PETER 94. ETER the Great caused many foreign books to be translated into the Russian language, and, among others, "Puffendorff's Introduction to the Knowledge of the States of Europe." A monk, to whom the translation of this book was committed, presented it some time after to the Emperor, who, turning over the leaves, changed countenance at one particular chapter, and, turning to the monk with an indignant air, "Fool," said he, "what did I order thee to do? Is this a translation ?" Then referring to the original, he showed him a paragraph in which the author had spoken with great asperity of the Russians, and which the translator had omitted. Go instantly," said he, “and execute my orders rigidly. It is not to flatter my subjects that I have this book translated and printed, but to instruct and reform them." 95. URING the discussions on the Regency in 1788-89, it became necessary to find precedents for the use of the Great Seal by the Chancellor (Thurlow) during the interregnum. Burke hereupon maliciously observed, “ But what is to be done when the crown is in a deliquium? It was intended, he had heard, to set up a man with black brows and a large wig, a kind of scarecrow to the two Houses, who was to give a factitious assent in the royal name, and this to be binding on the people at large." 96. SIR IR CHARLES BAGOT, our ambassador at the Hague, was one day attending at court, when a despatch in cipher was hastily put into his hand. It was very short, and evidently very urgent; but, unfortunately, Sir Charles, not expecting such a communication, had not the key of the cipher with him. An interval of intense anxiety followed, until he obtained the key; when, to his infinite astonishment, he deciphered the following despatch from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs : : "In matters of commerce, the fault of the Dutch Twenty per cent., Nous frapperons Falck with twenty per cent. 97. GEORGE CANNING." FRERE was a visitor at Holland House, and a memento of him is still hanging as a souvenir in one of the boudoirs of that mansion. It is a sheet of glass from a dressing-room window in the east turret, on which Frere scratched with a diamond, in 1811 66 May neither Fire destroy, nor Waste impair, Nor Time consume thee, till the twentieth heir. May Taste respect thee, and may Fashion spare." One night he had returned to Holland House to supper with Lord and Lady Holland after the play. They found that Mr Allen (" Lord Holland's Allen -the best informed and one of the ablest men he knew a perfect Magliabecchi-a devourer-a Helluo of books, and an observer of men," as Lord Byron calls him) had retired to rest. Whilst at supper they were disturbed by strange unearthly sounds, at regular intervals, concerning the origin of which Frere expressed some curiosity. "Oh, it's only Allen snoring," said Lord Holland. "Ah!" said Frere; "now I understand. He has not got that large nose for nothing." ΟΝ 98. N the death of General Wolfe, a premium was offered for the best-written epitaph on that brave officer. A number of poets of all descriptions started as candidates; and, among the rest, was a poem sent to the editor of the Public Ledger, of which the following was one of the stanzas : "He marched without dread or fears At the head of his bold grenadiers; And what was more remarkable-nay, very particular, 99. I REMEMBER my old friend Peter Finnerty laughing very heartily at something I had written about the Scotch; but it was followed up by a sketch of the Irish, on which he closed his book, looked grave, and said he disapproved entirely of all national reflections.—Hazlitt. T is a singular circumstance, that in writing the elegy on the Countess of Abingdon, called Eleonora," Dryden did not know that she died very suddenly at a ball in her own house in the midst of a gay assemblage of both sexes; a fact of which, had he been apprised, he would not have neglected to avail himself. He had never seen the lady, and wrote the poem at the solicitation of a nobleman with whom he was not personally acquainted. Maloniana. ΙΟΙ. WHEN I have turned out Sir Robert Wal "WHEN pole," remarked Pulteney (afterwards Earl of Bath), on one occasion, "I will retire into that hospital for invalids, the House of Peers." I02. THE following advertisements are inserted in the 537th number of the Spectator, in folio, November 15, 1712:— "Continued to be sold, neat French brandy, full proof, and of fine flavour, at £94 per ton, and at 8s. a gallon! for any quantity less than half a hogshead." "An incomparable pleasant tincture to restore the sense of smelling, though lost for many years. A few drops snuffed up the nose infallibly cures those who have lost their smell, let it proceed from what cause soever." 103. I Mrs PERFECTLY remember Mrs Cibber and Mrs Pritchard, young as I was when I saw them, in all their capital characters, the last season of their performing. I have the most discriminating recollection of their different excellences. Cibber had very pathetic powers; her features, though not beautiful, were delicate and very expressive; but she uniformly pitched her silver voice, so sweetly plaintive, in too high a key to produce that endless variety of intonation with which Mrs Siddons declaims.-Seward. SPEAKE 104. PEAKER ONSLOW, who was rather notorious for his strict observance of forms, would often, upon a member not attending to him, but persisting in any disorder, threaten to name him: "Sir, sir, I must name you." On being asked what would be the consequence of putting that threat into execution, and naming a member, he answered, “The Lord in heaven knows." 105. MRS PRITCHARD'S voice was clear, distinct, and various; but her figure coarse and large, nor could her features, plain even to hardness, at least when I saw them, exhibit the witchery of expression. She was a just and spirited actress, a more perfectly good speaker than her more elegant, more fascinating contemporary.-Seward. |