LITERARY INTERtlOENCE. 591 



any thing. The matter, to use an Irish expression, of hanging a fel- 

 low being must, doubtless, in the first instance, have been a very un- 

 pleasant task to the ex-executioner of Limerick. But habit hardened 

 his mind to such an extent that, at last, it appears to have become a 

 sort of luxury to him. The grave-diggers in Hamlet were the mer- 

 I'iest of men; they sang, and whistled, and joked when in the act of 

 preparing the graves of others. Whether, in the event of a falling off 

 of their business, they, like James Ryan, would have died of a bro- 

 ken heart, Shakspeare has furnished us with no means of judging. 

 Only fancy this ex-professor of the rope watching the progress of thn 

 trials for capital offences at Ennis and Limerick, and looking me- 

 lancholy or cheerful just as the evidence was in favour of or against 

 the prisoners ! 



An Affectionate Pair. — A fortnight ago Mrs. Sarah Garland, 

 aged 8 1 , obtained an assault-warrant at the Chelmsford Sessions, 

 against her " dear husband," aged 85. " The lovers," it appeared, 

 had been married ten years, which had been any thing but years of 

 matrimonial bliss. They had played at cross purposes, from the first 

 day of their union ; and what began in a war of words almost in- 

 evitably ended in a war of blows. But the most amusing part of the 

 business was that the militants always chose the bed as the field of 

 action. The object struggled for in such cases was for the one com- 

 batant to eject the other. Mrs. Garland being a stout woman, and 

 having acquired considerable pugilistic experience in the school of 

 Donybrook fair, generally displaced her lord, and had the pleasure 

 of seeing him sprawling helpless on the ground. It happened, how- 

 ever, one night, about a fortnight since, after a severe and protract- 

 ed scuffle, that Mister Garland, not only succeeded in " chucking'' 

 Mrs. Garland out of the bed into the middle of the floor, but gave her 

 a black eye and broken nose into the bargain. Then came the winter 

 of Mrs. Garland's discontent. Under a feeling of momentary mor- 

 tification at her defeat, the venerable lady applied for the assistance 

 of the law to enable her to retaliate ; but the judge, instead of inter- 

 fering, advised the parties to settle the matter between themselves. 

 "Then," said Mrs. Garland, " I'll be blowed if he," meaning Mr. 

 Garland, "does not catch it before morning;" and, so saying, she 

 waddled out of court. One would think that, at the age the parties 

 had attained, all feeling of anger as well as of love would have been 

 "well nigh gone." But it seems the ruling passion is strong at fourscore. 



LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. 



Very shortly will be published. Fishing Anecdotes, with Hints for Anglers. 

 By Edward Jessie, Esq., Surveyor of his Majesty's Parks, Palaces, &c., and 

 Author of " Gleanings in Natural History." 



The first number of The Horticultural Magazine and Miscellany of 

 Gardening, conducted by Mr. Marnock of Sheffield, will appear this month, 

 and be continued monthly. 



Mr. Newnham Collingwood, Author of "Life and Correspondence of 

 Admiral Lord Collingwood," has in the press " Alfred the Great," a Poem, in 

 Nine Books. 



" The Tribunal of Manners," a Satirical Poem, is in progress towards 

 publication. 



