866 Relaxations of Great Men. [August, 



them, and was constantly presenting them with little keepsakes and 

 presents. 



Leibnitz used to pass months together in his study, engaged with his 

 laborious investigations. At such times his only relaxation consisted in 

 collecting about him, in his study, children of both sexes, whom he 

 watched, and sometimes he took part in their frolics. Seated in his 

 easy chair, he delighted to observe their several dispositions; and when 

 his soul had sufficiently enjoyed the innocent spectacle, he would 

 dismiss the children with sweetmeats, and return to his studies witli 

 renewed energy. 



Louis Racine says of his father, that he took part in all the children's 

 sports. '* I remember a procession we once had," says he in his memoirs, 

 *^in which my sisters played the part of the clergy, I was the curate, 

 and the author of Athalie, singing in chorus with us, carried the cross." 



Napoleon, like Wellington, was fond of children. He used to take 

 the infant king of Rome in his arms, and standing in front of a mirror 

 with him, there made the oddest grimaces in the glass. At breakfast 

 lie would take the child upon his knee, dip his finger in the sauce, and 

 daub his face with it; the child's governess scolded, the Emperor laughed, 

 and the child, almost always pleased, appeared to deligtt in the rough 

 caresses of his father. Those who on such occasions had a favor to 

 Bolicit from the Emperor, were almost sure of being favorably received. 



Duration op a Flash of Lightning. — In Arago's Meteorologi- 

 cal Essays, lately published, many latitudes are given where the pheno- 

 mena of thunder and lightning are unknown; those among the inhab- 

 itants of Lima or Peru, for instance, who had never traveled, can, from 

 their own experience, have no idea of thunder ; and they are equally 

 unacquainted with lightning, for even noiseless sheet-lightnings never 

 appear in the atmosphere of Lower Peru, often moist, but never show- 

 ing true clouds. Arago sums up his inquiry by saying that the most 

 brilliant and extensive flashes of lightning, which appear to embrace 

 the whole extent of the visible horizon, have not duration equal to the 

 thousandth part of a second of time. 



American Oaks. — One hundred and thirty American Oaks were 

 planted last year in the city of Paris. Of these eighty-seven took 

 root, and are green and flourishing. The rest, forty-six are dead. 



