VARISOT. What art could be more difficult, dity, especially so long as it was unless that mentioned by Athenæus attended with any danger, says in his ninth book, namely, to dress Tacitus. a sucking pig in such a manner that it should appear boiled on one side and roasted on the other? What a pity that such important, such admirable arts should be lost! PROHIBITED BOOKS. A Frenchman named Varisot, who wrote an irreligious book under the title of La Religion devoilée par la Raison, employed a singular expedient for the perfection of his work. He paid a divine, a physician, and a chemist a dollar per hour, for hearing his book read over to them, and giving their opinions upon it. In this way he is said to have got rid of a great number of dollars. Would to Heaven that all the beaux esprits who sometimes torment people with their readings, were obliged to pay for it at last! MILTON'S PERSON. Many years since the two Richardsons, father and son, painters, Paradise Lost, to which was annexed a life of the author. In this precious piece of biography the On occasion of a catalogue of prohibited books, Bayle observes, "There are things which have so much for and against them, that it is difficult to steer a middle course; and in such cases passion or obstinacy generally decides." Such, too, is the case with suspicious books. If you forbid them, you seem to be afraid to meet the arguments of the authors; if you permit their circulation, the public is in danger of being led astray by their sophistry. Hence arise vio-published Remarks on Milton's lent disputes; and the example afforded by two natives of our own country, is worthy of remark. John and William Reynolds, two bro-poet's person was thus described: thers, were brought up separately, the one in the Catholic, the other in the Protestant faith. When they had grown up, and again came together, they disputed with such warmth, and at the same time with such ability, respecting their religious tenets, that both were converted: the Catholic became a most The French poet Theophile, who zealous Presbyterian, and the Pro-lived in the 17th century, was earntestant so sincere a Catholic, that he even wrote a book, entitled Calvino-Turcismus, in which he labours to prove, that the Protestants are at bottom Mahometans. When Nero commanded the satires of Fabricius Vejento to be burned at Rome, they were sought up and read with the greatest avi "He was rather a middle-sized than a little man, and well-propor tioned: latterly he was-no, not short and thick, but he would have been so, had he been something shorter and thicker than he was." COMPARISON OF A LADY TO THE estly solicited by a lady to make a Que me veut donc cette importune, ANTIQUITY OF ROUSSEAU'S ARGU- SCIENCES. It is well known, that the Academy of Dijon proposed the celebrated prize question, Whether the sciences and fine arts be more advantageous or detrimental to morals? and that Jean Jacques Rousseau's essay obtained the prize: but it is not equally notorious, that almost all the arguments which he adduces against the sciences, are to be found in an old Italian author. Lilio Giraldi, who flourished in the 16th century, and whose works were printed in 1580, at Basel, in two volumes folio, in his letters to Prince Pico de Mirandola, inveighs against the sciences on the very same grounds, asserting that they have banished all faith and integrity from the world, and become the cause of licentiousness and every species of vice. ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. quainted with the rank of the duke, but the latter was ignorant of his quality. He is said to have been at Pekin, without giving himself any name, under pretext that he did not know what it was, because, he had received so many different appellations at the various places which he had visited. He received letters at Venice, without any other direction than the single word Venice, and his secretary applied in his behalf, for the letters that belonged to no other person. Nobody knows who this remarkable man can be, but he is thought to be a Portuguese: he possesses great erudition, and an extensive and, at the same time, local memory. He speaks much and with propriety, and asks all those with whom he converses such questions as astonish them. He plays very well on the violin, but behind a screen; and you would suppose that you heard five or six instruments altogether. He writes with both hands at once; and the writing of both looks exactly alike. He is said to have communicated to Wildman the secret of taming bees, and ren and singing. He also asserts, that he is able to make diamonds, and that he learned this art in a voyage to India with Col. Clive, in 1755. Lamberg, in his work entitled Memorial d'un Mondain, gives the following account of an eccentric character, who, about 40 years ago, attracted considerable notice on the Continent:-The Marquis d'Ay-dering serpents attentive to music mar, or De Belmar, known at Venice by the name of St. Germain, is an extraordinary character. He employed himself among women in making experiments upon flax, which heturned white, and rendered equal in quality to the raw silk of Italy. He imagines that he is 350 years old; and that he possesses an elixir which renews in him the vigour of youth. On the arrival of the Duke of York (brother to his Majesty) at Venice, he insisted on the right of precedence, because he was acNo. LIX. Vol. X. TRIAL OF LOVE. Marshal Oudequerque was once riding by the side of his mistress, and professing that his devotion would stand the test of the severest trials. She took him at a word, and desired him to leap from the bridge to which they just at that moment happened to come. Without the least hesitation, the mar shal clapped spurs to his horse, and made him leap into the Scheldt, which flowed at a great depth below the bridge. This trial did not indeed cost him his life, but it completely cured him of his passion. IWAN IV. for your child? Well, I am come Turning to his ministers, "I command," said he, "that all the houses in the village, this alone excepted, in which I was not denied admittance, be levelled with the ground." The Iwan IV. who ascended the Russian throne in 1534, and reigned fifty years with equal ability and cruelty, was accustomed to stroll about in his dominions, to learn what his subjects thought concerning him and his government. He once applied, in the character of a poor traveller, for a night's lodging, in a village not far from Moscow. All the inhabitants shut their doors against him except one, who was poorer than any of his neigh-you-other bours, but compassionately receiv- attention." ed him into his hut, and shared with him his frugal supper. The same night, the peasant's wife was delivered of a child; and next morning early the czar, thanking his host for his attention, and promis-ministers were filled with constering to bring him a godfather for his infant, was about to depart, but the honest peasant insisted that he should stop to breakfast. He thought no more of the matter, as the promise of a poor man did not seem likely to be of any advantage to him. The following morning, to his astonishment, he beheld the czar and all his retinue approach-"I cannot grant you this request." ing his humble cottage. "Do you know me?" asked the czar, as he alighted from his horse.—" O yes," answered the peasant, you are our most gracious czar.""I am," rejoined the emperor, "and also the poor traveller whom you so hospitably received. Don't you recollect," continued he, "that I promised to bring you a godfather nation, for they knew how seldom Iwan could be prevailed upon to alter his decrees. The honest peasant felt sincerely for his neighbours, who were to be punished with such severity. He sunk at the feet of the monarch, and implored his mercy for them, but in vain. "No," said the czar, You know not how bad people ought to be punished. If I do not teach your neighbours in an impressive manner how to behave with kindness and hospitality to poor travellers, they will never learn. But when they find, from their own experience, how uncomfortable it is to be obliged to lie abroad in the cold, they will be |