treasured up, as well as his name, which he became acquainted with the following morning, on a foraging party joining him at that place; and from which circumstance originated the saying, particularly common in Lincolnshire, "While the grass grows, the steed starves!"

IT'S A DIRTY BIRD THAT BEFOULS

ITS OWN NEST!

This saying is from the Scotch, and, it is said, takes its origin from the celebrated John Knox. No one was more vindictive against Mary Queen of Scots than this founder of the Presbyterian tenets. The various intrigues which her enemies charged her with, were the constant theme of this popular reformer.

It was on the occasion of the death of David Rizzio, at Holyrood House, the residence of Henry (Darnley) and Mary, that this saying first emanated from the mouth of Knox, and which in the Scottish tongue is a common phrase to this day. It need scarcely be observed, that Mary was charged with an illicit intercourse with Rizzio, in the very house where, with her husband, she resided. Hence originated the cutting reproach used by the Scottish reformer, in allusion to the circumstance, viz., "It's a dirty bird that befouls its own nest!"

HE MAY PAY TOO DEAR FOR HIS WHISTLE!

This saying originated from Dr. Franklin, of celebrated memory. Proceeding to France as Chargé d'Affaires of the United States, the vessel which bore him passed very near a vessel of the enemy, when the boatswain, a bold but imprudent man, and who was very expert on his call, whistled a kind of threat of defiance, which he had no sooner done, than a shot from the maintop of the enemy sent him to another world! Dr. Franklin, who was standing close to him, observed, with all the naiveté imaginable, "Poor fellow he has paid dear for his whistle!" and from hence originated the common saying, "He may pay too dear for his whistle!"

IF IT RAINS ON ST. SWITHIN'S DAY, THERE WILL

BE RAIN FOR FORTY DAYS AFTER.

"St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain na mair."

In Brand's "Popular Antiquities" there is a statement to the following purport:-In the year 865, St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, to which rank he was

raised by King Ethelwolfe the Dane, dying, was canonized by the then pope. He was singular for his desire to be buried in the open churchyard, and not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with other bishops, which request was complied with; but the monks, on his being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disgraceful for the saint to be in the open churchyard, resolved to remove his body into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on the 15th of July. It rained, however, so violently on that day, and for forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their design as heretical and blasphemous; and, instead, they erected a chapel over his grave, at which many miracles are said to have been wrought. Hence, reader, came the saying, “If it rains on St. Swithin's day, there will be rain for forty days after."

In Poor Robin's "Almanac" for 1697, the saying, together with one of the miracles before alluded to, is noticed in these lines :

"In this month is St. Swithin's day,
On which, if that it rain, they say,
For forty days after it will,

Or more, or less, some rain distil.
This Swithin was a saint, I trow,
And Winchester's bishop also,
Who in his time did many a feat,
As popish legends do repeat:

A woman having broke her eggs
By stumbling at another's legs,
For which she made a woful cry,
St. Swithin chanced for to come by,
Who made them all as sound, or more

Than ever that they were before.

But whether this were so or no
'Tis more than you or I do know;
Better it is to rise betime,

And to make hay while sun doth shine,
Than to believe in tales or lies

Which idle monks and friars devise!"

TO BEAR THE BELL.

A bell used to be a common prize, as a writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine" states that "a little golden bell was the reward of victory in 1607 at the races near York;" whence "to bear the bell" (or, rather, "to bear away the bell") passed into a proverb for success of any kind.

SPICK AND SPAN NEW.

This expression seems to be a corruption of the Italian spiccata de la spanna, "snatched from the hand!" and is equivalent to another English expression, "Fresh from the mint."

PLEASE THE PIGS.

The word pigs, says a writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine," is a corruption of pyx, the vessel in which the Host is kept in Roman Catholic countries, and that the expression means no more than Deo volente (God willing.)

A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER!

Who has not read of Charlemagne's expedition against the Saracens for the recovery of the relics of the Passion? Those who have, will recollect that if Alexander had his Bucephalus, Charlemagne had "twain steeds,"* who, if they were not endowed with the instinctive destructiveness of the former, possessed at least a tractability and fidelity not to be surpassed.. These were his Roland and his Oliver, whose qualities. were so equally poised, that Roland was as good as Oliver, and Oliver was as good as Roland; and hence arose the saying, "I'll give you a Roland for your Oliver;" or, "I'll give as good as you'll send."

WILKES AND FORTY-FIVE.

"Wilkes and Forty-five," originated from a pamphlet called the "North Briton," which was written by * Some writers say Roland and Oliver were his pages.