ok in our
literature on which we would so readily stake the fame of the old
unpolluted English language--no book which shows so well how rich that
language is in its own proper wealth, and how little it has been improved
by all that it has borrowed.

Cowper said, forty or fifty years ago, that he dared not name John Bunyan
in his verse, for fear of moving a sneer. To our refined forefathers, we
suppose, Lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse, and the Duke of
Buckinghamshire's Essay on Poetry, appeared to be compositions infinitely
superior to the allegory of the preaching tinker. We live in better times;
and we are not afraid to say, that, though there were many clever men in
England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were only
two great creative minds. One of those minds produced the Paradise Lost,
the other the Pilgrim's Progress.--_Edinburgh Review_.

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

A London publisher advertises a collection of Nursery Tales as a "handsome
present for _youth_." Here the schoolmaster is surely behind-hand.

* * * * *

IMPROMPTU.--TO A LADY.

(_From the Italian_.)

Think not thy _faults_, my pretty scold,
Like transient clouds will pass away;
Thine image in the rose behold,
Whose leaves fade ere the _thorns_ decay.

E.L.J.

This trifle was sent to the _Mirror_ a few days since, and last Saturday
it appeared in the _Literary Gazette_, with the same signature, E.L.J.--Is
not this double-dealing?

* * * * *

_Pantomimes_.--Four hundred persons are nightly employed in the pantomime
at Covent Garden Theatre, on the stage, behind the scenes, and in the
orchestra. Of this number are 90 carpenters in the machinery, property,
and scenic department. The usual cost of one of these relics of olden
Christmas at a patent theatre is L2,000.; and upwards of L10,000. are
annually expended in producing pantomimes for the amusement of the large
and little children of this great metropolis.

_How to keep away the Cholera_.--Fear has proved at all times, but more
particularly during the prevalence of cholera, a fruitful predisposing
cause of disease; be firm, therefore, and confident. Cheerfulness of
disposition, equanimity and serenity of mind, are essential means of
preservation from epidemic disorders, cholera especially. You have now the
consoling assurance of the Ne