livre iv

. chap. 3._

[808-1] Fournier asserts, on the written authority of Talleyrand's brother, that the only breviary used by the ex-bishop was "L'Improvisateur Français," a compilation of anecdotes and _bon-mots_, in twenty-one duo-decimo volumes. Whenever a good thing was wandering about in search of a parent, he adopted it; amongst others, "C'est le commencement de la fin."

See Shakespeare, page 59.

[808-2] De l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace-DANTON: _Speech in the Legislative Assembly, 1792._

See Spenser, page 28.

[808-3] This was the answer given in the roll-call of La Tour d'Auvergne's regiment after his death.

[808-4] See Canning, page 464.

[808-5] Les extrêmes se touchent.--MERCIER: _Tableaux de Paris_ (1782), _vol. iv. title of chap. 348._

[808-6] See Johnson, page 372.

[808-7] See Plutarch, page 726.

[808-8] The reply of Marshal MacMahon, in the trenches before the Malakoff, in the siege of Sebastopol, September, 1855, to the commander-in-chief, who had sent him word to beware of an explosion which might follow the retreat of the Russians.

[808-9] Dulaure (History of Paris, 1863, p. 387) asserts that Louis XIV. interrupted a judge who used the expression, "The king and the state," by saying, "I am the state."

[808-10] Said by General Pierre Bosquet of the charge of the Light Brigade at the battle of Balaklava.

[809-1] EURIPIDES: _Heracleidæ, 1002._

This may be traced to a response of the Delphic oracle given to Polycrates, as the best means of finding a treasure buried by Xerxes' general, Mardonius, on the field of Platæa. The oracle replied, Panta lithon kinei, "Turn every stone."--LEUTSCH AND SCHNEIDEWIN: _Corpus Paræmiographorum Græcorum, vol. i. p. 146._

[809-2] This phrase, "Laissez faire, laissez passer!" is attributed to Gournay, Minister of Commerce at Paris, 1751; also to Quesnay, the writer on political economy. It is quoted by Adam Smith in the "Wealth of Nations."

[809-3] Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes.--DIODORUS SICULUS: _i. 49, 3._

[809-4] According to the "Contemporary Review," February, 1854, this phrase formed the opening of an address composed in the name of Comte d'Artois by Count Beugnot, and published in the "Moniteur," April 12, 1814.

[809-5] General Sebastiani announced the fall of Warsaw in the Chamber of Deputies, Sept. 16, 1831: "Des lettres que je reçois de Pologne m'annoncent que la tranquillité règne à Varsovie."--DUMAS: _Mémoires, Second Series, vol. iv. chap. iii._

[809-6] See Ovid, page 707.

They were setting on Ossa upon Olympus, and upon Steep Ossa leavy Pelius.

CHAPMAN: _Homer's Odyssey, book xi . 426._

Heav'd on Olympus tott'ring Ossa stood; On Ossa Pelion nods with all his wood.

POPE: _Odyssey, book xi . 387._

Ossa on Olympus heave, on Ossa roll Pelion with all his woods; so scale the starry pole.

SOTHEBY: _Odyssey, book xi . 315._

To the Olympian summit they essay'd To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa's crown Branch-waving Pelion.

COWPER: _Odyssey, book xi . 379._

They on Olympus Ossa fain would roll; On Ossa Pelion's leaf-quivering hill.

WORSLEY: _Odyssey, book xi . 414._

To fling Ossa upon Olympus, and to pile Pelion with all its growth of leafy woods On Ossa.

BRYANT: _Odyssey,