The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 12, No. 337, October 25, 1828

Make the passage brighter?
Were not any boat
Better than a lighter?
Why, Maiden, why
So intrusive standing?
Must thou be on the stair,
When he's on the landing?

The Gem

On a tombstone in the churchyard of Christchurch, Hants, is the following curious inscription, which I copied on the spot. Perhaps some of your numerous readers can explain the same:—

WE WERE NOT SLAYNE BVT RAYSD
RAYSD NOT TO LIFE
BVT TO BE BVRIED TWICE
BY MEN OF STRIFE
WHAT REST COVLD'TH LIVING HAVE
WHEN DEAD HAD NONE
AGREE AMONGST YOV
HERE WE TEN ARE ONE
HEN: ROGERS DIED APRILL 17, 1641.

    I R.

EPICURISM

Thomas a Becket gave five pounds, equivalent to seventy-five pounds of the present money, for a dish of eels.

HALBERT H

A famous scholar of the last century, when a boy, was exceedingly fond of the Greek language, and after he had been a short time at school, had acquired so much of the sound of the language, that when at home at dinner one day his father said, "Shall you not be glad, Harry, when you can tell me the names of every dish on the table in Greek?" "Yes," said he; "but I think I know what it must be." "Do you?" said the father; "what do you know about Greek?"—"Nothing," said the boy; "but I think I can guess from the sound of it what it would be." "Well, say then," said the father. He quickly replied, "Shouldromoton, alphagous, pasti-venizon." It appears the dinner consisted of a shoulder of mutton, half a goose, and venison pasty.

SNUFF AND TOBACCO

In the year 1797, was circulated the following proposals for publishing by subscription, a History of Snuff and Tobacco, in Two Volumes:—

Vol. 1.—To contain a description of the nose—size of noses—a digression on Roman noses—whether long noses are symptomatic—origin of tobacco—tobacco first manufactured into snuff—inquiry who took the first pinch—essay on sneezing—whether the ancients sneezed, and at what—origin of pocket handkerchiefs—discrimination between snuffing and taking snuff; the former only applied to candles—parliamentary snuff-takers—troubles in the time of Charles I. as connected with smoking.

Vol. 2.—Snuff-takers in the parliamentary army—wit at a pinch—oval snuff-boxes first used by the roundheads—manufacture of tobacco pipes—dissertation on pipe-clay—state of snuff during the commonwealth—the union—Scotch snuff first introduced—found very pungent and penetrating—accession of George II.—snuff-boxes then made of gold and silver—George III.—Scotch snuff first introduced at court—the queen, German snuffs in fashion—female snuff-takers—clean tuckers, & c. &c—Index and List of Subscribers.

C.F.E

THE "ILL WIND," &c

In debt, deserted, and forlorn,
A melancholy elf
Resolved, upon a Monday morn,
To go and hang himself.
He reach'd the tree, when lo! he views
A pot of gold conceal'd;
He snatch'd it up, threw down the noose,
And scamper'd from the field.
The owner came—found out the theft,
And, having scratch'd his head,
Took up the rope the other left,
And hung himself, instead.

OLD COOKERY

Gastronomers will feel a natural desire to know what was considered the "best universal sauce in the world," in the boon days of Charles II., at least what was accounted such, by the Duke of York, who was instructed to prepare it by the Spanish ambassador. It consisted of parsley, and a dry toast pounded in a mortar, with vinegar, salt, and pepper. The modern English would no more relish his royal highness's taste in condiments than in religion. A fashionable or cabinet dinner of the same period consisted of "a dish of marrow-bones, a leg of mutton, a dish of fowl, three pullets, and a dozen larks, all in a dish; a great tart, a neat's tongue, a dish of anchovies, a dish of prawns, and cheese." At the same period, a supper-dish, when the king supped with his mistress, Lady Castlemaine, was "a chine of beef roasted."

OLD EPITAPH

As I was, so are ye,
As I am, you shall be.
That I had, that I gave,
That I gave, that I have.
Thus I end all my cost,
That I left, that I lost.

IMPROMPTU TO –, ON HER MARRIAGE WITH MR. WILLIAM P–

When ladies they wed,
It ever is said
That their freedom away they have thrown;
But you've not done so,
For we very well know
You will have a Will of your own.

C.K.W

PAINTERS

Lavater affirms, that no one whose person is not well formed can become a good physiognomist. Those painters were the best whose persons were the handsomest. Reubens, Vandyke, and Raphael possessed three gradations of beauty, and possessed three gradations of painting.

ELYSIAN SOUP

The French have a soup which they call "Potage a la Camerani" of which it is said "a single spoonful will lap the palate in Elysium; and while one drop remains on the tongue, each other sense is eclipsed by the voluptuous thrilling of the lingual nerves!"

A JAPANESE BEAUTY

Her face was oval, her features regular, and her little mouth, when open, disclosed a set of shining, black lacquered teeth; her hair was black, and rolled up in the form of a turban, without any ornament, except a few tortoiseshell combs; she had sparkling, dark eyes, was about the middle size, and elegantly formed; her dress consisted of six wadded silk garments, similar to our night-gowns, each fastened round the lower part of the waist by a separate band, and drawn close together from the girdle downwards; they were all of different colours, and the uppermost was black.

U

GOOD LIVING

I hate a fellow who was never young; he is like a dull Italian year, where the trees are always in leaf, and when the only way of knowing the difference of the seasons is by referring to an almanack. The inconstancy of the spring may surely be excused for the steady warmth of summer and the rich plenty of autumn; then comes the hoar of winter old gentleman, and closes the scene not ungracefully.—Old Play.

Purchasers of the MIRROR, who may wish to complete their sets are informed, that every volume is complete in itself, and may be purchased separately. The whole of the numbers are now in print, and can be procured by giving an order to any Bookseller or Newsvender.