I remember I once heard my Grandfather say,

That some sixty years since he was going that way,

When they show'd him the spot

Where the gibbet-was-not

On which Matcham's corse had been hung up to

rot;

It had fall'n down-but how long before, he'd for

got;

And they told him, I think, at the Bear in Devizes,
The town where the Sessions are held, or the 'Sizes,

That Matcham confess'd, And made a clean
breast.

To the May'r; but that after he'd had a night's

rest,

And the storm had subsided, he pooh-pooh'd his friend,

Swearing all was a lie from beginning to end;

Said "he'd only been drunk- That his spirits had
sunk

At the thunder-the storm put him into a funk, -
That, in fact, he had nothing at all on his conscience,
And found out, in short, he'd been talking great non-

sense."

But now one Mr. Jones Comes forth and de-
pones

That fifteen years since, he had heard certain groans
On his way to Stonehenge (to examine the stones
Described in a work of the late Sir John Soane's,)

That he'd follow'd the moans, And, led by their tones,

Found a Raven a-picking a Drummer-boy's bones !-Then the Colonel wrote word

From the King's Forty-third,

That the story was certainly true which they'd heard,
For, that one of their drummers, and one Sergeant

Matcham,

Had "brush'd with the dibs," and they never could catch 'em.

So Justice was sure, though a long time she'd lagg'd, And the Sergeant, in spite of his "Gammon," got

"scragg'd;"

And people averr'd That an ugly black bird, The Raven, 'twas hinted, of whom we have heard, Though the story, I own, appears rather absurd, Was seen (Gervase Matcham not being interr'd) To roost all that night on the murderer's gibbet; An odd thing, if so, and it may be a fib-it, However's a thing Nature's laws don't prohibit. -Next morning they add, that "black gentleman" flies

out

Having pick'd Matcham's nose off, and gobbled his eyes out!

Imprimis.

2°.

3°.

4.

MORAL.

Avis au Voyageur.

If you contemplate walking o'er Salisbury Plain,
Consult Mr. Murphy, or Moore, and refrain

From selecting a day when it's likely to rain !

When trav'lling, don't "flash" Your notes or your cash

Before other people-it's foolish and rash!

At dinner be cautious, and note well your party!There's little to dread where the appetite's hearty, But mind and look well to your purse and your throttle

When you see a man shirking and passing his bottle!

If you chance to be needy, Your coat and hat seedy,

In war-time especially never go out

When you've reason to think there's a press-gang

5°.

about!

Don't chatter nor tell people all that you think,

Nor blab secrets, especially when you're in drink.

H2

But keep your own counsel in all that you do !

-Or a Counsel may, some day or other, keep

6°.

you.

Discard superstition!-and don't take a post,

If you happen to see one at night, for a Ghost!

-Last of all, if by choice or convenience you're

led

To cut a man's throat, or demolish his head,

Don't do 't in

a

summer!

thunder-storm-wait for the

And mind, above all things, the MAN'S NOT A

DRUMMER!!

Among a bundle of letters I find one from Sucklethumbkin, dated from London, and containing his version of perhaps the greatest theatrical Civil War since the celebrated "O. P. row." As the circumstances are now become matter of history, and poor Doldrum himself has been, alas! for some time the denizen of a far different "House," I have ventured to preserve it. Perhaps it may be unnecessary to add, that my Honourable friend has of late taken to Poetry, and goes without his cravat.

A ROW IN AN OMNIBUS (BOX).

A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET.

"Omnibus hoc vitium cantoribus."- Hor.

DOL-DRUM the Manager sits in his chair,
With a gloomy brow and dissatisfied air,
And he says, as he slaps his hand on his knee,
"I'll have nothing to do with Fiddle-de-dee!"

-"But Fiddle-de-dee sings clear and loud,
And his trills and his quavers astonish the crowd;
Such a singer as he You'll nowhere see;
They'll all be screaming for Fiddle-de-dee!"

-"Though Fiddle-de-dee sings loud and clear,
And his tones are sweet, yet his terms are dear!
The 'glove won't fit!' The deuce a bit.
I shall give an engagement to Fal-de-ral-tit!"

The Prompter bow'd, and he went to his stall,
And the green baize rose at the Prompter's call,
And Fal-de-ral-tit sang fol-de-rol-lol;

But, scarce had he done When a "row" begun,

Such a noise was never heard under the sun.