ANECDOTES OF SOME DISTINGUISHED PERSONS, &c. &c. &c. HUGH CAPET, KING OF FRANCE. DANTE, in the Twentieth Canto of his "Purgatory," makes this Monarch fay, Figliuol fui d'un Beccaio di Parigi; Che la terra Chriftiana tutta aduggia, Si che buon frutto rado fe ne fchianta : I was the fon of a Butcher of Paris: I was "the root of the bad plant that has so over"fhaded all the Chriftian country, that it but "rarely produces good fruit." As this paffage of Dante," fays Pasquier, "was one day explaining to Francis the First, " by by Luigi Allemano, he was outrageous at the "falfity which it contained, and ordered that it "should be torn out of the book; and with great "indignation forbad the reading of it throughout "his kingdom. To excufe, however, the im"pertinence of the passage, Pasquier supposes that Dante, under the appellation of Butcher, "understood that of a great and valiant warrior ; in the fame manner,' ," adds he, " that the "famous Olivier Cliffon was called a butcher "by his countrymen, because he never spared the "life of any Englishman that fell into his hands; " and that the second Duke of Guife was called a "butcher by the Huguenots." Some authors have supposed that Dante was roughly treated by ́ Charles de Valois, King of France, a descendant of Capet, who came to Florence as the Legate of Pope Boniface the Eighth, to fettle the disorders of that city, and that he revenged himself upon him, in thus depreciating the stock of his race. The French writers appear to be uncertain for what reason the name of Capet was given to Hugh; fome fuppofing it took its rise from his having a large head; others alledging, that it was given to him, from the quantity or the quality of brains which his head contained. LOUIS İ. KING OF FRANCE, AND EMPEROR ; "THIS Prince," fays Montefquieu," the "fport of his paffions, and the dupe even of his "own virtues, neither knew his ftrength nor his "weakness. He was unable to make himself "either hated or beloved, and with no vice in his "heart, he had every poffible defect in his head." One of the firft fumptuary laws in France was made in his reign: it forbad both to ecclefiaftics and to foldiers the wearing of filk gowns and ornaments of gold and filver; to the firft, it forbad rings fet with precious ftones, belts and shoes enriched with gold or precious ftones, and harnesses and bridles emboffed with gold and filver. He was very angry with his foldiers who took anything of value with them into the field. Is it "not fufficient," faid he to them, "to expose your lives, without enriching your enemies with "the spoils they take from you, and enabling them ii to become rich at your expence ?" Louis had all the minute fcrupulofity of de votion. In his laft ficknefs he told his officers, that his difeafe was inflicted upon him, for not having kept the last Lent with fufficient ftrictness, "and now," added he, "you fee that I am obliged "to faft." "Those who had his confidence," fays Fauchet, abused it in the extreme, which happened," adds he, "pour s'occuper trop à lire et à pfalmodier, "car combien que ce foit chofe bienfeante à un Prince favant et devotieux, fi doit-il être plus en "action qu'en contemplation." LOUIS VI. SURNAMED LE GROS, KING OF FRANCE. IN the reign of this Prince, the Sovereign of France poffeffed merely a portion of the kingdom the reft of it was governed by the great vaffals of the Sovereign, who were tyrants within their own domains, and rebellious against their Prince. One of the nobles of Louis, on going out to fight with his vaffals against his Sovereign, faid feriously to his wife, "Countefs, do you give me the fword "that hangs up in my hall." On receiving the fword from the hands of his wife, he exclaimed, "He is a Count only who receives it from your " noble "noble hands, but he is a Sovereign who will "bring it back again to you covered with the "blood of his rival." In an engagement in which Louis was, a foldier of the enemy took hold of the bridle of his horfe, crying out, "The King is taken." "No, Sir," replied Louis, lifting up his battle-axe, with which he clave his head in two, “No, Sir, a King is "never taken, not even at Chefs." The laft words which he uttered to his fon before his death, were, “ Ne oubliez jamais, mon fils, que Pautarité Royale eft un fardeau, dont vous rendrez un compte très exact apres votre mort: "My fon, always bear in mind, that the royal "authority is a charge impofed upon you, of "which, after your death, you must render an exact account." Louis was called "le Gros---the Great," on account of his fize. Louis the Fourteenth was one day afking Boileau, whether there was any difference in the meaning of the epithets gros and grand." Is there none, Sire," replied the fatirift, ❝ between Louis le Gros and Louis le Grand ?" |