Advancing then to
the box of the municipality, he receives his reward from one of the
members, who is appointed as judge on the occasion, which consists of a
few dollars thrown into the arena. When the spectators are particularly
gratified by the performance, they also throw money into the ring.
* * * * *
THE ANECDOTE GALLERY.
ANECDOTES OF CELEBRATED AUTHORS, FRENCH AND ITALIAN.
Crebillon's manner of life was extremely singular. He slept little, and
lay very hard; he was always surrounded with about thirty cats and dogs;
and used to smoke tobacco, to keep his room sweet against their
exhalations. Being one day asked, in a large company, which of his works
he thought the best? "I don't know," answered he, "which is my best
production; but this (pointing to his son, who was present) is certainly
my worst." "It is," replied the son, with vivacity, "because no
Carthusian had a hand in it," alluding to the report that the best
passages in his father's tragedies had been written by a Carthusian
friar, who was his friend.
Molieres, the celebrated French priest and mathematician, was a very
irritable man, which led him frequently into passions, of which one was
the cause of his death in 1742.
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