There
are many instances of apostles by Charles I. in Archbishop Laud's Diary
JAMES SILVESTER.
* * * * *
When Voltaire was at Berlin, he wrote this epigram on his patron and host
the king of Prussia:--
"King, author, philosopher, hero, musician,
Freemason, economist, bard, politician,
How had Europe rejoiced if a _Christian_ he'd been,
If a man, how he then had enraptured his queen."
For this effort of wit, Voltaire was paid with thirty lashes on his bare
back, administered by the king's sergeant-at-arms, and was compelled to
sign the following curious receipt for the same:--
"Received from the righthand of Conrad
Backoffner, thirty lashes on my bare
back, being in full for an epigram on
Frederick the Third, King of Prussia."
I say received by me, VOLTAIRE.
_Vive le Roi_!
* * * * *
The church at Gondhurst, in Kent, is a fine old building, and remarkable
for several reasons; one of which is, that thirty-nine different parishes
may be distinctly seen from it, and in clear weather the sea, off
Hastings, a distance of twenty-seven miles and a half.
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