Part 17

These fervent lines are 'poetry.' * * * Mr. CHARLES L. ELLIOTT, the eminent portrait-painter, was safely delivered of the subjoined remark, at a quarter to four of the clock, on the afternoon of February the twenty-second, while crossing the Hudson River. He commenced as follows: said he: The epitaphs which you quote in a late number of the KNICKERBOCKER, remind me of a _verbal_ one which my father once heard. An old fellow, a coarse, ill-grained Dutchman, died one day. He was a disagreeable man, and a bad neighbor: even the children feared and disliked him. One of his neighbors asked him just before his death, if he was ready to go, to which he answered: 'Yes.' 'Well,' was the rejoinder, 'if you are willing to die yourself, all your neighbors are willing you should.' At the grave, even, there was no one to say a good word for him, except one good-hearted old German, who remarked, as he turned away to go home: '_Well, he vas a goot shmoker!_'' This was the 'shmoker's only epitaph. * * * A FRIEND mentioned to us the other evening an amusing example of '_A Dutchman's Reliance on Providence_.' There had been a great drought in the county of Columbia: no rain had fallen for the space of two or three months; and all the upland fields were parched and dry: insomuch that great fears were entertained that there would be an utter failure of the usual crops. In this extremity, a meeting was called of all devout citizens of that particular 'rural district,' to offer up _Prayers for Rain_ to the 'LORD of the Harvest.' One honest old Dutchman who had a large farm, stated _his_ 'views' to the meeting in this way: 'Dere ish some vields along der hills dere, dat ish pooty dry: I wis you bray for some rain on _dem_: but you needn't bray for any mores vater on der moisht black ground under der hills dere; 'cause corn _moosht_ grow on _dem_ vields any how!' The 'argument' was effective! * * * AMONG the _Public Lecturers of the Season_ we may mention the name of our correspondent, and country neighbor, Mr. WILLIAM WIRT SIKES. His lectures are upon attractive themes, are well written, and he delivers them with entire effect. The subjects of four, which we have seen mentioned, are: '_The Beautiful_,' '_William Wirt_,' '_The Noble Life_,' '_Insanity_.' Mr. SIKES' address is, Nyack on the Hudson. * * * '_A Conundrum by Induction_,' must have cost a good deal of hard work to make:

WHY is a bee-hive like a bad potato? Because a bee-hive is a bee-holder: And a beholder is a spectator, And a speck-tater is a bad potato!

'Apt,' for a metaphysician. * * * WE call attention to the advertisement elsewhere of '_The Cosmopolitan Art-Journal_. It has succeeded in securing the liberal favor of the public, having reached a circulation of nearly forty thousand copies. '_The Falstaff_,' which it furnishes as a premium picture, is an excellent work of art, and cannot fail of a very wide diffusion. * * * _The Editorial Correspondence of The Knickerbocker_,' extending through a period of over twenty years, will be commenced in our next. Having to gain nearly a month's time in the advance preparation of the present number, we have not found the requisite leisure to do justice to the opening paper.

Fifty-Seventh Volume of the Knickerbocker.

KNICKERBOCKER PREMIUMS.

WE offer, as will be seen by our Prospectus, to each subscriber to the KNICKERBOCKER for 1861, as a premium, the choice of the two very fine Steel-plate Engravings, 'ROBERT BURNS IN HIS COTTAGE COMPOSING THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT,' and the 'MERRY-MAKING IN THE OLDEN TIME.' The first of these pictures--BURNS--has been engraved by the distinguished American artist, JOHN C. MCRAE, after the celebrated painting by Sir WILLIAM ALLAN: and represents BURNS in his humble home, clad in the homely garb in which he was wont to tread the fields, his dog at his feet and his pen in his hand, musing seriously over those immortal utterances that found vent in the exquisite lyric above named. The portrait is perfect, and the picture executed in the highest style of art. Its size is sixteen by twenty-one inches; and its publication price is two dollars.

The other engraving we offer as a premium, the 'MERRY-MAKING,' is a perfect copy of FRITH'S celebrated picture, and was engraved at an expense of two thousand dollars. It measures twenty-five by nineteen and a half inches in size, contains thirty-nine figures, and is, beyond comparison, the finest work of the kind ever offered as a premium in this country. The following description of it is furnished us by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, Esq.:

'ALMOST in the centre of the picture and a little in the back-ground, is a country-dance on the green, with a hard-featured fiddler perched on a high seat, and another musician in a tie-wig standing by him, playing with all their might. On the right, two bouncing girls are gaily pulling toward the dance a gray-haired man, who seems vainly to remonstrate that his 'dancing days are over,' while a waggish little chit pushes him forward from behind, greatly to the amusement of his spouse, who is still sitting at the tea-table, from which he has been dragged. On the left, under a magnificent spreading oak, sit the 'Squire and his wife, whom a countryman with his hat off is respectfully inviting to take part in the dance. To the left of the 'Squire is a young couple on the grass, to whom a gipsy, with an infant on her shoulder, is telling their fortune. Over the shoulders of this couple is seen a group engaged in quoit-playing, and back of the whole is a landscape of gentle slopes and copses.'

No similar opportunity will be presented the public for obtaining these very fine engravings.

Publisher's Notice.

THE Publisher invites contributions on subjects of immediate National interest, Historical, Biographical, Descriptive, Scientific, etc. Such articles, if written in a lively and attractive manner, and embodying _new and useful information of a practical character_, will always receive early and respectful attention; and if used, will be suitably paid for.

Manuscripts, excepting short poems, if not accepted, will be returned if accompanied by a sufficient number of stamps to pay the postage.

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Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.

Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.