They were parted with, and the inscription now stood, 'John Thompson sells hats.' '_Sells_ hats?' says his next friend; 'why nobody will expect you to give them away. What then is the use of that word?' It was stricken out, and '_hats_' followed it, the rather, as there was one painted on the board; so his inscription was reduced ultimately to 'John Thompson,' with the figure of a hat subjoined.' "The Doctor told me, at Paris, the following anecdote of the Abbé Raynal.--He had a party to dine with him one day, at Passy, of whom one half were Americans, the other half French; among the last was the Abbé. During the dinner he got on his favourite theory of the degeneracy of animals, and even of man, in America, and urged it with his usual eloquence. The Doctor at length noticing the accidental stature and position of his guests, at table, 'Come,' said he, 'M. l'Abbé, let us try this question by the fact before us. We are here one half Americans, and one half French; and it happens that the Americans have placed themselves on one side of the table, and our French friends are on the other. Let both parties rise, and we will see on which side nature has degenerated.' It happened that his American guests were Carmichael, Harmer, Humphreys, and others of the finest stature and form; while those of the other side were remarkably diminutive, and the Abbé himself, particularly, was a mere shrimp. He parried the appeal however, by a complimentary admission of exceptions, among which the Doctor himself was a conspicuous one." _An Act for the Appraisement of Estates taken in execution._