600 Extracts Jrom the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. [Jan. 4, 
the portrait, in order to protect it from 
similar accidents. It is as large as life, 
and is supposed to be the best likeness 
ef Voltaire extant. Under it were in- 
scribed the following verses:— 
Mon oeil le reconnoit, c’est lui-méme, c'est 
lui 
Qui de Ja vérité fot le plus ferme appui : 
© toi qui dans ces licux viens mettre pied a 
terre, : 
Trop heureux, ne pars pas sans contempler 
Voltaire ! 
LA ENSRNADA. 
La Ensenada was of low birth, and 
elerk to a banker of Cadiz; but he pos- 
sessed talents which were far superior to 
his station, aud soon raised him from ob- 
scurity.. He advanced by degrees; be- 
eame intendant of the army; and was 
at length promoted to the post of prime- 
minister, 1m which he appeared with all 
the splendour of a man who is the arti- 
freer of his own fortune. The king con- 
ferred on him the title of Marquis, and 
the name of La Ensenada, which he as- 
sumed, and which corresponds with the 
expression of sprung from nothing, proves 
how little he sacrificed to vanity, and 
how far his ambition: was from the ordi-. 
nary kind. His real name was Zeno 
Somo de Silva. Many Spaniards have 
assumed appellations in memory of 
events, upon which they prided them- 
selves. Thus, for instance, Orendyn, 
a native of Biscay, took the name of Las 
Pas, because he signed the treaty be- 
tween the emperor and Spain, in 1725 ; 
and Transport Real, because he accom- 
panied the infant to Italy. Navarro, 
after the naval engagement off Toulon, in 
4744, assumed the name of Victoria, 
wreugh he had concealed himself below 
uring the whole action, which was coa- 
dueted by Decourt. La Ensenada, and 
Farinelli the singer, had been ac- 
quainted at @ time when they could 
be of no advantage to each other. 
When they again met at court, the one 
as minister, and the other as favourite, 
they renewed their ancient friendship; 
and Farinelli proved the sincerity of his 
attachment to La Ensenada, when the 
Jatter fell into disgrace. He showed his 
resentment to the queen, because she had 
not opposed it ; demanded his dismisston ; 
and the princess was obliged to have re- 
course to the most humilating excuses in 
order to appease him. 
M. VON HALLER. 
M. von Haller, a son of the celebrated 
physician of that name, was au officer in 
the Swiss regiment in the service of 
France. He was a man of great eccen- 
tricity and extraordinary genius. Witls 
the rarest gifts of nature he united ex- 
tensive acguirements, and, with the great~ 
est frankness of disposition, the most fas- 
cinating vivacity, the most singular ca- 
prices, and inflexible obstinacy. His 
father having taken him to task in a 
way that he did not like, and wishing 
to controul him in manhood, as he - 
had done in infancy, the son returned 
him every farthing that hé had laid out 
on his account, including even the ex- 
penses of the midwife and the christen- 
ing; and he would never afterwards eat 
at his table without paying for bis repast. 
M. von Haller generally travelled on 
foot, and always proceeded straight for- 
ward. Ifa river intersectéd his route, 
he swam across, and if he came to 2 
mountain he climbed over it. His whole 
baggage imsuch journies consisted of a 
couple of shirts, He was likewise 2 
great adept, and very fortunate at play. 
He fell, in the year 1781, in ‘a duel with 
M. von Erlach, occasioned by a dispute 
respecting a post at Bern, which both of) 
them solicited. 
FATHER D'ARRUIS. 
Father d’Arruis, the Jesuit, speaking 
of Bourdaloue, observed: When fa- 
ther Bourdaloue preached at Rouen, the 
trades-people left their shops ; the mer- 
chants their counting-houses; the laws 
yers the courts of justice ; and the phy- 
sicians their patients: but when £ 
preached the following year, I set every 
thing to rights again: not a ereature 
quitted his business.” 
THEOPHILE. . 
The French poet, Vheophile, who lived 
in the seventeenth century, was urgently 
requested, bya lady, to write a compa- 
rison, in verse, between her and the sun, 
Vexed with her importunities, he, at 
length, sent her the following stanza : 
Que me veule donc cette importune 
Que je la cémpzre au soleil? 
Tl est commun, elie est commune, 
Voila ce qwils ont de pareil. . 
ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO. 
> Andrea del Castagno, an Italian’ 
painter, being inflamed with jealousy of 
the talents of Dominichino, his most inti# 
mate friend, way-laid him one night in & 
corner’ at Florence, and assassinated 
him. The wounded Dominichino directed 
those by whom he was found, to convey 
bim to his friend Castagno, and died in’ 
his arms ! 
ORIGINAL 
