This joke was no doubt thrown away upon his Hindoo and Mussulman rivals, but, alas for the reformer! he little knew the cold indifference of the Anglo-Indian about such matters, and, as might have been expected, he failed in establishing himself in business, and ultimately fell a victim to the climate. Of the previous history of this one, among ten thousand, who have left their bones in the land of cholera, I know nothing beyond the fact that he was a son of Thomas Holcroft, a dramatist of repute in his day. J. O. * * * * * FOLK LORE. _Subterranean Bells_ (Vol. vii., p. 128.).--The tower and nave of Tunstall Church, Norfolk, are in ruins; the chancel alone being used for divine service. The village tradition says, that this calamity was caused by fire; and that the parson and churchwardens quarreled for the possession of the bells which were uninjured. During their altercation, the arch-fiend walked off with the subjects of dispute; but being pursued, and overtaken by the parson--who began to exorcise in Latin--he made a way through the earth to his appointed dwelling-place, taking them with him. The spot where this took place is now a boggy pool of water, called Hell Hole; and an adjoining clump of alder-trees is called Hell Carr. In summer time, a succession of bubbles--doubtless caused by marsh gas--keep constantly appearing on the surface. Those who believe in the tradition, find in this circumstance a strong confirmation. For, as it is the entrance to the bottomless pit, the bells must be descending still; and the bubbles would necessarily be caused by bells sinking in water. In the adjoining village of Halvergate, on the largest bell, is the following inscription: "Sit cunctis annis, Nobis _avita Joh[=s]_." I suppose this must be "audita Johannes," but the inscription certainly is _avita_. On the second bell: "Intercede pia Pro nobis Virgo Maria." On the third bell, founder's name, and date 1653,--a solitary instance, I imagine, of an addition made to a peal of bells during the Puritan triumph of the Great Rebellion. E. G. R. Fisherty Brow, near Kirkby Lonsdale, supplies such an instance as J. J. S. inquires after. There is a sort of natural hollow scooped out there, where a church, parson, and all the people, were swallowed up ages since; and any one who doubts it, may put his ear to the ground on a Sunday morning and hear the bells ring! P. P. _Old Weather Proverb._--The old monkish Latin rhyme is very plainly verified this year: "Se Sol splendescat, Mariâ purificante, Major erit glacies post festum, quam fuit ante." February 2nd was a most brilliant day here, where I live, not twenty miles from London: the ground is now covered with snow, and the frost very sharp. "After Candlemas Day the frost will be more, If the sun then shines bright, than it has been before." "After Candlemas Day frost will follow more keen, If the sun then shines bright, than before it has been."