_A Curiosity at Cromer._--Exactly in front of where I am now seated, enjoying the Cromeric morning breezes on the very edge of the cliff, and at a distance of about twenty-five yards from the Cromer Sands, there rises a remarkable wooden effigy, on the true import of which I positively refuse to be enlightened by any native offering me a mere matter-of-fact explanation.
[Illustration: Did Napoleon ever try to land at Cromer, and lose his _celebrated cocked_ hat in the attempt?]
The object, which I sketch on the spot, in order that an experienced hand shall give it artistic merit, appears to be the gigantic wooden case "made and provided" for equally gigantic cocked hat, originally worn by a Titanic Admiral, long since laid up in sea-weed, with all the rest of his uniform, in the locker of Mr. Davy Jones, Neptune's wardrobe keeper. This huge object is stuck on a pole, either as marking the last resting-place, there or thereabouts, of colossal Admiral aforesaid, or it has been for ages left here as indicating the fate certain to await the ruthless and recklessly wrecked invader. It may mark the spot where quietly, one dark night, the Great NAPOLEON rehearsed, _all by himself_, the invasion of England; being only too glad to escape in the early dawn, leaving his cocked hat behind him, which, as a Napoleonic relic, was inclosed in a wooden case of three times its size, and here exposed, with the motto in best Cromeric French, addressed to NAPOLEON, should he ever have attempted to repeat his visit:--
"_Voici votre chapeau à cornes! Venez le prendre!_"
The inscription is, by flux of time and sea-water, almost, if not quite, illegible.
Or it may mark the spot, banned and anathematised, where was buried, according to the awfully solemn Masonic ritual, _the mangled remains of The Man who couldn't keep a secret!!_
From _The Scotsman_, Saturday, September 21, under the heading "Angling," appears this item of news from "Annan," placed between fishing notes from "Loch Earn" and "Dhu Loch":--
LOCH EARN.--Mr. WATSON, fishing on Lochearnhead Hotel water yesterday, killed thirty-two nice trout.
ANNAN.--There were large supplies of all classes of stock. Best beef made 7_s._ 6_d._ to 7_s._ 9_d._ per stone, and mutton 7_d._ to 7-1/2_d._ per lb. There was a crowded attendance of buyers from England and the South of Scotland, and the demand was good all through. Store cattle had a slow trade, and were bad to sell. Quotations:--Fat bullocks up to £15 17_s._ 6_d._; do. heifers up to £15 7_s._ 6_d._; do. cows up to £13 17_s._ 6_d._; calving heifers £12 12_s._ 6_d._ Lambs, 16_s._ to 29_s._ 3_d._; odd sheep, 33_s._ to 49_s._; rams, 43_s._ 6_d._; half-bred hoggs, 41_s._ 6_d._ to 44_s._; cross do., 37_s._ to 41_s._ 9_d._; Cheviots, 38_s._ 9_d._ to 41_s._ _9d._