DANIEL 



had passed a couple of hours or so, 

 very agreeably, he suddenly took 

 up his hat, and, leaning over the 

 table, and looking me full in the 

 face, said, in a low voice, '"Weel, 

 misther, we've been vary pleasant 

 toogather, and ar'll spak' my moind 

 tiv'ee. Dinnot let the weedur send 

 her lattle boy to yan o' our school- 

 measthers, while there's a harse to 

 hold in a' Lunnun, or a gootther to 

 lie asleep in. Ar wouldn't mak' 

 ill words amang my neeburs, and 

 ar spak' tiv'ee quiet loike. But 

 I'm doom'd if ar can gang to bed 

 and not tellee, for weedur's sak', to 

 keep the lattle boy from a' sike 

 sfMinulnjl.s while there's a harse to 

 hold in a' Luunun, or a gootther 

 to lie asleep in.' Kepeating these 

 words with great heartiness, and 

 with a. solemnity on his jolly face 

 that made it look twice as large as 

 before, he shook hands and went 

 away." 



MAGNANIMITY OF CERVANTES. 



Michael Cervantes Saavedra, the 

 author of Don Quixote, gave a proof 

 that his generosity was equal to his 

 genius. He was, in the early part 

 of his life, for some time a slave in 

 Algiers, and there he concerted a 

 plan to free himself and thirteen 

 fellow-sufferers. One of them trai- 

 torously betrayed the design, and 

 they were all conveyed to the Dey 

 of Algiers ; and he promised them 

 their lives on condition they dis- 

 covered the contriver of the plot. 

 " I was that person," exclaimed the 

 intrepid Cervantes ; " save my com- 

 panions, and let me perish." The 

 Dey, struck with his noble confes- 

 sion, spared his life, allowed him to 

 be ransomed, and permitted him to 

 depart home. 



This writer of an incomparable 

 romance, replete with character, 

 incident, pleasantry, and humour, 

 without any alloy of vulgarity, ob- 

 scenity, or irreligion, and which is 

 held in admiration throughout the 



117 



civilized world, starved in the 

 midst of a high reputation, and 

 died in penury. 



As Philip III, King of Spain, 

 was standing in a balcony of his 

 palace at Madrid, and viewing the 

 prospects of the surrounding coun- 

 try, he observed a student on the 

 banks of the river Manzanares, 

 reading a book, and from time to 

 time breaking off, and beating his 

 forehead with extraordinary tokens 

 of pleasure and delight ; upon which 

 the king said to those about him, 

 " That scholar is either mad, or he 

 is reading Don fyuixoie." 



This anecdote is worth a volume 

 of panegyric. 



STERNE'S HARD-HEARTEDNESS. 



""What is called sentimental 

 writing," says Horace Walpole, 

 "though it be understood to ap- 

 peal solely to the heart, may be 

 the product of a bad one. One 

 would imagine that Sterne had 

 been a man of a very tender heart ; 

 yet I know, from indubitable au- 

 thority, that his mother, who kept 

 a school, having run in debt on 

 account of an extravagant daugh- 

 ter, would have rotted in jail if the 

 parents of the scholars had not 

 raised a subscription for her. Her 

 son had too much sentiment to 

 have any feeling. A dead ass was 

 more important to him than a liv- 

 ing mother." 



DANIEL DEFOE. 



The name of the interesting 

 writer of Robinson Crusoe was 

 not originally Defoe, but Foe the 

 prefix being added by himself. He 

 was born in London in 1663. His 

 early education and habits .were 

 such as to promise almost any 

 other results than works of fiction. 

 And yet we find him, at twenty- 

 one years of age, the author of a 

 treatise against the Turks. He 

 joined the insurrection of the Duke 



