During a remarkable wet summer, Joe Vernon, whose vocal taste and humour contributed for many years to the entertainment of the frequenters of Vauxhall Gardens, but who was not quite so good a _timist_ in money matters as in music, meeting an acquaintance who had the misfortune to hold some of his unhonoured paper, was asked by him, not uninterestedly, how the gardens were going on? "Oh, _swimmingly_!" answered the jocose Joe. "Glad to hear it," retorted the creditor, "their _swimming_ state, I hope, will cause the singers to _liquidate their notes_." * * * * * Mr. Samuel Deacon, a most respectable Baptist minister, who resided at Barton in Leicestershire, was not peculiarly happy in his cast of countenance or general appearance; conscious of the silly ridicule his unprepossessing _tout ensemble_ occasionally excited, he made the following good-humoured, quaint remark:-- "The carcass that you look at so, Is not Sam Deacon, you must know, But 'tis the carriage--the machine, Which Samuel Deacon rideth in." * * * * * ADVANTAGES OF LOQUACITY A very pretty woman, who was tediously loquacious, complained one day to Madame de Sevigné, that she was sadly tormented by her lovers. "Oh, Madame," said Madame de Sevigné to her, with a smile, "it is very easy to get rid of them: you have only to speak." * * * * * _Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHEN, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsman and Booksellers._ FOOTNOTES: [1] The old bridge was of wood, and 168 yards in length. It was the most ancient on the River Thames, except that of London, and is mentioned in a record of the 8th year of Henry III. [2] At the time the chapel fell, the sexton, while digging a grave was buried under the ruins, with another person, and his daughter. The latter, notwithstanding she lay covered seven hours, survived this misfortune seventeen years, and was her father's successor. The memory of this event is preserved by a print of this singular woman, engraved by M'Ardell. [3] The work is dedicated to Dr. Babington, "in remembrance of some delightful days passed in his society, and in gratitude for an uninterrupted friendship of a quarter of a century;" and in the preface the author, after saying that the characters are imaginary, intimates that "in the portrait of HALIEUS, given in the last dialogue, a likeness, he thinks, will not fail to be recognised to that of a most estimable physician, ardently beloved by his friends, and esteemed and venerated by the public." [4] In our last volume, this was erroneously attributed to Swift. [5] See page 370, vol. xi. MIRROR. [6] As "kill him, crimp him," &c. [[7]] The late worthy and scientific Wm. Reynolds, of the Bank, near Ketley.