Without a perception of the immateriality of the idea, even Shakspeare's

"Pity, like a naked new-born babe, striding the blast,"

arms to whom this copy belonged, and slightly injuring the text of the verso of the first folio. Otherwise this volume, of which no other copy is known to exist, is in excellent preservation.

The title is as follows:

"DIVINO IMPLORATO PRESIDIO.

ELEANOR D'OLBREUSE (3rd S. v. 11.)-She was the daughter of Alexander H., Baron d'Olbreuse, by Jacquette, daughter of Joachim de Poussart, Baron de Wandre. CHARLES BRidger.

ALDINE VOLUME (3rd S. v. 96.) - There is in Stanford library a copy of Pomponius Mela, Solinus, &c., from the Aldine Press, Venice, 1518. It is printed in italic type, with large square spaces left for onamental letters at the beginning of each chapter, as described by your correspondent. Renouard, as regards this copy, is not quite literally correct.

The title-page states the contents as given in his Annales de l'Imprimerie, but with the anchor, and without the date and place of publication. Then follows the preface of F. A. Grolanus, and the 233 " feuillets," but only one additional page, containing the register, publisher's name, and date. Renouard's account, to which I have referred, is, however, a substantial, though perhaps not precisely literal, account of this curious volume. THOS. E. WINNINGTON.

Stanford Court, Worcester. GAINSBOROUGH PRAYER-BOOK (3rd S. v. 97.)I possess a Prayer-Book not unlike the Gainsborough copy of your correspondent, printed by Gower and Pennell, Kidderminster, without date, but probably published about the close of the last century. The Litany and Occasional Prayers are inserted in the Morning Prayer, as they are read in churches, not in separate services as in the Authorised Version.

It is an 8vo vol. containing the Common Prayer, Psalms, Collects, &c., but no metrical version of the psalter. It has one copper-plate of the Nativity as a frontispiece.

Stanford Court, Worcester.

THOS. E. WINNINGTON.

ROMAN CONSISTORY: HENRY VIII. AND QUEEN CATHERINE (3rd S. iv. 270.)- A thin volume of 65 folios or 130 pages, 84 inches high by 53 broad, on thick paper with narrow margins. Evidently printed in a hurry, the type employed varying, the sheets being alternately in small and large type. It was no doubt printed for the exclusive use of the members of the papal consistory. A small round has been cut out of the first folio about the size of a half-crown piece, thereby removing the stamp of the particular cardinal's

tiam præclari D. excusatoris illustrissimi ac inuictissimi Regis Angliæ, Nos Sigismondus Dondolus de Pistorio aduocatus Cōsistorialis minimus, & Michael de Conradis Tuderto utriusq; iuris Doctor, præscripti illustrissimi Regis & D. excusatoris Aduocati in sacro publico Pontificio consistorio, præsidente summo Pontifice cum suo sacrasancto Senatu, infrascriptas Conclusiones pro tenui posse nostro sigillatim, ac singulariter defensare conabimur. conclusionibus disputabitur & successiue aliæ disputaDie aut. xvi. præsentis Mensis, prima ex infrascriptis buntur."

On the verso of the title, the pleadings com

"Facti Contingentia Talis Proponitur.

toris Anglicani perlatu esset, madato R. P. D. Pauli UM ad aures clarissimi Domini Odoardi Karne. 11: Docde Capisucchis sacri Auditorii Pontificii Auditoris meritissimi, in causa matrimoniali inter Henricum regem Angliæ, & Catherinam illustrissimam Regina uertente, ut asseritur, delegati Apostolici, præscriptu illustrissimum Regem ad instantiam memoratæ illustrissimæ reginæ per edictü citatum extitisse, ut comparere deberet in Curia coram eo per se uel per procuratorem, idem D. Odoardus tanq. excusator & excusatorio nomine dicti Regis coram prædicto D. Paulo comparuit, quasdem materias excusatorias exhibens," &c. &c.

The conclusions are twenty-five in number, and occupy two pages. The six next pages are occupied by

"Tenor Materiarum pro parte Domini excusatoris Serenissimi ac inuictissimi Regis Angliæ Propositarum." The heading of page nine is as follows:

"Beatissime Pater ex articolis contentis in materiis

alias datis, S. V. eliciuntur Conclusiones infrascripte coram S. V. & suo Sacrosancto Senatu in amplissimo Cōsistorio penultima Februarii proposite & disputate."

(P. 12.)"Responsa data penvltimo die Februarii," &c. (P. 26.) "Responsa data sexta die Martii in Presentia S. D. N. in Cōsistorio ad allegationes aduocatorum Serenissime Regine deductas contra tres coclusiones illa die disputatas."

(P. 42.) "Responsa data xiii. Martii," &c. (P. 61.) "Responsa data xx. Martii," &c.

The volume ends thus:

"Et ex predictis remaet iustificata predicta ultima conclusio, & responsum est adversariorum obiectioni." W. H. J. W.

PRIVATE SOLDIER (3rd S. iv. 501.) - I fear you will have some difficulty in arriving at a true derivation of this title. I apprehend it is soldier's slang. The word is not recognised by military authority. In the army there are officers, noncommissioned officers (that is, serjeants and corporals), and rank and file. If, by court-martial, a non-commissioned officer is reduced, the punishment is thus worded: in the cavalry, "to the

rank and pay of a dragoon;" in the artillery, to a "gunner, or driver". -as the case may be; in infantry, to a "sentinel." You will observe, that in no case is "private soldier" admitted. I will give your readers another query: Why do soldiers call the dark clothes of the civilian, which they occasionally wear when putting off their scarlet tunics, "coloured clothes"? Bar a lucus a non lucendo, I am at a loss to conceive. EBORacum.

THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN BIRMINGHAM (3rd S. iv. 388, 520.)- Possibly A Loyal Oration (1717) may be the first tract printed in Birmingham, but the earliest book printed there that I have met with, is

"A HELP against SIN in our ordinary Discourse. As also against prophane Swearing, Cursing, evil Wishing, and taking God's Holy Name in vain: And also against Triming on the Lord's Day-Shewing that it is neither a Work of Mercy, nor Case of Necessity: and, therefore, ought not to be done on that Day.

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy.- Exodus 20, 15 (sic).

"Six Days may Work be done, but the Seventh is a Sabbath of Rest.. Holy to the Lord; whosoever doth any Work thereon, shall surely be put to Death, see Exodus 31, 15.

"Publish'd by the Author, R. Hamersley], Chyrurgeon in Walsall, Staffordshire, 1719. Birmingham: Printed by H. B. in New Street."

It is a 12mo (pp. 64), and my copy is in the original leather binding. At p. 27, Hamersley

says:

"Some years past I put out a little book . . . called Advice to Sunday Barbers, but there were but a few of those books printed."

If the Advice was printed in Birmingham, it would be before A Loyal Oration. Information respecting Hamersley, or "H. B." the publisher, will be thankfully received. CHAS. H. BAYLEY.

Westbromwich.

HOLY HOUSE OF LORETTO (3rd S. v. 73.)-The Holy House of Loretto has certainly not been carried to Milan, or anywhere else: its removal from beneath the dome of the church, where it has stood for ages, is impossible except stone by

stone.

The history of the Santa Casa is one of the most wildly imaginative legends which yet hold any place in the world's belief. It probably grew up around a cottage, built in imitation of the dwelling at Nazareth by some pious Italian pilgrim; who, on his return from the Holy Land, wished to revive in the neighbourhood of his home the religious emotions he had felt when contemplating what he believed to be the scene of the Annunciation. At a time when historic criticism was unknown, the legends of Palestine became attached to the Italian building; and that which had once been poetry, hardened into dogma.

Dean Stanley's Sinai and Palestine contains an interesting account of the Santa Casa, and the house at Nazareth. A far more curious book has, however, recently been published by a devout believer in the legendary history of the building:

"Loretto and Nazareth: Two Lectures containing the Results of Personal Investigation of the Two Sanctuaries. By William Antony Hutchinson, Priest of the Oratory. 8vo. 1863."

The author died on the 12th of last July, while his book was in the printer's hands. The literature of the Holy House is extensive, but little known in this country. The following is, I think, in the British Museum: "LORETTO.- Philippon (A.), Histoire de la Sainte Maison de Lorette. Paris, 1649. Oblong 4to."

FOLK LORE (3rd S. iv. 514.)-Might I suggest that, when the whitethorn bears an abundant crop, it arises from a warm summer, that gives plenty of blossoms to ripen into fruit. This was so in 1851-2; and in Warwickshire, at least, we had the mildest winter I ever remember. EBORACUM.

ENIGMA (3rd S. v. 55, 103.)-Is it not a kiss that is indicated by this riddle? Such gifts are not in the possession of the giver before the giving, nor in that of the receiver after it. The giver, we know, sometimes gives them θέλουσα κ' ου θέλουσα ; even when there is resistance she is said to give the thing in question, which cannot therefore be said to be forcibly taken, and she may take it again without any effort to do so. NUPER IDONEUS. Carlton Club.

Both E. V. and F. C. H. are wrong as to the solutions of the Earl of Surrey's quaint enigma. The answer, I take it, and and also give it, is evidentlya kiss. Chelmsford.

H.

"A SHOFUL" (2nd S. x. 410.)- As I do not think that. the query of your esteemed correspondent, A. A., as to the derivation of this slang designation of a Hansom cab has ever been answered, I

send my notion of the etymology of the term. A. A. says, "The other day, a witness, giving evidence at a police office, was asked what his occupation might be? He answered that 'he drove a shoful,' which he afterwards explained to be a Hansom cab." Most persons who have observed the occupant of a Hansom cab in the summer time, have noticed that the doors are generally thrown open, thus affording an entire view, or "show full" of the person sitting in the vehicle.

Thus, "There goes a show full," might_easily become current slang. JOHN PAVIN PHILLIPS. Haverfordwest.

EARL OF LEICESTER (3rd S. v. 109.)-The epitaph on the Earl of Leicester which MR. PAYNE COLLIER inquires after will be found (with the last two lines somewhat varied) in the Collection of William Drummond of Hawthornden.

C. F. S. WARREN.

OLIVER DE DURDEN (3rd S. v. 115.)-It seems probable that Oliver de Durden, whom ANTIQUARY inquires after, is identical with "Oliver, a military man," mentioned as a natural son of King John by Rapin, Anderson, and Sandford. He would then be half brother to King Henry III. C. F. S. WArren.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

Alexander Hamilton and his Contemporaries; or the Rise of the American Constitution. By Christopher James Riethmuller. (Bell & Daldy.)

We have in this well-timed volume a brief account of the rise of the American Constitution, in connection with the life and opinions of the remarkable man "who did the most to call it into existence and bring it into working order, while he foresaw its dangers from the beginning, and laboured incessantly to guard against them." The story of Hamilton's varied life; his labours in the field and in the council; his influence and his disinterestedness, are interwoven with the history of the Republic and the rise of the Constitution; and are narrated by Mr. Riethmuller in a pleasing and graceful style, which will satisfy the English reader, and with a feeling for the difficulties and struggles in which the countrymen of Hamilton are now unhappily engaged, which will, we should think, serve to convince them that the people of England view with emotions of deep sympathy and regret the calamities which has befallen their kindred in blood, in language, and in religion.

An Essay towards the Interpretation of the Apocalypse. By the Rev. B. Stacey Clarke. (Rivingtons.)

A new Interpretation of the Apocalypse, based upon no higher authority than the writer's own private judgment, is hardly likely to carry weight with the Christian Church. But there is another reason, we think, which will hinder the acceptance of Mr. Clarke's work; and it is this-that the Interpretation is more obscure than the original he seeks to explain.

Shakespeare's Jest Books; Reprints of the early and very rare Jest Books, supposed to have been used by Shakespeare. I. A Hundred Mery Tales, from the only known Copy. II. Mery Tales and Quicke Answeres, from the rare Edition of 1567. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt. (Willis & Sotheran.) Among the books of the people-" which with all their occasional coarseness and frequent dulness, are," as Mr. Hazlitt well observes, "of extreme and peculiar value, as illustrations of early manners and habits of thought"— none are more deserving of attention than the popular Jest Books and certainly none could more appropriately form the opening volumes of a series of Old English Jest Books than the two extremely rare volumes of which

some few years since Mr. Singer reprinted a very limited impression. Of the "Hundred Mery Tales," only one copy, and that formed of portions of two copies, and yet imperfect, is known to exist. It was printed by John Rastell about 1525, and afterwards by Walley, Awdley, and Charlwood; but not a fragment of their editions is known to exist. The "Mery Tales and Quicke Answeres," originally printed by Berthelet (about 1535), was reprinted by Wykes, with the addition of twenty-six new stories, in 1567. Mr. Hazlitt has reproduced this latter, which is of extreme rarity. The editor has obviously bestowed great care and attention on the work, and his illustrations are pertinent and satisfactory.

The Book of Days; a Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection with the Calendar, including Anecdote, Biography, and History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of Human Life and Character. (Parts XXII. to XXVI.) (W. & R. Chambers.)

We congratulate Messrs. Chambers on having brought to a successful conclusion the very useful Companion to the Calendar, which, under its appropriate title of The Book of Days, is destined, we have no doubt, for many years to take its place on the shelves of all lovers of old times and old customs, beside the now venerable but always amusing Every Day Book of William Hone. The Book of Days is not only a book to be consulted when information connected with Days and Seasons is to be sought for, but it may be taken up at odd moments like a volume of the French Ana, and will be found quite as amusing, while its utility is doubled by an Index which is a model for all similar Miscellanies.

ADMIRALTY DOMESDAY BOOK. We learn, from The Naval Chronicle of the month, that Mr. C. M. Roupell, barrister-at-law, has been appointed by the Admiralty to compile a Domesday Book or Register of all the property belonging to or under the control of the Board of Admiralty.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose:

THE LIFE-BOAT; OR, JOURNAL OF THE LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. Vols. I. II. III. and IV. Singly, separately, or in the quarterly parts. Wanted by J.S. A. care of Mr. Baseley, 29, Throgmorton Street, London, E.C.

MUNROR'S EXPEDITION WITH THE SCOTS REGIMENT MACKAY'S. Published in folio, 1637.

Wanted by Mr. A. Mackay, 33, Georgen Strasse, Berlin.

Notices to Correspondents.

MONODY ON THE DEATH OF SIR JOHN MOORE. This was written by the Rev. Charles Woolf. See "N. & Q." 1st S. i. 445. For a curious hoax as to the authorship, see "N. & Q." 1st S. vi. 80, 158. We shall always be happy to receive the queries of W. Z.

WILL AND CONFESSION OF FAITH OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE.-M. D. will find in the very first volume of "N. & Q." several articles by Mr. Bolton Corney and the late Mr. Croker on this document, which has long been recognised as a mere forgery.

J. L.'s address is in the hands not of the publisher, but of the Editor, who will forward it to T. B. upon being informed where to send it.

ERRATA. 3rd S. iv. p. 504, col. ii. line seven from bottom for "Moral Philosophy" read "Moral Philosopher; " vol. v. p. 65, col. i. line 30, for "The Rev. Samuel Dunne" read" Samuel Denne.'

"NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, and is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS. The Subscription for STAMPED COPIES for Six Months forwarded direct from the Publisher (including the Halfyearly INDEX) is 118. 4d., which may be paid by Post Office Order, payable at the Strand Post Office, in favour of WILLIAM G. SMITH, 32, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, W.C., to whom all COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EDITOR should be addressed.

"NOTES & QUERIES" is registered for transmission abroad.

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1864.

CONTENTS. -No. 112.

NOTES: Unpublished Poems by Helen D'Arcy Cranstoun, &c., 147-Tom or John Drum's Entertainment, 148 -Doña Maria de Padilla, 149- Beau Wilson: Law of Lauriston, 150-Bowyer House, Camberwell - The modern Magicians of Egypt - Richard Chandler, compiler of Parliamentary Debates - Lord Ball of Bagshot - Common Law, 151.

QUERIES: -Thomas Holder: Captain Tobie Holder, 152 -Alleged Plagiarism Crowe Field -Customs in Scotland- Digby Motto - Enigma Gaelic Manuscript Greek Custom as to Horses Herodotus - Inchgaw: Ruffolcia - Inquisitions v. Visitations - Mary MastersMartin Moore-A few Queries with Quotations wanted - Rosary - The Sea of Glass-Sir John Salter's Tomb and the Salters' Company-A Secret Society-Sheridan and Peter Moor-Trials of Animals - Buck Whalley, M.P.Wonderful Characters-Marquis of Worcester's "Century of Inventions," 153. QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:- Reginald Fitzurse-William Dunbar - Pope and Chesterfield - St. Ishmael “Officina gentium"-J. Holland, Optician-Oath of the Judges on nominating the Sheriffs- Maint, 156. REPLIES: — Portrait of our Saviour, 157 — Mutilation of Sepulchral Monuments, 158-Whitmore Family, 159Psalm xc. 9 (Vulgate lxxxix. 10), 160 St. Mary Matfelon, 161-On Wit, 16.- Hans Memlinc: "Massacre of the Innocents - Col. Robert Venables - Who write our Negro Songs ? -Thomson the Poet's House and Cellar Gainsborough Prayer Book - Meschines-Springs - Cold in June and Warmth at Christmas - Saint Swithin's Day -Turnspit Dogs-Charles Hennebert-The Broad Arrow -Richardson Family, &c., 163.

Notes on Books, &c.

Notes.

UNPUBLISHED POEMS BY HELEN D'ARCY CRANSTOUN,*

SECOND WIFE OF PROFESSOR DUGALD STEWART.

(Early reference to Sir Walter Scott.)

Miss Cranstoun is known to the lovers of Scottish minstrelsy as the authoress of a song-" The tears I shed must ever fall," which Robert Burns denominated "a song of genius;" and to which, in order to suit it for the music to which it was set in Johnson's Scotish Musical Museum, he did not disdain to add a verse. Among the additional

Notices of the different members of the Cranstoun family will be found in Anderson's Scottish Nation, published by Fullarton & Co. This admirable Biographical Dictionary-with the fate that seems to attend books issued by those termed by the trade "Number Publishers "— is far too little known to those best qualified to enjoy its delicious stores. It embraces, under one alphabet, and in the compass of three imperial 8vo volumes, a very full and accurate Scottish biography, a history of Scottish surnames, titles, and baronies, and the best substitute that has yet appeared for that great desideratum — a Bibliotheca Scotica. The author was for some time subeditor of The Witness newspaper, under Hugh Miller, who reviewed in its columns the first edition of the dictionary, a thick 12mo, giving it high praise, and mentioning one characteristic which every lover of literary history knows how to value-that he had found in it many names he had sought for elsewhere in vain. In the same review, he stamped with his decisive approval a volume of poems, entitled Landscape Lyrics, which Mr. Anderson had previously published.

notes to the last edition of the Museum (Edinburgh, 1839), there appeared for the first time a copy of verses by Miss Cranstoun, beginning— Returning Spring, with gladsome ray.' These, so far as I am aware, are the only productions of her pen which have been published.

In an album which belonged to the family of a baronet in the Carse of Gowrie, and which came into my possession lately when his library was dispersed, I find-amid a melange of original verses which passed between various members or connections of the family, with dates appended ranging from 1771 to 1792-eight pieces "By a young lady;" who is identified, apart from internal evidence, with Miss Cranstoun by the occurrence among them of both the poems above mentioned. The titles of the other six are as follow: 1. "Vow for Wealth." 2. Without a title, but with this note at the beginning, in pencil: "On L-n-n, composed in an hour, and written down by a friend." 3. "A Prayer." 4. Without a title. 5. "A Fragment, or, Verses to Winter." 6. Also without a title.

We give below the first three. No reader of Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott can ever forget his intimacy with the Cranstoun family; nor the influence of Jane Anne, the second of its three daughters, in promoting his earliest attempts in verse. There is something very interesting and suggestive in the kind of reference to Scott in the third of the poems, now printed. It seems to mark him out from all the other gentlemen named, as of a more thoughtful cast of mind. 'Boyle," I should think there is little room to doubt, must have been David Boyle, Esq., ultimately Lord-Justice-General of Scotland; and as little that "Gray" was Francis, fifteenth Lord Gray, born in 1765.

The other allusions I must leave it to J. M., of this city, whose contributions to "N. & Q." are so valuable and interesting, to explain.

1. "yow FOR WEALTH.
"Far, far remote from busy life,

From giddy mirth, or hateful strife,
How sweet, in pensive mood, to muse
While softly fall the evening dews!
How sweet, while all around is calm,
To pour on care oblivion's balm;
To hush the throbbing heart to rest,
And court fond hope to fill the breast!
Say, in this soft romantic scene,
Where all is soothing and serene,
What eager wish yet fondly springs
On glad Imagination's wings?

It is not Friendship, gift divine,
Thanks to kind Heaven, that gift is mine.
It is not Love-I scorn his chains,

I scorn alike his joys and pains.
Grateful, I feel it is not Health,
And blushing own, that wish is-Wealth.
And yet the mean, the sordid sigh,
Look round with cool impartial eye;

Though riches never can bestow
Such joys as peace and virtue know,
Yet, cannot poverty disclose
An awful train of blackest woes?
Genius depress'd, and worth obscur'd,
Pleasure forbid, and care ensured;
And mean dependence, painful state,
Obliged perhaps to those we hate;
While those we love, around us sigh
In unassisted misery.

Think on the helpless, wretched maid,
Unblest by fortune's pow'rful aid;
Perhaps, the youth whom she approves
With virtue glows, with fervour loves:
In vain-for honour bids her fly,
Nor give herself-and poverty!

Or grant that Heaven's less harsh decree
Still gracious, gives a heart that's free;
Yet, should some sordid, wealthy fool,
Or passion's slave, or vice's tool,
But decked in fortune's gay parade,
Admire, and woo the luckless maid-
Think on the pangs her bosom tear,
Her agitation, doubt, despair,

While parents, brothers, sisters, wait,
Her choice may fix their future fate.
And shall she deem the task severe,
That rescues all her heart holds dear!
"Tis not the frown of stern control,
That deepest wounds the feeling soul:
The fault'ring voice, the speaking eye,
The sigh of fond anxiety:

These these, in mercy, Heav'n avert,
And snatch from woe a bursting heart.
All-pow'rfull wealth, my prayer regard,
And deign thy vot'ry to reward.
Yet, tho' thy influence I adore,
Small is the bounty I implore.
Unheeded shall thy treasure shine,
Oh! make but independence mine.
Enough in ease my days to spend,
Or, sweeter still, to bless a friend.
'Tis all I ask, for all thy store
Can never add a blessing more.
But may it never be the price

Of slav'ry, meanness, or of vice.
Nor e'er my soul the anguish mourn,
To owe it to a hand I scorn."

2. "ON L-N—N.

"Oh! say, thou blest abode of calm content,
Where my first happiest years of life were spent,
Where joy, unmixt with care, my bosom knew,
And wing'd with innocence my moments flew ;
Where all my little scenes of bliss were laid,
And all my youthful fondest friendships made:
Oh! say, when I those happy hours review,
Can I, unmov'd, pronounce a last adieu?
Can I for ever from thy shades depart,
Nor feel deep anguish rend my bleeding heart?
What, tho' nor Art nor Nature deigns to smile,
Bleak are thy hills, and barren is thy soil;
What, tho' no ancient grandeur charms the sight,
Nor soft romantic vales inspire delight;
Yet sweet simplicity is surely thine,
And strong attachment paints thee all divine.
But since the Will of Heaven we must obey,
And inclination yield to duty's sway;
Since vain is passion, sorrow, or regret,
T'oppose the law of reason, fortune, fate;
Let me, with firmness, hide the pangs I feel,
And calmly bear the woes I cannot heal.

Not on the place depends our joy or rest,
Our happiness must flow from our own breast.
Guilt and disquiet make the palace sad,
Content and innocence the cottage glad.
But yet, whene'er before my faithful eyes,
Fancy shall make thy much lov'd image rise,
The well-known sight must to my soul be dear,
Come with a sigh, nor part without a tear.
And when propitious Heaven the bliss bestows,
To see again this seat of calm repose,
Charmed with the view my soul in joy will melt,
Recall each scene of bliss I saw, and felt,

And hail the spot where peace and I have dwelt.". 3. "A PRAYER.

"I ask not titles, wealth, or pow'r,

A Gascoigne's face, or Pultney's dow'r;
I ask not wit, nor even sense,

I scorn content, and innocence.
The gift I ask can these forestall-

It adds, improves, implies them all.
Then good or bad, or, right or wrong,
Grant me, ye Gods, to be the ton.

My Heavens! what joys would then be mine;
How bright, how charming, would I shine!
How chang'd from all I was before;
With friends and lovers by the score!

No more the object of disdain,
Ev'n Clara then would grace my train,
Hang on my arm from morn to night,
Her dearest friend, her sole delight.
Torphichen at my feet might sigh,
Scott might approve, and Maxwell die;
While I degagée, cool, and gay,
Whisper with Boyle, and dance with Gray.
Tell not to me, when age draws nigh,
That frolic, feathers, whims, should fly.
Poor vulgar wretches! not to know,
That ev'ry year we younger grow;
Or, what is much upon a par,
We dance and frisk as if we were;
Of true philosophy possess'd,
No care, no pity, breaks our rest;
Thoughtless we flutter life along,
And die content-if it's the ton."

Edinburgh.

J. D.

TOM OR JOHN DRUM'S ENTERTAINMENT. "A kind of proverbial expression for ill-treatment, probably alluding originally to some particular anecdote. Most of the allusions seem to point to the dismissing of some unwelcome guest with more or less of ignominy and insult." (Nares's Glossary.)

་་

In all probability the phrase originated in a reference to that military punishment for disgraceful crimes and incorrigible offenders still commonly known as drumming out of the service," and, like various other military phrases, it probably became current in England during the Low Country Wars. The description of the ceremony, as given in Grose's Military Antiquities, agrees in all essentials with that now or until very lately practised:

"The corporal punishment commonly accompanying this sentence being over, and the regiment turned out with or without arms [it having also witnessed the flogging],