ON

GRATITUDE AND ATTACHMENT. 161

LOUIS THE SEVENTEENTH.

NE day the brutal Simon, in one of his fits of rage, rushed upon his victim, the unfortunate little Dauphin, and would have felled him to the ground, with a heavy iron bar that he had in his hand, but for the interference of M. Naudin, a surgeon, who was then attending the wife of Simon. The next time M. Naudin came to visit his patient, the Prince went up to him, and presenting him a pear which he had reserved from his homely supper, said to him, “I have nothing to give you but this pear, to prove my gratitude to you: accept it, pray you will make me so happy!"

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THE FIRST DAUPHIN.

HE First Dauphin, elder son of Louis the Sixteenth, while suffering under his last illness, showed great attachment to M. de Bourset, his valet de chambre. He asked him one day for a pair of scissars, but this gentleman represented to him, that he had been forbidden to let him have them. He entreated so much, that at length a pair was put into his hands. He then cut off a lock of his hair, which he

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folded very carefully in paper, and presenting it to M. de Bourset, said: "This is the only present I can make you, Sir, having nothing of my own; but when I am dead, you shall present this token to my papa and mamma; it will remind them of me, and then I hope they will remember you.'

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ALEXANDER, EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

HE attachment of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, for his preceptor La Harpe, was rather filial than that of a pupil; his greatest delight was in his society, and he would cling round his neck in the most affectionate embraces, by which frequently his clothes were covered with powder. "See, my dear Prince," La Harpe would say, "what a figure you have made yourself." "Oh, never mind it," Alexander replied, "no one will blame me for carrying away all I can from my dear preceptor."

HE following letter from HENRY, PRINCE OF

TWALES, then about twelve years old, to his

father, JAMES THE FIRST, proves the regard and gratitude he had for his master, MR. NEWTON; and his suit was successful with the King.

SIR,

YOUR Majesty commanded me to write to you, when any fit occasion were offered: and now hearing, that upon the death of the Archbishop of York, there are many suitors for preferment, I have taken the boldness to be a suitor also for my master. Not because I doubt that your Majesty is mindful of your promise made at Hampton-Court, that if he would stay so long as till the Archbishop were dead, he should have the Deanry of Durham, but to shew the desire I have, to do good to my master. I have learned, among other good lessons, this out of Pibrac:

"Tu ne scaurois d'assez ample salaire
Récompenser celui, qui t'a soigné
En ton Enfance; et qui t'a enseigné
A bien parler, et sur tout à bien faire."

And I know perfectly, that my master's hope these two years past hath rested altogether upon the expectation of this Deanry. And so hoping, that your Majesty will both accept of my humble suit and excuse my boldness, I kiss your Majesty's hands.

Your Majesty's most dutiful and obedient Son,

HENRY.

NOBLE and active minds are ever looking up:

they set high examples before them, and make all their efforts tend to reach the excellence of their model. Sloth and Folly only, rest in an indolent and silly self-satisfaction.

THE DAUPHIN, SON OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH.

HE book that first roused in the Dauphin, of

THE

whom I have before spoken, the desire to be able to read by himself, was the life of the amiable and promising little Duke of Burgundy, who died at the age of nine years, from the effects of a fall. He was of the same family as the Dauphin, equally well brought up, full of talent and good sense, and the beautiful traits recorded of this young prince were not only felt and understood by his little nephew, but he had him constantly before his eyes, as an object of imitation. He enquired where his portrait was, and a miniature picture of him was presented to him, very well painted, upon a Bonbonnière: he kissed it several times; then looking upon it with a sort of astonishment, he said very seriously: "How did my little uncle manage, to be so clever, and so good?"

THE Dauphin, once expressed a wish to see the shield of Scipio, which is in the Royal Library; and his preceptor asking him which he preferred, Scipio or Hannibal, he answered without hesitation, that he most admired him, who had defended his own country.