242 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



vent loss of time, he caused his pot." " Ish understand risht," said 



food to be laid on a table in his 

 study; and when he was hungry, 

 he made a scanty meal. 



Descartes frequently studied fif- 

 teen hours in the day. 



M. de Buffon studied twelve or 

 fourteen hours. 



Joseph Scaliger was so exceed- 

 ingly fond of intellectual engage- 

 ments, that he would sometimes 

 remain in his study for two or 

 three days without food. 



John Knox evinced a high opi- 

 nion of the value of learning, when 

 he said to Queen Mary of Scotland, 

 in his blunt phraseology, "I am 

 here now ; yet I cannot tell what 

 other men shall judge of me, that, 

 at this time of day, I am absent 

 from my book, and waiting at 

 court." 



Carneades was so enamoured 

 with the pursuits of knowledge, 

 that he scarcely allowed himself 

 time to pare his nails or comb his 



hair. 

 Budeeus 



and Tnrnebus spent 



their wedding-days in the study. 



THE DUTCH. 



The Dutch may be compared to 

 their own turf, which kindles and 

 burns slowly, but which, when once 

 kindled, retains its fire to the last. 



ENGLISH AND GERMAN. 



An English lady resident at Cob- 

 lentz, one day wishing to order of 

 her German servant (who did not 

 understand English) a boiled fowl 

 for dinner, Grettel was summoned, 

 and the experiment began. It was 

 one of the lady's fancies, that the 

 less her words resembled her na- 

 tive tongue, the more they must be 

 like German. So her first attempt 

 was to tell the maid that she wanted 

 a cheeking, or keeking. The maid 

 opened her eyes and mouth, and 

 shook her head. "It's to cook," 

 said the mistress, "to cook, to put 

 in an iron thing, in a pit pat 



the maid, in her Coblentz patois. 

 " It's a thing to eat," said her mis- 

 tress, "for dinner for deener 

 with sauce, soace sowose. What 

 on earth am I to do?" exclaimed 

 the lady in despair, but still mak- 

 ing another attempt. " It's a little- 

 creature a bird a bard a beard 

 a hen a hone a fowl a fool ; 

 it's all covered with feathers fa- 

 thers feeders !" " Ha, ha !" cried 

 the delighted German, at last get- 

 ting hold of a catchword, " Ja, ja ! 

 fedders ja woh !" and away went 

 Grettel, and in half an hour re- 

 turned triumphantly, with a bun- 

 dle of stationers' quills. 



An Englishman talking with a 

 German friend, a man of a remark- 

 ably philosophical cast of mind, and 

 fond of clothing his sentiments in 

 the graces of classical allusion, the 

 discourse happened to turn upon 

 the mortifications to which those 

 subject themselves who seek after 

 the vanities of this world. Our 

 friend was for a stoical independ- 

 ence, and had Diogenes in his eye. 

 "For mine self," he exclaimed, 

 with rising enthusiasm, " I should 

 be quite contentment for to live all 

 my days in a dub, eating nothing; 

 else but unicorns !" (acorns.) 



MENAGE. 



The Queen of Sweden (Christina) 

 said of him, after he published his 

 work on the Origin of the French 

 Language, " Menage is undoubtedly 

 a very learned and excellent person, 

 but he is very unaccommodating ; 

 he will never allow a word to pass 

 without its passport : he must al- 

 ways know whence it conies, and 

 where it is going." 



WHAT SHOULD BE DONE AT ONCE. 



Shutting one's self up in a con- 

 vent, marrying, and throwing one's 

 self over a precipice, are three 

 things which must be done without 

 thinking too much about them. 



