NO CONNOISSEUR.
Lord Chesterfield happened to be at a rout in France, where Voltaire was one of the guests. Chesterfield seemed to be gazing about the brilliant circle of ladies, when Voltaire thus accosted him: “My lord, I know you are a judge; which are more beautiful, the English or French ladies?”—“Upon my word,” replied his lordship, with his usual presence of mind, “I am no connoisseur in paintings.”
THE UNCOURTLY MEDALIST.
“One day,” says the Duchess d’Orleans in her letters, “Mareschal de Villars came to see me. As he was esteemed a connoisseur in medals, and wished to examine my collection, I sent for Baudelot, a worthy man who takes care of them for me, and bade him show them to the mareschal. Baudelot is no courtier, is utterly ignorant of the tales of the day, and of consequence knows nothing of M. de Villars’ domestic uneasiness. He began with acquainting the mareschal that he had written a dissertation to prove a certain antique horned bust, was not meant for Jupiter Ammon, but for Pan. ‘Ah, sir,’ said he next, ‘this is one of our most curious coins. It is the triumph of Cornificius; he has all sorts of horns; he has the horns of Jove and of Faunus. Observe him, sir: he, like you, was a great general.’”——“I would fain,” says the duchess, “have turned the conversation, but Baudelot persisted in it, till all the company were forced to leave the room, that they might indulge their propensity to laugh; nor was it without difficulty that, after Villars was gone, I could convince my medalist of his impropriety in talking of horns before so celebrated a cuckold.”—European Magazine.
CONNOISSEURS.
To form a judgment of pictures, it seems reasonable, no doubt, that the connoisseur should be acquainted with the original subjects. Yet how many persons, who have scarcely seen more of nature than the Parks and Kensington Gardens, give their opinions of the beautiful landscapes of the Poussins and Claude, and venture their criticism on their faults! This fact brings to remembrance a story of a gentleman from the Heralds’ College, who was much disappointed on the view of the lions in the Tower, as he found them so very different from what he had used to delineate them,—rampant, couchant, etc., at the college.