goes off, we must all go off together." The king laughed heartily at
the whimsical apology.


_The Duke of Wellington._

A certain noble lord, who was the duke's aide-de-camp, visited his
grace early on the morning of the battle of Salamanca, and perceiving
him lying on a very small camp bedstead, observed, "that his grace had
not room to turn himself;" who immediately, in his usual characteristic
manner, rejoined, "When you have lived as long and seen so much as
I have, you will know, that when a general thinks of turning _in_ his
bed, it is full time to turn _out_."


_Rubens._

An artist named Brendel, possessed with the folly of the "philosopher's
stone," proposed to Rubens to join him in the discovery of that
mystery. He replied, "Your application is too late; for these twenty
years past my pencils and pallet have revealed to me the secret about
which you are so anxious."


_Queen Elizabeth._

When the ambassador of Henry IV. of France was in England, the queen
asked him one birth-night, which was attended by a splendid assembly of
the court, how he liked her ladies. Knowing her majesty was not averse
to flattery, he made the following elegant reply: "It is hard, madam,