n rapt admiration, an
American friend who did not lack a certain degree of culture asked me if
I did not find in them a great want of colour!

I made in York the acquaintance of a youth named Carr, son of a former
high sheriff, who, by the way, showed us very great hospitality whenever
we visited the city. This young man had read Labarthe and other writers
on archaeology, and was enthusiastic in finding relics of the olden time.
He took me into a great many private houses. I visited every church, and
indeed saw far more than do the great majority of even the most inquiring
visitors. The Shambles was then and is still perhaps one of the most
curious specimens of a small mediaeval street in the world. I felt as if
I could pass a life in the museum and churches, and I did, in fact, years
after, remain there, very busy, for three weeks, sketching innumerable
corbels, gargoyles, goblins, arches, weather-worn saints and sinners. And
in the Cathedral I found the original of the maid in the garden a-hanging
out the clothes. She is a fair sinner, and the blackbird is a demon
volatile, who, having lighted on her shoulder, snaps her by the nose to
get her soul. The motive often occurs in Gothic sculpture.

We may trace it back--_vide_ the "Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers" of
Amelia B. Edwards (whom I have also met at an Oriental Congress)--to
Roman Harpies and the Egyptian _Ba_, depicted in the "Book of the Dead"
or the "Egyptian Bible."

THE END.

Footnotes:

{1} As I was very desirous of learning more about this celebrated
fireplace, I inserted a request in the _Public Ledger_ for information
regarding it, which elicited the following from some one to me unknown,
to whom I now return thanks:--

"MR. CITY-EDITOR OF THE _Public Ledger_,--In your edition of this
date, I notice a communication headed 'To Local Antiquarians.' Without
any well-founded pretensions to the designation 'Antiquarian,' as I
get older I still take a great interest in the early history of our
beloved city. I remember _distinctly_ the fact, but not the date, of
reading a description of the 'mantelpiece.' It was of wood,
handsomely carved on the pillars, and under the shelf, and on the
centre between the pillars, was the following quaint and witty
_hieroglyphic_ inscription:--

When the grate is M. T. put:
When it is . putting:

which is a little puzzling at first sight, but readily translated by