And also in canto iii-- "Where thou great Anna, whom these realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea." And finally in the Basset Table-- "Tell, tell your grief, attentive will I stay, Though time is precious, and I want some tea." _Shepherd_. A body might think frae thae rhymes, that Pop had been an Eerishman. * * * * * "MERRY ENGLAND." The people of England, we fear, have at last forfeited the proud title of "merry," to distinguish them from other and less happy, because more serious, nations; for now they sadden at amusement, and sicken and turn pale at a jest; so entirely have they forfeited it, that an ingenious critic cannot believe they ever possessed it; and has set himself accordingly to prove, that, in the old English, _merrie_ does not mean merry, but sorrowful, or heart-broken, or some such thing.--_Edin. Rev._ * * * * * SYMPATHY. There is a tear, more sweet and soft Than beauty's smiling lip of love; By angel's eyes first wept and oft On earth by eyes like those above: It flows for virtue in distress. It soothes, like hope, our sufferings here; 'Twas given, and it is shed, to bless-- 'Tis sympathy's celestial tear. _Amulet._ * * * * * MR. ABERNETHY Was one day descanting upon the advantages of a public education for boys, when he concluded by saying, "And what think you of Eton? I think I shall send my son there to learn manners." "It would have been as well, my dear," responded his wife, "had you gone there too." * * * * * ENGLISH BENEVOLENCE. For several years previous to 1823, the crops in Ireland had been scanty, particularly those of potatoes. In 1821 the potato crop was _a complete failure_; and in 1822 it is impossible to tell, and dreadful to think, of what might have been the consequence, had not the English people come forward, and by the most stupendous act of national generosity which the world ever saw, and which none but a country so rich as England could afford, arrested "the plague of hunger," which must otherwise have desolated the country. * * * * * PAINTING IN FRESCO.