The Maréchale de Mirepoix was afflicted with a constant shaking of the head, and it was attributed to her use of tea, of which she took several cups daily; having accustomed herself to it in England, where her husband had been ambassador. At one time Tea and Coffee were considered as poisons, and it is stated, that in one of the northern countries they made trial of them three times a day on two criminals, whose lives were spared on condition of their undergoing this terrible ordeal. The result was, that the culprit who took the Tea lived to be seventy-nine, and the other, eighty.
French and English.
Comparative qualities in the characters of the French and English.
The French are beyond all manner of doubt the most good humoured people on the surface of the earth; if we understand at least, by the term good humour, those minor courtesies, those considerate kindnesses, those cursory attentions, which, though they cost little to the giver, are not the less valuable to the receiver; which soften the asperities of life, and by their frequent occurrence, and the constant necessity in which we stand of them have an aggregate, if not an individual importance. The English perhaps, as nationally possessing the more solid virtues, may be the best friends and the most generous benefactors; but a friendship in this more exalted acceptation of it is rare, and beneficence almost miraculous; it is a serious question with me, which is the most useful being in society—the light, good-humoured Frenchman, or the slow, meditating Englishman?
Scandal.
Believe not each aspersing word,
As most weak persons do;
But still believe that story false