were again obliged to leave him, making signs of his inconceiveable distress. The ensuing night put a period to his misfortunes and his life."

To the Printer.-Sir,-Some time since, discoursing with a lady upon the sagacity of animals, she told me the following story, and as she is a lady of the greatest veracity, I make not the least doubt of the truth of it :-Her husband was many years a worthy Member of Parliament; he kept a pack of hounds; among them was a favourite bitch that he was very fond of, and used to let her come and lie in the parlour: this bitch had a litter of whelps, and the gentleman one day took them out of the kennel, when the bitch was absent, and drowned them. Shortly after, she came to the kennel, and missing them, she sought for, and at last found them drowned in the pond; she brought them, one by one, and laid them at her master's feet in the parlour, and when she brought the last whelp, she looked up in her master's face, and laid her down and died.

W. F.

As I pass along the street, it often happens that printed bills are slipp'd into my hands, which I carefully put up in my pocket, in order to peruse at my leisure; for I have observed, that there is scarce one of these short Essays which are calculated to take in the people, but what has something very singular in its matter as well as style.

The writers in this way generally make use of those images which the French call (the mervellieu) the wonderful, which is a little beyond the sublime; and as it is their business to raise the curiosity and admiration of their readers, in order to tempt them to walk in and see the wonderful performances of the famous artist within, they are commonly very extravagant in their promises for him.

The famous unborn doctor cures all distempers; curable or incurable, they are all alike to him. The grimace Spaniard performs such things with his mouth, nose, and eyes, that he challenged the whole world to shew the like with all the parts of their body. And the celebrated fire-eater was a most prodigious prodigy; he had eat before most of the princes in Europe, to their entire satisfaction; and though the philosophers of old called time the eater of all things, Tempus edax rerum; yet he challenged even time itself to eat fire with him. What need we speak of the ingenious magic of Mr. Fawks, who turns cards into living birds, and living birds into cards, since the wonders of his art may be read, even now-a-days, in weekly advertisements.

About two or three years since, a gentleman who came from Ireland, presented me with a bill of this nature, which was delivered about in Dublin, in which this humour of cajoling the multitude was pleasantly ridiculed; I shall present the readers with a copy of it.

To all persons of quality, and others; the Wonder of all the wonders that the world ever wondered at.

"Whereas the famous artist Emanuel Schoitz, is newly arrived in this city, who, to the great surprise and satisfaction of all spectators, shews the following wonderful performances, the like never seen before in this kingdom.

"He heats a bar of iron red hot, then thrusts it into a barrel of gunpowder before all the company, and yet it shall not take fire.

"He lets any gentleman charge a blunderbuss with the same gun-powder, and twelve leaden bullets; which blunderbuss the said artist discharges full in the face of the said company, without doing them the least hurt, the bullets sticking in the wall behind them.

"He takes any gentleman's own sword, and runs it through the said gentleman's body, so that the point appears bloody at the back to all the spectators; he then takes out the sword, wipes it clean, and returns it to the owner, who receives no manner of hurt.

"He takes a pot of scalding oil, and throws it by great ladles full directly at the ladies, without spoiling their clothes, or in the least scalding their skins.

"He takes any person of quality's child, from two years old to six, and lets the child's own father or mother, take a pike in their hands; then the artist takes the child in his arms, and tosses it upon the point of the said pike, where it sticks,

to the great satisfaction of all spectators; and it may be then taken off without so much as a hole in its coat.

He mounts upon a scaffold just over the spectators heads, and from thence throws down a large quantity of tiles and stones, which fall like so many feathers, without discomposing either perukes or head-dresses.

"He takes any person of quality up to the said scaffold, which person shall pull off his shoes, and leap nine foot directly down on a board, prepared on purpose, full of sharp spikes, six inches long, without hurting his feet, or so much as damaging his stockings.

"He places the said board on a chair, on which a lady sits down, with another lady in her lap, while the spikes instead of entering into the under lady's flesh, shall feel exactly like a velvet cushion.

"He takes any person of quality's footman, ties a rope about his bare neck, and draws him up by pullies to the cieling, and there keeps him hanging as long as his master, or the rest of the company pleases: the said footman, to the great wonder and delight of all the beholders, holding a pot of ale in one hand, and a pipe of tobacco in the other; and when he is let down, there shall not appear the least mark of the cord about his neck.

"He gives any gentleman leave to drive forty twelve-penny nails up to the head in a porter's backside, and then he places the said porter on a

loadstone chair, which draws out the said nails, while the porter feels no pain.

"He likewise draws the teeth of half a dozen gentlemen or ladies, mixes and jumbles them together in a hat, gives any person leave to blindfold him, and returns to each their own teeth again, and fixes them as well as ever.

"With his fore finger and thumb he thrusts several gentlemen and ladies eyes out of their heads, without the least pain, at which time they see an unspeakable number of beautiful objects; and after they have been fully entertained this way, he claps their eyes again into, their proper sockets, without any damage to the sight.

"With many more performances of art too tedious to mention.

"The said artist hath performed before most of the kings and princes in Europe with extraordinary applause.

"He performs every day, except Sundays, from ten in the morning till one; and from four in the afternoon till seven, without loss of time. Vivant Rex,"

To the Printer.-I had lately occasion to travel the Norwich road, and putting up at Baldock, myself and fellow traveller paid a visit to the church yard. On our entering, we were surprised at seeing a little dog sitting in the usual attitude of begging, at the distance of about four yards from a seemingly fresh tomb-stone, gazing with a countenance of sagacity and attention as if