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In the same strain is Gnatbrain's comment on Jacob Twig's physiognomy:

Jacob. What!

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These are from our author's earlier and

slighter works; but they smack of the
"same tap" as those five-act comedies
which in after days exercised the powers of
the Farrens and Stricklands, the Glovers
and Humbys, the Keeleys, and Websters, of
the Haymarket and Covent Garden.
these larger and later works we may say
what a leading French critic has said of a

Of

"Gnat. Jacob, I never look upon your little carcass, but it reminds me of a pocket edition of the Newgate Calendar-a neat Old Bailey duodecimo! You are a most fellow-countryman's dramatic Proverbes : villanous-looking rascal-an epitome of noted that they are defective in the art and prachighwaymen. tice of construction, the plot being often a Gnat. True as the light. You have a failure as regards ingenuity of design and a most Tyburn-like physiognomy!-There's gradually accumulating interest; but that Turpin in the curl of your upper lip-Jack in his characters and dialogue the author is Sheppard in the under one your nose is indeed an "approved good master "--smartJerry Abishaw himself-Duval and Barring-ness of repartee being peculiarly his forte: ton are in your eyes and as for your chin, le dialogue fourmille de choses fines, de why Sixteen-string Jack lives again in it." traits qui entrent comme des aiguilles." Or take Toby Hegwood's description of Hardly a scene throughout "Bubbles of a Bullfrog, in the "Rent Day": Day," or the grave and gay fluctuations of "Time Works Wonders," or the mixed

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modes of "Retired from Business," or the

Toby. The most jovial of brokers and appraisers. He levies a distress as though he brought a card of invitation; giggles himself into possession; makes out the in-active and passive voices of the "Catspaw," ventory with a chuckle; and carts off tables or the crosses and contrarieties of

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Saint and chairs to Begone dull care,' or, How Cupid," but supplies proof positive, and merrily we live who shepherds be! superlative, of the dramatist's facility and Crumbs. True; in these matters he has a felicity in this line of things. But as acting coolness.

Toby. Coolness! he'd eat oysters while plays their fortune has been, on the whole, his neighbor's house was in flames, always untoward, and no doubt disappointed him in provided that his own was insured. Cool- a high degree. In effect, and for the playness! he's a piece of marble, carved into a goer, they are now shelved; but on shelves broad grin." whence the reader will often take them down, to enjoy in the closet what the stage has perhaps too willingly let die. Meanwhile the shorter pieces, some of them, flourish still, and bid fair to flourish long; for there is safety in predicting an extended lease of popularity to "Black-ey'd Susan," the

Or the Merry Monarch's estimate of Glorious John's dedications:

Charles. What is acted here to-day? Haynes. Something of Dryden's, your majesty as full of heroics, as its dedication is full of

III. Sc. 1.

Black-ey'd Susan; or, All in the Downs. Act" Rent Day," and the " Prisoner of War." *Nell Gwynne; or, the Prologue. Act. I. Sc. 8.

† Ibid. Act I. Sc. 4.

The Rent Day. Act. I. Sc. 1.

no vant to be von Doctor." If this anecdote be true, it is certain the offer of the Senate was not accompanied by the permission to omit keeping the customary act.

Handel not a MUSICAL DOCTOR.—It is said | monnie away for dat-de blockhead's vish? I Handel was offered the degree of Musical Doctor by the Senate at Oxford, which he declined. What authority at Oxford may there be for this assertion? He was asked why he did not take this degree and replied: "Vat de dyfil trow my

Notes and Queries

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From Household Words.
TO MY YOUNG FRIENDS.

or Paris; that you had, like Helen and Hermia, sat on the same cushion, embroiderTo be frank and honest, I may as well ing the same sampler and singing the same confess at once that I am sitting down to song. Suppose this; and that you werewrite a selfish article. Junior critics may, if suddenly informed your bosom friend was they like, cast in my teeth, that its design is shortly to depart at an indefinite, but not personal, having reference to my own inter- distant day, for a long, long residence in ests, rather than general, or directed to the China or Australia, and that you were never welfare of the world at large. Be it so I likely to see him again;-how would you accept the observation. The same structure behave to him, in such a case? Would you will become applicable, in their turn, to those be unkind, captious, cross-grained, or selfish? who are beardless youngsters now. I do not No, no; I am sure you would not. You deny that, being myself neither young nor would do all you could to pet and spoil him old, but what the French curiously call as long as he remained with you, to make "between two ages" (as if an individual him carry away with him nothing but gratewere a slice of tongue in a time-sandwich; ful recollections and a thankful memory of the past representing one slice of bread-and- his friend still left in England, who treated butter, and the future the other) ;-I cannot him so lovingly as long as was in his conceal from myself that, owing to a certain power.

number of years, I shall soon, if spared, be- But, my dear young perusers, exactly such come certainly aged, and that my tastes and is the state of your relations with every sympathies promise to coincide with those of individual member of the united society of the governor and fogey class, rather than fogeye, governors, maideh-aunts, old nurses, with those of Cambridge or Oxford men. worn-out-workmen, and the rest of them. When a man myself, in that precocious Their berths are taken, entered, and ticketed sense of the word, I well remember that (although the date and number is left blank Mr. Priggins, fellow and tutor, was consid- to human eyes) on board a ship bound for a ered by us as an academical bay-tree who had long voyage, whence there is no return. flourished, but was now in his sear autumnal foliage; whereas, the much-respected don was only just entering the prime of life.

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One advantage of my own medieval pasition between the juveniles and the seniles of society is, that it allows me to act as interpreter between them. There are cases in which the two opposite camps may not precisely understand each other; the young cannot always comprehend the old, because they have no experience of what old age is; while the elderly, in spite of their personal knowledge of youth, are apt to forget that they were once young themselves.

Will you embitter the unavoidable starting on that journey by any previous unpleasantness which you can possibly avoid? By offensive neglect, by insulting contempt, by perverse resistance, or by open rebellion? I am certain you would not. To the hand that fed you when you could not feed yourself, to the head that thought for you when you had no thought of your own, to the heart that loved you when you were incapable of loving in return, you will procure all possible pleasure and satisfaction, before the bell sounds to give warning that the vessel has her steam up, and will immediately leave the shores trodden by living men.

Let me put a case to you, by way of a beginning, my adolescent readers and admirers; I once knew a worthy priest who, when it for to be the one, is to become the other. fell to his duty to read the words, " And be Suppose you had a school fellow, a playmate, ye not drunk with wine," always added a college-friend, a companion in your pedes-aloud the parenthesis, "nor with any other trian alpine rambles, a brother-student of the strong liquor." In a similar spirit of innosame art or science; that you had taken pho-vation to the commandment, Honor thy tographs together; that you had hunted rare father and mother," I would append the butterflies, minerals, or microscopic objects, supplement, "and every other person of with a share-and-share-alike agreement; that fatherly or motherly age in respect to youryou had drawn, side by side, from the statue self." Honor, in such a wide sense, need or the living model; that you had followed not mean the affectionate duty with which the same series of clinical lectures in London we regard a parent; but it may imply, in

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Think of it; and try to

all cases, even to apparently unworthy old | never mind that.
people, the abstinence from dishonor and use it only for good. You are very clever, no
from the slightest disrespect in word or doubt, my juvenile friends; but (I hope no
manner, and the screening of faults, and the offence) you don't yet know every thing.
shutting of the eyes on infirmities. It is not "How indolent Aunt Maria grows!
for the young to rebuke the old; silence, a murmurs our quick-tempered young friend
sorrowing absence from reproof, and a with- Emily, a lively, well-meaning girl of eighteen,
drawal from association with elderly persons who has never known what illness is, and
who do not respect themselves, is quite a whose consciousness of physical existence ex-
sufficient protest on the part of comparative tends no further than that to believe a thing
juniors, even against strangers who have no ought to be done, and to will to do it, are to
claim on their forbearance. Boy and girl do it. "How very indolent; I had almost
censors are supremely disgusting in the rare said lazy! Every day, she lies later and
cases when they are not ridiculous. To later in bed; she is not down to breakfast,
teach your grandmother her catechism, is as till we are thinking of dressing for dinner.
much of an acted caricature as would be I don't know what it will come to by and
the teaching her to suck eggs.
by, if things go on in this way. It is not
We all know from Paley's and other like, what she has so often talked to us about,
natural theologies, how admirably the bodily improving her habits day by day. And then,
organization of living creatures is contrived. she becomes so discontented and hard to
Some writers have traced the same design in please, She told me she could not relish the
the moral feelings and natural dispositions jelly I made for her last week; only yester-
conferred on men. One psychological secret day she said that the game, which the doctor
confirms the notion. Before communicating recommended, and which cousin Charles went
it, I will first ask the question, "Which stands purposely all the way to the moors to shoot,
in greater need of the other's aid-the child had a strange, disagreeable taste, such as she
of the parent's, or the parent of the child's never perceived in grouse before. It is very
aid? You answer the former. Well then; tiresome to have to do with people who are
the secret in passional philosophy (which is so constantly dissatisfied as Aunt Maria is
an undoubted fact) is, that the love which now. When I tell her all the news I can
the parent bears to the offspring is stronger think of as likely to interest her, she hardly
than the love which offspring in general bear takes the trouble to listen to me; I have even
to their parent. Do you love your fathers and fancied lately that she does not care much
mothers, my good boys and girls? Yes, you about seeing me and Charles when we go to
do; you love them very much. Very well; her room. She really ought to exert herself
much as you love them, they love you still more, and to exercise a little self-control. I
more. They lay out plans for your welfare, shall tell her what I think about it; and if
while you are laying out no plans for theirs; she likes to be angry, so she may !
they are often anxious about you and your
doings, when you are not in the slightest
degree anxious about them. Remember then,
my boys, the motive principal of what often
causes you perhaps annoyance. When the
old folks are fussy, and troublesome, and
interfering, and won't let you alone to manage
for yourselves; remember that a parent's love Aunt Maria makes no reply except a
is deeper-seated, and more powerful, and strange, wondering, appealing look, but which
more incessant, than you can understand, look, nevertheless, seems to convey instinct-
until you come to be parents in your turn, ively to her niece's heart an idea which had
and have troublesome hobbydehoys, like never struck her before. The result is in-
yourselves, to plague you, often keeping you stant repentance and shame. The offender
awake at night meditating how you can throws herself into her aged relative's arms,
manage for the best for them. The secret begging forgiveness with earnest tears. Aunt
may tend to make you think yourselves of Maria accords it with childlike tenderness,
greater importance than you did before; begs in turn forgiveness for the great trouble

Emily, under the impression that she is ill-used and coldly treated by her Aunt, whom she dearly loves in her heart, does remonstrate; and, carried by her feelings further than she intended, she drops a sharp word about giving way to slothfulness, and about precept being easier than example.

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she has given, and for the infirmities of the further shore of the river of life. temper she may have shown, adding, "You shall go to them; but they cannot corresdo not know, dear child, how sadly I feel. I pond with us. Therefore, my good people, wonder what can be the cause of it; I never remembering this, you will take care to err experienced any thing of the kind before. Kneel close to me, my love, and read some of the prayers for the visitation of the sick. Thank you; thank you. Let me rest my hands upon your head. God bless you my love! Again I thank you for all your kindness and all your patience with me during my illness."

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on the right side; you will prefer to have had too much forbearance with, to have been too attentive and respectful towards, to have spoiled, in short, the elderly acquaintances who still incumber the scene and stand in your way-sometimes troublesomely, to hav ing to say to yourself, when poor old Frumpsy is gone, "Ah! I shouldn't have snubbed him so short at our last twelfthnight party;" or to pondering, when kindhearted old Miss Stiffkey is lying cold and motionless in her dark oaken chamber, "Poor thing! She knew better than I did, after all. I was wrong to turn her into ridicule in the way I did."

And in a few days, or in a few hours, Aunt Maria has left for the distant country from whose bourne no traveller returns. And Emily remembers with pain every look of remonstrance, every tone of chiding, every syllable of impatience, that may have escaped her during the trial of her aunt's declining days; while every thoughtful atAnd who takes care of us when we are tention, every long-suffering smile, every sick and helpless, bed-ridden, with broken agreeable surprise or pleasure procured for bones, or painful disease? Is it, then, our the departed traveller, shines on the self-playmate, our race-course companion, our recorded page of her own recent history, like hail-fellow-well-met, our Hermia, or our the letters illuminated with gold and crimson Pylades, who gives us mutton-broth and which gleam on the vellum of a mouldy gruel, who produces our pill-box and potion missal. And Emily, balancing her own as the prescribed hour strikes, who helps us merits and demerits, while she inspects the to sit up in an easy chair while the servantmourning wardrobe which is the consequence kind make our bed, and who passes night of her relative's decease, becomes a sadder after night with no more cheerful comand a wiser girl. panionship than that of a rushlight, and a wandering, irritable, complaining invalid? It may be a husband or a wife, a brother or a sister, occasionally; but, as a general rule, the friend who tends us in sickness or confinement is older than the comrade who shares the hours of our health and strength.

your

For thus it is, my merry young friends; not all the tears in the world, not the sincerest sorrow, can retract one harsh word, one disrespectful expression, however hastily or thoughtlessly spoken, however much provoked. No apology, no heartfelt regret, can reach the dull cold ear of death. If you Step aside with me, and take a peep at a happen to have wrongfully chided child's sick chamber; you might even join early friend who has absented himself for me in serving our turn in the night-watch; life, to found a family in New Zealand; if for, sufferers dangerously ill must be watched, you have entertained unjust suspicions res- and it is impossible to let others do all the pecting him, or if you remember now that what was not ill-meant at the time must have been ill-taken at the time, in consequence of circumstances which flash thus late on your memory; you can write, you can explain, you can make straight the apparently crooked conduct, you can offer sacrificial, peacemaking, compensating tribute, in the shape of books, useful implements, seeds and plants, or trinkets, in testimony that your heart is over in the right place. But no epistle, present, or document from us, can reach the dwellers on

work without lending a helping hand. Constant attendance on a beloved patient, night after night and day after day, must soon wear out an aged female frame, even though the heartiest good-will support its efforts. We, therefore, will sit up to-night and make an experiment in nursing, while the nurse herself steals an interval of repose and the poor little patient passes the dead hours of the night as well as her state of illness allows.

The house is hushed. Everybody is in bed. Before us lie the treasures we are

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guarding, on their broad, postless, curtain- | I must rise from my seat to go and kill it.
less bed,-which is not a bed in the eyes of Why kill it? What right have we to do
an every-day looker-on, but merely a pile of that? May it not claim its privilege to
mattresses. The doctors have caused the enjoy its term of apparitioning as well as
curtains to be removed. At the foot, and men and women? But, you say, it will
outside the counterpane, there lies a confused deposit its eggs amongst our clothing, and
bundle of clothes, inside which is concealed
a woman of sterling metal, though now old
and nearly worn-out. Somewhere within
that flannel petticoat is a living head, as I
can hear by its deep and regular breathing.
The robe which is usually worn as a nether
garment now answers the purpose of veil.
That almost shabby and threadbare shawl
carelessly envelopes the feet and legs; but
under what article of wearing apparel the
mid-person is crouched is more than I can
undertake to guess.
Sleep, my friend!
Sleep, worthy creature, with the refreshing
intensity which a good conscience deserves,
although a good conscience may not always
insure it.

At the head of the bed, and within the bed-clothes, is uneasily stretched a poor sick child. A typhoid fever the forty days' malady-is, her complaint, and we are anxiously awaiting the hour of crisis. Life or death is, till then, a chance; that is to say, a result which we cannot foresee; for, existing causes, imperceptible to human eye, have doubtless already determined the event and issue. Many diseases in our bodily frame seem to follow their course as steadily as fermentation or putrefaction in inanimate bodies. Neither the doctor's nor the brewer's skill will always prevent our wine from becoming vinegar.

so destroy them. The sure way to avoid that evil is to use them, and to amass no greater store of them than is needful for use. Lay not up for yourselves treasures where moth and rust do corrupt. If this prostrate sick child should never again re quire her little treasure of furry comforts and silken finery-why, there are others who may be thankful to- but hark! What is that, ticking so loud and slow behind the wainscot? It cannot be the timepiece down stairs that we hear; it is the death-watch! Listen; how deliberately and regularly the hidden creature makes its signal beats! There is no need to feel alarm; the deathwatch is actually a sign of life instead of death; it means-increase and multiply. I accept the omen in its favorable sense; our patient will recover; she slumbers tranquilly, without restlessness, and on her hands may be felt the slightest possible moisture.

Yet

But O, my young companion in the watch, how hard it is to keep awake when one has not acquired the habit of watching. We easy-living people are much put out, if the sacrifice of a night is required of us. hundreds and thousands of our fellow men and women live only by night-work, and make a regular practice of what we take to be so wonderful an act of self-denial. I must resist this drowsiness which is stealing over It is midnight; the hour when spirits me. How our aged friend has stood against should appear. But they do not. We look it so long, is wonderful. It will help me, if in vain for obscurity to shape itself into I get up and walk about the room a little ; form. The only perceptible apparitions are noiselessly, though, for fear of disturbing the ourselves; we come-as Herr Teufelsdröck sleepers. At the window, a dim light glimsays-nobody knows whence; we show our-mers in the sky. Can it be the dawn that is selves to contemporary eyes for a brief and breaking? Is morning coming, to conclude flceting interval; and then vanish utterly, our heavy task? No, not yet; it is only body and soul, departing to no one knows the rising moon, now fast fading away what region or abode, as completely as the ghosts that flit away at cock-crow. Exactly what generations and generations of men now are, shall we ourselves be before very long. We are now the only true apparitions.

Another living object passes across the chamber-a moth! It settles upon the wall.

into a shabby, dim, gleaming anti-cresent. Patience; as others have had patience before us. At this very hour, apparently so long and irksome, a change for the better, I believe, is working to reward us. There is hope to look forward to, and devotedness to contemplate. Let us not grudge an extra halfhour of slumber to her who has watched so

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