Morning journal and courier., 1885-07-31
HLUsTRIOUS CRANKS.
Remarkable Tastes Exhibited by Great
 Men.

Remarkable Tastes Exhibited by Great
 [Frem the Alta California;
 The attachment which some men have formed for animals of various kinds is an amusing subject. When philosophers have had neither wife nor children they have taken to dogs, horses serpents, birds and even spi ders
 Goethe rarely passed day without bring ing out from the chimney corner live snake which he kept there, and he caressed it like bosom friend.
 Tiberius, Roman emperor, also made an intimate companion of serpent, which he trained to take food out of his hand.
 Augustus was exceedingly fond of par rot, but still more so of quail, the loss of which made him as sad as if he had lost a battle.
 Honorius, another Roman emperor, was so grieved at the loss of favorite hen named Roma that he would willingly have given Rome itself to bring it back; but Alaric had taken Rome.
 The Emperor Domitian occupied his leisure in catching flies.
 Louis K, when i'll in Plessis-le-Tours, only found pleasure in an exhibition of dancing pigs, oddly dressed up, which were trained for hir special entertainment.
 Richter was very fond of tame animals, which he constantly had about him-some times mouse, then great white cross spi- per, which he kept in paper box with a glass top There was little door beneath by which he could feed his prisoner with dead flies In the autumn he collected his winter food for his little tree-frog and HIS TAME SPIDER. "How I wish" he wrote once to his friend Otto, ''that you could have met me in the street or in the Harmony. Then you would have seen my little squirrel upon my shoul- der, who bites no longer" Next to his money, Rembrandt loved noth" ing so much as his monkey. He was one day painting @ picture of a noble family when the news was brought to him of his apes death. He could scarcely contain his ! grief and lamented his unhappy lot. Sob- ping and crying, he forthwith began delinea- ting the form of the ape upon the family picture. They rsmonstrated with him and ! prot tested that an ape was quite out of place l in the company of such distinguished per ' sonages. The family were most indignant \ and ordered him to eface the traces of the | animal But he continued to weep and went | on painting his ape. The head of the fami | ly demanded to know whether it was his DOT ! trait or that of a monkey which Rembrandt | was pretending to dehneate. ''It is the DOT ' trait of monkey" said Rembrandt. "Ther you may keep the picture.'' 'I think so, ! said the painter. And the picture still sur wives.
 ! Henry III of France was so foolishly font | of spaniels that he used to carry litter O | them in basket suspended round his necl ! when giving his audiences. His passion fo these animals cost him on the average no l less than one hundred thousand crowns \ year.
 Charles I of England was also very font of spanies, and the breed of his dogs is stil ! famous in this country. Frederick the Grea ! was also great dog fancier. The painter Rozzt formed friendships witl \ all sorts of animals, and he FILLED HIS HOUSE WITH SQUIRRELS, monkeys, Angora cats, dwarfs, asses, h ! goats and Elba ponies Besides these, h had an enormous raven, who gravely strod | about among the other animals as if he wer \ the exhibitor of this Noah's ark. Whe \ anyone knocked at the door the raven calle "Come in!" ill a loud voice.
 | Pelisson, confined in the bastile, made
 friend of spider, which he tanned. Tn
 iailer one day, seeing Pelisson take pleasur
 in contemplating the insect, crushed it unde ! his foot and left the prisoner distressed an ! melancholy at the loss of his friend. ! Latude, in the same prison, made compan
 ions of some six-and-twenty rats who inhab \ and they learned to come to him at his call He fed them, played with them and the l thus greatly relieved the ennui of his caI ! tivity.
 But Latude only made friends of rats fror ! necessity. The Marquis de Montespan, il ! perfect freedom of choice, had the extraordi | nary taste to amuse himself with mice whel occupying the gilded apartments of Yer ! sailles. True, the mice were white, and hat | been brought to him all the way from Sibe ! ria, but the taste was most odd one | nevertheless.
 | Cardinal Mazarn, the French minister
 employed his leisure in playing with a l ape, and Cardinal Richelieu amused him ! self with his collections of cats. ! The poet Alferi was proud of his horse
 and took great delight in fondling and cs
 ressing them.
 I Cowper was at no time happy a ! when feeding his tame hares.
 | There are other historic names associate ! with pet animals, among which may h ! named
 THE vULTURE OF sEMIRAMIs,
 the butterfly of Virgil, the sterling of Nero ! the ape of Ccmmodus, the sparrow of H' liogabolus, and the dove of Maholnet. Among the other relaxations of learne ! and great men may be mentioned Calvin game of throwing dice along table, wher' ! as Luther's great in ninepins. Whe he knocked down all the pins at a strol his delight knew no bounds. Boileau was very fond of the same gan . and when he prostrated the ninepins
 was better pleased than if he had compl . ted his best ode.
 Mossillon, the preacher, used to assemb Orotorians and Jesuits in his room and S l them to play at chess together, meanwhi
 exhorting them never to engage in any le l innocent warfare.
 Buffon's great delight was in gleanir
 the village gossip from the village barb during his morning toilet.
 Charlemagne's chief relaxation and plea 1 ure consisted in swimming in a bath, t
 gether with his sons, officers and other
 Charlemagne beat them all at swimming.
 Boyle, the philosophers great deligh l like Curran's, was to watch the exhibitis
 of puppet shows. The performance
 | Punchinello in gariably drew him into t
 street, and he did not mind standing in t
 1 midst of a shower of rain to witness it.
 In like manner, Tasso's iveliest anus
 ment was to see masquerades and enjoy t ! diversions of the populace during the pub