328 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



assistance ; but the Lord took him 

 to Himself. For a twelvemonth 

 before his death he was speechless. 

 During the greater part of that 

 time he sat gazing on the New 

 Testament, nodding to an attending 

 relative when he wished the leaves 

 turned over. On one occasion I 

 entered and found him alone. On 

 my saying to him, 'All alone, 

 Andria?' he gave a negative shake 

 of his head, and, with eyes full of 

 animation, directed me to the Bible 

 before him. It was as much as 

 saying that he could not be aldne 

 when he was in possession of that 

 precious book." 



RAPID DECAY OF NINEVEH. 



The decay of Nineveh must have 

 been very rapid, since, in the time 

 of the young Cyrus, Xenophon 

 seems to have passed close by its 

 side, yet not even the name of the 

 once mighty city appears to have 

 survived its downfall. He only 

 mentions a ruined town called 

 Mespila, which probably the Medes 

 had erected in the neighbourhood. 

 Yet, according to Tacitus, Ninus 

 or Nineveh was a city worthy of 

 being captured even in the days of 

 Claudius. (Notes from Nineveh.) 



SPANIARDS UNINTELLIGIBLE IN 

 SPANISH TOWN. 



At the stables I found two 

 Spanish gentlemen, who had come 

 with us in the steamer from Sta. 

 Martha, in rather a "fix," for al- 

 though in Spanish Town, they 

 could not find any one who could 

 speak that language; and when I 

 came into the stable-yard I found 

 the ownei* of the place and two or 

 three hostlers going through all 

 manner of indescribable pantomime ; 

 but of course the English people had 

 no more idea of what the strangers 

 wanted than the man in the moon. 

 After enjoying the joke for some 

 ilme, I came out of my hiding-place, 

 and was immediately collared on 



both sides by the poor Spaniards 1 , 

 who were in a terrible state of per- 

 spiration, from their exertions both 

 bodily and mental. It seems they 

 wanted to go to and return from 

 Old Harbour, but they had forgot- 

 ten the name of the place, and had 

 been for I do not know how long, 

 roaring at the stable-owner, " Vieja 

 Puerto," (Old Port). They might 

 as well have cried "Oysters," or 

 anything else, for no pantomime- 

 could transmogrify those words into- 

 Old Harbour in the mind of the 

 Frenchmen. However, I soon sent 

 them on their way rejoicing. (A 

 Eamble from Sydney to South- 

 ampton.) 



THE PEDAGOGUE AND THE PIG-IRON. 



The boys had no helps to infor- 

 mation, bad or good, except what 

 the master afforded them respecting 

 manufactures; a branch of know- 

 ledge to which, as I before observed,, 

 he had a great tendency, and which 

 was the only point on which he was 

 enthusiastic and gratuitous. I do 

 not blame him for what he taught 

 us of this kind: there was a use in 

 it beyond what he was aware of; 

 but it was the only one on which 

 he volunteered any assistance. In 

 this he took evident delight. I re- 

 member, in explaining pigs of iron 

 or lead to us, he made a point of 

 crossing one of his legs with the 

 other, and cherishing it up and 

 down with great satisfaction, say- 

 ing, "A pig, children, is about the- 

 thickness of my leg." Upon which, 

 with a slavish pretence of novelty, 

 we all looked at it, as if he had not 

 told us so a hundred times. In 

 everything else we had to hunt 

 out our own knowledge. (Auto- 

 biography of Leigh Hunt.) 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 



The laws of suggestion, and the 

 occasional coincidences of a dream 

 with facts, explain all the real phe- 

 nomena connected with what is 

 called clairvoyance, bearing any re- 



