250 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



these also on tlieir fingers ; and 

 when the number of tens exceeds 

 the number of their fingers, they 

 recommence on their fingers a new 

 sort of calculation ; that is to say, 

 of tens of tens, or hundreds ; and 

 afterwards, of thousands, and so on. 

 Thus, it is the number of the 

 fingers with which nature has fur- 

 nished man, as an instrument al- 

 ways ready to assist him in his 

 calculations, which has led to the 

 adoption of this number a num- 

 ber, in other respects less useful, 

 and less fitted for the purpose, than 

 the number of twelve, which is 

 more susceptible of division; for 

 10 is divisible only by 2 and by 5, 

 while 12 is divisible by 2, by 3, 

 by 4, and by 6. 



The Eoman ciphez*s afford a proof 

 of the origin which I have just 

 stated. They express units by the 

 I's, which represent the fingers. 

 Five is represented by a V, which 

 represents the first and last fingers 

 of the hand. Ten is represented by 

 an X, being two Vs united at their 

 bases, and expressing the contents 

 of both hands. Fifty is marked by 

 an L, the half of the letter E, which 

 is the same as C, and represents a 

 hundred. Five hundred by a D, 

 the half of the letter O, which is 

 the same as M, and represents a 

 thousand. (Huet.) 



BOXHORN. 



A gentleman who had studied 

 under Boxhorn, in Holland, told 

 me that that professor had the 

 most extraordinary passion for 

 smoking and reading. In order to 

 enjoy both at once, he had a hole 

 made in the middle of the brim of 

 his hat, through which he used to 

 stick his lighted pipe when he in- 

 tended to read or to compose. 

 When it was empty, he refilled it, 

 stuck it into the hole, and smoked 

 away without requiring to put his 

 hand to it ; and this was his occupa- 

 tion almost every hour of the day. 



A FAIR EXCHANGE. 



Brebeuf, when yotfng, had no 

 taste for any author but Horace. 

 One of his friends, named Gautier, 

 on the contrary, liked nothing but 

 Lucan. This preference was the 

 cause of frequent disputes. To put 

 an end to these, at last they agreed 

 that each should read the poem 

 which his companion preferred, ex- 

 amine it,, and estimate its merits 

 impartially. This was done, and 

 the consequence was, that Gautier, 

 having read Horace, was so de- 

 lighted with him, that he scarcely 

 ever left him ; while Brebeuf, en- 

 chanted with Lucan, gave himself 

 so wholly up to the study of his 

 manner, that he carried it to a 

 greater extent than Lucan himself, 

 as is evident from the translation 

 of that poem which he has left U3 

 in French verse. 



ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTOTT 



Used often to say that, if he were 

 to choose a place to die in, it should 

 be an inn, it looking like a pilgrim's 

 going home, to whom this world 

 was all as an inn, and who was 

 weary of the noise and confusion in 

 it. He added that the officious 

 tendei'ness and care of friends was 

 an entanglement to a dying man ; 

 and that the unconcerned attend- 

 ance of those that could be procur- 

 ed in such a place would give -less 

 disturbance. (Burnet's History of 

 his Times.) 



VOLTAIRE AND HIS CUP. 



Voltaire, when he was in Paris 

 in 1778, lived in the house of the 

 Marquis de Villette. One day the 

 Marquis had invited a large party to 

 dinner. Coming to table, Voltaire 

 did not find in its place before him 

 his own particular cup, which he had 

 marked with his catchet. " Where 

 is my cup?" he inquired, his eye 

 sparkling, of a tall, simple domestic, 

 whose special duty it was to wait 



