Epitaph in Tynemouth churchyard:

J. Mn.

Epitaph composed by an old gardener at Ilderton, Northumberland, for his own tombstone:

J. Mn.

Nostradamus on the Gold-diggings.—Nostradamus (physician to Henry II. of France) has the following among his prophecies (p. 33.):

GarenciÈres translates thus:

Agricola de Monte.

Whimsical Bequest.—Is the following cutting from the Ipswich Journal of January 8th, 1853, worth preserving in your pages?

Whimsical Bequest.—On Saturday last, the unmarried of whatever age and sex, numbering between 800 and 900 residents in the parish of St. Leonard's, Colchester, received their new year's gift in the shape of 'a penny roll,' bequeathed to them in days of yore, under the following singular circumstances:—Many years ago, a piece of waste land, called 'Knave's Acre,' in the parish of St. Leonard's, was used as a playground by the boys of this and the adjacent parish of St. Mary Magdalen; but one day, the young gentlemen falling out, the affair ended in a regular 'fight;' and the result was that the boys of St. Leonard's vanquished their opponents, and ever after remained victors of the field. The ground was subsequently let for gardening purposes; but the owner, in perpetual remembrance of the juvenile victory, whimsically bequeathed its annual rent of 4l. to be appropriated in the manner above mentioned."

J. B. Colman.

The Orkneys in Pawn.—Dr. Clarke mentions a curious circumstance, which was related to him in Norway, by Bernard Auker, of Christiana. He stated that Great Britain had the Orkney Islands only in pawn. Looking over some old deeds and records, belonging to the Danish crown, at Copenhagen, Mr. Auker found that these islands were consigned to England, in lieu of a dowry for a Danish princess, married to one of our English kings, upon condition that these islands should be restored to Denmark whenever the debt for which they were pledged should be discharged. Therefore, as the price of land, and the value of money, have undergone such considerable alteration since this period, it is in the power of Denmark, for a very small sum, to claim possession of the Orkneys.

Kirkwallensis.

Lord Duff's Toast.—Having made a considerable collection of old Scots almanacks, I find occasionally on the waste papers at the beginnings and ends some curious notes: they, however, chiefly refer to the weather, crops, fairs, and prices of corn, starting-hours of coaches, &c. I find the following toast noted on the New Scots Almanack for 1802: I send it to "N. & Q.," not knowing if it ever has been in print:

S. Wmson.