IRISH AND DUTCH BULLS.

THE bull related by Sir J. Carr, in his travels through Ireland, of the Irish hangman, who, upon asking a criminal (about to be executed) for the customary bequest, and receiving it, exclaimed-' Long life to your honour,' at the same moment that he drew the bolt which launched the unfortunate man into eternity; found its fellow in an incident at Antwerp. A criminal there, when condemned to be broken on the wheel, was permitted to have any thing he might require for sustenance, previous to his execution. A person deservedly condemned to this punishment for a murder he had committed, demanded a glass of beer; he obtained it, and was observed blowing off the froth which surmounted its top. Upon being asked his reason for doing so, he exclaimed: "Om dat het zeer ongezond is" (Anglice)' Because it was very unwholesome.' The criminal was executed in a few minutes afterwards. Literary Chronicle.

THE HEAVEN-BORN MINISTER,

A POLITICAL EPIGRAM.

THE Nation is pawn'd! we shall find to our cost,
And the Minister since has the duplicate lost.
We shall all be undone by this politic Schemer,
Who, though "Heav'n-born"—will not prove a Redeemer.

Original.

* This jeu d'esprit, which, as an Epigram, is superlative, is attributed to the late late Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and has never before, I believe, appeared in print.-ED.

EVERY MAN TO HIS TASTE

OR, PARTIALITIES IN DRINKING.

THE sudden change of the weather has naturally created that well-known thirst which summer brings; and in the midst of a discussion upon the merits of different liquors best calculated to allay its distressing symptoms, of the following gentlemen who were present, each one decided for the beverage placed opposite his name-and some people say that there are amongst them some curious coincidences; for our parts we do not exactly understand why. It seems, however, that—

Several gentlemen called for Geneva and Constantia, whose names escaped us, but we observed nothing like British Spirit among the whole party.

John Bull.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHYSIC AND SURGERY*.

Chirurgus medico quo differt? Scilicet isto,
Enecat hic succu, enecat ille manu:
Carnifice hoc ambo tantum differe videntur;
Tardius hi faciunt, quod facit ille cito.

PHYSICIAN and Surgeon you'll find, on the trial,
This kills with the knife, and that kills with the phial:
Both excellent friends to the sexton and vicar,

The one somewhat tardy, the other much quicker.

* This difference is thus pointed out by Dr. Buchan, in an admirable little work, just published, and entitled "Symptomatology; or, the Art of detecting Disease," p. 14. Nothing can be more impartial than such a statement of the case.

Chronicle.

HERBERT STOCKHORE,

THE MONTEM POET-LAUREATE.

A Sketch from the Life, as he appeared in the Montem Procession of May, 1823.

BY BERNARD BLACKMANTLE AND ROBERT TRANSIT, ESQRS.

(From that highly popular work, the English Spy.)

BENDING beneath a weight of time,

And crippled as his Montem Ode,
We found the humble son of rhyme
Busy beside the public road.
Nor laurel'd wreath or harp had he,
To deck his brow or touch the note
That wakes the soul to sympathy.

His face was piteous as his coat,

'Twas motley strange; e'en nature's self,
In wild, eccentric, playful mood,
Had, for her pastime, form'd the elf,
A being scarcely understood-

Half ideot, harmless; yet a gleam

Of sense, and whim, and shrewdness, broke

The current of his wildest stream;

And pity sigh'd as madness spoke.

S

Lavater, Lawrence, Camper here,
Philosophy new light had caught:
Judged by your doctrines, 'twould appear
The facial line denoted thought*.
But say, what system e'er shall trace
By scalp or visage mental worth?
The ideot's form, the maniac's face,
Are shared alike by all on earth.
"Comparative Anatomy-"

If, Stockhore, 'twas to thee apply'd,
'Twould set the doubting Gall-ist free,
And Spurzheim's idle tales deride.
But hence with visionary scheme,
Though Bell, or Abernethy, write;
Be Herbert Stockhore all my theme,
The Laureate's praises I indite ;
He erst who sung in Montem's praise,
And, Thespis like, from out his cart
Recited his extempore lays,

On Eton's sons, in costume smart,
Who told of captains bold and grand,
Lieutenants, marshals, seeking salt;
Of colonels, majors, cap in hand,

Who bade e'en Majesty to halt;

* It is hardly possible to conceive a more intelligent, venerable looking head, than poor Herbert Stockhore presents; a fine capacious forehead, rising like a promontory of knowledge, from a bold outline of countenance, every feature decisive, breathing serenity and thoughtfulness, with here and there a few straggling locks of silvery gray, which, like the time-discolored moss upon some ancient battlements, are the true emblems of antiquity: the eye alone is generally dull and sunken in the visage, but during the temporary gleams of sanity, or fancied flights of poetical inspiration, it is unusually bright and animated. According to professor Camper, I should think the facial line would make an angle of eighty or ninety degrees; and, judging upon the principles laid down by Lavater, poor Herbert might pass for a Solon. Of his bumps, or phrenological protuberances, I did not take particular notice, but I have no doubt they would be found, upon examination, equally illustrative of such visionary systems.