where she was with her daughter-in-law the duchess de Villars. The pit was mad; they called out to the young duchess to kiss me, and they made such a noise that she was obliged to comply by order of her mother-in-law. Thus have I been kissed in public, as was Alain Chartier by the princess Margaret of Scotland; but he was asleep, I was wide awake. Voltaire to his friend

M. D'Aiguebere.

ARISTIPPUS was asked the difference between a learned, and an ignorant man.

"To make the

discovery at once,' said he, "strip them both naked, and send them among strangers."

Fenelon's Life of Aristippus, v. 2, p. 69.

A-learned gentleman who in the course of conversation wished to inform us that the counsel upon the circuit at Shrewsbury were much bitten by fleas, took, I suppose seven or eight minutes in relating it circumstantially. He in a plenitude of phrase told us, that large bales of woollen cloth were lodged in the town-hall;-that by reason of this, fleas nestled there in prodigious numbers; that the lodgings of the counsel were near the town-hall;-and that those little animals moved from place to place with wonderful agility. Johnson sat in great impatience till the gentleman had finished his tedious narrative, and then burst out (playfully however,) "It is a pity, sir, that you have not seen a lion; for a flea has taken you such a time, that a lion must have served you a twelvemonth." Life of Johnson, v. 2, p. 197.

HENRY VIII. having one day paid sir Thomas More an unexpected visit to dinner, and having afterwards walked with him, for an hour, in the garden, with his arm round his neck; Mr Roper, son-in-law to More, took occasion, after Henry was gone, to congratulate him on his rare good fortune, in being treated by the king with a degree of familiarity never experienced by any other subject. "I thank our lord," replied More, "I find his grace my very good lord indeed; and I believe he doth as singularly favour me as any subject in this realm. However son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause to be proud thereof; for if my head would win him a castle in France, it would not fail to be struck off."

Macdiarmid's Lives, p. 53.

WHEN the late earl Howe, who was very remarkable for his presence of mind, was captain of the Magnanime, during a cruise on the coast of France, a heavy gale of wind obliged him to anchor. It was on a lee-shore, and the night was extremely dark and tempestuous. After every thing had been made snug, the ship rode with two anchors a-head, depending entirely on her ground tackle.

Captain Howe, at this time, laid up with the gout, was reading in his cabin, when, on a sudden, the lieutenant of the watch came in, with a countenance full of woe, and said, he was sorry to inform him that the anchors came home. They are much in the right of it," coolly replied captain Howe, "I don't know who could stay out such a night as this is." Naval Anecdotes, p. 114.

لام

CRITOLAUS relates that ambassadors came from Miletus to Athens upon public business, perhaps to request assistance. They engaged what lawyers they thought proper to speak for them, who, as they were instructed, addressed the people in behalf of the Melesians. Demosthenes replied with severity to the demands of the Melesians, and contended that they were unworthy of assistance, nor was it the interest of the state to grant it. The matter was deferred to the following day. The ambassador in the mean time came to Demosthenes, and with great earnestness entreated that he would not oppose them. He asked for money, and they gave him what he demanded. On the day following, when the business was again debated, Demosthenes came into public with his neck and jaws wrapped up in woollen, complaining that he had a quincy, and could not speak against the Melesians. On this, one of the people called out, that Demosthenes was troubled with

the "silver quincy." Aul. Gell. lib. xi. cap. 9.

ALEXANDER passing through Corinth, on one occasion, had the curiosity to see Diogenes, who happened to be there at that time. He found him basking in the sun, in the grove Craneum, where he was cementing his tub. "I am," said he to him, "the great king Alexander.” "And I," replied the philosopher, " am the dog Diogenes." "Are you not afraid of me?" continued Alexander." Are you good or bad?" returned Diogenes. "I am good," rejoined Alexander.-" And who would be afraid of one who is good?" replied Diogenes,

As Diogenes was, one day, going to Egina, he was taken by pirates, who brought him to Crete, and exposed him to sale. He did not appear to be in the least disconcerted, nor to feel the least uneasiness on account of his misfortune. Seeing one Xeniades, corpulent and well dressed, "I must be sold to that person," said he, "for I perceive he needs a master.-Come, child,” said he to Xeniades, as he was coming up to purchase him, come, child, buy a man.'

Being asked what he could do, he said, he had the talent of commanding men. "Crier," said he, ❝call out in the market, If any one needs a master, let him come here and purchase one." He who was selling him, desired him not to sit. "What matters it?" said Diogenes; "people buy fishes in any posture; and it is very surprising, that though one will not buy even a pot, without ringing it, to know whether it be good metal; he will buy a man upon simply seeing him." When the price was fixed, he said to Xeniades: "Though I be at present your slave, you must prepare to obey my will; for whether I serve you as physician, or steward, it matters not whether I be a slave, or a free man;my will must be done.”

Xeniades charged him with the instruction of his children; a task which Diogenes performed with great fidelity. Fenelon's Life of Dioge nes, v. 2, p. 126.

M. BOUDOU. This eminent surgeon was one day sent for by the Cardinal du Bois, prime minister of France, to perform a very serious operation

upon him. The cardinal, on seeing him enter the room, said to him, "You must not expect, sir, to treat me in the same rough manner as you treat your poor miserable wretches at your hospital of the Hôtel Dieu."—" My lord,” replied M. Boudou with great dignity, "every one of those miserable wretches, as your eminence is pleased to call them, is a prime minister in my eyes." Supplement to Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, p. 216.

"

THE following advice which Madame Terein, a woman of great literary discernment, gave to Marmontel, when a young man, with respect to authorship, should be a perpetual lesson to all writers by profession. "Secure yourself," said she, "a livelihood independent of literary successes; and put into this lottery only the overplus of your time for woe to him who depends wholly on his pen! Nothing is more casual. The man who makes shoes, is sure of his wages; but the man who writes a book, or a tragedy, is never sure of any thing." Life of Marmontel.

AN assuming pedantic lady boasting of the many books which she had read, often quoted Lock upon understanding; "a work," she said, “she admired above all things; yet there was one word in it, which, though often repeated, she could not distinctly make out; and that was, the word ide-a" (pronouncing it very long;) "but I suppose it comes from a Greek derivation."-" You are perfectly right, madam," said Foote; "it comes from