ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

HISTORICAL AND SELECT ANECDOTES

ANECDOTE OF CHARLES VI. OF FRANCE,

AND LOUIS DE BOURBON.

THE barbarous manners of the times when Charles VI. governed France, are strongly exemplified in the following anecdote. Louis de Bourbon was handsome and well made, and had, as on other occasions, particularly signalized himself at the battle of Agincourt. Going one night, as was customary, to visit the Queen, Isabella of Bavaria, at the Castle of Vincennes, he met the King; he saluted him, without either stopping, or alighting from his horse, but continued galloping on. The King having recollected him, ordered the prevost of Paris to pursue, and to confine him in prison. At night the question Iwas applied, and he was afterwards tied up in a sack and cast into the Seine, with this inscription upon the sack-"Let the King's justice take place."

ANECDOTE OF THE LATE LORD RODNEY.

made him this answer:-" Sir, my distresses, it is true, have driven me from the bosom of my country, but no temptation whatever can estrange me from her service; had this offer been a voluntary one of your own, I should have deemed it an insult; but I am glad to learn that it proceeds from a quarter that can do no wrong!" The Duke de Biron was so struck with the public virtue of the British tar, that he instantly exclaimed, "It is a pity so gallant an officer should be lost to his country: will a thousand Louis d'ors enable you to revisit it, and to tender your services to your sovereign?" The other replied they would; the Duke immediately advanced him the sum, with which Sir George set out the next day for England, where he had not arrived a week before he returned the Duke's loan, accompanied with the most grateful letter, for the singular obligation he had so politely conferred upon him.

ANECDOTE OF PHILIP STROZZI.

DURING Sir George Rodney's residence in Paris, so great was his indigence, that he frequently knew not where to apply STROZZI was a merchant at Florence, for a dinner. Monsieur de Sartine, no and had conspired with some of the prinstranger to his professional abilities, cipal citizens against the tyranny of the thought this a proper time to wean his house of Medicis. Being taken prisoner affections from his country, and therefore he was put to the torture to make him employed the Duke de Biron to make him discover his accomplices. He bore the an offer of the command of the French torments of the rack with great fortitude, West India fleet, with a sum of money nor did he betray one word that could inthat should restore him to independence. culpate his friends. Being threatened a The Duke, in consequence of this, invited second time with the torture, he resolved Sir George to spend a month at his house, to destroy himself; and having discovered and in the course of that time frequently in the corner of his dungeon, a sword that sounded him with great delicacy on the one of the soldiers who guarded the prison subject; but not being able to make him- had carelessly left there, he drew blood self properly understood, at last openly from himself with it, and wrote the followdeclared to him, that "as his royal mastering lines, from Virgil, on the walls of his meant the West Indies to be the theatre of the present war, he was commissioned to make the handsomest offers to Sir George, if he would quit the English service, and take upon him the command of a French squadron."-Sir George, after hearing him with great temper, spiritedly

cell,

"Rise an avenger from my sad remains;
"I mock at death and triumph in my pains.”
He afterwards stabbed himself.

Some person had once, to pay court to Strozzi, called him Messire; he answered in the true spirit of republicanism, "I am

RUINS OF POMPEII.

THE streets of the city of Pompeii are said to be daily disencumbered. A late traveller informs us, that he entered by the Appian Way, through a narrow street of small tombs, beautifully executed, with the names of the deceased plain and legible. At the gate was a sentry-box, in which the skeleton of a soldier was found, with a Jamp in his hand. The streets are lined with public buildings, the painted decorations of which are fresh and entire. were several tradesmen's shops also dis

There

covered, such as a baker's, an oilman's, an iroumonger's, a wine-shop, with money in the till, and a surgeon's house, with chirurgical instruments. Also a great theatre, a temple of justice, an amphitheatre two hundred feet long, various temples, a barrack for soldiers (the columns of which are scribbled with their names and jests), and stocks for prisoners, in one of which a skeleton was likewise discovered. The principal streets are about sixteen feet wide: the subordinate ones from six to ten feet.

THE joys of editors are very widely spread and general; in fact, they are made the happiest of living creatures, by being requested to publish such intimations as the following, sent to them expressly, as it should seem, for their gratification.

"WE rejoice to hear that the MS. poem of A. B. is in such a state of forwardness that it may positively be expected to issue from the press this winter.

"It gives, or affords us, the highest pleasure to be able to state that Mr. C. D. intends to add another book to his exquisite treatise on morbid affections.

"Nothing could inspire us with greater delight than to be able to state that that eminent artist E. F. has arrived in safety from Italy, where the contemplation of the great masters has added new powers even to his magic pencil.

"The public will learn with the same heart-felt satisfaction which we feel in announcing it, that the accomplished Miss G. H. has recovered from her indisposition, and will immediately resume her duties in

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sorry, but in that case there is invariably a hope attached to us, a land of promise at the end of the desart; thus-" We are sorry to find that the Rev. L. M. is prevented by the gout from finishing his grand work on the prophecies; but have reason to hope that the delay will be short, and the publication rendered more perfect every day it remains in the hands of its classic author.

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WE lament to learn that N. O.'s famous picture of the Bombardment of Jerusalem will not grace the ensuing Exhibition; but the lovers of the arts will be consoled with us on being informed that it may be seen at his residence, No. 717, next door to the Ophthalmia Hospital in the Regent's Park, and that many sublime touches have recently been added to this masterly composition."

Being compelled ex officio to sympathize in print with all the hypothetical happinesses (heaven knows how few in reality!) of authors, artists, players, lecturers, publishers, picture-dealers, cognoscenti, exhibitors, teachers, fiddlers, and hunters after popularity of every kiud; feeling all their little troubles, and more than par"WE E are at once astonished and enrap-taking in all their great hopes; watching tured by J. K.'s last lecture on the diseases their motions, as it were, and recording of the bladder. We understand he begins || their progress with a maternal anxiety; his new course on the first of April|| comforting the public, when they are not

the fashionable world.

next."

And so on through the whole alphabet and the whole circle of literature, arts, and

sciences.

WE are, it is true, sometimes said to be

immediately prominent, with the assurance that they will shortly be so, and being enraptured with their stupendous merits

Why not bombard Jerusalem ?

when they do come forward with any, strance. In vain do we bury ourselves in labour-these are the mere first links of the darkest corner of our study, and enour intimate connection with every thing trench ourselves behind the lies of our in the above lines. servants-not at home; we are invariably dug out, and suffer exposures. Authors, whom our consciences will not allow us to praise, charge us with prejudice, partiality, corruption, illiberality, malevolence, and all the deadly sins of human nature. Artists are, perhaps, still more intolerant and greedy of praise. Their appetites for flattery are only equalled by their immeasurable irritability; and woe be to that critic who does not discover in every daub the colouring of Titian, combined with the grandeur of Michael Angelo; in every plaster model the fancied fire of Phidias, and the imagined beauty of Praxiteles. deed we have ascertained that most public

OUR opinions are of mighty importance. After seeing the midnight lamp expire in reading P.'s MSS. preparing for the press, we are rapped out of bed at seven o'clock by Q. determined not to present his medals to the world without consult ing us on the merits (so that we too must “stand the hazard”) of the dye. R. invites us to inspect his show-room six miles off in a miry suburb, before he erects his national monument to the memory of Tom Thumb the Great, our knowledge of the original and historical information rendering our judgment on the subject so truly desirable. Our meals are interrupted, our retirement broken in upon, our most pre-characters have such capacious stomachs cious time consumed, our very sick rooms invaded by the discoverers of curious papers, found where they were never lost; the liberal possessors and ready retailers of scientific information which happens to be no news; the writers of poetry according to their own nomenclature, and the pro-graphies must make men angels ! jectors of the most immortal schemes that ever an ungrateful world slighted as sbsurd and ridiculous.

Then the multitude of special favours that we receive each in his sphere! Being chosen as the most appropriate channel for a highly (self) interesting communication: the publishers of long essays written in haste and in want of our kind correction: the most excellent paper for an exposition of the greatest consequence to our readers in the improvement of S. T.'s patent: the respectable medium for answering U.'s attack on V.'s important letter: the valuable journal for widely disseminating a specimen of W.'s intended publication on a question of universal attraction. It must be confessed that our enjoyments are occasionally chequered with some slight regrets. We find elegiac poets very hard hearted, and if we affront them, or even pastoral writers, by not immediately in serting their productions, we are sure of a severe scolding, a heavy postage, and anger everlasting. Antiquarians are also obdurate dogs to deal with: if disappointed on the ensuing day of publication, there is no escaping their research and remon

In

for applause, that there is no risk of surfeiting them with panegyric; but, on the contrary, much danger of being thought churls and niggardly starvelings for not giving enough. Reviews must be puffs, criticisms must observe no blemishes, bio

Then we are occasionally sore beset with temptations. A pretty poetess has just finished her first attempt, Stanzas to a favourite Goldfinch; and with downcast blue eyes, a heaving bosom, and a faltering voice, entreats to see it in print. We are martyred between the writer and the writing. Such a supplicant what man can deny-such a composition what editor can insert! A philanthropist has a plan for the relief of the poor-have we not charity to give it a place? A reformer produces a scheme for remedying all abuses-bave we not patriotism to find room for it! An enthusiast would preach mankind into one blessed group of loving brethren-the sermons are long, and perhaps tedious, but surely our humanity cannot reject them!

And it is often in vain to endeavour to elude these applications with, "Your poetry is charming, but it wants a little polishing to fit it for the public eye.”—“ Will you be so good as make the necessary alterations." " It would delight us, but take the merit from you, which must not be."-" Oh, I am not self-sufficient, and shall be happy to have my errors rectified."'—" We will point out two or three slight defects in

your exquisite ideas-so and so, &c." The verses are taken back to be altered, and we are never forgiven.

The

and a painted Pict in an Athenian helmet: very much on a par with the rest of the national monuments (in want of taste) in that cathedral.

The painter is equally solicitous for ad

his own system." That sky is green.”—
"Ah! that was necessary for the contrast
with these black rocks.”—“The_natural
colour is blue."—"Surely you would not
have a picture look black and blue!"'—
"But these trees are heavy, and brown.”-
"I must have a neutral tint in that bright
sunset."-A picture is entirely yellow,
purple, and gold-it is a fine effect of co-
lour. Another has men, women, and
babes at the breast, all muscular as Sam-
sons or Herculeses-it is a noble display of
anatomical knowledge. A third has men
of stone, and dead children of iron-grey—
it is the grand gusto, half-tint, and not
amenable to the laws of nature! We could
swell the catalogue, but might be thought
personal.

Aud then the stage and its people: Heaven defend us from it and them! theatre is a bottomless gulf for panegyric;|| vice, alias praise, and equally wedded to the more that is poured in the more void it appears, and there is no return. One Shakspeare, who knew them well, has told us we had better have a bad epitaph after our death, than their ill report while we live; and yet there is no avoiding the latter by the sacrifice of truths on the altar of flattery, though we butcher hecatombs. What is the death of a monarch to an actor's taking leave, overcome by his feelings, supported by his friends, and all the audience snivelling into their white handkerchiefs! What is the march of a General at the head of a victorious army, to the peregrinations of a third-rate mimic through the provinces! As for the great heroes, if critics do not laud them with more than eastern adulation, woe betide them; their motives are base, and they are the private foes of persons they never saw but on the public stage. Dreading some tragic end to our labours, we dare say no more of these tyrants, who carry the mockery of their profession into their intercourse with real life.

"That is really a fine group, Mr. Sculptor, the attitudes are easy, the pyramidal form studied without affectation, the ani- || mals spirited, and the human figures full of || nature."-" But is there no point at which your admirable judgment could oblige me by suggesting an improvement?"—" The whole, we have said, is excellent, yet as there is no work absolutely faultless, it does seem possible to amend the anatomy of that horse's limbs, and thus improve its position; the armour of one of the knights too is rather heterogeneous, being semibarbaric, semi-Greek, like the St. George on a Pistrucci crown."-" Oh, I beg your pardon, gentlemen, I am sorry to differ from such superior minds, but I have particularly regarded the form and attitude of that horse, which is indeed the best part of|| the design, and the armour, I assure you, is classically accurate."-We are deemed ignorant pretenders as soon as our backs are turned; and the monument graces St. Paul's, with a crooked legged Bucephalus,

"This is a new mechanical invention—a fire and water escape; so that you are in no danger in your garret, should your house catch fire-nor in your cellar, if it should be flooded. Observe how the machinery moves."-"Yes, in the air; but either fire or water would destroy the very principle of its motion."-" I am sorry that you do not seem to understand the mechanical forces.”—“ We are sorry that you do not seem to understand the force of our argument."—" It is very easy to object to useful speculations, but not so easy to escape from the terrors of flood or horrors of conflagration!"-"Sir, we would rather trust to the resource of Gulliver among the Lilliputians, in both cases, than to your silly machine, Good by t'ye."

We might dramatize a hundred other scenes in which the situations of the editors of periodical works invariably resemble that of handsome women-most perseveringly courted, and little attended to when they come to advise. But we have said || enough on the subject; and instead of resorting, as the fair would do, to a curtain lecture, we shall drop the curtain, behind which our readers have had a peep, such as they may not have had before.

AN EDITOR.