Cardinal de Bernis said that Count Alfieri was very prodigal of reflections, but very covetous of words.
The Chevalier du Theil remarked to us, in speaking of a Minister who was giving fêtes on some public occasion, “On s’ennuie à les préparer, on se ruine à les faire, on est critiqué quand on les a faites.”
The expense of Monseigneur de Bernis’ bishopric, including expedition of bulls, presents, &c., amounted to about 480 Roman crowns. The Pope would not take the price of the bulls, as he was entitled to do.
The King of Prussia called the Emperor Joseph II. the Quixote of the North.
The Marquis Castiglioni, as he was going to Naples, scolded his wife because the cook’s carriage had broken down, which, he said, was owing to her not having gone to mass in the morning before they set out. He afterwards said it was the fault of the “femme de chambre,” whom he abused dreadfully, but a few hours after desired the Marchioness to give her two sequins.
A Jew of Pisa being very ill, ordered two Jew attendants to call in a curate to baptise him, for that his conscience would not allow him to die in peace without he became a Christian. He said he heard them in the next room agree that they had better kill him than let him change his religion. Upon that he desired so earnestly to be baptised, that an angel, dressed in white, came down and christened him; and from that moment he grew better. On his recovery he informed the Archbishop of Pisa of the miracle, and the Archbishop wrote to Rome to know if the man ought to be christened a second time. A Congregation was accordingly appointed, at the head of which was the Vicegerent, Monseigneur Contesini, and the Bishop of Carpentras went to Cardinal de Bernis, to inquire if he thought that baptism by an angel was canonical. The Cardinal replied, as gravely as he could, that perhaps it would be better to rechristen the Jew, _conditionally_; and that as he had never heard of any one being baptised by an angel, he could not say whether it was canonical. He then asked them if they were certain that the angel had really appeared; and they answered that there could be no doubt about it, for the man had told it himself.
The Duke de Chartres built some houses round the gardens of the Palais Royal, with shops under them, in order to get money by letting them. He was talking to the King of the beauty of one of his gardens, describing the summer-houses, canals, &c.: “Y a-t-il des boutiques aussi?” asked his Majesty. The people were so enraged at seeing the trees cut down and the beauty of the gardens spoiled to build these houses, that they hissed the Duke as he passed, and to escape the populace he ran through a coffee-house and got away. Some one remarking his blue ribbon, called out, “Est-ce la première fois qu’on a vu fuir le _Saint-Esprit_?” that being the name of the ship he commanded in the engagement with Admiral Keppel. A caricature was printed of a man picking up rags in the dirt, and beneath it was written, “M. le Duc de Chartres, qui cherche des loques à terre” (locataires). One day, while talking to a lady, he described a friend of hers by various ill-natured signs, to which she replied, “Je vois bien, Monseigneur, que vous vous entendez mieux aux signalements qu’aux signaux.”