Anecdote of the late Duches of K-ngs-n.

When that lady was Miss Ch-d-h, she obtained for her mother, from his late Majesty, a suite of chambers, at Hampton Court. The king, meeting her soon after at the levee, asked her how her mother liked her new apartments?" Perfectly well, sire, in point of air and situation, if the poor woman had but a bed to lie on, and a few chairs to put in them." "O then, (says the King) let her have them by all means," and immediately gave orders for furnishing her bed-chamber. When the bill for the furniture was brought into the proper officer of the household, he found this bed and a few chairs, amounted to the sum of four thousand pounds, which he refused payment of, till he shewed it to the King.

His Majesty, immediately saw how he was taken in; but it was too late to retract; he accordingly gave orders for the payment,

observing at the same time, that if Mrs. Ch-d-h, found the bed as hard as he did, she would not be so ready to lie down on it.

ANECDOTE.

In the new church at Amsterdam, there is a very ancient funeral monument of white marble, on which are engraved a pair of slippers, of a very singular kind; with this inscription (Effen Nyt) which means exactly, and the story of this singularity is this: A man who was very rich, but who was a bon-vivant, took it into his head that he was to live a certain number of years, and no longer; under the impression of this idea, he calculated, that if he spent so much a year, his estate and his life would expire together; it accidently happened, that he was not mistaken in either of his calculations; he died precisely at that time which he had presented to himself in fancy, and had than brought his fortune to such a predicament, that after

the paying of his debts, he had nothing left but a pair of slippers; his relations buried him in a creditable manner, and had the slippers carved on his tomb. with the above laconic device.

Singular Instance of Princely Magnanimity.

When Queen Maria Theresa, Mother of the Emperor, was obliged to throw herself into the arms of those Hungarians for protection, who had been treated with such severity by her father and ancestors; she appeared before the states, holding her child the present Emperor in her arms, and addressing them in elegant latin, said, "Abandoned by my friends, persecuted by my enemies, and attacked by my nearest relations, I have no other resource but in your fidelity, in your valour, and in my own resolution. I therefore, deliver into your hands, the daughter and son of your

King, who place their safety in you. The whole English nation at that time, became animated in her favour, and Sarah Duchess Dowager of Marlborough, set a subscription on foot in England, and raised a hundred thousand pounds for the unfortunate Queen, who, however, in the midst of her distress, refused it : "I cannot accept of any money, said she, from England, but what may be given by the nation assembled in parliament."

ANECDOTE.

The late Admiral Holbourn was not more distinguished as a brave and skilful commander, than for the severity of his discipline, the roughness of his manners, and the peculiarity of his temper, which the following anecdote will illustrate :

On being appointed, in the late war, to the fleet stationed at Portsmouth; when he went down to attend his post, for the first

time, the youngest lieutenant on board the Royal Anne (the ship on which he was to hoist his flag) was appointed his day-officer, to receive his orders every morning. The lieutenant having never seen the admiral, was going the first morning to attend him on shore, and in his way met him, dressed in an old brown coat, shabby hat, without a cockade, or any ensign of his rank or profession. The admiral accosted him with, "Where the devil are you going?" The young officer, eyeing him over, thought a contemptuous look

cient reply, and walked on.

was a suffi"Hark you,

Sir," said the admiral, "what business are you going about!" Nettled at a repetition of such apparently insolent impertinence, the lieutenant returned, brandished his cane over the admiral's head, and swore that nothing but his age and contemptible appearance saved him from the chastisement his insolence deserved; and that if he ever presumed to accost him in the same manner, he would consider neither.