kes love to Queen
Catherine in bad French; and of another in which that Queen takes a
lesson in English from her Waiting-woman, and where there are several
very gross double-entendres"--but, I hope, did not long dwell on
these....

VOLTAIRE. "'When I see an Englishman subtle and fond of lawsuits, I say,
"There is a Norman, who came in with William the Conqueror." When I
see a man good-natured and polite, "That is one who came with the
Plantagenets;" a brutal character, "That is a Dane:"--for your Nation,
Monsieur, as well as your Language, is a medley of many others.'

"After dinner, passing through a little Parlor where there was a head of
Locke, another of the Countess of Coventry, and several more, he took
me by the arm and stopped me: 'Do you know this Bust [bust of Sir
Isaac Newton]? It is the greatest genius that ever existed: if all the
geniuses of the Universe were assembled, he should lead the band.'

"It was of Newton, and of his own Works, that M. de Voltaire always
spoke with the greatest warmth." [Sherlock, LETTERS (London, 1802), i.
98-106.] (EXIT Sherlock, to jot down the above, and thence into Infinite
Space.)

GENERAL OR FIELDMARSHAL CONWAY, DIRECT FROM THE LONDON CIRCLES, ATTENDS
ONE OF FRIEDRICH'S REVIEWS (August-September, 1774).

Now that Friedrich's Military Department is got completely into trim
again, which he reckons to have been about 1770, his annual Reviews
are becoming very famous over Europe; and intelligent Officers of all
Countries are eager to be present, and instruct themselves there. The
Review is beautiful as a Spectacle; but that is in no sort the intention
of it. Rigorous business, as in the strictest of Universities examining
for Degrees, would be nearer the definition. Sometimes, when a new
manoeuvre or tactical invention of importance is to be tried by
experiment, you will find for many miles the environs of Potsdam, which
is usually the scene of such experiments, carefully shut in; sentries
on every road, no unfriendly eye admitted; the thing done as with closed
doors. Nor at any time can you attend without leave asked; though to
Foreign Officers, and persons that have really business there, there
appears to be liberality enough in granting it. The concourse of
military strangers seems to keep increasing every year, till Friedrich's
death. [Rodenbeck, iii. IN LOCIS.] French, more and more in quantity,
present themselves; multifarious German names; generally a few Engl