, that I have no doubt there will be many sceptics to the belief of their |