female delicacy, the shameful avidity with which this piece is bought by all people of fashion, is a reproach on the taste of the times, and a disgrace to the delicacy of the age !— Here, you see, the two strongest inducements are held forth: first, that nobody ought to read it; and, secondly, that everybody buys it; on the strength of which, the publisher boldly prints the tenth edition, before he had sold ten of the first.

Dang. Ha! ha! ha! Egad, I know it is so.

Puff. As to the puff oblique, or puff by implication, it is too various and extensive to be illustrated by an instance. It branches into so many varieties, that it is the last principal class of the art of puffing-an art which, I hope, you will now agree with me, is of the highest dignity.

THE DUTCHMAN'S REMEDY.

VEN I lays myself down in my lonely pet-room,
Ant tries for to shleep very sound,

De treems, oh, how into my het dey will come,
Till I vish I vas under de ground.

Sometimes, ven I eats von big supper, I treams
Dat my stomack is filt full of shtones;

Ant out in my shleep, like de night-owl, I schreams,
And kicks off de pet-clothes, and groans.

Den dere, as I lay mit te pet-clothes all off,
I kits myself all over froze;

In de morning I vakes mit te het-ache an' koff,
Ant I'm shick from mine het to mine toes.

Oh, vat shall pe dun for a poor man like me!
Oh, vat for I leat such a life!

Some shays dere's a cure for dis trouble of me,—
Tink I'll try it—and kit me a VIFE.

SO FORTH AND SO ON.

THE morning was dull, and betokened a day
Unsuited to curing and casting of hay;

So Stephen bethought him to take a trip down,
And bring this thing and that, and the other from town;
He harnessed his horse, and proceeded to go forth

With a pail of pale butter, eggs, berries, &c.

Now it happened that Stephen &c. came down
On the day that the show was to enter the town;
And into the village he chanced to come forth,
As the caravan came into town from the north;
(A wondrous collection they purpose to show forth,)
Elks, Elephants, Monkeys, Bears, Tigers, &c.

And Stephen arrived opportunely, I ween,
For never had Stephen an Elephant seen;
So he with old Sorrel fetched up by the fence,
To see without paying the twenty-five cents;

And soon came the creatures uncouthly and slow forth,—
With tusks, and with trunk, blankets, ribbons, &c.

But scared at the sight, or the scent, or the sound,
Old Sorrel turned quickly and shortly around;
And, in turning so quickly and shortly about,
The wagon turned over, and Stephen turned out;
And into the gutter the berries did flow forth,
Together with Stephen, eggs, butter, &c.

Quoth Stephen aloud, as he rose on his legs, "A fig for the berries, &c., and eggs;

But henceforth I never can say it, of course,

That I've not seen the elephant, nor can the horse,"
And back to the homestead "old Sorrell" did go on,
Leaving wagon, and Stephen, &c., and so on.

THE BRAHMIN AND THE ROGUES.*

AN EASTERN FABLE.

J. N. MCELLIGOTT.

A BRAHMIN went out, the legends say,
To buy him a sheep a certain day;
For he had solemnly vowed to slay,
In sacrifice, a sheep that day,

And wanted a sheep his vow to pay.
Three neighboring rogues

(The cunning dogs!)
Finding this out,

Went straight about

(Moved, I ween, by the very Old Nick,)
To play the Brahmin a scurvy trick.

So one of them met him with the cry:-
"O Brahmin! O Brahmin! won't

A beautiful sheep? for here have I

A beautiful sheep for sacrifice,

As ever was seen by mortal eyes."

you buy

*The fable, here thrown into verse, is related in English prose by Macaulay, who says:-" Thus, or nearly thus, if we remember rightly, runs the story of the Sanscrit Æsop."

"Where is your sheep?" replied the Brahmin; Bring him out here, and let me examine." With that the wag

Opened a bag,

And out he drew

To public view

An ugly, dirty, horrible dog!

Blind as a bat, and lame as a frog

With a broken leg, climbing a log,
Or limping slowly over a bog.

"Wretch !" said the Brahmin indignant, "who Shamelessly utterest things untrue,

And dost without a scruple endure
To handle creatures the most impure,
How darest thou call that cur a sheep'?
Do you think, foul knave, that I'm asleep' ?"

"Cur'!" said the fellow with steady tone; "A sheep it is, and a sheep alone;

A sheep (see here, what a splendid fleece!) With flesh the sweetest, and fat as grease; And such a prize

For sacrifice,

As neither gods nor men can despise, Unless they both have dust in their eyes!" "Sir," said the Brahmin, surprised to find A person so utterly out of his mind, "'Tis certain that you or I am blind."

Then stepping up,

Patting the pup,

Rogue the second, as if amazed,
While on the dog he steadily gazed,
Exclaims aloud:-"The gods be praised!
Since I've no need to market to go
To buy me a sheep; for here's one so

From spot and blemish perfectly free,
That better could not possibly be.
Isn't it nice'?

What's your price'?"

The Brahmin, seeing this singular thing, Wavered in mind, like one in a swing; Yet answered the strangely, firmly," Sir, This isn't a sheep, but only a cur." "Cur?" with disdain, the new-comer said; "Why, man, you're surely out of your head!"

As this occurred,

Came rogue the third,

To whom, as being a witness new,
And likely to take impartial view,
Brahmin proposed at once to refer,
Whether the creature was sheep or cur.
All being agreed, the eager priest

Said :-Stranger, what do you call this beast? "A sheep, to be sure!" the knave replied; "As fine a sheep as ever you spied."

66

"“Well,” said the Brahmin, "the gods this day

Have surely taken my senses away!"

Then begging the rogue

That carried the dog,

To pardon him for doubting his word,
He, with a readiness most absurd,
Purchased the creature with rice and ghec,
Which went, of course, to the worthy three,
And which they shared with wonderful glee.

Thus taken in,

The poor Brahmin

Offered it up,
The filthy pup,