Biography. ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. At the New Barracks, in Cork, Mr. M. Quill, Surgeon of the 1st Veteran Battalion. He was a native of Tralee, and a genuine specimen of the whimsical Irish character. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 31st foot about the year 1807 or 1808, and went with his regiment to Portugal, in 1809. He possessed and displayed in an extraordinary degree all the wit, humour, eccentricity, and talent for badinage, that distinguish his countrymen. To the originality of his conceptions, the address of his remarks, and the strangeness of his phraseology, the richness and purity of his brogue gave peculiar piquancy. He loved ease, good living, and society-to want the latter required him to be placed in a desert. It would almost seem that he administered" love powders" to his acquaintances; for so attractive was he, that his quarters were the rendezvous of all the officers who could by possibility or propriety repair to them, to " Beguile the tedium of the winter's night." None stayed away except those who were unfortunately, from their rank, precluded by military etiquette from enjoying, if not "the feast of reason," at least "the flow of soul," with which the gay mercurial Assistant Surgeon entertained his visitors. The rushlight in his hut or lodging was a beacon to the fatigued, weather-beaten, exhausted, and dispirited soldier. We have said that he was witty and addicted to badinage; but the shafts of his wit were not barbed; nor were his personal allusions rendered unpleasant by the slightest touch or tinge of ill nature or offensive coarseness. He was brave, but affected cowardice; and gave such whimsical expression to his assumed fear, as provoked laughter in the hottest engagement; of this, his conduct at "the bloody fight of Albuera" will be a sufficient example.-Quill had, unnecessarily, followed the regiment fire," as it is termed. Creeping on his hands and knees, with boyish antics, he traversed the rear of the line, pulling the officers by their coats and tendering his brandy bottle with such accompaniments as these: " into -"Here, Jack, take a Deochandhuras (a drink at the door) before you depart*." "I say, Bill, have a slugt before you get a bullet." A mass of the enemy's cavalry, including a regiment of Polish lancers, prepared to charge the 31st. Colonel Duckworth ordered the regiment to form in square, in the centre of which he discovered Maurice, shaking from head to foot with well-dissembled terrors; when the following conversation took place between them :"This is no place for you, Mr. Maurice." " By J-s, Colonel, I was just thinking so. I wish to the Holy Father that the greatest rascal in Ireland was kicking me up Dame-street, and that even though every friend I have in the world were looking at him!" Finding it impossible to break the square formed, by the 31st, the enemy's cavalry, having sustained great loss, retired; when, ordering his regiment to deploy, "Fall in !" said the Col.-" Fall out " cried Maurice, and scampered off but, hearing that a Captain of the 31st was severely wounded, he returned into fire, and dressed him. He had just finished this operation when a twelve-pound shot struck the ground close to them, and covered Maurice and his patient with earth. "By J-s, there's more where that came from!" said Maurice, and again took to his heels. A few minutes after, his brave and indulgent commander fell, covered with glory. Quill was a great favourite of the Colonel, although at first he knew not what to make of the droll. Of the nature of his replies to the many questions with which Colonel Duckworth assailed him, at the suggestion of the other officers, and to furnish a striking specimen of Quill's manner, I shall add one more instance :am desirous to know, Mr. Maurice," said the Colonel, "why you left the regiment in which you served, and to what good fortune we are to ascribe your selection of ours?" "Why, to tell the truth, Colonel," with affected embarrassment, "I left the some of the mess spoons were found in my kit; and you know that would not do in one of the crack because * The Author of Waverley calls this "a stirrup cup" Quill intended it for a stir up. + A slug, a cant for a dram. The Bond-street of Dublin. regiments, Colonel! I chose the Thirty-first because I had a brother in the Thirty-second, and I wanted to be near him." Of his professional abilities we know nothing. He despaired of advancement after the termination of the war, and in his reply to a friend who asked him what rank he held: " Why, I have been thirteen years an Assistant-Surgeon, and with the blessing of God-that is, if I live and behave myself, I shall be one for thirteen years more." We feel some degree of pleasure in observing by the notice of his death that this prophecy had been falsified, and that he had been promoted to the rank of full surgeon. Mr. Quill died young: he must have been under forty years of age. Of him might be truly said that he possessed, Spirits o'erflowing--wit that did ne'er offend : And the tear of many a veteran will fall when he shall hear that Maurice Quill is no more. Miscellaneous. DROLL SIMILES. 1. Sharp work for the eyes-as the devil said when a broad-wheeled waggon went over his nose. 2. I'm down upon you-as the extinguisher said to the rushlight. 3. I know the world-as the monkey said, when he cut off his tail. 4. Turn'd soldier-as the lobster said when he popp'd his head out of the saucepan. 5. Musical and melancholy--as the cricket said to the tea-kettle. 6. Hear we are all mustered-as the rost beef said to the Welch rabbits. 7. I'm all in a perspiration-as the mutton chop said to the gridiron. 8. Where shall I go?-as the bullet said to the trigger. 9. Off with a whisk-as the butcher said to the flies. 10. I'll be quick-as the fly said when he hopp'd out of the mustard-pot. 11. Every one take care of himself as the jackass said when he was dancing among the chickens. 12. When a man is ashamed to shew the front of his face, let him turn round, and shew the back of it, as the turnstile said to the weather-cock. Roundabout Evidence.-Mother Hopkins told me, that she heard Green's wife say, that John Glarrie's wife told her, that granny Hopkins heard the widow Basham say, that Captain Weed's wife thought Colonel Hopkin's wife believed that old Miss Lamb reckoned that Samuel Dunham's wife had told Spalding's wife that she heard John Frinks say, that her mother told her, Old Miss Jenks heard Granny Cook say, that it was a matter of fact!!!—American Paper. Simplicity Rewarded." Does your husband expectorate?" said an apothecary in this town, to a poor Irish woman who had long visited his apothecary shop for her sick husband-" Expect to ate, yer honour-no sure, and Paddy does not expect to ate-he's nothing at all to ate!" The humane man sent a large basin of mixture from a tureen of soup then smoking on his table. --Cheltenham Journal. Poetry. ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT. WHILE freshened by the dewy gale, By Him who called thee back to heaven. A SONG. THOU Sleepst while the eyes of the planets are watching, Regardless of love and of me. I sleep; but my dreams, at thy lineaments catching, Present me with nothing but thee. Thou art changed, while the colour of night changes not, I am chang'd; for all beauty to me seems a blot, Epitaph in Winchester Chnrch-yard. Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire grenadier, And when you're hot, drink strong, or none at all. The Economist. CONCISE DEFINITION OF ECONOMY. The word economy, like a great many others, has, in its application, been very much abused. It is generally used as if it meant parsimony, stinginess, or niggardliness; and, at best, merely the refraining from spending money. Hence misers and closefisted men disguise their propensity and conduct under the name of economy; whereas, the most liberal disposition, a disposition precisely the contrary of that of the miser, is perfectly consistent with economy. Economy means management, and nothing more; and it is generally applied to the affairs of a house and family, which affairs are an object of great importance, whether as relating to individuals or to a nation. A nation is made powerful and to be honoured in the world, not so much by the number of its people, as by the ability and character of that people; and the ability and character of a people depend, in a great measure, upon the economy of the several families, which, all taken together, make up a nation. There never yet was, and never will be, a nation permanently great, consisting, for the greater part, of wretched and miserable families. Sir, TO MR. FRANCIS FIDDLEWOOD. I was much gratified with your correspondent's observations on economy, in your last. I have for many years pondered over Paul's ambiguous injunction: I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain them, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." The extravagance of matrimony, Mr. Fiddlewood, is a most serious consideration, and I fear that the workings of the evil one is but too perceptible in one and sometimes both of the parties. My friend Will Wiseman purchased a wife, and well may he lament the circumstance. He says jocularly that she is the dearest article he ever bargained for. What with finery and display and a total disregard to economy she has led the poor fellow into debt and distress. One of the most unfortunate qualities of the human species is an overweening refinement of taste and pas |