280 



TABLE-TALK AUTO VARIETIES. 



ceived pay as a common soldier. 

 This general rule removed all scru- 

 ples of delicacy, and fixed the ser- 

 vices of men of talent and enter- 

 prise, "who were glad of a handsome 

 apology to work for fifteen or twenty 

 guineas, though they would not 

 willingly have been considered as 

 hackney writers. 



VULGAR PRONUNCIATION. 



One of the peculiarities of vulgar 

 English pronunciation is to put the 

 letter r at the end of words end- 

 ing with a vowel. Some of the in- 

 habitants of London, if they had to 

 speak the following sentence, "A 

 fellow broke the window, and hit 

 Isabella on the elbow, as she was 

 playing a sonata on the piano," 

 would give it in the following 

 manner : "A fellor broke the win- 

 dor, and hit Isabellar on the elbor, 

 as she was playing a sonatar on 

 the pianar." Others adopt the 

 contrary plan, and leave out the r 

 as often as they can. There are 

 magistrates of high pretensions to 

 education, who would say, "The 

 conduct of the prisna' and his ge- 

 neral characta' render it propa' 

 that he should no longa' be a mem- 

 ba' of this community." Equally 

 glaring is the taking away of h 

 from places where it is required, 

 and giving it where its absence is 

 desirable. The termination of words 

 ending in ing with a k, as something, 

 is not less incorrect or less disagree- 

 able. It is worth while occasion- 

 ally to point out these errors, as 

 many must be disposed to correct 

 them, on being made aware of their 

 existence. 



SERVANTS. 



In France, servants always walk 

 before their masters. It is other- 

 wise in Italy. Masters walk be- 

 fore their servants in summer, on 

 account of the dust, and in winter 

 behind them, on account of the 

 badness of the roads. 



BOOK-STALL READEH3. 



There is a class of street-readers 

 whom I can never contemplate 

 without affection the poor gentry 

 who, not having wherewithal to 

 buy or hire a book, filch a little 

 learning at the open stalls ; the 

 owner, with his hard eye, casting 

 envious looks at them all the while, 

 and thinking when they will have 

 done. Venturing tenderly, page 

 after page, expecting every moment 

 when he shall interpose his inter- 

 dict, and yet unable to deny them- 

 selves the gratification, they " snatch 

 a fearful joy." 



BURKE AND THE RIOT ACT. 



During one of the debates on the 

 affairs of America, Hartley, the 

 member for Hull, after having 

 driven four-fifths of a very full 

 house from the benches by an un- 

 usually dull speech, at length re- 

 quested that the Eiot Act might 

 be read, for the purpose of eluci- 

 dating one of his propositions. 

 Burke, who was impatient to ad- 

 dress the house himself, imme- 

 diately started up and exclaimed, 

 "The Eiot Act, my dearest friend : 

 why, in the name of everything 

 that's sacred, have the Eiot Act 

 read ? The mob, you see, is already 

 dispersed." Peals of laughter fol- 

 lowed the uttei-ance of this comic 

 appeal, which Lord North frequently 

 declared to be one of the happiest 

 instances of wit he ever heard. 



THE CALCULATING MACHINE. 



Mr Babbage, the inventor of this- 

 machine, has (in his Bridgewater 

 Treatise) referred to its present 

 state. He mentions that, as early 

 as 1821, he undertook to superin- 

 tend for the Government the con- 

 struction of an engine for calculating 

 and printing mathematical and as- 

 tronomical tables. Early in 1833 

 a small portion of the machine was 

 put together, and it performed its 

 work with all the precision which 



