erms, customs, and
proverbs, I have often wondered never to have met with therein this old
comparative north country proverb--"As bad as ploughing with dogs;"
which evidently originated from the Farm-house; for when ploughmen
(through necessity) have a new or awkward horse taken into their team,
by which they are hindered and hampered, they frequently observe, "This
is as bad as ploughing with dogs." This proverb is in the country so
common, that it is applied to anything difficult or abstruse: even at a
rubber at whist, I have heard the minor party execrate the business in
these words, "It is as bad as ploughing with dogs," give it up for lost,
change chairs, cut for partners, and begin a new game.

H.B.A.

* * * * *

CROESUS.--A DRAMATIC SKETCH.

(_For the Mirror_.)

_Cyrus, Courtiers, and Officers of State. Croesus bound upon the funeral
pile which is guarded by Persian soldiers, several of them bearing
lighted torches, which they are about to apply to the pile_.

_Croesus_.--O, Solon, Solon, Solon.

_Cyrus_.--Whom calls he on?

_Attendant_.--Solon, the sage.

_Croesus_.--How true thy words
No man is happy till he knows his end.

_Cyrus_.--Can Solon help thee?

_Croesus_.--He hath taught me that
Which it were well for kings to know.

_Cyrus_.--Unbind him--we would hear it.

_Croesus_.--The fame of Solon having spread o'er Greece,
We sent for him to Sardis. Robed in purple,
We and our court received him: costly gems
Bedecked us--glittering in golden beds,
We told him of our riches. He was moved not.
We showed him our vast palace, hall, and chamber,
Cellar and attic not omitting--
Statues and urns, and tapestry of gold,
Carpets and furniture, and Grecian paintings,
Diamonds and sapphires, rubies, emeralds,
And pearls, that would have dazzled eagles' sight.
Lastly, our treasury!--we showed him Lydia's wealth!
And then exulting, asked him, whom of all men
That in the course of his long travels he had seen
He thought most happy?--He replied,
"One Tellus, an Athenian citizen,
Of little fortune, and of less ambition,
Who lived in ignorance of penury,
And ever saw his country flourish;
His children were esteemed--he lived to see
His children's children--then he fell in battle,
A patriot, a hero, and a martyr!"
Whom next?--I asked, "Two Argive brothers,
Whose pious pattern of fraternal love
And fil