THE Duchess of Klingston desired to be admitted to the court circle at Berlin. She requested the Russian minister to take occasion to assure the king of her high esteem, and to tell him that she had been heard to say her fortune was in Rome, her fleet at Venice, and her heart in Berlin. When the king heard this he quickly responded with, “My compliments to the Duchess, and tell her I greatly fear she has favoured us with the least of her possessions.” A GREAT gentleman said to his servant in a moment of caprice, “Tell me, John, supposing the devil should come to get one of us, which one do you think he would take?” “He’d take me, without a doubt, your honour.” “Why so, you absurd fellow?” “Because he has some chance of losing me, but he is quite sure of you,” was the reply. A WITTY king, in travelling through his lands, passed a small provincial town in which great honour was shown him by the magistrate and burgomaster, the latter greeting the monarch in a solemn address. The most conspicuous thing about the portly little man was the well-rounded expansion of his spotless white vest. The day was very cold, and the speech was interminable. Suddenly the king interrupted the speaker, and, as if concerned about his health, pointing to the snowy vest, he graciously remarked, “My dear sir, I fear your _Mont Blanc_ will catch cold!” THE presence of a university makes the country stupid for miles about.--_Börne._ WITH them (the troubadours) it is always the winter that goes and the spring that comes, and the _ennui_ that remains.--_Schiller._ IF called upon to choose between the pangs of conscience and the pangs of toothache I should unhesitatingly choose the former. IN other countries when a citizen becomes dissatisfied with his government he emigrates, in France he requests the government to emigrate.--_Heine._ _THE EARLY DAYS OF A GENIUS._ THE ancients considered it as a piece of rare good fortune if the gods permitted a person to be born in a celebrated town. As, however, this good fortune has not befallen some very celebrated men, since Bethlehem, Eisleben, Stratford, Kamenz, and Marbach were not originally brilliant points in the thoughts of men, I trust Hans Unwirrsch was not put out by the fact of first seeing the light of day in a small town called Neustadt. There are not a few towns and boroughs bearing the same name; but they have never quarrelled over the honour of counting our hero among their citizens. Johannes Jakob Nikolaus Unwirrsch did not make his birthplace any more celebrated in the world.