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VOL. 4.] Mr. Patten-Mr. Pye, the Poet-Laureat-Gaelic Poetry.

311

He was once at the house of a brother clergyman, who having shewn him a very numerous collection of books in various languages, Patten asked him whether he understood them all? The answer being affirmative, he rejcined, Surely, surely, brother, you must have had your head broken with a brick from the Tower of Babel."

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sites, but that he could not give himself the trouble of exerting them under the sum of one guinea." To this demand the woman consented after some demur, and the best parlour was fitted up for the curate's reception, according to his directions, with a large fire, two candles, and a bowl of punch. He then took his post, and waited for the apparition, who unluckily, not knowing the In his illness, being in extreme dis sort of man he had to deal, with, and tress, Archbishop Secker sent him ten thinking to terrify him, as he had done guineas by the Archdeacon. The dying by others, began his perambulations, as humourist thanked him sincerely, and asual, around the premises: but no in the style of James the First, "Tell sooner did the priest hear the chain and the Primate," said he," that now I own the groans, than he sallied forth, and him to be a man of God, for I have without delay seized the poor ghost by seen his angels."-Fu. Mag. Oct.1818, the collar, belabouring him at the same time severely with an oaken sapling. Mr. Pye was a learned man, and The young farmer finding himself by much was expected from him when be no means a match for his opponent, was made poet laureat. Little, howfell on his knees, and owned the whole ever, beyond prettiness, has ever been contrivance, conjuring the exorcist, at received. His first ode was on the the same time, not to expose him, or King's birth, and it was full of allusions to reveal the secret to his mother-into the vocal groves," and "feathered law, who would be glad of the opportu- choir." George Stevens read it, and nity to turn him out of the house with immediately exclaimed— some degree of pretence. His entreaties were heard, and he was dismissed, on a solemn promise not to disturb the house again on this condition, hopes were given to him of a comfortable settlement with his step-mother.

ANECDOTE.

And when the Pye was open'd,

The birds began to sing!
And wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the King.

GAELIC POETRY.

The scene of the following fragment Early in the morn sl came down, is laid in a distant part of the West anxious to know what had passed the Highlands. The Laird of Glenfiorick preceding night; when she was informed lay at the point of death; and his by the priest, that he had had a terrible daughter, Ellen, the Lady of Lord conflict with the deceased, who was one Campbell Reoch (or the Red) was hasof the most fierce obstinate spirits he tening to attend him. had ever met with. That, at length,he The port or landing place nearest to had laid him, at the expense of much the castle of Glenfiorich seems, at that Latin. "Poor wicked soul," continu- time, to have heen Allandhu; although, ed be, "I forgive him, altho' great part at the present day, the only tokens that of his disquiet is owing to thirty shillings it was once the residence of man, are to of which he defrauded me, but which he be seen in the ivy-clad walls of a few desired, nay commanded, you to pay. roofless tenements, and the stunted reOn this condition only, and on your mains of what might once have been allowing his son a share in the farm, has tall and stately trees. The writer of he agreed to trouble your house no this heard it sung, in Gaelic, to a slow more, but to retire to his old quarters, and solemn air, by an interesting girl of the Red Sea." that country; and having been moved To this the woman assented-she by the pathos, alike of the music and paid the money, took her son-in-law the poetry, wrote it down that she into the farming business, and the parson had the comfort of having done a good action, and at the same time picked up a little money by it.

It lo

might translate it at her leisure.
ses much of its native beauty and sweet-
ness in the translation; and probably,
the only style in which it could be rea-

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312 Quaker Heroism-Scotch Honour-The Devil and the Lawyers.' [vOL4 dered, with even a distant chance of from starving! A little before his exsuccess, is that of the ancient Scotch ecution, he took off his bonnet, and metrical ballad, which it is here attempt- thanked God, "that he had never beed to imitate.

"Ellen Bhoyochyd (or the beautiful).

"Row weel, my boatie, row weel,

Row weel, my merry men a'.

trayed a trust, never injured the poor, and never refused a share of what he had to the stranger and needy!" It is said that George the First was much

For there's dool and there's wae in Glenfiorich's affected when he heard the fate of Mac bowers,

And there's grief in my father's ha'.

"And the skiff it danced licht on the merry nee waves,

And it flew over the water sae blue,

Jan; and, with a princely sentiment, declared that if he had known the circumstance in proper time, he would have put him in a situation, in which he

And the wind it blue licht, and the moon it shone would not have been tempted to steal a

bright

But the boatie near reach'd Allandhu.

"Ohon, for fair Ellen, Ohon!

hon! for the pride of Strathcoe

In the deep, deep sea, in the salt, salt bree,
Lord Reoch, thy Ellen lies low."

HEROISM IN A QUAKER.

cow for his subsistence. The Chevalier had ordered him some money, but poor Mac Jan never received it.

QUAINT CONCEIT.

The following quaint conceit of one of our old writers, on Queen Elizabeth New and Sir Francis Drake, is perhaps not generally known :

O nature! to old England still
Continue these mistakes;

Still give us for our Kings such Queens,
And for our Dux such Drakes.

THE DEVIL AND THE LAWYERS.

The following anecdote, may,

In the late American war, a York trader was chased by a small French privateer, and having four guns with plenty of small arms, it was agreed to stand a brush with the enemy, rather than be taken prisoners. Among several other passengers, was an athletic quaker, who, though he withstood every solicitation to lend a hand, as being con- some measure account for the generally trary to his religious tenets, kept walk- received opinion, that there is a certain ing backwards and forwards on the intimacy between the inhabitants of the OF COURT and his SATANIC deck, without any apparent fear; the INNS enemy all the time pouring in their shot. MAJESTY. At length the vessels having approached Saint Evona, a lawyer of Brittany, close to each other, a disposition to went to Rom to entreat the Pope to The Pope board was manifested by the French, give the laws a patron. which was very soon put into execution; replied that he knew of no Saint not and the quaker being on the look out, already disposed of, to some other prothe first inan that jumped on board, he fession. His Holiness proposed, howunexpectedly sprang towards him, and ever, to Saint Evona, that he should go grappling him forcibly by the col- round the church of San Giovanni di lar, coolly said, " Friend, thou hast no Laterano, blindfold, and after saying a business here," at the same time hoist- certain number of Ave Marias, the first ing him over the ship's side.

SCOTCH HONOUR AND ATTACHMENT.

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Saint he laid hold of, should be his patron. This the good old lawyer undertook, and at the end of his Ave A person of the name of Mac Jan, Marias, stopped at the altar of St. Mialias Kennedy, after the defeat of the chael, where he laid hold, not of the Pretender, at Culloden, watched over Saint, but, unfortunately, the DEVIL him with inviolable fidelity for several under the Saint's feet, crying out→ weeks, and even robbed at the risk of "This is our Saint, let him be our his own life for his support, at the very patron!" time that he and his family were in a state of starvation, and when he could

WHOLESOME DOCTRINE.

gain 30,000. by betraying his guest. The celebrated Dr. Darwin was so This poor man was afterwards executed impressed with the conviction of the at Inverness, for stealing a cow, in a necessity of good air, that being very very severe season, to keep his family popular in the town of Derby, once on

VOL. 4.]

Wholesome Doctrine-the Chevalier and his Dog.

313

a market day, he mounted a tub, and Keep open, then, your workshops, and, thus addressed the listening crowd: as soon as you rise, open all the win"Ye men of Derby, fellow-citizens, at- dows of your bed-rooms. Never sleep tend to me! I know you to be inge- in a room without a chimney in it, nor nious and industriouss mechanics. By block that up. Inattention to this adyour exertions you procure for your vice, be assured, will bring diseases on selves and families the necessaries of yourselves, and engender among you life; but if you lose your health, that typhus fever, which is only another power of being of use to them must name for putrid fever, which will carry cease. This truth all of you know; off your wives and children. Let me but I fear some of you do not under- again repeat my serious advice: open stand how health is to be maintained in your windows to let in fresh air, at least vigour this then depends upon your once in the day.-Remember what I breathing an uncontaminated air; for say: I speak now without a fee, and the purity of the air becomes destroyed can have no other interest but your where many are collected together; the good, in this my advice." effluvia from the body also corrupts it.

ORIGIN OF SIGNS OF INNS, &c.
From the Gentleman's Magazine.

THE CHEVALIER AND HIS DOG.
"When wise Ulysses, from his native coast
Long kept by waves, and long by tempests tost,
Arriv'd at last, poor, old, disguis'd, alone,
To all his friends, and ev'n his queen unknown,
Chang'd as he was with age, and toils and cares,
Furrow'd his rev'rend face, and white his hairs,
In his own palace doom'd to ask his bread,
Scorned by those slaves his former bounty fed,
Forgot of all his own domestic crew,
The faithful dog alone his rightful master knew!
Unfed, unhoused, neglected, on the clay
Like an old servant now cashier'd he lay;
Touch'd with resentment of ungrateful man,
And longing to behold his antient lord again.
Him when he saw, he rose, and crawl'd to meet,
Twas all he could) and fawn'd, and kiss'd his feet.
Seiz'd with dumb joy-then falling by his side,
Own'd his returning lord, look'd up-and died."

conversation of their deliverers. The Chevalier died in 1728, and was buried in the church of St. Oswald at Zug, where, by his special appointment, he is represented on a monument with his faithful dog lying at his feet.

Mr. Bowdler, in his "Letters" written in 1814, speaking of the Monks of St. Bernard, says, "If a great avalanche happen, they go to the place, even at the hazard of their own lives, to see whether any travellers have been overwhelmed and buried in the snow. In these dangerous expeditions they are accompanied by their faithful dogs, a remarkable breed from Sardinia,

IN crossing the mountain of St. Go- somewhat resembling the NewfoundΝ thard, the Chevalier Gaspard de land, but larger, and with the scent as Brandenburg and his servant were perfect as the best hound. If a human buried by an avalanche. His dog hav- body be buried in the snow, the dog is ing escaped, kept running backwards sure to make it known; and the monks and forwards, incessantly howling, from who go out provided with every thing the spot where he had lost his master to necessary, dig out the body, convey it the convent, which fortunately was not to the convent, and, if possible, restore far distant. Astonished at his frequent suspended animation. If life is quite visits, the monks on the following extinct, the corpse is laid in a little morning obeyed his interceding indi- building near the convent, where I cations, and accompanied him to the saw a great number dried by extreme spot, where, by his scratching the cold, and slowly changing to their snow with his utmost strength, they parent earth. No year passes without conjectured the cause, and extricated many lives being saved by these hosthe Chevalier and his servant after 36 pitable fathers, and scarce any with hours confinement beneath the snow, out some addition to the numbers in during which they could distinctly the chapel." hear the howling of the dog and the

2Q ATHENEUM. Vol. 4.

The dogs of Holland are employed in drawing little carts with merchan

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Signs of Inns, &c.-Dog and Duck-Dog and Partridges.

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The active pointer, from his thong unbound,
Impatient dashes o'er the dewy ground;
With glowing eye and undulating tail,
Ranges the field, and snuffs the tainted gale;
Yet 'midst his ardor still his master fears,

And the restraining whistle careful hears.

See how exact they try the stubble o'er,
Quarter the field, and every turn explore:
Now sudden wheel, and now attentive seize

The known advantage of the opposing breeze.
where close and near the lurking covey lies,
His caution mark, lest ev'n a breath betray
Th'impending danger to his timid prey;
In various attitudes around him stand

At once they stop !-yon careful dog deseries

Silent and motionless the attending band.
So, when the son of Danae and of Jove,

Crown'd by gay conquest and successful love;
Saw Phineus and his frantic rout invade
The festive rites by Hymen sacred made;

To the rude Bacchanals his arm outspread
The horrid image of Medusa's head:

Soon as the locks their snaky curls disclose,
A marble stiffness seiz'd his threat'ning foes;
Fixed were the eyes that mark'd the javelin thrown,

The former of these signs once decorated a house of considerable celebrity in St. George's Fields; and gave its name to a medicinal spring, which was once considered of great efficacy, though now entirely disused: the latter, generally representing on its sign-board a sportsman with a gun or net, is sometimes denominated "The Setting Dog." Lincolnshire is the county most abounding in ducks and aquatic fowl; but, from the recent extensive inclosures of the fens, their numbers have been very much diminished. Pennant informs us that from only 10 decoys in the neighbourhood of Waynfleet upwards of 31,200 head of wild-fowl were sent in one season to the metropolis, to which may be added a considerable number sold in the vicinity. The water-dog and water-spaniel, which are used in duck-hunting (and the latter also in the decoys,) are both A brace of Setters in the year 1801 remarkably sagacious, and wonder- were sold by R. B. Thornhill, Esq. as fully expert in finding and recovering he informs us in his "Shooting Dithe wounded birds. The instances are rectory," to Captain Bagot, for 200

66

very numerous in which these waterdogs have been ordered by their masters to go back and search," and have again returned with a handkerchief, stick, or glove, out of hedges or hollow trees, where they have been privately deposited, and have even discovered pieces of money purposely

concealed under stones.

Of the dogs used in pursuit of partridges, the Spanish pointer, from which the English pointer was produced by a cross with the hound, was introduced into this kingdom about two centuries ago, and is remarkable for the extreme fineness of its scent and patience at its point, but is now rarely seen, being greatly excelled in activity and strength by its British

descendant.

Here, where the yellow wheat away is drawn,
And the thick stubble clothes the russet lawn,
Begin the sport.-Eager and unconfin'd,
As when stern Œolus unchains the wind,

And each stern warrior reared his lance in stone. From Shooting, by en anonymous Writer.

Surely there are not many poets who would be ashamed to have these lines imputed to them.

It is said that Robert Dudley, the powerful Duke of Northumberland, was the first person that broke a setting dog to the net.

guineas.

When Autumn smiles, all beauteous in decay,
And paints each chequer'd grove with various hues
My Setter ranges in the new-shorn fields,
His nose in air erect; from ridge to ridge
Panting he bounds, his quarter'd ground divides
In equal intervals, nor careless leaves
One inch untried: at length the tainted gales

His nostrils wide inhale; quick joy elates
His beating heart, which, aw'd by discipline
Severe, he dares not own, but cautious creeps
Low-cowring step by step; at last attains

And points with his instinctive nose upon
His proper distance; there he stops at once,
The trembling prey. On wings of wind upborne,
The floating net unfolded flies; then drops;
And the poor fluttering captives rise in vain.

Somerville.

Nor less the Spaniel, skilful to betray,
Rewards the fowler with the feather'd prey.

Soon as the labouring horse, with swelling veins,
Has safely hous'd the farmer's doubtful gains,
To sweet repast th' unwary partridge flies,
With joy amid the scatter'd harvest lies ;
Wand'ring in plenty, danger he forgets,
Nor dreads the slav`ry of entangling nets.
The subtle dog scours with sagacious nose
Along the field, and snuffs each breeze that blows :

VOL. 4.]

Signs of Inns, &c.-The 'Chequers-The Dolphin.

Against the wind he takes his prudent way,
While the strong gale directs him to the prey,
Now the warm scent assures the covey near;
He treads with caution, and he points with fear;
Then (lest some sentry-fowl the fraud desery,
And bid his fellows from the danger fly)
Close to the ground in expectation lies,
Till in the snare the fluttering covey rise.—Gay.
When milder autumn summer's heat succeeds,
And in the new-shorn field the partridge feeds,
Before his lord the ready Spaniel bounds:
Panting with hope he tries the furrow'd grounds ;
But when the tainted gales the game betray,
Couched close he lies, and meditates the prey.
Secure they trust, the unfaithful field beset,
Till hovering o'er 'em sweeps the swelling net.

Pope.

315

when the simplest rules of arithmetic were known only to few-upon the squares. The chequers of ale-houses, most likely, were also used for calculating the reckonings; and this hypothesis is strengthened, if not confirmed, by a remarkable fact that the same sign was used at Pompeii, as appears by the engravings in the 4th vol. of the Archælogia.-Pan.

THE DOLPHIN.

This fish, when sporting on the surface of the water, sometimes deceives

The Springer, or Springing Spaniel, the eye, and appears crooked. Hence will be more fully noticed under the on ancient coins and marbles he is ofsign of "The Pheasant," for which ten thus pourtrayed; and from these and Woodcock-shooting they are now representations our sign-painters have adopted the distorted figure we comchiefly employed. monly see displayed.

and

The antients considered a young fat dog as excellent food, especially if it had been castrated. Hippocrates places it in the same class with mutton and pork; and in another place, says, that the flesh of a grown dog is wholesome and strengthening, but that of puppies relaxing. In the Society Islands dogs are fattened with vegetables, which the natives cram down their throats when they will not voluntarily eat. They grow exceedingly fat ; and, when killed, the blood is preserved in cocoa-nut shells, and baked for the table.

THE CHEQUERS.

The dolphin is soon suffocated by sometimes taken up dead by fishermen being forcibly kept under water, and is out of their nets; but he is extremely tenacious of his life out of the water,

and has been known to live three days
of colour before death is noticed by
on dry ground. His frequent change
Lord Byron in his beautiful description
of an Italian evening in the 4th Canto
of Childe Harold."

a paler shadow strews
Its mantle o'er the mountains; parting day
Dies like the Dolphin, whom each pang imbues
With a new colour as it gasps away,

The last still loveliest, till-tis gone-and all is grey.

It has been frequently stated that the chequers which are painted on the doors The dolphin was consecrated by the and window-shutters of public-houses ancients to the gods, and called the sawere once the arms of an Earl of Arun- cred fish. The story of Arion, the del, in whose department it rested to Lesbian musician, is related by Ovid, grant licences to sell spirituous liquors. Fasti, lib. 2. it was formerly considerThe accuracy of this assertion may ed a great delicacy in this kingdom. be doubted for various reasons, most of Dauphin is a title given to the eldest which being the result of dull antiqua- son of the kings of France, on account rian research would require more space of the province of Dauphiné, which in to unfold than can be allowed in our 1343 was bestowed on this condition columns. But a much more satisfacto- to Philip de Valois, by Humbert Daury account of this sign has been given phin of the Viennois. The appellation, by the Honourable Daines Barrington, according to Chorier, was first assumed in his disquisition on the game of chess, published in the Archælogia.

by the son of Guy the Fat, Prince of the Viennois, about the year 1120, pro→ bably from bearing a dolphin as the crest on his helmet at a tournament in which he distinguished himself.

The Barons of the Exchequer have always sat with a chequered cloth spread over the table that is placed before them, and the antient use of it was to settle The following epigram on the death the accounts passed by this Court, the of the young Dauphin was written by computations being made in an age the Bishop of Lisieux :

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