1808.] Lxtracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 45 
ing you asthe rest of your subjects are.” 
Immediately after the. King addressing 
himself to a messenger that was stand- 
ing near him, said, “* Tell the Pope, that 
ou saw me on Horseback, and that 
jenna is released.” When he had raised 
the sieve; he wrote to the Pope, “I came, 
I saw, but God conquered.” Alluding to 
-Cesar’s expression of “ Veni, Vidi, Vici.” 
THE DILEMMA OF PROTAGORAS. 
Protagoras maintained that all is illu- 
sion and that there is no such thing as 
truth. But Aristotle refuted him by the 
following dilemma: ‘“‘ Your proposition 
is true or false; if is false, then you 
are answered ; if true, then there is some- 
thing true, and your proposition fails.” 
CARDINAL MAZARINE. 
. Cardinal Mazarine ‘said to Villeroi a 
few days before his death, which hap- 
pened in the year of our Lord 1661; 
§¢ Villeroi, in thie state in which I am at 
present, we do many things which, were 
we in health, we should not even think of 
doing.” The day after he saw Monsieur 
the King’s (Lewis 14th) brother, and had 
along conference with him. He after- 
wards found out that the Cardinal had 
not told him one single word of truth. 
gi" THEODORE BEZA: 
He died at Geneva, in 1605. He had 
been married three times, on which ‘sub- 
ject Stephen Paynier wrote the following 
lines: 
Uxores ego tres vario sum tempore nactus, 
Cum juvenis, tum vir factus, et inde senex; 
Propter opus prima est validis mihi juncta 
sub armis, 
Altera propter opes, tertia propter opem. 
FROM PIECES INTERESSANTES ET PEU 
- CONNUES. — 
. George II. on his return to Lon- 
don, after the battle of Dettingen, 
could with difficulty bear the sight of 
Lord Stair. He could not forgive his 
Lordship’s reproaching him for the dan- 
ger which threatened the English army, 
in case the King had obstinately persisted 
in learing it iv the camp which it occu- 
pied, and where it would have been com- 
pletely defeated, if the Duke de Gram- 
mont by his rashness had not saved it. 
Lord Stair, ‘as proud as he was skilful in 
war, having soon perceived the King’s 
dislike, and being little disposed to bear 
the shame of a: formal-disgrace, was on 
the point of retiring to bis estate in Scot- 
land, when he received the following 
letter. 
“MY Lomp, 
© Yourbravery is wellknown: hut will 
you have the courage to go, to-morrow 
night, to the entrance of Somerset-house, 
where you will meet one who' (if you dare 
follow him) will conduct you to a part of 
the town not much frequented, but where 
you will find one who is impatient to see 
you, and to discover secrets which are of 
more importance than you imagine, and 
which cannot be disclosed ina letter. If 
you are afraid this should be a plot on your 
purse, bring nothing valuable about you.” 
We may conceive his Lordship’s sur- 
prise at the reading of this note. At 
first be took it'for a trick of some secret 
enemy ; or some affair ofgallantry, the 
heroine of which had probably her reasons 
for so acting: howevershe determined to 
go. He therefore, after providing him- 
self with a sword and a brace of good 
pistols, went to Somerset-house, . and 
found there a man,who,without speaking,’ 
made him a sign to follow him: after 
walking for about an hour, they came in- 
to a street almost empty, where the con- 
ductor knocked at the door of a small 
old house: when it was opened, he 
said, Walk in, my Lord, and the door was 
shut upon them. The intrepid noble- 
man, holding his sword in one hand and 
a pistol in the other, went up the stair- 
case and entered a room; the furniture 
of which seemed very ancient, “Come in, 
my Lord, (said a faint voice issuing from’ 
a bed) come in, you ‘have nothing to fear: 
pray sit down in the chair near my bed, 
and we will converse together.” Very well, 
said Lord S.; but make haste and tell me 
the reason of this odd adventure. You 
are hasty, my Lord, but “have patience: 
Jay down your arms ; take that seat, and 
come and look at me.” His Lordship, sur- 
prised at such’ authoritative commands, 
to which he was little accustomed, got up, 
took the lamp, went to the bed, and.re- 
mained stupified at the sight of an old 
man, pale and thin, with a long white 
beard, and whose eyes were instantly fix- 
ed upon him, Look at me, my Lord,” 
said he, “Iam still alive, I owe to you 
the only true pleasure I have tasted these 
many, many years. Age and misfortunes 
have they entirely effaced the marks of 
one who 1s nearly related to you, and wha 
is delighted to find in you features which 
are most dear to him?” His Lordship, — 
still more astonished, looked at the old 
man, and unable to account for the dif- 
férent emotions ‘which agitated him, 
spoke not a word. “ Stoop,” said the 
old man, “ and you will find under my 
bed a box which contains papers capable 
of amply repairing the losses. which your 
family has suffered by the civil wars.” 
- His 
