242 ROMAN NUMBER SIX. 



FREDERICK. 



Then there was the Roman superstition respecting the 

 number six. 



MRS. F. 



Oh! you allude to the saying, " Semper sub sextus perdita 

 Roma fuit," or, " Under six Rome was always lost." 



HENRIETTA. 



Whence did this idea originate 1 ? 



MRS. F. 



From a singular coincidence of circumstances. Tarquin- 

 ius Sextus was the worst of his race, and his conduct, as you 

 all know, led to a revolution. Under Urban the Sixth the 

 grand Schism of the West broke out. Alexander the Sixth 

 outvied all his predecessors in wickedness, and it was in his 

 reign that the line above quoted was written. To this we 

 may add another example of the fatal coincidence in Pius the 

 Sixth, who was led captive by the French, and treated with 

 ignominy and oppression. 



HENRIETTA. 



Did not Pius VI live at Fontainbleau during his captivity 

 in France? 



MRS. F. 



Yes; I have seen the room he occupied; this, and the pen 

 with which Napoleon is said to have signed his abdication, 

 are the two great objects of curiosity shown to the traveller 

 who visits the royal palace. 



HENRIETTA. 



I heard Mr. Campbell make an observation the other day, 

 when he was playing cards, which I did not understand. He 

 called the nine of diamonds " the curse of Scotland." 



MRS. F. 



That is a Scottish saying, which originated in the circum- 

 stance of the Duke of Cumberland having written, on the eve 



