Lines on the Statue of the Negro in Thou seek'st a tender ear; A foolish fellow, when addressed by a man of rank, used to answer," Thank God and your Lordship.' "How many children have you, honest man ?" said a Grandee to him; "Four, thank -God and your Lordship!" THE CHASE. A peasant having killed a wild boar in the vineyards on the estate of M. de Charrolais, was arrest ed and ordered to the galleys. The poor wretch, overwhelmed by the horrible sentence, threw himself at the feet of the enraged Lord, and exclaimed, 04 Ah, my Lord! have mercy on me, I beg your pardon; but I thought it was I a man, or I would not have killed it." His excuse was admitted, and as he only intended to destroy one of his fellow-creatures, he was pardoned and dismissed. 7 HERALDS. These officers had for merly more active and dangerous duties than at present on the day of battle they bore the royal standard, they ascertained the number of the dead, re- claimed the prisoners, summoned cities and castles to surrender, and assisted at the capitulations. The last instaure of a Herald being dispatched to declare war, was in the time of Louis XIII. of France, against the Cardinal Infant Governor of the Low Countries. Since that time, the sovereigns of Europe have contented themselves with declaring war by manifestoes. DEATH OF THE YEAR 1822.-Expired, on Tuesday night, at 12 o'clock, the Year 1822. A complication of disorders of morbid tendency brought on her end. The early symptom of disease, was febris carbonari; Neapolitan tremor followed; Spanish and Portuguese agitation then shook her with great violence; Greek furor and Ottoman oppression came on in violent paroxysms, whilst the unhappy patient was occasionally subject to cold fits of Russian and British policy. The most celebrated Doctors in Europe met to consult upon the case. They prescrib: ed the principles of Holy Alliance in large doses, but the nostrum, like most quack medicines, totally failed.Spanish and Portuguese agitation baffled all the skill of the doctors; it became primary, and introduced another disorder, called French weakness. The year 1822 was rich she produced abundance. All the necessaries of life she dispensed with a bountiful hand, but some of her unnatural children reproached her with excess of bounty, and wished for gold instead of bread. The most dutiful of her family blessed her fruitfulness, TO CORRESPONDENTS. A press of temporary matter of interest prevents our inserting several articles intended for the present number. N.S.Y. W.S.W. and S.T. have our best thanks: their valuable communication shall have insertion in our next. The favours of several other correspondents are intended for early in ser tion. In answer to the note of F.M. we beg leave to state, that at the end of every volume of THE MIRROR, we shall give an engraved Title-page and an Index. Although we have no set phrase of speech," like our more ostentatious contemporaries, in which to address our numerous readers at the commencement of the New Year, yet we assure them they have our best wishes, the compli ments of the season, and "all that sort of thing," as our facetious friend, Charles Mathews, has it. All communications intended for THE MIRROR, must be addressed to the Editor, and the postage paid, otherwise they cannot be received. Published by J. LIMBIRD, 355, Strand, (East end of Exeter Change), and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers. Printed by T. DOLBY, 299, Strand. OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. No. XI.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1823. Shakspeare's House. [PRICE 2d. WE are sure that there is not one of our readers but will thank us for this week's engraving, which is a correct view of the House in which the immortal Shakspeare was born, at Stratfordupon-Avon. If ever there was a man born for immortality, it was William Shakspeare. He was, indeed, "not" for an age, but for all time." The author of thirty-six plays, of which not fewer than twenty-two are still favour-. ites with the age; his dramas, after a lapse of two centuries, are still witnessed with unabated ardour by the people, and are still read with animation by the scholar. They interest the old and the young, the gallery and the pit, the people and the critic. At their representation the appetite is never palled--expectation never disappointed. The changes of fashion have not cast him into the shade; the variations of language have not rendered him obsolete. "Each change of many-colour'd life he drew, Exhausted worlds and then imagin'd new; VOL. I. Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign, And His panting time toil'd after him in vain ; powerful strokes presiding truth impress'd, And unresisted passion storm'd the breast."" Such was the individual whose birth place the above engraving represents. William Shakspeare was born April 20, 1564, at Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, a small town about 90 miles distant from London; which, according to the census of the population in 1821, contained 590 houses and 3069 inhabitants. This town having lost its woollen trade, for which it was eminent in the time of Shakspeare, and having no manufactory, would be one of the most beggarly in the kingdom, but for the renown of Shakspeare, and the numerous visitors drawn to the place, to view the house of his nativity and his tonb. The house in which Shakspeare was born is now divided into two; the northern half of which was, a few M years ago, when our drawing was made, a butcher's shop. The window over it belongs to the room in which Shakspeare was born, and which is designated by his initial S. The southern half of the house is now a respectable public-house, bearing the sign of the Swan and Maidenhead; and where many a bumper has been drank with sincere devotion to the memory of its Immortal occupant. The father of Shakspeare was a respectable dealer in wool, and a member of the corporation; but it is said that he was unfortunate in business, and afterwards became a butcher. After the death of Shakspeare's grand-daughter, Lady Barnard, his houses at Stratford-on-Avon reverted to the descendants of, Shakspeare's sister Joan, as heirs at law, and continued in their possession during several generations. About twenty-five years ago, Mrs. Harte, one of those descendants, sold them to the occupier of the Swan and Maidenhead, for 2301.; they having been previously so deeply mortgaged, that Mrs. Harte had only 30l. to receive. The house and room in which Shak speare was born, now occupied by Mrs. Hornby, are visited annually by upwards of a thousand respectable persons, who come to pay their devotions at the shrine of their favorite bard. A few years since, the conductors of the public library at Stratford confided to Mrs. Hornby a blank folio, for the purpose of receiving the signatures of visitors; and it has already received those of British and Foreign Princes, the Duke of Wellington, nearly the whole of the British Peerage, and a variety of persons distinguished by their rank and talents. Some of these signatures are accompanied by original verses, suggested by the scene, and possessing, as may be supposed, various degrees of merit. Most of them, however, are well described in the following lines, which some person has inscribed among the rest: "Ah, Shakspeare, when we read the votive scrawls With which well meaning folks deface these walls; The following is one of the best of these inscriptions; "Here gentle Shakspeare, Nature's sweetest child, First warbled forth his native woodnotes wild; Beneath this humble roof he first drew breath, Inclosed within this space he lies in death. A pleasing fancy still attaches to the place, A sacred awe-a reverential grace; Some sacred relic of the poet's mind. The sad memorial of their own disgrace, That only strike the stranger's eye to note What fools have lived, and greater fools have wrote. These the sad relics by these walls supplied, Deserted by the muse, where her sweet SHAKSPEARE died." Among the inscriptions on Shakspeare's tomb, there is one which purports to have been written by Sir Wm. Curtis; but on inquiry we find that it was written by a waggish visitor about four years ago, who wished to have a joke on the worthy Baronet; at which we understand the good-natured Alderman laughs heartily. It is as follows: "Though Shakspeare's bones in this here place do lie, Yet that there fame of his shall never die." The life of Shakspeare is too well known for us to enter into a detailed biography of him. He was educated at the free-school of Stratford, and, after making some progress in Latin, he was called home to assist his father in the business. Before he was nineteen years of age, he married Anne Hathawaye, the daughter of a respectable yeoman of the neighbourhood. It is said, that having broken into the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, for the purpose of taking deer, he was obliged to quit Stratford. The killing of deer was not, however, then considered either disgraceful or criminal. speare was, however, driven from his native spot by the severity of Sir Tho Shak such he has never been equalled by any age or country. Shakspeare having acquired a moderate fortune, returned to Stratfordon-Avon, his birth-place, where he lived until his birth-day, the 23d of April, 1616, when he paid the great debt of nature, in the 53d year of his age. He was interred among his ancestors, in the church at Stratford-onAvon, where his monument still remains. He is represented in a sitting posture; and there are two inscriptions, one in Latin and the other in English. On the grave-stone beneath are three doggrel lines, in an orthography equally barbarous : "Good Frend for Jesus Sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed here., Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones." We shall conclude our notice of Shakspeare's House, by a correct fac-simile of the hand-writing, and an engraving of the seal, of the immortal bard, copied from his will, which is dated the 25th of March, 1616. Home of our heart-our father's home- We seek a wild and distant shore But may dishonour blight our fame, Our native land,, our native vale, M 2 EPITAPH IN ISLINGTON CHURCH-YARD. To the Editor of the Mirror. SIR,-Seeing that you are desirous of inserting any thing curious or interesting in the Mirror, and, amongst other matter, Epitaphs, &c. I take the liberty of sending you the following inscription, which was found in Islington Church, whilst it was being demolished in order to build a new one, about the year 1751. It was written in Gothic characters, on a plate of brass, and placed on the floor in the middle aisle, near the entrance into the chancel. It contains six lines, the end of each thus marked I, and appears to have been laid down during the lifetime of Robert Middleton. Neither the year, day, nor month, are set down, but spaces are left for that purpose. It cannot, however, have been placed there previous to the year 1529, because, until the 2d of December in that year, Sir George Hastings was not created Earl of Huntingdon, I shall now write the Epitaph, with all the marks and contractions. I am, your's, &c. J. W. L. A PEEP INTO FUTURITY. "On the 23d inst. (May, 1917) the first stone of the south abutment of that most stupendous work, the Gravesend Iron Bridge of tenacity, was laid with great solemnity by his Imperial Majesty, who was accompanied on the occasion by 27 of his sons, and a large concourse of nobility. Among the latter we counted 79 dokes, and 315 marquisses. The contractor has undertaken to complete the bridge within the year. Its construction is remarkably elegant, and its span the largest at present in the known world, being upwards of 5,000 feet. It is expected they will begin the north abutment at Tilbury in the course of next month." "On the 20th, the Edinburgh Royal Charlotte Balloon blew up as it was passing over the Tyne, at the heighth of 703 feet, from the bursting of the |