en near its close, requires a strainer.

_This_ friendship can alone confer,
Alone can teach the drops to pass--
If not as bright as once they were,
At least unclouded through the glass.
Nor, Corry, could a boon be mine,
Of which my heart were fonder, vainer,
Than thus, if life grew like old wine,
To have _thy_ friendship for its strainer!

THOMAS MOORE.
Brighton, June, 1825.

[From Household Words.]

THE APPETITE FOR NEWS.

The last great work of that great philosopher and friend of the modern
housewife, Monsieur Alexis Soyer, is remarkable for a curious omission.
Although the author--a foreigner--has abundantly proved his extensive
knowledge of the weakness of his adopted nation; yet there is one of our
peculiarities which he has not probed. Had he left out all mention of
cold punch in connection with turtle; had his receipt for curry
contained no cayenne; had he forgotten to send up tongues with
asparagus, or to order a service of artichokes without napkins, he would
have been thought forgetful; but when--with the unction of a gastronome,
and the thoughtful skill of an artist--he marshals forth all the
luxuries of the British breakfast-table, and forgets to mention its
first necessity, he shows a sort of ignorance. We put it to his already
extensive knowledge of English character, whether he thinks it possible
for any English subject whose means bring him under the screw of the
income-tax, to break his fast without--a newspaper.

The city clerk emerging through folding doors from bed to sitting-room,
though thirsting for tea, and hungering for toast, darts upon that
morning's journal with an eagerness, and unfolds it with a satisfaction,
which show that all his wants are gratified at once. Exactly at the same
hour, his master, the M.P., crosses the hall of his mansion. As he
enters the breakfast parlor, he fixes his eye on the fender, where he
knows his favorite damp sheet will be hung up to dry. When the noble
lord first rings his bell, does not his valet know that, however tardy
the still-room-maid may be with the early coffee, he dares not appear
before his lordship without the "Morning Post?" Would the minister of
state presume to commence the day in town till he has opened the
"Times," or in the country till he has perused the "Globe?" Could the
oppressed farmer handle the massive spoon