WALPOLIANA.

I. ADELA, A TALE.

I HAVE been amusing myself with a history of Picardy, and shall read you off a short tale that struck me.

Thomas de Saint Valery was travelling with his wife, Adela, daughter of a count de Ponthieu. They were attacked near a forest by eight armed men. St. Valery, after a severe struggle, was seized, bound, and thrown into a thicket. His wife was carried off, exposed to the brutality of the banditti, and afterwards dismissed in a state of nudity. She, however, sought for, and found her husband, and they returned together.

They were soon after met by their servants, whom they had left at an inn, and returned to their father's castle at Abbeville. The barbarous count, full of false ideas of honour, proposed, some days after, to his daughter, a ride to his town of Rue, on the seashore. There they entered a bark, as if to sail about for pleasure; and they had stood out three leagues from the shore, when the count de Ponthieu, starting up, said, with a terrible voice, "Lady, death must now efface the shame which your misfortune has brought on all your family."

The sailors, previously instructed, instantly seized her, shut her up in a hogshead, and threw her into the sea, while the bark regained the coast.

Happily a Flemish vessel passing near the coast, the crew observed the floating hogshead, and, expecting a prize of good wine, took it up, opened it, and, with great surprise, found a beautiful woman. She was, however, almost dead, from terror and want of air; and, at her earnest entreaty, the honest Flemings sent a boat ashore with her. She gained her husband's house, who was in tears for her supposed death. The scene was extremely affecting: but Adela only survived it a few hours.

John, count of Ponthieu, repenting of his crime, gave to the monks of St. Valery the right of fishing three days in the year, in and about the spot where his daughter had been thrown overboard.

II. COMMENTARIES OF AGRIPPINA.

TACITUS mentions the Commentaries of Agrippina, mother of Nero. I wish we had more extracts from a work by so singular an author. I should suppose it was decent, and attempted to palliate her crimes. Yet I should like to have a copy, bound up with Arian's life of Tilliborus the robber, quoted, if I remember right, by Lucian.

III. AKENSIDE AND ROLT.

AKENSIDE'S Pleasures of Imagination attracted much notice on the first appearance, from the elegance of its language, and the warm colouring of the descrip

tions. But the Platonic fanaticism of the foundation injured the general beauty of the edifice. Plato is indeed the philosopher of imagination; but is not this saying that he is no philosopher at all? I have been told that Rolt, who afterwards wrote many books, was in Dublin when that poem appeared, and actually passed a whole year there, very comfortably, by passing for the author.

IV. ALGAROTTI.

ALGAROTTI is a lively and pleasant writer, and sometimes conveys his thoughts in elegant metaphor; for example: "Lo stile di Bacone, uomo di altissima dottrina, abbonda di vivissimi pensieri. Nella maggior profondita d'acqua, si trovano le perle piu grosse." “The style of Bacon, a man of the most profound learning, abounds in most lively thoughts. In the greater depth of water the larger pearls are found."

V. AMERICANS.

THE Americans are mostly engaged in trade and plantations. Their chief object is to make money. And, in truth, money is freedom.

VI. AMOROUS SAINT.

I AM told that the life of St. Catherine of Sienna

contains much curious and equivocal matter.

[The title is Legenda della seraphica Catherina di Sienna. Vinegie, 1556, 8vo.]

VII. AMUSEMENTS OF WAR.

WHEN Louis XIV. besieged Lille, the count de Brouai,
governor of the place, was so polite as to send a sup-
ply of ice every morning for the king's dessert. Louis
said one day to the gentleman who brought it, "I
am much obliged to M. de Brouai for his ice, but I
wish he would send it in larger portions." The
Spaniard answered, without hesitation, "Sire, he
thinks the siege will be long, and he is afraid the ice
may be exhausted." When the messenger was going,
the duke de Charrost, captain of the guards, called
out, "Tell Brouai not to follow the example of the
governor of Douai, who yielded like a rascal." The
king turned round laughing, and said, “Charrost, are
you mad?"
'How, Sir!" answered he, "Brouai is
my cousin."

In the Memoires de Grammont you will find similar examples of the amusements of war. You remember that when Philip of Macedon vanquished the Athenians, in a pitched battle, they sent next morning to demand their baggage. The king laughed, and ordered it to be returned, saying, "I do believe the Athenians think we did not fight in earnest."

VIII. ANANAS.

THE culture of pine-apples was certainly known in England in the time of Charles II. as that picture on my right hand shows. It represents Rose the gardener presenting a pine-apple to Charles; and the likeness of the king is too marked, and his features too well known, to leave any room for doubt.

0

0

IX. ANCIENT DIARY.

THE diary of Philip IV. of France was printed at Florence in 1746. It contains little but his expences on a journey to Flanders in 1301; but is printed from his own hand-writing in tablets of beech-wood, done over with wax.

X. AN ANECDOTE CORRECTED.

LET me correct a story relating to the great duke of Marlborough. The duchess was pressing the duke to take a medicine; and, with her usual warmth, said, "I'll be hanged if it do not prove serviceable." Dr. Garth*, who was present, exclaimed, "Do take it then, my lord duke; for it must be of service, in one way or the other."

XI. ANECDOTES OF THE STREETS.

THERE is a French book called Anecdotes des Rues de Paris. I had begun a similar work, " Anecdotes of the Streets of London." I intended, in imitation of the French original, to have pointed out the streets and houses where any remarkable incident had happened. But I found the labour would be too great, in collecting materials from various resources; and I abandoned the design, after having written about ten or twelve pages.

XII. APPLAUSE THE NURSE OF GENIUS.

ONE quality I may safely arrogate to myself: I am not afraid to praise. Many are such timid judges of

By mistake put Lord Somers.