Thy shoes, that thou wor'st when thou went'st to plow, They're turned to Spanish leather now, Thy stockings, that were of northern blew, Most gloriously to all men's view. Ha, ha, ha, &c. Thy belt, that was made of a white leather thong, Thy garters, that were of Spanish say, Thy doublet and breech, that were so playne, Thy cloake, which was made of a home-spun thread, Is turned into a skarlet red, With golden laces about thee spread. Thy bonnet of blew, which thou wor'st hither, Westminster-hall was cover'd with lead, The Scotchmen have begg❜d it to buy them bread; Ha, ha, ha, &c. HISTORIOGRAPHER O'FLAHERTY. Of all the historians that Great Britain, or even the world has produced, there is not one so minute, or so deeply versed in genealogy, as the Irish historian, O'Flaherty, the author of "Ogygia." He knows for certain, that just forty days before the deluge, and on the 15th of the month, which happened that year to be on a Saturday, three men, with fifty women, arrived in Ireland, for the very purpose of peopling the country, but the flood disappointed them. He further states, but on what authority is not known, unless, indeed, he had access to the archives, that 312 years after the deluge, on the 14th of the month, which was Tuesday, a man and his wife, of the name of Partholom, with three sons and their wives, arrived to found a new colony. The same acute and correct historian has drawn up a genealogy of Charles II. in which are not fewer than seventy royal generations; and then forty-eight generations more, traces the family, most clearly, up to Adam: these fortyeight generations were all patriarchs and leaders of colonies; so that Seneca must certainly be wrong, when he says that there is no king among whose ancestors some slaves are not to be found. A Spanish bishop of Fandeval, has compiled a pedigree of the house of Austria, which comprises 118 generations, from Adam to Philip III.; and another Spanish writer, Pœyeafiel Coutreras, a pedigree of the house of Lorraine, of 131 generations; but both are outdone by Mr. O'Flaherty, for neither has ventured to bring down from Adam a line composed entirely of kings and princes. FORTUNATE BLUNDER. FREDERIC I. of Prussia charged his ambassador Bartholdi with the mission of procuring from the emperor of Germany, an acknowledgement of the regal dignity which he had just assumed. For this purpose, instructions written in cypher were sent to him, with particular directions that he should not apply on this subject to Father Wolff, the Emperor's confessor. The person, who copied these instructions, however, happened to omit the word not in the copy in cypher. Bartholdi was much surprised at this order, yet was determined to pay obedience to it; and therefore made the matter known to Wolff, who in the greatest astonishment, declared that though he had always been hostile to the measure, he could not resist this proof of the elector's confidence, which had made a deep impression on him, and therefore he would not give the prince cause to regret having applied to him. The confessor immediately exerted his influence with the emperor, and the point was thus accomplished; though it is very doubtful whether the wishes of the Prussian monarch would have been crowned with success, had it not been for the mediation of the confessor. AMERICAN QUAKERS. In 1790, the American Quakers presented the following address to General Washington, then President of the United States. "We would neither trespass on thy time, nor on thy patience; to flatter were utterly inconsistent with our general behaviour; but as our principles and conduct have been subject to misrepresentation, it is incumbent upon us by the strongest assurances to testify our sincere and loyal attachment to thee, and all those set in authority over us. Our most fervent prayers to heaven are, that thy presidentship may prove no less a blessing to thyself than the community at large." To this address, General Washington returned the following answer : Liberty of worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of our conscience, is not solely an indulgence of civil government, but the inalienable right of men as long as they perform their civil obligations. Society can have no further demands. Men are only answerable to heaven for their religious opinions. With your principles and conduct I am not unacquainted, and I do the Quakers but common justice when I say, that except in the instance of their refusal to support the common cause of their fellow citizens during the war, no sect can boast of a greater number of useful and exemplary citizens." "AS COARSE AS GARASSE." To write "as coarse as Garasse" was once a proverb in France. Garasse is certainly one of the coarsest and most abusive of all French writers. He wrote The Banquet of the Seven Sages, 1617, and a Summary of Theology, 1665. The first of these works was suppressed, and the other censured by the Sorbonne, as degrading the majesty of religion, by a low, mean, and familiar style. Speaking of Rabelais, he says, "Above all books libertines have in their hands, Rabelais is the very enchiridion of debauchery. This scoundrel does not even deserve to be named; I shall only say, that to describe him well, he must be called the very pest and gangrene of piety. It is impossible to read a page without danger of mortally offending God. In short, I consider Rabelais as a damnable and pernicious writer, who sucks out by degrees the spirit of piety; who miserably steals a man from himself; who extinguishes the principles of religion: in short, who has done more harm in France by his buffooneries, than Calvin by his innovations." Addressing the celebrated advocate Pasquier, these are his courtly words, Adieu, master Pasquier! Adieu, bloody pen! Adieu, advocate without conscience! Adieu, man without humanity! Adieu, Christian without religion! Adieu, capital enemy of the see of Rome! Adieu, unnatural son! &c." 66 Yet Garasse was mild and polite in company; and his death was occasioned by an act of heroic humanity, in going to attend persons afflicted with the plague. PERILS OF KINGS. THE following list of persons, who have made attempts against the lives of the kings of France, is pregnant with instruction. How little to be desired is a condition of life so beset with dangers! HENRY THE THIRD. James Clement, a jacobin monk, stabbed by those who were near the king at the time when he assassinated him. HENRY THE FOURTH. Barrière, a boatman upon the Loire, drawn and quartered, 31st August, 1593. 1594. Chatel, son of a merchant draper of Paris, 29th December, Guignard, a Jesuit, hanged the 7th of January following. Gueret, a Jesuit, condemned to perpetual banishment. Varade, Aubri, Ethorel, having fled, were drawn and quartered in effigy, 25th of January, 1595. Merleau, hanged the 2a of March, 1595. 1596. Guedon, an advocate at Angers, hanged 16th of February, La Ramée, hanged 8th March, 1595. N N———, name unknown, in the pay of the cardinal of Austria, was hanged at Meaux in 1596. N, maker of tapestry, hanged 4th January, 1597. Desloge, his accomplice, hanged the same day. Puin, a monk, confined by his superiors, as a madman, in a subterranneous prison. Ridicaci, a jacobin monk of Flanders, hanged in 1597. Arger, a monk of the same order, and his accomplice hanged along with him. N a capuchin of Milan, surprised in the train of the court, disguised in the habit of a scullion, and hanged, 1597. Richard Lord, of Voule in Dauphiny, beheaded 10th of February, 1603, Marshal Biron having conspired against the state and the person of the king, beheaded 31st July, 1602. The Count d'Auvergne, the Count d'Antraigues, and the Marchioness of Verneuil, who formed a similar conspiracy, were condemned to death 2a February, 1605, but pardoned, except the marchioness, who was condemned to perpetual imprisonment; she was also obliged to return to the king a promise of marriage which he had given her in one of those moments when the greatest men forget themselves. Desisles, agent before the parliament of Paris, on the 19th December, 1606, with a poignard in his hand, stopt the king who was passing along the Pont-Neuf, and shook him by the neck of his coat; but as in his examination he persisted in saying, that he only wished to frighten the king, that good prince insisted upon his being merely shut up as a madman, Ravaillac, 27th May, 1610. |