Ties "COBWEB." AT WINDSOU.—Ill concluding this account of the Swart,
I may mention that in passing over the Windsor and Eton Bridge, a shaft of some length may be seen, whizh divides the river into two pails,—the stream to the right turns the wheel of a mill which forces up the water to Windsor Castle, and that to the left flows over a tumbling bay near the Eton playing fields, and both streams unite again a little below them. Now the shaft in question has, from time immemorial, been called the Coiler. I took some pains in order to ascertain the reason of the shaft being so called, but without any satisfactory reason being given. Passing over the bridge one moonlight night, I observed a number of swans roosting on it, and was afterwards told that it had always been a favourite place for the repose of those birds. It then struck me that I could give a reason why the shaft was called the Cobler. Cobb is an ancient name for the swan, and lair a. roosting or resting place. Thus we have Cobb-lair, readily transferred into Cobler.—Once a Week.
Tax Porn AND THE PORTERS.—When Pius IX. visited Bologna, a few years ago, he imparted his benediction to a group of porters, who were staring at him. As soon as he had passed them, one of them, imitating the Pope's gesture, said, " Take it back : I don't want anything from you." 'Now," added my interlocutor, " we might say as much for e ' Pope's curse as the poor man said of his benediction, and pay him back in his own coin ; but we shall do nothing of the sort, going on with our business, and disregarding this attempt to make use of spiritual weapons for o selfish temporal purposes."—Daily News.
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