is said never in his life to have gone farther from Florence than to
Pratz, whither he once accompanied Cardinal Norris to see a
manuscript. He died at the age of 81, in the year 1714. In the present
age we have _bookworms_, who wander from one bookstall to another, and
there devour their daily store of knowledge. Others will linger at the
tempting window filled with the "_twopenny_," and read all the open
pages; then pass on to another of the same description, and thus enjoy
literature by the way of _Cheapside_.

P.T.W.

* * * * *


MIDNIGHT--A TOUCH AT THE EPIC.

(_For the Mirror_.)


"The iron tongue of midnight hath toll'd twelve."
SHAKSPEARE.


Amid the pauses of the midnight storm,
When all without is cold, within all warm!
Amid the pauses of the midnight blast,
When ev'ry bolt and ev'ry sleeper's fast!
In that dire hour, when graves give up their dead,
And men for once agree in their pursuit--a bed!
When heroes, statesmen, senators, and kings,