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scored up aloft besides, and that's better than all other registers.-Come, heave á head though, and see if dinner a'nt ready. I wish it were better; But I'll answer for the welcome."

We sat down to a very hearty meal, served up with neatness and sweetened by the welcome of the heart. The poor Lieutenant pushed about the og a little too freely, but with so ich mirth that there was no resisting him. To contribute the more to our entertainment, he sung us some admirable sea songs, and Mrs. Crossin played some Spanish airs on the guitar, and accompanied them in a very pleasing voice.

certain orders of society, and which passes ander the damnatory apellation of Slang. Strange! through what unsuspected crovices the light of knowledge bursts in on man's mind! Lend me your ears' for a few moments, while I introduce my discovery of the beauty, elegance, and classi cal propriety of Sking, by a brief relation

of the circumstances which attended the discovery.

"Nocte pluit toto;' that is to say, it was a complete drencher; and I had tired out my friend's hospitality in waiting to tire out the rain: ill, finding that his patience and his ' had become exusted, while the waves, evinced no disposition to abate, I w, forced to take the street, and scamper through it. The suite fluid soon penetrated to my skin; as the irtues of brandy on such occasions are well urlerstood, I stepped into the first public-hose that I found open, fo: a sus taining cordial. The company le apypeared to consist of Englishmen in low stations in life, yet to me their discourse was in a great measure minelligible. It was not, like that of some pedants whom I have hear,

She is the daughter of a naval Jain, with no other fortune than a the! pea and an amiable mind; Let fet seems as contented ... đi ne sifle were the most independe, ava in Europe. In fact, independ ence does by no means belong to riches; but to a well gevcined „ird. which shapes a steady course

English cut on Greek and Latin,
Tike fustic heretofore or satin,

but it was English picced and patched with something that seemed homogeneous. pride and lanmility, betwixt economyre was not such English as I had ever and enjoyment. I consider the L tent for more independent tified thousands with rent-relis at the first magnitude, but whose sides, or vhose want of self-controul expose them to daily degradations, and plunge them into splendid misery.

heard before. In short it was led Slang. I hate reserve; it is my max to suit myself to the company in which 1 happen to be; so I quickly entered this, to me, Aurora, like a young widow, had cast off new sphere of being, and by the time that her sables and weepers, and arrayed herself in a somewhat less doleful suit of grey, with here and there bright specks of blue and stars, like torquoise and brilliants, peeping out and betraying an inward gaiety that would fain have made a more decisive

Let us here take our leave of the Lieutenant, wishing him a steady and prosperous le through the voyage of life; may poor Ben make his fortune appearance, I had acquired a tolerable proand requute the widow ten-fold; and ficiency in the phraseology of my companmay the Soldier's and the Sailor's wi-ions and could, like Prince Hal, drink dow never want such a friend as brave with any tinker in his own language.'— The break of day, summoning to their reCrosstree in the hour of affliction or pose the greater part of the nocturnal spirits. necessity! with whom I had been sounding the very THE HERMIT IN THE COUNTRY. bass string of humility,' I took my depar

VULGARITY OF SLANG.

I have lain, till very lately, under a great misapprehension respecting that figurative and highly significant language peculiar to

ture, and hastened to my lodgings, that I might revolve the occurrences of the past hours, and extract from them something which might sweeten those that were yet to come.

My first reflections were on the significa. *

tion and origin of the new words which I had picked up among the inmates of the the public house; and it was not long be- | fore I discovered that instead of being, as I had been used to consider them, arbitrary inventions, designed to conceal from uninitiated cars particular and secret subjects of discourse, they were in reality ingenious and elegant terms either immediately derived from other languages, or judiciously used to express some metaphor too profound and exquisite for superficial observers, and therefore mistaken for unmeaning or mystical sounds. The truth of this I shall establish by a critical explanation of some of the words and phrases learned in the course of my initiation.

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This,' said the waiter to a coachman, casting at the same time an envious eye on the latter's great coat, which, ample, thick and shaggy, enveloped him from the eyes to the heels, ah! this is a fine piece of toggery. An unlearned Englishman would have called it by its simple British title, a great coat: but our publican's waiter, a learned Theban, disdaining such homely terms, has reference to the Latin vocabulary, and with a slight alteration, perfectly allowable in such an erudite person, names the vestment after the toga of the ancient Romans.

a very expressive turn of the eye and movement of the under-jaw, ⋅ Ned, I ain afraid is on the cross.' The origin of this phrase, which implies being a thief, is classical, and refers to the well-knowu punishment inflicted on thieves by both Greeks and Romans. Keeping in mind also, as it forcibly does, the miserable end of those malefactors, it serves as a kind of perpetual memento to the violators of the eighth article of the decalogue,

The

A nose is called a conch, a word which contains an illusion too subtle and too profound to strike any but a patient and de scriminating investigator. I take much credit to myself for this discovery, as it is perfect and clear beyond all doubt. word conch is borrowed from the science of Geometry, it having been ascertained by these acute observers, that the curve called the conchoid is the true line of beau ty for this important feature. I have accordingly written a few stanzas on my fair Amarylis's conch."

There is something which I cannot help being pleased with, in the phrase fork it, for the ordinary one of hand it. Perhaps it is taking too great a liberty with facts to name the human hand, which has five fingers or prongs, after a fork, which has but two or three at most; but I think I perceive in this expression an allusion to

the maxim:

Naturam expellas furca tamen usque recurret. Which is as much as to say, that though you knock a man down with your fist, it is ten to one that he will get up again.

I hate so much chaffing about it,' said the landlord, I like to see the blunt.' Now chaffing signifies that kind of idle | superfluous verbiage, in which, to say the truth, too many persons of all ranks are apt to indulge, and in which the sense or grain bears no proportion to the nonsense or chuff. I cannot sufficiently admire the propriety and elegance of this metaphor. It is classical too, and was suggested no doubt, by Bassanio's account of Gratiano's wit in the Merchant of Venice his reasons are two grains of wit hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them they are not worth the search. As to the word blunt, which means money, it is certainly an anglicised pronunciation of the French word blanc. The Latin for cash is argentum: the French l'urgent; and silver being white, the word blant, broadly pronounced blunt, is very properly and figuratively introduced to signify current change in con-notabilia of the defunct were situated, under tradistinction to the aurum, which is yellow.

And how is Ned?' said the well-clad charioteer to a grave-looking man who sat opposite. 'Ned,' replied the other, with

To be a thief, as I have before noted, is to be on the cross, but the ordinary word for to steal' is to bone. The origin of this expression is, I admit, a little doubts ful; but anxious for the discovery of truth, I offer the result of the best consideration which I can give the matter; and if it do not satisfy the reader, it will probably suggest something that may enable another etymologist to disclose the real source of this invention. Before the Reformation. the right of administration of the personal estate and effects of every person deceased intestate, was claimed and exercised by the bishop or other ecclesiastic, within whose diocese or peculiar jurisdiction the bona

the pretence of their being applied in pios usus. This application to pious purposes was soon, however, found to amount to little else than a cruel robbery of widows and orphans; and I am induced to think

that the authors of the Slang language had in mind these facts relative to the bona astabilia, when they gave the word bone to the fact of making an unwarrantable transfer of property.

Gin is called ruin, a word which conveys the essence of all the volumes which have ever been written on the fatal consequences of yielding to the odious habit of drunkenness; and what an admirable lesson to political economists, on the instability of a paper currency, is contained in the single word flimsy, for bank-note.— Ogle for eye, is obviously derived from the Latin oculus, with a glance at the French ril, but altered with much judgment and taste to accommodate English tongues, and accord with the ordinary terminations of English nouns

I am now arrived, I believe, at the end of my first lesson in the Slang language, of which I shall assuredly take the earliest opportunity of getting a more perfect knowledge. I doubt not, that what I have said will awaken, in many of your readers, the desire of investigating this subject; and should I succeed in my own endea vors, and find sufficient encouragement in the literay world, I shall perhaps enter very soon on the design of devising Grose's Slang Dictionary, and publishing a new edition, with additions and emendations, critical, etymological, and explanatory, by SCREVELIUS RADIX.

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Imprimis-then; they both shine most at night,

I

may say both reflect a borrowed light, The one on earth, the other in the sky;And they, I own, have an undoubted right But this, perhaps, the Ladies would deny. To know what charms they borrow, or

Besides, whenever any thing is bought, buy ;And paid for-'tis the owner's, as it ought.

But, passing this discussion as a theme

Too delicate to dwell on-I must say That whether both dispense a borrow'd gleam,

Or not, there's much resemblance in the

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Another point of likeness, to my view, Being, I think, an accurate beholder, Is this: when Ladies and when Moons are new,

They're both a little coy; but when get older,

They don't salute you, and then bid adieu, Both in a breath; but, grown a little bolder,

Are more disposed to give you time to admire,

And are in no great hurry to retire. Let's try again.-The Moon, it has been said,

Has a strange influence on folks halfcrack'd;

And I have either heard, or somewhere read,

Of" Lunatic and Lover all compact," Which seems as if 'twere thought by some ill-bred,

(Though sure such wretches should be straightway rack'd)

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But this point of resemblance, though it might

Strike some as very striking, I just mention ;

I should be sorry to be unpolite,

And still more sorry to excite dissention Among you love-sick swains, who, out of spite,

Would swear I had some sinister intention Their heads I leave to those who choose to win 'em,

'Tis no affair of mine what brains are in 'em. Well-to proceed;-I find I must make haste,

And not on every point of semblance pore,

Or I shall both my time and paper waste, And try my reader's patience, which is

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I therefore shall with brevity pass over Various resemblances between the twain; How both, when skies are clear, smile on a lover,

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The stormy winter's now away,
At whose approach, the graces wear,
Spring has brought the lengthened day;
Rosy garlands in their hair.
The swelling seas forget to roar,
And smiling gently kiss the shore.
The sportive duck in wanton play
Now dives, now rises into day.

The clouds are gone, perhaps in showers They fall, just to enliv'n the flowers. And leave him in the lurch in clouds Now verdure covers all the earth,

and rain;

As well as many a theme I might discover In either's rise, or set, or wax, or wane; But as I might be prolix, I forbear ;Besides-I must their difference now compare.

The Moon and Woman differ then-in this;

The first is true to Nature, and its laws; It never leaves its sphère,-nor does amiss,It apes no artful wiles-asks no applause, In all its changes-still unchang'd it is

In loveliness and beauty, from this cause, Since first created it has cheated no Man; I fear we cannot say all this for Woman. Again the Moon sheds her impartial beam On rich, and poor, with just the same delight:

Youth, beauty, ugliness, and age all seem The same to her-to each her smiles are bright;

She sometimes may withdraw her gentle gleam,

But not capriciously, still less in spite.— Idoubt muclr if these qualities are conmmon

And olives gender into birth.

The swelling grapes enrich the vine, And thus do promise plenteous wine, Choice draught already I do think, I'm quaffing off a hearty drink,

C. G. J.

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Every Wednesday, by

WILLIAM TAIT, & Co. Lyceum Court, Nelson Street, Where Communications, post paid, may be addressed to the Editor: Sold also by Mr. Griffin, Public Library Hutcheson St.; at the Shops of the Principal Booksellers, Glasgow; also at Mr. Hunter's, Bookseller, 23, South Hanover Street, Edinburgh; and at Mr. Wales' Printing Office, Castle Street Liverpool, for ready money only.

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rows, in which the happy couple were destined to participate. Next morning they were awoke, by the songs of the

Humanity is incapable of long en-young men and maids, which were full during, either intense Grief, or intense Pleasure. In the former, the o'erfraught heart is broken, in the latter, the mind is enfeebled, and he who was once a Man soon becomes unworthy of the name. Violent Grief is seldom of long duration; and to it after its first o'erflowings, consolation is most easily administered.

of the Bride's praises, and the most envious, allowed that the praises were not undeserved. Six months passed on, and their spring of bliss seemed to usher in a summer of calmer, but. of no less endearing enjoyment.Love seemed to have left the habitation of the Gods, that he might witness the felicity of Damon and of Daphne Never had there been more joy in But alas! over the path of Life, sorAthens, than at the marriage of Damon rows are scattered as well as joys. and of Daphne; never did the affec- Damon fell sick, and in a few days, tion of years, appear more happily re-expired in the arms of his beloved warded; never was the attachment of wife. She tore her hair she threw childhood, crowned more gloriously, away all her rich jewels and ornaments, by the ripened affection of maturer she wrapped herself in sable garments age. The beauty of the Bride, the and sat the pale and wretched image magnificent gifts she had presented of despair. When the body was rethe Goddess Diana, that she might be moved, she followed it to the sepul permitted to leave her service, were chre, and neither persuasionnor entreaty not more talked of, than the elegance could tear her from it. There she of the Bridegroom, and the splendor stood, wringing her hands and tearing. of the dyed garments in which he was her hair, resolved to die by the side, attired. The Garlands which hung of him, whose life was dear to her as in front of the house were richer than her own. Her friends had now reever had been seen before, and the tired, and in the damp tomb, by the wild asparagus, with its prickly leaves light of a solitary lamp, while the time twined amid the wreaths of roses, was slowly passed on she marked not its considered by the shrewd old ladies, progress. It happened that about this as an emblem of those joys and sor-period, a conspiracy had been diag

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