asked what is the great want of English society--to mingle class with class--I would say, in one word, the want is the want of sympathy." Act I. Sc. 2. After Clemanthe has told Ion that, forsaking all within his house, and risking his life with strangers, he can do but little for their aid, Ion replies: "It is little: But in these sharp extremities of fortune, The blessings which the weak and poor can scatter Have their own season. 'Tis a little thing To give a cup of water; yet its draught Of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips, May give a shock of pleasure to the frame More exquisite than when nectarean juice Renews the life of joy in happiest hours. It is a little thing to speak a phrase Of common comfort, which, by daily use, Has almost lost its sense; yet, on the ear Of him who thought to die unmourn'd, 'twill fall Like choicest music; fill the glazing eye With gentle tears; relax the knotted hand To know the bonds of fellowship again; And shed on the departing soul a sense, More precious than the benison of friends About the honour'd death-bed of the rich, {394} To him who else were lonely, that another Of the great family is near and feels." The analogy is as beautiful as it is true. H. M. BEALBY. North Brixton. Before this talented judge was advanced to the bench, he amused himself and instructed his clients by occasional _metrical_ notes, of which the annexed is a specimen. To make it intelligible to those whom it may _not_ concern, I must add an explanation by the attorney in the suit, who has obligingly placed the learned serjeant's notes at my disposal. This gentleman says: "These notes are in the margin of a brief held by the serjeant as leading counsel in an action of ejectment brought against a person named Rock, in 1842. In converting into rhyme the evidence of the witness Hopkins, as set out in the brief, he has adhered strictly to the statements, whilst he has at the same time seized the prominent points of the testimony as supporting the case." John Hopkins will identify the spot, Unless his early sports are quite forgot, And from his youngest recollection show The house fell down some forty years ago. And then--a case of adverse claim to meet, Show how the land lay open to the street; And there the children held their harmless rambles, Till Robert Woolwich built his odious shambles, And never did the playmates fear a shock, From anything so hateful as a _Rock_. Perhaps the above may elicit from other quarters similar contributions; indeed, any memorial of the friend of Charles Lamb must be precious to the Muse. T. J. BUCKTON. Lichfield. * * * * * THE SCREW PROPELLER. In 1781, when the steam engine, only recently improved by Watt, was merely applied to the more obvious purposes of mine drainage and the like, Darwin, in his _Botanic Garden_, wrote--