108 



IJISCELLAXSOUi 



presume on his modesty. He never ! with one foot in the bed and the 



other on the floor, with an air of 

 mixed impatience and inspiration. 

 " Sir, are you ill ?" inquired the 

 servant. " 111 ! never better in my 

 life. Leave me the candle, and 

 oblige me with a cup of tea as soon 

 as possible." He then started to 

 his feet, seized the pen, and wrote 

 down the " happy thought," but as 

 he wrote, changed the words "events 

 to come," into " coming events," as 

 they now stand. Looking to his 

 watch, he observed that it was two 

 o'clock the right hour for a poet's 

 dream, and over his cup of tea, 

 he completed the first sketch of 

 " Lochiel's Warning." 



SHAESPEARE AND THE CLIIIATB OP 

 SCOTLAND. 



A French writer mentions as a 

 proof of Shakspeare's attention to 

 particulars, his allusion to the cli- 

 mate of Scotland, in the words, 

 " Hail, hail, all hail !" Grcle, grcle, 

 toute grele /" 



ASININE BISHOPRIC. 



It was customary in the time of 

 Henry VIII., when speaking of St. 

 Asaph's, to abbreviate it into St. 

 As's. Standish, the bishop, having 

 irritated Erasmus by an idle sar- 

 casm, the latter retaliated by some- 

 times calling him Episcopus a Saiicto 

 Asino. 



THE ROXBURGH CLUB. 



Among other follies of the age of 

 paper, which took place in England 

 at the end of the reign of George III., 

 a set of book-fanciers, who had more 

 money than wit, formed themselves 

 into a club, and appropriately de- 

 signated themselves the Biblioma- 

 niacs. Dr. Dibdin was their organ ; 

 and among the club were several 

 noblemen, who, in other respects, 

 were esteemed men of sense. Their 

 rage was, not to estimate books 

 according to their intrinsic worth, 

 but for their rarity. Hence, any 



obtruded "Waterloo unless it was 

 forced on him, or arose out of the 

 conversation ; nor did he shrink if 

 the company seemed to press it. In 

 fact, the Duke was a high bred man. 

 The want of this is never compen- 

 sated for never. (Haydon.) 



MISAPPLICATION OF WORDS EY 

 FOREIGNERS. 



The misapplication of English 

 words by foreigners is often veiy 

 ludicrous. It is said that Dr. Chal- 

 mers once entertained a distin- 

 guished guest from Switzerland, 

 whom he asked if he would be helped 

 to kippered salmon. The foreign 

 divine asked the meaning of the 

 uncouth word kippered, and was 

 told that it meant preserved. The 

 poor man, in a public prayer soon 

 after, oifered a petition that the dis- 

 tinguished divine might long be 

 "kippered to the Free Church of 

 Scotland." 



"COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR 

 SHADOWS BEFORE." 



In Beattie's Life of Thomas Camp- 

 bell, the following anecdote is pre- 

 served respecting the well-known 

 couplet in "Lochiel": 

 " ' T is the sunset of lifegivcs me mystical 



lore, 

 And coming events cast their shadows 



before." 



The happy thought first pre- 

 sented itself to his mind during a 

 visit at Minto. He had gone early 

 to bed, and still meditating on the 

 wizard's " warning," fell fast asleep. 

 During the night he suddenly awoke, 

 repeating : 



'Events to come cast their shadows 

 before" 



This was the very thought for 

 which he had been hunting during 

 the whole week ! He rang the bell 

 more than once with increased force. 

 At last, surprised and annoyed by 

 so unseasonable a peal, the servant 

 appeared. The poet was sitting 



