e moat; and an old approach to Kenninghall Place,
in Norfolk, is called Queen Bess's Lane, because she was scratched by the
brambles in riding through it.--_Quarterly Review_.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S MACBETH.

During one of the progresses of James I. on passing the gate of St. John's
College, at Oxford, his majesty was saluted by three youths, representing
the weird sisters (sibyllae,) who, in Latin hexameters, bade the
descendant of Banquo hail, as king of Scotland, king of England, and king
of Ireland; and his queen as daughter, sister, wife, and mother of kings.
The occasion is memorable in dramatic history, if it be true that this
address, or a translation of it, led Shakspeare to write on the story of
Macbeth. Much has been said for the probability of this supposition; but
surely the legend of Macbeth and Banquo must have been abundantly
discoursed of in England between James's accession and the year when this
pageant was exhibited; and Shakspeare could find every circumstance
alluded to by the Oxford speakers, and many more in Holinshed's Chronicle,
which, through a great part of Macbeth, he has undoubtedly taken for his
guide.--_Ibid_.

* * * * *

CHINESE DRAMA.

The Chinese themselves make no technical distinctions between _tragedy_
and _comedy_ in their stage pieces;--the dialogue of which is composed in
ordinary prose, while the principal performer now and then chants forth,
in unison with music, a species of song or vaudeville, and the name of the
tune or air is always inserted at the top of the passage to be sung.--
_Quarterly Review_.

* * * * *

THE HAWTHORN.

The trunk of an old hawthorn is more gnarled and rough than, perhaps, that
of any other tree; and this, with its hoary appearance, and its fragrance,
renders it a favourite tree with pastoral and rustic poets, and with those
to whom they address their songs. Milton, in his L'Allegro, has not
forgotten this favourite of the village:--

"Every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale."

When Burns, with equal force and delicacy, delineates the pure and
unsophisticated affection of young, intelligent, and innocent country
people, as the most enchanting of human feelings, he gives additional
sweetness to the picture by placing his lovers

"Beneath the milk-white thorn, that scents the evening gale."

Ther