_Signs_.--To trace the origin of signs would be an amusing relaxation
for the Society of Antiquaries. Who could have imagined that "bag o'
nails," was a corruption of the Bacchanals, which it evidently is from
the rude epigraph still subjoined to the fractured classicism of the
title? In the same manner the more modern "Goat and compasses" may be
identified with the text of "God encompasseth us," which was a favourite
motto amongst the ale-house Puritans.--_Blackwood's Magazine_.
_Half-honesty_.--A few nights since a friend gave a hackney-coachman
two sovereigns instead of two shillings for his fare; when the coachman
turned sharply and said, "Sir, you have given me a sovereign," keeping
back the other; for which supposed honesty he was rewarded.