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ANECDOTE GALLERY.

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Religious works do not usually unbend so pleasantly as in the following,
from the _Christian's Magazine_:--

_Joseph II. Emperor of Germany_.--In one of those excursions which this
emperor frequently took _incog_. he proceeded to Trieste. On his
arrival, he went into an inn, and asked if he could be accommodated with
a good room? He was told, that a German bishop had just engaged the
last; and that there were only two small rooms, without chimneys,
unoccupied. He desired a supper to be prepared. He was told there was
nothing left but some eggs and vegetables, the bishop and suite having
engaged all the poultry. The emperor requested that the bishop might be
asked if he would allow a stranger to sup with him. The bishop refused,
and the emperor supped with one of the bishop's almoners, who was not
admitted to his master's table. The emperor asked him what they were
going to do at Rome? "My lord," replied the almoner, "is going to
solicit a benefice of fifty thousand livres, before the emperor is
informed of its being vacant." They changed the conversation. The
emperor wrote a letter to the chancellor of Rome, and another to his
ambassador there. He made the almoner promise to deliver both letters,
agreeably to their address, on his arrival in Rome. He kept his