finger, you would not have distinguished me from the crowd."

LIX. PROOF OF NOBILITY.

I know some gentlemen extremely proud of their nobility, who are able to produce no better title to it, than a sentence condemning some of their ancestors to be beheaded.

LX. FRENCH FANATIC.

In 1424, a female devotee at Bourg, in Bresse, proclaimed that she had been commissioned by God to liberate souls from hell, and that she had been doing so, for some time, at the rate of three a-day.

LXI. MURETUs.

The scholars of Muretus sometimes made a noise, and interrupted him. As his temper was rather violent, he used to reprove them occasionally with violence, and kept them in awe. One day during the lecture, one of them rang a bell which he had brought in his pocket. "Truly," said Muretus, “I should have been astonished, if, among such a flock of sheep, there had not been a bell-wether to lead the rest.'

LXII. LOUIS XII. GREY HAIRS.

Louis XII. one day looking at himself in his mirror, was astonished to see a number of grey hairs on his head. "Ah!" said he, "these must be owing to the long speeches I have listened to; and it is those of M. le in particular, that have ruined my hair."

LXIII. ROLINUS' SERMONS.

The story which is so pleasantly told by Rabelais, chap. vii. of Book III., and the answer of Pantagruel to Panurge, when he consults him on bis intended marriage, are copied from a sermon of John Rolinus, Doctor of Paris, and Monk of

Cluny, on widowhood. The passage appears to me singular enough to deserve translation. He tells us, that a certain widow having gone to ask the advice of her Curé, whether she ought to marry again, told him she was without support, and that her servant, for whom she had taken a fancy, was industrious, and well acquainted with her husband's trade. The Curé's answer was, that she ought to marry him. "And yet," said the widow, "I am afraid to do it; for when we marry, we run some risk of finding a master in our servants." "Well, then," said the Curé, "don't take him." "But what shall I do ?" said the widow. "I cannot support the labour of my husband's business without assistance." "Marry him, then," said the Curé. " Very well," said the widow; "but if he turns out a worthless fellow, he may get hold of my property and spend it. "Then you need not take him," replied the Curé. In this way the Curé always coincided with the last opinion expressed by the widow; but seeing, at last, that her mind was really made up, and that she would marry the servant, he told her to take the advice of the bells of the church, and that they would counsel her best what to do. The bells rang, and the widow distinctly heard them say, "Prends ton valet: Prends ton valet."* She accordingly returned and married him immediately. Some time afterwards, however, he drubbed her heartily, and she found, that, instead of being mistress, she had really become the servant. She returned to the Curé, and cursed the moment when she had been credulous enough to act upon his advice.

* Take your servant: Take your servant. This incident will probably remind our readers of Whittington.

"Good woman," said the Curé, "I am afraid you have not rightly understood what the bells said to you. He rang them again; and then the poor widow heard clearly,-" Ne le prends pas: Ñe le prends pas; "* for the drubbing and bad treatment she had received, had opened her eyes.

LXIV. MEDICINE.

Medicine has been defined to be the art or science of amusing a sick man with frivolous speculations about his disorder, and of temporising ingeniously till nature either kills or cures him.

LXV. MARCO DE LODI.

Marco de Lodi, having presented a sonnet of his own composition to Clement VII., the Pope found one of the lines in the first quatrain deficient in a syllable. "Do not let that disturb your Holiness," said the poet; "in the next you will probably find a syllable too much, which will balance the defect."

LXVI. M. DE GRAMMONT.

M. le Marechal de Grammont having gone, by order of the King, to visit the minister Morus, who was dangerously ill, the King asked him, on his return, how he found him. The Marechal answered, "Sire, I saw him die like a good Huguenot: what I think is most to be regretted is, that he should have died in a religion which is now as unfashionable as a peaked hat."

LXVII. A MAN OF WORTH.

The Abbé de la Riviere was praising very highly the late Duke of Orleans, the uncle of Louis XII., in presence of his daughter. Among other things he said, that “he was a very wise and

• Don't take him: Don't take him.

pious prince, and a man of great worth." "True," replied Mademoiselle d'Orleans, "you ought to know that better than any one, for you have sold him often enough."

LXVIII. THE AMBASSADOR OF SIAM.

Madame de Seignelay reproaching the Siamese with having a plurality of wives, the ambassa-` dor replied, “Madame, if we could find at Siam wives as handsome as yourself, we should have but one; but as that cannot be, we must console ourselves by changing them occasionally."

LXIX. THE CANON OF ANGERS.

A Canon of Angers having invited several persons to dine upon a jour maigre, his servant told him he had been to market, and could find no fish but a salmon, which he had not ventured to take, because it had been bespoken by a counsellor. The Canon, placing his purse in his hand, replied, "There-go back-buy me the salmon and the counsellor.'

LXX. RACAN.

Racan was a man of talent, and frequently said good things; but his voice was weak, and he spoke rather indistinctly. One day in a numerous company, when he was present, the conversation turned on some subject, which gave an opportunity of introducing an agreeable story. When he had finished, seeing that the company, who probably had not heard it, did not laugh, he turned to Menage, who was sitting near him, and said, "I see plainly that these gentlemen have not understood me-translate translate me, if you please, into the vulgar tongue."

LXXI. M. DE BASSOMPIERRE.

While M. de Bassompierre was confined in the

Bastile, a Marquis, who was his fellow-prisoner, used to amuse him with an account of his exploits. He told him, among other things, that in a naval engagement he had himself killed 300 men in one vessel. "And I,” replied Bassompierre,

re once

slipped down a chimney in Switzerland, to visit a lady with whom I was in love." "How the deuce can that be," said the other, "when there are no chimneys in the country ?" "Ah!" retorted Bassompierre, "when I allowed you quietly to kill your 300 men on board the vessel, you might for once have winked at my slipping down the chimney to visit a lady."

LXXII. CONTRARY WINDS.

A Venetian, who had never been out of Venice, and consequently was a very indifferent rider, having mounted, for the first time, on a restive horse, who would not advance, notwithstanding the application of the spur, pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket, and spreading it to the wind, said,-"Ah! I see the reason that we can't get on-the wind is against us.

LXXIII. ALEXANDRINES.

Alexander of Paris, the first person who made use of French verses of twelve syllables, which have retained the name of Alexandrines, lived about the close of the 12th century.

LXXIV. A LUCKY HIT.

Two persons, playing for a considerable sum with a pair of dice, agreed that the person who threw the smallest number should be entitled to the stake. The first threw two aces, and claimed

* Some such anecdote may have suggested to Smollett the traverse course stecred by Commodore Trunnion on his wedding day.