Grampian Club > Boswelliana

282 BOSWELLIANA.
" Boswell asked, ' Why have we not a neat phrase to express
our being eager to see, equivalent to " I pricked up my ears "
when eager to hear ? ' "
"When Sir Adam Fergusson* was at Dusseldorf he admired
much an organ in one of the churches, and wished greatly to
hear an English tune upon it. Barnard, (nephew to the great
Sir John, and) a merchant at Dunkirk, was there. He begged of
the organist to give him liberty to play the vespers, which he
agreed to. Barnard played the solemn music very gravely, but
by way of a voluntary he gave ' Ally Croaker.' He, however,
adorned it with several variations, so that the organist said,
'Monsieur, en que c'est un beau morceau.'"
Mr. Bernard.
At the court of Saxe-Gotha there were two ladies of honour,
Mesdemoiselles de Eickslepen, sisters, very pretty, but very
little. Boswell said to a baron of the court, ' Monsieur, il faut
les prendre comme des alouettes, par la demi-douzaine.' "
" When Poniatowskyt was made king of Poland, anno 1764,
many of the first nobles opposed his election, as they imagined
that he would follow the system of the King of Prussia, and
introduce arbitrary power. Le Comte de Sapia, grand Ecuyer de
la Lithuanie, quitted his country in discontent. He passed
some time at the court of Gotha. One of the courtiers there
said to him, ' Monsieur, vous qui aimez tant la liberte vous
devez aller en Angleterre.' * Dieu men garde ! ' cried he ;
' non ; il faut aller en Erance, pour apprendre nos nouveaux
devoirs.'" La Grande Maitresse de Gotha.
* Sir Adam Fergusson, Bart., of Kilkerran, LL.D., was elected M.P.
for Ayrshire in 1774 ; he afterwards sat for the city of Edinburgh.
He died 23rd September, 1813, at an advanced age.
f By the cabinets of St. Petersburg and Berlin Stanislas Ponia-
towski was presented to the Poles as their king in 1764 : owing to
the partition of his dominions he died broken-hearted at St. Peters-
burg in 1798.