TOO STRONG. 233 



The anecdote related of Count de Tesse, a celebrated cour- 

 tier of France, is one of the best of its kind : 



" Count de Tesse, Marshal of France, was an eminent man 

 during the reign of Louis XIY. Though he was a brave 

 soldier and by no means an incompetent general, yet he was 

 more remarkable as a skillful diplomatist and a pliant and 

 prosperous courtier. During the War of Succession in Spain, 

 he besieged Barcelona with a considerable army, in the spring 

 of 1705. Terrible w r as the assault, and terrible was the 

 resistance. At the end of six weeks the arrival of the British 

 fleet, and reinforcements thrown into the place, forced Mar- 

 shal Tesse to retire. Besides immense losses in dead and 

 wounded, he had to abandon two hundred and twenty cannon 

 and all his supplies. Incessantly fighting for fifteen days in 

 his retreat towards the Pyrenees, he lost three thousand more 

 of his men. It ought to be said, in vindication of Tesse, that 

 he undertook the siege by express and urgent command of 

 the French King, and contrary to his own judgment ; for in 

 writing to a friend, he said : * If a Consistory were held to 

 decide the infallibility of the King, as Consistories have been 

 held to decide the infallibility of the Pope, I should by my 

 vo.te declare His Majesty infallible. His orders have con- 

 founded all human science.' 



" Soon after the siege of Barcelona, a lady at a fashionable 

 party took out her snuff-box and offered a pinch to any one 

 who wished it. Marshal Tesse approached to take a pinch ; 

 but suddenly the lady drew her snuff-box back, saying, ' For 

 you, Marshal, the snuff is too strong it is Barcelona,' " 



In Scotland the dry kinds of snuff are in favor and are 

 esteemed as highly as the moister snuffs. Robert Leighton 

 gives the following pen picture of the snuff -loving Scotch- 

 man ; it is entitled " The Snuffle Auld Man :" 



" By the cosie fire-side, or the sun-ends o' gavels, 

 The snuffie auld bodie is sure to be seen. 

 Tap, tappin* his-snuff-box, he snifters and sneevils, 

 And smachers the snuff frae his mou' to his een. 

 Since tobacco cam' in, and the snuffin' began, 

 There hasna been seen sic a snuffie auld man. 



" His haurins are dozen'd, his een sair bedizzened 

 And red round the lids as the gills o' a fish ; 

 His face is a' bladdit, his sark-breest a' smaddit, 

 As snuffie a picture as ony could wish. 



