he has acquired with honour to himself, and satisfaction to the world. He therefore begs leave in this manner to express his gratitude to the nobility, gentry, and public in general, for the favours he has received; but his real unaffected embarrassment is so great as to prevent his doing it in words, adequate to the feeling of his heart-he can only say to them collectively, as he has often done individually,-You are welcome-I am obliged to you I wish you safe and happy through life, good landlords, and agreeable accommodations.

Mr. Davis is not of a dwarfish size, and by arithmetical calculation it appears that it will require no small quantity of meat, drink, and cloathing, to maintain his greatness, and as these things cannot be procured without a certain article, called by the wise man the Root of Evil-he hopes all persons who are any ways indebted to him will immediately settle their accounts; and he assures those to whom he is debtor that he will directly discharge their demands; but his gratitude to the public must and always will remain a debt.

The following very simple process will produce an ink equal to the best Indian ink, in all its properties and effects :-Boil parchment shavings, or cuttings of glove leather, in water till it becomes a size, which when cool, forms a jelly:-then

having blackened an earthen plate or dish, by holding it over the flame of a candle, mix up with a camel-hair pencil, the fine lamp-black thus obtained, with some of the size while the plate is warm.-Good common carpenters' glue may be used instead of size, and lamp-black may be procured in any required quantity from the smoke of oil, tallow, &c. that sold in the shops is, however, too coarse :—a little musk may be added to give it the smell of Indian ink, from which this composition differs only in the circumstance, that the Chinese infuse ox-gall, or some similar substance, which gives it a yellowish metallic lustre when dry, in no degree, however, essential to the artist.

The Vidette Eaters. Some time since, when the Dublin Yeomanry were on permanent duty, the main guard of a certain Fusileer Corps, being stationed in Stephen's Green, near the residence of their Captain, Sir John W— , a very fine pair of leverets, which were intended as a present for the Knight, by the blundering of a drunken higgler, were left at the guard-house. Without any very minute inquiries after the owner of the leverets, they were ordered to be dressed for supper, and, in addition to the contents of their haversacks, afforded a very comfortable regale to the men on duty. Scarcely was supper ended, when the guard was ordered to be turned out, and two videttes, or orderly men, havin notified

to them the approach of the visiting officer, immediately rode on to give a similar warning at the next military post. The officer, who was an Englishman, soon after arrived, and having inspected the guard, inquired of the serjeant, had he seen his videttes? Now the honest serjeant, though a good practical soldier, was totally ignorant of the termes de guerre. The similitude of sounds struck his ear; his conscience accused him; he thought the leverets were inquired after ; and he replied, with evident confusion, "Why, please your honour, we ate them.' "What," exclaimed the astonished officer, "ate the videttes, ate the videttes! and in the name of wonder, what have you done with their arms?” “ Why," ananswered the serjeant," we ate them too; we ate them, legs, heads, arms, and all; but we then did not know they were your honour's." The astonished officer thought it a folly to remonstrate, and fled with horror from a body of men, who seemed to unite the carnivorous propensities of the anthropophagi, to the digestion of the ostrich.

دو

Crim. Con. Duels, &c.-Mr. Editor,-Állow me to observe, that your moral writers have hitherto fallen into a lamentable mistake by considering the little incidents of human life, as sins or crimes, which are in fact nothing more or less, than public amusements, little pieces occasionally got up (to use theatrical language) for the gratification of

public curiosity, and the amusement and diversion of those minds which might otherwise be injured by the gloom of religious principles, I beg pardon, I mean prejudices; or perhaps rendered melancholy by the prospect of national affairs.

That this is the way in which such events are considered, will appear most clearly, if you will only follow a Duellist, for example, from the challenge to the coffin, or a Crim. Con. from the post-chaise to the country inn. What do these things amount to? A long and elegantly penned account in the papers, richly ornamented with the honour of the gentleman, and admirably set off by the beauty and accomplishments of the lady. Well-what follows? all the town talks about it --it enlivens conversation-a dozen witticisms. and puns are discharged every day from the newspapers-the Duellist is sent to his long home --and what next? Apologetic paragraphs and letters, vindicating the honour of a madman, and the chastity of a strumpet! All very amusing still. To return then, as such events have no other effect on the public than to furnish small talk and jokes, or to produce laboured apologies and extenuations, I have a right to consider them as mere amusements got up for the public at a time when their minds may droop, or become melancholy; and I do not know that our theatrical managers themselves can produce their pieces in a more orderly, or opportune way. Every month produces something of the kind, which runs a certain number of days and nights, and then is elbowed

out of public attention by some new duel-some new elopement-some new crim. con. more attractive or more splendid than the former, because perhaps more foolish, or more fatal. We have already, indeed, granted a complete toleration to such amusements, but toleration is but a negative support. Some things yet require a kind of mask and disguise. On Sundays, for example, ladies of ton must have concerts to drown the noise of the card tables, and the givers and receivers of challenges are liable to be insulted by justices of the peace and Bow-street officers, which seems to be, by the bye, a very great infringement on the liberty of the subject. There are other obstructions which might be mentioned, and which prevent the scenery and decorations of these amusements from being prepared with so much skill and effect as they undoubtedly would be, if the legislature could be prevailed on to sanction them by an act. A duel might then be advertised to take place on a certain day, "at the Theatre Royal, Kensington gravel-pits," and I have no doubt that an audience, equally numerous and brilliant, would crowd to the spot! Why should we doubt it? Are not our boxing matches, which have ended in death more than once, attended by the most fashionable audiences, I was going to say but at least spectators? And if duels happened to be more thinly attended, it would arise, not from the less demand for amusement, but because a duel is a piece so exceedingly short, that economists might grudge the trouble of sitting an hour