W.

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_A string of echo puns_ surpassing all others, may be seen in a scarce
work, published in the reign of James I. A specimen--a divine, willing to
play more with words, than to be serious in the expounding of his text,
spoke thus in one part of the sermon:--"This dyall shewes we must _die
all_; yet, notwithstanding, all howses are turned into _ale-houses_; our
cares are turned into _cates_; our paradise, into, _a pair of dice_; our
marriage, into a _merry age_; our matrimony, into a _matter of money_; our
divines, into _dry vines_. It was not so in the days of Noah,
_Ah no_!"--T.G.

* * * * *

_Advertisement Extraordinary, from a Newspaper of 1796_.--"Whereas the
right hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of his Majesty's Exchequer, did on the
night of Monday last, and on or about the hour of six o'clock, utter in
his place in the House of Commons, certain sentences or phrases,
containing several assurances, denials, promises, retractions, persuasions,
explanations, hints, insinuations, and intimations, and expressing much
hope, fear, joy, sorrow, confidence, and doubt, upon the subject of peace,
then and there recommended by Charles Grey, esq., member of the aforesaid
House of Commons, for the county of Northumberland; and whereas the entire
effectual and certain meaning of the whole of the said sentences, phrases,
denials, promises, retractions, persuasions, explanations, hints,
insinuations, and intimations, has escaped and fled, so that what remains
is to plain understandings incomprehensible, and to many good men is
matter of painful contemplation: now this is to promise to any person who
shall restore the said lost meaning, or shall illustrate, simplify, and
explain the said meaning, the sum of five thousand pounds, to be paid on
the first day of April next, at the office of John Bull, esq., Pay-All and
Fight-All, to the several high contracting powers, engaged in the present
_just_ and _necessary_ war!

"Done at the office of Mr. John Bull's Chief Decypherer, _Turnagain_ Lane,
_Circumbendibus_ Street, _Obscurity_ Square, Feb. 18, 1796."

* * * * *

_Cheap Soup_.--Take ten quarts of water, and stir it with a rush-light
till it boils; season it to your liking, and it is ready for use. N.B. The
wick may be bolted.--_Monthly Mag_.

* * * * *

_Epitaph on the death of Miss Eliza M