"Though Caesar fought to give me power

And I had Antony in my grasp,

My bosom, in the fatal hour,

Welcomed the fatal asp.

"Of course that was pie. Cleopatra. Number Two was just as easy:

"Married to one named Aragon,

I listened to Columbus' tales,

And offered all my gems to pawn

To buy him ships and sails.

"I didn't remember ever reading that Queen Isabella used cosmetics, but since nobody ever bathed in the fifteenth century she must have. I could also give you Numbers Three, Four, and Five, but after that they began to get tough, and by Number Ten I wasn't even bothering to read them. God knows what they were like by the time they got to Twenty--to give you an example, here's [Number Seven or Eight, I forget which:

"My eldest son became a peer

Although I couldn't write my name;

As Mr. Brown's son's fondest dear

/ earned enduring fame.

"I call that fudging. Considering how many Mr. Browns have had sons in the course of history, and how many of!the sons--"

"Pah." Wolfe turned a page. "Nell Gwynn, the English actress."

I stared. "Yeah, I've heard of her. How come? One of her boy friends may have been named Brown or Brownson, but that wasn't what made her famous. It was some king."