Had I been present at the creation, I could have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.

Directed against the conceit of the court astronomers. Without that explanation, the remark has subjected Alfonso to the same charge.

Carlyle refers the saying to the Ptolemaic system, likewise in sarcasm, "It was a pity the Creator had not taken advice!"— Frederick the Great, II. 7. He finds no other utterance of the Castilian on record, but the following has been attributed to him: "To make a good marriage, the husband should be deaf, and the wife blind."

DUKE OF ALVA.

[Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, a celebrated Spanish general under Charles V. and Philip II., born 1508; defended Naples against the French and Papal armies, 1556-57; sent by Philip II. to quell the insurrection in the Low Countries, 1567, where he displayed great ability, but extreme rigor and cruelty; recalled 1573; invaded Portugal, and annexed it to Spain, 1580; died 1582.]

Better build them a golden bridge than offer a decisive battle.

To Charles V., who consulted him in regard to attacking the Turks; an illustration of his constitutional dislike of fighting when he could accomplish his purpose by strategy. Thus, when the Archbishop of Cologne urged him to attack the Dutch there, he replied, "The object of a general is not to fight, but to conquer he fights enough who obtains the victory." The expression, "to build a bridge for an enemy," is of frequent occurrence. Rabelais says, "Open unto your enemies all your gates and ways, and make to them a bridge of silver, rather than fail that you may get quit of them."- Gargantua, Book I. chap. 43. The Count de Patillan is quoted in the French Divers Propos Memorables des nobles et illustres Hommes de la Chrestienté as saying of war, "Make a bridge of gold for a flying enemy" (Quand ton ennemy voudra fuir, fais luy un pont d'or). Brantôme cites Louis XII., that "one should not spare a bridge of silver to chase his enemy;" and Cervantes substitutes silver for gold in the remark of the Count de Patillan. - Don Quixote, II. 58.

When asked by Charles V. about an eclipse of the sun during the battle of Mühlberg, 1546, Alva replied, “I had too much to do on earth to trouble myself with the heavens."

He preferred while in the Low Countries to capture one important heretic than many insignificant ones; saying, "Better a salmon's head than ten thousand frogs."

Having been called by Philip II. to account for treasures seized at Lisbon, 1581, Alva proudly made answer, "If the king asks me for an account, I will make him a statement of kingdoms preserved or conquered, of signal victories, of successful sieges, and of sixty years' service."

Voltaire states that Charles V. having asked who that man was, as Cortez, unable to obtain an audience of the emperor after his second expedition to Mexico, pushed through the crowd surrounding the royal carriage, the latter replied, "One who has given you more kingdoms than you had towns before." - Essai sur les Mœurs, chap. 147. Prescott finds no authority for what he calls "this most improbable story, which may have served Voltaire to point a moral."- Conquest of Mexico, VII. 5, note. There is no doubt, however, of the cold reception given to the suit of Cortez, who found in his old age that "the gratitude of a court has reference to the future much more than to the past."

ST. AMBROSE.

[One of the Latin fathers of the Church; born at Treves about 340 A.D.; governor of Liguria, 374; elected bishop of Milan, which office he filled with great ability; died 397.]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

The advice St. Ambrose gave St. Augustine in regard to conformity to local custom. The authority of the see of Milan almost equalled that of Rome, and each Christian society had its particular rule for the observance of rites and customs. “My mother," said St. Augustine, "having joined me at Milan, found that the church there did not fast on Saturdays, as at Rome, and was at a loss what to do. I consulted St. Ambrose of holy memory, who replied, 'When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday when I am at Milan I do not. Do the same.

Follow the

custom of the church where you are."" - Epistle to Januarius, II. 18.

Burton derives a custom from this advice, "When they are at Rome, they do as they see done." — Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III., IV., 2, 1. Jeremy Taylor gives it in verse:—

"Cum fueris Romæ, Romano vivito more;

Cum fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi."

Ductor Dubitantium, I. 1, 5.

Professor Lowell (" Among my Books ") calls Dante "extremely practical in the affairs of this life. He has made up his mind to take things as they come, and to do at Rome as the Romans do." He quotes this couplet:

"Ah, savage company! but in the church

With saints, and in the taverns with the gluttons!"

Inferno, XXII. 13.

Napoleon said, "A man who goes into a country must comply with the ceremonies in use there." — O'MEARA: Napoleon in Exile, 1817.

FISHER AMES.

[An American orator and statesman; born in Dedham, Mass., April 9, 1758; member of Congress, 1789-1796; elected president of Harvard College, but declined on account of ill health; died July 4, 1808.]

Sober, second thought.

In a speech on Biennial Elections, 1788, Mr. Ames said, "I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober, second thought of the people shall be law." Matthew Henry, in his "Exposition of Job," VI. 29, had already spoken of "their own second and sober thoughts," which Euripides pronounced the best among mortals. — Hippolytus, 438. Cicero, having said that any man might err, quotes a proverb that "second thoughts are apt to be best" (posteriores cogitationes, ut aiunt, sapientiores solent esse). — First Philippic. Talleyrand, however, paradoxically advises "never to act on first impulses, as they are always right;" which Robert Hall qualifies by saying that "in matters of conscience first thoughts are best, in matters of prudence the last."

ANAXAGORAS.

[A philosopher of the Ionian school, born 500 B.C.; came to Athens, where he was the friend of Pericles, who saved his life from a charge of impiety; banished from Athens, he retired to Lampsacus, where he died 428.]

Take it back: if he wished to keep the lamp alive, he should have administered the oil before.

When Pericles sent him money, hearing that he was dying of want. He had left Athens with the words, "It is not I who lose the Athenians, but the Athenians me."

Being asked what should be done to honor him after death, he replied, "Give the boys a holiday."

EARL OF ANGUS.

[Archibald Douglas, fifth earl, sometimes called the "Great Earl of Angus," lord chancellor of Scotland about the end of the fifteenth century; a powerful, ambitious, and lawless subject; died about 1527.]

Heed it not, I'll bell the cat.

To the Scotch nobles in 1482, who were conspiring against Cochran, Earl of Mar, favorite of James III. An allusion to the fable of the mice who wished to put a bell on the cat's neck to warn them of her approach: the plan was a good one, only no one was found willing to bell the cat.

PRINCE OF ANHALT-DESSAU.

[Leopold, called the "Old Dessauer," composer of the "Dessauer March;" a general in the Prussian service, born 1676; commanded the Prussian forces under Prince Eugene in Italy and Flanders, 17061712; accompanied Frederick the Great in his campaigns, and gained the victory of Kesseldorf, 1745; died 1747.]

O God, assist our side: at least, avoid assisting the enemy, and leave the result to me.

His prayer on entering battle, "reverently doffing his hat," says Carlyle, "before going in; prayer mythically true; mythi

cally, not otherwise."— Life of Frederick the Great, Book XV. chap. 14.

Somewhat similar was that of Lord Ashley, a royalist general, who had served under Gustavus Adolphus, and commanded the last remnant of the army of Charles I.: "God, thou knowest how much I have to do to-day: if I forget thee, do not forget me."

The "Old Dessauer" called Luther's hymn, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, "God Almighty's Grenadier March.” — Ibid., IV. 2.

ANTIGONUS I.

[Surnamed the "one-eyed," a general of Alexander the Great; born in Macedon about 382 B.C.; obtained after Alexander's death Lycia and other provinces; made himself master of a large portion of Asia, but was opposed by successive coalitions, by the last of which he was defeated and slain at Ipsus in Phrygia, 301.]

Thy words smell of the apron.

To Aristodemus, supposed to be a cook's son, who advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. - PLUTARCH: Apothegms. So Pytheas, the orator, said of the orations of Demosthenes, "They smell of the lamp," alluding to the underground cave to. which the orator retired for study, and which was lighted by a lamp. Demosthenes retorted sharply, "Yes, indeed; but your lamp and mine, my friend, are not conscious of the same labors." - Life of Demosthenes.

When urged to put a garrison into Athens, to keep the Greeks in subjection, Antigonus replied, "I have not a stronger garrison than the affections of my people."

He corrected a sycophant who told him that the will of kings was the rule of justice: "No: rather justice is the rule of the will of kings."

Coming up behind Antagoras the poet, who was boiling a conger-eel, the king asked, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" To which Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"- Apothegms.

When Thrasyllus the cynic begged a drachm of him, “That,”