Note 324 — No. XXXVI.[305]

For instance, in the course of a political discussion Rewbell observed to the ex-bishop [Talleyrand], “that his understanding was as crooked as his legs”—“Vil Emigré, tu n’as pas le sens plus droit que les pieds”—and therewith threw an ink-stand at him. It whizzed along, as we have been informed, like the fragment of a rock from the hand of one of Ossian’s heroes; but the wily apostate shrunk beneath the table, and the weapon passed over him innocuous, and guiltless of his blood or brains.