him with warmth, You are always too cold; and you stop my progress.'True, sire,' said the Chancellor, I confess I am cold; but if I did not sometimes throw a little of my ice into your fire, you would be burnt to ashes.'

Sir Henry Vane, who was suspected to have been bribed by the court of Madrid, pressed Gustavus in a vehement manner to adopt certain measures. To. get rid of his importunity, he said to sir Henry, Sir do not understand your language, you talk Spanish!'

PIOVANO ARLOTTO.

He was a native of Tuscany, and flourished in the fourteenth century When only a poor curate his humble condition did not depress his vivacity, nor check the sallies of his wit and humour.

As he was once preparing to go a journey. several of his friends requested him to make purchases for them in the town to which he was going; but all except one, neglected to supply him with money for the purpose. He only executed the commission of this one; so that on his return, the others called upon him, and reproached him for his inattention to their wishes. 'You must know, my friends,' said Arlotto, that in the course of my journey, I came to the side of a river, and there I took out the papers that contained your commissions, to look them over; on a sudden a gust of wind arose, and carried all the papers down the stream, except one, which, as it had money in it, was too heavy to be blown away.'

At no time of life should a man give up the thoughts of enjoying the society of women. In youth,' says

lord Bacon, women are our mistresses, at a riper age our companions, in old age our nurses, and in all ages our friends.'

He was asked by king James I. what he thought of Mr. Caderes, a very tall man who was sent on an embassy to the king of France. He said, 'Very tall men are like lofty houses, where the uppermost rooms are commonly the most meanly furnished.'

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Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, called upon lord Bacon after his disgrace; and, intending to taunt him in his misfortunes, said,' My lord, I wish you a merry Easter.' And to you, senor,' replied ford Bacon, I wish a good passover;' reminding him of his Jewish descent; which was the most cutting retort that could be made to a Spaniard.

FRANCIS BASSEMPIERRE,

A general of the Swiss guards in the service of Louis XII. He indulged his wit at the expence of his liberty, for he was confined in the Bastile for his caustic speeches. He passed his time in prison in reading and writing. One day, as he was busily turning over the leaves of the bible, a friend asked him What he was looking for?' A passage,' said he, which I cannot find.' This passage was the way out of prison. When he was liberated, Louis XIII. asked him his age, and he reported himself to be no more than fifty. The king seeming surprised, 'Sire,' he answered, 'I deduct ten years passed

in the Bastile, because I did not employ them in your service.'

How happily was this allusion to his confinement converted into an elegant compliment!

ROBERT BIGOD, EARL OF NORFOLK.

When Edward I. king of England, commanded several of his lords to go to the wars in France, they all made apologies to excuse themselves. They represented they were not obliged to go to war out of their own country, unless his majesty went in person; in that case, they would attend him but not otherwise. Whereupon the king, in a great rage, said to Robert Bigod, earl of Norfolk: By God, sir earl, you shall either go, or hang.' By God, sir king,' was the answer, I will neither go nor hang.' And so he went away without leave, assembled many noblemen and other friends, and stood in his own defence; and the king, like a prudent prince, who knew his times, insisted no more upon that matter.

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TOM BROWN.

Tom Brown, having once asked a man how he contrived to live in these hard times, was answered, I live, as I believe you do, master Brown, by my wits: 'Faith,' replied Brown, you must be a much more able trader than I ever thought you, to carry on business and thrive upon so small a capital!'

BURKE'S CHARACTER OF HOWARD.

'His plan,' said Burke, is original; and it is as full of genius, as it is of humanity He has visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of ancient grandeur, not to form a scale of the curiosities of modern art; not to collect medals, or to collate manuscripts; but to dive into the depth of dungeons, to plunge into the infection of hospitals, to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and to collate the distresses of all men in all countries.'

CATULUS.

Allusions to proper names, for the sake of a joke or sarcasm, were often made by speakers at the ancient Roman bar; but they sometimes failed in their effect, and subjected the assailant to a severe retort. An orator, whose integrity was of a very doubtful nature, alluding to the name of Catulus, and the loud tone in which he pleaded agains: him, asked him why he yelped so much. It is,' said Catulus, 'because I see a thief!'

An indifferent pleader asked Catulus, 'Have I not succeeded in making a very moving speech? Certainly, said he, for some of your audience pitied you, and the rest walked out of court.'

MICHAEL CERVANTES SAAVEDRA.

He gave a proof that his generosity was equal to his genius. He was, in the early part of his life, for some time a slave in Algiers, and there he concerted a plan to free himself and thirteen fellow-sufferers. One of them traitorously betrayed the design, and they were all conveyed to the dey of Algiers ; and he promised them their lives on condition they discovered the contriver of the plot. I was that person,'exclaimed the intrepid Cervantes; 'save my companions, and let me perish.' The dey, struck with his noble confession, spared his life. allowed him to be ransomed, and permitted him to depart home.

This writer of an incomparable romance, replete with character, incident, pleasantry, and humour, without any alloy of vulgarity, obscenity, or irreligion, which is held in admiration throughout the civilized world, starved in the midst of a high repu tation, and died in penury!

As Philip III. king of Spain, was standing in a balcony of his palace at Madrid, and viewing the prospects of the surrounding country, he observed a student on the banks of the river Manzanares, reading a book, and from time to time breaking off, and beating his forehead with extraordinary tokens of pleasure and delight; upon which the king said to those about him, That scholar is either mad, or he is reading Don Quixote.'

This anecdote is worth a volume of panegyric.

The history of Don Quixote did not wait for the tardy fame of remote ages. It was universally read, and universally admired, as soon as published; and the most eminent painters, engravers, and sculptors, vied with each other in representing the story of the