sometimes forgot his office, and indulged in sallies rather unbecoming a minister, but nevertheless he was a sincere Christian. The following anecdotes are well known in Craven, and may amuse elsewhere. One of Mr. Alcock's friends, at whose house he was in the habit of calling previously to his entering the church on Sundays, once took occasion to unstitch his sermon and misplace the leaves. At the church, Mr. Alcock, when he had read a page, discovered the joke. "Peter," said he, "thou rascal! what's thou been doing with my sermon?" then turning to his congregation he said, "Brethren, Peter's been misplacing the leaves of my sermon, I have not time to put them right, I shall read on as I find it, and you must make the best of it that you can ;" and he accordingly read through the confused mass, to the astonishment of his flock. On another occasion, when in the pulpit, he found that he had forgotten his sermon; nowise disappointed at the loss, he called out to his clerk, " Jonas, I have left my sermon at home, so hand us up that Bible, and I'll read 'em a chapter in Job worth ten of it!" Jonas, like his master, was an oddity, and used to make a practice of falling asleep at the commencement of the sermon, and waking in the middle of it, and bawling out "amen," thereby destroyed the gravity of the congregation. Mr. Alcock once lectured him for this, and particularly requested he would not say amen till he had finished his discourse. Jonas promised compliance, but on the following Sunday made bad worse, for he fell asleep as usual, and in the middle of the sermon awoke and bawled out " Amen at a venture!" The Rev. Mr. Alcock is, I think, buried before the communion-table of Skipton church, under a slab of blue marble, with a Latin inscription to his memory. T. Q. M. REMARKABLE EPITAPH. For the Table Book. FRANK FRY, of Christian Malford, Wilts, whose bones lie undisturbed in the churchyard of his native village, wrote for himself the following "EPITAPH. "Here lies I Who did die; I lie did Ae I die did, Old Frank Fry! SNUFFERS. Perhaps there is no implement of domes tic use that we are less acquainted with, in its old form, than snuffers. I have now before me a pair, which for their antiquity and elegant workmanship seem worth attention: the engraving on the other side represents their exact size and construction. After some research, I can only meet with particulars of one other pair, which were found in digging the foundation of a granary, at the foot of a hill adjoining to Cotton Mansion-house, (formerly the seat of the respectable family of the Mohuns,) in the parish of St. Peter, Portisham, about two miles north-east from Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire. They were of brass, and weighed six ounces. "The great difference," says Mr. Hutchins, "between these and modern utensils of the same name and use is, that these are in shape like a heart fluted, and consequently terminate in a point. They consist of two equal lateral cavities, by the edges of which the snuff is cut off and received into the cavities, from which it is not got out without particular application and trouble. There are two circumstances attending this little utensil, which seem to bespeak it of considerable age: the roughness of the workmanship, which is in all respects as rude and coarse as can be well imagined, and the awkwardness of the form." There is an engraving of the Dorsetshire snuffers in the history of that county. The snuffers now submitted to notice are superior in design and workmanship to those found in Dorsetshire. The latter seem of earlier date, and they divide in the middle of the upper as well as the lower part, but in one respect both pairs are alike they are each "in shape like a heart," and they each terminate in a point formed exactly in the manner shown by the present engraving. The print likewise shows that the box of the snuffers bears a boldly chased winged head of Mercury, who had more employments and occupations than any other of the ancient deities. Whether as the director of theft, as the conductor of the departed to their final destination, as an interpreter to enlighten, or as an officebearer constantly in requisition, the portrait of Mercury is a symbol appropriate to the implement before us. The engraving shows the exact size of the instrument, and the present appearance of the chasing, which is in bold relief, and was, originally, very elegant. These snuffers are plain on the underside, and made without legs. They were purchased, with some miscellaneous articles, by a person who has no clue to their former possessors, but who rightly imagined that in an archæological view they would be acceptable to the Table Book. Garrick Plays. No. XVIII [From "David and Bethsabe:" further Extracts.] Absalon, rebelling. And with the virtue of Now for the crown and throne of Israel, Absalon, triumphant. Absalon. First Absalon was by the trumpet's sound Proclaim'd thro' Hebron King of Israel; And now is set in fair Jerusalem With complete state and glory of a crown. Fifty fair footmen by my chariot run; And to the air, whose rupture rings my fame, Wheree'er I ride, they offer reverence. Jove, for Jehovah, Alvida. And wilt thou then not pity my estate? Cilicia. Ask love of them who pity may impart. Alvida. I ask of thee, sweet; thou hast stole my heart. Alvida. Ladies, go sit you down amidst this bower, And let the Eunuchs play you all asleep: Put garlands made of roses on your heads, And play the wantons, whilst I talk awhile. Ladies. Thou beautiful of all the world, we will. (Exeunt.) Alvida. King of Cilicia, kind and courteous; Like to thyself, because a lovely King; Come lay thee down upon thy Mistress' knee, And I will sing and talk of Love to thee. Cilicia. Most gracious Paragon of excellence, It fits not such an abject wretch as I To talk with Rasni's Paramour and Love. Aleida. To talk, sweet friend! who would not talk with thee? Oh be not coy: art thou not only fair? Come twine thine arms about this snow-whit ; A love-nest for the Great Assyrian King. Cilica. Madam, I hope you mean not for to mock me. Alvida. No, King, fair King, my meaning is to yoke thee, Hear me but sing of Love: then by my sighs, Cilicia. Sing, Madam, if you please; but love in jest. Beauty, alas! where wast thou born, I and thou in sooth are one, Heigho, I love; Heigho, I love; Cilicia. Your love is fixed on a greater King. Alvida Tut, women's love-it is a fickle thing. I love my Rasni for my dignity: I love Cilician King for his sweet eye. I love my Rasni, since he rules the worid: And thus, and thus. and thus: thus much I love thee. [From "Tethys' Festival," by Samuel Daniel, 1610.] Song at a Court Masque. C. L. Scylla and Charybdis. ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE. Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdis. This Latin verse, which has become proverbial, is thus translated : He falls on Scylla, who Charybdis shuns. The line has been ascribed to Ovid; it is not, however, in that or any other classic poet, but has been derived from Philippe Gualtier, a modern French writer of Latin verses. Charybdis is a whirlpool in the straits of Messina, on the coast of Sicily, opposite to Scylla, a dangerous rock on the coast of Italy. The danger to which mariners were exposed by the whirlpool is thus described by Homer in Pope's transla about with great rapidity, without obeying tion : Dire Scylla there a scene of horror forms, And here Charybdis fills the deep with storms; And high above the rock she spouts the main. the helm in the smallest degree. When the Virgil imagines the origin of this terrific force of the waters, as they come out of the scene: May 19, 1770. Found ourselves within half a mile of the coast of Sicily, which is low, but finely variegated. The opposite coast of Calabria is very high, and the mountains are covered with the finest verdure. It was almost a dead calm, our ship scarce moving half a mile in an hour, so that we had time to get a complete view of the famous rock of Scylla, on the Calabrian side, Cape Pylorus on the Sicilian, and the celebrated Straits of the Faro that runs between them. Whilst we were still some miles distant from the entry of the Straits, we heard the roaring of the current, like the noise of some large impetuous river confined between narrow banks. This increased in proportion as we advanced, till we saw the water in many places raised to a considerable height, and forming large eddies or whirlpools. The sea in every other place was as smooth as glass. Our old pilot told us, that he had often seen ships caught in these eddies, and whirled Bourn's Gazetteer. narrowest part of the Straits. The head of rocks that show their heads near the base of CHARYBDIS. The harbour of Messina is formed by a off from the east end of the city, and sepasmall promontory or neck of land that runs the Straits. The shape of this promontory rates that beautiful basin from the rest of is that of a reaping-hook, the curvature of which forms the harbour, and secures it from all winds. From the striking resemblance of its form, the Greeks, who never. gave a name that did not either describe the object or express some of its most remarkable properties, called this place Zancle, or the Sickle, and feigned that the sickle of Saturn fell on this spot, and gave it its form. But the Latins, who were not quite so fond |