_Choristers_.--The singing boys are, probably, the only officers
of the Catholic Church retained to this day by the Royal Family; for
at the Reformation, when masses, &c., had wholly ceased, Queen Elizabeth
retained on her establishment four sets of singing-boys, attached to
St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and that
of the Royal Household. For the support of these bands, she issued out
warrants, like the other English sovereigns, for taking up "suche apt
and meete children as are fitt to be instructed and framed in the art
and science of musicke and singing."

* * * * *


_A Ha! ha! Fence_.--Bridgman, a landscape gardener, early in the
last century, is supposed to have introduced in the Royal Gardens at
Richmond, the sunk fence for boundaries, instead of walls: an attempt
considered so astonishing, that the common people called them Ha! has!
to express their surprise at the sudden termination of their walk.

* * * * *


_Sheridan's Funeral_.--Mr. Moore has omitted one of the most
touching and heart-stirring anecdotes connected with the funeral of
Sheridan. The noble and select company had assembled to pay the last
tribute of respect to departed genius, and the coffin was about to be
placed in the hearse, when an elegantly-dressed personage, who pretended
to be distantly related to the deceased, entered the chamber of death.
At his urgent entreaties to view the face of his friend, the coffin lid
was unscrewed; and, to the horror and surprise of the bystanders, he