figure had been there represented was once a gentleman of considerable property, which he uncautiously bestowed upon persons he conceived to be in want of his assistance, and reduced himself to the extreme of poverty by his liberalities. Applying however in the midst of his distresses to those on whom he had lavished his possessions, and who were then (owing to his former bounty) in affluence and ease, he was refused the least assistance; which so affected the poor man, that, pining for a short time in the utmost wretchedness, he descended into the grave, and left his ungrateful friends to reflect and be ashamed of their inhuman conduct.

His

widow, having sometime afterwards become possessed once more of a good fortune, built this almshouse at Leominster; and had the figure and inscription already mentioned placed over the entrance, to serve as a warning to others for avoiding the rock her husband's peace had been completely wrecked upon. Gleanings of a Wanderer.

I must not forget mentioning a man who daily pursues his trade on the Mole. He has a commanding figure, is dressed like an Hungarian hussar, and also wears some medals about him. His name sounds very grand, being Maura Guerra Gamba Curta. He professes himself a Prussian; and declares that his family has for five hundred years been provided with a balsam, which was invented by one of their ancestors. When he stands on his stage displaying and extolling his medicines, be produces by the firm and positive tone with which he speaks, the same effect as I have observ

U

ed in the auditories of the modern philosophers from a similar cause. 'My good Neapolitans," he exclaims, "I know there are excellent physicians and surgeons here, and that I am but a worm compared with them; but by the grace of God," (here he takes off his hat, as do also the by-standers,)" by the grace of God, I possess a balsam which heals the deepest wounds in a moment. Do you think that I wish to be taken at my word? By no means. Observe!" He now takes off his coat, shews his naked arm, draws his sabre, makes an incision in his flesh, and lets the blood gush out plentifully; he then pours in a few drops of his balsam, and invites the hearers to come the next day and view the wonderful effect of it." Here," he continues, "is a water against the scurvy; and if all your teeth were so loose as to be shaken with the wind like the hair of your head, you need only wash your mouth with this, and they will directly stand as fast as palisadoes in a fortification. This water is, as it were, the cardinal among my medicines; this salve, on the contrary, the pope himself." Here the hat is taken off again, and indeed somewhat lower than on the mention of God. "If you have an eruption, let it be ever so bad, rub yourselves with this salve to-day, and to-morrow or the day after, adieu to your complaint! Do you think that I would cheat you of your money? Far from it: I labour merely for the honour of God. This medicine costs me four carolines (6s. 6d. sterling,) and I give it to you for one only. Yes, I give it to you gratis: there! take it; I desire nothing for it. Try it beforehand, and then come and bare testi

mony whether Gamba Curta has spoken true or not. I was once actually witness to his refusing money of a well-drest man, who could not prevail on him to accept it without the most urgent entreaties. "Trust me not," he would often say at the close of his harangue: " inquire about me; go into the palace of his excellency general so-and-so, and ask what I have been in his regiment. Perhaps only a common hussar. But I have cured the whole regiment of all possible diseases. When death sat on the lips, and there was no one to help more, then honest Gamba Curta was called for; it was known that he let nobody die."

Kotzebue's Travels in Italy, v. 1, p. 261.

A worthy clergyman, in Yorkshire, lately deceased, bequeathed in his will a considerable property to his only daughter, on the subsequent conditions: First, That she did not enter into the state of matrimony without the consent of his two executors, or their representatives. she dressed with greater decency hitherto been accustomed to do. words were:

Secondly, That than she had

The testator's

hath not at

"But as my daughter Ann tended to my admonitions, respecting the filthy and lewd custom of dressing with naked elbows, my will is, that in case she persists in so gross a violation of female decency, the whole of the property devised by me as aforesaid, and intended as a provision for her future life, shall go to the eldest son of my sister Caroline fully begotten. To those who

and his heirs lawmay say this re

striction is severe, I answer, that an indecent display of personal habiliments in women, is a certain indication of intellectual depravity."

Modern Ship of Fools, p. 57.

GASCONADE.-A Parisian drew in the street upon a Gascon by whom he had been insulted. The Gascon calling a chimney-sweeper, and giving him a sous, said," Here, take this and go to the sexton: tell him to ring a knell, and come for that dead body," pointing to the Parisian. Loid, sir,' replied the messenger, 'it seems to me the gentleman is in good health." Very true," answered the Gascon :-" but did not you hear him challenge me?" Holcroft's Travels.

To be sold, on the 8th of July, 131 suits in law, the property of an eminent attorney, about to retire from buisines. Note, the clients are rich and obstinate! New Jersey Journal.

COFFEE. This fashionable beveridge, now almost a necessary of life, on its first introduction in Asia, caused a violent religious schism among the mahometan doctors, almost as early as the thirteenth century, although it was not 'till towards the middle of the sixteenth, that a coffee-house, properly so called, was established at Constantinople: its discovery was announced by a miraculous legendary tale, which each sect relates in its own way.

The first coffee-house opened in England is said to have been in George Yard, Lombard-street,

London, by Rosqua, the Greek servant of a Turkey merchant, in the year 1652; its flavour was considered so delica e, and it was thought by the statesmen of those days, to promote society and political conversation so much, that a duty of fourpence was laid on every gallon made and sold.

But Anthony Wood says, that there was a house for selling coffee, at Oxford, two years before Rosqua's, in London; "that those who delighted in novelty, drank it at the sign of the angel, in that university, a house kept by an outlandish Jew.

Lounger's Common-Place Book, v. 1, p. 271.

A German Professor gives the following title to one of his publications" Observations on all things and several other things besides."

Modern Ship of Fools, p. 170.

PREVIOUS to the battle of Marston Moor, in 1644, lieut. general Cromwell had sent out spies to reconnoitre the king's forces, under the command of prince Rupert. Not confiding in their report of the disposition of the enemy, and determined to gain a personal information, unknown to any of his officers, he procured the habit of a farmer, with which having equipped himself, he mounted a cart-horse, takes a circuit from the camp, and reconnoitres, the king's forces from every convenient point of view; but being observed by some centinels, troopers were sent out to take him prisoner. On coming suddenly upon him, they accosted him roughly: Oliver pretending deafness, asked, with the greatest tranquillity,