er
known was Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, who was born at
Bologna in 1774, created cardinal in 1838, and died at Rome
in 1849. The list of languages and dialects which he
acquired reached the astounding total of one hundred and
fourteen.

It would be interesting to know what system was pursued by
Cardinal Mezzofanti in the study of languages, but little
light is now obtainable on this subject.

The most famous linguists of antiquity were Mithridates,
King of Pontus, who is said to have been thoroughly
conversant with the languages of the twenty-five nations
over which his rule extended; and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt,
of whom Plutarch says that "she spoke most languages," and
that "there were but few of the foreign ambassadors to whom
she gave audience through an interpreter."

THE FLIGHT OF TIME CAUSES MANY ERRORS.

PAINTERS AND WRITERS MIX DATES.

Artists Have Portrayed Abraham Threatening
Isaac with a Blunderbuss, and
Romans Smoking Pipes.

Whether it be due to ignorance or careless impatience, it is true that
many of the greatest writers and painters have been guilty of the most
surprising anachronisms. Thus Shakespeare introduces cannon into the play
of "Hamlet," and in "Julius Caesar" reference is made to the striking of
the clock, though striking clocks were not invented until fourteen hundred
years after Caesar's death. Schiller, in his "Piccolomini," refers to
lightning-conductors--at least one hundred and fifty years before they
were invented. Instances might be added almost indefinitely.

The anachronisms of painters are more noticeable, as a rule, than those of
writers. In "The Fancies of Fact" is the following compilation of blunders
by artists:

Tintoretto, in a picture of the Children of Israel gathering
manna, has taken the precaution to arm them with the modern
invention of guns. Cigoli painted the aged Simeon at the
circumcision of the Infant Saviour; and, as aged men in
these days wear spectacles, the artist has shown his
sagacity by placing them on Simeon's nose.

In a picture by Verrio of Christ healing the sick, the
lookers-on are represented as standing with periwigs on
their heads. To match, or rather to exceed, this ludicrous
representation, Duerer has painted the expulsion of Adam and
Eve from the Garden of Eden by an angel in a dress
fashionably trimmed with flounces