hase his power away--
As round this humble spot I wing,
My thrilling voice shall daily sing
A requiem o'er the faded flower,
That bloom'd and wither'd in an hour,
And prov'd life is, in every view,
Naught but a rose-bud twin'd with rue.
A blossom born at day's first light,
And fading with the earliest night;
Nor stranger's step, nor shrieking loom,
Shall scare the warbler from the tomb'"

* * * * *

CURING THE "KING'S EVIL."

(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)

About five miles from Sturminster Newton, and near the village of
Hazlebury, resides a Dr. B----, who has attained a reputation, far
extended, for curing, in a miraculous manner, the king's evil; and as
the method he employs is very different from that of most modern
practitioners, a short account of it may, perhaps, be acceptable to the
readers of the MIRROR.

I had long known that the doctor used some particular season for his
operations, but was unable to say precisely the time, until a few days
since I had a conversation with a person who is well acquainted with the
doctor and his yearly "_fair, or feast_," as it is termed. Exactly
twenty-four hours before the new moon, in the month of May, every year,
whether it happens by night or by day, the afflicted persons assemble at
the doctor's residence, where they are supplied, by him, with the hind
legs of a _toad!_ yes, gentle reader a toad--don't start--enclosed in a
small bag (accompanied, I believe, with some verbal charm, or
incantation,) and also a lotion and salve of the doctor's preparation.
The bag containing the legs of the reptile is worn suspended from the
neck of the patient, and the lotion and salve applied in the usual
manner, until the cure is completed, or until the next year's "_fair_."

One would think that such a mysterious routine of doctoring, would
attract but few, and those the most illiterate; but I can assure my
readers the case is different. The number of carts, chaises, and other
conveyances laden with the afflicted which passed through this place on
the 2nd instant, bore ample testimony to the number of the doctor's
applicants; and the appearance of many of them corroborated the opinion
that they moved in a respectable sphere of life.

The new moon happening this year on the 3rd instant, at 57 minutes past
7 o'clock in the morning, the "fair" took place at the same hour the
preceding day.

My readers, no doubt, have h