to his meal, gave God thanks, digested it well, returned in the strength of it to his honest labour, and at evening received his wages. Is there not sometimes as much difference between the polemical and the practical christian?

Many parts of what is called learning resemble the man's horse which had but two faults; he was hard to catch, and good for nothing when he was caught.

A GENTLEMAN.

FIELDING, in his voyage to Lisbon, mentions one Boyce, a blacksmith of Gosport, who, by smuggling and other honourable arts, became possessed of 40,000l. and must needs turn gentleman. After procuring abundance of fine things, this accomplished person concuded with having a library, and accordingly sent an order to a bookseller in London for five hundred pounds worth of his handsomest books.

HONESTY.

"HONESTY," saith Dr. Rees, in his dictionary, "is a plant supposed to be possessed of eminent medical virtues; but it hath the misfortune not to be received into the shops." The doctor is perfectly grave, but the words admit of a humourous sense.

Probitas laudatur et alget.-Juv.

HOPE.

WHEN the soul grows weary in her christian course, and is ready to faint by the way, she should be refreshed and invigorated by a view of those heavenly joys which are to reward her labours. For so, when the Carthagenian soldiers were well nigh overcome with the difficulty and danger of the passage over the Alps, their wise general, from the top of those stupendous mountains, whence there was a prospect of all Italy, shewed them the fruitful plains watered by the river Po, to which they were almost come, and therefore that they had but one effort more to make before they arrived at them. He represented to them that a battle or two would put a glorious period to their toils, and enrich them for ever, by giving them possession of the capital of the Roman empire. This speech filled with such pleasing hopes, and enforced by the sight of Italy, inspired the dejected soldiers with fresh vigour and alacrity to pursue their march.

ANECDOTES.

ANECDOTES.

THE most

CHARLES THE TWELFTH OF SWEDEN.

HE most amiable trait in Charles the Twelfth's character, was a resolution he took, in consequence of having, in a state of inebriety, said something to his mother so offensive, that she shut herself up in her room. He went to her next day, called for a glass of wine, asked pardon, said he had brought that wine to drink her health, as he was resolved it should be the last he would drink in his life; which resolution he kept most sacred, even amidst toils and fatigue. Such firmness was sufficient to convince mankind what a great man he was, even had he not signalized himself otherwise.

WULSTAN, BISHOP OF WULSTAN.

WULSTAN, Bishop of Wulstan, was mocked by the Bishop of Constance for wearing a mantle lined with the fur of lambs, and advised at least to adorn his cloak with cat-skins. "Alas! my friend, (replied Wulstan) I have often heard of the Lamb of God, but never of his cat." This piece of wit turned the laugh against the German prelate,

KING OF ARRAGON, A. D. 1074.

THIS was the form which every king of Arragon submitted to hear repeated when he received the crown:-" We who are as good as you, take you as our king, on condition that you guard and preserve our liberties and privileges; if not, we renounce

you.

MATILDA, WIFE OF HENRY THE FIRST,

QUEEN MATILDA was the delight of the English, both on account of her descent and her goodness of heart, notwithstanding some early enthusiastic errors. To her England owes the first stone-arched bridges it ever possessed. She built two at Stratford in Essex, (thence called De Arcubus, or Le Bore) where she had nearly been drowned for want of such convenience.

POPE JOAN.

THE story of Pope Joan, now generally exploded, has employed the pens of many writers, Protestants and Catholics. Some call her an English woman, but all her biographers agree that she followed an English priest whom she loved to Athens, in a man's dress, and that she studied there with so much success, as to be gradually called to the highest stations in the church; when be come Pope, having had an amour with a domestic, she was un

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luckily

luckily taken in labour as she was going in procession to the Lateran church, and died on the spot. Till the reformation the tale was repeated and believed without offence, and Joan's female statue long occupied her place among the Popes in the cathedral of Sienna. Those who credit her existence, say she lived near the period of 857, A. D.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

WHEN Alexander had defeated the army of Darius, amongst the spoils there was found his cabinet, so rich, of such value, that a dispute arose what to lay in it; Alexander said, I'll soon end that dispute, I'll lay Homer's works in it: such esteem he had for learning. It was Philip, his father, that made him Alexander; but it was his own conduct and prudence that gave him the title of Great.

ANTISTHENES.

ANTISTHENES being asked what he gained by his learning, answered-That he could talk with himself, so that he need not be beholden to others for delight: its no small happiness to live comfortably within doors, and entertain ourselves with our own thoughts.

WILLIAM RUFUS.

A monument (which still exists) was erected on the spot where Rufus died, by Lord Delawar, who avers that he had seen the oak on which the shaft had glanced. In the inscription it is recorded, that a peasant, named Purkiss, drove the cart which conveyed the body to Winchester; and it is remarkable, that two families of the same name still occupy cottages near the spot, and that within the present century an axle-tree was preserved by one of these cottagers, which tradition asserted to have belonged to the very cart above-mentioned.

ANACHARSIS.

ANACHARSIS being invited to a feast, could not be prevailed with to smile at the affected railleries of common jesters; but when an ape was brought in, he freely laughed, saying,-An ape was ridiculous by nature, but men by art and study.

SOCRATES.

SOCRATES being asked if he accounted not the great king of Persia happy? "I know not," saith he, 66 how he is furnished with virtue: conceiving that true happiness consisteth in virtue, not in the frail donatives of fortune."

FREDERIC

FREDERICK THE GREAT, OF PRUSSIA.

FREDERICK the Great, of Prussia, declared some little time before his death, that "he was extremely sorry that his indifference about religion had produced such effects; that he was sensible it had greatly contributed to hurt the peace and mutual good treatment of his subjects;" and he said, "that he would willingly give up the glory of his best fought battle, to have the satisfaction of leaving his people in the same state of peace and satisfaction with their religious establishments that he found them in at his accession to the throne.

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

CARDINAL WOLSEY was so fortunate as to bestow a trivial favor on one Williams, whose thanks, when in the days of his grandeur, he would have deemed troublesome; but when he was hurled from the pinnacle of his greatness,-loaded with the most humiliating charges of high treason, yet more dishonoured by having ministered to the vices of his sovereign,--this grateful Williams unmindful of the vengeance denounced by Henry, on any one who should succour him, boldly avowed himself his friend; and soothed, as much as possible, the horrors of his situation; and such gratitude had such an effect on even the cruel tyrannical heart of Henry, that he ever after bestowed every mark of favour on Williams.

KING CHARLES THE SECOND.

CHARLES asked Stillingfleet, "How it came about, that he always read his sermons before him, when, he was informed, he always preached without book elsewhere?" He told the King, that "the awe of so noble an audience, where he saw nothing that was not greatly superior to him; but chiefly, the seeing before him so great and wise a prince, made him afraid to trust himself." With which answer the King was very well contented. "But pray," says Stillingfleet, "will your Majesty give me leave to ask you a question too? Why you read your speeches, when you can have none of the same reasons?" "Why truly, Doctor," says the King, your question is a very pertinent one, and so will be my answer, I have asked them so often, and for so much money, that I am ashamed to look them in the face."

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LITERATURE.

LITERATURE.

MONTHLY REVIEW.

A descriptive Catalogue (with Remarks and Anecdotes, never before published in English) of some Pictures of the different Schools, purchased for his Majesty the late King of Poland; which will be exhibited early in 1802, at the Great Room in Berners-Street, by Noel Desenfans, Esq. late Consul General of Poland, in Great Britain, 2 vols. 12mo. 55, Cadell and Davies; and Hookham, 1801.

THIS is certainly the most interesting catalogue, with respect

to perspicuity of method, impartiality of criticism, and novelty of anecdote, that has appeared, perhaps, for the last century. The application of the remarks is peculiarly happy, and the author's illustrations of the various subjects of his enquiry are founded upon the best principles of the art. Mr. Desenfans has not, we are of opinion, done justice in his title to the importance of his publication; for it possesses solid claims to the character of a literary work, highly instructive and entertaining, and is superior in almost every instance to the most approved catalogues raisonnés of · the French. The ability and candour with which he reviews the productions of the eminent artists he has occasion to notice, will be found advantageous, not only to the student, but even to the distinguished amateur, and the man of acknowledged taste and science in this department of the fine arts.

It is necessary to give an account of the manner in which this valuable collection has become the property of Mr. Desenfans. The late unfortunate King of Poland, Stanislaus Argustus, sent to this country in the year 1790, a commission for the purchase of such pictures as the emigrant noblesse of France might have preserved from the wreck of their fortunes. The commission was chiefly entrusted to Mr. Desenfans, whose discrimination and fortune enabled him to carry into full effect the wishes of his Majesty. Here are we called upon to remark, that the great object of the Monarch was not to enrich his own cabinet, by the spoils of calamity, but to provide incentives to genius, and to improve the arts in Poland. A collection was accordingly formed, worthy of the illustrious character for whom it was originally intended; but the revolution in Poland having prevented the execution of the design, the pictures remained in the hands of the collector. While the least hope existed, that his late Majesty's family would send for them, Mr. Desenfans thought it his duty to preserve them, although the expence he had incurred was very considerable; but every prospect of that nature being closed, they are once more to be exposed to public sale.

VOL. 2.-No. 12.

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