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out the city. Nor was this all: the Cheva lier de Rhodes, Colonel of the Queen's regiment, was then at Milan, keeping carnival, as is the custom of many Piedmontese; and the grenadiers, sensible of the fault they had committed, in absenting themselves from their duty without permission, solicited the Archduke to intercede for them. Accordingly, in concert with the Colonel, he wrote to the King of Sardinia, who accorded them a free pardon, and the grenadiers returned to their regiment, covered with glory, and well provided with money.

205. CURIOUS ADVENTURE ATTRIBUTED TO À DEAD BODY.

Count Woronzow, the Russian ambassador to the Court of London, related to me, that in a province of Russia, a man being dead, was carried, as is customary, into the church the evening previous to the day of his interment. It is usual to place the corpse in an open coffin, and a priest, attended only by a boy of the choir, remains all night praying by the side of the dead body; and

on the following day, the friends of the deceased came to close up the coffin, and inter the body. On this occasion, after the evening service had been performed, every one retired from the church, and the priest, with the young chorister, withdrew to supper; but soon returned, and the former commenced the usual prayers. What was his astonishment when he beheld the dead body rise from the coffin, and advance towards him. Terrified in the extreme, the priest flew to the font, and conjuring the corpse to return to its proper station, showered holy water on him in abundance. But the obstinate and evil-minded corpse, disregarding the power of holy water, seized the unfortunate priest, threw him to the ground, and soon, by repeated blows, left him extended, without life, on the pave ment. Having committed this act of ba barity, he appeared to return quietly to coffin. On the following morning, persons who came to prepare for the f ral, found the priest murdered, and corpse as before in its coffin. could throw any light on this extraor

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event but the testimony of the boy, who had concealed himself on the first movement of the dead body, who persisted in declaring, that he saw from his hiding place the priest killed by the corpse. Conjectures, and endeavours to discover the truth, were alike vain, tormenting, and fruitless. Many resources were tried; for it was not every one that submitted themselves to the belief of a dead body rising to kill a priest, and then quietly resigning itself to the place of its consignment. Many years afterwards, a malefactor, condemned to death for various crimes, and brought to the torture, confessed that having (for some unknown reason) conceived an implacable hatred against the priest in question, he had formed the design of thus avenging himself. Having found means to remain in the church, he seized the moment of the priest's retiring to supper, withdrew the dead body from the coffin, and placed himself in its stead, in the shroud and other appurtenances. After executing the murder of the priest, he restored the corpse to its place, and got unperceived out of the church, when the

friends of the deceased came in the morning. to attend the funeral.

205. A RIDICULOUS DUEL.

Doctor Misauban, a French physician, who was remarkably tall and slight, happened to quarrel with Doctor Cheyne, an English physician, and the most corpulent man of his time. The dispute was carried to such an extreme, that it produced a challenge, and the place of rendezvous was in one of the fields at Mary-la-bonne. At the time appointed, the antagonists, with their seconds, appeared, and the latter measured out the ground. The adverse parties had taken their stations, when suddenly Doctor Cheyne exclaimed, "Hold; this is not fair play: I am so large, you cannot fail to hit me; and you so thin, one might as well take aim at a shadow. We ought to be more equalized."-" With all my heart," replied Misauban: "we have only to mark out, with lines of chalk, on your body, the size of mine, and all the hits I make on either side the lines shall go for nothing." Doctor Cheyne, not relish

ing this happy expedient, the seconds interposed, and it was decided to be best not to fight at all.

207. ANOTHER RIDICULOUS DUEL.

I knew a person at Paris, who aimed at uniting the two characters of a man of letters, and a man of fashion: in the morning he frequented the Procope Coffee-house, and in the evening the most brilliant assemblies. His name was Cadet de Senneville : he had a good figure, and very imposing air, particularly when he mounted his grey horse, admirably caparisoned, of which indeed he was not a little proud. Having one day disagreed with a literary man, who was a main pillar of the Procope Coffeehouse, Cadet de Senneville demanded satisfaction for the affront he supposed he had received, and desired to meet him at a certain hour the following morning, in the Bois de Boulogne. The man of letters, who had no disposition for fighting, requested all the company then in the coffeeroom to attend the proposed meeting, promising to divert them with a pleasant scene. i

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