Miscellanies. ANECDOTES OF THE LATE DUKE OF LEEDS. The father of the present Duke of Leeds had a great passion for music. His taste for that science often led him to accept invitations for private parties. On one occasion he attended a select party in Lombard-street, given by a gentleman who held an appointment in the Post Office, and who had very good apartments there. To meet the Duke, a few amateurs were invited, and amongst the rest the present Chamberlain of London, Mr. Clark, who, singing at sight, was a very useful member. Mr. Clark was Lord Mayor, and on that night he was to take possession of the Mansion House, which is never in order for the reception of its short-leased tenant till some weeks after it becomes vacant. At midnight, the City Magistrate's carriage came to fetch him home; but the Duke so earnestly pressed his staying a little longer, that he could not refuse, especially as he had made his compassion easy to the servants, by saying "Send away your carriage, and I will set you down." The clock again struck, and his civic Lordship (who had with firmness passed the bottle) began respectfully to remonstrate, when, at length, his Grace rose, and good-humouredly said-" Well, come along, I see it will not do; you are too much on your guard for me. Do you recollect, you are now sitting on the identical spot where stood the house of Sir Robert Viner, when he filled your present situation, and King Charles II. dined with him. I confess I had some ambiticn to reduce you to the state in which Sir Robert was, when he so reluctantly parted with his Royal guest, and to have sent you to the Mansion House as merry; but I see you have out-manoeuvred me, and so I am at your service." The same Nobleman, when Secretary of State, in going home from his office on foot and alone, was one night attacked on Constitution-hill by two footpads, who, having taken his money, demanded his watch. It was very valuable, and he had deposited it so securely that he thought he might venture to deny having one. He did so; and at the same moment, and when the men had yet their hands on him, the watch itself betrayed him, by striking. The hour unfortunately was twelve; he heard it distinctly, and as he himself said, thought it never would have done. striking. He gave his life up for gone; but providentially the meu did not hear it, and made off with what they had obtained. A strong sense of this wonderful escape remained long on the Duke's mind. AGOSTINE FOSARI, THE SOM- Paying a visit to a friend in the coun- In this equipage did Signor Agostine walk backwards and forwards in his chamber several times. He came to the fire, sat down in an elbow chair, and went some little time after to a closet, where was his portmanteau. He fumbled in it a long time; turned every thing topsy-turvey, and after putting every thing in order, he shut the port manteau, and put the key in his pocket; whence he drew a letter and put it over the chimney. He then went to the chamber-door; opened it, and proceeded down stairs. When he came to the bottom, one of the company falling, he seemed frightened at the noise, and mended his pace. The valet bid us, walk softly, and not speak, because when any noise was made near him, and intermixed with his dreams, he became furious, and ran with the greatest precipitancy, as if pursued. He traversed the whole court, which was very spacious, and proceeded to the stable. He went in, stroaked and caressed his horse, bridled him, and was going to saddle him; but not finding the saddle in its usual place, he seemed very uneasy, like a man disappointed. He, however, mounted his horse, and gallopped to the house-door, which was shut. He then dismounted, and taking up a cabbage-stalk, knocked furiously at the door. After a great deal of labour lost, he remounted his horse, guided him to the pond, which was at the other end of the court, let him drink, went afterwards and tied him to his manger, and then returned to the house with great agility. At the noise some servants made in the kitchen, he was very attentive, came near to the door, and clapped his ear to the key-hole; but passing on a sudden to the other side, he entered a parlour where was a billiard-table. He walked backwards and forwards, and used the same postures as if he was effectually at play. He proceeded to a pair of virginals, upon which he could play, and made some jangling. After two hours exercise, he returned up stairs to his chamber, and threw himself in his clothes upon the bed, where we found him the next morning at nine, in the same posture we had left him; for upon these occasions he ever slept eight or ten hours together. His valet told us there were but two ways to recover him out of these fits; one was to tickle him strongly upon the soles of his feet; the other, to sound a horn or trumpet at his ears. INGENUITY OF A CHINESE A clergyman of Lord Macartney's embassy, whose cassock was so extremely patched and darned that he could no longer wear it with decency, having applied to a tailor in Canton for a new one, perceived shortly afterwards the new cassock with every darn and patch so accurately true to the old pattern, that nothing but the greater strength of the new cloth could determine the one from the other; the tailor having unluckily conceived that the darns and patches were so many em blems of the clergyman's profession. This anecdote is given by Barrow as an illustration of the excellent imitative powers and ingenuity of the Chinese. BENEFIT OF CLERGY. This old, and now exploded law, was originally introduced by the influence of the clergy, and prevailed down to the reign of Queen Anne. In the reign of Charles II. the following case occurred, as reported by the Chief Justice Kely.. ing. "At the assizes at Winchester, the clerk appointed by the bishop to give benefit of clergy to the prisoners, being to give it to an old thief, I' directed him to deal clearly with me, and not to say legit in case he could not read; and thereupon he delivered the book to him; and I perceived the prisoner never looked upon the book at all; and yet the bishop's clerk, upon the demand of legit, or non legit, answered legit; and thereupon, I wished him to consider, and I told him I doubted he was mistaken; and bade the clerk of the assizes ask him again, legit, or non legit? and he answered again, somewhat angrily, legit. Then I bidthe clerk of the assize not to record it; and I told the parson he was not the judge whether he read it or not, but a ministerial officer, to make a true report to the court; and so I caused the pri soner to be brought near, and delivered him the book, and then the prisoner confessed he could not read; whereupon I told the parson he reproached his function, and unpreached more that day than he could preach up again in many days! And, because it was his personal offence and misdemeanour, I fined him five marks, and did not fine the bishop, as in case he had failed to find an ordinary. The Gatherer. "I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."-Wotton. FLOATING ISLANDS.-Near St. Omers, in Flanders, there was formerly a large lake on which were many floating Islands, for the most part inhabited, and which were moved by means of cords attached to posts drove into the earth; upon one of the islands there was a church and a convent of religious Bernardins. e 1 EXTRAORDINARY FRUIT.-There are in several parts of Guiana, particular trees known by the appellation of Totoch, very remarkable for the natnre of their fruit, which is so large, and at the same time so hard, when ripe, that no one can pass under it without instant danger of a fractured skull. REMARKABLE FISH.-In some rivers in Guiana there is found a curious fish, about the size of a smelt, which has four eyes, two on each side, placed one above the other: it is remarkable that when swimming it keeps two eyes above, and two below the surface. AN OLD FRIEND WITH A NEW FACE. With "strains that might create a soul" To shoe his Rosinante.. "Beneath the ribs of death" indeed For while he made the shoe, Poor Rosinante (starving steed!)· Exhaled her last, dropped down her head, And left a world of woe. MOULTING. "You've scarce a rag upon your back" "I'm moulting,Sir," replies poor Jack. CATCHING LARKS. The old method was to put salt on their tails. The following is from a Provincial Paper:-"Many hundreds of larks, during the late frost, were taken alive in the neighbourhood of Arundel, their tails being frozen to the snow!" CROSS READINGS.-We are authorized to state that the Lady Mayoress wishes for a situation under a man cook in a small regular family. A poor woman met her death last week, by inadvertently swallowing-a huge male elephant, three royal Bengal tygers, &c. &c. At a dinner at the Crown and Anchor, the health of Sir F. Burdett was drank with-pint bottles of Day and Martin's liquid blacking. It appears by a worthy Baronet's speech on Parliamentary Reform, that the scarcity of plums will be very great this year. Wanted immediately, TO CORRESPONDENTS. Affairs of a personal nature have prevented us from deciding on all the communications of our correspondents; but to most of them we can hold out the hope of some of the articles with which they have favoured us being adopted, and that as early as their extensive claims will permit. To such friends of The Mirror as give us advice, we return our best thanks, and assure them that no exertions shall be spared to ensure the continuance of its present liberal and extensive patronage. Q. has our best thanks; any further information he can give us on the subject of his last letter will be thankfully received; and no other use made of it but such as he may suggest. T. T-y-n in our next. Advertisement. Published by J. LIMBIRD, 355, Strand, THE PENMAN'S COMPANION: or, the Art of making a proper Pen for each ings of the various Pens used in Writing; Hand, simplified, and Illustrated with Engravto which are annexed Directions, showing the proper manner of using the Pen for strong hands; and also some useful observations for Letters; to which are subjoined, a curious the assistance of persons in making Capital Arithmetical Puzzle, with an explanation: and also, how to preserve Ink from Mould. By C. BRADBURY, Private Tutor at Westminster School. Third Edition. Price Sixpence. Published by J. LIMBIRD, 355, Strand, several hundred men-to superintend (East end of Exeter 'Change); sold also by the education of four children, who will be treated as one of the family. all Newsmen and Booksellers.---Printed by T. DOLBY, 299, Strand. THE French have a proverb, that the first step is the only difficulty; and certainly when applied to their patron saint, St. Denis, who is said to have walked to Paris with his head under his arm, there can be little doubt of the truth of the observation. There is, however, no such rule without an exceptic; and although the crossing of the Bidassoa is the first step of the French army in the war against Spain, yet it is certainly not the greatest difficulty. The Bidassoa is a small river, but rapid in its course. It forms the boundary between France and Spain, and became celebrated in the reign of Louis XIV. in consequence of an island formed by it very near where it is usually crossed by the ferry boats. The island is a little to the right of the French custom-house, as exhibited in the fore ground of our view. It was known by the name of the "Isle of Pheasants;" but on its becoming the VOL. I. scene of the interview between Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis de Haro, which terminated in the signature of the peace of the Pyrenees, it received the appellation of the "Isle of the Conference." This island is small, uninhabited, and almost barren, and is indebted for its celebrity to a casual circumstance. On the opposite bank of the river, and a little to the left, is the Spanish Custom-house; to the right of which is the village of Irun, the first Spanish town beyond the Bidassoa. Having crossed the river in pontoons, the French army enters the province of Biscay, which, though mountainous, has much better roads than on the French side of the Bidasson. The country is, however, naturally capable of defence; and it is highly probable that the French army will meet with many obstructions before it reaches Madrid, which is a distance of nearly four hundred miles. A a The modern fooleries on the first of April, so well described in the above quotation from Poor Robin's Almanack for the year 1760, are of very doubtful origin. The most generally received opinion is, that April Fool's Day is but a corruption of Auld, and that it is borrower All Fool' Day; from the Roman "Festum Fatuorum," Feast of Fools, a Fool's Holiday, which was introduced with the view of ridiculing both the old Roman Saturnalia and the Druidical rites. This feast of fools had the intended effect; and contributed, perhaps, more to the extermination of those heathens than all the collateral aid of fire and sword, neither of which were spared in the persecution of them. The French have their All Fool's Day, and call the person imposed upon, an April Fish, (poisson d'Avril), which Bellenger endeavours to explain by saying, that the word poisson is corrupted, through the ignorance of the people, from passion." He says, length of time has almost totally defaced the original intention, which was to commemorate the passion of our Saviour, that took place about this time of the year; and that as the Jews sent the Son of Man backwards and forwards to mock and torment him-that is, from Ananias to Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod and afterwards back to Pilate, this ridiculous, or rather impious custom, took its rise, by which we send from one place to another such persons as we think proper objects of our ridicule. T. Row, which is well known as the And do such deeds as fools ne'er did before. 10 10 The custom prevails in Sweden, as we learn from Toreen's Voyage to China; and in Lisbon, as we are informed by Mr. Southey, in his Letters from Spain and Portugal, they play the |