DR. FRANKLIN'S EPITAPH.

DR. FRANKLIN's well known Epitaph on himself as a printer, is of later date than either of the two following epigrams, which most probably suggested the idea.

The World.

The world's a book, writ by th' eternal art
Of the great Author; printed in man's heart;
'Tis falsely printed, though divinely penn'd,
And all the errata will appear at th' end.

The world's a printing-house, our words are thoughts,
Our deeds are characters of several sizes;
Each soul's a compositor, of whose faults

The Levites are correctors; and heaven revises;
Earth is the common press, from which being driven,
We're gather'd, sheet by sheet, and bound for heaven.

Scholars have often indulged in spiritualizing books. "A woman," says one, " is a book." Another has the following Epigram on Marriage:

Let the good man, for nuptial rites designed,
Turn over every page of woman kind;

Mark every sense, and how the readings vary,

And when he's read them thorough, let him marry.

THE HARVEST TALE.

"O FATHER, dear father! lament now with me;
This morning I've been at our wood,
And the fine flowing leaves of your favourite tree
Around on the grass are all strew'd;

And sure 'tis a pity! for lovely and green,
All summer they yielded a shade,

Dear father, to you, who against it would lean,
While sister and I round it play'd.

H

"Of late they began to change colour indeed,
Like the corn when 'tis ripe on the field:
And the dark glossy green became yellow and red,
As if they ripe berries would yield:

I thought this was pretty, and ne'er heard you say
That the leaves would soon fall from the tree;
And I never was happier than t'other fine day,
When you look'd there at sister and me.'

"Why, my boy, I am griev'd at the tale you have told, But the leaves every year drop around,

They are green when in youth, and turn red when they're old,
Then the wind blows them down to the ground.

But take comfort, my boy: when the winter is fled,
The leaves will appear on the tree,

And again form a bower, thy father to shade,

And the gambols of sister and thee.”

"Why, that's good ;-but, my father, I've sad news to tell, Old William, who liv'd at hill-side,

And lately came hither, so wan and so pale,

Old William this morning hath died."

"Old William hath died? Ah! indeed, I am sad;
But age, when it ripens, must fall;

Though green was his summer, his autumn must fade;
Such, my boy, is the end of us all.”

"Then he falls like the leaves of your favourite tree! But when the long winter is o'er,

Old William again on the hills shall we see

A feeding his flock, as before?"

Ah, no! my sweet boy! the dead wander no more
In the bounds of this wind-wasted scene;

But to regions immortal all good spirits soar,
More lovely, more lasting, and green."

A.

WILL OF KING HENRY THE FOURTH OF ENGLAND.

IN the name of God, Fdir, and Son, and Holy Gost, thre Persons and one God, I, Henry, sinful wretch, be the grace of God, kyng of Englond, and of Fraunce, and lord of Irlond, being in myne hole mynd, mak my testament in manere and forme, that sayth, first, I bequeth to Almyghty God, my sinful soul; the whiche had never been worthye to be man, but trough his mercy, and his grace, whiche lyffe I have mispendyd, whereof I put me whollily in hys grace, and hys mercy, with all myn herte. And what tym hit liketh hym, of hys mercy, for to tak me to hym, the body for to be buried in the church of Canterbury, after the discrecion of my cousin, the archbysheoppe of Canterbury. And, also, I thank all my lordes, and trewe people, for the trewe service that theye have done to me, and y ask hem forgiveness, if I have missentreted hem in any wyse. And also, fur as they have offendyd me in wordis, or in dedis, in any wyse, y prey God forgeve hem hit, and y do. Also, y devyse and ordeyn, that ther be a chantre perpettuall of twey preestis, for to sing and prey for my soul in the aforseyd chirch of Canterbury, in soche plase, and aftyr soch ordinanse as hit semeth best to my aforseyd cousin of Canterbury. Also, I ordeyn, and devyse, that of my goodis restitution be made to all hem that y hev wrongfully greived, or any good had of theirs, without any iust tytle. Also, y will and ordeyn, that of my goodis, all my debtis be all paied in all hast possible; and that my servants be rewardyd aftyr ther nede, and desert of servise; and especyal Wilken, Iohn Warren, and William Thorpe, gromes of my chambre. Also, y will, that all those that be bond in eny debt that y owe in eny wyse, or have undertake to eny man for eny debt that I owe, or that they can dwlye shewe hit, that all soch persons be kept harmlysse. Also, y will, that all fees and wages that are not paied, to be paied; and especyal to my seruants of houshold, befor eny oder. And also, that all myn annuityes, fees, and donacions, grauntyd by me, befor this tym, be my lettres patents; and yn especiall to all hem that have been trewe servants to me, and toward me, alway. Also, y will and prey, that my son, that he have recommendyd Thomas de Crois, that hath well and trewly servyd me, and also Jacob Raysh and Halley. Also, y will, that the queen be endowyed of the duche of Lancastre. Also, y will, that all my officers, both of houshold and other, the which nedeth to have pardon for eny thing that touch theyr offices, both of losse and oder thing, they have pardon thereof, in semblable manere, as y of my

volence and affection, impressed a kiss upon their lips. To the circumstance of placing them upon the ground, Juvenal alludes, when he says,

Infantem tollis? foribus suspende coronam

Jam pater es

According to Zenodotus, the people of Abydos, at public and solemn festivals, took infants from the arms of their nurses, who attended on purpose, and carried them round to be kissed by those who were present.

Silvianus Massiliensis, in one of his epistles, says, "Kiss the feet of your parents like a maid servant, their hands as a pupil, their lips as a daughter."

It was formerly the custom to kiss, by putting ear to ear, as appears by the following epigram:

"Oscula posco, meis tu libas auribus aures
Nostra tuis tundens tempora temporibus.
Oscula ab ore ipso veniant, non oscula dicas
Hæc igitur, dicas scilicet auriculas."

To this mode of kissing there is frequent allusion in the ancient writers, both Greek and Latin, and, in particular, by Plautus. Parents also took their children by the ears when they kissed them. There is at Rome an ancient monument, on which a winged Cupid is represented as taking a female by the ears and kissing her.

The women of England (says Polydore Virgil) not only salute their relations with a kiss, but all persons promiscously; and this ceremony they repeat, gently touching them with the lips, not only with grace, but without the least immodesty. Such, however, as are of the blood-royal, do not kiss their inferiors, but offer the back of the hand, as men do by way of saluting each other.

Erasmus writes in raptures to one of his friends on this subject: "Did you but know, my Faustus," says he, "the pleasures which England affords, you would fly here on winged feet, and, if your gout would not allow you, you would wish yourself a Dædalus. To mention to you one among many things, here are nymphs of the loveliest looks, goodhumoured, easy of access, and whom you would prefer even to your favourite Muses. Here also prevails a custom never enough to be commended, that wherever you come, every one receives you with a kiss, and when you take your leave, every one gives you a kiss; when you return, kisses again meet you.

If any one leaves you, they leave you with a kiss; if you meet any one, the first salutation is a kiss; in short, wherever you go, kisses everywhere abound; which, my Faustus, did you once taste how very sweet, and how very fragrant they are, you would not, like Solon, wish for ten years' exile in England, but would desire there to spend the whole of your life."

Antonio Perez, secretary to the embassy from Philip the Second, of Spain, writes thus to the earl of Essex: "I have this day, according to the custom of your country, kissed, at an entertainment, seven females, all of them accomplished in mind, and beautiful in person."

Dr. Pierius Winsemius, historiographer to their high mightinesses, the states of Friezland, in his Chronijck van Frieslandt, printed in 1622, informs us, that the pleasant custom of kissing was utterly unpractised and unknown in England (just as it is this day in New Zealand, where sweethearts only know how to touch noses when they wish to be kind), until the fair princess Rouix, the daughter of king Hengist, of Friezland, "pressed the beaker with her lipkens, (little lips,) and saluted the amorous Vortigern with a husjen, (little kiss.)

ANNE BOLEYN.

AMONG the Harleian MSS. there is (No. 2252) " A Ditty, setting forth the inconstancy of Fortune, from a fable of a falcon, who flew from the other birds to the top of a mountain, adorned with a fine rose-tree, where a loving lion chose her a nest." Wanley has ventured on an explanation of this allegory, which carries with it great appearance of probability. By the falcon," he says, "is meant queen Anne Boleyn, it being her device; by the mountain, England, and by the lion, king Henry VIII." The poem, though distinguished by the quaintness of the older times, is interesting and curious. It thus commences :

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"In a fresshe mornynge among the flowrys,
My service sayinge at certayne owrys,

Swetly the byrds were syngynge amonge the shewrys
For that joye of good fortune: