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A "JUICY" DAY IN KENSINGTON GARDENS.

BY ALFRED W. COLE.

"TWAS in the leafy month of June,
The hour was half-past five;
At Kensington the Gardens soon
With beauty were alive.

"Tis true the wind was rather high,
As from the east it blew,
And rather chilly, while the sky
Looked very murky too.

But who could think of clouds or wind?
Or who would dare to say

He had a fear within his mind

"Twould rain on such a day?

Then let the east wind blow its worst-
The band is blowing too—

And if those nasty clouds should burst,
They can but wet us through.

How gaily look'd each bonnet pink!
How chaste each bonnet white!
Alas! what mortal then could think
How soon 'twould look a " fright?"

Three drops came down!" We'd better go"
"Ah! no-we'd better stop;

We never could escape-and so

Besides it's such a drop."

We'll stand beneath that nice large tree

Until it has done drizzling,

And then 'twill be such fun to see
Those dainty bonnets "mizzling."

It isn't leaving off the least,

But still it's quite diverting;
The music-ev'rything has ceas'd,
Except the rain—and flirting.

The wet begins to patter through:
This isn't quite such fun-
I really think, 'twixt me and you,
We'd better" cut and run."

See yonder cottage-don't you think
We'd better make for that?
Or woe betide each bonnet pink
And woe betide each hat!

Away we go-we reach the cot,
And gladly through the door
We pass-but, bless me, what a lot
Have entered it before!

No matter we shall find a place-
At all events we'll try,

And should we be confin'd for space
"Twill help to squeeze us dry.

The cottage, too, looks neat and well,
The landlady polite,

With cakes and ginger-beer to sell,
And linen snowy white.

And six sweet children, who've been sent
As blessings, we must hope,
Exhaling-little dears!-the scent.
Of cakes and yellow soap.

The hours flew by-the rain still fell-
And yet within that cot
(Spite of the yellow soapy smell)

I envied no man's lot.

We quizzed, we chatted, and we smiled-
Some may have flirted slightly-
But time was ne'er so well beguiled
Nor seem'd to pass more lightly.

At length, when no one cared or thought
If raining cats and dogs,

A " ministering angel" brought
Umbrellas, cloaks, and clogs.

Then well wrapp'd up we sallied out
And patter'd through the wet,
Looking, I feel beyond a doubt,

A very happy set.

The night was pass'd in mirth and joy,
And here is all I say—

May pleasure ne'er have more alloy
Than on that "juicy" day!

My midnight taper 's almost burnt,
My story, too, is ended,

But one thing more that day I learnt-
Jemima's legs are splendid.

FACTS AND FACES; or, the Mutual Connexion between Linear and Mental Portraiture, morally considered. With Pictorial Illustrations. By Thomas Woolnoth, Esq., Engraver in Ordinary

to the Queen.

THIS Volume is at once amusing and instructive. It is a practical guide to the study of the "human face divine," founded upon principles of philosophical inquiry, emanating from the mind of a trained and skilful observer, a veteran in experience, and an enthusiast in the pursuit of all branches of knowledge connected with fine art. Mr. Woolnoth has popularized the subject by the delivery of lectures; and the success he has met with has encouraged him to publish these in a more extended form, appropriately illustrated. We cordially recommend this attractive work to all who feel interested in the study of one of the most curious and absorbing topics-the art of reading human character.

On the Decline of Life in Health and Disease; being an Attempt to Investigate the Causes of Longevity, and the best Means of attaining a Healthful Old Age. By Barnard Van Oven, M.D., Fellow of the Royal Medical and Surgical Society, &c. London John Churchill, Princes Street, Soho.

"The materials of the Pharos," said the wise Arabian, "lay scattered all over the land of Egypt, but when built, a child might walk round it ;" and the aphorism is not inapplicable to the work before us, for out of irresistible but isolated facts, equally dispersed, overlooked and neglected, the author has, with vast labour and research, constructed a beacon which, if less sublime, is at least far more useful. It is the conviction of Dr. Van Oven that the majority of mankind pass the first half of existence in a sort of sluttish profusion of health and good spirits, and that, having duly squandered those blessings, they waste the autumn of life in a desponding and inert regret, and a supine neglect of those means by which their lost advantages might be retrieved and life prolonged in comparative vigour far beyond the ordinary period. To the prematurely infirm, the drooping and the nervous, the perusal of this book must be like a re-animating draught of some newlyfound elixir vitæ. But the resemblance fails in this, that its pages contain not one drop of quackery. The author does not promise the questionable sempiternity of Gulliver's Strullbruggs, but speaks in the spirit of a gentleman and a man of science, and with a mild wisdom, which may breathe hope, solace and encouragement to ears that had forgotten their very sound.

In the words of the author, the work proposes to show, “that at the present time, in this country, the duration of life generally falls far short of that which man is capable of attaining;" and "that any one who has attained a healthy maturity may materially prolong that period, and avert the accession of decay; and that they who appear inevitably destined to suffer disease may, for a long time, keep it in abeyance, and, when it does appear, may mitigate its evils and procrastinate a fatal result." He substan

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tiates these views not by reasoning only, but by a series of tables, recording the names of nearly seven thousand individuals who attained to ages of one hundred years and upwards.

We heartily recommend this extraordinary little work to all who are interested (and who is not?) in the momentous subject to which it relates.