candles, soap, starch, bricks, sugar, brandy, and one-third more of tea,
than they did only twelve years ago, a date which seems to most of us
recent.--_Finance Article, in Quarterly Review._

* * * * *



THE ANECDOTE GALLERY


DR. SOUTHEY.

BALLADS VERSUS BONNETS.

(_For the Mirror._)


A Mr. L------, a respectable straw-hat manufacturer, from the vicinity
of Bond-street, who had dabbled considerably in the fine arts, in the
way of sketches and outlines, taken at the different watering-places
which he visited, determined on making a tour to the Lakes, "in search
of the picturesque." Desirous of rendering his journey poetically
interesting, he solicited from a friend of his in town, who was
acquainted with Dr. Southey, a letter of introduction to the Laureate,
which was accorded. But the epistle, instead of describing Mr. L------
as an artist, merely designated him "an honest bonnet-maker," who had a
_penchant_ for lionizing, and who desired to be introduced to Dr.
Southey in "the way of business." With this vexatiously facetious and
laconic scrawl, poor Mr. L. made his way to the Lakes, and in due time