26G 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



sent him to Oxford. Here he gra- 

 dually rose in academical success 

 fellow of Wadham, professor of 

 Arabic, canon of Christ Church, 

 and Hebrew professor. 



HUMOROUS SAYING OF CHARLES V. 



Charles V., who spoke fluently 

 several European languages, used to 

 say, that we should speak Spanish 

 with the gods, Italian with our 

 female friends, French with our 

 male friends, German with soldiers, 

 English with geese, Hungarian with 

 horses, and Bohemian with the devil. 



THE VINEGAR BIBLE. 



There is an edition of the Bible 

 known by the name of the Vinegar 

 Bible, from the erratum in the title 

 to the twentieth chapter of St. 

 Luke, in which "Parable of the 

 Vineyard" is printed "Parable of 

 the vinegar!' It was printed in 

 1717, at the Clarendon press. 



A DICTIONARY LIBRARY. 



The apt reply of a distinguished 

 American scholar to a benefactor 

 of the institution of learning with 

 which he was connected, when an 

 increase of the library was the sub- 

 ject of discussion, deserves perpe- 

 tual remembrance. 



" We need more books," said the 

 professor. 



"More books!" said the merchant; 

 "why, have you read through all 

 you have already?' 



" No ; I never expect to read 

 them all." 



" Why, then, do you want more ?" 



" Pray, sir, did you ever read your 

 dictionary through T 



" Certainly not." 



" Well, a library is my diction- 

 ary." 



SCHOLASTIC CONTROVERSY. 



Henry, in his History of Eng- 

 land, states that the following parts 

 of learning were cultivated, in some 

 degree, in Britain, during the pe- 

 riod from 1066 to 1216: grammar, 



rhetoric, logic, metaphysics, phy- 

 sics, ethics, scholastic divinity, the 

 canon law, arithmetic, geometry, 

 astronomy, astrology, and medi- 

 cine. He also gives the following, 

 to show the trifling questions that 

 were agitated by the logicians of 

 that period : 



" When a hog is carried to 

 market, with a rope tied about its 

 neck, which is held at the other 

 end by a man, whether the hog is 

 carried to market by the rope or 

 the man?" 



"Literary wars," says Bayle, 

 " are sometimes as lasting as they 

 are terrible." A disputation be- 

 tween two great scholars was so 

 interminably violent, that it lasted 

 thirty years ! He humorously com- 

 pares it to the German war, which 

 lasted as long. 



ROME. 



Some one telling the famous Je- 

 rome Bignon, that Rome was the 

 seat of faith ; " That is true," said 

 he; "but then faith is like some 

 people, who are never to be found 

 at home." 



FRANCIS I. 



Francis I. was one day playing 

 at tennis, when a monk, who was 

 playing on his side, by a successful 

 stroke, insured the victory to the 

 king's party. "Well done," said 

 the king ; " a brave stroke for a 

 monk ! " " Sire," replied the monk, 

 "your majesty can make it the blow 

 of an abbe when you please." Some 

 days afterwards the abbacy of Bour- 

 mayen became vacant, and the king 

 presented the situation to him. 



LOSS OF TIME. 



A female devotee, who confessed 

 the great attachment she had to 

 play, was reminded by her confessor 

 of the sad loss of time which it 

 occasioned. "Ah, true," said she, 

 "there is a deal of time lost in 

 the cards." 



