Curiosities of Literature, Vol. II | Page 6

have been raised to
extraordinary preferment by capricious monarchs for the sake of a jest.
Lewis XI. promoted a poor priest whom he found sleeping in the porch
of a church, that the proverb might be verified, that to lucky men good
fortune will come even when they are asleep! Our Henry VII. made a
viceroy of Ireland if not for the sake of, at least with a clench. When the
king was told that all Ireland could not rule the Earl of Kildare, he said,
then shall this earl rule all Ireland.
It is recorded of Henry VIII. that he raised a servant to a considerable
dignity because he had taken care to have a roasted boar prepared for
him, when his majesty happened to be in the humour of feasting on one!
and the title of Sugar-loaf-court, in Leadenhall-street, was probably
derived from another piece of munificence of this monarch: the widow
of a Mr. Cornwallis was rewarded by the gift of a dissolved priory there
situated, for some fine puddings with which she had presented his
majesty!
When Cardinal de Monte was elected pope, before he left the conclave,
he bestowed a cardinal's hat upon a servant, whose chief merit
consisted in the daily attentions he paid to his holiness's monkey!
Louis Barbier owed all his good fortune to the familiar knowledge he
had of Rabelais. He knew his Rabelais by heart. This served to
introduce him to the Duke of Orleans, who took great pleasure in
reading that author. It was for this he gave him an abbey, and he was
gradually promoted till he became a cardinal.
George Villiers was suddenly raised from private station, and loaded
with wealth and honours by James the First, merely for his personal
beauty.[4] Almost all the favourites of James became so from their
handsomeness.[5]

M. de Chamillart, minister of France, owed his promotion merely to his
being the only man who could beat Louis XIV. at billiards. He retired
with a pension, after ruining the finances of his country.
The Duke of Luynes was originally a country lad, who insinuated
himself into the favour of Louis XIII. then young, by making bird-traps
(pies-grièches) to catch sparrows. It was little expected (says Voltaire)
that these puerile amusements were to be terminated by a most
sanguinary revolution. De Luynes, after causing his patron, the Marshal
D'Ancre, to be assassinated, and the queen-mother to be imprisoned,
raised himself to a title and the most tyrannical power.
Sir Walter Raleigh owed his promotion to an act of gallantry to Queen
Elizabeth, and Sir Christopher Hatton owed his preferment to his
dancing: Queen Elizabeth, observes Granger, with all her sagacity,
could not see the future lord chancellor in the fine dancer. The same
writer says, "Nothing could form a more curious collection of memoirs
than anecdotes of preferment." Could the secret history of great men be
traced, it would appear that merit is rarely the first step to advancement.
It would much oftener be found to be owing to superficial
qualifications, and even vices.

NOBILITY.
Francis the First was accustomed to say, that when the nobles of his
kingdom came to court, they were received by the world as so many
little kings; that the day after they were only beheld as so many princes;
but on the third day they were merely considered as so many gentlemen,
and were confounded among the crowd of courtiers.--It was supposed
that this was done with a political view of humbling the proud nobility;
and for this reason Henry IV. frequently said aloud, in the presence of
the princes of the blood, We are all gentlemen.
It is recorded of Philip the Third of Spain, that while he exacted the
most punctilious respect from the grandees, he saluted the peasants. He
would never be addressed but on the knees; for which he gave this

artful excuse, that as he was of low stature, every one would have
appeared too high for him. He showed himself rarely even to his
grandees, that he might the better support his haughtiness and repress
their pride. He also affected to speak to them by half words; and
reprimanded them if they did not guess the rest. In a word, he omitted
nothing that could mortify his nobility.

MODES OF SALUTATION, AND AMICABLE CEREMONIES,
OBSERVED IN VARIOUS NATIONS.
When men, writes the philosophical compiler of "L'Esprit des Usages
et des Coutumes," salute each other in an amicable manner, it signifies
little whether they move a particular part of the body, or practise a
particular ceremony. In these actions there must exist different customs.
Every nation imagines it employs the most reasonable ones; but all are
equally simple, and none are to be treated as ridiculous.
This infinite number of ceremonies may