The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 379, July 4, 1829. Various

hand of their more humble neighbours, led them through the mazy dance with a feeling of kindness, friendship, and good humour such as I have seldom witnessed. Two or three hours of as beautiful an evening as ever zephyr kissed were thus spent, after which, drawing up before the house "the King" was given, with three times three; next came "God save the King," and then "Hurrah for the Bonnets o' Blue" led the party off in the order they came to witness the ceremony of "dressing" the May-Pole. About five hundred yards brought us to the elevated object on which was placed, with all due solemnity, the before-mentioned garlands, and the pole being considered fully dressed, we all adjourned to a large barn, where dancing was kept up with great spirit, until night drew her sable curtain over the scene, and the company retired with light hearts and weary feet to their peaceful homes.

      Such, sir, is the Dorsetshire way of hailing the return of gentle skies and genial seasons; a custom of the olden time, which is productive of good feeling among all classes, and is at present conducted with good order and respectability.

      Sturminster.

RURIS.

      Old Poets

      CUPID'S ARROWS

      At Venus' entreaty for Cupid, her son,

      These arrows by Vulcan were cunningly done:

      The first is Love, as here you may behold

      His feathers, head, and body, are of gold.

      The second shaft is Hate, a foe to Love,

      And bitter are his torments for to prove.

      The third is Hope, from whence our comfort springs,

      His feathers are pull'd from Fortune's wings.

      Fourth, Jealousy in basest minds doth dwell,

      This metal Vulcan's Cyclops sent from Hell.

G. PEELE.

      MIND

      It is the mind that maketh good or ill,

      That makes a wretch, or happy, rich or poor,

      For some that have abundance at their will,

      Have not enough but want in greatest store,

      Another that hath little asks no more,

      But, in that little is both rich and wise.

SPENSER.

      THE WORLD

      The first and riper world of men and skill,

      Yields to our later time for three inventions,

      Miraculously we write, we sail, we kill,

      As neither ancient scroll nor story mentions.

      Print. The first hath opened learning, old concealed

      And obscure arts restored to the light.

      Loadstone. The second hidden countries hath revealed,

      And sends Christ's Gospel to each living wight.

      These we commend, but oh! what needeth more.

      Guns. To teach Death more skill than he had before.

J. BASTARD.

      KINGS

      Kings are the Gods' vicegerents on the earth

      The Gods have power, Kings from that power have might,

      Kings should excell in virtue and in birth;

      Gods punish wrongs, and Kings should maintain right,

      They be the suns from which we borrow light.

      And they as Kings, should still in justice strive

      With Gods, from whom their beings they derive.

DRAYTON.

      COMPANY

      Remain upright yet some will quarrel pike,

      And common bruit will deem them all alike.

      For look, how your companions you elect

      For good or ill, so shall you be suspect.

T. HUDSON.

      POESIE

      All art is learned by art, this art alone

      It is a heavenly gift, no flesh nor bone

      Can praise the honey we from Pind distil,

      Except with holy fire his breast we fill.

      From that spring flows, that men of special chose

      Consum'd in learning and perfect in prose;

      For to make verse in vain does travel take,

      When as a prentice fairer words will make.

KING OF SCOTS.

      TWELVE FOUL FAULTS

      A wise man living like a drone, an old man not devout,

      Youth disobedient, rich men that are charity without,

      A shameless woman, vicious lords, a poor man proudly stout,

      Contentious Christians, pastors that their functions do neglect,

      A wicked king, no discipline, no laws men to direct,

      Are twelve the foulest faults that most commonwealths infect.

W. WARNER.

      RIVERS

      Fair Danubie is praised for being wide.

      Nilus commended for the seven-fold head;

      Euphrates for the swiftness of the tide,

      And for the garden whence his course is led,

      And banks of Rhine with vines o'erspread.

      Take Loire and Po, yet all may not compare

      With English Thames for buildings rare.

STORER.

      The Naturalist

      QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS FEEDING ON SHELL-FISH

      It is nothing surprising that the different species of walrus, inhabitants of the ocean, should feed partly on shell-fish, but perhaps you would not expect to find among their enemies animals strictly terrestrial. Yet the oran otang and the preacher monkey often descend to the sea to devour what shell-fish they may find strewed upon the shores. The former, according to Carreri Gemelli, feed in particular upon a large species of oyster, and fearful of inserting their paws between the open valves, lest the oyster should close and crush them, they first place a tolerably large stone within the shell, and then drag out their victim with safety. The latter are no less ingenious. Dampier saw several of them take up oysters from the beach, lay them on a stone, and beat them with another till they demolished the shells. Wafer observed the monkeys in the island of Gorgonia to proceed in a similar manner; and those of the Cape of Good Hope, if we are to credit La Loubere, perpetually amuse themselves by transporting shells from the shore to the tops of mountains, with the intention undoubtedly of devouring them at leisure. Even the fox, when pressed by hunger, will deign to eat muscles and other bivalves; and the racoon, whose fur is esteemed by hatters next in value to that of the beaver, when near the shore lives much on them, more particularly on oysters. We are told that it will watch the opening of the shells, dexterously put in its paw, and tear out the contents. Not, however, without danger, for sometimes, we are assured, by a sudden closure, the oyster will catch the thief, and detain him until he is drowned by the return of the tide. The story, I regret to say, appears somewhat apocryphal.

      These are amusing facts; the following, to the epicure at least, may be equally interesting. In some parts of England it is a prevalent and probably a correct opinion, that the shelled-snails contribute much to the fattening of their sheep. On the hill above Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, and in the south of Devonshire, the