egisters
of Paddington in the early and mid-Victorian period reveals so many Mary
Perkinses as to render the task of identification peculiarly difficult.
It will be remembered, however, that the heroine of the famous ballad is
described as not only "little," but "pretty;" indeed, she is spoken of
as being "as beautiful as a butterfly and as proud as a queen." So far,
however, these clues to her appearance have yielded no solid results.
The representatives of the famous family of brewers have been unable to
throw any light on the subject, and an application to the managing
director of the London and General Omnibus Company has also proved
unproductive. (Polly Perkins "married the conductor of a twopenny
'bus.") Her brilliant appearance suggests a possible relationship with
Dr. PERKINS, the famous pioneer of the aniline dye industry; but this,
as well as the theory that she was a descendant of PERKIN WARBECK, is
mere surmise.

* * * * *

THE FIRST MAN WHO ATE AN OYSTER.--The most widely circulated account of
this feat is that which ascribes it to the notorious Roman epicure
Publius Esurius Gulo, who was nicknamed Bellipotens from the rotundity
of his figure. According to the account given in the _Gastronomica_ of
Voracius Bulbo (ii. 18) Gulo was always making daring experiments, and,
when bathing at Baiae on a very hot day, and seeing a bivalve which had
rashly opened its jaws in the sun, he dexterously inserted a stone and
conveyed the contents to his mouth on the point of the pin of his
_fibula_. He was subsequently created a proconsul by NERO. The only
drawback connected with this account is the fact that oysters were
recognised as delicacies in Rome at least a hundred years before NERO.
It is right to add that the genuineness of Bulbo's _Gastronomica_ has
been seriously impugned, the best authorities (including FRANCATELLI)
being convinced that the treatise was the work of a sixteenth-century
_farceur_ who belonged to the royal house of Paphlagonia.

* * * * *

PARLOUR PATHOS, SPECIMENS OF.--The best specimens of this interesting
emotional product are to be found in the words of Royalty Ballads. A
good instance is to be found in the following choice quatrain:--

Nature cares not whence or how,
Nature asks not why;
'Tis enough that thou art thou,
And that I am I.

* * * * *

COMPARATIVE COUPLETS.--The corr