emoluments of
mortals; for I have also what is given to me, and what I steal. And
very good is Saint Sebastian, who, whatever division I make with
him, is always silent and contented.'

It is worth noting that this story and thousands which bore much more
severely on the priests, were current for centuries before the
Reformation. There were many anecdotes of this priest, all to his
discredit, many of which were attributed, at a later day, to other
unworthy monks. Among these, a very dull one is interesting, as
connecting him with Eberhard, 'our bearded prince,' already referred to.
Having begged of this truly noble man a benefice, Eberhard, who was
aware of his character, replied: 'If I had a thousand vacant, you should
not have the least of them.'--'_Si mille, inquit, mihi beneficia, ego
minimum tibi non conferrem._' To which Fysilinus impudently replied:
'And if I should hold divine service a thousand times, I would never
bear you in mind, nor pray once for your salvation.'

I have attempted in the foregoing remarks to set forth, or rather
illustrate, the manner in which modern jests have flown directly or
indirectly, from those of earlier generations; and have, in so doing,
called attention to a rare and curious class of humorous books, which
have been but little cited for more than two centuries. The principal
point which I would most gladly make clear, is the fact that in
literature and the history of culture, there are two classes of critics:
the ultra-modern and the ultra-conservative, both of whom are in the
wrong. The one cries that every flash of genius is new, and that an old
jest is an old abomination--the other vows that there is nothing new
under the sun, and that every good story is hidden away, in all its
excellence, somewhere in the storehouse of the past. Examination is,
however, like Pietro D'Abano, always a _Conciliator_. We find the
original _thema_ in the past, often reduced to the careless illustration
of some principle or characteristic common to all humanity; but when we
follow it down to the present, it becomes varied, improved, and enlarged
into whole groups and families of new anecdotes, poems, jests, or
proverbs; any single member of which is, perhaps, better than the
original.

The history of jests can, in turn, be made to furnish an extremely vivid
and curious history of the social conditions of men, and their changes
from the earliest ages--not to be surpassed in value b