"Why doe the rude vulgar so hastily post in a madnesse To gaze at trifles, and toyes not worthy the viewing? {559} And thinke them happy, when may be shew'd for a penny The Fleet-streete Mandrakes, that heavenly motion of Eltham, Westminster Monuments, and Guildhall huge Corinæus, That horne of Windsor (of an Unicorne very likely), The cave of Merlin, the skirts of Old Tom a Lincolne, King John's sword at Linne, with the cup the Fraternity drinke in, The tombe of Beauchampe, and sword of Sir Guy a Warwicke, The great long Dutchman, and roaring Marget a Barwicke, The mummied Princes, and Cæsar's wine yet i' Dover, Saint James his ginney-hens, the Cassawarway[2] moreover, The Beaver i' the Parke (strange Beast as e'er any man saw), Downe-shearing Willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand-saw, The lance of John a Gaunt, and Brandon's still i' the Tower, The fall of Ninive, with Norwich built in an hower. King Henries slip-shoes, the sword of valiant Edward, The Coventry Boares-shield, and fire-workes seen but to bedward, Drake's ship at Detford, King Richard's bed-sted i' Leyster, The White Hall Whale-bones, the silver Bason i' Chester; The live-caught Dog-fish, the Wolfe, and Harry the Lyon, Hunks of the Beare Garden to be feared, if he be nigh on. All these are nothing, were a thousand more to be scanned, (Coryate) unto thy shoes so artificially tanned." In explanation of the last line, Tom went no less than 900 miles on one pair of soles, and on his return he hung up these remarkable shoes for a memorial in Odcombe Church, Somersetshire, where they remained till 1702. Another "penny" sight was a trip to the top of St. Paul's. (See Dekker's _Gul's Horne Book_, 1609.) A. GRAYAN. [Footnote 1: The date to Cowley's lines on the chair is 1662.] [Footnote 2: "An East Indian bird at Saint James, in the keeping of Mr. Walker, that will carry no coales, but eate them as whot as you will."] * * * * * THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF OUR FOREFATHERS. In turning over the pages of old authors, it is amusing to note how the _mountains_ of our primitive ancestors have become _mole-hills_ in the hands of the present generation! A few instances would, I think, be very instructive; and, to set the example, I give you the following from my own note-book. _The Overland Journey to India._--From the days of Sir John Mandeville, until a comparatively recent period, how portentous of danger, difficulty, and daring has been the "Waye to Ynde wyth the Maruelyes thereof!" In _Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue_, by Brewer, London, 1657, originally published in 1607, Heursis complains that Phantases had interrupted his cogitations upon three things which had troubled his brain for many a day: "_Phant._ Some great matters questionless; what were they? _Heur._ The quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, and the _next way to the Indies_.