Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters, [Oct. Ij 
freely than he can affnrd, the shrewd 
phserver soineinnes expresses his sneer 
hv a wlhstling, and samet’ines by this 
strange bv-word: Three'blue beam in a 
hhwH bladder; rattle, bladder, rattle. 
Whence this apparent nonsense ? 
Tne arms of the Medici consist of 
eighit or of nine blue balls, on a white 
scutcheon, the shape and shading of 
which, as represented by ahe sign- 
painters, gives it some reseint.lance to a 
blown bladder. Now these arms were 
adopted by the earlier pawn-brokers, 
who were tnostly Italian Jews, as their 
distinctive sign. By degrees, the number 
of blue balls was reduced to three, in 
which form the sign is still common at 
the sh tpsof pawn-brokers. The vulgar, 
in order t ) point out the caw ii-brr-ker’s 
shop, a-e likely to have demribed it, as 
the three blue beans in a hlozcn bladder. 
If therefore a man, appmenily flusii of 
cash, mane his appearance, who was 
suspected of owing it, rather to tns cre¬ 
dit than to his property; the snber was 
natural, to allude to the tiiree blue beans 
in a blown bladder, and to treat with 
contempt the momentary rattle of tur- 
gesceiice. 
Such at least is the most plausible 
coniecture which has presented itself, 
during a search after the origin of this 
phrase. In a country where wmalth is 
too exclusively pursued and valued, the 
expressions of pecuniary scorn are of 
course nunrerous, but are too often 
Taguej the language is somewhat a 
catner, if anv one of them is rendered 
nioie intelligible and precise. ' Let us 
hope that this phrase, when well under¬ 
stood, will never be thought transferable 
from private to public concerns; and 
that the solid riches of the Bank of 
England will never be compared with 
three blue beans in a blown bladder. 
CONVERSION OF A SAVAGE. 
In Jorgensen’s State of Christianity, 
it Olaheite, the following anecdote is 
related at page 26^ 
“ J he reigning king’s mother was mar¬ 
ried to Otoe, king of Uliteeah, and de¬ 
pendent on the Otaheitean monarch, 
lie was a man of about six feet four 
inches in huoht, ant! cettainly made a 
very ankward appearance among the 
more elegant inhabitants of Otaheite. 
He was excessively intemperate, and 
would drink brandy until he lost his 
senses. When he came oii board our 
ship to visit us the first time after our 
arrival in Slatavia bay, he put on a most 
hyj ccritical and sanctified face, crying; 
‘ Master Christ very good, very fine fel¬ 
low’; nie love Christ like my own brother. 
Give me one glass of brandy.’ His 
request was instantly complied wiih, and 
the oftener we filled his glass, the mors 
lie pretended to love our Saviour, calling 
liim the blessed, and many other sucli 
expressions, which he had learned of the 
missionaries, and which he imagined 
pleased us greatly.’’ 
“ After drinking nearly a pint of strong 
liquor, his Majesty became so noisy and 
so rude, that there was no bearing his 
insolence any longer. He seized on a 
whale leg of mutton, which stood on the 
table, took it up in his hantjs, and begarr 
to gnaw it with his great and ugly teeth. 
On our resenting this outrageous and 
beastly behaviour in spoiling the dinner, 
he got into such a rage, that he insisted 
upon having one more glass of brandy; if 
not. he would recant all he had said in 
favour of Christ.” 
However, we thought proper to re¬ 
fuse his request, on which he began to 
roar out with ad his might, “ Damn 
C--;C - very bad; Otaheite-god 
fine fellow.” iVfter whicli lie jumped 
overboard, and swam on shore, uttering, 
as long as we could hear, the most horrid 
imprecations.’’ 
How muc'i wiser it would be, like the 
quakers in'Pennsylvania, to send missi¬ 
onaries to teach the useful arts, and to 
leave religious instruction to the care of 
the press. 
PILLAGE OF THE SICK, 
The depredations of nurses, upon the 
decease of invalids, have been often 
noticed. Sixtus IV. died in 1484, and 
Burcard relates, that in an instant his 
domestics stole every thing. The cm pSe 
was laid naked upon a table, and, after 
waiting four hours, a kitchen-boy brought 
them water, in a vessel used for washing 
dishes; a barber lent a basin from his 
shop; and, to wipe the body, they were 
obliged to tear off the shirt, in w hich tlie 
deceased died ! — Nor could they obtain 
another to replace it. 
CAPITAL CRIME. 
The disguise of sex was so deemed at 
Rome in the 15th century. A IMoor was 
there burned in 1498, for wearing a 
female dress, in order to conceal an 
amorous connection. 
WEATHER WISDOM. 
It was anciently an opinion, that tlie 
temperature of each of the twelve months 
of the year would be exactly indicated 
by that of each of the twelve days, whic!) 
followed 
