ON A PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE. Talma, the French Tragedian, had a portrait of Shakspeare on a pair of bellows, the lower part of which, together with the leather and nozzle, is lost. Around the surface, close to the edge and in one line, is rudely carved, in letters, rather more than half an inch in length, the following verse: Who have we here Stuck on these bellows, But the prince of good fellows, Directly over the portrait are these lines, also carved : "O base and coward luck, To be so stuck!"-Poins. And immediately under it are the following "Nay, but a god-like luck's to him assign'd, Who, like the Almighty, rides upon the wind."-Pistol. ON SEEING THE NAME OF "GEORGE REX" IN THE LIST OF BANKRUPTS, In the Gazette of the 9th of June, 1821. Some wiseacres sadly their noddles perplex, Many think it a libel-some say no such thing,' ON COUNT ZENOBIO. Who was remarkable for a Nose of a prodigious size. BY TOM PAINE. Walking out the other day, I called upon the nose to stop, WRITTEN ON A LOOKING-GLASS. I change, and so do women too, ANSWER, BY A LADY. If women reflected, Oh Scribbler, declare, What man! faithless man, would be bless'd by the fair! THE WHITE ROSE, Presented by a Yorkist to a Lady of the House of Lancaster. If this fair rose offend thy sight, And turn Lancastrian there. But, if thy ruby lip it spy, And kiss it thou shouldst deign; With envy pale 'twill lose its dye, And Yorkist turn again. THE REPLY. Aminadab, with phiz demure, With widen'd mouth and lengthen'd chin, THE UNIVERSITIES. Few Epigrams in our language contain more point than the two following, the first of which was composed by the Rev. Dr. Warton, on hearing that a regiment of horse had been sent by George II. to Oxford, and at the same time a collection of books to the University of Cambridge. Our royal master saw, with heedful eyes, Troops he to Oxford sent-wouldst know for why: But books to Cambridge sent, as well discerning, This jeu-d'esprit being once triumphantly quoted by Doctor Johnson, it was immediately answered by Sir William Browne, a physician, in these lines, which Johnson acknowledged to be the happiest extemporaneons production he had ever heard. The king to Oxford sent his troop of horse- THE HOLYDAY. Jack will not work, and Nell puts on her pinners- A QUERY ANSWERED. A gentleman once asked his son, "What word in the English language, taking away the first letter, would surely make you sick?" In answer to which the following epigrammatic reply was returned. Take this for I can find no better: ON A BELL. To call the folks to church in time-I chime; ON A BAD FIDDLER. Old Orpheus play'd so well, he moved Old Nick, ANAGRAM. If you transpose what ladies wear- -[veil,] -[vile.] You'll see an ancient Hebrew name -[Levi.] Change it again and it will show, WORSE THAN BAD. "My wife's so very bad," quoth Will, She keeps her bed."--" Mine's worse," cried Phil, THE "LIBERAL" SECRETARIES. A French gentleman was in the gallery, listening to the speeches-of course, that of Mr. Canning caught his attention, and he inquired who the orator was; he was told, the "Foreign Secretary." Shortly after, when Mr. Peel addressed the house, he again became interested, and asked who that was?— "The Home Secretary," was the answer. "Ah, ma fois !" said the Frenchman, "a present-now I perceive how it isde first Secretaire he plead de cause for the foreigners, and the second for the people of England; ma fois, how vary liberal." Mr. Samuel Rogers, the banker (saith our oracle), happening to overhear the blunder, instantly pulled out his neverfailing fountain pen, and wrote the following little epigram: Sure never were offices better assign'd, In a contest 'twixt England and Rome; ON A YOUNG GENTLEMAN Exchanging the Medical for the Military Profession. To Mars old Esculapius yields, Young Cam projects no cures, but slaughter; The pistol, not the pestle, wields, The warrior's, not the doctor's mortar. |