When Loveless married Lady Jenny,
Whose beauty was the ready penny;
“I chose her,” says he, “like old plate,
Not for the fashion, but the weight.”
* * * * *
* * * *
_ANECDOTES_
of
EMINENT PERSONS.
* * *
+Mesdemoiselles De Fernigs.+
These two young heroines were the daughters of a quarter-master of
cavalry, and by accompanying the French troops in their excursions at
the beginning of the war, attained a certain degree of attachment to
military exploits, and even an enthusiasm against the common enemy.
Unlike the “maid of Orleans,” they were dressed in female attire, and
pretended neither to prophecy nor revelation, but they headed the French
troops, in 1791, with the same boldness that the martial female alluded
to, was accustomed to do, two centuries before.
Dumourier, who never let slip any occasion of inspiring his army with
confidence, invited these ladies to the camp at Maulde, and made such a
flattering report to the Convention of their modesty, intrepidity, and
good conduct, that they received a house, and an adjoining piece of
land, as a present from the republic.
On the defection of this general, preferring gratitude to duty, and
personal attachment to the love of their country, they both took part
with him, and were out-lawed.
* * *
+Moreau+
Is a native of Morlaix, in the _ci-devant_ Bretanny, 29 miles distant
from Brest. When about 18 years of age, he was sent to Rennes, to study
the law; and he who might have proved but an indifferent _avocat_, has,
at the age of 33, acquired the character of a skilful commander.
He first distinguished himself in Holland, and then served with great
_éclat_ under Pichegru. The late brilliant passage across the Rhine,
without the loss of a single man, was achieved under his auspices. His
father is said to have perished during the tyranny of Robespierre; the
son is a zealous republican, and fights and conquers in that cause.
* * *
+The Abbe De Lille+,
Like the bards of old, is at once a poet and a musician: and, in
consequence of a rare union of both characters, he composed the
_Marsellois Hymn_, which, by connecting his name with the history of the
French Revolution, will render it immortal.
In addition to his other works, he has _meditated_ a poem on the
“Imagination,” for what is singular enough, this has never as yet been
committed to paper. The truth is, that the Abbé, relying on his
extraordinary memory, never copies out any of his verses, until they are
about to be printed.
He was arrested during the short-lived tyranny of Robespierre; and if he
had perished on that occasion, both the poem and the poet would have
been lost together.
* * * * *