"All hail! the divine lantern encompassing that crystal lamp whose light outshines the sun in its midday splendour; the spiritual sea whence the world's richest pearl was extracted; the radiant sphere, the well-fenced orchard, the fruitful border, the fair and delicate garden, the nuptial bed of the eternal world, the odoriferous and happy City of God, etc., etc."
The subjoined is a specimen of the dialect spoken in the county of Lancashire, England. The verse is a description of a lost baby, by the town-crier, or bellman, who still plies his trade in out-of-the-way parts of England—
Law-st oather [either] to-day or else some toime to morn, As pratty a babby as ever wur born; It has cheeks like red roses, two bonny blue een, Had it meauth daubed wi' traycle th' last toime it were seen; It's just cuttin' it teeth, an' has very sore gums, An' it's gettin' a habit o' suckin' it thumbs; Thoose at foind it may keep it, there's nob'dy'll care, For thoose at hav lost it, hav lots moor to spare!
Luttrell made this couplet on the wife of "Anastatius" Hope, famous for his wealth and her own jewels—
"Of diamond, emerald and topaz, Such as the charming Mrs. Hope has!"
Shakespeare makes Lear, an early Anglo-Saxon King, speak of not wanting spectacles, which were not known until the fourteenth century. Cannon were first used in the year 1346, but in relating Macbeth's death, in 1054, and King John's reign in 1200, he mentions cannon. In his Julius Cæsar, he makes the "clock" strike three.
Schiller, in his "Piccolomini," speaks of a "lightning-conductor" as existing about 150 years before its invention.
Modern scepticism about the practical stoicism of the ancients is surely brought to a climax by a living writer, M. Fournier, who maintains that the so-called tub of Diogenes was in reality a commodious little dwelling—neat but not gorgeous. It must be supposed, then, that he spoke of his tub much as an English country gentleman does of his "box."—_The Book Hunter, by Burton._
The following announcements are curious, showing the merchandise light in which the negro was regarded in America while yet a colony of Great Britain:
A Choice Parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars, Tierces and Barrels; Ravens, Ducks and a Negro Woman and Negro Boy. The Coach-House and Stables, with or without the Garden Spot, formerly the property of Joseph Murray, Esq.; in the Broadway, to be let separately or together:—Inquire of said Francis Lewis.—_New York Gazette_, April 25th, 1765.