battle of Dettingen; the king accosted him, and found that he made his
living by selling apples in a small hut. "What can I do for you?" said
the king.--"Please your majesty to give me a grant of the bit of ground
my hut stands on, and I shall be happy."--"Be happy," said the king, and
ordered him his request. Years rolled on, the appleman died, and left a
son, who from dint of industry became a respectable attorney. The then
chancellor gave lease of the ground to a nobleman, as the apple-stall
had fallen to the ground, where the old apple man and woman laid also.
It being conceived the ground had fallen to the crown, a stately mansion
was soon raised, when the young attorney put in claims; a small sum was
offered as a compromise and refused; finally, the sum of four hundred
and fifty pounds per annum, ground rent, was settled upon.

J.G.B.

* * * * *


COMETS AND WOMEN.

(_For the Mirror_.)

Comets, doubtless, answer some wise and good purpose in the creation; so
do women. Comets are incomprehensible, beautiful, and eccentric; so are
women. Comets shine with peculiar splendour, but at night appear most
brilliant; so do women. * * * * Comets confound the most learned, when
they attempt to ascertain their nature; so do women. Comets equally
excite the admiration of the philosopher, and of the clod of the valley;
so do women. Comets and women, therefore are closely analogous: but the
nature of each being inscrutable, all that remains for us to do is, to