make a tooth-pick, and that a tortoise might make the tour of his house in a quarter of an hour."

XCIX. ANAGRAMS.

The best anagram I have met with, is one which was shown me by the Duchess de la Tremouille. She was the sister of the Duke de Bouillon and of Marshal Turenne, and her name was Marie de la Tour; in Spanish, Maria de la Torre, which a Spanish anagrammatist found to be exactly Amor de la Tierra.

C. SONNET OF PETRARCH.

A physician of Padua, well known for his attention to his worldly interests, meeting a philosopher in the street very indifferently dressed, accosted him with the well known line of Petrarch,

"Povera e nuda vai Filosofia ;"*

to which the philosopher, without hesitation, answered by the succeeding line.

"Dice la turba al vil guadagno intesa."t

CI. THE SWISS DOCTOR.

The Duke de Rohan, while travelling in Switzerland, found himself indisposed in a village, the name of which I forget, and sent for the most celebrated physician of the Canton. Doctor Thibaut was immediately called to visit the noble stranger. He entered the Duke's chamber, and saluting him, gravely asked him what was the nature of his complaint. M. de Rohan looked at him attentively: "Doctor," said he, "I know not how it is, but I have a vague recollection of having seen

• Poor and naked dost thou go, oh Philosophy!
+ Says the crowd, who think of nothing but vile gain.

you before." "Very probably, Monseigneur," said Doctor Thibaut, gravely, "for I had the honour to be your Grace's farrier." "What!" said the Duke, "and you play the physician here! How do you treat your patients ?" Doctor ThiDaut replied without hesitation, that he was considered the most eminent physician in the Canton, and that he treated his patients the Swiss, very much in the same manner as he had treated his Excellency's horses; that, it was true, a good many of them died, in consequence of his remedies, but that he had also had the good fortune to effect some cures. He concluded with begging his Grace not to expose him, but to allow him to make his living at the expense of the lives of the Swiss.

CII. SIR THOMAS MORE.

The greatest of men are sometimes seized with strange fancies at the very moment when one would suppose they had ceased to be occupied with the things of this world. Sir Thomas More, at his execution, having laid his head upon the block, and perceiving that his beard was extended in such a manner that it would be cut through by the stroke of the executioner, asked him to adjust it properly upon the block; and when the executioner told him he need not trouble himself about his beard, when his head was about to be cut off, "It is of little consequence to me," said Sir Thomas, "but it is a matter of some importance to you, that you should understand your profession, and not cut through my beard, when you had orders only to cut off head."

my

CIII. ELOQUENCE OF CICERO.

Hegesias the philosopher, it is said, one day dis

coursed so eloquently upon the grievances of life, and the contempt which we ought to entertain for death, that many of his auditors went home and starved themselves to death. I can conceive that a philosopher, who reasons acutely, may have his dupes among those who are destitute of his information, his ability, or his eloquence. But it is a strange thing to see a man of high talent, deeply acquainted with all the subtleties of the rhetorician, and who himself spoke as well as he fought, disconcerted by a mere harangue. Ligarius, a Roman citizen, had attached himself to the interests and fortunes of Pompey, and after his death had retired, with Scipio, into Africa. He did everything in his power against Cæsar, who was informed of the whole by Tubero, and who, in consequence, conceived so great an aversion against Ligarius, that he thought only of revenge. Cicero undertook the defence of Ligarius; and although Cæsar at first absolutely refused to listen to him, the other, who was not to be disconcerted by the first rebuff, at last prevailed on him to listen to his justification. Cæsar, in fact, entertained no doubt that he would be able to prove his guilt by undoubted documents, and that Cicero would be unable to make any reply. But before Cicero had finished his defence of Ligarius, the letters and memorials had insensibly dropt from the hand of Cæsar; he changed his colour, his resolution, as if he had been under the influence of some charm, and not only granted a free pardon to Ligarius, but admitted him into the list of his particular friends. If we were acquainted with no other proof of Cicero's talent, we might say with Quintilian, "Non immerito ab homini

bus ætatis suæ regnare in judiciis dictus est; apud posteros vero id consecutus, ut Cicero jam non hominis sed eloquentiæ nomen habeatur."

CIV. M. DE BASSOMPIERRE.

The Marechal de Bassompierre used to examine every evening the amount of his expenditure for the day; and having one day given to his maître d'hotel a hundred crowns to provide a sumptuous entertainment for seven or eight guests, whom he expected, the maître d'hotel carried his account to him as usual, at night. On examining it, he found that it amounted only to ninety crowns, and putting it into the hand of the maître d'hotel, he said calmly, "Make the sum even before I vouch it." The servant walked down stairs immediately, and returned in a few minutes with the account, to which he had added at the bottom, "Item, ten crowns to make up the hundred." This puts me in mind of an anecdote of Ismael Bouillan, who had been sent by his father to Paris to study. In the account of his expenditure, which his father demanded of him, in order to see how he employed the money he had given him, the young man, after exaggerating as much as possible the amount of every article, down to the minutest trifle, found that a large sum still remained, of which he could give no good account, and therefore added at the close of the account, "Item, father, one must live."

CV. LA MOTHE LE VAYER.

The friends of La Mothe le Vayer, who are acquainted with his character, are aware that accounts of foreign countries were his principal amusement and delight. When on the point of death, and when not a moment was to be lost in endeavouring to prepare himself for the approaching change, he was visited by his friend M. Bernier,

support, or a more certain preservative against the influence of ignorance and the advances of barbarism; but the length of the enterprise, the laziness of those employed, and the marriage of the Dauphin, which occasioned the cessation of his studies, stopt us in the midst of our course, and put an end to the plan.

I know not how I came to forget, in my Evangelical Demonstration, to notice that the fable of Hercules, related by Lycophron, and other ancient writers, that he was swallowed by a sea dog, and retained for three days in his stomach, from which he escaped with only the loss of his hair, is just the story of Samson, absorbed by his love of Dalilah, who cut off his hair to deprive him of his strength.* LXXXVI. ARABIAN NUMERALS.

3

It is an established opinion, not only among men of literature, but among scholars of the first order, that the numeral characters in use among us, have been introduced into Europe through Spain; that Spain received them from the Moors, the Moors from the Arabs, and the Arabs from the Indians. I agree with the supposition, that Spain received them from the Moors, and the Moors from the Arabs; but I cannot admit that the Arabs received them from the Indians. I maintain, on the contrary, that the Indians received them from the Arabs, and the Arabs from the Greeks, as they have done all their learning; some branches of which they have brought to perfection; but the greater part of which they have deteriorated and

The story of Jonah would seem to be as german to that of Hercules.