Charles the Second, after whose restoration he sat again in Parliament several times.

STRIKING A BARGAIN.

IN several parts of England, when two persons are driving a bargain, one holds out his right hand and says, "Strike me," and if the other strikes, the bargain holds ;-whence the striking a bargain.

A custom somewhat analogous is said to exist in Westminster School at the present day, where two boys, who agree to fight, go through the form which they call chopping hands; and it is said, that this form of accepting a challenge is looked upon as so irrevocable, that there has scarcely ever occurred an instance of the combat so resolved upon not taking place.

A PRESENTMENT.

IN Henry the Fifth's time, the clergy, in their convocation, ordered that three in every parish should make presentment upon oath, of such persons as are defamed for heretics; in obedience whereunto there was a presentment made by some of the parish of St. Mary Overies, in these words, viz., "Item, wee saine that John Stevens is a man wee cannot tell what to make of him, and that he hath books wee know not what they are."

A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE.

ON the death of Major Laing, the enterprising traveller in Africa, the Africans took an inventory of his effects, with a view to sending them to the British Admiral.-They were sorely puzzled to make out the catalogue, and in utter despair described a couple of tooth-brushes as "Two scrapes, made of pig's hair," and set down his spectacles as, "Two looking-glasses for the nose."

"You are an excellent packer," said Theodore Hook to a waiter at the Athenæum.

sir?" replied the other.

66

"How so,

Why," responded the wit, "you have contrived to pack a quart bottle of wine into a pint decanter."

LOVE OF ONE'S COUNTRY AND RELIGION.

THERE are two things which grow stronger in the heart of man, in proportion as he advances in years the love of his country and of religion. Let them be ever so much forgotten in youth, they sooner or later present themselves to us arrayed in all their charms, and excite in the recesses of our hearts an attachment justly due to their beauty.

NATURE, REASON, AND RELIGION.

NATURE bids me love myself, and hate all that hurt me; reason bids me love my friends, and hate those that envy me ; religion bids me love all, and hate none. Nature showeth care, reason wit, religion love. Nature may induce me, reason persuade me, religion shall rule me; I will hearken to nature in much, to reason in more, to religion in all. Nature shall make me careful of myself, but hateful to none ; reason shall make me wise for myself, but harmless to all; religion shall make me loving to all, but not careless of myself. I may hear the former, I will hearken only to the latter. I subscribe to some things in all, to all things in religion.

EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.

A FEW years ago, a log of St. John's yellow pine timber, cut up in the Greenock patent saw-mill, was found to contain a hive of bees, in a most perfect state of preservation. The log was a root cut

of 35 feet in length, and 26 inches square. It was about 140 years of age, as indicated by the annual fibres of the wood. The age of the tree, at the period when the bees seem to have taken up their abode in it, must have been from 30 to 40 years, as all the timber beyond that age was perfectly sound and without perforation. Bees in all stages of growth, with and without any wings, were found in it, and the full-grown bees were in a state of perfect preservation.

A JUSTICE, BUT NO JUDGE.

SIR EDWARD PEYTON, at an assizes in Cambridgeshire, all the justices dining together, when the table was cleared and meate taken away, "Gentlemen," sayes he," there was one thing troubled me in my bedd all this morning, and I tumbled and tost about it, but am not in all points yet satisfied; and that is, whether a felo-de-se may not have his booke? I have runn through most of the law, both common and civill, of this kingdome, and know the judges' opinions to be generally against it; yet I have found out some arguments and reasons which perswade me against them all, that a felo-de-se may be allowede his booke, or clergy." They, to nourish his folly, gave him leave to recite some of his simple arguments, till he grew so absurd as they could not conteine laughing and jeering of him out of the

roome.

SIR THOMAS GRESHAM'S SHOP.

LIKE all other bankers and merchants living in the same street, he kept a shop. It stood on the site now occupied by the banking house of Messrs. Stone, Martin, and Co., Lombard-street; and over his door was his crest, a grasshopper, by way of

sign. This was no uncommon practice even at a later period; for we are told that the sign of the house in Bread-street, where Milton's father resided, and where Milton was born, was the spread eagle-an heraldic symbol, which appears in the family arms. The original sign of Gresham's shop was in existence so lately as the year 1795; when, on the erection of the present building, it disappeared from the station which it had so long occupied over the door. A banker in early times pursued a very different trade from that which occupies the attention of the opulent and influential class so called at the present day. It is well known that the latter derive their profits from the employment of fluctuating sums of money, deposited in their hands for convenience and safety by the public; and for the security of which the respectability of the banker is a sufficient guarantee. But this is a refinement of comparatively recent introduction, with which our forefathers were wholly unacquainted. As late as the time of Swift, bankers gave and took a bond on receiving and lending money; and made their profit by obtaining a higher rate of interest, or usury as it was called, on the latter operation, than they allowed on the former. Ten or twelve per cent. was the customary rate of interest during the reign of Queen Elizabeth; at which period-we mean no disrespect to the banker when we say it-he united in his person the trades of the usurer, the pawnbroker, the money-scrivener, the goldsmith, and the dealer in bullion. A German traveller who visited England, in 1593, says, that he saw in Lombard-street "all sorts of gold and silver vessels exposed for sale, as well as ancient and modern coins, in such quantities

as must surprise a man the first time he sees and considers them." At the period of Gresham's death, a considerable portion of his wealth consisted of gold chains.

THE VAMPYRE BAT.

It was during our excursion this day that I had an opportunity of witnessing (to me at least) a novel sort of sport. The vampyre bat, or flying fox, as it is called, is a species of animal well known in hot climates, about a foot in length, with wings, when extended, measuring sometimes four feet. Its head is something like that of a fox, whence it derives one of its cognomens, and during the day time immense clusters of them, clinging to each other like a swarm of bees, some by their hind and others by their fore legs, are frequently seen suspended to the under branches of such trees as afford them shelter from the piercing rays of a noon-day sun. Some of the Indian castes on the Malabar and Canary coasts esteem their flesh as highly as we do some sorts of game; and as they present a fine compact mass where every shot must tell, they are occasionally slaughtered by hundreds; yet such is their tenacity of life, that the moment an unprepared shot enters their bodies, their claws or talons are convulsively struck into the tree or whatever they cling to, and in that state they die. Hearing some of the natives (of Malabar) speak of a number congregated together at a short distance, I determined to witness their mode of business. Upon their being pointed out to me, I fired with shot, and was much annoyed at none falling. A native standing beside me at his first shot dropped several; and, seeing the others meet with similar