Punch (58.1870)

Jandart 29, 1870.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 33

traced back to Spenser, the author of the Faerie Queen, and the first
President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. In the
library at Apothecaries' Hall there is a manuscript account, in cipher,
in the handwriting of Pepys, of his discovery of Pepsine during a long
walk in the country.

NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.

Old Ladt Cork, in her Reminiscences, teUs us that Bishop Butler
(a predecessor at Durham of Bishop Maltbt) wrote Rudibras, with
an ever-pointed pencil, on the backs of his old love-letters, at all sorts

of odd times—while waiting for his dinner and his wig, in a hailstorm, The copy of the first folio edition of Shakspeare whicn has fetched
in a dentist's ante- the largest sum by

public competition is
the one wherein
there is the curious
and unique misprint
of "A Midsummer
Knight's Dream."
It was sold at the
Roxburghe sale, dur-
ing the Bibliomania
so graphically de-
scribed by Boc-
caccio in the De-
cameron, for £2375.
The great Duke or
Marlborough be-
came the purchaser,
after an exciting
contest with Bishop
Heber; and one of
Dibdin's most stir-
ring songs, admir-
ably set to music in
the British Museum
by Thomas Gren-
ville, and as admir-
ably sung by Sir
Mark Stkes, re-
cords the scene in
Messrs. Christie,

puttick, and So-

theby's Auction
Rooms on this me-
morable occasion.
At that time this
precious copy was in
morocco, but it is
now in Russia (after
some most romantic
adventures, while in
the possession of
Sydney Smith at
the siege of Long
Acre), in the Impe-
rial Library at the
Winter Palace, where
it may be seen any
day in the )ear on
application to the
Principal Librarian,
Siberia. Office hours
from ten to four.

The copy of the
first folio in the
South Kensington
Museum has the
well-known ' turned'
e in the last Act of
the Fourth Part of
King Henry the Sixth,
the occasion of the
great row between
Rowe and Warbur-
ton, which was not
settled till late in the
afternoon, in the
eighteenth ceulury,
at Bow Street, before
Sir. H. Fielding.

room, in stage-
coaches, on wet
Saturday afternoons,
and when lying
awake at night: for
the Bishop suffered
greatly from sleep-
lessness, and in vain
endeavoured to pro-
voke slumber by
repeating to himself
the names of all the
curates in his dio-
cese, by going
through the Thirty-
Nine Articles and
the great Councils
of the Church, and
by other professional
means.

Richardson (the
Showman), who quit-
ted this country after
the massacre of St.
Bartholomew's,
wrote Clarissa Har-
lowe in the intervals
between the perform-
ances, and dedicated
it to Sir Charles
Grandison, who had
just then joined Sir
Roger de Coverley
(coming from a dance
in the Addison Road)
in establishing the
paper which still flou-
rishes under the nam e
of the Spectator, Mr.
Thomas Jones was
the first editor, Alex-
ander Selkirk and
the notorious Bar-
rington the foreign
correspondents, with
hu occasional letter
from Mr. L. Gul-
liver, and Beau
Brummel and Lord
Ogleby contributed
the fashionable intel-
ligence. Congreve
invested a consider-
able part of the for-
mnehe had amassed
by his plays and rock-
ets in this new ven-
ture; and Slr God-
kkey Lely painted
for the Barber Sur-
geons the portraits _ ,,,________.—- ir»" ~ -~"——

• if all concerned in ) ^

tne undertaking. COSTUME A LA GRANDE MILITAlRE, VERSUS THE

GRECIAN BEND.

The original in-
ventor of steel-pens
was the founder of
Fen-Sylvania, which

he bought with the profits of his patent, and planted with mag-
num-bonums. Not the least useful of the "Century of Inven-
tions " was the celebrated Worcester Sauce, first devised by the
scientific Marquis in a dream, while attending the festival of the Three
Choirs in the city from whence he and his condiment derived their
title. To Sir James Mackintosh we are indebted for the impervious
outer garment which will immortalise his name so long as it continues
to rain; and another article of dress, now but seldom seen, can be

Oh dear ! I Dote on the Military." &c.

" Speaking Volumes."

A Novel is announced with the name of What her Face says. This
must surely be the narrative of what is called a speaking countenance.
To make the work complete, a portrait should be added, which might
be appropriately called a speaking likeness.

What Colour should Parasites Dress in ¥—Pawn.

Vol. 58.

2