XXII. A GENTLEMAN lately deceased, who was much employed by the nobility to superintend works of taste, having finished an expensive head-piece to a canal for a certain noble duke, after some short time it was discovered to leak; on which the duchess expressing some disapprobation, the designer pertly replied "I thought your Grace had known, that it is the fashion of the times to run out." XXIII. As a country gentleman was reading a newspaper in a coffee-house, he said to a friend who sat next him-"I have been looking some time to see what the ministry are about; but I cannot find where those articles are put, not being used to the London papers."--" Look among the robberies!" replied the other. ۲۴ قصه مضحكه گویند شاعر ي با بخت نافرجام در جنگ بود و از طالع ناکام سربر سنگ بر نعمت و ناز همسایه رشک میکرد و براهل ثروت و سرمايه اشك بر می آورد زبان را در هجواهل روزگار می پیچید و قلم را در رقم معایب صغار و کبار میکشید باری بقهوه خانه نشسته بود و بسخن در پیوسته و یکی را که حاضر وقت نبود مخاطب خود کردانیده و سخن را بمعراج هجو و شماتت او رسانیده در عالم خیال بچشم پر خشم نظر قهر بر شبیه موهوم آن مخاطب غير مفهوم می انداخت و در پندار خود پامال لكد كوب میساخت مردی ظریف بر بیهوده گوئی او پی برده گفتهان همت برنتابی تا از دام وام او رهائی یا بی قصه لطیفه شاه پروس روزی شاه ملك پروس بمقام سنس سوسی با یکی از سالار لشکر میرفت چون از دیوانخانه بیرون شد سپه سالار را گفت که بعد چند روز باسه صد خواص درینجا طعام خواهي خورد خدمتي گفت آن سه صد تن خواص کجا اند شاه بخندید و گفت آنها که مقالید زرین بر سینه خود می پوشند مراد من نیستند بلکه دلاور اینکه ابواب قلاع سلسيا مفتوح نموده اند . XXIV. A BON MOT. A CERTAIN poetical fabricator of satirical small wares, who is said to have often met with a sorrowful recompence for his lively verses, speaking, a few days since, in a coffee-house, of a person who was not present, exclaimed with a fierce look-" That fellow is a scoundrel! and, if I could meet with him, I would give him a hundred kicks."—"That you may very well afford to do," replied a wag; "for, to my knowledge, you won't then be out of his debt." XXV. ANECDOTE CONCERNING THE KING OF PRUSSIA. As the late King of Prussia was passing through the hall of his palace at Sans-souci, with one of his generals, he said to him, "General, you shall dine here in a few days, with three hundred of my chamberlains."-" Sire," said the general, "I did not think you had so many."-The King replied, with a smile, "I do not mean those nothings who wear gold keys, but my brave chamberlains who opened to me the gates of Silesia." می قصه در بیان ستم و تعدی ملک چین آورده اند که فیلسوفی آنکسی هیونام در شهری از نواحي چین سکونت میداشت و در تالیف و تصنیف که در زمان مفارقت يادگاري باشد همت میگماشت و درس وتعليم را مايه نيكنامي انگاشت و عبادت و ریاضت را قوت روح می پنداشت خداوند تعالی هم از خوش نيتي او راضي گشته از دولت دنیا حظ وافر بخشیده بود یکی از حاسدان و شخصی از معاندان بخيانتي او را متهم کرد و بزندان عسس اسیرش کنانيد عند التجويز واضح گردید که چهار گناه کبیره دارد اول لعنت کانکهي را که حسب ايماي کانکهي که تا جدار و شهریار چيني ديار بود شرحي نوشته و در بعضی جا بر خلاف اصل نقل نموده و بر سستی رای و خرد مصنفان اشارت فرموده و در ضمن آن براهانت ملک زبان کشوده ثانی در دیباجه اسمای اجداد و ابای فرمان روای برخلاف رسم و آئین ملک چین که هر کز نام نامی و اسم سامی آن گرامی لقبان بلب نمی آوردند و بتعظیم تمام و تکریم قام شرف خطاب وكنيت والقاب می دریافتند بحقارت یاد کرده بود و بجسارت بر زبان آورده ثالث نسبت خود با نسب هونکتی و چیو درست کرده و حسب خود را بوالا کهری پیوند داده رابع قصائد خود را بر زرق و تملق آساس نهاده و داد هزیان سرائی داده وعقائد پر مکائدخود XXVI. THE SEVERITY OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. A MAN of letters, called Ouangsi-Heou, lived in the country as a philosopher, amusing himself with writing and study. To enliven his works, and make them more read, he sometimes inserted in them too bold expressions, and reprehensible ideas. He was sixty years old, and had acquired wealth and reputation by his labours, when, in 1777, an enemy or a rival accused him. He was arrested, tried, and found guilty of the four following crimes : 1. The having dared to make an abridgment of the great dictionary of Kang-hi, and even in some places contradicted it. It is to be observed, that Kang-hi was an emperor, by whom, or by whose direction, the dictionary was made. 2. In the preface of this abridgment he has had the audacity to use the little names of Confucius, and of the ancestors of the emperor: a want of respect, say the judges, that makes us tremble. We must add, that, in speaking of the emperors of China it is not permitted to use the name they bore before their accession to the throne: these names are ineffable in China. 3. The author has pretended to be a descendant of Hoangti, by the family of Tcheou. This is the same thing as if a man in Europe should pretend to be descended from one of the patriarchs. 4. Lastly, in his poems he has again insinuated this pretended descent, using reprehensible expressions, in which he appears to have evil designs.-In his defence he observed, that he had abridged the dic |