Chapter 4

_Ancient Starvation._--Hume tells us "The Monks and Prior of St. Swithin threw themselves, one day, prostrate on the ground, and in the mire, before Henry II., complaining, with many tears and much doleful lamentation, that the Bishop of Winchester, who was also their Abbot, had cut off three dishes from their tables. 'How many has he left you?' said the king, '_Ten only_' replied the disconsolate monks. 'I, myself,' exclaimed the king, 'never have more than three, and I enjoin your bishop to reduce you to the same number.'" P.T.W.

_Ice Water._--The Chinese rise at day-break, after a hard frost to gather ice, which they melt, and carefully bottle up as a remedy for fever in the hot months.

A French marquess having received several blows over his shoulders with a stick, which he never thought of resenting, a friend asked him how he could reconcile it with his honour, to suffer them to pass without notice. "Póh," said the marquess, "I never trouble myself with anything that passes behind my back."

_Epitaph in Wycombe Churchyard_, 1688.

Here lies one whose rest Gives me a restless life, Because I've lost a good And virtuous wyfe.

_General Generalissimo._--Bayle tells us of a General of the Jesuits at Rome, once exulting of his greatness and his order--who thus expressed himself to a friend:--"I will tell you, in this very chamber, I govern Rome--what am I talking about? Rome! I govern all Italy--what do I say? Italy! I govern Europe itself; and not Europe alone, but the whole world." P.T.W.

_Classic Felony._--Sir John Hayward, was imprisoned by order of Queen Elizabeth, on account of some things advanced in his _Life and Reign of Henry IV_. She applied to Bacon to see if he could discover any passages that were treasonable, but his reply was, that "for treason he found none, but for felony, very many," which he explained by saying, that the author had stolen many sentences from Tacitus, and translated them into English. P.T.W.

_A Likeness._--One of our old travellers on the continent, tells the following anecdote of a capuchin preacher: The friar observed, that whenever he held forth to his congregation, a certain man never failed to burst into tears, and continue weeping during the sermon. Supposing he had touched the man's soul by the eloquence of his oratory, the friar, with much self-satisfaction, one day ventured to inquire why he wept. "Ah, father!" said the peasant, "I never see you but I think of a venerable goat, which I lost at Easter! We were bred up together in the same family; he was the very picture of your reverence; one would swear you were brothers. Poor Baudoim! He died of a fall--God rest his soul! I would willingly pay for a couple of masses to pray him out of purgatory." W.G.C.

The Peerage.--The following is the number in each grade of the English peerage:--Dukes, 25; Marquesses, 34; Earls, 142; Viscounts, 22; Barons, 125; Countess, 1; Viscountess, 1; and Baronesses, 4.

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*** In the article "Premiers," page 320, of the present volume, for Mr. Fox 7, read 9. W.G.C.

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