y hands. Fortunate labour! From six at morning till six
at night, I had the spade or the plough in my hands. I dragged carts, I
delved rocks, I hewed trees; I had not a moment to spare. The appetite
that once grew languid over venison, now felt the exquisite delight of
junk beef. The thirst that scorned champagne was now enraptured with
spring water. The sleep that had left me many a night tossing
within-side the curtains of a hundred-and-fifty-guinea Parisian bed, now
came on the roughest piece of turf, and made the planks of my cabin
softer than down. I can now run as fast as one of my Newmarket stud,
pull down a buffalo, and catch a kangaroo by the tail in fair field.
Health, vigour, appetite, and activity, are my superabundance now. I
have every thing but time. My banishment expires to-morrow; but I shall
never recross the sea. This is my country. Since I set my foot upon its
shore I have never had a moment to yawn. In this land of real and
substantial life, the spectre that haunted my joyless days dares not be
seen--the "hour too many" is no more.

_The Forget-Me-Not_.

* * * * *

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.

(_For the Mirror_.)

SELLING MEAT AMONG THE ANCIENT ROMANS, &c.

It was the custom for the buyer to shut his eyes, and the seller to hold
up some of his fingers; if the buyer guessed aright, how many it was the
other held up, he was to fix the price; if he mistook, the seller was to
fix it. These classic _blind-bargains_ would not suit the
Londonbutchers. This custom was abolished by Apronius, the prefect of
Rome; who in lieu thereof, introduced the method of selling by weight.
Among the ancient Romans there were three kinds of established butchers,
viz. two colleges or companies, composed each of a certain number of
citizens, whose office was to furnish the city with the necessary
cattle, and to take care of preparing and vending their flesh. One of
these communities was at first confined to the providing of hogs, whence
they were called _suarii_; and the other two were charged with cattle,
especially oxen, whence they were called _pecuarii_, or _boarii_. Under
each of these was a subordinate class, whose office was to kill,
prepare, &c. called _lanii_, and sometimes _carnifices_.

Two English poets (Swift and Gay) have been rather severe towards the
London butchers, the former says,--

"Hence he learnt the _Butcher's_ guile,
How to cut your throat, a