The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-28 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS BILLS.

We have beard of a gentleman who, when a Christmas
Bill was slipped very respectfully into his band, exclaimed,
" My dear fellow, a thousand thanks ; do pray come on
Thursday next, and I'll then tell you when to call again."
But our friend Rigdum Funnidos, of " The Comic Al-
manack," has improved upon this. Hear what he saith :
" Punctuality is essential to the character of a gentle-
man. Early in the New Year, send peremptorily for all
your bills. If they do not arrive in a day or two, send
again. By this exactness you give your tradesmen confi-
dence, and insure their civility for some time, in the hope
of a settlement. Having thus prevented any increase of
charges, you can pay at your leisure. I have heard of a
gentleman whose aversion to the sight of paper ruled in
money columns had been indulged in as long as was
consistent with his personal safety, who thus addressed a
creditor for whom the shut sesame of " call again" had lost
its charm :—" After having for many years neglected my
affairs, I have at length awakened to a sense of my
error, and have resolved by a vigorous system of eco-
nomy, to retrieve them. Method, Sir, I now perceive that
method is everything. From this day, I set apart a certain
portion of my income, sacred to the payment of my debts."
—" I am delighted, Sir, to hear of your noble resolution."
—" I have made a schedule of all I owe, and shall begin at
the top and persevere undeviatingly in regular though slow
succession towards the bottom—so that you see, my dear
Mr. Figgins"—" Sir, my name is Wiggins"—" Wiggins! I
had quite forgot ; but, I am sorry to hear it, very sorry—
for my list is alphabetical—had it been Figgins or even
Higgins, there woold have been some chance for you, but
the W:s are so very low down—no, I cannot say when I
shall reach the W's."
Compliments arc nice things—as nice as Christmas pies
—but it is very annoying to be classed in such a case
amongst the Y's (wise). If we, however, had written the
pararaph we should have endeavoured to obviate this for
the future by making the commencement read thus—
" Early in the new year, send peremptorily for all your bills ;
if they do not arrive in a day or two send again—and pay
them all immediately."

THE HARE'S LAW.—The following is from a
letter of Sir W. Scott to the editor of the Courscu's Manual.
I cannot help adding to the last:Words of Bonney Heck,'
a sporting anecdote, said to have happened in Fife, and not
far from the residence of that famous greyhound, which may
serve to show in what regard the rules of fair play between
hound and hare are held by Scottish sportsmen. There was
a coursing club, once upon a time, which met at Balchristy,
in the province, or as it is popularly called, the kingdom of
Fife. The members were elderly, social men, whom a very
moderate allowance of sport served as an introduction to a
hearty dinner and jolly evening. Now there had her seat, on
the ground where they usually met, a certain large stout hare,
who seemed made on purpose to entertain these moderate
sportsmen. She usually gave the amusement of three or four
turns as soon as she was put up—a sure sign of a strong hare
when practised by any beyond the age of a leveret—then
stretched out in great style ; and after affording the gentlemen
an easy canter of a mile or two, threw out the dogs by pass-
ing through a particular gap in an enclosure. This sport the
hare gave to the same party for one or two seasons, and
it was just enough to afford the worthy members of the club a
sufficient reason to b© alleged to their wives, or others whom
it might concern, for passing the day in the public house. At
length a fellow who attended the hunt nefariously thrust his
plaid, or great-coat, into the gap I mentioned ; and poor puss,
her retreat being thus cut off, was, in the language of the dying
Desdemona, basely—basely murdered.' The sport of the
Balchristy Club seemed to end with this famous hare. They
either found no hares, or such as afforded only a halloo and a
squeak : or such, finally, as gave them farther runs than they
had pleasure in following. The spirit of the meeting died
away, and at length it was altogether given up. The publican
was, of course, the party most especially affected by the discon-
tinuance of the club ; and regarded, it may be supposed, with
no complacency the person who had prevented the hare from
escaping, and even his memory. One day a gentleman asked
him what was become of such a one, naming the obnoxious in-
dividual. He is dead, Sir,' answered mine host, with an
angry scowl, and his soul kens this day whether the hare of
Balchristy got fair play or not.' "
On Thursday, as J. Sly was driving a bullock up
Church-street to the Shambles, when near the hospitals it
made a sudden bolt up one of the narrow passages adjoining
that place, and, unable to return, mounted a grass plot ele-
vated on a level with the tops of the neighbouring houses, end
from thence sprang upon the roof of the shop occupied by Mr.
Humphrey, painter, and succeeded in gaining its summit.
Here it remained a second or two, as if considering what next.
The roof, however, unable to bear so protracted and unusual
a pressure, gave way, when bullock, roof, rafters, and tiles,
all made their disappearance, to the no small astonishment of
a number of spectators outside, and to the very great wonder
of the painter inside, who was busily employed at work; un-
able to account for so singular an occurrence, and alarmed for
his safety, he ,dropped his muller and pallet-knife, and sought
safety only in flight. Much did a Southcotian marvel at the
sight of " cow upon the top of the house"—oft and anxiously
did Jemmy Sly inquire after " his ous"—uproariously did
the bystanders laugh at the bullock's extreme altitude and
sudden disappearance, and many were the surmises of injuries
done to paint-pots and brushes. All was, however, speedily
put to rest by the animal's deliberate exit out of the painter's
shop, uninjured and unhurt, and submitting quietly to be
driven to that bourne from whence " no fatted ox returns."—
Hull Observer.
A large cotton manufactory, belonging to M. Van
Hoegarde, at the gate of Brussels, was entirely destroyed on
the 21st instant, by fire, in the short time of three hours, no-
thing but the walls having been left standing. The loss is
reported to have been considerable. Several workmen lost
their lives through the catastrophe, and upwards of one hun-
dred are out of work by it.
ANCIENT MSS. IN HEREFORD.-There are two
curious MSS. belonging to the Hereford Cathedral Library,
the first the Ahtiphonarium Ecclesice Herefordiensis, or an-
them-book of that edifice ; and the second an early copy of
the Four Gospels, which, from its general character and re-
markable decorations, is compared with the splendid copy of
St. Jerome's version of the Bible, presented to the Emperor
Charlemagne on the first day of the year 801, during the
coronation of that Prince, and which is now in the British
Museum. This manuscript was known and regarded as a do-
cument of importance in the Cathedral church of Hereford
eight hundred years ago ; there is in the last pages of the
volume an entry in the Anglo-Saxon language and character,
the meaning of which is " Note of a Shiremote held at
lEgelnoth's Stone, in Herefordshire, in the reign of King
Canute.' At this meeting were present Bishop Athelstan,
different aldermen therein mentioned, and Godig, who came
on the King's errand, beside all the Thanes of Herefordshire.
The matter for consideration was the complaint of a person
against his mother, respecting lands at Wellintun and Cyr-
desley. The mother was not present, but one Thurcyl the
White (perhaps judge), who appears to have been a very
cunning fellow, and to have had a keen eye to his own inte-
rest, undertook to speak for her. A deputation of three
Thanes was sent to the mother, who, when informed of the
case, became very angry, saying that her son had no right
to the lands ; and calling her relative Leoffimde, wife of
the above-named Thurcyl, she in presence of the Thanes
bequeathed to her after her own death all her lands, clothes,
and property, and desired the nobles to inform the
Shiremote, and bear witness to it; they did so, and there-
upon Thurcyl the White stood up and requested the Thanes
to deliver free to his wife all the lands that had been
bequeathed to her, which they did. Thurcyl then rode
to St. Ethelbert's Minster, and by leave and wit-
ness of all the folk, caused the transaction to be recorded. in
Christ's Boc, or Book (the Gospel). A second entry in the
volume relates to the sale of a hide of land at Mmvelshylle.
The place where the first-named transaction took place
(iEgelnoth's Stone) is supposed to be Enjobb, or Evenjobb,
in Radnorshire, which is in the diocese of Hereford, and only
-Three or four miles beyond the boundaries of the county; it
is, therefore, not improbable that the spot might once have
been included within it. The direction for entering the pro-
ceedings at the Shiremote in Christ's Book appears to have
been in conformity with the custom of those times, as alp-
pears from occasional entries in ancient copies of the Gos-
pel of legal proceedings; they were then considered to be
out of the reach of the parties concerned, and could be ap-
pealed to as an authentic record. It is remarkable that
Athelstan, the Bishop
years before h he was blind.
We learn with much pleasure that a subscription
has been set on foot for the purpose of erecting a monument
to the memory of the unfortunate Chatterton. It is a reproach
to the city of his birth that this tribute to his genius should
have been so long delayed—though, that it should be now
taken up, argues an improved feeling on the part of the Bristo-
-I:ans of the present day, as compared with that of the pre-
ceding age, and which the youthful poet made the subject of
his satire. The undertaking is one that, no doubt, will be
aided by men of all parties, and we rejoice to learn that it is
in the hands of gentlemen whose respectability and intelli-
gence ensure its success.-13ristol Mercury.