COEDETT'S EAF.LY RECOLLECTIONS. 



281 



had been anticipated. At thai 

 period circumstances caused a sus- 

 pension of its progress, and the Go- 

 vernment, on whose decision the 

 continuance or discontinuance o: 

 the work depends, have not yet com- 

 municated to Mr. Babbage their 

 wishes on the question. Since the 

 commencement of the original ma- 

 chine, Mr. Babbage has projected 

 another and far more powerful en- 

 gine ; the former could employ 

 about 120 figures in its calculations, 

 the latter is intended to compute 

 with about 4000. 



LORD CHATHAM. 



It is said of the eloquence of the 

 Earl of Chatham, that " his voice, 

 even when it sank to a whisper, 

 was heard to the remotest benches ; 

 when he strained it to its full 

 strength, the sound rose like the 

 swell of an organ of a great cathe- 

 dral, shook the house with its peal, 

 and was heard through lobbies 

 and down staircases to the Court 

 of Bequests and the precincts of 

 "Westminster Hall." 



DR. P1TCAIRNE AND ACADEMIC 

 DEGREES. 



Dr. Alexander Pitcairne, who 

 died in 1713, and who was long re- 

 membered most distinctly in Scot- 

 land for his strong Jacobitism, his 

 keen wit, and his eminence as a 

 physician, studied his profession in 

 Holland, where he was for some 

 time the preceptor of Boerhaave. 

 His political principles causing him 

 to be no friend to the republican 

 Dutch, he amused himself with sa- 

 tirizing them in verse. Dull, how- 

 ever, as the Dutch aro generally 

 esteemed, they had once paid him 

 very smartly in his own coin. Pit- 

 cairne, it seems, took great offence 

 at the facility with which the Uni- 

 versity of Leyden, like some of 

 those in this country at a more re- 

 cent period, conferred degrees upon 

 those applying for them. To ridi- 



cule them, he sent for a diploma 

 for his footman, which was granted. 

 He next sent for another for his 

 horse. This, however, was too gross 

 an affront for even Dutchmen to 

 swallow. In a spirit of resentment 

 an answer was returned, to the 

 effect, that "search having been 

 made in the books of the Univer- 

 sity, they could not find one instance 

 of the degree of doctor having been 

 ever conferred upon a horse, al- 

 though, in the instance of one Dr. 

 Pitcairne, it appeared that the de- 

 gree had once been conferred on an 

 ass." 



DRS. BARTON AND NASH. 



Dr. Barton was in company with 

 Dr. Nash, just as he was going to 

 publish his work on the antiquities 

 of Worcestershire. " I fear," said 

 Dr. Barton, " there will be a great 

 many inaccuracies in your books 

 when they come out." "How are 

 errors to be avoided?" said Dr. Nash. 

 "Very easily," said Dr. Barton. 

 " Are you not a justice of peace ?" 

 "I am," said Dr. Nash. "Why, 

 then," replied the old warden, "you 

 have nothing to do but to send 

 your books to the home of correc- 

 tion: 1 



COBBETT'S EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 



Perhaps, in Cobbett's voluminous 

 writings, there is nothing so fine as 

 the following picture of his boyish 

 scenes and recollections. It has 

 been well compared to the most 

 simple and touching passages in 

 Richardson's Pamela: 



"After living within a hundred 

 yards of Westminster Hall, and the 

 Abbey Church, and the bridge, and 

 looking from my own window into 

 St. James's Park, all other buildings 

 and spots appeared mean and insig- 

 nificant. I went to-day to see the 

 house I formerly occupied. How 

 small! It is always thus : the words 

 large and small arc carried about 

 with us in our minds, and we forget 



