In 1734, Sir Thomas Lambe erected, in an island on the Derwent, near
Derby, a curious mill for the manufacture of silk. He brought the model,
the only one of the kind in the kingdom, from Italy, at the hazard of
his life. This machine was deemed so important, that, at the expiration
of Sir Thomas's patent, parliament voted him 14,000l. for the
risk he had incurred, and the expense attending its completion.

T.S.

* * * * *


INN RHYMES.

The following was written under the sign of the White Horse, on the Old
Bath Road, but which has since disappeared. I believe the origin of it
was, "a poor devil of an author, who, after having had a good filling
out, found that he had not wherewith to pay; at which 'mine host' was of
course in a 'way' (as he had a right to be); when the author told him,
that if he would get a sign painted, he would try to put some lines upon
it which should ensure him custom. He did so, and the following was the
result. He had a White Horse for his sign:

"My _White Horse_ shall beat the _Bear_,
And make the Angel fly,
Shall turn the _Ship_ quite bottom up,
And drink the _Three Cups_ dry."


The Bear, Angel, Ship, and Three. Cups, were public-houses in the