Examples like these will plead the cause of
struggling genius, wherever it may be found, more powerfully than
all the arguments in the world.--_Ibid._
* * * * *
DUELLING
Is the only crime into which an upright man, wanting in moral
firmness, can be impelled by the law of honour. Surely there could be
no difficulty in putting an end to this absurd and abominable practice
by wholesome laws. Appoint six months' imprisonment for the offence
of sending a challenge, or of accepting it; two years if the parties
meet; and if one falls, transport the other for life. Appoint the same
punishment in all cases for the seconds; and from the day in which such
a law should be enacted, not a pair of duelling pistols would ever again
be manufactured in this country, even for the Dublin market.--_Ibid._
* * * * *
CARDINAL MAZARIN.
The pecuniary wealth, the valuables and pictures of Mazarin, were
immense. He was fond of hoarding,--a passion that seized him when he
first found himself banished and destitute. His love of pictures was as
strong as his love of power--stronger, since it survived. A fatal malady
had seized on the cardinal, whilst engaged in the conferences of the
treaty, and worn by mental fatigue. He brought it home with him to the
Louvre. He consulted Guenaud, the great physician, who told him that he
had two months to live.
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