* * * *

DEVOTION TO SCIENCE.

M. Agassiz, the celebrated palaeontologist, is known to have relinquished
pursuits from which he might have been in the receipt of a considerable
income, and all for the sake of science. Dr. Buckland knew him, when
engaged in this arduous career, with the revenue of only 100_l._: and
of this he paid fifty pounds to artists for drawings, thirty pounds for
books, and lived himself on the remaining twenty pounds a year! Thus did
he raise himself to an elevated European rank; and, in his abode, _au
troisieme_, was the companion and friend of princes, ambassadors, and
men of the highest rank and talent of every country.

* * * * *

DISADVANTAGEOUS CORRECTION.

Lord North had little reason to congratulate himself when he ventured
on an interruption with Burke. In a debate on some economical question,
Burke was guilty of a false quantity--"_Magnum vect[)i]gal est
parsimonia._" "_Vect[=i]gal_," said the minister, in an audible
under-tone. "I thank the noble lord for his correction," resumed the
orator, "since it gives me the opportunity of repeating the inestimable
adage--"_Magnum vect[=i]gal est parsimonia._" (Parsimony is a great
revenue.)

* * * * *

PATRONAGE OF LITERATURE.

When Victor Hugo was an aspirant for the honours of the French Academy,
and called on M. Royer Collard to ask his vote, the sturdy veteran
professed entire ignorance of his name. "I am the author of _Notre Dame
de Paris_, _Les Derniers Jours d'un Condamne_, _Bug-Jargal_, _Marian
Delorme_, &c." "I never heard of any of them," said Collard. "Will you
do me the honour of accepting a copy of my works?" said Victor Hugo. "I
never read new books," was the cutting reply.

* * * * *

DR. JOHNSON'S WIGS.

Dr. Johnson's wigs were in general very shabby, and their fore-parts
were burned away by the near approach of the candle, which his
short-sightedness rendered necessary in reading. At Streatham, Mr.
Thrale's butler always had a wig ready; and as Johnson passed from the
drawing-room, when dinner was announced, the servant would remove the
ordinary wig, and replace it with the newer one; and this ludicrous
ceremony was performed every day.--_Croker._

* * * * *

SHERIDAN'S "PIZARRO."

Mr. Pitt was accustomed to relate very pleasantly an amusing anecdote
of a total