[Sidenote: On the Choice of a Wife.] Enough of beauty to secure affection, Enough of sprightliness to shun dejection, Of modest diffidence to claim protection; A docile mind subservient to correction, Yet stored with sense, with reason, and reflection, And every passion held in due subjection; Just faults enough to keep her from perfection. When such I find, I’ll make her my election. ❦ [Sidenote: Henry IV.] On the night of the twentieth of January, 1608, the historian Pierre Mathieu relates, that he was present at the levee of Henry IV. of France, when that monarch said, that such had been the intense frost on that night, “his whiskers had been frozen when in bed by the side of the queen.” ❦ The following Latin prayer was composed by Mary, Queen of Scots, and repeated by her immediately before her execution. “O Domine Deus, speravi in te; O care Jesu, nunc libera me; In durâ catenâ, in miserâ pœnâ, desidero te. Languendo, gemendo, et genuflectendo, A pœnâ desidero te; Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me.” ❦ In the year 1429, the same year Margaret of Anjou was born, Jargeau was taken by the Maid of Orleans. The Duke of Suffolk was the governor of the town, and when great part of the garrison was slain, being hard pressed to surrender by William Renaud, the following colloquy passed between them in the breach: “Are you a gentleman?” demanded Suffolk, finding it impossible to escape. “I am,” replied Renaud. “But are you a knight?” rejoined the Earl. “I am not,” answered Renaud. “Kneel down, then,” said Suffolk, “that I may make you one, for I cannot otherwise yield to you.” This was accordingly done, and affords a rich characteristic of the age of chivalry. ❦ _To the Memory of the gallant Sir Thomas Picton._ “My arm a nobler victory never gained.” Weep for the brave! yet wherefore weep? On honour’s bed he laid him down, Distinguish’d ’mid the mighty heap, Encircled with the hero’s crown. Weep for the brave! the tear shall tell Beyond the sculptor’s proudest art; Though Picton, gallant Picton fell, He lives enshrin’d in England’s heart. ❦ [Sidenote: True Magnanimity.] Hath any wronged thee? be bravely revenged: slight it, and the work is begun; forgive it, and ’tis finished. He is below himself, that is not above an injury. Was it not Plato who said, that when an injurious speech was offered to him, he placed himself so high that it could not reach him? ❦ _On a Music Master who after gaining Credit of many, ran away in every one’s Debt._