* * * * *

PAINS AND TOILS OF AUTHORSHIP.

The craft of authorship is by no means so easy of practice as is generally imagined by the thousands who aspire to its practice. Almost all our works, whether of knowledge or of fancy, have been the product of much intellectual exertion and study; or, as it is better expressed by the poet—

"the well-ripened fruits of wise decay."

Pope published nothing until it had been a year or two before him, and even then his printer's proofs were very full of alterations; and, on one occasion, Dodsley, his publisher, thought it better to have the whole recomposed than make the necessary corrections. Goldsmith considered four lines a day good work, and was seven years in beating out the pure gold of the Deserted Village. Hume wrote his History of England on a sofa, but he went quietly on correcting every edition till his death. Robertson used to write out his sentences on small slips of paper; and, after rounding them and polishing them to his satisfaction, he entered them in a book, which, in its turn, underwent considerable revision. Burke had all his principal works printed two or three times at a private press before submitting them to his publisher. Akenside and Gray were indefatigable correctors, labouring every line; and so was our prolix and more imaginative poet, Thomson. On comparing the first and latest editions of the Seasons, there will be found scarcely a page which does not bear evidence of his taste and industry. Johnson thinks the poems lost much of their raciness under this severe regimen, but they were much improved in fancy and delicacy; the episode of Musidora, "the solemnly ridiculous bathing scene," as Campbell terms it, was almost entirely rewritten. Johnson and Gibbon were the least laborious in arranging their copy for the press. Gibbon sent the first and only MS. of his stupendous work (the Decline and Fall) to his printer; and Johnson's high-sounding sentences were written almost without an effort. Both, however, lived and moved, as it were, in the world of letters, thinking or caring of little else—one in the heart of busy London, which he dearly loved, and the other in his silent retreat at Lausanne. Dryden wrote hurriedly, to provide for the day; but his Absalom and Achitophel, and the beautiful imagery of the Hind and Panther, must have been fostered with parental care. St. Pierre copied his Paul and Virginia nine times, that he might render it the more perfect. Rousseau was a very coxcomb in these matters: the amatory epistles, in his new Heloise, he wrote on fine gilt-edged card-paper, and having folded, addressed, and sealed them, he opened and read them in the solitary woods of Clairens, with the mingled enthusiasm of an author and lover. Sheridan watched long and anxiously for bright thoughts, as the MS. of his School for Scandal, in its various stages, proves. Burns composed in the open air, the sunnier the better; but he laboured hard, and with almost unerring taste and judgment, in correcting.[10]

Lord Byron was a rapid composer, but made abundant use of the pruning-knife. On returning one of his proof sheets from Italy, he expressed himself undecided about a single word, for which he wished to substitute another, and requested Mr. Murray to refer it to Mr. Gifford, then editor of the Quarterly Review. Sir Walter Scott evinced his love of literary labour by undertaking the revision of the whole of the Waverley Novels—a goodly freightage of some fifty or sixty volumes. The works of Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, and Moore, and the occasional variations in their different editions, mark their love of the touching. Southey was, indeed, unwearied after his kind—a true author of the old school. The bright thoughts of Campbell, which sparkle like polished lances, were manufactured with almost equal care; he was the Pope of our contemporary authors.[11] Allan Cunningham corrected but little, yet his imitations of the elder lyrics are perfect centos of Scottish feeling and poesy. The loving, laborious lingering of Tennyson over his poems, and the frequent alterations—not in every case improvements—that appear in successive editions of his works, are familiar to all his admirers.

[10] "I have seen," says a Correspondent of the Inverness Courier, "a copy of the second edition of Burns's 'Poems,' with the blanks filled up, and numerous alterations made in the poet's handwriting: one instance, not the most delicate, but perhaps the most amusing and characteristic will suffice. After describing the gambols of his 'Twa Dogs,' their historian refers to their sitting down in coarse and rustic terms. This, of course, did not suit the poet's Edinburgh patrons, and he altered it to the following:—

'Till tired at last, and doucer grown, Upon a knowe they sat them down.'

Still this did not please his fancy; he tried again, and hit it off in the simple, perfect form in which it now stands:—

'Until wi' daffin weary grown, Upon a knowe they sat them down.'"

[11] Campbell's alterations were, generally, decided improvements; but in one instance he failed lamentably. The noble peroration of Lochiel is familiar to most readers:—

"Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low, With his back to the field and his feet to the foe; And leaving in battle no blot on his name, Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame."

In the quarto edition of Gertrude of Wyoming, when the poet collected and reprinted his minor pieces, this lofty sentiment was thus stultified:—

"Shall victor exult in the battle's acclaim, Or look to yon heaven from the death-bed of fame."

The original passage, however, was wisely restored in the subsequent editions.

* * * * *

JOE MILLER AT COURT.

Joe Miller, (Mottley,) was such a favourite at court, that Caroline, queen of George II., commanded a play to be performed for his benefit; the queen disposed of a great many tickets at one of her drawing-rooms, and most of them were paid for in gold.

* * * * *

COLLINS' INSANITY.

Much has been said of the state of insanity to which the author of the Ode to the Passions was ultimately reduced; or rather, as Dr. Johnson happily describes it, "a depression of mind which enchains the faculties without destroying them, and leaves reason the knowledge of right, without the power of pursuing it." What Johnson has further said on this melancholy subject, shows perhaps more nature and feeling than anything he ever wrote; and yet it is remarkable that among the causes to which the poet's malady was ascribed, he never hints at the most exciting of the whole. He tells us how Collins "loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters;" how he "delighted to roam through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of Elysian gardens." But never does he seem to have imagined how natural it was for a mind of such a temperament to give an Eve to the Paradise of his Creation. Johnson, in truth, though, as he tells us, he gained the confidence of Collins, was not just the man into whose ear a lover would choose to pour his secrets. The fact was, Collins was greatly attached to a young lady who did not return his passion; and there seems to be little doubt, that to the consequent disappointment, preying on his mind, was due much of that abandonment of soul which marked the close of his career. The object of his passion was born the day before him; and to this circumstance, in one of his brighter moments, he made a most happy allusion. A friend remarking to the luckless lover, that his was a hard case, Collins replied, "It is so, indeed; for I came into the world a day after the fair."

* * * * *

MOORE'S EPIGRAM ON ABBOTT.

Mr. Speaker Abbott having spoken in slighting terms of some of Moore's poems, the poet wrote, in return, the following biting epigram:

"They say he has no heart; but I deny it; He has a heart—and gets his speeches by it."

* * * * *

NEGROES AT HOME.

When Lord Byron was in Parliament, a petition setting forth, and calling for redress for, the wretched state of the Irish peasantry, was one evening presented to the House of Lords, and very coldly received. "Ah!" said Lord Byron, "what a misfortune it was for the Irish that they were not born black! they would then have had plenty of friends in both Houses"—referring to the great interest at the time being taken by some philanthropic members in the condition and future of the negroes in our West Indian colonies.

* * * * *

A STRING OF JERROLD'S JOKES.

At a club of which Jerrold was a member, a fierce Jacobite, and a friend, as fierce, of the Orange cause, were arguing noisily, and disturbing less excitable conversationalists. At length the Jacobite, a brawny Scot, brought his fist down heavily upon the table, and roared at his adversary, "I tell you what it is, sir, I spit upon your King William!" The friend of the Prince of Orange rose, and roared back to the Jacobite, "And I, sir, spit upon your James the Second!" Jerrold, who had been listening to the uproar in silence, hereupon rang the bell, and shouted "Waiter, spittoons for two!"

At an evening party, Jerrold was looking at the dancers, when, seeing a very tall gentleman waltzing with a remarkably short lady, he said to a friend at hand, "Humph! there's the mile dancing with the milestone!"

An old lady was in the habit of talking to Jerrold in a gloomy, depressing manner, presenting to him only the sad side of life. "Hang it," said Jerrold, one day, after a long and sombre interview, "she would not allow that there was a bright side to the moon."

Jerrold said to an ardent young gentleman, who burned with desire to see himself in print: "Be advised by me, young man: don't take down the shutters before there is something in the windows."

While Jerrold was discussing one day, with Mr. Selby, the vexed question of adapting dramatic pieces from the French, that gentleman insisted upon claiming some of his characters as strictly original creations. "Do you remember my Baroness in Ask No Questions?" said Mr. Selby. "Yes, indeed; I don't think I ever saw a piece of yours without being struck by your barrenness," was the retort.—Mark Lemon's Jest-book.

* * * * *

CONCEITED ALARMS OF DENNIS.

John Dennis, the dramatist, had a most extravagant and enthusiastic opinion of his tragedy of Liberty Asserted. He imagined that there were in it some strokes on the French nation so severe, that they would never be forgiven; and that, in consequence, Louis XIV. would never make peace with England unless the author was given up as a sacrifice to the national resentment. Accordingly, when the congress for the negotiation of the Peace of Utrecht was in contemplation, the terrified Dennis waited on the Duke of Marlborough, who had formerly been his patron, to entreat the intercession of his Grace with the plenipotentiaries, that they should not consent to his surrender to France being made one of the conditions of the treaty. The Duke gravely told the dramatist that he was sorry to be unable to do this service, as he had no influence with the Ministry of the day; but, he added, that he thought Dennis' case not quite desperate, for, said his Grace, "I have taken no care to get myself excepted in the articles of peace, and yet I cannot help thinking that I have done the French almost as much damage as Mr. Dennis himself." At another time, when Dennis was visiting at a gentleman's house on the Sussex coast, and was walking on the beach, he saw a vessel, as he imagined, sailing towards him. The self-important timidity of Dennis saw in this incident a reason for the greatest alarm for himself, and distrust of his friend. Supposing he was betrayed, he made the best of his way to London, without even taking leave of his host, whom he believed to have lent himself to a plot for delivering him up as a captive to a French vessel sent on purpose to carry him off.

* * * * *

A COMPOSITION WITH CONSCIENCE.

Lully, the composer, being once thought mortally ill, his friends called a confessor, who, finding the patient's state critical, and his mind very ill at ease, told him that he could obtain absolution only one way—by burning all that he had by him of a yet unpublished opera. The remonstrance of his friends was in vain; Lully burnt the music, and the confessor departed well pleased. The composer, however, recovered, and told one of his visitors, a nobleman who was his patron, of the sacrifice he had made to the demands of the confessor. "And so," cried the nobleman, "you have burnt your opera, and are really such a blockhead as to believe in the absurdities of a monk!" "Stop, my friend, stop," returned Lully; "let me whisper in your ear: I knew very well what I was about—I have another copy."

* * * * *

SALE, THE TRANSLATOR OF THE KORAN.

The learned Sale, who first gave to the world a genuine version of the Koran, pursued his studies through a life of wants. This great Orientalist, when he quitted his books to go abroad, too often wanted a change of linen; and he frequently wandered the streets, in search of some compassionate friend, who might supply him with the meal of the day.

* * * * *

THE LATTER DAYS OF LOVELACE.

Sir Richard Lovelace, who in 1649 published the elegant collection of amorous and other poems entitled Lucasta, was an amiable and accomplished gentleman: by the men of his time (the time of the civil wars) respected for his moral worth and literary ability; by the fair sex, almost idolized for the elegance of his person and the sweetness of his manners. An ardent loyalist, the people of Kent appointed him to present to the House of Commons their petition for the restoration of Charles and the settlement of the government. The petition gave offence, and the bearer was committed to the Gate House, at Westminster, where he wrote his graceful little song, "Loyalty Confined," opening thus:

"When love, with unconfined wings, Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at my grates; When I lie tangled in her hair, And fettered in her eye; The birds that wanton in the air Know no such liberty."

But "dinnerless the polished Lovelace died." He obtained his liberation, after a few months' confinement. By that time, however, he had consumed all his estates, partly by furnishing the king with men and money, and partly by giving assistance to men of talent of whatever kind, whom he found in difficulties. Very soon, he became himself involved in the greatest distress, and fell into a deep melancholy, which brought on a consumption, and made him as poor in person as in purse, till he even became the object of common charity. The man who in his days of gallantry wore cloth of gold, was now naked, or only half covered with filthy rags; he who had thrown splendour on palaces, now shrank into obscure and dirty alleys; he who had associated with princes, banqueted on dainties, been the patron of the indigent, the admiration of the wise and brave, the darling of the chaste and fair—was now fain to herd with beggars, gladly to partake of their coarse offals, and thankfully to receive their twice-given alms—

"To hovel him with swine and rogues forlorn, In short and musty straw."

Worn out with misery, he at length expired, in 1658, in a mean and wretched lodging in Gunpowder Alley, near Shoe Lane, and was buried at the west end of St. Bride's church, Fleet Street. Such is the account of Lovelace's closing days given by Wood in his Athenae, and confirmed by Aubrey in his Lives of Eminent Men; but a recent editor and biographer (the son of Hazlitt) pronounces, though he does not prove, the account much exaggerated.

* * * * *

PAYMENT IN KIND.

The Empress Catherine of Russia having sent, as a present to Voltaire, a small ivory box made by her own hands, the poet induced his niece to instruct him in the art of knitting stockings; and he had actually half finished a pair, of white silk, when he became completely tired. Unfinished as the stockings were, however, he sent them to her Majesty, accompanied by a charmingly gallant poetical epistle, in which he told her that, "As she had presented him with a piece of man's workmanship made by a woman, he had thought it his duty to crave her acceptance, in return, of a piece of woman's work from the hands of a man."—When Constantia Phillips was in a state of distress, she took a small shop near Westminster Hall, and sold books, some of which were of her own writing. During this time, an apothecary who had attended her once when she was ill, came to her and requested payment of his bill. She pleaded her poverty; but he still continued to press her, and urged as a reason for his urgency, that he had saved her life. "You have," said Constantia, "you have indeed done so: I acknowledge it; and, in return, here is my life"—handing him at the same time the two volumes of her "Memoirs," and begging that he would now take her life in discharge of his demand.

* * * * *

CHATTERTON'S PROFIT AND LOSS RECKONING.

Chatterton, the marvellous boy, wrote a political essay for the North Briton, Wilkes's journal; but, though accepted, the essay was not printed, in consequence of the death of the Lord Mayor, Chatterton's patron. The youthful patriot thus calculated the results of the suppression of his essay, which had begun by a splendid flourish about "a spirited people freeing themselves from insupportable slavery:"

"Lost, by the Lord Mayor's death, in this essay, L 1 11 6 Gained in elegies, L 2 2 0 Do. in essays, 3 3 0 ———— 5 5 0 ————— Am glad he is dead by L 3 13 6"

* * * * *

LOCKE'S REBUKE OF THE CARD-PLAYING LORDS.

Locke, the brilliant author of the Essay on the Human Understanding, was once introduced by Lord Shaftesbury to the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Halifax. But the three noblemen, instead of entering into conversation on literary subjects with the philosopher, very soon sat down to cards. Locke looked on for a short time, and then drew out his pocket-book and began to write in it with much attention. One of the players, after a time, observed this, and asked what he was writing. "My Lord," answered Locke, "I am endeavouring, as far as possible, to profit by my present situation; for, having waited with impatience for the honour of being in company with the greatest geniuses of the age, I thought I could do nothing better than to write down your conversation; and, indeed, I have set down the substance of what you have said for the last hour or two." The three noblemen, fully sensible of the force of the rebuke, immediately left the cards and entered into a conversation more rational and more befitting their reputation as men of genius.

* * * * *

HAYDN AND THE SHIP CAPTAIN.

When the immortal composer Haydn was on his visit to England, in 1794, his chamber-door was opened one morning by the captain of an East Indiaman, who said, "You are Mr. Haydn?" "Yes." "Can you make me a 'March,' to enliven my crew? You shall have thirty guineas; but I must have it to-day, as to-morrow I sail for Calcutta." Haydn agreed, the sailor quitted him, the composer opened his piano, and in a few minutes the march was written. He appears, however, to have had a delicacy rare among the musical birds of passage and of prey who come to feed on the unwieldy wealth of England. Conceiving that the receipt of a sum so large as thirty guineas for a labour so slight, would be a species of plunder, he came home early in the evening, and composed other two marches, in order to allow the liberal sea captain his choice, or make him take all the three. Early next morning, the purchaser came back. "Where is my march?" "Here it is." "Try it on the piano." Haydn played it over. The captain counted down the thirty guineas on the piano, took up the march, and went down stairs. Haydn ran after him, calling, "I have made other two marches, both better; come up and hear them, and take your choice." "I am content with the one I have," returned the captain, without stopping. "I will make you a present of them," cried the composer. The captain only ran down the more rapidly, and left Haydn on the stairs. Haydn, opposing obstinacy to obstinacy, determined to overcome this odd self-denial. He went at once to the Exchange, found out the name of the ship, made his marches into a roll, and sent them, with a polite note, to the captain on board. He was surprised at receiving, not long after, his envelope unopened, from the captain, who had guessed it to be Haydn's; and the composer tore the whole packet into pieces upon the spot. The narrator of this incident adds the remark, that "though the anecdote is of no great elevation, it expresses peculiarity of character; and certainly neither the composer nor the captain could have been easily classed among the common or the vulgar of men."

* * * * *

HAYDN'S DIPLOMA PIECE AT OXFORD.

During his stay in England, Haydn was honoured by the diploma of Doctor of Music from the University of Oxford—a distinction not obtained even by Handel, and it is said, only conferred on four persons during the four centuries preceding. It is customary to send some specimen of composition in return for a degree; and Haydn, with the facility of perfect skill, sent back a page of music so curiously contrived, that in whatever way it was read—from the top to the bottom or the sides—it exhibited a perfect melody and accompaniment.

* * * * *

ORIGIN OF THE BEGGAR'S OPERA.

It was Swift that first suggested to Gay the idea of the Beggar's Opera, by remarking, what an odd, pretty sort of a thing a Newgate pastoral might make! "Gay," says Pope, "was inclined to try at such a thing for some time; but afterwards thought it would be better to write a comedy on the same plan. This was what gave rise to the Beggar's Opera. He began on it; and when he first mentioned it to Swift, the doctor did not much like the project. As he carried it on, he showed what he wrote to both of us; and we now and then gave a correction, or a word or two of advice, but it was wholly of his own writing. When it was done, neither of us thought it would succeed. We showed it to Congreve, who, after reading it over, said, 'It would either take greatly, or be damned confoundedly.' We were all, at the first sight of it, in great uncertainty of the event, till we were very much encouraged by hearing the Duke of Argyle, who sat in the next box to us, say, 'It will do—I see it in the eyes of them.' This was a good while before the first act was over, and so gave us ease soon; for the Duke (besides his own good taste) has as particular a knack as any one now living, in discovering the taste of the public. He was quite right in this, as usual; the good nature of the audience appeared stronger and stronger every act, and ended in a clamour of applause."

* * * * *

THE TWO SHERIDANS.

Sheridan made his appearance one day in a pair of new boots; these attracting the notice of some of his friends: "Now guess," said he, "how I came by these boots?" Many probable guesses were then ventured, but in vain. "No," said Sheridan, "no, you have not hit it, nor ever will. I bought them, and paid for them!" Sheridan was very desirous that his son Tom should marry a young lady of large fortune, but knew that Miss Callander had won his son's heart. Sheridan, expatiating once on the folly of his son, at length broke out: "Tom, if you marry Caroline Callander, I'll cut you off with a shilling!" Tom, looking maliciously at his father, said, "Then, sir, you must borrow it." In a large party one evening, the conversation turned upon young men's allowances at college. Tom deplored the ill-judging parsimony of many parents in that respect. "I am sure, Tom," said his father, "you have no reason to complain; I always allowed you L800 a-year." "Yes, father, I confess you allowed it; but then—it was never paid!"

* * * * *

KILLING NO MURDER.

In a journey which Mademoiselle Scudery, the Sappho of the French, made along with her no less celebrated brother, a curious incident befell them at an inn at a great distance from Paris. Their conversation happened one evening to turn upon a romance which they were then jointly composing, to the hero of which they had given the name of Prince Mazare. "What shall we do with Prince Mazare?" said Mademoiselle Scudery to her brother. "Is it not better that he should fall by poison, than by the poignard?" "It is not time yet," replied the brother, "for that business; when it is necessary we can despatch him as we please; but at present we have not quite done with him." Two merchants in the next chamber, overhearing this conversation, concluded that they had formed a conspiracy for the murder of some prince whose real name they disguised under that of Mazare. Full of this important discovery, they imparted their suspicions to the host and hostess; and it was resolved to inform the police of what had happened. The police officers, eager to show their diligence and activity, put the travellers immediately under arrest, and conducted them under a strong escort to Paris. It was not without difficulty and expense that they there procured their liberation, and leave for the future to hold an unlimited right and power over all the princes and personages in the realms of romance.

* * * * *

SENSITIVENESS TO CRITICISM.

Hawkesworth and Stillingfleet died of criticism; Tasso was driven mad by it; Newton, the calm Newton, kept hold of life only by the sufferance of a friend who withheld a criticism on his chronology, for no other reason than his conviction that if it were published while he lived, it would put an end to him; and every one knows the effect on the sensitive nature of Keats, of the attacks on his Endymion. Tasso had a vast and prolific imagination, accompanied with an excessively hypochondriacal temperament. The composition of his great epic, the Jerusalem Delivered, by giving scope to the boldest flights, and calling into play the energies of his exalted and enthusiastic genius—whilst with equal ardour it led him to entertain hopes of immediate and extensive fame—laid most probably the foundation of his subsequent derangement. His susceptibility and tenderness of feeling were great; and, when his sublime work met with unexpected opposition, and was even treated with contempt and derision, the fortitude of the poet was not proof against the keen sense of disappointment. He twice attempted to please his ignorant and malignant critics by recomposing his poem; and during the hurry, the anguish, and the irritation attending these efforts, the vigour of a great mind was entirely exhausted, and in two years after the publication of the Jerusalem, the unhappy author became an object of pity and terror. Newton, with all his philosophy, was so sensible to critical remarks, that Whiston tells us he lost his favour, which he had enjoyed for twenty years, by contradicting him in his old age; for "no man was of a more fearful temper."

* * * * *

BUTLER AND BUCKINGHAM.

Of Butler, the author of Hudibras—which Dr. Johnson terms "one of those productions of which a nation may justly boast"—little further is known than that his genius was not sufficient to rescue him from its too frequent attendant, poverty; he lived in obscurity, and died in want. Wycherley often represented to the Duke of Buckingham how well Butler had deserved of the royal family by writing his inimitable Hudibras, and that it was a disgrace to the Court that a person of his loyalty and genius should remain in obscurity and suffer the wants which he did. The Duke, thus pressed, promised to recommend Butler to his Majesty; and Wycherley, in hopes to keep his Grace steady to his word, prevailed on him to fix a day when he might introduce the modest and unfortunate poet to his new patron. The place of meeting fixed upon was the "Roebuck." Butler and his friend attended punctually; the Duke joined them, when, unluckily, the door of the room being open, his Grace observed one of his acquaintances pass by with two ladies; on which he immediately quitted his engagement, and from that time to the day of his death poor Butler never derived the least benefit from his promise.

* * * * *

THE MERMAID CLUB.

The celebrated club at the "Mermaid," as has been well observed by Gifford, "combined more talent and genius, perhaps, than ever met together before or since." The institution originated with Sir Walter Raleigh; and here, for many years, Ben Jonson regularly repaired with Shakspeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others whose names, even at this distant period, call up a mingled feeling of reverence and respect. Here, in the full flow and confidence of friendship, the lively and interesting "wit-combats" took place between Shakspeare and Jonson; and hither, in probable allusion to some of them, Beaumont fondly lets his thoughts wander in his letter to Jonson from the country:—

"What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid? heard words that have been So nimble, and so full of subtle flame, As if that every one from whom they came, Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest."

For the expression, "wit-combats," we must refer to Fuller, who in his "Worthies," describing the character of the Bard of Avon, says: "Many were the wit-combats between Shakspeare and Ben Jonson. I behold them like a Spanish great galleon, and an English man-of-war. Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning, solid, but slow in his performances; Shakspeare, like the latter, less in bulk but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention." With what delight would after generations have hung over any well-authenticated instances of these "wit-combats!" But, unfortunately, nothing on which we can depend has descended to us.

* * * * *

PORSON'S MEMORY.

Professor Porson, the great Graecist, when a boy at Eton, displayed the most astonishing powers of memory. In going up to a lesson one day, he was accosted by a boy in the same form: "Porson, what have you got there?" "Horace." "Let me look at it." Porson handed the book to his comrade; who, pretending to return it, dexterously substituted another in its place, with which Porson proceeded. Being called on by the master, he read and construed the tenth Ode of the first Book very regularly. Observing that the class laughed, the master said, "Porson, you seem to me to be reading on one side of the page, while I am looking at the other; pray whose edition have you?" Porson hesitated. "Let me see it," rejoined the master; who, to his great surprise, found it to be an English Ovid. Porson was ordered to go on; which he did, easily, correctly, and promptly, to the end of the Ode. Much more remarkable feats of memory than this, however, have been recorded of Porson's manhood.

* * * * *

WYCHERLEY'S WOOING.

Wycherley being at Tunbridge for the benefit of his health, after his return from the Continental trip the cost of which the king had defrayed, was walking one day with his friend, Mr. Fairbeard, of Gray's Inn. Just as they came up to a bookseller's shop, the Countess of Drogheda, a young, rich, noble, and lovely widow, came to the bookseller and inquired for the Plain Dealer—a well-known comedy of Wycherley's. "Madam," said Mr. Fairbeard, "since you are for the Plain Dealer, there he is for you"—pushing Wycherley towards her. "Yes," said Wycherley, "this lady can bear plain dealing; for she appears to me to be so accomplished, that what would be compliment said to others, would be plain dealing spoken to her." "No, truly, sir," said the Countess; "I am not without my faults, any more than the rest of my sex; and yet I love plain dealing, and am never more fond of it than when it tells me of them." "Then, Madam," said Fairbeard, "You and the Plain Dealer seem designed by Heaven for each other." In short, Wycherley walked with the Countess, waited upon her home, visited her daily while she was at Tunbridge, and afterwards when she went to London; where, in a little time, a marriage was concluded between them. The marriage was not a happy one.

* * * * *

A CAROUSE AT BOILEAU'S.

Boileau, the celebrated French comedian, usually passed the summer at his villa of Auteuil, which is pleasantly situated at the entrance of the Bois de Boulogne. Here he took delight in assembling under his roof the most eminent geniuses of the age; especially Chapelle, Racine, Moliere, and La Fontaine. Racine the younger gives the following account of a droll circumstance that occurred at supper at Auteuil with these guests. "At this supper," he says, "at which my father was not present, the wise Boileau was no more master of himself than any of his guests. After the wine had led them into the gravest strain of moralising, they agreed that life was but a state of misery; that the greatest happiness consisted in having been born, and the next greatest in an early death; and they one and all formed the heroic resolution of throwing themselves without loss of time into the river. It was not far off, and they actually went thither. Moliere, however, remarked that such a noble action ought not to be buried in the obscurity of night, but was worthy of being performed in the face of day. This observation produced a pause; one looked at the other, and said, 'He is right.' 'Gentlemen,' said Chapelle, 'we had better wait till morning to throw ourselves into the river, and meantime return and finish our wine;'" but the river was not revisited.

* * * * *

THOMSON'S INDOLENCE.

The author of the Seasons and the Castle of Indolence, paid homage in the latter admirable poem to the master-passion or habit of his own easy nature. Thomson was so excessively lazy, that he is recorded to have been seen standing at a peach-tree, with both his hands in his pockets, eating the fruit as it grew. At another time, being found in bed at a very late hour of the day, when he was asked why he did not get up, his answer was, "Troth, man, I see nae motive for rising!"

* * * * *

A LEARNED YOUNG LADY.

Fraulein Dorothea Schlozer, a Hanoverian lady, was thought worthy of the highest academical honours of Goettingen University, and, at the jubilee of 1787, she had the degree of Doctor of Philosophy conferred upon her, when only seventeen years of age. The daughter of the Professor of Philosophy in that University, she from her earliest years discovered an uncommon genius for learning. Before she was three years of age, she was taught Low German, a language almost foreign to her own. Before she was six, she had learned French and German, and then she began geometry; and after receiving ten lessons, she was able to answer very difficult questions. The English, Italian, Swedish, and Dutch languages were next acquired, with singular rapidity; and before she was fourteen, she knew Latin and Greek, and had become a good classical scholar. Besides her knowledge of languages, she made herself acquainted with almost every branch of polite literature, as well as many of the sciences, particularly mathematics. She also attained great proficiency in mineralogy; and, during a sojourn of six weeks in the Hartz Forest, she visited the deepest mines, in the common habit of a labourer, and examined the whole process of the work. Her surprising talents becoming the general topic of conversation, she was proposed, by the great Orientalist Michaelis, as a proper subject for academical honours. The Philosophical Faculty, of which the Professor was Dean, was deemed the fittest; and a day was fixed for her examination, in presence of all the Professors. She was introduced by Michaelis himself, and distinguished, as a lady, with the highest seat. Several questions were first proposed to her in mathematics; all of which she answered to satisfaction. After this, she gave a free translation of the thirty-seventh Ode of the first Book of Horace, and explained it. She was then examined in various branches of art and science, when she displayed a thorough knowledge of the subjects. The examination lasted two hours and a half; and at the end, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was unanimously conferred upon her, and she was crowned with a wreath of laurel by Fraulein Michaelis, at the request of the Professors.

* * * * *

A HARD HIT AT POPE.

Pope was one evening at Button's Coffee-house, where he and a set of literati had got poring over a Latin manuscript, in which they had found a passage that none of them could comprehend. A young officer, who heard their conference, begged that he might be permitted to look at the passage. "Oh," said Pope, sarcastically, "by all means; pray let the young gentleman look at it." Upon which the officer took up the manuscript, and, considering it awhile, said there only wanted a note of interrogation to make the whole intelligible: which was really the case. "And pray, Master," says Pope with a sneer, "what is a note of interrogation?"—"A note of interrogation," replied the young fellow, with a look of great contempt, "is a little crooked thing that asks questions."

* * * * *

DRYDEN DRUBBED.

"Dryden," says Leigh Hunt, "is identified with the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. He presided in the chair at Russell Street (Will's Coffee-house); his plays came out in the theatre at the other end of it; he lived in Gerrard Street, which is not far off; and, alas for the anti-climax! he was beaten by hired bravos in Rose Street, now called Rose Alley. The outrage perpetrated upon the sacred shoulders of the poet was the work of Lord Rochester, and originated in a mistake not creditable to that would-be great man and dastardly debauchee." Dryden, it seems, obtained the reputation of being the author of the Essay on Satire, in which Lord Rochester was severely dealt with, and which was, in reality, written by Lord Mulgrave, afterwards the Duke of Buckinghamshire. Rochester meditated on the innocent Dryden a base and cowardly revenge, and thus coolly expressed his intent in one of his letters: "You write me word that I am out of favour with a certain poet, whom I have admired for the disproportion of him and his attributes. He is a rarity which I cannot but be fond of, as one would be of a hog that could fiddle, or a singing owl. If he falls on me at the blunt, which is his very good weapon in wit, I will forgive him if you please, and leave the repartee to Black Will with a cudgel." "In pursuance of this infamous resolution," says Sir Walter Scott, "upon the night of the 18th December 1679, Dryden was waylaid by hired ruffians, and severely beaten, as he passed through Rose Street, Covent Garden, returning from Will's Coffee-house to his own house in Gerrard Street. A reward of fifty pounds was in vain offered in the London Gazette and other newspapers, for the discovery of the perpetrators of this outrage. The town was, however, at no loss to pitch upon Rochester as the employer of the bravos; with whom the public suspicion joined the Duchess of Portsmouth, equally concerned in the supposed affront thus revenged.... It will certainly be admitted that a man, surprised in the dark, and beaten by ruffians, loses no honour by such a misfortune. But if Dryden had received the same discipline from Rochester's own hand, without resenting it, his drubbing could not have been more frequently made a matter of reproach to him; a sign, surely, of the penury of subjects for satire in his life and character, since an accident, which might have happened to the greatest hero that ever lived, was resorted to as an imputation on his character."

* * * * *

ROGERS AND "JUNIUS."

Samuel Rogers was requested by Lady Holland to ask Sir Philip Francis whether he was the author of Junius' Letters. The poet, meeting Sir Philip, approached the ticklish subject thus: "Will you, Sir Philip—will your kindness excuse my addressing to you a single question?" "At your peril, Sir!" was the harsh and curt reply of the knight. The intimidated bard retreated upon his friends, who eagerly inquired of him the success of his application. "I do not know," Rogers said, "whether he is Junius; but, if he be, he is certainly Junius Brutus."

* * * * *

ALFIERI'S HAIR.

Alfieri, the greatest poet modern Italy produced, delighted in eccentricities, not always of the most amiable kind. One evening, at the house of the Princess Carignan, he was leaning, in one of his silent moods, against a sideboard decorated with a rich tea service of china, when, by a sudden movement of his long loose tresses, he threw down one of the cups. The lady of the mansion ventured to tell him, that he had spoiled the set, and had better have broken them all. The words were no sooner said, than Alfieri, without reply or change of countenance, swept off the whole service upon the floor. His hair was fated to bring another of his eccentricities into play. He went one night, alone, to the theatre at Turin; and there, hanging carelessly with his head backwards over the corner of the box, a lady in the next seat on the other side of the partition, who had on other occasions made attempts to attract his attention, broke out into violent and repeated encomiums on his auburn locks, which were flowing down close to her hand. Alfieri, however, spoke not a word, and continued his position till he left the theatre. Next morning, the lady received a parcel, the contents of which she found to be the tresses which she had so much admired, and which the erratic poet had cut off close to his head. No billet accompanied the gift; but it could not have been more clearly said, "If you like the hair, here it is; but, for Heaven's sake, leave me alone!"

* * * * *

SMOLLETT'S HARD FORTUNES.

Smollett, perhaps one of the most popular authors by profession that ever wrote, furnishes a sad instance of the insufficiency of even the greatest literary favour, in the times in which he wrote, to procure those temporal comforts on which the happiness of life so much depends. "Had some of those," he says, "who were pleased to call themselves my friends, been at any pains to deserve the character, and told me ingenuously what I had to expect in the capacity of an author, when first I professed myself of that venerable fraternity, I should in all probability have spared myself the incredible labour and chagrin I have since undergone." "Of praise and censure both," he writes at another time, "I am sick indeed, and wish to God that my circumstances would allow me to consign my pen to oblivion." When he had worn himself down in the service of the public or the booksellers, there scarce was left of all his slender remunerations, at the last stage of life, enough to convey him to a cheap country and a restoring air on the Continent. Gradually perishing in a foreign land, neglected by the public that admired him, deriving no resources from the booksellers who were drawing the large profits of his works, Smollett threw out his injured feelings in the character of Bramble, in Humphrey Clinker, the warm generosity of his temper, but not his genius, seeming to fleet away with his breath. And when he died, and his widow, in a foreign land, was raising a plain memorial over his ashes, her love and piety but made the little less; and she perished in unbefriended solitude. "There are indeed," says D'Israeli, "grateful feelings in the public at large for a favourite author; but the awful testimony of these feelings, by its gradual process, must appear beyond the grave! They visit the column consecrated by his name—and his features are most loved, most venerated, in the bust!"

* * * * *

JERROLD'S REBUKE TO A RUDE INTRUDER.

Douglas Jerrold and some friends were dining once at a tavern, and had a private room; but after dinner the landlord, on the plea that the house was partly under repair, requested permission that a stranger might take a chop in the apartment, at a separate table. The company gave the required permission; and the stranger, a man of commonplace aspect, was brought in, ate his chop in silence, and then fell asleep—snoring so loudly and discordantly that the conversation could with difficulty be prosecuted. Some gentleman of the party made a noise; and the stranger, starting out of his nap, called out to Jerrold, "I know you, Mr. Jerrold, I know you; but you shall not make a butt of me!" "Then don't bring your hog's head in here!" was the instant answer of the wit.

* * * * *

AN ODD PRESENT TO SHENSTONE.

An Edinburgh acquaintance is related to have sent to Shenstone, in 1761, as a small stimulus to their friendship, "a little provision of the best Preston Pans snuff, both toasted and untoasted, in four bottles; with one bottle of Highland Snishon, and four bottles Bonnels. Please to let me know which sort is most agreeable to you, that I may send you a fresh supply in good time."

* * * * *

WALLER, THE COURTIER-POET.

Waller wrote a fine panegyric on Cromwell, when he assumed the Protectorship. Upon the restoration of Charles, Waller wrote another in praise of him, and presented it to the King in person. After his Majesty had read the poem, he told Waller that he wrote a better on Cromwell. "Please your Majesty," said Waller, like a true courtier, "we poets are always more happy in fiction than in truth."

THE END.

MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.



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IV. RATIONAL COOKERY:

Cookery made Practical and Economical, in connection with the Chemistry of Food. Fifth Edition. By HARTELAW REID.

'A thousand times more useful as a marriage-gift than the usual gewgaw presents, would be this very simple manual for the daily guidance of the youthful bride in one of her most important domestic duties.'—Glasgow Citizen.

V. EUROPEAN HISTORY:

In a Series of Biographies, from the Beginning of the Christian Era till the Present Time. Second Edition. By DAVID PRYDE, M.A.

'It is published with a view to the teaching of the history of Europe since the Christian era by the biographic method, recommended by Mr. Carlyle as the only proper method of teaching history. The style of the book is clear, elegant, and terse. The biographies are well, and, for the most part, graphically told.'—The Scotsman.

VI. DOMESTIC MEDICINE:

Plain and Brief Directions for the Treatment requisite before Advice can be obtained. Second Edition. By OFFLEY BOHUN SHORE, Doctor of Medicine of the University of Edinburgh, etc. etc. etc.

'This is one of the medicine books that ought to be published. It is from the pen of Dr. Shore, an eminent physician, and it is dedicated, by permission, to Sir James Y. Simpson, Bart., one of the first physicians of the age.'—The Standard.

VII. DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT:

Hints on the Training and Treatment of Children and Servants. By MRS. CHARLES DOIG.

'This is an excellent book of its kind, a handbook to family life which will do much towards promoting comfort and happiness.'—The Spectator.

VIII. FREE-HAND DRAWING:

A Guide to Ornamental, Figure, and Landscape Drawing. By an ART STUDENT, Author of 'Ornamental and Figure Drawing.' Profusely Illustrated.

'This is an excellent and thoroughly practical guide to ornamental, figure, and landscape drawing. Beginners could not make a better start than with this capital little book.'—Morning Star.

IX. THE METALS USED IN CONSTRUCTION:

Iron, Steel, Bessemer Metal, etc. etc. By FRANCIS HERBERT JOYNSON. Illustrated.

'In the interests of practical science, we are bound to notice this work; and to those who wish further information, we should say, buy it; and the outlay, we honestly believe, will be considered a shilling well spent.'—Scientific Review.

OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION.



Popular Works by the Author of 'Heaven our Home.'

I. ONE HUNDREDTH THOUSAND. Crown 8vo, cloth antique, price 3s. 6d., HEAVEN OUR HOME.

'The author of the volume before us endeavours to describe what heaven is, as shown by the light of reason and Scripture; and we promise the reader many charming pictures of heavenly bliss, founded upon undeniable authority, and described with the pen of a dramatist, which cannot fail to elevate the soul as well as to delight the imagination.... Part Second proves, in a manner as beautiful as it is convincing, the DOCTRINE OF THE RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN HEAVEN,—a subject of which the author makes much, introducing many touching scenes of Scripture celebrities meeting in heaven and discoursing of their experience on earth. Part Third DEMONSTRATES THE INTEREST WHICH THOSE IN HEAVEN FEEL IN EARTH, AND PROVES, WITH REMARKABLE CLEARNESS, THAT SUCH AN INTEREST EXISTS NOT ONLY WITH THE ALMIGHTY AND AMONG THE ANGELS, BUT ALSO AMONG THE SPIRITS OF DEPARTED FRIENDS. We unhesitatingly give our opinion that this volume is one of the most delightful productions of a religious character which has appeared for some time; and we would desire to see it pass into extensive circulation.'—Glasgow Herald.

A Cheap Edition of HEAVEN OUR HOME, In crown 8vo, cloth limp, price 1s. 6d., is also published.

II. TWENTY-NINTH THOUSAND. Crown 8vo, cloth antique, price 3s. 6d., MEET FOR HEAVEN.

'The author, in his or her former work, "Heaven our Home," portrayed a SOCIAL HEAVEN, WHERE SCATTERED FAMILIES MEET AT LAST IN LOVING INTERCOURSE AND IN POSSESSION OF PERFECT RECOGNITION, to spend a never-ending eternity of peace and love. In the present work the individual state of the children of God is attempted to be unfolded, and more especially the state of probation which is set apart for them on earth to fit and prepare erring mortals for the society of the saints.... The work, as a whole, displays an originality of conception, a flow of language, and a closeness of reasoning rarely found in religious publications.... The author combats the pleasing and generally accepted belief, that DEATH WILL EFFECT AN ENTIRE CHANGE ON THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF OUR SOULS, and that all who enter into bliss will be placed on a common level.'—Glasgow Herald.

A Cheap Edition of MEET FOR HEAVEN, In crown 8vo, cloth limp, price 1s. 6d., is also published.

III. TWENTY-FIRST THOUSAND. Crown 8vo, cloth antique, price 3s. 6d., LIFE IN HEAVEN.

THERE, FAITH IS CHANGED INTO SIGHT, AND HOPE IS PASSED INTO BLISSFUL FRUITION.

'This is certainly one of the most remarkable works which have been issued from the press during the present generation; and we have no doubt it will prove as acceptable to the public as the two attractive volumes to which it forms an appropriate and beautiful sequel.' —Cheltenham Journal.

'We think this work well calculated to remove many erroneous ideas respecting our future state, and to put before its readers such an idea of the reality of our existence there, as may tend to make a future world more desirable and more sought for than it is at present.' —Cambridge University Chronicle.

'This, like its companion works, "Heaven our Home," and "Meet for Heaven," needs no adventitious circumstances, no prestige of literary renown, to recommend it to the consideration of the reading public, and, like its predecessors, will no doubt circulate by tens of thousands throughout the land.'—Glasgow Examiner.

A Cheap Edition of LIFE IN HEAVEN, In crown 8vo, cloth limp, price 1s. 6d., is also published.

IV. SEVENTH THOUSAND. Crown 8vo, cloth antique, price 3s. 6d., CHRIST'S TRANSFIGURATION; OR, TABOR'S TEACHINGS.

'The work opens up to view a heaven to be prized, and a home to be sought for, and presents it in a cheerful and attractive aspect. The beauty and elegance of the language adds grace and dignity to the subject, and will tend to secure to it the passport to public favour so deservedly merited and obtained by the author's former productions.' —Montrose Standard.

'A careful reading of this volume will add immensely to the interest of the New Testament narrative of the Transfiguration, and so far will greatly promote our personal interest in the will of God as revealed in his word.'—Wesleyan Times.

A Cheap Edition of CHRIST'S TRANSFIGURATION, In crown 8vo, cloth limp, price 1s. 6d., is also published.

Aggregate Sale of the above Popular Works, 157,000 copies. In addition to this, they have been reprinted and extensively circulated in America.



NIMMO'S PRESENTATION SERIES OF STANDARD WORKS.

In small Crown 8vo, printed on toned paper, bound in cloth extra, gilt edges, bevelled boards, with Portrait engraved on Steel, price 3s. 6d. each.

I. WISDOM, WIT, AND ALLEGORY. Selected from 'The Spectator.'

II. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: A BIOGRAPHY.

III. THE WORLD'S WAY: LAYS OF LIFE AND LABOUR.

IV. TRAVELS IN AFRICA. THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF MUNGO PARK.

V. WALLACE, THE HERO OF SCOTLAND: A BIOGRAPHY.

VI. EPOCH MEN, AND THE RESULTS OF THEIR LIVES.

VII. THE MIRROR OF CHARACTER. SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF OVERBURY, EARLE, AND BUTLER.

VIII. MEN OF HISTORY. By Eminent Writers.

IX. OLD WORLD WORTHIES; OR, CLASSICAL BIOGRAPHY. SELECTED FROM PLUTARCH'S LIVES.

X. THE MAN OF BUSINESS Considered in Six Aspects. A BOOK FOR YOUNG MEN.

XI. WOMEN OF HISTORY. By Eminent Writers.

XII. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND. By Isaac Watts.

XIII. TALES OF OLD ENGLISH LIFE; OR, PICTURES OF THE PERIODS. By W. F. Collier, LL.D.

This elegant and useful Series of Books has been specially prepared for School and College Prizes: they are, however, equally suitable for General Presentation. In selecting the works for this Series, the aim of the publisher has been to produce books of a permanent value, interesting in manner and instructive in matter—books that youth will read eagerly and with profit, and which will be found equally attractive in after life.



NIMMO'S HALF-CROWN REWARD BOOKS.

Extra Foolscap 8vo, cloth elegant, gilt edges, Illustrated, price 2s. 6d. each.

I. Memorable Wars of Scotland. BY PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, F.R.S.E., Author of 'History of Scotland,' etc.

II. Seeing the World: A Young Sailors Own Story. BY CHARLES NORHOFF, Author of 'The Young Man-of-War's Man.'

III. The Martyr Missionary: Five Years In China. BY REV. CHARLES P. BUSH, M.A.

IV. My New Home: A Woman's Diary. By the Author of 'Win and Wear,' etc.

V. Home Heroines: Tales For Girls. BY T. S. ARTHUR, Author of 'Life's Crosses,' 'Orange Blossoms,' etc.

VI. Lessons from Women's Lives. BY SARAH J. HALE.



NIMMO'S TWO SHILLING REWARD BOOKS.

Foolscap 8vo, Illustrated, elegantly bound in cloth extra, bevelled boards, gilt back and side, gilt edges, price 2s. each.

I. The Far North: Explorations in the Arctic Regions. BY ELISHA KENT KANE, M.D., Commander second 'Grinnell' Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin.

II. The Young Men of the Bible: A Series of Papers, Biographical and Suggestive. BY REV. JOSEPH A. COLLIER.

III. The Blade and the Ear: A Book for Young Men.

IV. Monarchs of Ocean: Narratives of Maritime Discovery and Progress.

V. Life's Crosses, and How to Meet them. BY T. S. ARTHUR. Author of 'Anna Lee,' 'Orange Blossoms,' etc.

VI. A Father's Legacy to his Daughters; etc. A Book for Young Women. BY DR. GREGORY.

VII. Great Men of European History. BY DAVID PRYDE, M.A.



NIMMO'S EIGHTEENPENNY REWARD BOOKS.

Demy 18mo, Illustrated, cloth extra, gilt edges, price 1s. 6d. each.

I. The Vicar of Wakefield. Poems and Essays.

II. AEsop's Fables, With Instructive Applications.

III. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

IV. The Young Man-of-War's Man.

V. The Treasury of Anecdote: Moral and Religious.

VI. The Boy's Own Workshop. BY JACOB ABBOTT.

VII. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

VIII. The History of Sandford and Merton.

IX. Evenings at Home.

X. Unexpected Pleasures. By MRS. GEORGE CUPPLES, Author of 'The Little Captain,' etc.

The above Series of elegant and useful books are specially prepared for the entertainment and instruction of young persons.



NIMMO'S SUNDAY SCHOOL REWARD BOOKS.

Fcap. 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, Illustrated, price 1s. 6d. each.

I. Bible Blessings. BY REV. RICHARD NEWTON, Author of 'The Best Things,' 'The Safe Compass,' 'The King's Highway,' etc.

II. One Hour a Week: Fifty-two Bible Lessons for the Young. By the Author of 'Jesus on Earth.'

III. The Best Things. BY REV. RICHARD NEWTON.

IV. Grace Harvey and her Cousins. By the Author of 'Douglas Farm.'

V. Lessons from Rose Hill; AND Little Nannette.

VI. Great and Good Women: Biographies for Girls. BY LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY.

VII. At Home and Abroad; or, Uncle William's Adventures.

VIII. The Kind Governess; or, How to Make Home Happy.



NIMMO'S ONE SHILLING JUVENILE BOOKS.

Foolscap 8vo, Coloured Frontispieces, handsomely bound in cloth, Illuminated, price 1s. each.

I. Four Little People and their Friends.

II. Elizabeth; Or, The Exiles of Siberia.

III. Paul and Virginia.

IV. Little Threads.

V. Benjamin Franklin.

VI. Barton Todd.

VII. The Perils of Greatness.

VIII. Little Crowns, and How to Win them.

IX. Great Riches.

X. The Right Way, and the Contrast.

XI. The Daisy's First Winter.

XII. The Man of the Mountain.



NIMMO'S SIXPENNY JUVENILE BOOKS.

Demy 18mo, Illustrated, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt side, gilt edges, price 6d. each.

I. Pearls for Little People.

II. Great Lessons for Little People.

III. Reason in Rhyme.

IV. AEsop's Little Fable Book.

V. Grapes from the Great Vine.

VI. The Pot of Gold.

VII. Story Pictures from the Bible.

VIII. The Tables of Stone.

IX. Ways of Doing Good.

X. Stories about our Dogs.

XI. The Red-Winged Goose.

XII. The Hermit of the Hills.



NIMMO'S FOURPENNY JUVENILE BOOKS.

The above Series of Books are also done up in elegant Enamelled Paper Covers, beautifully printed in Colours, price 4d. each.

The distinctive features of the New Series of Sixpenny and One Shilling Juvenile Books are: The Subjects of each Volume have been selected with a due regard to Instruction and Entertainment; they are well printed on fine paper, in a superior manner; the Shilling Series is Illustrated with Frontispieces printed in Colours; the Sixpenny Series has beautiful Engravings; and they are elegantly bound.



NIMMO'S POPULAR RELIGIOUS GIFT-BOOKS.

18mo, finely printed on toned paper, handsomely bound in cloth extra, bevelled boards, gilt edges, price 1s. 6d. each.

I. Across the River: Twelve Views of Heaven. BY NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.; R. W. HAMILTON, D.D.; ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D.; JAMES HAMILTON, D.D.; etc. etc. etc.

'A more charming little work has rarely fallen under our notice, or one that will more faithfully direct the steps to that better land it should be the aim of all to seek.'—Bell's Messenger.

II. Emblems of Jesus; or, Illustrations of Emmanuel's Character and Work.

III. Life Thoughts of Eminent Christians.

IV. Comfort for the Desponding; or, Words to Soothe and Cheer Troubled Hearts.

V. The Chastening of Love; or, Words of Consolation to the Christian Mourner. By JOSEPH PARKER, D.D., Manchester.

VI. The Cedar Christian. By the Rev. Theodore L. CUYLER.

VII. Consolation for Christian Mothers bereaved of Little Children BY A FRIEND OF MOURNERS.

VIII. The Orphan; or, Words of Comfort for the Fatherless and Motherless.

IX. Gladdening Streams; or, The Waters of the Sanctuary. A Book for Fragments of Time on each Lord's Day of the Year.

X. Spirit of the Old Divines.

XI. Choice Gleanings from Sacred Writers.

XII. Direction in Prayer. By Peter Grant, D.D., Author of 'Emblems of Jesus,' etc.

XIII. Scripture Imagery. By Peter Grant, D.D., Author of 'Emblems of Jesus,' etc.



Popular Religious Works.

SUITABLE FOR PRESENTATION.

I. Foolscap 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth extra, antique, price 2s. 6d., CHRISTIAN COMFORT. BY THE AUTHOR OF 'EMBLEMS OF JESUS.'

II. By the same Author, uniform in style and price, LIGHT ON THE GRAVE.

III. Uniform in style and price, GLIMPSES OF THE CELESTIAL CITY, AND GUIDE TO THE INHERITANCE. With Introduction by the REV. JOHN MACFARLANE, LL.D., CLAPHAM, LONDON.



Crown 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, price 6s., THE NATIONAL MELODIST. TWO HUNDRED STANDARD SONGS, WITH SYMPHONIES AND ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR THE PIANFORTE. Edited by J. C. KIESER.

Demy 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, price 3s. 6d., THE SCOTTISH MELODIST. FORTY-EIGHT SCOTTISH SONGS AND BALLADS, WITH SYMPHONIES AND ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR THE PIANOFORTE. Edited by J. C. KIESER.

The above two volumes are very excellent Collections of First-class Music. The arrangements and accompaniments, as the name of the Editor will sufficiently testify, are admirable. They form handsome and suitable presentation volumes.



NIMMO'S Series of Commonplace Books.

Small 4to, elegantly printed on superfine toned paper, and richly bound in cloth and gold and gilt edges, price 2s. 6d. each.

I. BOOKS AND AUTHORS. CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.

II. LAW AND LAWYERS. CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.

III. ART AND ARTISTS. CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.

IV.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY. CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.

V. OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS. CURIOUS FACTS AND ILLUSTRATIVE SKETCHES.

VI. CLERGYMEN AND DOCTORS. CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.

'This series seems well adapted to answer the end proposed by the publisher—that of providing, in a handy form, a compendium of wise and witty sayings, choice anecdotes, and memorable facts.'—The Bookseller.



NIMMO'S POCKET TREASURIES.

Miniature 4to, beautifully bound in cloth extra, gilt edges, price 1s. 6d. each.

I. A Treasury of Table Talk.

II. Epigrams and Literary Follies.

III. A Treasury of Poetic Gems.

IV. The Table Talk of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

V. Gleanings from the Comedies of Shakespeare.

VI. Beauties of the British Dramatists.

'A charming little Series, well edited and printed. More thoroughly readable little books it would be hard to find; there is no padding in them, all is epigram, point, poetry, or sound common sense.' —Publisher's Circular.



In demy 8vo, richly bound in cloth and gold, price 6s. 6d.,

THE POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES THOMSON. EDITED BY CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE. Illustrated with choice Full-page Engravings on Steel, printed in Colours by KRONHEIM & Co.

In square 8vo, richly bound in cloth and gold, price 3s., THE LOVES OF ROSE PINK AND SKY BLUE, AND OTHER STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN. By WILLIAM FRANCIS COLLIER, LL.D., Author of 'Tales of Old English Life,' etc. etc. Profusely Illustrated with Original humorous Illustrations on Wood.

'It is a clever book by a clever man. There is a mind in every page, and the illustrations show that the artist appreciates the humour of the author.'—Daily News.

'A fanciful and eccentric title for some very good fairy tales told to the little ones.'—The Times.

'The prose and verse stories in this very handsome volume are of a healthy kind, and well calculated to compass the object for which they have been written, namely, the amusement of our young folk.'—The Examiner.

'"The Loves of Rose Pink and Sky Blue, and other Stories told to Children," by Dr. W. F. Collier, is one of the most pleasant contributions to this season's literature which comes from the far north. It is genial in its purpose, pleasant in its details, and natural in its composition.'—Bell's Messenger.

'"Rose Pink and Sky Blue" is a child's book, very funny in its illustrations—this we see—and funny, we suspect, in its contents; for we lighted on a ballad in which a most scientific piscator, standing on the Norway coast, casts his fly for whale and hooks and lands several which he rose on the Faroe Isles, and is at last beaten by a Kraken or the Kraken.'—Saturday Review.

Second Edition, enlarged, price 3s., richly bound, STORY OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN. By A. O. B. Illustrated with Full-page Engravings and Map.

'We have been much pleased with the "Story of the Kings of Judah," which will prove a real boon to children, who so often are compelled to puzzle their little brains over the history of the Kings of Judah and Israel, with the vaguest possible idea of what it all means. This little work gives the best and clearest account we have ever seen, as adapted to the comprehension of children; and the author is evidently one who has been accustomed to the training of young minds, and knows how to meet their difficulties.'—Churchman's Companion.

THE END