CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA states that "the fame of Beaumarchais rests on his two operas, Le Barbier de Seville (1755) and Le Mariage de Figaro." Every one knows that Mozart composed the opera of Figaro (1786), and that Casti wrote the libretto. The opera of Le Barbier de Seville, or rather Il Barbiere di Siviglia, was composed by Rossini, in 1816. What Beaumarchais wrote was two comedies, one in four acts and the other in five acts.—Art. "Beaumarchais."
CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL. We are told, in a paper entitled "Coincidences," that Thursday has proved a fatal day with the Tudors, for on that day died Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. If this had been the case it would, indeed, have been startling; but what are the facts? Henry VIII. died on Friday, January 28, 1547, and Elizabeth died on Monday, March 24, 1603.—Rymer, Foedera, xv.
In the same paper we are told with equal inaccuracy that Saturday has been fatal to the present dynasty, "for William IV. and every one of the Georges died on a Saturday." What, however, says history proper? William IV. died on Tuesday, June 20, 1837; George I. died Wednesday.
June 11, 1727; George III. died Monday, January 29, 1820; George IV. died Sunday, June 26, 1830; and only George II. died on a Saturday, "the day [so] fatal to the present dynasty."
CHAUCER says: The throstle-cock sings so sweet a tone that Tubal himself, the first musican, could not equal it.—The Court of Love. Of course he means Jubal.
CIBBER (Colley), in his Love Makes a Man, i., makes Carlos the student say, "For the cure of herds [Virgil's] bucolicks are a master-piece; but when his art describes the commonwealth of bees ... I'm ravished." He means Georgics. The Bucolics are eclogues, and never touch upon either of these subjects. The diseases and cures of cattle are in Georgic iii., and the habits, etc., of bees, Georgic iv.
CID (The). When Alfonso succeeded his brother Sancho and banished the Cid, Rodrigo is made to say:
Prithee say where were these gallants
(Bold enough when far from blows)?
Where were they when I, unaided,