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Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 18 July 1891, Page 4

\ ANECDOTES OF ROYAL PERSONAGES. Louis XI., of France, wa9 so fearful of rleath that, as often as it came into his physician's head to threaten him with death, he put money into his hands to pacify him ; and his physician is said to have got 55,000 crowns from him in five months. CortSTANTrNE the Great, in order to reclaim a miser, took a lance, and marked out a space of ground of the size of the human body, and said to him, " Add heap to heap, accumulate riches upon riches, extend the bounds of your possessions, conquer the whole world, and in a few days such a spot as this will be all you will have." It is remembered as one of the liberal axioms of George 111. that " no British subject is by necessity excluded from the peerage." Consistently with this sentiment, he once checked a man of high rank, who lamented that a very good speaker in the court of Aldermen was of a mean trade, by. saying, " What signifies a man's trade ? A man of any honest trade may make himself respectable if he will." ' * ' '■ Henry IV., of Fiance; was standing one day with some of his courtiers at the entrance' of a village, i and a poor man passing by bowed down to the very ground ; and the king, with great condescension, returned his salutation just in the same manner. At this one of his attendants ventured to express his surprise, when the monarch' finely replied to him— -"Would you have your king exceeded in politeness by one. of the lowest of his subjects ?" Peter the Great made a law, in 1722, that if any nobleman beat or ill-treated his slaves, he should be looked upon as insane, and a guardian should be appointed to take care of his person and of his estate. Peter once struck his gardener, who, being a man of great sensibility, took to his bed, and, died in a few days. The Czar, hearing ot this, ' exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "Alas! I have civilized my own subjects ; I have conquered other nations : yet I have riot been able to civilise or tb conquer myself," ; ' •;. When Edward IV. declared war; against Louis XI. of France he addressed his Par- , li;uiient in an able speech, which concluded with ; the- following impressive words :— 1 " But Idetain you too long by my -speech frirn action.- I see the clouds of dire revenge gathered in your hearts, and the • )i.tl)t|iinK of fury break from your eyes, which bodes thunder against our enemy ; let us therefore lose no time, but suddenly find severely scourge this perjured. court, to a severe repentance; and regain honour to pur Diwiuij, and his kingdo-n to our cr<Mvn." Of.ivKK Millakd, a popular and energetic, pn-ncher of Use reign of U>uis XL, attacked : th« vices of the court in hissermons, and diil not spare even the king himself, who, taking offence at it, sent the priest word that if lie did not change his tone, he would have him thrown into the; Seine. "The king," replied Oliver, "is the master, to do what he pleases ; but tell him that I shall reach Paradise by water sooner than he will with his ppstfhorses." (The. establishment of travelling post was instituted by Louis XI.) The- bold answer; at once amused and. Intimidated the king, for he. let the priest continue to preach as he pleased, and what he pleased. „...'. When a,, prince of the blood royal, of France disgraced himself, by committing robbery and murder in the street of Paris, Louis XV. would not grant a pardon, though eagerly solid ted to do so by a deputation from (lie; Parliament of Paris, who tried him and suspended their sentence until the royal ' pleasure' should be known. ' ' My lords and , (jounsellorsi"'said the king, "return to your chamber of justice, and promulgate your decree." " Consider," said the first president, " that the unhappy prince has your majesty's blood in his veins." " Yes," said the king, " but the blood has become impure, and justice demands that it should be let out ; nor would I spare my own son for a crime, for which I. should be bound to condemn the meanest of my subjects." The prince was executed on the scaffold in the court of the Grand Chatelet on the 12th of Aug., 1729. One of the favourites of King Henry V., when Prince of Wales, having been indicted lor some misdemeanour, was condemned, nothwithstanding all the interest he could , make in his favour ; and the Prince was so incensed at the issue of the trial that he Buuek the judge on the bench. - This magistrate, whose name was Sir William Gascoign, cicted with a spirit becoming bis character. He instantly, ordered the Prince to be committed to prison ;and young Henry, sensible by this time of the insult he had offered to the laws of his country, suffered himself to be quietly conducted to gaol by the officers of justice. The king, Henry IV., who was an excellent judge of mankind, was no sooner informed of this transaction, than he cried out, in a .transport of joy, ".Happy is the king who has a magistrate possessed of courage to execute the laws, and still more happy in having a son who will submit to such chastisement."; , ' Philip the Third, of Spain, was gravely seated by a fireside, where the firemaker of his court had kindled so great a quantity of ;.vood that; the monarch was nearly suffocated with heat, and his grandeur would not suffer him" to r's i from the chair, and the, domestics could not presume to enter the apartment; because it was against the etiquette. At length the Marquis de Posa appeared, and the king ordered him to damp the fires ; but he excused ; himself, alleging that he was forbidden by the etiquette Jto perform such a function, for which the Duke d'Usseda ought to becalled upon, as it was his business. The Marquis departed, the fire burned with increasing fierceness, and the king endured it rather ;than derogate from his' dignity; but; his blood was heated to such a degree that an erysipelas of the head appeared next day, which, succeeded by a violent /ever, carried him off in 1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. A RELATIVE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF MEN. It is well that all persons should know what the normal weight of man really is. The following shows the relative height and i weight of individuals measuring 5 feet and j upwards : — 5 feet 1. inch 'should be 120 lb. ; . 5 feet' 2 inches should be 126 lb. ; 5 feet 3 inches should be 133 lb. ; 5 feet 4 inches j should be 136 lb. ; 5 feet 5 inches should be ; 142 lb. ; 5 feet 6 inches should be 145 lb. ; ; 5 feet 7 inches should be 148 lb. : 5 feet 8 inches should be 155 lb. ; 5 feet 9 inches should be 162 lb. ; 5 feet ro inches should be i r >9 lb. ; 5 feet 11 inches should be 174 lb. ; : 6 feet should be 178 lb. ■ - MEDICINAL VALUE OF LEMONS. To get the better of the bilious sj I without blue pills or quinine ta':e the juice of one, two, or three lemons, as appetite craves, in as much water as makes-it pleasant to drink without sugar, before going; to bed. In the morning, on rising, at least half-an-hour before breakfast, take the juice of one lemon in, a goblet of water. This will clear thesystem of humour and bile with efficiency, without any of the weakening effects of calomel. People should not irritate the stomach by eating lemons clear ; the power- ' ful acid of the juice, which is always most corrosive, invariably produces inflammation after a while, but properly diluted, so that it does not burn or draw the throat, it does its medical workwithont harm, and. whan ths stomach is clear of food, has abundr.nt opportunity to work over the system thoroughly.