"But not alone shall Southron vale Lament that day of woe-- Grief's sigh shall soothe each ruder gale Where Scotia's waters flow. From Corra Linn, where roars the Clyde, To Dornoch's ocean bay-- From Tweed, that rolls a neutral tide, To lonely Colinsay:-- But see, the stars wax faint and few, Death's frown is dark and stern-- But darker soon shall rise to view Yon field of Bannockburn!" * * * * * RIVER MELODIES. Between Pittsburgh and Shawneetown, whilst "gliding merrily down the Ohio" in a _keel-boat_, "navigated by eight or ten of those half-horse and half-alligator gentry commonly called Ohio boatmen," Judge Hall was lulled to sweet sleep, as the rowers were "tugging at the oar," timing their strokes to the cadence:-- "Some rows up, but we rows down, All the way to Shawnee town: Pull away--pull away." * * * * * REAL DISCONTENT. The following anecdote is related of Robert de Insula, or Halieland, a man of low birth, and one of the bishops of Durham:--Having given his mother an establishment suitable to his own rank, and asking her once, when he went to see her, how she fared, she answered, "Never worse!"--"What troubles thee?" said the bishop; "hast thou not men and women enough to attend thee?"--"Yea," quoth the old woman, "and more than enough! I say to one--go, and he runs; to another--come hither, fellow! and the varlet falls down on his knees;--and, in short, all things go on so abominably smooth, that my heart is bursting for something to spite me, and pick a quarrel withal!" The ducking-stool may have been a very needful piece of public furniture in those days, when it was deemed one characteristic of a notable housewife to be a good scold, and when women of a certain description sought, in the use of vituperation, that sort of excitement which they now obtain from a bottle and a glass. * * * * * The magnificent bishop of Durham, Antony Beke, once gave forty shillings for as many fresh herrings; and hearing someone say, "This cloth is so dear that even bishop Antony would not venture to pay for it," immediately ordered it to be brought and cut up into horse-cloths. * * * * * SOLIMAN "THE GREAT." Here is a specimen of the magnificence with which this historical butcher treated his fellow-creatures:--