Hang the thief on the cross was the ancient decree;
  But the cross on the thief now suspended we see.

The idea is of very ancient date, and equally well known in Italy and Spain; but I believe the Spanish verses given above are original.

The following was written upon a wealthy man who lived like a hermit, and was reported to be very averse to paying for anything.  He had, to the astonishment of everybody, given a grand entertainment the night before.  On his door appeared—­

  “El Marquis de C——­ Hace lo que debe
  Y debe por lo que hace.”

It is useless to try and carry this into Saxon.  In drawing it from the Spanish well, the bottom must come out of the translationary bucket.  The best version I can offer is—­

  “He gives a party, which he ought to do,
  But, doing that, he does his tradesmen too.”

I am aware my English version is tame and insipid, though, perhaps, not quite as much so as a translation I once met with of the sentence with which it was said Timoleon, Duc de Brissac, used to apostrophize himself before the looking-glass every morning.  The original runs thus:—­ “Timoleon, Duc de Brissac, Dieu t’a fait gentilhomme, le roi t’a fait duc, fais toi la barbe, pour faire quelque chose.”  The translation was charmingly ridiculous, and ran thus:—­“Timoleon, Duke of Brissac, Providence made you a gentleman; the king gave you a dukedom; shave yourself by way of doing something.”—­But I wander terribly.  Reader, you must excuse me.

I one day asked an intelligent friend, long resident in the island, whether any of the governors had ever done any good to the island, or whether they were all satisfied by filling their pockets with handsome bribes.  He told me that the first governor-general who had rendered real service to the people was Tacon.  On his arrival, the whole place was so infested with rogues and villains that neither property nor even life was secure after dusk.  Gambling, drunkenness, and vice of every kind rode rampant.  He gave all evil-doers one week’s warning, at the expiration of which all who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves were to be severely punished.  Long accustomed to idle threats, they treated his warning with utter indifference; but they soon found their mistake, to their cost.  Inflexible in purpose, iron-handed in rule, unswerving in justice, he treated nobles, clergy, and commoners alike, and, before the fortnight was concluded, twelve hundred were in banishment or in durance vile.  Their accomplices in guilt stood aghast at this new order of things, and, foreseeing their fate, either bolted, reformed, or fell victims to it, and Havana became as quiet and orderly as a church-parade.  Shops, stores, and houses sprung up in every direction.  A magnificent opera-house was built outside the town, on the Grand Paseo, and named after the governor-general; nothing can exceed the lightness, airiness, and taste of the interior.  I never saw its equal in any building of a similar nature, and it is in every respect most perfectly adapted to this lovely climate.