268 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



THE PREACHER. 



A Gascon preacher stopped short 

 in the pulpit ; it was in vain that 

 he scratched his head; nothing 

 would come out. "My friends," 

 said he, as he walked quietly down 

 the pulpit stairs, "my friends, I 

 pity you, for you have lost a fine 

 discourse." 



VOLTAIRE AND MONTESQUIEU. 



Voltaire having given a repre- 

 sentation of his Orphan of China, 

 at the Delices near Geneva, before 

 it appeared in Paris, the President 

 Montesquieu, who was present, fell 

 fast asleep. Voltaire threw his hat 

 at his head, saying, " He thinks he 

 is in court." " No, no," said Mon- 

 tesquieu, awaking, "in church." 



VOLTAIRE'S u MARIANNE." 

 Voltaire's Marianne was at first 

 only once acted. It is said, that 

 the public being divided as to the 

 merit of the work, the question was 

 oddly settled. The farce, which 

 happened to be played that evening, 

 was entitled, The Mourning: 

 " For the deceased play, I suppose," 

 said a critic in the pit; and this 

 decided the fate of the piece. 



VOLTAIRE'S EAGLE. 

 The greatest geniuses have always 

 their weaknesses to connect them 

 with the ordinary race of mankind. 

 Voltaire was not exempt from this 

 tribute which nature seems to exact 

 from great men, as an expiation for 

 their superiority. The following 

 anecdote is in point: "Voltaire 

 took great delight in a young eagle 

 -which ho kept chained in the court 

 of his chateau at Ferney. One day 

 the eagle fell to fighting with two 

 cocks, and was severely wounded. 

 Voltaire, disconsolate, sent an ex- 

 press to Geneva, with directions to 

 bring a man who passed there as a 

 pretty expert animal doctor. In 

 his impatience, he did nothing but 



move between the cage of the eagle 

 and the window of his apartment, 

 from which he had a view of the 

 great road. At length his courier 

 appeared, and along with him, the 

 Esculapius so much wished for; 

 Voltaire raised a cry of joy ; flew 

 to meet him, gave him a most dis- 

 tinguished reception, and lavished 

 on him prayers and promises to in- 

 terest him for his sick favourite. 

 The man, astonished at a reception 

 to which he was little accustomed, 

 examined the wounds of the eagle. 

 Voltaire, full of anxiety, sought to 

 read in his eyes his hopes and fears. 

 The doctor declared, with the air 

 of a professor, that he would not 

 venture to pronounce on the case 

 until after the first dressing was 

 removed; but promised to repeat 

 his visit on the morrow, and de- 

 parted, handsomely paid. On the 

 morrow Voltaire was on thorns, 

 and at last the decision was, that 

 the physician could not answer for 

 the life of the eagle ; a new source 

 of disquietude. Voltaire's first 

 question every morning to one of 

 his servants, named Madeline,whose 

 business it was to wake him, vas, 

 " How is my eagle 1 " " Very poor- 

 ly, sir, very poorly." One day at 

 length Madeline answered, laugh- 

 ing : " Ah, sii*, your eagle is no lon- 

 ger sick." " It is cured then ! 

 What happiness ! " " No ; it is 

 dead ! " " Dead ! my eagle dead ! 

 and this you tell me laughing?" 

 " Why, sir, it was so lean, it is all 

 the better dead." "How, lean!" 

 exclaimed Voltaire in a rage; "an 

 excellent reason, truly ! I suppose 

 you must kill me also because I am 

 lean. You baggage! to laugh at 

 the death of my poor eagle, because 

 it was lean ! because you are in good 

 condition yourself, you think it is 

 only people of your stamp that 

 should have a right to live ? Out 

 of my sight! begone!" Madame 

 Denis, hearing the noise, ran to hei* 

 uncle, and asked what had discom- 



