ON A PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE.

Talma, the French Tragedian, had a portrait of Shakspeare on a pair of bellows, the lower part of which, together with the leather and nozzle, is lost. Around the surface, close to the edge and in one line, is rudely carved, in letters, rather more than half an inch in length, the following verse:

Who have we here

Stuck on these bellows,

But the prince of good fellows,
Witty Shakspeare.

Directly over the portrait are these lines, also carved :

"O base and coward luck,

To be so stuck!"-Poins.

And immediately under it are the following

"Nay, but a god-like luck's to him assign'd,

Who, like the Almighty, rides upon the wind."-Pistol.

ON SEEING THE NAME OF "GEORGE REX" IN THE LIST OF BANKRUPTS,

In the Gazette of the 9th of June, 1821.

Some wiseacres sadly their noddles perplex,
To find that a bankrupt they'd make of George Rex;
Some declare "tis a hoax," whilst some, stanch and loyal,
Pronounce it "a blunder" upon the blood royal;

Many think it a libel-some say no such thing,'
And swear" a commission won't stand 'gainst the king:"
The King is no subject, and all ought to know,
He cares not a fig for John Doe or Dick Roe;
Though he mayn't have a stiver in purse or in pocket,
They can't 'gainst George Rex issue process or docket.

ON COUNT ZENOBIO.

Who was remarkable for a Nose of a prodigious size.

BY TOM PAINE.

Walking out the other day,
Upon a certain plan,
I met a nose upon the way,
Behind it was a man;

I called upon the nose to stop,
And, when it had done so,
The man behind it he came up,
They made-Zenobio.

WRITTEN ON A LOOKING-GLASS.

I change, and so do women too,
But I reflect, that women never do.

ANSWER, BY A LADY.

If women reflected, Oh Scribbler, declare,

What man! faithless man, would be bless'd by the fair!

THE WHITE ROSE,

Presented by a Yorkist to a Lady of the House of Lancaster.

If this fair rose offend thy sight,
Placed on thy bosom bare,
"Twill blush to find itself less white,

And turn Lancastrian there.

But, if thy ruby lip it spy,

And kiss it thou shouldst deign;

With envy pale 'twill lose its dye,

And Yorkist turn again.

THE REPLY.

Aminadab, with phiz demure,
Knocked at Mr. Owen's door;

With widen'd mouth and lengthen'd chin,
He asked, "Is friend O-n within ?"
Now John, who dearly lov'd a joke,
In tone like that the Quaker spoke,
With bow most reverently low,
As drawlingly replied, "No."

THE UNIVERSITIES.

Few Epigrams in our language contain more point than the two following, the first of which was composed by the Rev. Dr. Warton, on hearing that a regiment of horse had been sent by George II. to Oxford, and at the same time a collection of books to the University of Cambridge.

Our royal master saw, with heedful eyes,
The wants of his two Universities.

Troops he to Oxford sent-wouldst know for why:
That learned body wanted loyalty.

But books to Cambridge sent, as well discerning,
That this right loyal body wanted learning.

This jeu-d'esprit being once triumphantly quoted by Doctor Johnson, it was immediately answered by Sir William Browne, a physician, in these lines, which Johnson acknowledged to be the happiest extemporaneons production he had ever heard.

The king to Oxford sent his troop of horse-
For Tories own no argument but force;
With equal care to Cambridge books he sent-
For Whigs allow no force but argument.

THE HOLYDAY.

Jack will not work, and Nell puts on her pinners-
The ancient saints make many modern sinners.

A QUERY ANSWERED.

A gentleman once asked his son, "What word in the English language, taking away the first letter, would surely make you sick?" In answer to which the following epigrammatic reply was returned.

Take this for I can find no better:
The word you mean is musick;
By cutting off the initial letter,
"Twill certainly make u-sick.

ON A BELL.

To call the folks to church in time-I chime;
When mirth and pleasure's on the wing-I ring;
When from the body parts the soul—I toll.

ON A BAD FIDDLER.

Old Orpheus play'd so well, he moved Old Nick,
But thou mov'st nothing but thy fiddle-stick,

ANAGRAM.

If you transpose what ladies wear-
"Twill plainly show what harlots are—
Again, if you transpose the same,

-[veil,]

-[vile.]

You'll see an ancient Hebrew name

-[Levi.]

Change it again and it will show,
What all on earth desire to do-[live.]
Transpose these letters yet once more,
What bad men do you'll then explore-[evil.]

WORSE THAN BAD.

"My wife's so very bad," quoth Will,
"I fear she ne'er can hold it;

She keeps her bed."--" Mine's worse," cried Phil,
"The jade has just now sold it.”

THE "LIBERAL" SECRETARIES.

A French gentleman was in the gallery, listening to the speeches-of course, that of Mr. Canning caught his attention, and he inquired who the orator was; he was told, the "Foreign Secretary." Shortly after, when Mr. Peel addressed the house, he again became interested, and asked who that was?— "The Home Secretary," was the answer. "Ah, ma fois !" said the Frenchman, "a present-now I perceive how it isde first Secretaire he plead de cause for the foreigners, and the second for the people of England; ma fois, how vary liberal."

Mr. Samuel Rogers, the banker (saith our oracle), happening to overhear the blunder, instantly pulled out his neverfailing fountain pen, and wrote the following little epigram:

Sure never were offices better assign'd,

In a contest 'twixt England and Rome;
When Canning the foreign department upholds,
And Peel takes such care of our home!

ON A YOUNG GENTLEMAN

Exchanging the Medical for the Military Profession.

To Mars old Esculapius yields,

Young Cam projects no cures, but slaughter;

The pistol, not the pestle, wields,

The warrior's, not the doctor's mortar.