CXVII. A QUID PRO QUO.

Masson, Regent of Trinity College, had asked one of his friends to lend him a book, which he wished to consult, and received for answer,"That he never allowed his books to go out of his room, but that, if he chose to come there, he was welcome to read as long as he pleased." Some days afterwards this pedant applied to Masson for the loan of his bellows, who replied,- "That he never allowed his bellows to go out of his room, but that, if he chose to come there, he was welcome to blow as long as he pleased."

CXVIII. BOXHORN.

A gentleman who had studied under Boxhorn, in Holland, told me that that professor had the most extraordinary passion for smoking and reading. In order to enjoy both at once, he had a hole made in the middle of the brim of his hat, through which he used to stick his lighted pipe when he intended to read or to compose. When it was empty, he refilled it, stuck it into the hole, and smoked away without requiring to put his hand to it; and this was his occupation almost every hour of the day.

CXIX. M. MARIGNY.

The Greeks used to drink largely after meals, and the same custom is still practised in Germany. Marigny, who perhaps was not aware of it, dining in the principal hotel in Frankfort, with five or six persons, was called upon to drink a large bumper to the health of the emperor. He was obliged to comply,--and seeing that the debauch was likely to continue, he sent for two or three loaves, and having eaten half a loaf to the health of the King of France, he handed the remaining half to his

neighbour, who could not swallow a morsel. The others, surprised at this unexpected sally, allowed him to take his own way, and Marigny thus escaped the consequences which he would otherwise have experienced.

CXX. SOLON'S PHILOSOPHY.

Solon's Philosophy did not seem to be of a very austere cast, when he said that women, wine, and the muses, constituted the pleasures of human life.

CXXI. CHARLES V.

Charles V. used to say, that the Portuguese appeared to be fools, and were so; that the Spaniards appeared wise, and were not so; that the Italians seemed to be wise, and were so; and that the French seemed fools, and were not so: That the Germans spoke like carters, the English like blockheads, the French like masters, and the Spaniards like kings. The Sicilians used to call him, Scipio Africanus; the Italians, David; the French, Hercules; the Turks, Julius Cæsar; the Africans, Hannibal; the Germans, Charlemagne; and the Spaniards, Alexander the Great.

CXXII. AURELIAN.

Valerius Aurelian was the first of the Roman emperors who encircled his brow with a diadem.

CXXIII. THE GRAVE OF ATTILA AND ALARIC.

Attila died in 453, and was buried in the midst of a vast plain, in a coffin, the first covering of which was of gold, the second of silver, and the third of iron. Along with the body, were buried all the spoils of his enemies, harnesses enriched with gold and precious stones, rich stuffs, and the most valuable articles taken from the palaces of the kings which he had pillaged; and that the place of his interment might not be known, the Huns put to

death, without exception, all those who had assisted at his funeral.

The Goths had previously done the same for Alaric, who died in the year 410, at Cosenza, a city of Calabria. They turned for some days the course of the river Vasento, and having caused a trench to be dug in its former channel, where the stream was usually most rapid, they buried the king there along with immense treasures. They put to death all those who had assisted in digging the grave, and restored the stream to its former bed.

CXXIV. RATS.

There are no rats in the district of Buchan, in Scotland; and if they are brought thither from other places, they do not live. There are no serpents nor venomous insects in the Orkneys; and in the isle of Guernsey, there are no serpents, toads, nor spiders.

CXXV. ANTIPATHIES.

Some natural antipathies are extremely singular. Some faint away at the smell of roses. Erasmus, who was born in Rotterdam, had such an aversion for fish, that he could not taste it without a fever. The smell of apples was sufficient with Duchesni, secretary to Francis I., to cause a violent discharge of blood from the nose. And a gentleman, at the Court of the Emperor Ferdinand, used to bleed copiously at the nose whenever he heard a cat

mew.

The information contained in this article, is probably new to our northern readers.

VIGNEUL MARVILLIANA.

[THE very interesting miscellany, entitled Melanges d'Histoire et de Litterature, published under the name of ligneul Marville, is the production of a Carthusian Monk, Dom Noel d'Argonne, born at Paris in 1634. He is the author also of a very useful work on the reading of the fathers. His miscellany is full of original anecdote of interesting critical remarks-and occasionally of valuable historical observations. He died in 1705.]

CXXVI. A FAIR EXCHANGE.

BREBEUF, when young, had no taste for any author but Horace. One of his friends, named Gautier, on the contrary, liked nothing but Lucan. This preference was the cause of frequent disputes. To put an end to these, at last they agreed that each should read the poem which his companion preferred, examine it, and estimate its merits impartially. This was done, and the consequence was, that Gautier, having read Horace, was so delighted with him, that he scarcely ever left him; while Brebeuf, enchanted with Lucan, gave himself so wholly up to the study of his manner, that he carried it to a greater extent than Lucan himself, as is evident from the translation of that poem which he has left us in French verse.

CXXVII. LATE INSTRUCTION.

Socrates, in his old age, learned to play upon a musical instrument. Cato, aged eighty, began to learn Greek; and Plutarch acquired Latin in his old age. John Gelida of Valentia, in Spain, did not begin the study of belles lettres till he was forty years old. Henry Spelman, having neglected the sciences in his youth, resumed them at the age of fifty, with wonderful success. Fairfax, after having been General of the Parliamentary Army in England, went to Oxford, and took his degree as Doctor of Law. Colbert, when Minister of State, and almost sixty years old, returned to his Latin and his law, in a situation where he might have been excusable in neglecting both; and M. Le Tellier, Chancellor of France, resumed the study of logic, that he might dispute with his grandchildren.

CXXVIII. P. CORNEILLE.

Pierre Corneille, who has given such splendour of expression to the thoughts and sentiments of his heroes, had nothing in his external appearance that gave any indication of his talent, and his conversation was so tiresome, as to weary every one who listened to it. A great princess, who had felt a great curiosity to see him, used to say, after the visit was over, that Corneille ought never to be heard but at the Hotel de Bourgogne.* Nature,

which had been so liberal to him in extraordinary gifts, had denied him more common accomplishments. When his friends used to remind him of these defects, he would smile gently, and say, " I am not the less Pierre Corneille."

- The theatre.