ve rites as performed by the
village men and maidens of the present day, perhaps you may deem this
string of quotations worthy of a corner in your amusing miscellany.

E.

* * * * *

LINES

_On the Sarcophagus[2] which contains the remains of Nelson in St. Paul's
Cathedral._

_(For the Mirror.)_

To mark th' excess of priestly pow'r
To keep in mind that gorgeous hour,
Thou art no Popish monument,
Altho' by Wolsey thou wer't sent,
From thine own native Italy
To tell where his proud ashes lie.
To thee a nobler part is given!
A prouder task design'd by heav'n!
'Tis thine the sea chief's grave to shroud,
Idol and wonder of the crowd!
The bravest heart that ever stood
The shock of battle on the flood!
The stoutest arm that ever led
A warrior o'er the ocean's bed!
Whose name long dreaded on the sea
Alone secured the victory!
His Britain sea-girt stood alone,
Whilst all the earth was heard to moan,
Beneath war's iron--iron rod,
Trusting in Nelson as her god.--CYMBELINE.

[2] See MIRROR, No. 306, p 234.

* * * * *

COINAGE OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

_(For the Mirror.)_

In 1749, a considerable number of gold coins were discovered on the top
of Karnbre, in Cornwall, which are clearly proved to have belonged to the
ancient Britons. The figures that were first stamped on the coins of all
nations were those of oxen, horses, sheep, &c. It may, therefore, be
concluded, that the coins of any country which have only the figures of
cattle stamped on them, and perhaps of trees, representing the woods in
which their cattle pastured,--were the most ancient coins of the country.
Some of the gold coins found at Karnbre, and described by Dr. Borlase,
are of this kind, and may be justly esteemed the most ancient of our
British coins. Sovereigns soon became aware of the importance of money,
and took the fabrication of it under their own direction, ordering their
own heads to be impressed on one side of the coins, while the figure of
some animal still continued to be stamped on the other. Of this kind are
some of the Karnbre coins, with a royal head on one side, and a horse on
the other. When the knowledge and use of letters were once introduced
into any country, it would not be long before they appeared on its coins,
expressing the names of the princes whose heads were stamped on them.
This was a very great i