Yes, yes, father abbot, your fault it is highe, And first, quo' the king, when I'm in this stead, Secondlye, tell me, without any doubt, How soone I may ride the whole world about; O, these are hard questions for my shallow witt, Now three weeks space to thee will I give, Away rode the abbot, all sad at that word, That could with his learning an answer devise. Then home rode the abbot, of comfort so cold, Sad newes, sad newes, shepheard, I must give: That I have but three days more to live; For if I do not answer him questions three, My head will be smitten from my bodie. The first is to tell him there in that stead, The second, to tell him, without any doubt, Now cheare up, sire abbot: did you never hear yet, Nay, frowne not, if it hath bin told unto mee, I am like your lordship, as ever may bee; There is none shall knowe us in fair London towne. Now horses and serving-men thou shalt have, Now welcome, sire abbot, the king he did say, And first, when thou seest me here in this stead, For thirty pence our Saviour was sold For I think thou art one penny worser than hee. The king he laughed, and swore by St. Bittel, I did not think I had been worth so littel! Now secondly, tell me, without any doubt, How soone I may ride this whole world about. You must rise with the sun, and ride with the same, And then your grace need not make any doubt The king he laughed, and swore by St. Jone, I did not think it could be gone so soone! Yea, that shall I do, and make your grace merry; The king he laughed, and swore by the masse, Four nobles a week, then, I will give thee, For this merry jest thou hast showne unto mee; And tell the old abbot, when thou comest home, Thou hast brought him a pardon from good King John. The Fancies of Fact. THE WOUNDS OF JULIUS CÆSAR. "Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed." AT a meeting of the French Academy of Medicine, a few years ago, a curious paper was read, on behalf of M. Dubois, of Amiens, entitled "Investigations into the death of Julius Cæsar." M. Dubois having looked up the various passages referring to this famous historic incident to be found in Dion Cassius, Plutarch, Suetonius, Appian, &c., and compared them with one another, has fixed the spots where the four first wounds were inflicted, and the names of the conspirators who inflicted them. The first blow, struck by one of the brothers Casca, produced a slight wound underneath the left clavicle; the second, struck by the other Casca, penetrated the walls of the thorax toward the right; Cassius inflicted the third wound in the face. Decimus Brutus gave the fourth stab in the region of the groin. Contrary to the general opinion, Marcus Brutus, though one of the conspirators, did not strike the dictator. After the first blows Cæsar fainted, and then all the conspirators hacked his body. He was carried by three slaves in a litter to his house. Anstistius, the physician, was called in and found thirty-five wounds, only one of which was in his opinion fatal, that of the second Casca. BILLS FOR STRANGE SERVICES. The bill of the Cirencester painter, mentioned by Bishop Horne, (Essays and Thoughts,) is as follows: Mr. Charles Terrebee To Joseph Cook, Dr. To mending the Commandments, altering the Belief, and making a new Lord's Prayer £1-1-0 Here is a Carpenter's bill of the Fifteenth Century, copied from the records of an old London Church: Judge Blackstone says, in his Commentaries (Vol. i. ch. xviii.), that every Bishop, Parson or Vicar is a Corporation. Lord Coke asserts, in his Reports (10. Rep. 32,) that "a Corporation has no soul." Upon these premises, the logical inference would be that neither Bishops, Parsons nor Vicars have souls. RECIPROCAL CONVERSION. A curious case of mixed process of conversation was that of the two brothers, Dr. John Reynold's, King's Professor at Oxford, in 1630, a zealous Roman Catholic, and Dr. Wm. Reynolds, an eminent Protestant. They were both learned men, and as brothers held such affectionate relations, that the deadly heresies of which each regarded the other as the victim were matters of earnest and pleading remonstrance between them by discus. sion and correspondence. The pains and zeal of each were equally rewarded. The Roman Catholic brother became an ardent Protestant, and the Protestant brother became a Roman Catholic. PITHY PRAYER. We are indebted to Hume for the preservation of a short prayer, which he says was that of Lord Astley, before he charged at Edge-hill. It ran thus: "O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me." And Hume adds, "There were certainly much longer prayers in the Parliamentary army, but I doubt if there was as good a one.” MELROSE BY SUNLIGHT. The beautiful description of the appearance of the ruins of Melrose Abbey by moonlight, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, has led thousands to visit the scene "when silver edges the imagery," yet it is worth noting that the author never saw the ruined pile by "the pale moonlight." Bernard Barton once wrote to Scott to request him to favor a young lady with a copy of the lines in his own handwriting. Sir Walter complied, but substituted for the concluding lines of the original the following: "Then go-and muse with deepest awe On what the writer never saw; Who would not wander 'neath the moon BACK ACTION. Alphonse Karr, in his Guêpes, speaking of the dexterities of the legal profession, relates a pleasant anecdote of the distinguished lawyer, afterward deputy, M. Chaix d'Est-Ange. He was employed in a case where both the parties were old men. Referring to his client, he said: "He has attained that age, when the mind, freed from the passions, and tyranny of the body, takes a higher flight, and soars in a purer and serener air." Later in his speech, he found occasion to allude to the |