Immediately the good old woman, instead of pursuing her domestic occupation, which was baking bread for the reapers, began to dance round the fire, repeating the rhyme, and continued this exercise, till her husband sent the reapers to the house, one after another, to see what had delayed their provision, but the charm caught each as they entered, and, losing all idea of returning, they joined in the dance and the chorus. At length the old man himself went to the house, but as his wife's frolic with Mr. Michael, whom he had seen on the hill, made him a little cautious, he contented himself with looking in at the window, and saw the reapers at their involuntary exercise, dragging his wife, now completely exhausted, sometimes round, and sometimes through the fire, which was, as usual, in the midst of the house. Instead of entering, he saddled a horse, and rode up the hill, to humble himself before Michael, and beg a cessation of the spell, which the good-natured warlock immediately granted, directing him to enter the house backwards, and with his left hand take the spell from above the door, which accordingly ended the supernatural dance. * * * Michael Scott," continues the same author, "once upon a time was much embarrassed by a spirit, for whom he was under the necessity of finding constant employment. He commanded him to build a cauld, or dam-head, across the Tweed at Kelso; it was accomplished in one night, and still does honour to the infernal architect. Michael next ordered that Eildon Hill, which was then a uniform cone, should be divided into three. Another night was sufficient to part its summit into the three picturesque peaks which it now bears. At length the enchanter conquered this indefatigable demon, by employing him in the hopeless and endless task of making ropes out of the sea-sand." 9

The embellishments, six in number, are engraved in a pleasing style by W.H. Lizars. Two of them,—a Norwegian Barrow, and Turnberry Castle, are very effective.

THE GATHERER

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.

SHAKSPEARE

An Irish knight was married to the daughter of a noble lord, a connexion of which the knight was somewhat proud. Boasting of this union once to a friend, he observed that his lordship had paid him the highest compliment in his power. "He had seven daughters," said he, "and he gave me the ouldest, and he told me, too, that if he had an oulder I should have her."

A SHIRT WITHOUT A SEAM

At Dumferline, in the corporation chest is preserved a man's shirt, wrought in the loom about a century ago, by a weaver of the name of Inglis. The shirt was formed without a seam, and finished without any assistance from the needle; the only necessary parts he could not accomplish were the neck and sleeve buttons.

C.D

In the days of King Henry VII. when the king demanded the tenth penny for carrying on the war in Britanny, and some of the courtiers in the House of Commons spoke of the king's want in a very high tone, Sir John Fineux, an eminent lawyer at that time, made use of this expression, "Mr. Speaker, before we pay anything, let us see whether we have anything we can call our own to pay with;" for which saying, the king immediately made him a judge; in which office he acted with as much integrity as in that of a representative in the Commons.

G.K

1

The reader may often have noticed in county advertisements the two sheriffs designated as one officer. Thus, in the advertisement of the recent Middlesex election:—

SIR CHAPMAN MARSHALL, } Sheriff of Middlesex.

SIR W.H. POLAND. }

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2

This reminds one of the admiration of the Lord Mayor in Richard III. by George the Second, so ill-timedly expressed by the King to Garrick, the stage king:—

"Fine Lord Mayor! capital Lord Mayor! where you get such Lord Mayor?"

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3

It is related, that in an election contest, in 1786, the tenant of one of the cottages had the integrity to reject £1,000 for his vote.

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4

The great plague in 1347.

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5

Who does not recollect the delightful narrative published some years since by Mr. Mariner, in his account of the Tonga Islands; the poem of "the Island," by Lord Byron; and countless dramatic representations of this unhappy affair. We remember an affecting version about seven years since at Sadler's Wells Theatre: and only a few weeks since a few of its incidents were embodied in a melo-dramatic piece called "Neuha's Cave, or the South Sea Mutineers," at Covent Garden Theatre.

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6

Riocobaldi Ferrariensis Historia Imperatorum—in Muratori, vol. ix. p. 128.

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7

Benvenuto da Imola. Comment on Dante book xx. c. 115.

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 492, June 4, 1831

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THE GATHERER

A SHIRT WITHOUT A SEAM

C.D

G.K

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