The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-08 00:00:00

" THE VERY WORST RIDDLE EVER MADE.

" Why was Queen Elizabeth a greater person than
Shakspere?
" Because Shakspere was a wonder (one der), but
Queen Elizabeth was a Tudor (two der).
" N.B. You are humbly requested to suppress your
indignation."

Verily the Man in the Moon is greater than either ;
for if Shakspeare was a won-der, he, as the receiver
of this atrocity, is, as far as word-pressing is con-
cerned, at the very least a ten-der. Here is some-
thing else in the punning style not quite so bad :
" There is a Quaker gentleman residing at Clapham,
who is so averse to capital punishment, that he cannot
be persuaded to wear suspenders to his inexpressibles."
And here is an article which, although it appears in
the guise of a jest, bath matter in it, and goes to
the root of abuses legal and social. It is to make use
of the Carlyle slang " most suggestive" :
" THE BOGY COMMISSION.
" On a recent trial, at the Central Criminal Court, a
very pretty little girl, aged apparently about eleven,
was put into the witness-box. The offence with which
the prisoner was charged was grave, and the credibility
of the witnesses was of great importance. The judge
wished to ascertain whether the little lady ' understood
the nature of an oath.' So the following dialogue passed
between him in the horsehair wig, and her in the shining
ringlets:—
" My dear, do you say your prayers?'
" ' Yes, sir, every morning and every night.'
" ' Suppose you tell a story, what will become of you?'
" ' Old Bogy will have me, sir.'
" ' Let her be sworn,' said the judge; and sworn she
was; and, thanks to her evidence, a very ill-looking
gentleman is at this moment wheeling a barrow in Nor-
folk Island. But her answers set the judge thinking,
and the result has been a commission to inquire into the
Bogy Religion, as held by the childish mind. A few
extracts from the replies of the witnesses examined by
the commission may be interesting to mothers in general,
who may not be aware how widely the faith in Bogy is
spread, or how earnestly it is enforced by missionaries
in the disguise of nursery-maids.
" Emily Rudd examined—ls eight years old. Has
heard of Bogy. Never saw him, and hopes she never
shall. Was told all about him by Jane, the maid, that
let in the man that stole the plate. Jane used to tell
her of him every night. Jane used always to threaten
her with Bogy when she could not go to sleep. Jane
said Bogy had red-hot claws, and scratched all the flesh
off little girls who did not go to sleep, or told tales to
their papas or mammas. Believes Bogy sits in the coal
cellar, to be ready when he is wanted. Once heard him
roaring on the stairs, and then she had a fit.

" Charles Twits examined—Was five last birthday.
Has heard of Bogy, but does not care for the Bogy in
his papa's house half so much as he does for Bogy at
grandtnamrna's, he don't. That is a dreadful Bogy,
grandmamma's is. Never saw him, but saw the grating
of the window, down in the well, where he is. Thought
he saw his horns come out one day when he threw a
stone down the well. Never threw any more stones, and
is afraid to walk in the garden. Don't want to talk
about it.

" Margaret Macdowell examined—Thinks she is six.
Ilas heard of Bogy, but has not been naughty for a long
time, and don't 'know why she is spoken to about him.
If she is to speak about him, begs she may be taken up
and nursed. (The rest of this witness's answer was given
in whispers.) Bogy is a great, horrid, naked, black man,
who is chained in the cellar, to chop up little children
into sausages. Believes a little cousin of hers was
chopped up for telling a fib.
" Katherine Earnshaw examined—ls seven. There
was a Bogy in the barn when she was with her aunt in
Yorkshire. One night, when she had pinched the ser-
vant, she was taken into the dark barn for Bogy to see
her. Screamed dreadfully, but they made her'go. They
took her to the end of the barn, and called Bogy, and in
a moment she saw two dreadful eyes, all fire, looking at'
her, and two great wings stretched out. Bogy began to
hiss at her, and Sarah said that in another minute he
would have torn her all to pieces, only she was taken
away. Her aunt,. when she heard of it, laughed, and
told her it was only the owl, but Sarah said, upstairs,
that it was a dreadful Bogy, and that he would certainly
have her aunt for laughing. She cried dreadfully when
they put her to bed, and wouldn't go again to her aunt's,
not for all the world.
Mary Jane Howard, examined—Is seven and three-
quarters. There is no Bogy in her mamma's house; but
Ann, the nurse, took her into the churchyard once, and
made her look into the vaults under the church. Look-
ing through the window, she saw thousands of coffins,
and something else, too dreadful to tell. If she must
tell, it was a dead person who had been drowned. Could
not bear to look at the face, but Ann told her there was
a Bogy, with flaming eyes, walking about the vaults,
and that he would fetch her and tie her to the dead
person, if she told about Ann leaving her and going and
walking with the soldier. Never did tell. Never liked

to go to chnrch after she was shown that sight. Her
mamma never frightened her, she is too kind."
The Man in the Moon is one of the most pleasant
companions for the fireside, or for a railway trip, that
has ever tendered his services to a laughter-loving
public.

THE PATRICIAN.
In the present number of the Patrician we have
the commencement of a series of articles on "the
deaths of the Sovereigns of England," and the deaths
and burial places of the English monarchs, from
William the Conquerer to Henry 111. are described.
It is not often that we find a political article in the
Patrician, in the present number, however, there is
a short but ably written paper on the " Constitutional
value of the British Aristocracy," in which the aris-
tocracy of Britain is compared with the asistocracies
of the various continental nations, and with the aristo-
cracy of the United States ; for, notwithstanding all
Brother Jonathan's democratic boastings, he has an
aristocracy, and one, that of all aristocracies, is the
least entitled to respect—the aristocracy of the money
bigs. A resume of the " Trial of Capt. Donellan for
the murder of Sir Theodosius Boughton is "the curious
trial" given this month, and it would certainly have
been better that the trial should have been given at
greater length. Not one word appears about Donel-
lan's experiments in distilling laurel water (the basis
of which is prussic acid), and which is the poison
supposed to have been used on this occasion • and
many points alluded to in the summing up Of the
judge, which is given pretty fully, are not given at all
in the evidence. The idea of giving a series of
" curious trials connected with the aristocracy " is
excellent, but the evidence should in all cases be
given at length, so that the reader may be enabled to
review the decision of the jury. From the " Frag-
ments of Family History" we extract the following
account of the Pulteney Guinea :
"Pulteney, the great leader of the Opposition, after-
wards Earl of Bath, having, in one of his speeches,
made a Latin quotation, was corrected by Sir Robert
Walpole, who offered to wager a guinea on the inaccu-
racy of the lines. The bet was accepted, the classic
referred to, and Pulteney being found to be right, the
Minister threw the guinea across the table, which Pul-
teney, as he took it up, called the House to witness, was
the first guinea of the public money he had ever put
into his pocket. The very coin thus lost and won is
still preserved, as the Pulteney guinea,' in the British
Museum."