Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-10 00:00:00

A•RGIIMENT.

Ever so long ago there existed a remote little kingdom in
the realms of Extravagance called Faraway, which, at the
primitive period to which this story refers, was governed by a
crafty and tyrannical Monarch, yclept Squander, whose reckless
and unchecked expenditure (book-keeping being then unlinci-wn
and auditors never dreamt of,) had plunged his little king-
dom and his wretched subjects into an abject state of poverty
and want In order to replenish his empty coffers, and
to stop the murmurs of his impoverished followers, King
Squander conceived the idea of effecting a matrimonial
alliance between his only son, the handsome Prince Golden-
heart, and a wealthy spinster Princess, ward, whose
charms were buried in her money-bags. Like many modern
match-makers, his Majesty speedily made the discovery that
his task was more difficult than he had imagined; for
although the intended bride was quite willing, the bridegroom
elect expressed a decided objection* to the alliance. Finding
his son so obstinate that threats and entreaties alike failed to
turn him from his anti-matrimoniale ]loped to. overcome purpose,othelTe h
King
tdee-
vised a cunning 821Lerae, by which he
scruples of his - son, and entrap him into wedlock with the
by-no-means beautiful Princess. Having an ungallant idea
that the fair sex were wholly and without exception addicted
to the looking-glass (those in which they could see their own
faces, having been invented about that time), he despatched the
Prince upon his travels, and obtained his royal promise that if
he returned without having discovered a fair maiden who had
never beheld her face in a glass, he would then accept the prof-
fered hand of the obnoxious Princess. Proceeding upon his
novel and apparently hopeless mission, the Prince had almost
resigned himself to despair, when,,wearied and dispirited, he
reached an enchanted forest, and, by the aid of certain good
fairies who dwelt therein, he was enabled to discover the object
of his search in the person of little Snow-white, a woad nymph,
who, together with her companions, had not only never seen
their own faces'in a glass, but had never seen the face of one
man until the arrival of Prince Golden-heart in their abode,
which was a sequestered dell on the borders of Fairyland.
The Prince, overjoyed by his wonderful discovery, was at once
,mitten • with her beauty, and the maiden• was not slow to
reciprocate the sentiment.
Their future was probably a happy one--but history it obli-
vious of their subsequent career. Certain learned antiquarians,
whose
the musty records of past and gon
whose special mission is to attemPtetaorme aekfempaeloepliembpealti.te
the living present ancthe to
ration, or the onward advancement
than the stirring ear
tnhtesfoaftuthree existing
egpginienaen-
se
he oe vme
er e dla
btheanteatthhe
thean eGieanatdwkiinngsandonda,oafndFaar
in contemplation for explorin=g that highly attractive locality.
LawimayttehdaLsiabbkelintyd!
rcent -By others it is contended that Hilbre Island covers thee defundisct
kingdom, and this supposition is encouraged byithe
covery of a fossil, bearing a strong rose nblance to a missing
toothpick, formerly the property. of King Squander. • Other
equally learned pundits are of opinion that Fara Way is buried
t oblivion, and that it never existed an) where but in the
inventive imagination of a needy author.