272 



TABLE-TALK AOT VARIETIES. 



immediately went home to prepare 

 his wife for the interview, and 

 warned her to speak as loud as 

 possible, as the Queen would be 

 unable otherwise to understand 

 her. He brought her to the Louvre 

 in the evening, and the Queen im- 

 mediately opened the conference 

 by bawling as loudly as possible, 

 while Madame de Bautru answered 

 her in the same tone. The King, 

 who had been apprised of the whole 

 by Bautru, laughed with all his 

 heart at the scene. At last the 

 Queen, who perceived it, said to 

 Madame de Bautru, " Is it not the 

 case that Bautru has made you be- 

 lieve that I am deaf?" Madame 

 de Bautru admitted that it was so. 

 " Ah, the villain !" continued the 

 Queen, "he told me the same of 

 you." (Menage.) 



AMERICAN COPYRIGHTS. 



American publishers usually pay 

 authors 10 per cent, on the retail 

 price of their works. But authors 

 of extraordinary popularity in some 

 instances have received from 20 

 to 40 per cent. 



Stephens, author of Travels in the 

 Holy Land, &c., had received from 

 his publishers, the Harpers, as 

 early as 1848, more than fifteen 

 thousand dollars ; and Prescott, for 

 his Life of Ferdinand and Isabella, 

 and his Conquest of Mexico, had 

 received some twenty or twenty- 

 five thousand dollars from the same 

 firm. 



THE " COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT." 

 The early patroness of Burns, 

 Mrs. Dunlop, of Dunlop, had an 

 old housekeeper, a sort of privileged 

 person, who had certain aristocra- 

 tical notions of the family dignity, 

 that made her utterly astonished 

 at the attentions that were paid by 

 her mistress to a man in such low 

 worldly estate as the rustic poet. 

 In order to overcome her prejudice 

 and surprise, her mistress persuaded 



her to peruse a MS. copy of tho 

 Cotter's Saturday Night, which the 

 poet had just then written. When 

 Mrs. Dunlop inquired her opinion 

 of the poem, she replied, with a 

 quaint indifference, "Aweel, ma- 

 dam, that's vera weel." " Is that 

 all you have to say in its favour?" 

 asked the mistress. " 'Deed, ma- 

 dam," she returned, "the like o' 

 you quality may see a vast in't; 

 but I was aye used to the like o' all 

 that the poet has written about in 

 my ain father's house, and atweel 

 I dinna ken how he could hae de- 

 scribed it ony other gate." When 

 Burns heard of the old woman's 

 criticism, he remarked that it was 

 one of the highest compliments he 

 had ever received. 



INVITATIONS. 



You are not invited to an enter- 

 tainment, it is because you have not 

 bought the invitation, which he 

 who makes it sells to those who 

 flatter him, and are obsequious to 

 him. Instead of a good supper, 

 then, I have nothing. Yes ; you 

 have the pleasure of knowing you 

 have not commended the man you 

 disliked, nor endured his insolent 

 behaviour. (Epictetus.) 



EVIL SPEAKING. 



If anybody tells you such an 

 one has spoken ill of you, do not 

 refute them in that particular; but 

 answer, had he known all my vices 

 he had not spoken only of that one. 

 (Ibid.) 



CARDINAL RICHELIEU. 



Amidst the important occupa- 

 tions of the Cardinal Eichelieu, he 

 generally found time to unbend a 

 little from the fatigue attendant 

 on the ministry. He was fond of 

 violent exercises, particularly after 

 meals, but did not like to be sur- 

 prised in these moments of amuse- 

 ment and pleasure/ M. de Bois- 

 robert, who was constantly with 



