Fruit at Naples.—­Mr. Spence saw in March grapes of several varieties, kept through the winter, not much shrivelled, and quite free from mouldiness.  Oranges in glorious profusion (chiefly from Sorrento, fifteen miles distant,) and so cheap as to allow the poorest of the poor to enjoy (what Dr. Johnson complained he had never had of peaches but once) their fill of them, and that daily.  The middle-sized ones (which are the best) sell at four for a grano, which is at the rate of ten for a penny English; and the poor get twice as many of those beginning to decay.

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

Ancient Starvation.—­Hume tells us “The Monks and Prior of St. Swithin threw themselves, one day, prostrate on the ground, and in the mire, before Henry II., complaining, with many tears and much doleful lamentation, that the Bishop of Winchester, who was also their Abbot, had cut off three dishes from their tables.  ‘How many has he left you?’ said the king, ‘Ten only’ replied the disconsolate monks.  ‘I, myself,’ exclaimed the king, ’never have more than three, and I enjoin your bishop to reduce you to the same number.’” P.T.W.

Ice Water.—­The Chinese rise at day-break, after a hard frost to gather ice, which they melt, and carefully bottle up as a remedy for fever in the hot months.

A French marquess having received several blows over his shoulders with a stick, which he never thought of resenting, a friend asked him how he could reconcile it with his honour, to suffer them to pass without notice.  “Poh,” said the marquess, “I never trouble myself with anything that passes behind my back.”

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.