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journey of such magnitude and extent,) happening to hear a horse neigh (which was quite new to him) hastily exclaimed, "How that horse barks, daddy."-" Barks! you booby," replied the father, "neighs ! mean. A dog barks, a horse neighs.' They had not proceeded far, when the youth, finding his ears assailed by the sudden crowing of a cock, was so fascinated with the shrill and unexpected sound, that he instantly attracted his companion's attention with," Hark, daddy, how that cock neighs!"-To which happy effusion of fancy, the citizens of London will probably stand indebted for the name of Cockney to the end of time.

Origin of Evergreens at Christmas.

Tradition says, that the first Christian church in Britain was built of boughs; and that the disciples adopted the plan as more likely to attract the notice of the people, because the monks built their temples in that manner, probably to imitate the temples of Saturn, which were always under the oak. The great feast of Saturn was held in December and as the oaks were then without leaves, the monks obliged the people to

bring in boughs and sprigs of evergreens : -and Christains, on the twenty-fifth of the same month, did the like, from whence originated the present custom.

Origin of the saying, when people speak improperly, "That's a Bull."

It became a proverb from the repeated blunders of one Obadiah Bull, a lawyer of London, who lived in the reign of King Henry VII.

The reason of saying Amen at the end of a prayer, and from whence that word is derived.

The word Amen is of Hebrew origin, primarily importing Verity, whence, as ancient writers observe, it passes into a particle of depending and assenting; and therefore, at the end of a petition, signifies be it so. And this gives us the reason why we are to conclude our prayers with so appropriate a word, being a summary repetition of the preceding prayer.

Snuff and Tobacco, when first introduced into

England.

Snuff, though long known to foreigners,

was by no means familiar to the British nation, until first introduced by Sir Francis Drake, and Captain Richard Greenfield in 1586. Sir Walter Raleigh, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, convinced us, how strange the custom appeared to the inhabitants of this country, which we record in the following comical story :

Sir Walter, in his travels abroad, having accustomed himself among the Indians, to partake of their favourite weed, was unwilling to discontinue the use of it on his return to England; and therefore supplied himself with several hogsheads, which he placed in his own study, and generally used to indulge himself by smoaking secretly two or three pipes a day; at which times he ordered one of his servants (a simple fellow,) who waited at the door, to bring up a tankard of old ale and nutmeg, always laying aside the pipe when he heard his servant coming. One day, while he was earnestly employed in reading something which amused him, with the pipe in his mouth, the servant entered; and, astonished to see his master in that situation, (apparently as he thought, on fire, for the smoke was ascending in thick clouds from his mouth, and the bowl of the pipe on fire,) he immediately, without any hesitation whatever, threw the ale directly

in his master's face, and ran down stairs with all imaginable speed, and alarmed the family with repeated exclamations that his master was on fire in the inside, and would be burned to ashes if they did not immediately go up stairs to his assistance.

Supposed origin of the word Tyburn.

The antiquity of Tyburn is as old as the year 1529. Before that time, the place of public execution was in Rotten Row, Old Street. The etymology of the word Tyburn, some will have it, proceeds from the words tye and burn, in allusion to the old method of executing traitors at that place. Others think it took its name from a small river, or brook, once running near it, and called by the Romans Tyburnia. Whether the first or the last is the origin from whence it derived its name, we know not, but are of opinion it is the former.

This late place of execution according to Pennant, was called in the time of Edward the Third, when the gentle Mortimer finished his days here, the Elms: but the original, as well as the present name, was Tybourne: not from tye and burn, as if it were called so from the manner of capital punish

ments; but from bourne, the Saxon word for a "brook," and Tye, the name of that brook; which, joined, gave name to a manor before the conquest.

Why the rocks on which Sir Cloudesley Shovel was cast away upon, are commonly called the Bishop and his Clerks.

A fleet of merchant ships, on their return from Spain, about three hundred years ago, were shipwrecked on these fatal rocks; among whose miserable numbers none were saved but three, viz. Miles Bishop, and James and Henry Clark, who were miraculously preserved on a broken mast. From

this dreadful misfortune the rocks took the name they bear at present, and, will most likely continue for ages a memento of that melancholy accident.

Origin of Drinking Healths.

The drinking of healths, took its rise from the time of the Danes being in this island; it was frequently customary with them, whilst an Englishman was drinking, to take that opportunity of stabbing him. The English upon this, entered into com