COVENTRY’S WISE PRECAUTION.

Some person was relating to the Earl of Coventry the strange fact that the Earl of Devon’s harriers last week gave chase, in his demesne, to an unhappy donkey, whom they tore to pieces before they could be called off; upon which his lordship asked for a piece of chalk and a slate, and composed the following jeu d’esprit on the circumstance:—­

  I’m truly shocked that Devon’s hounds
    The gentle ass has slain;
  For me to shun his lordship’s grounds,
    It seems a warning plain.

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CONTINUATIONS FROM CHINA.

It is generally reported that the usual drill continuations of the British tars are about to be altered by those manning the fleet off China, who purpose adopting Nankin as soon as possible.

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THE VERY “NEXT” JONATHAN.

There is a Quaker in New Orleans so desperate upright in all his dealings, that he won’t sit down to eat his meals.

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[Illustration]

POOR JACK.

A sailor ashore, after a long cruise, is a natural curiosity.  Twenty-four hours’ liberty has made him the happiest dog in existence; and the only drawback to his perfect felicity, is the difficulty of getting rid of his prize-money within the allotted time.  It must, however, be confessed, that he displays a vast deal of ingenuity in devising novel modes of spending his rhino.  Watches, trinkets, fiddlers, coaches, grog, and girls, are the long-established and legitimate modes of clearing out his lockers; but even these means are sometimes found inadequate to effect the desired object with sufficient rapidity.  When there happens to be a number of brother-tars similarly employed, who have engaged all the coaches, fiddlers, and sweethearts in the town, it is then that Jack is put to his wits’-end; and it is only by buying cocked-hats and top-boots for the boat’s-crew, or some such absurdity, that he can get all his cash scattered before he is obliged to return on board.  This is a picture of a sailor ashore, but a sailor aground is a different being altogether.  An unlucky shot may deprive him of a leg or arm; he may be frost-nipped at the pole, or get a coup de soleil in the tropics, and then be turned upon the world to shape his course amongst its rocks and shallows, with the bitter blast of poverty in his teeth.  But Jack is not to be beaten so easily; although run aground, he refuses to strike his flag, and, with a cheerful heart, goes forth into the highways and byeways to sing “the dangers of the sea,” and, to collect from the pitying passers-by, the coppers that drop, “like angel visits,” into his little oil-skin hat.