is dying to listen to a
comedy in five acts."

Our collector has treasured up two or three tolerable anecdotes of that
artfullest of "dodgers," Talleyrand, which, though not new to every body
are likely to have a novelty for some, and there fore may bear quoting.

After the Pope had excommunicated him, he is reported to have written to a
friend, saying, "Come and comfort me; come and sup with me. Every body is
going to refuse me fire and water; we shall therefore have nothing this
evening but iced meats, and drink nothing but wine." When Louis XVIII., at
the restoration, praised Talleyrand for his talents and influence, the
latter modestly disclaimed the compliment, but added, with an arch
significance, "There is, however, some inexplicable thing about me which
prevents any government from prospering that attempts to set me aside."
The next is exquisitely _diplomatic_. A banker, anxious about the rise or
fall of stocks, came once to Talleyrand for information respecting the
truth of a rumor that George III. had suddenly died, when the statesman
replied, in a confidential tone, "I shall be delighted if the information
I have to give be of any use to you." The banker was enchanted at the
prospect of obtaining authentic intelligence from so high a source; and
Talleyrand, with a mysterious air continued, "Some say the King of England
is dead; others, that he is not dead; for my own part, I believe neither
the one nor the other. I tell you this in confidence, but do not commit
me." No better parody on modern diplomacy could easily be written.

A CURIOUS PAGE OF FAMILY HISTORY.

The Chambellans were an old Yorkshire family, which once had held a high
place among the landed gentry of the county. A knight of that family had
been a Crusader in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion; and now he lay, with
all his insignia about him, in the parish church, while others of his race
reposed in the same chancel, under monuments and brasses, which spoke of
their name and fame during their generation. In the lapse of time the
family had become impoverished, and gradually merged into the class of
yeomen, retaining only a remnant of the broad lands which had once
belonged to them. In 1744-5, the elder branch of the family, consisting of
the father, two sons, and a daughter, resided at what had once been the
mansion-house. It had been built originally in the reign of Stephen, and
was a curious specimen of different kinds of architect