LORD MACAULAY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2224, 9 October 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

LORD MACAULAY.

" When I was in London in the fifties," writes a correspondent of an American paper, "among my haunts wan an old low-eeilol tivern with a sanded floor two feet below the level of the side walkI used to go there and drink "alf and 'alf.' One day, when I was sittiug be>ide a table, a large man in a cloak eutered. His face was ronud, pale, and heavy ; but the eyes were blight, and his bushy eyebrows slid up and down with quick chansjas of expression. He «at down at the table next to mine, and a waiter came in directly with a big plate of bread and cheese and a glass of ale, and sat it before him. He ate and drank heartily, and, after finishing bis lunch, sat upright and looted his hands on a heavy cane. Suddenly he reached for his empty glass aud hurled it on the floor with all his strength, smashing it into shivers. He sit for a minute longer, then got up slowly, 'tipped' the waiter, pud his reckoning at the bar, and passed out. He had not uttered a woid. The waiter got a broom, swept up the pieces of glass, and cleared the Liblt-. I a-ked him if the gentlernau's intellect was a little in need of repair. • Oh, no sir !' viid he. • That's nothink unusual with 'hn, sir. W'y, he's bioke maybe a 'undred glasses since lie's been a-corain' to this \>use ! 'E don't know it when 'c does it ; 'c's athinkin', and it «eems like as he got mad at somethink 'c was thinking about.' 1 Who is he ?' ' Lord Mactulay, sir.' "

Death Before Dishonour.— There is a curious animal in Loch Fyne, which, dredged up from the bottom of the sea, performs the most extraordinary and unaccountable acts of suicide and self-de-struction. It is a peculiar kiud of starfish, which, when brought up from the bottom of the water, and when any attempt is made to take hold of it, immediately thrown off all its ai ins, its very centre breaks up, ami nothing remains of one of the most beautiful forms in nature but a thousand wriggling fragments. The people of Riverton (Southland) were thrown into a state of consternation a few days ago by a rumour that an iceberg twice as big as Stewarts Island, was bearing down upon the coast, and nothing short of a miracle could prevent it from coming ashore and burying the town. The rumour was started by a clergyman, who claimed to have been inspired, or had been the subject of a revelation, or had dreamt it, pr something in that way, and as he was a man of unimpeachable veracity he was believed. Coming from such an authority, the rumour received ready credence, and thy people made preparations for flight. The weather had become terribly cold, with boisterous showers of heavy hail, and the outline of the phantom icebeig was clearly discerned a few miles out to feea. Just when the excitement was at its highest, the sun shone out in noon-day vigour, and the harbour-master, who had been taking bearings through a table glass, dispelled the illusion by announcing that the supposed iceberg was only a cloud. The clergyman has since lud reason to regiet his share in the business. "You'ro a stuck-up thinp!" remarked the bill- poster to a cimii-bill. "I ye a light to be," replied the bill, " because I'm well ported au'.l thoroughly red. '