EXTRACTS FROM THE COMMON-PLACE BOOK OF A LITERARY LOUNGER.

SELLING ONE'S BODY.

THE following curious letter was found among the papers of Mr. Goldwyr, a surgeon, of Salisbury :

:

To Mr. Edward Goldwyr, at his House, in the Close of Salisbury :

Sir-Being informed that you are the only surgeon in this city (or county) that anatomises men, and I being under the unhappy circumstance, and in a very mean condition, would gladly live as long as I can'; but, by all appearance, I am to be executed next March, having no friends on earth that will speak a word to save my life, nor send me a morsel of bread to keep life and soul together until that fatal day: so, if you will vouchsafe to come hither, I will gladly sell you my body, (being whole and sound), to be ordered at your discretion; knowing that it will rise again at the general resurrection, as well from your house as from the grave. Your answer, sir, will highly oblige Yours, &c. JAMES BROOKE. Fisherton-Anger Gaol; Oct. 3, 1736.'

WINDOW GLEANINGS.

Shenstone has furnished a quatrain, which is often inscribed on the windows of inns, by those who wish to flatter their host, and have not the genius to pay him an original compliment.

Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
Where'er his stages may have been;
Must sigh to think he still has found
The warmest welcome at an Inn.'

At an inn at Taunton, in Somersetshire, where these lines were inscribed on the window, an equally experienced but less complaisant traveller added as follows: Whoe'er has travell'd much about, Must very often sigh to think, That every man will turn you out, Unless you've plenty of the chink.'

FUNERAL ORATION ON FRANCIS THE FIRST.

Pierre Duchatel, in a funeral oration on the death of Francis I. published 1547, took upon himself to affirm, that the soul of the king had gone direct to Paradise. This passing over of purgatory gave offence to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who sent a deputation to warn him of his error. The prelate being absent, one of his friends received them, and, in reply, gaily said, Be not uneasy, gentlemen, every one knows that the late king, my master, never stopped long in any one place, however agreeable. Supposing, then, that he went to purgatory, be assured that his stay would be very short.' This pleasantry disarmed the severity of the doctors, and the affair went no farther.

AMERICAN QUAKERS.

In 1790, the American Quakers presented the following address to General Washington, then President of the United States :

We would neither trespass on thy time, nor on thy patience; to flatter were utterly inconsistent with our general behaviour; but as our principles and conduct have been subject to misrepresentation, it is incumbent upon us, by the strongest assurances, to testify our sincere and loyal attachment to thee, and all those set in authority over us. Our most fervent prayers to heaven are, that thy presidentship may prove no less a blessing to thyself than the community at large."

To this address, General Washington returned the following answer :

Liberty of worshipping the Deity, according to the dictates of our conscience, is not solely an indulgence of civil government, but the inalienable right of men as long as they perform their civil obligations. Society can have no further demands. Men are only answerable to heaven for their religious opinions. With your principles and conduct I am not unacquainted, and I do the Quakers but common justice when I say, that except in the instance of their refusal to support the common cause of their fellow-citizens during the war, no sect can boast of a greater number of useful and exemplary citizens.'

Published op 1 1838 by James Robins & Ivy Lane, Lunion

THE THREE HUNCHBACKS.

Ar a short distance from Douai, there stood a castle on the bank of a river near a bridge. The master of this castle was hunchbacked. Nature had exhausted her ingenuity in the formation of his whimsical figure. In place of understanding she had given him an immense head, which, nevertheless, was lost between his two shoulders; he had thick hair, a short neck, and a horrible visage.

Spite of his deformity, this bugbear bethought himself of falling in love with a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a poor but respectable burgess of Douai. He sought her in marriage, and as he was the richest person in the district, the poor girl was delivered up to him. After the nuptials he was as much an object of pity as she, for, being devoured by jealousy, he had no tranquillity night nor day, but went prying and rambling every where, and suffered no stranger to enter the castle.

One day during the Christmas festival, while standing sentinel at his gate, he was accosted by three humpbacked minstrels. They saluted him as a brother, as such asked him for refreshments, and at the

* We are indebted for the design which accompanies this article to that popular work," Points of Humour," amid the numerous embellishments of which the genius of George Cruikshank appears to have luxuriated.

VOL. II. Nov. 1828.

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