"Three things by beating better prove; A Nut, an Ass, a Woman; The cudgel from their back remove, And they'll be good for no man." "Nux, asinus, mulier simili sunt lege ligata. Hæc tria nil recté faciunt si verbera cessant. Adducitur a cognato, est temen novum."--MARTIAL. "_Sam_.... Why he's married, beates his wife, and has two or three children by her: for you must note, that any woman beares the more when she is beaten."--_A Yorkshire Tragedy_: "Not so New, as Lamentable and true--1608," edition 1619.--Signature, _A. Verso_. "_Flamineo._--Why do you kick her, say? Do you think that she's like a walnut tree? Must she be cudgell'd ere she bear good fruit?" --Webster's "_White Devil_," 1612. iv. 4. (Works, edited by W. C. Hazlitt, II. 105.) Now all these statements are at once unkind and erroneous all round. We know what is declared of the "man who, save in the way of kindness, lays his hand upon a woman," to say nothing of the punishment awaiting him at the adjacent police court.[15] As to dogs, those who respect the calves of their legs had best beware of the danger of applying this recipe to any but low-spirited animals. In the case of the walnut-tree, the recommendation is again distinctly false, and the results mis-described. Possibly there are walnut-trees, as there are women, dogs, and horses, who seem none the worse for the stick; but, as a general rule, kindly treatment, for vegetable and animal alike, is the best, and, in the long run, the wisest. In "_The Miller's Daughter_," one of the most homely and charming poems ever penned by the Poet Laureate, occurs a quatrain, spoken by an old gentleman addressing his faithful spouse:-- "So sweet it seems with thee to talk, And once again to woo thee mine; 'Tis like an after-dinner talk Across the walnuts and the wine." [Illustration] THE CHRISTMAS HOLLY. "The Holly! the Holly! oh, twine it with bay-- Come give the Holly a song; For it helps to drive stern Winter away, With his garments so sombre and long. It peeps through the trees with its berries so red, And its leaves of burnished green, When the flowers and fruits have long been dead, And not even the daisy is seen. Then sing to the Holly, the Christmas Holly, That hangs over the peasant and king: While we laugh and carouse 'neath its glittering boughs, To the Christmas Holly we'll sing." _Eliza Cook._ In London a large sale is carried on in "Christmasing," or in the sale of holly, ivy, laurel, evergreens, bay, and mistletoe, for Christmas sports and decorations, by the family greengrocer and the costermongers. The latter of whom make the streets ring with their stentorian cry of:-- Holly! Holly!! Holly, oh!!! Christmas Holly, oh! OLD CRIES. BY MISS ELIZA COOK.