e a dozen or two of
husbandmen, farmers, and honest tenants, at a nobleman's table (who
never raised their rents) worry a sirloin, and hew down, (I mean cut up)
a goose like a log: while a good Cheshire cheese, and plenty of nappy
ale, and strong March beer, washes down the merry goblets, sets all
their wit afloat, and sends them to their respective homes, as happy as
kings.

And now, kind loving readers, every one,
God send y'a good new-year, when the old one 's gone.

FOOTNOTES:

[75] The following prediction, and the verification of it are of so
recent a date, that we cannot resist giving it a place in our pages. In
the account of the late Captain Flinder's voyage of discovery, is the
melancholy relation of the loss of the master, Mr. Thistle, with seven
others, in a boat, on the inhospitable shores of Terra Australia. To
this narrative, the following note is subjoined, which we shall here
quote in Captain Flinder's own words: "This evening, Mr. Fowler, the
lieutenant, told me a circumstance which I thought very extraordinary,
and it afterwards proved to be more so. While we were lying at Spithead,
Mr. Thistle was one day waiting on shore, and having nothing else to do,
went to a certain old man, named Pine, to have his fortune told. The
cunning man informed him that he was going on a long voyage, and that
the ship, on arriving at her destination, would be joined by another
vessel. That such was intended, he might have learnt privately; but he
added that Mr. Thistle would be lost before the other vessel joined. As
to the manner of his loss the magician refused to give any information.
My boat's crew, hearing what Mr. Thistle said, went to consult the wise
man, and after the prefatory information of a long voyage, they were
told that they would be shipwrecked, but not in the ship they were going
out in; whether they would escape and return to England, he was not
permitted to reveal. This tale Mr. Thistle often told at the mess-table;
and I remarked, with some pain, in a future part of the voyage, that
every time my boat's crew went to embark in the Lady Nelson, there was
some degree of apprehension amongst them, that the time of the predicted
shipwreck was arrived. I make no comment, (says Capt. Flinders,) upon
this story, but to recommend a commander, if possible, to prevent any of
his crew from consulting fortune-tellers."--It should be observed that,
strange as it may appear, every particular of these pred