For honest INDUSTRY had tried To gain fair CREDIT for his bride, And found the damsel willing, But, ah! a _fortune-hunter_ came, And SPECULATION was his name, A rake not worth a shilling. The villain came, on mischief bent, And soon gain'd dad and mam's consent-- Ah! then poor CREDIT smarted;-- He filch'd her fortune and her fame, He fix'd a blot upon her name, And left her broken-hearted. While thus poor CREDIT seem'd to sigh, Her cousin, CONFIDENCE, came by-- (Methinks he must be clever)-- For, when he whisper'd in her ear, She check'd the sigh, she dried the tear. And smiled as sweet as ever! JESSE HAMMOND. * * * * * CURIOUS SCRAPS RELATING TO CELEBRATED PERSONS. (_For the Mirror._) When the famous Cornelia, daughter of the great Scipio, was importuned by a lady of her acquaintance to show her toilette, she deferred satisfying her curiosity till her children, who were the famous Gracchi, came from school, and then said, "_En! haec ornamenta mea sunt._"--"These are my ornaments." Cyneas, the minister of Pyrrhus, asked the king (before their expedition into Italy) what he proposed to do when he had subdued the Romans? He answered, "Pass into Sicily." "What then?" said the minister. "Conquer the Carthaginians," replied the king. "And what follows that?" says the minister. "Be sovereign of Greece, and then enjoy ourselves," said the king. "And why," replied the sensible minister, "can we not do this _last_ now?" The emperors Nerva, Trajan, Antoninous, and Aurelius sold their palaces, their gold and silver plate, their valuable furniture, and other superfluities, heaped up by their predecessors, and banished from their tables all expensive delicacies. These princes, together with Vespasian, Pertinax, Alexander, Severus, Claudius the Second, and Tacitus, who were raised to the empire by their merit, and whom all ages have admired as the greatest and the best of princes, were always fond of the greatest plainness in their apparel, furniture, and outward appearance. Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, who lived unknown and disgraced in Spain, was scarcely able to obtain an audience of his master Charles V.; and when the king asked who was the fellow that was so clamorous to speak to him, he cried out, "I am one who have got your majesty more provinces than your father left towns."