Epsom

“ He restored Swanscombe church, and he founded a scholarship at the Royal College of Music. He was a large subscriber to the Royal Medical Benevolent College at Epsom, where he built at his own cost a house for the head-master. ”

“ After his resignation of Hackney, he retired to Epsom in Surrey, where he lived for about three years without any charge, but was always ready to assist his brethren. In 1741, on the death of the Rev. ”

“ Thence to White Hall, and thence to visit Lord Brouncker, and back to White Hall, where saw the Queen and ladies; and so, with Mr. Slingsby, to Mrs. Williams's, thinking to dine with Lord Brouncker there, but did not, having promised my wife to come home, though here I met Knepp, to my great content. So home; and, after dinner, I took my wife and Deb. round by Hackney, and up and down to take the ayre; and then home, and made visits to Mrs. Turner, and Mrs. Mercer, and Sir W. Pen, who is come from Epsom not well, and Sir J. Minnes, who is not well neither. ”

“ The King of the Apes, hearing of their arrival, ordered them to be brought before him; and by way of impressing them with his magnificence, he received them sitting on a throne, while the Apes, his subjects, were ranged in long rows on either side of him. When the Travellers came into his presence he asked them what they thought of him as a King. The lying Traveller said, “Sire, every one must see that you are a most noble and mighty monarch.” “And what do you think of my subjects?” continued the King. “They,” said the Traveller, “are in every way worthy of their royal master.” ”

“ Æsop stept out and came Immediately back again, and tols his Master that he had seen Two Crows. Hereupon Xanthus went out himself, and finding but One, (for the Other was flown away) he fell Outragiously upon Æsop for making Sport with him, And order’d him to be soundly Lash’d for’t, but just as they were stripping him for the Execution, In comes One to Invite Xanthus abroad to Supper. Well Master, says Æsop, and where’s the Credit of your Augury Now? When, I that say Two Crows, am to be beaten like a Dog, and You that saw but One, are going to make merry with your Friends? ”

“ But making a Virtue of Necessity, he chose rather to Present Æsop to the Common-Wealth, then to Sell him. The Samians took it very kindly, And Æsop was Presently Manumiz'd, and made a Citizen in Form, Proclaim'd a Freeman; and after this Ceremony, he Discoursed upon the Subject of the Portent as follows.
I shall not need to tell so many Wise and knowing Men, that the Eagle is a Royal Bird, and signifes a Great King; that the Dropping of the Ring into the Bosom of a Slave that has no Power over himself, portends the Loss of Your Liberties, if you do not look to your selves in Time ”

“ He noticed that the great beast cocked up his ears all the time, as if he were listening for something, and he asked him why he did so. Just then a gnat came humming by, and the Elephant said, “Do you see that wretched little buzzing insect? I’m terribly afraid of its getting into my ear: if it once gets in, I’m dead and done for.” The Lion’s spirits rose at once when he heard this: “For,” he said to himself, “if the Elephant, huge as he is, is afraid of a gnat, I needn’t be so much ashamed of being afraid of a cock, who is ten thousand times bigger than a gnat.” ”

“ It was as big as a mountain, with horns on its head, and a long tail, and it had hoofs divided in two." "Tush, child, tush," said the old Frog, "that was only Farmer White's Ox. It isn't so big either; he may be a little bit taller than I, but I could easily make myself quite as broad; just you see." So he blew himself out, and blew himself out, and blew himself out. "Was he as big as that?" asked he.
"Oh, much bigger than that," said the young Frog.
Again the old one blew himself out, and asked the young one if the Ox was as big as that.
"Bigger, father, bigger," was the reply. ”

“ Opossum.
Opossums furnish the natives with an abundant supply of animal food in all the well-timbered tracts. These creatures, in situations suitable to them, are very numerous. When riding through the forests of the north-eastern parts of Victoria, I have seen, at night, many hundreds of them, and it was not at all difficult to get near them. They are easily seen by moonlight; and, by keeping in the deep shadows cast by the bushes, one can almost reach them by hand when they are on the lower branches of the trees. ”

“ The Spotted Opossum, for so it may properly be named, is in length from the nose to the extremity of the tail about twenty-five inches, of which the tail itself takes up about nine or ten. The general colour of the animal is black, inclining to brown beneath; the neck and body spotted with irregular roundish patches of white; the ears are pretty large, and stand erect, the visage is pointed, the muzzle furnished with long slender hairs; the fore, as well as hind legs, from the knees downward, almost naked, and ash-coloured ”

“ In the popular mind, the generation of no animal is so shrouded in mystery as that of the opossum. Throughout the country, among both whites and negroes, deeply rooted tradition has it that the opossum copulates through the nose and that the female blows the fruit of conception into the pouch. ”

“ There is one other yet to pass through the shed, who has as it were a hundred eyes, and until he has come and gone, your life is still in peril." At that moment the master himself entered, and having had to complain that his oxen had not been properly fed, he went up to their racks, and cried out: "Why is there such a scarcity of fodder? There is not half enough straw for them to lie on. Those lazy fellows have not even swept the cobwebs away." ”

“ IT was Æsop's Fortune to be sent to Ephesus, in Company with other Slaves to be sold. His Master had a great many Burdens to Carry, and Æsop begg'd of his Companions not to over Charge him. They found him a Weakling, and bad him please himself. ”

“ It is certain, that our opossum, which is the true one of America, has no claws to his toes behind; if an animal with sharp claws did exist, such as is represented by Seba, it could not be, as he asserts, the opossum of America. ”

“ The old writer, Lawson, gives as succinct an account of the habits of the best known species—the Virginia opossum—as may be found anywhere. We shall adopt it verbatim:—“The possum,” says he, “is found nowhere but in America. She is the wonder of all the land animals—being of the size of a badger, and near that colour. The female, doubtless, breeds her young at her teats, for I have seen them stuck fast thereto when they have been no bigger than a small raspberry, and seemingly inanimate. ”

“ Those that feigned death usually maintained the deception for not more than two or three minutes after a person had moved away out of sight. The opossum first raised its head and sniffed, listened, and looked about cautiously for a short time, with body and limbs still relaxed in the feigning posture. ”

“ Sighing heavily, and caring no more for the Zoological Gardens and Madame Tussaud’s, I opened the garden gate and went out into the paddock. Spring, having barked himself hoarse at the [Pg 29] opossum, which sat serenely on an exposed bough above him, with pointed ears pricked up and bushy tail hanging down, uttering a nervous little accompaniment of growls, discharged a final volley, and trotted after me; and, not consciously following any route in particular, we went towards the river, nearly a mile away, which was threatening to dry up into a chain of stagnant water-holes. ”

“ Yellow-bellied Flying-O.—
Petaurus australis, Shaw.
Of the rare little animal called Leadbeater's Opossum, only one specimen has been found, and that in Victoria; it is Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, and is the only species of this genus.
1608. John Smith, `Travels, Adventures, and Observations in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America, beginning about 1593, and continued to 1629;' 2 vols., Richmond, U.S., reprinted 1819; vol. i. p. 124 [On the American animal; in the part about Virginia, 1608] :
"An Opassom hath a head like a Swine,—a taile like a Rat, and is of the bigness of a Cat. ”

“ I took the viall and played some things from one of their books, Lyra lessons, which they seemed to like well. Thus we pass an hour or two after dinner and towards the evening we bade them Adieu! and took horse; being resolved that, instead of the race which fails us, we would go to Epsum. So we set out, and being gone a little way I sent home Will to look to the house, and Creed and I rode forward; the road being full of citizens going and coming toward Epsum, where, when we came, we could hear of no lodging, the town so full ”

“ A menagerie was on view at Evesham, to the great joy of many juveniles as well as older people, for such exhibitions were not very common in the town. Very early next morning, a farmer, living about two miles from Aldington, was awakened by a shower of small stones on his bedroom window. Looking out he saw his shepherd in much excitement and alarm. "Oh master, master, there's a beast with two tails, one in front and one behind, a-pullin' up the mangolds, and a-eatin' of 'em!" The farmer hurried to the spot and saw an African elephant which had escaped during the night ”

“ The other derivation from Eppo—a man who built the castle—is much more according to analogy, as we find Eppenhain at a short distance, and it is connected with an old legend. Once a knight named Eppo lost his way while hunting, and was resting from his fatigue at the foot of a rock, when he was startled by a female voice in tones of stifled lamentation, behind a neighbouring thicket. He made his way according to the direction of the sounds, and saw at the mouth of a cave a beautiful damsel in chains. She told him that she was kept in durance and watched by a giant who slept on the rock above. ”

“ To carry out her design, she climbed to the nest of the Eagle, and said, "Destruction is preparing for you, and for me too, unfortunately. The Wild Sow, whom you may see daily digging up the earth, wishes to uproot the oak, that she may on its fall seize our families as food for her young." Having thus deprived the Eagle of her senses through terror, she crept down to the cave of the Sow, and said, "Your children are in great danger; for as soon as you shall go out with your litter to find food, the Eagle is prepared to pounce upon one of your little pigs." ”

“ The mode adopted by the Wedge-tailed Eagle of capturing the Opossum is interesting;—he goes to a hollow tree in which it is probable his victim may be located, and with his talons, scrapes the bark, until the Opossum becoming alarmed, rushes out and is soon pounced upon by its crafty foe. ”

“ LABOURER lay listening to a Nightingale's song throughout the summer night. So pleased was he with it that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. "Now that I have caught thee," he cried, "thou shalt always sing to me." "We Nightingales never sing in a cage," said the bird.
"Then I'll eat thee," said the Labourer. "I have always heard say that nightingale on toast is a dainty morsel."
"Nay, kill me not," said the Nightingale; but let me free, and I'll tell thee three things far better worth than my poor body." ”

“ In a very curious memoir concerning the works of Mary, an Anglo-Norman poetess, born in France, who wrote in the French language in the reign of king Henry the third of England, and who among other things translated the fables of Æsop, it is made to appear that there were indeed but few of Æsop’s original fables in her collection, and even those she had borrowed entirely from England, and the greater part, from several allusions in them, evidently shew, that they must have been composed in monasteries, before her time. ”

“ And so absurd, that could I raise up, From fields Elysian, fabling Æsop, I would accuse him to his face, For libelling the four-foot race. Creatures of every kind but ours Well comprehend their natural powers, While we, whom reason ought to sway, Mistake our talents every day. The Ass was never known so stupid, To act the part of Tray or Cupid; Nor leaps upon his master's lap, There to be stroked, and fed with pap, As Æsop would the world persuade; He better understands his trade: Nor comes whene'er his lady whistles, But carries loads, and feeds on thistles. ”

“ When they have attained sufficient growth and strength, they emerge, after which they occasionally take refuge in the same receptable on the appearance of any danger, and are carried about by the parent. This is the practice with most of the Opossum tribe; but there are two species which have no ventral pouch for the reception of their young, but a kind of depression or furrow in its stead. ”

“ Æsop shews him what he reckoned the oppressions of the administration, flowed from the prejudices of ignorance, contemplated through the medium of popular discontent. In the interview between the Beau and the Philosopher, there is the following pretty fable. The Beau observes to Æsop, ‘It is is very well; it is very well, old spark; I say it is very well; because I han’t a pair of plod shoes, and a dirty shirt, you think a woman won’t venture upon me for husband.—Why now to shew you, old father, how little you philosophers know the ladies.——I’ll tell you an adventure of a friend of mine.’ ”

“ He was sometimes compelled to perform acts revolting to humanity, and outrageous in the highest degree. On one occasion, a colored girl belonging to Eppes, about seventeen years of age, went one Sunday, without the permission of her master, to the nearest plantation, about half a mile distant, to visit another colored girl of her acquaintance. She returned in the course of two or three hours, and for that offence she was called up for punishment, which Solomon was required to inflict. ”