"Ah! friend Thomas, thou couldst add a fifth B-for Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy' hath done his duty!" Not only a smile ensued, but the loud laugh became general, until the knight of the hammer, Mr. John Walker, called to order and to business. Mr. Cadell had often been heard to say that authors' names commencing with the letter B had been fortunate ones for him-the same may be applied to the letter R.Witness Robertson, Roscoe, Rogers, Reynolds, &c. John Walker was, what the booksellers term, "the trade auctioneer," for many years, and if not so celebrated as Ned Millington in John Dunton's day, he was as great, or rather as large a personage, and as good a general in his way; while his aid-decamp, James Rider, my old fellow-apprentice upwards of fifty years ago, was not deficient in keeping the bait in trim for the "young fry," and frequently putting down names and lots for a whole impression of any popular modern work, or for lots and remainders of others. Of Mr. William Darton and Mr. Thomas Hood I shall have to speak hereafter, as connected with the associated booksellers; and, as a man of enterprise, I recollect the latter fifty-four years ago as librarian to that good and venerable character, Mr. Vernor, in Birchin Lane, Cornhill, (subsequently Dutton's library).-Vernor was a Sandimanian, so was Hood. I am told they are considered a good and virtuous sect, but for an account of the tenets of Mr. Sandiman and his followers, I must refer you to "Evans's Sketch of the Various denominations of Christians," originally published by my old contemporary Ben, or Brass Crosby, as John Walker used to call him (after a London Lord Mayor of that name), whom I advised to take the house, in Stationers' Court, now occupied by Simpkin and Marshall. I shall have more to relate of him in its proper place. I believe that I am the senior travelling bookseller out of London: Crosby followed in my wake; he established an extensive trade, but it did not produce him much happiness or profit beyond an overgrown stock. Like many others, he worked too much with his hands, his feet, and his passions, instead of his head, to make a fortune.-ADIEU. LETTER OF JOHN BASKERVILLE PRINTER &c TO MR LIVY. Easy Hill 3 Dec 1766 Dear Livy I shall send you by tomorrow Night's Waggon-to the Care of Robinson-three Virgils, and would have added as many Horaces, but my Wife's zealous Impatience would not suffer me to stay for the Binding. If you want more to oblige friends, or will point out any thing else that will do Mr. Livy a pleasure, it will be a Particular one to His obedt & obliged Servant T. BASKERVILLE. Fine printing was first introduced in England by John Baskerville, who lived, and printed and died, in a house which he had built, on a place he called Easy Hill, in the vicinity of Birmingham. He was also, by his own desire, buried here; in a paper mill which he had erected, and which served as a mausoleum for his remains. I remember him, and his gold laced waistcoat, and his pair of cream-coloured horses, and his painted chariot-each panel a picture-fresh from his own manufactory; for he was a japanner as well as a printer. Baskerville's paper was as excellent as his types, and almost as durable. Whereas printing paper is now a composition of cotton rags, and gum, or glue, and, as it is said, plaister of Paris, and is bleached with destructive chemical preparations. MOORISH BALLADS. No. III. THE LAMENT OF MORAŸMA! GRANADA, O thou Beautiful! thy sun was ever bright, Granada, O thou Beautiful! whence, whence this horror now? An armed man all foam and dust is rushing through the gate; "Where's Ali Atar, and where's the King, and where, O where is my Son? "The chief is slain, the king is ta'en, thy only son he died, 66 Fighting as a Moor should fight by the king Boabdil's side." The city held her mighty heart, and paused her mighty breath, As onwards passed that armed man, the spirit dark of death. He passed the Alhambra's gilded gates, he passed the awe-struck crowd, A haggard, pale and weary man before the Queens he bowed: "O Queen the Xenil's red with gore, the King! the King is ta'en, "And Loxa's lance of fire is low, thy noble father's slain, "And thousands of our men of might sleep on the Xenils' shore, 66 Wo, wo unto Granada, wo-wo, unto the Moor!" "And livest thou, sir Moorish chief, when Ali Atar is slain, 66 66 My helm is red, my glaive is red with red blood of the foe; My shield is cleft, my spear is broke, I fought and knew not fear; The beautiful and fawn-like one, she of the soft caress, All desolate and shivering upon a wintery tree; Her thin white hands were clasped and raised, her brain was all on fire, And thus with wild and fearful heart she wailed her lord and sire : "Ah! wo is me, thy daughter, why am I living now? 66 Sleep'st thou beneath the river? curse on the cruel wave, "That gave so proud and true a heart such cold and dismal grave! "Curse on the sword that slew thee! curse on the moorish spears, “That left their chief and glory! I curse them by these tears! "I curse them by our prophet! I curse them by his breath, "Till red revenge start forth again to sanctify his death! My pathway is all darkness now; no sunbeams o'er it burn, "No joy will ever gladden it, till thou once more return, "The hill, the vale, the mountain, and the once, once happy plain, "Are dreary all, and silent all, till thou returnest again.". "Be calm, be calm" Ayeexa cried, " Morayma, dear, be calm; "The minstrel's notes shall soothe thee with their soul-subduing balm; "Grief should not prey on princely breasts; thou art as one, but all "Lament o'er thy great father's death, lament Boabdil's fall. "All clamorous sorrow were a curse unworthy of thy line; "The throne is safe, and all have hearts, and every heart is thine; "Ten thousand warrior swords, so keen, at Morayma's word, "Will spring like lightning from their sheaths to the rescue of their lord.” A flow of mingled lute and lyre in lovely numbers rung; The summoned minstrels all appeared, and thus they mournful sung : "No longer thro' the mournful streets the mellow lute-note steals; "And ah! the graceful Zambra dance, that whiled the vesper hours, "The orange and the myrtle shed their rich perfumes in vain ; "The Alhambra's marble halls are white as snow-fall on the hills, Thus sang the royal minstrels, then; ah me! they sang in vain ; Her silvery bosom heaved and sobbed with many a hurried start, 66 Alhambra, thou art desolate, thy sun hath set for ever." H. C. D. COLLEGE SQUIBS.-No. I. DUBLIN UNIVERSITY CLASSICAL EXAMINATION QUESTIONS: HILARY TERM, 1839. 1. That Homer might have been born simultaneously in seven different places is not opposed to the analogy of nature. (a) A passage from Dr. E. K-g's third annual prelection at the Rotunda Hospital seems rather to confirm this hypothesis. 2. Bryant cavils at the age of Helen-shew that his remarks are unfounded--and account, on physiological principles, for her perdurable juvenescence. 3. From a remark of Cesarotti it may be inferred, that if Homer wrote at all he must have used Stephens's Writing Fluid. 6. The obscurity regarding the exact position of Virgil's remains may be removed by referring to a more ancient origin-the apparently modern system of Burking. (a) State your opinions as to the validity of this argument, and give Zakhemüpps's ingenious reasoning on the point. 7. Suvern proves that Homer, if not identical with Solomon was nearly so- -the converse of this proposition is not necessarily true. 8. Buttman, in his Sexilogus, proves that in Greek, at least, the masculine can never prove neuter to the feminine gender-in some of the living languages the same analogy does not hold. "Fumantem piceo et candente favillo" cele-translate this passage, and quote the corresponding words from Homer. (a) Is it not equally probable that he patronised the Perryian Pen? (b) From a combination of these two brated theories we may form a very reasonable hypothesis as to the nature of his paper. 4. The custom of wearing long hair is not peculiar to modern beaux-Quote a passage from Homer and one from Virgil to establish this. The principle, if acknowledged, would produce a material alteration in Stultz's celebrated theory of habits. 5. "Armenias curru subjungere Tigres instituit "--translate this passage. (a) Trace the different meanings through which "Tigres" has passed. (b) The phrase "Curru tigres subjungere" may still be applicable. (c) Cite some remarkable modern instances of the perfection to which the animal may be brought. 9. (a) Conflicting opinions of Daum and Seemüller* on the construction-the words "piceo" and "candente" favour respectively each hypothesis. (b) The difficulty in Homer may be dissipated by exploding a cannon of Dawes. 10. To be translated into Greek prose the following passage in Mr. Sergeant Buzfuz's speech in the celebrated case of "Bardell v. Pickwick”- "The disconsolate widow dried her tears, furnished her first floor, caught her innocent boy to her maternal bosom, and put the bill up in her parlour window." * A well known tobacconist in College Green. POINTS OF THE MONTH. JUNE. The energy of the sun's rays, and the dryness of the atmosphere, are at their greatest height this month, although the temperature of the air does not attain its maximum till July or August. But now the time-just the right season of the year -for an excursion across the Atlantic! The Great Western steamer averages her passage, from Bristol to New York, in about fourteen days; and thus, in the course of a few weeks, money and leisure at command, we may become as conversant with the Broadway at New York as we are with the Rue St. Honoré at Paris. In days of honour, this month, Her Majesty, Victoria, takes the pas. The anniversary of her accession is on the 20th, that of her proclamation on the 21st, that of her coronation on the 28th. The queen is now in the third year of her reign. Trinity term ends on the 12th of the month. On the 20th it is the duty of parochial overseers to fix on church doors notices to persons qualified to vote for counties to make their claims. The 20th is the an niversary of the "translation" of Edward, King of the West Saxons, who was murdered by order of Elfrida. Three years after his decease, his remains were removed, or translated," from Wareham, where they had been inhumed, to the minster at Salisbury. The 20th of June should also be remembered as the day on which happy couples *ATHERSTONE's Midsummer Day's Dream. were accustomed to claim a flitch of bacon from the Lord of the Manor of Dunmow, in Essex. Their claim was to be established by proof that they had lived together in the holy bands of wedlock a year and a day, without repentance of their union in thought, word, or deed. The last claimants of the flitch are said to have been John Shakeshaft, a wool-comber, and Anne, his wife, of Weathersfield, in Essex, who, in 1751, bore off the flitch in triumph. The late Mr. Stothard, R. A., who has been happily designated the English Watteau, has preserved the memory of this amusing custom by an admirable painting, more than once within these few years very finely engraved. The Rev. Henry Bate, who afterwards took the name of Dudley, and was honoured with a rated the custom by the production of a baronetcy by George IV., also commemocomic opera, which was first acted at the which is still occasionally performed. Haymarket Theatre, in the year 1778, and On the 20th of June we shall have been in the enjoyment of peace with France for a quarter of a century. the longest day of the year. It is, however, Few will forget that the 21st of June is that the midsummer or nightless days comon St. Barnabas's day, or night (June 11) mence; and they continue till the 2d of July. The subjoined couplet is yet extant many parts of the country :— "Barnaby Bright, Barnaby Bright, The longest day and the shortest night." in |