be content, I have rather done you a courtesy than a wrong, for if ever my Lord North had seen the fool there, he would have begged him, and so you might have lost your whole suit." -L'ESTRANGE. Anecdotes and Traditions.

TOBACCO.-Sir Walter Raleigh was the first that brought tobacco into England, and into fashion. In our part of North WiltsMalmesbury hundred-it came first into fashion by Sir Walter Long. They had first silver pipes. The ordinary sort made use of a walnut-shell and a straw. I have heard my grandfather Lyte say that one pipe was handed from man to man round the table. Sir W. R., standing in a stand at Sir Ro. Poyntz's park at Acton, took a pipe of tobacco, which made the ladies quit it till he had done. Within these thirty-five years 'twas scandalous for a divine to take tobacco. It was sold then for its weight in silver. I have heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say, that when they went to Malmesbury or Chippenham market, they culled out their biggest shillings to lay in the scales against the tobacco; now the customs of it are the greatest his Majesty hath.-AUBREY.

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.-I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon return; and hav ing gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill. -JOHNSON, in Boswell.

CANDOUR.--Marivaux, a celebrated French writer of romances,

who flourished in the first half of the last century, having one day met with a sturdy beggar, who asked charity of him, he replied, "My good friend, strong and stout as you are, it is a shame that you do not go to work." Ah, master," said the beggar, "if you did but know how lazy I am." "Well," replied Marivaux, "I see thou art an honest fellow, here is half-a-crown for you."-SEWARD'S Anecdotes.

AMBITION.-Cineas was an excellent orator and statesman, and principal friend and counsellor to Pyrrhus; and falling in inward talk with him, and discerning the king's endless ambition, Pyrrhus opened himself unto him, that he intended first a war upon Italy, and hoped to achieve it. Cineas asked him, "Sir, what will you do then?"" Then," said he, said, "Well, sir, what then?" us, we may conquer Africa and Carthage." "What then, sir?" said Cineas. "Nay, then," said Pyrrhus, we may take our rest, and sacrifice and feast every day, and make merry with our friends." "Alas! sir," said Cineas, "C may we not do so now, without all this ado ?"-BACON.

we will attempt Sicily." Cineas Said Pyrrhus, "If the gods favour

OBSERVATION.-A dervise was journeying alone in a desert, when two merchants suddenly met him: "You have lost a camel," said he to the merchants. "Indeed we have," they replied. "Was he not blind in his right eye, and lame in his left leg?" said the dervise. "He was," replied the merchants. "Had he not lost a front tooth?" said the dervise. "He had," rejoined the merchants. "And was he not loaded with honey on one side, and wheat on the other ?" "Most certainly he was," they replied; "and as you have seen him so lately, and marked him so particularly, you can, in all probability, conduct us unto him." "My friends," said the dervise, "I have never seen your camel, nor ever heard of him, but from you." "A pretty story, truly," said the merchants; "but where are the jewels which formed a part of his cargo ?" "I have neither seen your camel, nor your jewels," repeated the dervise. On this they seized his person, and forth. with hurried him before the cadi, where, on the strictest search. nothing could be found upon him, nor could any evidence what

ever be adduced to convict him, either of falsehood or of theft. They then were about to proceed against him as a sorcerer, when the dervise with great calmness thus addressed the court:"I have been much amused with your surprise, and own that there has been some ground for your suspicions; but I have lived long, and alone; and I can find ample scope for observation, even in a desert. I knew that I had crossed the track of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because I saw no mark of any human footstep on the same route; I knew that the animal was blind in one eye, because it had cropped the herbage only on one side of its path; and I perceived that it was lame in one leg, from the faint impression which that particular foot had produced upon the sand; I concluded the animal had lost one tooth, because, wherever it had grazed, a small tuft of herbage had been left uninjured in the centre of its bite. As to that which formed the burden of the beast, the busy ants informed me that it was corn on the one side, and the clustering flies that it was honey on the other."COLTON.

Lacon.

The Koran.

G. CAMPBELL.

[THE following illustration of the inferiority in subject-matter and style of the Koran of Mohammed, as compared with the Bible, is not given as a paper for Sunday reading, but as a specimen of a book which contains a number of similar stories, in connexion, indeed, with many things that are in a higher spirit. The passage which we subjoin occurs in a note to Dr George Camp. bell's "Dissertation on Miracles." This learned Scotch divine was Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen. He was the author also of a valuable work, "The Philosophy of Rhetoric." George Campbell was born in 1709, and died in 1796.]

I hardly think that we can have a more striking proof of the prejudices of modern infidels, than in their comparing this motley composition, the Koran, to the writings of the Old and the New Testament. Let the reader but take the trouble to peruse the history of Joseph by Mohammed, which is the subject of a very long

chapter, and to compare it with the account of that patriarch given by Moses, and if he doth not perceive at once the immense inferiority of the former, I shall never, for my part, undertake by argument to convince him of it. To me it appears even almost incredible, that the most beautiful and most affecting passages of Holy Writ should have been so wretchedly disfigured by a writer whose intention, we are certain, was not to burlesque them. But that every reader may be qualified to form some notion of this miracle of a book, I subjoin a specimen of it, from the chapter of the Ant: where we are informed particularly of the cause of the visit which the queen of Sheba (there called Saba) made to Solomon, and of the occasion of her conversion from idolatry. I have not selected this passage on account of any special futility to be found in it, for the like absurdities may be observed in every page of the performance; but I have selected it because it is short, and because it contains a distinct story, which bears some relation to a passage of Scripture. I use Mr Sale's version, which is the latest, and the most approved, omitting only, for the sake of brevity, such supplementary expressions as have been, without necessity, inserted by the translator:

"Solomon was David's heir; and he said, 'O men, we have been taught the speech of birds, and have had all things bestowed on us; this is manifest excellence.' And his armies were gathered together to Solomon, consisting of genii, and men, and birds; and they were led in distinct bands, until they came to the valley of ants. An ant said, 'O ants, enter ye into your habitations, lest Solomon and his army tread you under foot, and perceive it not.' And he smiled, laughing at her words, and said, 'O Lord, excite me, that I may be thankful for thy favour, wherewith thou hast favoured me and my parents, and that I may do that which is right and well pleasing to thee; and introduce me through thy mercy, among thy servants the righteous.' And he viewed the birds, and said, 'What is the reason that I see not the lapwing? Is she absent ? Verily I will chastise her with a severe chastisement, or I will put her to death; unless she bring me a just excuse.' And she tarried not long, and said, 'I have viewed that which thou hast not viewed;

I

and I come to thee from Saba with a certain piece of news. found a woman to reign over them, who is provided with everything, and hath a magnificent throne. I found her and her people to worship the sun, besides God; and Satan hath prepared their work for them, and hath turned them aside from the way, (wherefore they are not directed,) lest they should worship God, who bringeth to light that which is hidden in heaven and earth, and knowing whatever they conceal, and whatever they discover. God! there is no God but he; the lord of the magnificent throne.' He said, 'We shall see whether thou hast spoken the truth, or whether thou art a liar. Go with this my letter, and cast it down to them; Then turn aside from them, and wait for their answer.' The queen said, 'O nobles, verily an honourable letter hath been delivered to me; it is from Solomon, and this is the tenor thereof: In the name of the most merciful God, rise not up against me: but come and surrender yourselves to me. She said, 'O nobles, advise me in my business. I will not resolve on anything, till you be witnesses hereof.' They answered, 'We are endued with strength, and endued with great prowess in war; but the command appertaineth to thee: see, therefore, what thou wilt command.' She said, 'Verily kings, when they enter a city, waste the same, and abase the most powerful of the inhabitants thereof; and so will these do. But I will send gifts to them, and will wait for what those who shall be sent shall bring back.' And when the ambassador came to Solomon, the prince said, 'Will ye present me with riches? Verily that which God hath given me is better than what he hath given you: but ye glory in your gifts. Return to your people. We will surely come to them with forces which they shall not be able to withstand; and we will drive them out humbled, and they shall be contemptible.' And Solomon said, "O nobles, which of you will bring me her throne, before they come and surrender themselves to me?' A terrible genius answered, 'I will bring it thee before thou arise from thy place.' And one, with whom was the knowledge of the Scripture, said, 'I will bring it to thee in the twinkling of an eye.' And when Solomon saw it placed before him, he said, 'This is a favour of my Lord, that he may make