BERNARD PALISSY'S CHOICE.
THE fame of Palissy the potter cannot outshine the honor of Palissy the Huguenot. After the long years of labor in which he won the secret of his art, the products of his genius were held in such regard that in the massacre of St. Bartholomew his life was protected; slay the potter and there could be no more of his pottery. His sturdy faith, however, made him many enemies. Once he narrowly escaped imprisonment and death. At last there came a time when the artifices of friends in power could no longer shield him. He was an old man of seventy-six when he was arrested and sent to the Bastile, and the last four years of his life were spent within its walls. King Henry III., "starched, frilled, and curled," used to visit him there. Two fair young girls shared the later period of his imprisonment. "My good man," said the king, "you have been forty-five years in the service of the queen, my mother, or in mine, and we have suffered you to live in your own religion, amidst all the executions and massacres. But now I am so pressed by the Guise party and my own people that I have been compelled, in spite of myself, to imprison these two poor women and you; they are to be burnt to-morrow, and you also, if you will not be converted." "Sire," answered the old man, "you have said several times that you feel pity for me; but it is I who pity you who have said, 'I am compelled.' That is not speaking like a king. These girls and I, who have part in the kingdom of heaven, we will teach you to talk royally. The Guisarts, all your people, and yourself can not compel a potter to bow down to images of clay." The girls were executed a few months later, and Palissy died in the Bastile.—Selected.