after they are first affected. When the sheep was opened, I discovered that its liver was full of things resembling plaice, and its lights just beginning to become ulcerated. The next sheep I found in the first stage, as before mentioned-I suffered it by way of experiment to take its chance, and it died by suffocation in the third stage in the manner already described, which was the result of at least a dozen experiments." Lewes Journal."

AN EMPEROR'S FOLLY.-The Emperor Maximilian I. was accustomed to say, "that he was ashamed of a Prince who was ignorant of Belles Lettres." His patronage of learned men was very extensive; and Frederick of Saxony, surnamed The Wise, and Joachin of Brandebourg, following his example, established academies and schools; the former at Wirtembourg in the year 1502, and the latter at Frankfort on the Oder in 1506. Notwithstanding Maximilian's love of literature, he was so ridiculous as to wish that the first origin of the nobility of his ancestors might be discovered. A celebrated genealogist was employed to search, who declared, after considerable time had elapsed, that he had discovered it in Noah's ark. The Emperor was delighted with this glorious discovery, and, in order to have the proofs substantiated, he for a time abandoned state affairs, and would not even grant an audience to his Ministers or Ambassadors from other Courts. His cook, who was also a buffoon, on hearing this folly of his master, after obtaining permission to speak with him, said, " that the curiosity of discovering the origin of his nobility was neither useful nor honourable; for," added he, "in the present state of things I respect and revere you as a god; but if we ascend to the time of Noah we shall find our ancestors were very near relations, since from this source the present race of men spring." Maximilian was so ashamed of the search he had caused to be male, on hearing the observations of his cook-buffoon, which had

more effect than all the remonstrances of his counsellors and friends, that he instantly repented of his foolishness, and abandoned his design.

SOLUTIONS TO ARTICLES

IN NO. 8 OF THE SPHINX, PAGE 359, ANAGRAM.-Spear, Pear, Ear, Rape, Reap, Ape, Peas, Asper, Rasp, Spar, Asp, Spa, Rase, Spare, Sear, Raps, Pare, Parse, Par, Sap, As, Ap, Are.

ENIGMAS.-1. A sedan chair.-2. The

Vowels.

CHARADES.-1. Endless.-2. Watchman.-3. Herring.

Ehe Wit's Nunchion.

EQUIVOQUE.-An uncle of mine, travelling through France in the year 1792, in company with another gen tleman, stopped at an inn to take some refreshment and tea: in the course of their meal, the waiter was filling the tea-pot with water, when the gentleman cried out, "ENOUGH! ENOUGH!" The waiter, not com prehending his meaning, ran down stairs and brought up two eggs. When tea was finished, they were about to pay their reckoning, when a dispute arose respecting the eggs; the gentleman declaring he did not order them; the waiter saying he did till the mistake was explained, which originated in the similiarity of the sound in ENOUGH and un œuf.

66

your disorder. A radical cure!" exclaimed the astonished baronet, I will have nothing to do with it; I will not take your medicine; I thank God I am no radical, and I hate every thing connected with the word radical." The doctor was going away in despair, but as he was leaving the room, he thought of an expedient which was likely to induce the worthy baronet to adopt his prescription. "I am very anxious, Sir William," said he, "that you should take the medicine; it is a sovereign remedy." "A sovereign remedy!" ejaculated Sir William," send it to me by all means; I will take a sovereign remedy without hesitation." The sovereign remedy was sent-it was swallowed by the worthy baronet-and, as they would all be glad to hear, he recovered. That which he hated under the title of " a radical cure," did him essential service when administered as "a sovereign remedy."

and having tipped off three or four glasses of gin and return home open bitters at the bar, he could not on

the door. After having tried in yola

some time, one of the other servants heard him, and, at letting him in, asked him what he had been about so long? "You may well say that," said Pat; you may indeed-for I have been a quarter of an hour trying to unlock the door-but while I was gone to the alehouse, some of your rascally London tieves have stolen the key-hole-but it will be of no use to 'em, for I have de key in my pocket."

near Paris*. We, in England, have the "Arcadian scenes' es themselves

and need not the assist

and Clent Hills, and the country about Cradley Dudley, Rowley, and the intermediate places. It

a bad

ance of a

recollection of the author of the Village Schoolmistress."

Some thirteen or fourteen years ago, I was in the occasional habit of visiting Hales Owen, and not unfrequently lengthened my walk for the purpose of enjoying the beautiful varieties of the tastefully-disposed, paths which wind round the precincts of Shenstone's ferme ornee. They were then, doubtless, in a state differing greatly from that in which their creator was in the habit of seeing them. Their irregularities were become wildnesses, and their careless imitation of nature-neglect. But, it was a matter of doubt with persons of the best taste, whether this very wildness and neglect were not more consonant with the genius of the place, than a greater degree of trimness would have been. At all events, if regret arose at sight of some instances of havoc and injury, it was compensated by the charm of "musing melancholy," which was thus thrown over and super-added to the beauties of the scene.

These recollections of the LEA SOWES-of Shenstone' Walks," as they are termed by the neighbouring inhabitants, induced me to seize on an opportunity which offered a few weeks ago, of repeating my visit to the Naiads and Dryads of these classic shades; to revive and renew the pleasing impressions they had formerly so often excited; to recall the feelings and recollections with which they were so strongly

Should you think the foociated.

de scription of their present state worthy your acceptance, I shall be glad to see it in the pages of the NIC-NAC.

I entered by the upper wicket, 'on' the hill, near Mr. Male's grounds, at Belle-vue. On this ridge, with much taste, a seat was fixed, to invite the passenger to the easy enjoyment of the extended prospect over Frankley

* Compare the Nic-Nac, vol. i. p. 312.

the

props partly withdrawn, and the whole no longer offering to lounger, the desired accommodation. On passing the little gate, the first circumstance which gives the idea of desertion and decay, is the thick covering of last year's dead leaves, which strew the ground, and almost conceal the path. Descending the slope of the hill a little way, an anomatous building of later date than the other ornaments, presents itself; a sort of barbarous gothic chapel or summer-house, studded with round pebble stones, the refuse of glasshouses, and other rubbish. Bad taste created this, and dead insensibility has left it, with every thing else, to its fate. A few minutes more brought me to the spot where a well-placed seat once commanded a beautiful peep through an opening in the trees.The seat is now thrown dowu into a hollow below; the opening is overgrown by the luxuriant vegetation. I now looked for the vase inscribed to the fair Maria, the cousin of Shenstone; I found it standing, but the inscription nearly effaced. It was, however, too well imprinted on my mind to be lost:

ling stream which once wound at its foot. The channel being neglected and choked up, the water spreads over the path, and renders it in many places a perfect bog.

When the track was not indicated by a hedge or avenue, I found it dif ficult to trace; for not the least effort has been used to preserve it, and complete obliteration has in many parts taken place. A little beyond the urn just noticed, we proceed through some of the enclosures. Shenstone's wish and pride was, it may be recollected, to make his domain a ferme ornee, to preserve all the utility and profitableness of the fields, but to render the estate ornamental, by carrying his paths, winding, through the whole of it. The efforts of late years appear to have been as murderous to profit as to taste. The preşent occupier seems as bad a farmer as he is a poet. His fields are become rushy swamps, because the laziness of the people about him has not kept open the water-courses, which used at once to beautify, and at pleasure to drain or irrigate the lands; some care is absolutely necessary to avoid inking through the deceitful turf, ancle-deep, in black mud. An attempt is here made to close the path, by barring and spiking the gate; but it is of little use, for the next rail has become an accessible stile. Passing, therefore, this undefending fence, advanced to The Temple.

This, like every thing else, is a ruin the inscription torn down, and the remains of the rustic seat, lying, a heap of fire-wood, on the floor. The Chinese Bridge over the pond or moat, at a little distance below, is also completely shattered, the rails falling and broken. It seems as if quite disposed to betray and precipitate into the canal it bestrides, the lord of this desolation, should he venture his foot upon it. On the next knoll stands a curious octangular seat, surmounted by an urn, once hailing "all friends round the Wrekin," a popular Shropshire toast, and rendered tastefully appropriate here, because the spot commands a distant view of the hill

*

so named. Hospitality, however, is discarded along with the other virtues and elegancies of the place, and the inquisitive wanderer in vain examines the tottering fabric, for the inscription.

From hence I traced my way, as well as I could, from field to field, in the absence of all visible paths, by looking out for the gates. At the end of these enclosures I entered the grove which covers a gentle slope on the side of a hill. Here once stood an obelisk, dedicated to Somerville,

the poet-friend" of the Wizard whose spells called forth these beauties;-the pedestal now only remains, headless, inscriptionless*. The wild path itself, through this grove, must be ever beautiful; it needed little attention to preserve it from injury, and it suffers but little from neglect and barbarism. The luxuriant growth of the trees about it, the richness of their varied foliage, the extreme beauty of the smaller growth and brushwood, which fill up every va cancy, defy all deterioration, if Nature be but suffered to have her own way. The song of the birds, and the bleat of the lambs, the only sounds which break the silence of the place, have perhaps a richer effect than when taste and feeling exerted themselves to heighten the wild graces of the place. In the midst of this sequestered grove, stood an ingeniously constructed root-house, its walls internally lined with soft moss, its floor carefully paved with small round pebbles; its benches presented a retreat delightfully cool and refreshing, under the most sultry suns; a babbling stream shaped its course close by, on the bank of which was placed a vase, inscribed

GENIO LOCI.

(To the Genius of the Place).

When I last explored these scenes, decay had set his finger especially on this spot. The root-house had become ragged, dirty, and out of repair, and

The Pedestal and urn, as they originally appeared, are shewn in our cụt.