"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other
men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
* * * * *
Whoever the following story may be fathered on, Sir John Hamilton was
certainly its parent. The duke of Rutland, at one of his levees, being
at a loss (as probably most kings, princes, and viceroys occasionally
are) for something to say to every person he was bound in etiquette to
notice, remarked to Sir John Hamilton that there was "a prospect of an
excellent crop:--the timely rain," observed the duke, "will bring every
thing above ground." "God forbid, your excellency!" exclaimed the
courtier. His excellency stared, whilst Sir John continued, sighing
heavily as he spoke:--"yes, God forbid! for I have got _three wives_
under it."--_Barrington's Sketches_.
* * * * *
It is a singular circumstance that Italia, or, as it is called in
English, Italy, has, under all the changes and revolutions to which it
has been subjected, always preserved its name. Every other country in
Europe is now known to its inhabitants by other names than were given to
it by their ancestors in the time of the Romans; but Italia continues to
be the name of the country at the present day, and we have no authentic
records by which we can ascertain that it ever bore any other.
* * * * *