Each party grinned five minutes _solus_, and then all united in a grand _chorus_ of distortion. This prize was carried by a porter to a _vinegar_ merchant, though he was accused by his competitors of foul play, for rinsing his mouth with _verjuice_. The whole was concluded by a hog, with has tail shaved and soaped, being let loose among nine peasants; any one of which that could seize him by the _queue_, and throw him across his shoulders, was to have him for a reward. This occasioned much sport: the animal, after running some miles, so tired his hunters that they gave up the chase in despair. A prodigious concourse of people attended, among whom were the Tripoline Ambassador, and several other persons of distinction. BITE OF THE TARANTULA SPIDER. A Neapolitan soldier who had been bitten by a tarantula, though apparently cured, suffered from an annual attack of delirium, after which he used to sink into a state of profound melancholy; his face becoming livid, his sight obscure, his power of breathing checked, accompanied by sighs and heavings. Sometimes he fell senseless, and devoid of pulsation; ejecting blood from his nose and mouth, and apparently dying. Recourse was had to the influence of music; and the patient began to revive at the sound, his hands marking the measure, and the feet being similarly affected. Suddenly rising and laying hold of a bystander, he began to dance with the greatest agility during an uninterrupted course of four-and-twenty hours. His strength was supported by administering to him wine, milk, and fresh eggs. If he appeared to relapse, the music was repeated, on which he resumed his dancing. This unfortunate being used to fall prostrate if the music accidentally stopped, and imagine that the tarantula had again stung him. After a few years he died, in one of these annual attacks of delirium. BYGONE CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. ------------"Now, too, is heard The hapless cripple, tuning through the streets His _carol_ new; and oft, amid the gloom Of midnight hours, prevail th' accustom'd sounds Of wakeful _waits_, whose harmony (composed Of hautboy, organ, violin, and flute, And various other instruments of mirth), Is meant to celebrate the coming time." [Illustration: The Mummers, Or Ancient Waits.]