Epitaph in Wycombe Churchyard, 1688.
Here lies one whose rest
Gives me a restless life,
Because I've lost a good
And virtuous wyfe.
General Generalissimo.—Bayle tells us of a General of the Jesuits at Rome, once exulting of his greatness and his order—who thus expressed himself to a friend:—"I will tell you, in this very chamber, I govern Rome—what am I talking about? Rome! I govern all Italy—what do I say? Italy! I govern Europe itself; and not Europe alone, but the whole world." P.T.W.
Classic Felony.—Sir John Hayward, was imprisoned by order of Queen Elizabeth, on account of some things advanced in his Life and Reign of Henry IV. She applied to Bacon to see if he could discover any passages that were treasonable, but his reply was, that "for treason he found none, but for felony, very many," which he explained by saying, that the author had stolen many sentences from Tacitus, and translated them into English. P.T.W.
A Likeness.—One of our old travellers on the continent, tells the following anecdote of a capuchin preacher: The friar observed, that whenever he held forth to his congregation, a certain man never failed to burst into tears, and continue weeping during the sermon. Supposing he had touched the man's soul by the eloquence of his oratory, the friar, with much self-satisfaction, one day ventured to inquire why he wept. "Ah, father!" said the peasant, "I never see you but I think of a venerable goat, which I lost at Easter! We were bred up together in the same family; he was the very picture of your reverence; one would swear you were brothers. Poor Baudoim! He died of a fall—God rest his soul! I would willingly pay for a couple of masses to pray him out of purgatory." W.G.C.
The Peerage.—The following is the number in each grade of the English peerage:—Dukes, 25; Marquesses, 34; Earls, 142; Viscounts, 22; Barons, 125; Countess, 1; Viscountess, 1; and Baronesses, 4.