So when a child, as playful children use,
Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news,
The flame extinct, he views the roving fire,--
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire;
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!"

VII.

Several allusions having been made in the text to the "Wolfe" Tavern, I
am able to present the following original bill of lading, constituting an
incident in relation to the famous expedition to Quebec, and evincing at
least a more formal recognition of a superintending Providence, than is
the custom of more modern days:--

12 Oxen,
6 Horses,
No. 29 to 32. 4 Hogshd. Corn,
10 Baggs Corn,
10 Baggs Meal,
2 Carts with Furniture,
500 feet Boards,
1 pr. Smiths Bellows,
1 Box Smiths Tools,
1 Anvil,
1 Camp Kettle
10 Ox Yokes,
70 Bundles of Hay,
2 Handpumps,
18 Pails,
4 Tubbs,
2 Shovells,
4 Barr's Water, Settled.

Shipped by the Grace of God in good Order and well Condition'd by Thomas
Hancock, by order of His Excell'cy Major General Amherst, in and upon the
good sloop call'd the "Endeavour," whereof is Master under GOD, for this
present Voyage, William Clift, and now riding at Anchor in the Harbour of
Boston, and by God's Grace bound for The Expedition up the River St.
Lawrence, to say, Twelve Oxen, Six Horses, Four Hogshead and Ten Bags of
Corn, Ten Bags of Meal, two Carts with their Furniture, Five hundred feet
of Boards, One Pair Smiths Bellows, One Box Smiths Tools, One Anvill, One
Camp Kettle, Ten Ox Yokes, Seventy Bundles of Hay, Two handpumps,
Eighteen pails, Four Tubbs, Two Shovells, Four Barrells Water; being
mark'd and number'd as in the Margin, and to be delivered in the like
good Order, and well Condition'd, at the aforesaid Port of ---- (the
Danger of the Seas only excepted) unto His Excell'cy Major General Wolfe,
or to his Assigns,----or they paying Freight for the said
Goods----Nothing----with Primage and Average accustom'd. In Witness
whereof the Master or Purser of the said sloop hath affirmed to Two Bills
of Lading, all of this Tenor and date; the one of which Two Bills being
accomplished, the other one to stand void. And so GOD send the good sloop
to her desired Port in Safety, _Amen_. Dated in

BOSTON, _May 14, 1759_.

WILL^{M}. CLIFT.

VIII.

On my occa