in short, all green, down to his boots of Indian rubber.  He was also an epicure of the drollest kind, for he was curious in tasting every thing that had never been tasted before, and interfered himself in the composition of dishes intended for his table, thereby encountering the wrath of strange cooks, and running serious risks in inn-kitchens.  We have long heard his name coupled with aristocratic parties, but we see how he contrived to reconcile the calls of the laboratory and the invitations of great people.  He worked to the last moment; and, when he was too late for dinner, covered his dirty shirt with a clean one, there being no time for changing it.  He has been known to wear five strata of shirts at a time, and to have greatly surprised his friends by his rapid transitions from a state of corpulency to that of considerable leanness.  This was when, at some moment of leisure, he contrived to find time to despoil himself of his exuvia.  All Sir Humphry’s experience in high circles (and in the plenitude of his fame he commanded any rank) never gave him ease of manner:  he lacked the original familiarity with polished society, and his best efforts at pleasing were marred with a disagreeable bearing, which might sometimes be called pertness, sometimes superciliousness.—­As in his dress he oscillated between a dandy and a sloven, so in his manners he vibrated from familiarity to hauteur.  In all personal matters he missed the golden mean.—­Spectator Newspaper.

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YOUTHFUL PHILOSOPHY.

The young Princess Esterhazy was a great favourite of George IV.  At a ball given in honour of his Majesty’s birth-day, the young ladies were each expected to kneel, and present him with a nosegay; but the princess declared, that as she was of royal blood, she would prefer death to such degradation.  The King received her graciously, notwithstanding her obstinacy; but her governess sent the child to bed immediately after dinner. “Bon pour la digestion,” exclaimed the princess; which so enraged the governess, that she took her out of bed and whipped her soundly. “Bon pour la circulation,” said the princess; and the next day the governess resigned.—­Atlas.

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PLAIN SPEAKING.

At St. Augustine’s Sessions, in an appeal case, a witness was asked by Sir Edward Knatchbull, to relate what took place between him and his master, which he did as follows:—­“I told him he was a liar.”  Chairman—­“Very improper language.”  Witness—­“Can’t help that, I am come here to speak the truth, and you have got it.”—­Kent and Essex Mer.

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THE DEAD HAND.

It is an opinion very prevalent among the “finest pisantry in the world,” that a lighted candle placed in a dead man’s hand will not be seen by any but those by whom it is used; and also that, if a candle in a dead hand be introduced into a house, it will prevent those who may be asleep from awaking!  Under the influence of this superstition, a party, a few nights since armed with a dead man’s hand and lighted candle, attacked the house of Mrs. Leonard (the mother of the priest), in the town of Oldcastle, county of Meath; but, unfortunately for the credit of the creed, the inmates were alarmed, and the robbers fled, leaving the hand behind them.