NOTES OF THE MONTH. 337 



pair of ears continue to hang. To the people of Ireland it can be of no 

 importance whether 



" Or in the pillory, or near the throne, 

 He gain his prince's ear, or lose his own." 



and perhaps the precarious tenure of a proctor's property in that ex- 

 ternal embellishment, is perfectly indifferent to him ; but it is of the 

 most weighty moment to Ireland, that the decimation system should be 

 abolished. 



JUSTICE SHALLOW AT UNION HALL. The golden words which some- 

 times drop spontaneously from the mouths of our magistrates, are replete, 

 as people say, with sagacity and wisdom. At Union Hall, the other 

 day, one of these sages cast his pearls before the swinish multitude with 

 oriental prodigality. His worship, being actuated by that thirst after 

 knowledge which distinguishes the magistrate from the man, made some 

 enquiries relative to the dog Tyke, whose Geber or fire- worshipping 

 propensities have recently become so celebrated. 



" The magistrate asked whether it was a fact that the dog was present at 

 most of the fires that occurred in the metropolis. 



" The fireman said, that during their acquaintance, he never knew Tyke to be 

 absent from a fire upon any occasion that he (the fireman) attended himself. 



" The magistrate said, that the dog must have an extraordinary prediliction for 

 fires. He then asked what length of time he had been known to possess that 

 propensity. 



" The fireman replied, that he knew Tyke for the last nine years, and although 

 he was getting old, yet the moment the engines were about, Tyke was to be seen 

 as active as ever, running off in the direction of the fire. He went on to state, 

 that he liked one fireman as well as another ; he had no particular favourites, 

 but passed his time amongst them, sometimes going to the house of one, and 

 then to another, and off to a third, when he was tired. Day or night, it was all 

 the same to him. If a fire broke out, there he was, in the midst of the bustle, 

 running from one engine to another, anxiously looking after the firemen ; and, 

 although pressed upon by crowds, yet, from his dexterity, he always escaped 

 accidents, only now and then getting a ducking from the engines, which he 

 rather fancied than otherwise. 



" The magistrate said, that Tyke was a most extraordinary animal." 



Now, we assert, that the inference drawn in the first instance, and the 

 conclusion to which his worship came, after hearing these several parti- 

 culars, indicative of Tyke's idiosyncracy, are, to speak emphatically and 

 reverentially, quite magisterial. How the officers in waiting, and the 

 idlers in attendance, must have stared at each other, when the curious 

 and exclusive information was conveyed to them, that " the dog must 

 have an extraordinary prediliction for fires!" How they must have 

 acted as so many deputy echoes, when his worship, with contracted 

 brow and shake of the head, as though he had arrived at the conclusion 

 Socratically, affirmed decisively, that " Tyke was a most extraordinary 

 animal!" But for these oracular amusements, we should, doubtless, 

 have arrived at totally opposite conclusions respecting Tyke. In future, 

 when his worship speaks, " let no dog bark/' 



We notice in a French paper (Le Cercle) an account of the intended 

 voyage of M. Lamartine, the poet, who has freighted, at his own ex- 

 pence, a vessel of three hundred tons. He purposes visiting the lovely 



