SHOES

544 EXTRACTS FROM MR. GIBBON’S COMMON-PLACE BOOKS, &c.

1) Gesner, SHors.—The practice of nailing shoes to the hoofs of horses, &c. was

xicon ad

Beript. de Re unknown to the ancients; who occasronally tied them with strings 133," round the feet of those animals. (1)

AUGER GISLENII BusBEQUII OMNIA QUE EXTANT, Lugd. Batavorum, ex Officind Elzeveriané in 1633, in 12mo.

The Travels of Busbequius consist of four epistles, and contain the narrative of his two embassies from Ferdinand, king of the Romans, and afterwards emperor, to the Ottoman Porte. (November 1554— November 1562.) In the first, he describes his journey from Vienna to Amasia; the second includes the events and observations of a seven years’ residence, or rather imprisonment, at C. P. It was his duty and his amusement to study the characters of Soliman IT. and his ministers, the policy of the government, the discipline of the camp, and the virtues and vices of the most formidable enemies of Christendom. The tragic adventures of Mustapha and Bajazet.are told with the spirit and dignity of an historian. His ears, or those of his interpreters, were ‘always open to the reports of foreign countries, of Crim Tartary, Mingrelia, and Carthay. We are indebted to his curiosity for the first copy of the marbles of Ancyra, and the most ancient MS. of Dioscorides ; and he viewed, with the eyes of a naturalist, the numerous collection of animals that enlivened his solitude. Busbequius is my old and familiar acquaintance; a frequent companion in my post-chaise. ‘His latinity is eloquent, his manner is lively, his remarks are judicious.

° Hostonuys, friends to virtue?~-~

Yes,—with exceptions.