would soften any frost; and sure, only I know you compassionated the poor
starving wolves, I'd have thrown a few buckets of water through the
grave-stones, and clinched 'em as tight as the bars of Newgate.'"

The fertilizing properties of an individual in the _chemical_ stage of his
existence, seem only to have been fully recognised since the memorable
battle of Waterloo; the fields of which now annually wave with luxuriant
corn-crops, unequalled in the annals of "the old prize-fighting ground of
Flanders." I have no doubt, however, that the cerealia of _La Belle
Alliance_ would have been much more nutritive if the top-dressing which
the plain received during the three days of June, 1815, had not been
robbed of its stamina by London dentists, who carried off the soldiers'
teeth in hogsheads; and by Yorkshire bone-grubbers, who freighted several
transports with the skeletons of regiments of troopers, as well as
troop-horses, to be ground to dust in Kingston-upon-Hull, and drilled with
turnip seed in the chalky districts of the North and West Ridings of
Yorkshire. The corn of Waterloo is thus cheated of its phosphate of lime;
but the spirits of Cyrus the Great and Numa the Wise, who had a fair
knowledge of the fructifying capabilities of the "human form divine," must
rejoice in beholding how effectually the fertilizing dust pushes the young
Globes, Swedes, and Tankards into their rough leaves, that bid defiance to
that voracious "Yorkshire bite" _the turnip fly_.

* * * * *


BIRTH SONG.

ANGEL OF WELCOME.