Madame de Narbonne, not speaking English, replied to her customers (when they inquired the name of the brioches), “bon.”  Hence the etymology of “bun,” according to Lady Harrington; but I confess that I do not feel quite satisfied with her derivation.

“MONK” LEWIS [Sidenote:  Captain Gronow]

“Monk” Lewis had a black servant, affectionately attached to his master; but so ridiculously did this servant repeat his master’s expressions, that he became the laughing-stock of all his master’s friends.  Brummell used often to raise a hearty laugh at Carlton House by repeating witticisms which he pretended to have heard from Lewis’s servant; some of these were very stale; yet they were considered so good as to be repeated at the clubs, and greatly added to the reputation of the Beau as a teller of good things.  “On one occasion,” said Brummell, “I called to inquire after a young lady who had sprained her ankle.  Lewis, on being asked how she was, had said, in the black’s presence, ’The doctor has seen her, put her legs straight, and the poor chicken is doing well.’  The servant, therefore, told me, with a mysterious and knowing look, ’Oh, sir, the doctor has been here, she has laid eggs, and she and the chickens are doing well.’”

THE CARELESSE NURSE MAYD
[Sidenote:  Hood]

  I sawe a Mayd sitte on a Bank,
  Beguiled by Wooer fayne and fond;
  And whiles His flatterynge Vowes she drank,
  Her Nurselynge slipt within a Pond!

  All Even Tide they Talkde and Kist,
  For She was fayre and He was Kinde;
  The Sunne went down before She wist
  Another Sonne had sett behinde!

  With angrie Hands and frownynge Browe,
  That deemd Her owne the Urchine’s Sinne,
  She pluckt Him out, but he was nowe
  Past being Whipt for fallynge in.

  She then beginnes to wayle the Ladde
  With Shrikes that Echo answered round—­
  O! foolishe Mayd to be soe sadde
  The Momente that her Care was drownd!

SHY NEIGHBOURHOODS
[Sidenote:  Charles Dickens]

One of the pleasantest things I have lately met with, in a vagabond course of shy metropolitan neighbourhoods and small shops, is the fancy of a humble artist, as exemplified in two portraits representing Mr. Thomas Sayers, of Great Britain, and Mr. John Heenan, of the United States of America.  These illustrious men are highly coloured in fighting trim and fighting attitude.  To suggest the pastoral and meditative nature of their peaceful calling, Mr. Heenan is represented on emerald sward, with primroses and other modest flowers springing up under the heels of his half-boots; while Mr. Sayers is impelled to the administration of his favourite blow, the Auctioneer, by the silent eloquence of a village church.  The humble homes of England, with their domestic virtues and honeysuckle porches, urge both heroes to go in and win; and the lark and other singing birds are observable in the upper air, ecstatically carolling their thanks to Heaven for a fight.  On the whole, the associations entwined with the pugilistic art by this artist are much in the manner of Izaak Walton.