HENRY GRATTAN.

[An Irish statesman and orator; born in Dublin, 1750; elected to the Irish Parliament, 1775, from which he received in 1780 the sum of £50,000 "for his great national services;" after opposing the Union, entered the Imperial Parliament, 1805; died May, 1820: of him Sir James Mackintosh said, "The purity of his life was the brightness of his glory."]

I sat by its cradle, I followed its hearse.

Of the rise of Irish independence in 1782, and its fall twenty years afterwards.

After an independent judiciary had been granted, he exclaimed in the Irish Parliament, "At length I address a new nation!"

He said of Dr. Lucas, who made a total failure in a speech in the Irish Parliament, "He rose without a friend, and sat down without an enemy."

He remarked, of the probable character of the Irish representatives in the British Parliament after the Union, "You have swept away our constitution, you have destroyed our parliament, but we will have our revenge. We will send into the ranks of your parliament a hundred of the greatest scoundrels of the kingdom."

When asked where he had heard something which was supposed to be a profound secret, he replied, "Where such secrets are kept, in the street."

His last words were, "I am perfectly resigned. I am surrounded by my family. I have served my country. I have reliance upon God, and I am not afraid of the Devil." He had previously given his son some advice which shows the influence of the times, "Be always ready with the pistol."

GREGORY I.

[Pope of Rome, commonly called "the Great; " born about 550; became prefect of Rome, 573; elected pope, 590, having previously induced his predecessor to send missionaries to England; was the author of several works; died 604.]

Non Angli, sed Angeli!

One day about the year 574, before he had reached the papal chair, passing through the market in Rome, Gregory was struck

by the beauty of a group of youth exposed for sale. When told that they were Angles (Angli) from the heathen island of Britain, "Verily angels " (angeli), he exclaimed: "how lamentable that the Prince of darkness should be the master of a country containing such a beautiful people! But of what province are they?" He was told that they were Deirians, from Deira, the land of wild deer, between the Tyne and the Humber. "De irâ!" said Gregory, "then they must be delivered from the wrath (de irâ) of God. And what is the name of their king?" -"Ella." "Then Alleluia shall be sung in their land.". FREEMAN: Old English History, 44.

Gregory then persuaded the Pope to send missionaries to England, of whom he should be one. As they rested on their journey, three days from Rome, a locust jumped on to the book he was reading. "Rightly is it called locust," he said, "because it seems to say to us, loco sta (locusta), — stay in your place; and as he spoke, couriers arrived, commanding him to return to Rome.

ANDRÉ GRÉTRY.

"

[A celebrated composer; born at Liège, 1741; after studying at Rome, settled in Paris, where his operas, especially "Richard Cœur de Lion" acquired great vogue; died 1813.]

Toujours Grétry.

Mme. de Rémusat, after mentioning Napoleon's inability to remember names, and the rude manner in which he asked them of persons he constantly met, relates an anecdote of Grétry, who was in the habit, as member of the Institute, of attending the emperor's Sunday receptions, where Napoleon, perfectly familiar with his face, put week after week his invariable question, "Well, what is your name?" until the composer, tired of giving the same answer, and perhaps piqued at the slight impression he had made, replied at last, impatiently, "Sire, always Grétry." The emperor had no difficulty in recollecting him thereafter. Memoirs, II. 10.

When Sedaine said of the failure of one of Grétry's operas, of which he had written the libretto, "The pear was not ripe," Grétry replied, "That did not prevent its falling" (Cela ne l'a

empêchée de tomber) (also to fail, of dramatic pieces); and Rousseau made a similar pun, but in an opposite sense, when Gluck complained that his opera of "Alceste" had failed (tombée): "Yes, but from heaven" (Oui, mais elle est tombée du ciel).

GUATEMOZIN.

[Son-in-law and successor of Montezuma II., emperor of Mexico; was the last prince of the Aztec line; forced to capitulate, after a brave defence of his capital against the Spaniards, was taken prisoner and tortured by order of 'Cortez, to compel him to reveal where his treasures were secreted; afterwards accused of inciting his subjects to rebellion, was put to death 1522.]

Am I, then, lying on a bed of roses?

When his companion, the cacique of Tacuba, who was put to torture with him, testified his anguish by his groans, Guatemozin coldly rebuked him by exclaiming, "And do you think I, then, am taking pleasure in my bath?" (¿ Estoi yo en algun deleite, ó baño?) - PRESCOTT: Conquest of Mexico, Bk. VII. chap. i.; he adds in a note, "The literal version is not so poetical as 'the bed of flowers,' into which this exclamation of Guatemozin is usually rendered."

Jugurtha, when thrown into the subterranean dungeon of the Mamertine Prison at Rome (104 B.C.), which was half full of water, exclaimed, "Hercules! How cold is this bath of yours!" -SALLUST: Jugurtha, chap. cxxii., note.

FRANÇOIS GUIZOT.

[French statesman and historian; born at Nîmes, Oct. 4, 1787; educated at Geneva; settled in Paris, 1825, and became the leader of the so-called Doctrinaires; councillor of state, 1817; lecturer on history at the Sorbonne; deputy, 1830; minister of the interior, of public instruction, and of foreign affairs, under Louis Philippe, until the revolution of 1848 drove him into retirement; died 1874.]

Your anger will not reach the level of my contempt!

In a speech defending his foreign policy in 1842, Guizot was answering the charge that he had subordinated the interests of France to the influence of England, when a scene occurred in the Chamber, and he was apostrophized in vehement language

by the members of the opposition. Looking down upon them from the tribune with his habitual coldness of manner, he remarked, when the storm had spent itself, "Vos colères n'atteindront pas à la hauteur de mon dédain!"

France marches at the head of civilization (La France marche à la tête de la civilisation).

An expression which has been developed from one of the opening sentences of Guizot's lectures on the Civilization of Europe: "I cannot but regard Frahce as the centre, as the focus, of the civilization of Europe. It would be going too far to say that she has always been, upon every occasion, in advance of other nations; but it must still be allowed, that, whenever France has set forward in the career of civilization, she has sprung forth with new vigor, and has soon come up with, or passed by, all her rivals."

...

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

[King of Sweden; born at Stockholm, Dec. 9, 1594; ascended the throne, 1610; gained Livonia and Riga after repelling an invasion by Poland and Russia; undertook the command of the Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, 1630; defeated Tilly at Leipsic and on the Lech, where Tilly was killed; met Wallenstein at Lützen, Nov. 16, 1632, and was mortally wounded early in the day, the Imperialists being, however, compelled to retreat.]

Praying hard is fighting hard.

To his soldiers. To his officers he said, "You may win salvation under my command, but hardly riches.”

Defending his attention to trifles, and his intercourse with his men, who without him, like boys in the schoolmaster's absence, would slacken their blows, he said, "Cities are not taken by sitting in tents."

Being found one day by his chaplain reading his Bible, he said: "The Devil is very near at hand to those who (like monarchs) are accountable to none but God for their actions."

His last words, to the Duke of Lauenburg, as a second ball struck him on the field of Lützen, were, "I have enough: save thyself, brother" (Ich habe genug: rette dich, Bruder). It may

be doubted whether, in the confusion and agony of the supreme moment, he said, as asserted, "I seal with my blood my religion and the liberties of Germany."

Never was prophecy less fulfilled than that of the Emperor Ferdinand II., who, when he heard that the Protestant monarch was advancing from the extreme north to oppose the Imperialists, declared, "This snow-king will go on melting as he comes south."

HADRIAN.

[Hadrianus Publius Ælius, Roman emperor; born in Rome, A.D. 76; won the favor of Trajan, whom he accompanied in his campaign against the Dacians, and on whose death he was proclaimed emperor, 117; spent most of his reign in journeys through the empire, building walls, as in Britain, and founding cities; died July, 138.]

Scrape on, gentlemen; but you will not scrape acquaintance with me.

To some soldiers in a bath, who were scraping themselves with a potsherd, in imitation of a man to whom the emperor had, the day before, given some money to buy a brush.

NATHAN HALE.

[An American patriot; born in Connecticut, 1755; graduated from Yale College; entered the army, 1775; sent by Washington to penetrate the enemy's lines in Long Island, and procure intelligence, September, 1776; was seized and executed as a spy.]

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my

country.

His last words.

"What pity is it

That we can die but once to save our country!"

ADDISON: Cato, IV. 4.

Napoleon said, "Can a few days of life equal the happiness of

dying for one's country?"

The last words of Major John André of the British

was

army, who hanged as a spy, Oct. 2, 1780, for having attempted to conduct secret negotiations with Benedict Arnold for the surrender