Part 9 (1/2)

CLEAN HANDS

Lord Broughaable canvass of Yorkshi+re, in the course of which he often addressed ten or a dozen ue the electors of Leeds iht, and without waiting to perform his customary ablutions ”These hands are clean!” cried he, at the conclusion of a diatribe against corruption; but they happened to be very dirty, and this practical contradiction raised a hearty laugh

MODERATE FLATTERY

Jasper Mayne says of Master Cartwright, the author of tolerable comedies and poems, printed in 1651:--

”Yes, thou to Nature hadst joined art and skill; In thee, Ben Jonson still held Shakspeare's quill”

EVERY-DAY LIFE OF JAMES SMITH

”One of the Authors of the _Rejected Addresses_” thus writes to a friend:[3]--

”Let eneral disposal of my time I breakfast at nine, with a mind undisturbed by matters of business; I then write to you, or to some editor, and then read till three o'clock I then walk to the Union Club, read the journals, hear Lord John Russell deified or _diablerized_, (that word is not a bad coinage,) do the saton; and then join a knot of conversationists by the fire till six o'clock, consisting of lawyers, e We then and there discuss the three per cent consols, (so Dutch two-and-a-half per cent), and speculate upon the probable rise, shape, and cost of the New Exchange If Lady Harrington happen to drive past ourin her landau, we coerine Ambassador's; and when politics happen to be discussed, rally Whigs, Radicals, and Conservatives alternately, but never seriously,--such subjects having a tendency to create acriins to be deserted; wherefore I adjourn to the dining-roo over the bill of fare, exclaim to the waiter, 'Haunch of mutton and apple tart' These viands despatched, with the acco liquids and water, I mount upward to the library, take a book and my seat in the arm-chair, and read till nine Then call for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, resu my book till eleven; afterwards return home to bed If I have any book here which particularly excites my attention, I place my lamp on a table by nition,quite safe, and e eventful history,'” &c

[3] In his Comic Miscellanies

FRENCH-ENGLISH JEU-DE-MOT

The celebrated Mrs Thicknesse undertook to construct a letter, every word of which should be French, yet no Frenchlishlishwoman should decipher it with ease Here is the specienuity:--

”Pre, dire sistre, comme and se us, and pass the de here if yeux canne, and chat tu o to the faire if yeux plaise; yeux eon, olives, sallette, forure diner, and excellent te, cafe, port vin, an liqueurs; and tell ure bette and poll to coo tu the faire and visite the Baron But if yeux dont coo to ure house and se oncle, and se houe he does; for mi dame se he bean ill; but deux comme; mi dire yeux canne ly here yeux nos; if yeux love musique, yeux mai have the harp, lutte, or viol heere Adieu, mi dire sistre”

RELICS OF IZAAK WALTON

Flat--

”Happy old man, whose worth all mankind knows Except hi a true picture of Walton's character, and of the estiler”

The last male descendant of our ”honest father,” the Rev Dr Herbert Hawes, died in 1839 He very liberally bequeathed the beautiful painting of Walton, by Houseman, to the National Gallery; and it is a curious fact, as showing the esti connected with Walton is held in the present day, that the lord of the manor in which Dr

Hawes resided, laid claih not successfully Dr Hawes also bequeathed the greater portion of his library to the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury; and his executor and friend presented the celebrated prayer-book, which was Walton's, to Mr Pickering, the publisher The watch which belonged to Walton's connexion, the excellent Bishop Ken, has been presented to his arapher, the Rev W Lisle Bowles