council retained by the opposite party observed, that it was impossible not to assent to the encomium which his learned friend had lavished on the face of the plaintiff; but he begged leave to add that she had a wooden leg. This fact, of which Lee was by no means aware, was established to his utter confusion; his eloquence was thrown away, and the jury, who felt ashamed for the effects it had produced upon them, instantly gave a verdict against him. Public Characters, 1803, 1804, p. 158.

WHEN Sidney was in France, being one day hunting with the king, and mounted on a fine English horse, the form and spirit of which caught the king's eye, he received a message, that he would be pleased to oblige the king with his horse at his own price. He answered he did not chuse to part with him. The king, determined to have no denial, gave orders to tender him a sum of money, and to seize the horse; which being made known to Sidney, he instantly took a pistol and shot him dead, saying, that his horse was born a free creature, had served a free man, and should not be mastered by a king of slaves. Would a pensioner to France have dared to speak and act thus?

Light Reading at Leisure Hours, p, 222.

THERE happened, while Swift was at Laracor, the sale of a farm and stock, the farmer being dead. Swift chanced to walk past during the auction just as a pen of poultry had been put up: Roger bid for them, and was overbid by a farmer of the name

of Hatch; "What, Roger, won't you buy the poultry?" exclaimed Swift. "No, sir," said Roger, "I see they are just a'going to hatch."

Swiftiana, v. 1, p. 8.

FREDERIC the second's severity to the bishops gave occasion to a sarcasm very deserving of remembrance. At an interview with the bishop of Ermeland, who had been despoiled of a large por tion of his revenue, soon after the partition, the king asked him, "If, after what had happened, be could still have any friendship left for him." "Sire," replied the prelate, “I shall never forget my duty, as a good subject, to my sovereign.' "I am,

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continued the king, "still your friend, and presume likewise much upon your friendship for me: should saint Peter refuse me entrance into Paradise, I hope you will have the goodness to hide me under your mantle, and take me in with you." "Sire," returned the bishop, " that will scarce be possible, your majesty has cut my mantle too short to admit of my carrying any contraband goods under it." The king felt the reproof, but shewed no mark of displeasure by which the good humour of the company could be interrupted.

Anecdotes of the late King of Prussia.

Latrobe's

FOOTE, who lived in habits of intimacy with lord Kellie, took as many liberties with his face (which somewhat resembled in appearance a meridian sun) as ever Falstaff did with his friend Bar→ dolph's. One day his lordship choosing to forget his promise of dining with him, it piqued him so,

that he called out, loud enough to be heard by the whole coffee-house where they were sitting, "Well, my lord; since you cannot do me the honour of dining with me to-day, will you be so good, as you ride by, just to look over against my south wall? for, as we have had little or no sun for this fortnight past, my peaches will want the assistance of your lordship's countenance.”

Foote's Memoirs, v. 2, p. 89.

WHEN M. Heyman was at Florence, he did not fail to pay his respects to the grand duke of Tuscany's celebrated librarian, Magliabechi, who was considered as its ornament. He found him amongst his books, of which the number was prodigious. Two or three rooms in the first story were crowded with them, not only along their sides, but piled in heaps on the floors; so that it was difficult to sit, and more so to walk. A narrow space was contrived indeed, so that by walking side-ways, you might extricate yourself from one room to another. This was not all; the passage below stairs was full of books, and the staircase from the top to the bottom was lined with them. When you reached the second story, you saw with astonishment three rooms, similar to those below, equally full; so crouded, that two beds in these chambers were also crammed with books.

This apparent confusion did not, however, hinder Magliabechi from immediately finding the books he wanted. He knew them all so well, that even to the least of them it was sufficient to see its outside, to say what it was; and indeed he read

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them day and night, and never lost sight of any. He eat on his books, he slept on his books, and quitted them as rarely as possible. During his whole life he only went twice from Florence; once to see Fiesoli, which is not above two leagues distant, and once ten miles further, by order of the grand duke. Nothing could be more simple than his mode of life; a few eggs, a little bread, and some water, were his ordinary food. A drawer of his desk being open, M. Heyman saw there several eggs, and some money, which Magliabechi had placed there for his daily use. But as this drawer was generally open, it frequently happened, that the servants of his friends, or strangers who came to see him, pilfered some of these things; and, I suppose, preferred the money to the eggs.

His dress was as philosophical as his repasts. A black doublet which descended to his knees; large and long breeches; an old patched black cloak; an enormous hat, very much worn, and the edges ragged; a large neckloth of coarse cloth, begrimed with snuff; a dirty shirt, which he always wore as long as it lasted, and which the broken elbows of his doublet did not conceal; and to finish this inventory, a pair of ruffles which did not belong to the shirt. Such was the brilliant dress of our learned Florentine; and in such did he appear in the public streets, as well as in his own house. Let me not forget another circumstance: to warm his hands, he generally had a stove with fire fastened to his arms, so that his clothes were generally singed and burnt, and his hands scorched. Excepting al this, he had nothing otherwise remarkable about

him. He was the best man in the world (says M. Heyman) and was extremely polite and affable to strangers. Curiosities of Literature, v. 2.

sir,

"I suppose, sir," said a London hair-dresser to a gentleman from the country," I suppose, you would like to be dressed in the Brutus style." "What style is that?" was the question in reply. "All over frizzley, sir, like the negers,-They be Brutes you know. Espriella, v. 3, p. 274.

CHARLES, the haughty old duke of Somerset, having occasion to employ Seymour the painter, at Petworth, his grace was violently offended at the artist, for hinting in a modest way, what was founded on fact, that he considered himself as distantly related to the duke. He quitted him abruptly, and considerably irritated; the steward was sent to pay him for what he had done, and to dismiss him.

After trying in vain to get the pictures finished, which his cousin had begun, his grace condescended to invite the man he had insulted, to return; "I will now prove that I am of your family," said Seymour, "I will not come." Lounger's Common Place-Book, v. 3, p. 205.

BARON TRENCK.-The day after my arrival at Paris, curiosity led me to visit incognito the Palais Royal, where Mr Curtius was exhibiting me in wax to the people. I went up to him, and said: -Sir, I saw Baron Trenck himself a few years ago, and I perceive this figure no more resembles him than it does the Great Mogul.-He looked at