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preach before the reformation. The Roman Catholic clergy always preached, and do preach, in the vulgar tongue.

CCLVII. LORD ROSS.

THE reprobate Lord Ross, being on his deathbed, was desired by his chaplain to call on God. He replied, "I will if I go that way, but I don't believe I shall."

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ROTROU's Venceslas is the best of the French tragedies, anterior to Corneille. It ought to be reprinted, as it is only to be found in the scarce ancient edition, or in large collections.

CCLIX. ROUSSEAU'S ABSURDITIES.

ROUSSEAU's ideas of savage life are puerile. He is equally absurd in supposing that no people can be free, if they entrust their freedom to representatives. What is every body's business is nobody's business. The people would soon be sick of such freedom; they must attend to their own private business, else they could not live. The people of France are easily elec trified. We are too solid for such dreams. Amber may draw straws: we do not gravitate so easily.

CCLX. ROYAL FAVOUR.

A Low Frenchman bragged that the king had spoken to him. Being asked what his majesty had said, he replied, "He bade me stand out of his way.”

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CCLXI. SACERDOS.

MR. GOSTLING, a clergyman of Canterbury, was, I am told, writer of an admirable parody on the noted grammatical line,

Bifrons, atque Custos, Bos, Fur, Sus, atque Sacerdos.

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Chi non sa niente, non dubita di niente. "He who knows nothing, doubts of nothing," says an Italian proverb. Scepticism and curiosity are the chief springs of knowledge. Without the first we might rest cons tented with prejudices and false information; without the second the mind would become indifferent and torpid..

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I OBSERVE that Sir John Sinclair, in his book on theor revenue, builds much on Bolingbroke's assertions,> which, as proofs, amount to nothing.

Some have confidently asserted that Sir Robert Walpole's large secret service money went to newspapers; while, in fact, it was necessary in order to fix this family on the throne. Lord Orrery, secretary to the Pretender, had a pension from Sir Robert Walpole of two thousand pounds a year. The lord, his successor, who wrote the life of Swift, took Lord Orford aside in the house of peers, and told him he had made strange discoveries in his father's papers. "Ay," said Lord Orford, "but the less you speak of that the better. You are an honest man, and that is enough."

CCLXIV. SELFISHNESS.

THE reason why I admit no children with the companies that come to see my house is, that I have had some trinkets damaged, nay, lost. I thought of the Archbishop of Narbonne, who opened his fine gardens to the citizens, but stuck up notice that no flowers were to be pulled, as they were for the delight of all, and not of any individual. One day, however, being at his window, he perceived a lady, who was destroying a whole parterre to make her dear self a nosegay. Calling a servant, he ordered him to give the lady a crown, to enable her to buy flowers. The damsel threw down her theft, and marched off in a rage, which was not alleviated by another message from the archbishop, "That his garden was only open for those qui savoient vivre.”

CCLXV. SENTIMENT.

WHAT is called sentimental writing, though it be understood to appeal solely to the heart, may be the product of a bad one. One would imagine that Sterne had been a man of a very tender heart; yet I know, from indubitable authority, that his mother, who kept a school, having run in debt, on account of an extravagant daughter, would have rotted in jail if the parents of her scholars had not raised a subscrip tion for her. Her son had too much sentiment to have any feeling. A dead ass was more important to him than a living mother.

CCLXVI SINGULAR TITLE.

ONE of the most singular titles I know is the French house D'O. This family has produced several great characters, and I believe still exists. In the time of Henry IV. a M. D'O distinguished himself.

CCLXVII. SIZE OF BOOKS.

I PREFER the quarto size to the octavo: a quarto lies free and open before one. It is surprising how long the world was pestered with unwieldy folios. A Frenchman was asked if he liked books in folio*. "No," says he, "I like books in fructuţ.”

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CCLXVIII. SMART EPISTLE. ⠀

THE French civil wars often display wit; ours are dull. The answer of the captain of Hume castle to Colonel Fenwicke, who summoned it in the name of Cromwell, is, however, whimsical. I think I can turn to it. Here it is.

66 RIGHT HONOURABLE,

"I have received a trumpeter of yours, as he tells me, without your pass (he had forgot it, it seems, and left it behind him upon the table), tó render Hume Castle to the Lord General Cromwell. Please you, I never saw your general nor know your general. As for Hume Castle, it stands upon a rock.

"Given at Hume Castle, this day before seven o'clock. So resteth, without prejudice of his native country,

Your most humble servant,

JOHN COCKBURN."

CCLXIX. SPANISH ETIQUETTE.

THE etiquette of the Spanish court was the most severe in Europe. One of their kings even fell a victim to it. Philip III. being newly recovered from a dangerous malady, was sitting near a chimney, in which was so large a fire of wood that he was almost stifled. Etiquette did not permit him to rise, nor a common domestic to enter. At length the Marquis de Pobar, chamberlain, came in, but etiquette forbade his interference; and the Duke of Usseda, master of

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