ble to do this service, as he had no influence with
the Ministry of the day; but, he added, that he thought Dennis' case
not quite desperate, for, said his Grace, "I have taken no care to get
myself excepted in the articles of peace, and yet I cannot help thinking
that I have done the French almost as much damage as Mr. Dennis himself."
At another time, when Dennis was visiting at a gentleman's house on
the Sussex coast, and was walking on the beach, he saw a vessel, as he
imagined, sailing towards him. The self-important timidity of Dennis
saw in this incident a reason for the greatest alarm for himself, and
distrust of his friend. Supposing he was betrayed, he made the best
of his way to London, without even taking leave of his host, whom he
believed to have lent himself to a plot for delivering him up as a
captive to a French vessel sent on purpose to carry him off.

* * * * *

A COMPOSITION WITH CONSCIENCE.

Lully, the composer, being once thought mortally ill, his friends called
a confessor, who, finding the patient's state critical, and his mind
very ill at ease, told him that he could obtain absolution only one
way--by burning all that he had by him of a yet unpublished opera. The
remonstrance of his friends was in vain; Lully burnt the music, and the
confessor departed well pleased. The composer, however, recovered, and
told one of his visitors, a nobleman who was his patron, of the sacrifice
he had made to the demands of the confessor. "And so," cried the nobleman,
"you have burnt your opera, and are really such a blockhead as to
believe in the absurdities of a monk!" "Stop, my friend, stop," returned
Lully; "let me whisper in your ear: I knew very well what I was
about--_I have another copy._"

* * * * *

SALE, THE TRANSLATOR OF THE KORAN.

The learned Sale, who first gave to the world a genuine version of
the Koran, pursued his studies through a life of wants. This great
Orientalist, when he quitted his books to go abroad, too often wanted a
change of linen; and he frequently wandered the streets, in search of
some compassionate friend, who might supply him with the meal of the
day.

* * * * *

THE LATTER DAYS OF LOVELACE.

Sir Richard Lovelace, who in 1649 published the elegant collection
of amorous and other poems entitled _Lucasta_, was an amiable and
accomplished gentleman: by the men of his time