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have learnt their lesson from whatever moves around them, from the birds and the beasts, whose males are lavishly adorned in denudation of their females, from the gay plumage of the turky cock, and the ornament-loaded head of the stag."—KELLET.

The Plaint of an Old Indian.1

He observes," that in the happy days of youth, he was loved or feared by all; that he could tomahawk his enemy and could not miss his game; that every river was then an inn to him, and every squah he met a wife; but that now he was grown old, every one hated and scorned him; the deer bounded away from his erring aim, and the girls covered themselves repulsively at his approach; nor was he any longer permitted to paint and grace the glorious file of war:" and he concludes with ardent wishes, "that either nature had never disclosed him, or had gifted him with that power of renovation which seemed so improperly granted to the pernicious snake."-Ibid.

Two Tribes Fighting.

"SOME warriors of two tribes of American savages met accidently on the banks of a river, and found they were strangers to one another. One of the parties demands of the other, who they were and what about, and receives in answer their name, and that they were hunting of beavers; and being challenged in their turn, answered, that their name was immaterial, but that their business was to hunt men. We are men, was the immediate reply, go no further. They then put off by agreement to a small island in the river, destroyed their canoes on both sides, and fought till only a few of the beaver hunters remained alive, and but one of the man hunters, who was spared to

From this I suspect originated,-" The Old Chikkasah to his Grandson."-Poems, p. 134. J. W. W.

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Henry the Second stript when Dead. "1189. IMMEDIATELY upon his death, those that were about him applied their market so busilie in catching and filching awaie things that laie readie for them, that the King's corps laie naked a long time, till a child covered the nether parts of his body with a short cloke, and then it seemed that his surname was fulfilled that he had from his childhood, which was Shortmantell, being so called, because he was the first who brought short clokes out of Anjou into England.-Ibid.

His Epitaph.

To the epitaph of Henry II. these concluding lines are in Holinshed, p. 27 :

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Both are thus translated, "Of late King Henrie was my name,

which conquerd manie a land, And diverse dukedoms did possesse, and earledoms held in hand. And yet while all the earth could scarse my greedie mind suffice, Eight foot within the ground now serves, wherein my carcase lies.

Now thou that readest this, note well
my force with force of death,
And let that serve to shew the state

of all that yeeldeth breath. Doo good then here, foreslowe no time, cast off all worldlie cares,

For brittle world full soone dooth faile, and death dooth strike unwares."

Another.

"Small epitaph now serves to decke this toome of statelie king:

And he who whilome thought whole earth could scarse his mind content, In little roome hath roome at large that serves now life is spent."

The Lady Breuse.

"WE read in an old historie of Flanders, written by one whose name is not knowne, but printed at Lions by Guillaume Rouille, 1562, that the Lady, wife to the Lord William de Breuse, presented upon a time unto the Queene of England a gift of four hundred kine and one bull, of colour all white, the eares excepted, which were red. Although this tale may seem incredible, yet if we shall consider that the said Breuse was a Lord Marcher, and had goodlie possessions in Wales and on the marshes, in which

countries the most part of the peoples substance consisteth in cattell, it may carrie

with it the more likelihood of truth. Touching the death of the said ladie, he saith, that within eleven daies after she was committed to prison heere in England, in the castell of Windsor, she was found dead, sitting betwixt her sons legs, who likewise being dead, sate directlie up against a wall of the chamber, wherein they were kept with hard pitance. As the fame went they were famished to death. William de Breuse himself escaped into France. A.D. 1210.1"Ibid.

Welsh Monk Hatred.

"THE first abbeie or frierie that is read to have beene erected there (in Wales) since the dissolution of the noble house of Bangor, which savoured not of Romish dregs, was the Twy Gwyn, which was builded in the yeare 1146.

Afterwards these vermine swarmed like bees, or rather crawled like lice over all the land, and drew in with them their lowsie religion, tempered with I wot not how manie millions of abominations; having utterlie forgotten the lesson which Ambrosius Telesinus (Qy.Taliessin ?) had taught them (who writ in the yeare 540, when the right Christian faith (which Joseph of Arimathea taught the ile of Avalon) reigned in this land, before the proud and bloodthirstie monke Augustine infected it with the poison of Romish errors) in a certeine ode, a part whereof are these few verses insuing.

"Gwae'r offeiriad byd,
Nys angreifftia gwyd,
Ac ny phregetha:
Gwae ny cheidw ey gail,
Ac ef yn vigail,

Ac nys areilia:

Gwae my theidw ey dheuaid,
Rhae bleidhie Rhiefeniaid,
Ai ffon grewppa."

This story more properly attaches to Bramber Castle.-J.W.W.

Thus in English, almost word for word,
"Wo be to that preest yborne,
That will not cleanelie weed his corne
And preach his charge among:
Wo be to that shepheard, I saie,
That will not watch his fold alwaie
As to his office dooth belong :
Wo be to him that dooth not keepe
From ravening Romish wolves his sheepe
With staffe and weapon strong."—Ibid.

Grand Sergeanty Tenure of Brienston.

"BRIENSTON, in Dorsetshire, was held in Grand Sergeanty by a pretty odd jocular tenure; viz. by finding a man to go before the Kings army for forty days when he should make war in Scotland (some records say in Wales), bareheaded and barefooted, in his shirt and linnen drawers, holding in one hand a bow without a string, in the other an arrow without feathers."-GIBSON'S Camden.

This may be alluded to in Madoc.3

m

Arabian Animals.

"In the places where we generally rested are found the jerboa, the tortoise, the lizard, and some serpents, but not in great number. There is also an immense quantity of snails attached to the thorny plants on which the camels feed. Near the few springs of water are found wild rabbits, and the track of the antelope and the ostrich are frequently discoverable."-BROWNE's Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria.

Misjed.

"WE dismounted and seated ourselves, as is usual for strangers in this country, on a misjed, or place used for prayer, adjoining

2 See "Madoc in Wales," B. II. - Poems, p. 317.-J. W. W.

the tomb of a Marabût, or holy person. In a short time the chiefs came to congratulate us on our arrival, with the grave but simple ceremony that is in general use among the Arabs. They then conducted us to an apartment, which, though not very commodious, was the best they were provided with."-Ibid.

King of the Crocodiles.

"THE people at Isna in Upper Egypt have a superstition concerning crocodiles similar to that entertained in the West Indies; they say there is a king of them who resides near Isna, and who has ears but no tail; and he possesses an uncommon regal quality, that of doing no harm (The king can do no wrong.') Some are bold enough to assert that they have seen him."-Ibid.

Camel.

THE camel called ship of the land.

Camels for Souls.

"ALI affirmed that the pious, when they come forth from their sepulchres, shall find ready prepared for them white-winged camels, with saddels of gold. Here," says Sale, "are some footsteps of the doctrine of the ancient Arabians."

Lake Titicaca.

"JUVAT de lacu Intiticacâ, falsò vulgò Titicacâ dicto, aliquid promere, qui in supernâ provinciâ Peruanâ Collao medius jacet. In hunc flumina plus decem, eaque satis ampla confluunt; exitum habet unum, eumque non valdè latum, sed, ut opinio est, profundissimum, quem neque ponte jungere profunditas et latitudo sinunt, neque tutò scaphis trajici rapidi infernè vortices pati

See Poems, p. 437, for the Ballad.-J. W. W.

untur. Trajicitur tamen, miro ingenio et Indorum proprio; ponte prorsus junceo ipsi aquæ commisso, nullis fulcris nixo, sed in modum suberis ponte supernatante, ac præ levitate materiæ nunquam merso; est vero trajectio facillima et tutissima. Occupat lacus ipse circuitum bis mille quadringenta stadia; longus est ferè nongenta, latus ubi maximè ducenta et viginti. Insulas habet olim habitatas et fertiles, nunc desertas, producit uberrimè junci genus, quod indigenæ Totoram vocant, cujus plurimus ipsis usus est; nam et cibus est suibus, jumentis, ipsisq; hominibus perjucundus, et domus et focus et vestis et navigium, et omnia penè vitæ humanæ subsidia una Totora Uris præstat, hoc enim accolarum est nomen. Ii adeò se ab hominum cæterorum consortio et opinione alienarunt, ut interrogati aliquando, qui sint, seriò responderint, se non homines esse, sed Uros, quod genus ab humano diversum esse sentirent. Urorum reperti sunt populi integri in medio lacu habitantium scaphis quibusdam junceis, quibus inequitant, simul connexis, et ex unâ aliquâ rupe aut stipite religatis. Unde interdum solventes totus populus subitò patriam mutat. Itaque aliquando conquisitus populus urorum hesternis sedibus commutatis, ac ne vestigio quidem relicto, facile vestigantium studium curamque irrisit."—ACOSTA de Naturâ Novi Orbis.

Trichomata-Parastasis, or, Athenian Wiggery, No. 119, Bishopsgate-street-within, three doors from the London Tavern.

"Ross, by great labour and at vast expence, has exerted all the genius and abilities of the first artists in Europe, to complete his exhibition of ornamental hair in all its luxuriant varieties, and particularly the Sultana head dress, so much admired on the queen's birth-day.

"In this exhibition the elegance of nature and convenience of art are so combined, as at once to rival and ameliorate each other. The room om is secluded from the view of im

pertinent curiosity, where his fair patrons may uninterruptedly examine the effect of artificial tresses on Poupee of all complexions, and by a trial on themselves, blend the different tints with their own.

"Relying on public favour, he confidently invites the whole fashionable world to an exhibition of unexampled taste and excellence."-Star, Thursday August 1, 1799.

Месса.

"SOME latent motive, perhaps of superstition, must have impelled the founders of Mecca in the choice of a most unpromising situation. They erected their habitations of mud or stone, in a plain about two miles long and one mile broad, at the foot of three barren mountains: the soil is a rock; the water even of the holy well of Zemzem is bitter or brackish; the pastures are remote from the city, and grapes are transported above seventy miles from the gardens of Tayef."-GIBBON.

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gods, and they will defend their house from injury and sacrilege.' The want of provisions, or the valour of the Koreish, compelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful retreat; their discomfiture has been adorned with a miraculous flight of birds, who showered down stones on the heads of the infidels, and the deliverance was long commemorated by the æra of the elephant. The glory of Abdol Motalleb was crowned with domestic happiness; his life was prolonged to the age of 110 years, and he became the father of six daughters and thirteen sons. His best beloved, Abdallah, was the most beautiful and modest of the Arabian youth; and in the first night, when he consummated his marriage with Amina, of the noble race of the Zahrites, two hundred virgins are said to have expired of jealousy and despair. Mahomet, the only son of Abdallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four years after the death of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of the Abyssinians, whose victory would have introduced into the Caaba the religion of the Christians,"—Ibid. A.D. 569,

Abdol Motalleb.

"THE grandfather of Mahomet was Abdol Motalleb, the son of Hashem, a wealthy and generous citizen, who relieved the distress of famine with the supplies of commerce. Mecca, which had been fed by the liberality of the father, was saved by the courage of the son, The kingdom of Yemen was subject to the Christian princes of Abyssinia their vassal Abrahah was provoked by an insult to avenge the honour of the cross, and the holy city was invested by a train of elephants and an army of Africans. A treaty was proposed, and in the first audience, the grandfather of Mahomet demanded the restitution of his cattle: And why,' said Abrahah, ' do you not rather employ my clemency in favour of your temple, which I have threatened to destroy.' 'Because,' replied the intrepid chief, 'the cattle is my own: the Caaba belongs to the

Flight of Mohammed,

"THE Koreishites had long been jealous of the pre-eminence of the family of Hashem. Their malice was coloured with the pretence of religion in the age of Job, the crime of impiety was punished by the Arabian magistrate, and Mahomet was guilty of deserting and denying the national deities. But so loose was the policy of Mecca, that the leaders of the Koreish, instead of accusing a criminal, were compelled to employ the measures of persuasion or violence. They repeatedly addressed Abu Taleb in the style of reproach and menace. Thy nephew reviles our religion; he accuses our wise forefathers of ignorance and folly; silence him quickly, lest he kindle tumult and discord in the city. If he persevere, we shall draw our swords against him and his adherents, and thou wilt be responsible for the blood of thy fellow-citizens.' The weight and

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