into a creek of the sea, once out of a boat into the river Ouse,
near Bedford, and each time he was narrowly saved from drowning. One
day, an adder crossed his path. He stunned it with a stick, then forced
open its mouth with a stick and plucked out the tongue, which he supposed
to be the sting, with his fingers; "by which act," he says, "had not God
been merciful unto me, I might, by my desperateness, have brought myself
to an end." If this, indeed, were an adder, and not a harmless snake,
his escape from the fangs was more remarkable than he himself was aware
of. A circumstance, which was likely to impress him more deeply, occurred
in the eighteenth year of his age, when, being a soldier in the
Parliament's army, he was drawn out to go to the siege of Leicester,
in 1645. One of the same company wished to go in his stead; Bunyan
consented to exchange with him, and this volunteer substitute, standing
sentinel one day at the siege, was shot through the head with a
musket-ball. "This risk," Sir Walter Scott observes, "was one somewhat
resembling the escape of Sir Roger de Coverley, in an action at Worcester,
who was saved from the slaughter of that action, by having been absent
from the field."--_Southey._

* * * * *

DROLLERY SPONTANEOUS.

More drolleries are uttered unintentionally than by premeditation. There
is no such thing as being "droll to order." One evening a lady said to a
small wit, "Come, Mr. ----, tell us a lively anecdote;" and the poor
fellow was mute the rest of the evening.

"Favour me with your company on Wednesday evening--you are such a lion,"
said a weak party-giver to a young _litterateur_. "I thank you," replied
the wit, "but, on that evening I am engaged to eat fire at the Countess
of ----, and stand upon my head at Mrs. ----."

* * * * *

ORIGIN OF COWPER'S "JOHN GILPIN."

It happened one afternoon, in those years when Cowper's accomplished
friend, Lady Austen, made a part of his little evening circle, that she
observed him sinking into increased dejection; it was her custom, on
these occasions, to try all the resources of her sprightly powers for
his immediate relief. She told him the story of John Gilpin, (which had
been treasured in her memory from her childhood), to dissipate the gloom
of the passing hour. Its effects on the fancy of Cowper had the air
of enchantment. He informed her the next morning that convulsions of