ordered him into the chair of state, bidding him there play the king; while, for his part, he would personate Johnny Ferguson. This farce was, in the beginning, very agreeable to the whole company. The mocksovereign put on the airs of royalty, and talked to those about him in a strain like that of the real one, only with less pedantry. They were infinitely pleased with the joke; and it was a perfect comedy, till the unlucky knave turned the tables, and came all of a sudden to moralize on the vanity of honour, wealth, and pleasure; to talk of the insincerity, venality, and corruption of courtiers, and servants of the crown; how entirely they had their own interests at heart, and how generally their pretended zeal and assiduity were the disguise of falsehood and flattery. This discourse made a change in some of their countenances; and even the real monarch did not relish it altogether. He was afraid it might have some effect upon his minions, and lessen the tribute of adulation they were used to offer with great profusion, when they found how this wag observed and animadverted on it. But the monitor did not stop here: he levelled a particular satire at the king, which put an end to the entertainment, and made his majesty repent of his introducing it (some foreigners of distinction being present); for it painted him in his true colours, as one that never loved a wise man, nor rewarded an honest one, unless they sacrificed to his yanity; while he loaded those who prostituted themselves to his will with wealth and honour. For the mimic, pointing directly to James (who was to personate Ferguson), raising his voice, "There," said he, "stands a man whom I would have you imitate: the honest creature was the comrade of my childhood, and regards me with a cordial affection to this very moment he has testified his friendship by all the means in his power; studying my welfare, guarding me from evil counsellors, prompting me to princely actions, and warning me of every danger; for all which he never asked me any thing: and, by Jove, though I have squandered thousands on several of you, yet, in the whole course of

my life, I never gave him a farthing." The king, nettled by this sarcasm, cried out to Ferguson, Augh! you pauky loun, what wad you be at? awa aff my thrane, and let's hae na mair o' your nainsance."

RAISING THE WIND.

In the year 1695, a Piedmontese, who styled himself Count Caraffa, came to Vienna, and privately waited on the prime minister, pretending he was sent by the duke of Savoy on a very important affair, which they two were to negotiate without the privacy of the French court. At the same time he produced his credentials, in which the duke's seal and signature were exactly imitated. He met with a very favourable reception, and, without affecting any privacy, took upon him the title of envoy extraordinary from the Court of Savoy. He had several conferences with the imperial council, and made so great a figure in the most distinguished assemblies, that once at a private concert at court, the captain of the guard denying him admittance, he demanded satisfaction in his master's name, and the officer was obliged to ask his pardon. His first care was to ingratiate himself with the Jesuits, who at that time bore a great sway at court; and in order to this, he went to visit their church, which remaining unfinished, as they pretended from the low circumstances of the society, he asked them how much would complete it? An estimate to the amount of two thousand louis-d'ors being laid before him, Caraffa assured them of his constant attachment to their order; that he had gladly embraced such a public opportunity of showing his esteem for them, and that they might immediately proceed to finishing their church. In consequence of his promise, he sent, that very day, the two thousand louis-d'ors, at which sum the charge had been computed. He was very sensible that this was a part he could not act long without being detected; and that this piece of generosity might not be at his own expense, he invited a great number of ladies of the first rank to supper and a ball. Every one of the guests had

promised to be there; but he complained to them all of the ill returns made to his civilities, adding, that he had been often disappointed, as the ladies made no scruple of breaking their words on such occasions, and, in a jocular way, insisted on a pledge from every lady for their appearance at the time appointed. One gave him a ring, another a pearl necklace, a third a pair of earrings, a fourth a gold watch, and several such trinkets, to the amount of twelve thousand dollars. On the evening appointed, not one of the guests was missing; but it may easily be conceived what a damp it struck upon the whole assembly, when it was at last found, that the gay Piedmontese was a sharper, and had disappeared. Nor had the Jesuits any great reason to applaud themselves on the success of their dissimulation; for, a few days before his departure, the pretended count, putting on an air of deep concern, placed himself in the way of the emperor's confessor, who inquired into the cause of his apparent melancholy. He entrusted him with an important secret, that he was short of money at a juncture when eight thousand louis-d'ors were immediately wanted for his master's affairs, to be distributed at the imperial court. The Jesuits, to whom he had given a recent instance of his libérality by so large a donation, immediately furnished him with the sum he wanted, and with this acquisition, and the ladies' pledges, he thought he had carried his jests far enough, and very prudently withdrew from

Vienna.

HIBERNIAN COURAGE.

At the siege of Tortona, the last war in Italy, the commander of the army, which lay before the town, ordered Carew, an Irish officer in the service of Naples, to advance with a detachment to a particular post. Having given his orders, he whispered to Carew, "Sir, I know you to be a gallant man; I have therefore put you upon this duty. I tell you, in confidence, it is certain death for you all. I place you there to make the enemy spring a mine below you." Carew made a

bow to the general, and led on his men in silence to the dreadful post. He there stood with an undaunted courage; and, having called to one of his soldiers for a draught of wine, "Here," said he, " I drink to all those who bravely fall in battle." Fortunately at this instant Tortona capitulated, and Carew escaped. But he had thus a full opportunity of displaying a rare instance of determined intrepidity.

A LIBERAL-MINDED BISHOP.

Some time about the year 1761, a living in Caermarthenshire, in the gift of Dr. Squire, late bishop of St. David's, being vacant, his lordship received a letter from the earl of B- recommending one Mr. Lin the strongest terms to his lordship, and intimating, that, if his lordship had not fixed on a person to supply the living, he should be much obliged to him if he would present his friend Mr. L- to it, and that his lordship might command his (the earl's) interest for himself or friends at any time. It happened, before the bishop returned an answer to the earl, that a poor curate, miserably dressed, came to his house, he being then at Abergavenny, and sent in a letter to his lordship. This letter was written by himself to the bishop, in which he set forth, that he had a wife and five children; that his income was so small that they wanted the common necessaries of life; that he had no friend to recommend him; but, hearing of the goodness of his lordship's heart, and his liberal way of thinking and acting, he was come to petition his lordship for the living: he hoped, at least, that his lordship would pardon his presumption; for, though the method of application was uncommon, yet so was his lordship's generosity; and, notwithstanding he had no particular claim to his favour by interest or dependence, he had, however, a general claim to it, as being an honest man, which to his lordship was no small recommendation. The bishop ordered him in, gave him a dinner, for he had walked upwards of twenty Welsh miles, required a testimonium of his good behaviour, which he produced,

found him well acquainted with polite literature and the mathematics, and, in short, not only presented him to the living, but gave him the money to discharge the expenses of the institution. May the memory of this action remain as long as any language can convey ideas to posterity! and as the grateful remembrance of Dr. Squire's goodness is indelibly fixed in the hearts of the whole family who are made thus happy, so let the record of this deed stand in the page of history, and may time itself never be able to efface it!

GENERAL WASHINGTON.

"There are," says the author of A Tour in America,' "several anecdotes related of General Washington, for being methodical. I was told by General Stone, that he was travelling with his family, in his carriage across the country, and arrived at a ferry belonging to General Washington. He offered the ferryman a moidore. The man said, 'I cannot take it.' The general asked, 'Why, John?' He replied, 'I am only a servant to General Washington, and have no weights to weigh it with, and the general will weigh it, and if it should not be weight, he will not only make me the loser, but will be angry with me.'- Well, John, you must take it, and I will lose three-pence in its value. The ferryman did so, and he carried it to General Washington on the Saturday night following. The general weighed it, and it was not weight-it wanted three-halfpence. General Washington carefully wrapped up three-halfpence in a piece of paper, and directed it to General Stone, which he received from the ferryman on his return.

"General Stone told me another of his singularities; that during the time he was engaged in the army in the American war, and from home, he had a plasterer to plaster a room for him, and the room was measured, and the plasterer was paid by the steward. When the general returned home, he measured the room, and found the work came to less by fifteen shillings than the man had received. Some time after the plasterer died, and the widow married another man, who ad