[A rude figure of a Fox.] I. HAM. A. CUNEN. FOX You see. ther. his

No. harme. atched

To. me. it. is. my. Mrs.
Wish. to. place. me

here. to. let. you. no

he. sels. good. beere.

The Rawlinson of the district has deciphered this inscrip tion, and conjectures its meaning to be as follows:

I am a cunning fox, you see;
There is no harm attached to me:

It is my master's wish to place me here,
To let you know he sells good beer.

In King Street, Norwich, at the sign of "The Waterman," kept by a man who is a barber and over whose door is the pole, are these lines :

Roam not from pole to pole,

But step in here;

Where nought exceeds the shaving,

But the beer.

This was originally an impromptu of Dean Swift, written at the request of his favorite barber.

On the window of a small tippling-house in a country village is painted the following:

My wyfe queres a Goose,

And I quere the Ganders.

A stranger, observing and being perplexed by it, entered the house to inquire its meaning, which, after some trouble, he ascertained to be,

My wife cures Agues,

And I cure the Jaundice,

ENGLISH INNS IN THE OLDEN TIME

Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round,

Where'er his journeys may have been,

May sigh to think he still has found

His warmest welcome at an inn.-SHENstone.

Fynes Moryson, in his Itinerary, thus speaks of English Inns :

As soon as a passenger comes to an inne, the servants run to him, and one takes his horse and walkes him about till he be cool, then rubs him down, and gives him meat; another servant gives the passenger his private chamber and kindles his fire; the third pulls off his bootes and makes them cleane; then the host and hostess visit him, and if he will eate with the hoste or at a common table with the others, his meale will cost him sixpence, or in some places fourpence; but if he will eate in his chamber, he commands what meat he will, according to his appetite; yea, the kitchen is open to him to order the meat to be dressed as he likes beste. After having eaten what he pleases, he may with credit set by a part for next day's breakfast. His bill will then be written for him, and, should he object to any charge, the host is ready to alter it. "Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis!"

INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS.

Vivos voco-Mortuos plango-Fulgura frango.

I call the living-I mourn the dead-I break the lightning. This brief and impressive announcement-the motto of Schiller's ever-memorable Song of the Bell-was common to the church-bells of the Middle Ages, and may still be found on the bell of the great Minster of Schaffhausen, and on that of the church near Lucerne. Another and a usual one, which is, in fact, but an amplification of the first, is this:Funera plango-Fulgura frango-Sabbato pango.

Excito lentos-Dissipo ventos-Paco cruentos.

I mourn at funerals-I break the lightning-I proclaim the Sabbath.
I urge the tardy-I disperse the winds-I calm the turbulent.

The following motto may still be seen on some of the bells that have swung in their steeples for centuries. It will be observed to entitle them to a sixfold efficacy.

Men's death I tell by doleful knell,

Lightning and thunder I break asunder,

On Sabbath all to church I call,
The sleepy head I raise from bed,
The winds so fierce I do disperse,
Men's cruel rage I do assuage.

On the famous alarm-bell called Roland, in the belfry-tower of the once powerful city of Ghent, is engraved the subjoined inscription, in the old Walloon or Flemish dialect:Mynen naem is Roland; als ik klep is er brand,

and als ik luy is er victorie in het land.

Anglicé. My name is Roland; when I toll there is fire,

and when I ring there is victory in the land.

The books of the Roman Catholic faith contain a ritual for the baptism of bells, which decrees that they be named and anointed,—a ceremonial which was supposed to insure them against the machinations of evil spirits.

On the largest of three bells placed by Edward III. in the Little Sanctuary, Westminster, are these words:

King Edward made me thirtie thousand weight and three;
Take me down and wey me, and more you shall find me.

The Great Tom of Oxford was cast after two failures, April 8, 1680, from the metal of an old bell, on which was the following curious inscription, whence its name :-

In Thomæ laude resono bim bom sine fraude.

On a bell in Durham Cathedral is inscribed,―
To call the folk to church in time,

I chime.

When mirth and pleasure's on the wing,

I ring.

And when the body leaves the soul,

I toll.

On a bell at Lapley, in Staffordshire :—

I will sound and resound to thee, O Lord,

To call thy people to thy word.

On a bell in Meivod Church, Montgomeryshire:

I to the church the living call,

And to the grave do summon all.

On Independence bell, Philadelphia, from Lev. xxv. 10 :— Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

GREAT BELLS.

The weights of the principal bells in Europe are set down

The first in the list, cast by order of the Empress Anne, of Russia, is 20 feet in height; its circumference at the bottom is 63 feet; its greatest thickness is 23 inches, and the tongue is 14 feet long. The Bolshoi is 21 feet high and 18 feet in diameter.

At Pekin, China, there are seven bells, cast in the reign of Youlo, each of which weighs 120,000 pounds. At Nankin is a bell, the weight of which is said to be full 50,000 pounds.

FLY-LEAF INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS.

The following lines, formerly popular among youthful scholars, may still be found in school-books :

This book is mine

By right divine;
And if it go astray,

I'll call you kind
My desk to find

And put it safe away.

This book is mine,-that you may know,

By letters two I will you show:

The first is J, a letter bright;

The next is S in all men's sight.

But if you still my name should miss,

Look underneath, and here it is:

JOHN SMITH.

Whoe'er this book, if lost, doth find,
I hope will have a generous mind,
And bring it to the owner,-me,

Whose name they'll see page fifty-three.

The curious warning subjoined-paradoxical in view of the improbability of any honest friend pilfering-has descended to our times from the days of black-letter printing :— Steal not this book, my honest friend,

For fear the gallows be your end;

For if you do, the Lord will say,

Where is that book you stole away?

Another often met with is this:

Hic liber est meus,

Testis et est Deus;
Si quis me quærit,
Hic nomen erit.

The two following admonitions are full of salutary advice to book-borrowers :

Neither blemish this book, or the leaves double down,
Nor lend it to each idle friend in the town;

Return it when read; or, if lost, please supply

Another as good to the mind and the eye.

With right and with reason you need but be friends,
And each book in my study your pleasure attends.

If thou art borrowed by a friend,

Right welcome shall he be,
To read, to study, not to lend,
But to return to me.

Not that imparted knowledge doth
Diminish learning's store;

But books, I find, if often lent,

Return to me no more.

Read slowly, pause frequently, think seriously, keep clean, RETURN DULY, with the corners of the leaves not turned down.

Of the warning and menacing kind are the following:

This book is one thing,

My fist is another;

Touch this one thing,

You'll sure feel the other.