{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45849/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45849","id":"gutenberg_45849","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45849","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Curiosities and wonders","Encyclopedias and dictionaries","Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n TEN THOUSAND\n WONDERFUL THINGS\n\n COMPRISING\n\n WHATEVER IS MARVELLOUS AND RARE, CURIOUS\n ECCENTRIC AND EXTRAORDINARY\n\n IN ALL AGES AND NATIONS\n\n ENRICHED WITH\n\n _HUNDREDS OF AUTHENTIC ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n EDITED BY\n\n EDMUND FILLINGHAM KING, M.A.\n\n LONDON\n GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED\n\n BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL\n MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK\n\n 1894\n\n\n\n\nSTANDARD WORKS OF REFERENCE.\n\n_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME._\n\n\nLEMPRIERE'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.\n\nWALKER'S RHYMING DICTIONARY.\n\nMACKAY'S THOUSAND AND ONE GEMS OF ENGLISH POETRY.\n\nD'ISRAELI'S CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.\n\nBARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.\n\nCRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE TO THE BIBLE.\n\nTHE FAMILY DOCTOR.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nA BOOK OF WONDERS requires but a brief introduction. Our title-page\ntells its own tale and forms the best exposition of the contents of the\nvolume.\n\nEverything that is marvellous carries with it much that is instructive,\nand, in this sense, \"Ten Thousand Wonderful Things,\" may be made useful\nfor the highest educational purposes. Events which happen in the\nregular course have no claim to a place in any work that professes to\nbe a register of what is uncommon; and were we to select such Wonders\nonly as are capable of familiar demonstration, we should destroy their\nright to be deemed wondrous, and, at the same time, defeat the very\nobject which we profess to have in view. A marvel once explained away\nceases to be a marvel. For this reason, while rejecting everything that\nis obviously fictitious and untrue, we have not hesitated to insert\nmany incidents which appear at first sight to be wholly incredible.\n\nIn the present work, interesting Scenes from Nature, Curiosities\nof Art, Costume and Customs of a bygone period rather predominate;\nbut we have devoted many of its pages to descriptions of remarkable\nOccurrences, beautiful Landscapes, stupendous Water-falls, and sublime\nSea-pieces. It is true that some of our illustrations may not be\nbeautiful according to the sense in which the word is generally used;\nbut they are all the more curious and characteristic, as well as\ntruthful, on that account; for whatever is lost of beauty, is gained by\naccuracy. What is odd or quaint, strange or startling, rarely possesses\nmuch claim to the picturesque and refined. Scrape the rust off an\nantique coin, and, while you make it look more shining, you invariably\nrender it worthless in the eyes of a collector. To polish up a fact\nwhich derives its value either from the strangeness of its nature, or\nfrom the quaintness of its narration, is like the obliterating process\nof scrubbing up a painting by one of the old masters. It looks all the\ncleaner for the operation, but, the chances are, it is spoilt as a work\nof art.\n\nWe trust it is needless to say that we have closed our pages against\neverything that can be considered objectionable in its tendency; and,\nwhile every statement in this volume has been culled with conscientious\ncare from authentic, although not generally accessible, sources, we\nhave scrupulously rejected every line that could give offence, and\nendeavoured, in accordance with what we profess in our title-page, to\namuse by the eccentric, to startle by the unexpected, and to astonish\nby the marvellous.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX TO ENGRAVINGS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n ABYSSINIAN ARMS, 509\n\n ---- LADIES, 492\n\n ---- ORNAMENTS OF, 493\n\n ---- LADY TATTOOED, 496\n\n ALTAR-PIECE OF SAN MINIATO, 601\n\n AMULET WORN BY EGYPTIAN FEMALES, 452\n\n AMULET BROTCHE, 332\n\n ANCIENT METHOD OF KEEPING A WASHING ACCOUNT, 3\n\n ---- NUT-CRACKERS, 236\n\n ---- SNUFF-BOXES, 210\n\n ANGLO-SAXONS, SEPULCHRAL BARROW OF THE, 27\n\n APTERYX, THE, OR WINGLESS BIRD, 308\n\n ARCH, A BEAUTIFUL, IN CANNISTOWN CHURCH, 433\n\n ---- OF TRAJAN AT BENEVENTUM, 445\n\n ARCHITECTURE FOR EARTHQUAKES, 324\n\n ARMLET, AN ANCIENT, 425\n\n ARMOUR, ANCIENT, CURIOUS PIECE OF, 341\n\n ASH, THE SHREW, 397\n\n AZTEC CHILDREN, THE, 37\n\n\n BAGPIPES, 505\n\n BANDOLIERS, 560\n\n BANNERS AND STANDARDS, ANCIENT, 584, 585\n\n BASTILLE, STORMING OF THE, 195\n\n BEAU BRUMMELL (A), OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 61\n\n BECTIVE ABBEY, 392\n\n BEDESMEN IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII, 593\n\n BELLOWS, A PRIMITIVE PAIR OF, 637\n\n BELL SHRINE, AN ANCIENT, 348\n\n ---- OF SAINT MURA, 412\n\n BIBLE USED BY CHARLES I. ON THE SCAFFOLD, 271\n\n BILLY IN THE SALT BOX, 181\n\n BLACKFRIARS, PARIS GARDEN AT, 465\n\n BLIND GRANNY, 70\n\n ---- JACK, 23\n\n BOAT, A BURMESE, 668\n\n BOOK-SHAPED WATCH, 328\n\n BRACELET, A MAGICIAN'S, 345\n\n BRAMA, THE HINDOO DEITY, 556\n\n BRANK, THE, 2\n\n BRASS MEDAL OF OUR SAVIOUR, 241\n\n BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE, 173\n\n BROOCH, ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN, 401\n\n BRICKS OF BABYLON, 613\n\n BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES, THE FIRST, 428\n\n ---- A CHINESE, 440\n\n ---- CROMWELL'S, AT GLENGARIFF, 648\n\n BUCKINGER, MATTHEW, 53\n\n BUCKLER OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, WITH PISTOL INSERTED, 30\n\n BUNYAN'S (JOHN) TOMB, 157\n\n BURMESE PRIEST PREACHING, 266\n\n BUST, AN ANCIENT ETRURIAN, 677\n\n\n CAMDEN CUP, THE, 250\n\n CANDLESTICK, A REMARKABLE, IN FAYENCE, 592\n\n ---- OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, 436\n\n CARFAX CONDUIT, 333\n\n CARRIAGE, A TURKISH, 656\n\n CASCADE DES PELERINES, 135\n\n CATACOMBS AT ROME, 87\n\n CAVE, PORT COON, 516\n\n ---- THE TIGER, AT CUTTACK, 361\n\n CHAIR BROUGHT OVER TO AMERICA BY THE PILGRIM FATHERS, 186\n\n ---- DAGOBERT'S, ANCIENT, 421\n\n ---- HENRY VIII.'S, 488\n\n ---- THE DUCHESS OF LAUDERDALE'S, 401\n\n CHAPTER-HOUSE, A, IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII., 600\n\n CHARLEMAGNE, CROWN OF, 377\n\n CHIEFTAIN, ANCIENT SCOTTISH, 500\n\n CHINESE METHOD OF FISHING, 316\n\n ---- PUNISHMENT OF THE KANG, OR WOODEN COLLAR, 134\n\n CHRISTMAS, PROCLAIMING THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF, 19\n\n CISTERN OF MAJOLICA WARE, 597\n\n COFFEE POT, IN STONEWARE, A CURIOUS, 649\n\n COIN, THE FIRST, WITH BRITANNIA ON IT, 468\n\n COLLARS, ANCIENT STONE, 665\n\n COLUMN AT CUSSI, 533\n\n COMB, A CURIOUS INDIAN, 657\n\n CORAL REEFS, 74\n\n CORPSE BEARER DURING THE PLAGUE, 284\n\n COSTUMES, ANCIENT, 18, 71, 78, 86, 212, 213, 220, 296, 297\n\n ---- GERMAN, OF THE 16TH CENTURY, 548\n\n COSTUME, FOREIGN, IN 1492, 543\n\n ---- OF A GERMAN NOBLE, 536\n\n COUTEAU-DE-CHASSE, 633\n\n CRADLE OF MOSS, 325\n\n ---- HENRY V., 416\n\n CROSBY, SIR JOHN, HELMET OF, 520\n\n CROSS OF CONG, 457\n\n ---- MUIREDACH, 369\n\n CUCKING STOOL, 1\n\n CUPID OF THE HINDOOS, THE, 552\n\n CURFEW BELL, THE, 33\n\n CURIOUS FIGURES ON A SMALL SHRINE, 203\n\n\n DAGGER OF RAOUL DE COURCY, 263\n\n ---- AN ANCIENT, 673\n\n DAGOBERT, ANCIENT CHAIR OF, 421\n\n DANCING NATIVES OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 225\n\n DARNEY (JENNY), A HARMLESS ECCENTRIC OF THE YEAR 1790, 187\n\n DERVISHES DANCING, 669\n\n DIAL AND FOUNTAIN IN LEADENHALL STREET, 553\n\n DINNER PARTY IN THE 17TH CENTURY, 609\n\n ---- TABLE, AN EGYPTIAN, 537\n\n DIOGENES IN A PITHOS--NOT TUB, 524\n\n DOG-WHEEL, THE OLD, 101\n\n DRINKING CUP, A CURIOUSLY SHAPED, 413\n\n ---- EARLY GERMAN, 460\n\n ---- VESSEL, A DECORATIVE, 336\n\n ---- GLASS, ANCIENT, 153\n\n DROPPING WELL OF KNARESBOROUGH, 143\n\n DRUID'S SEAT, THE, 464\n\n DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OR ORNITHORYNCHUS PARADOXUS, 273\n\n DYAK WITH HEADS, SKULL HOUSE, AND HOUSE OF SEA DYAKS, 276, 277\n\n ---- WAR BOAT IN BORNEO, 540\n\n DYAKS OF BORNEO, WAR DANCE OF THE, 541\n\n\n EAST INDIA HOUSE, THE FIRST, 206\n\n EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE, 109\n\n EGYPTIAN TOYS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 130\n\n EMBROIDERED GLOVE, PRESENTED BY MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND,\n TO AN ATTENDANT ON THE MORNING OF HER EXECUTION, 263\n\n EXTRAORDINARY CATARACT, 224\n\n ---- SITUATION FOR A TREE, 313\n\n ---- TREE, 183\n\n\n FASHIONABLE DISFIGUREMENT OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I., 213\n\n FAWKES HALL, OLD MANOR HOUSE OF, 380\n\n FETE OF THE FEDERATION OF THE NATIONAL GUARDS OF\n FRANCE, 1790, 289\n\n FIGG (JAMES), THE CHAMPION PRIZE-FIGHTER OF 1733, 113\n\n FISH, SHOOTING, 432\n\n FISHERMAN, BULGARIAN, 497\n\n FLOATING CITY OF BANKOK, 309\n\n FONT AT KILCARN, THE, 417\n\n FRENCH ASSIGNATS, FAC-SIMILE OF THE FORMS IN WHICH THEY\n WERE ISSUED TO THE PUBLIC, 254\n\n FULLERTON'S (COLONEL) DEVICE FOR PASSING A MOUNTAIN TORRENT, 194\n\n FUNEREAL JAR, 481\n\n\n GARDEN, EGYPTIAN, 349\n\n GARRICK'S CUP, 232\n\n GATE, THE, ON OLD LONDON BRIDGE, 561\n\n GAUNTLET OF HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, 661\n\n GIANT TREE, 229\n\n GLAIVE, A, 504\n\n GRACE KNIVES, 641\n\n GRAVES OF THE STONE PERIOD, 364\n\n GREAT WALL OF CHINA, 233\n\n GREY MAN'S PATH, THE, 528\n\n GUN, A CELEBRATED, 568\n\n GUY, THOMAS, PORTRAIT OF, 605\n\n\n HACKNEY COACHMAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES II., 258\n\n HACKNEY COACH, THE EARLIEST, 211\n\n HEAD-BREAKER, A, 665\n\n ---- ORNAMENT, ANTIQUE, 393\n\n HEART OF LORD EDWARD BRUCE AND CASE, 246, 247\n\n HELMET, AN EARLY ENGLISH, 632\n\n HELMET OF SIR JOHN CROSBY, 520\n\n HENRY V., CRADLE OF, 516\n\n ---- VII., BEDESMEN IN THE TIME OF, 393\n\n ---- VIII., CHAIR OF, 488\n\n ---- I. (KING) DREAM OF, 26\n\n ---- VIII.'S WALKING STICK, 30\n\n HINDOO ADORATION OF THE SALAGRAM, 588\n\n HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER, 532\n\n HOOPS, LADIES', IN 1740, 6\n\n HUDSON, JEFFERY, THE DWARF OF THE COURT OF CHARLES I., 472\n\n\n IMPLEMENTS USED IN BUDDHIST TEMPLES, 621\n\n INCENSE CHARIOT, AN ANCIENT, 513\n\n INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE:--THE EXECUTIONER'S AXE; THE BLOCK\n ON WHICH LORDS BALMERINO AND LOVAT WERE BEHEADED; THE\n SCAVENGER'S DAUGHTER; SPANISH BILBOES; MASSIVE IRON\n COLLAR FOR THE NECK; THUMB SCREW. BRAND FOR MARKING\n FELONS: IMPRESSION OF BRAND; PUNISHMENT FOR DRUNKARDS,\n FORMERLY IN USE AT NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE; THE WHIRLIGIG,\n A MILITARY METHOD OF PUNISHMENT; PILLORY, STOCKS, AND\n WHIPPING-POST FORMERLY ON LONDON BRIDGE, 60, 90\n\n IRRIGATION, TURKISH MACHINE FOR, 681\n\n\n JAMES I., CURIOUS JEWEL WHICH BELONGED TO, 456\n\n ---- II., AND THE CHURCH OF DONORE, 557\n\n JEWEL PRESENTED BY MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, TO EARL HUNTLEY, 243\n\n JOHNSON'S (DR. SAMUEL), RESIDENCE IN INNER TEMPLE LANE, 48\n\n ---- OLD STAIRCASE IN, 49\n\n JOY (WILLIAM), THE ENGLISH SAMPSON, 177\n\n\n KING'S STONE, THE, 461\n\n KNIGHT'S COSTUME OF THE 13TH CENTURY, 480\n\n\n LAMPS, ANCIENT ROMAN, 437\n\n LOCOMOTIVE, THE FIRST, 96\n\n ---- THE PRESENT, AND TRAIN, 97\n\n LORD OF MISRULE, 15\n\n LOUIS XII., IVORY SCEPTRE OF, 476\n\n LOUIS XVI., EXECUTION OF, 255\n\n LUTHER'S (MARTIN) TANKARD, 150\n\n LYNCH'S CASTLE, GALWAY, 581\n\n\n MAGICIAN'S MIRROR, 344\n\n ---- BRACELET, 345\n\n MAY-POLES, 101\n\n MAIL, ANCIENT SUIT OF, 484\n\n MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS', CANDLESTICK, 436\n\n MEDMENHAM ABBEY, 429\n\n MILITARY HATS IN THE OLDEN TIME, 75\n\n MILL AT LISSOY, 469\n\n MIRROR, A MAGICIAN'S, 344\n\n MONSOONS, 180\n\n MONSTROUS HEAD-DRESS OF 1782, 242\n\n MONUMENTS, WAYSIDE, 588\n\n ---- ROCK CUT, OF ASIA MINOR, 444\n\n MORAYSHIRE FLOODS, 126\n\n MOSQUE OF OMAR, 317\n\n ---- ST. SOPHIA, 104\n\n MUMMERS, OR ANCIENT WAITS, 14\n\n MUMMY CASES, 409\n\n MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, HINDOO, 684\n\n ---- ---- A CURIOUS BURMESE, 628, 629\n\n ---- ---- EGYPTIAN, 405\n\n\n NAORA, THE, 636\n\n NEBUCHADNEZZAR, MASK OF, 105\n\n NECKLACE, ANCIENT JET, 529\n\n NELL GWYNNE'S LOOKING-GLASS, 237\n\n NEWTON CHURCH, DOORWAY OF, 473\n\n NEWTON'S (SIR ISAAC) OBSERVATORY, 10\n\n ---- HOUSE, ST. MARTIN'S STREET, 11\n\n NORMAN CAPS, 44\n\n NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN WAR DESPATCH, 45\n\n\n OLD LONDON BRIDGE, GATE ON THE, 561\n\n ---- ---- SIGNS, 120\n\n ORNAMENTS ABYSSINIAN FEMALE, 493\n\n ---- ANTIQUE HEAD, 393\n\n ---- FEMALE, OF THE IRON PERIOD, 400\n\n ---- EGYPTIAN FEMALE, 448\n\n ---- PERSONAL, OF EGYPTIANS, 453\n\n ---- OF FEMALE DRESS IN THE TIMES OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, 79\n\n\n PAGODA, THE GREAT SHOEMADOO, 572\n\n PAILOOS, CHINESE, 625\n\n PAPYRUS ROLL, FROM A SPECIMEN IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 82\n\n ---- SYRIAN, WITH AND WITHOUT FLOWERS, 83\n\n PARIS GARDEN AT BLACKFRIARS, 465\n\n PASS OF KEIM-AN-EIGH, 329\n\n PENN'S (WILLIAM) SILVER TEA SERVICE, 202\n\n PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL, FAC-SIMILE OF THE HEADING OF\n THE LAST NUMBER, 1765, 63\n\n PEST HOUSE DURING THE PLAGUE IN TOTHILL FIELDS, 573\n\n PETER THE GREAT, HOUSE OF, AT ZAANDAM, 545\n\n PLOUGHING, ANCIENT MODE OF, 66\n\n POISON CUP, THE, 485\n\n PONT DU GARD, THE GREAT AQUEDUCT OF, 312\n\n POPE'S CHAIR, 577\n\n POPULAR AMUSEMENTS IN 1743, 56\n\n PORCELAIN FIGURES, 517\n\n POTTERY IN CHINA, THE ART OF, 321\n\n POWERSCOURT FALL, PHENOMENON AT, 305\n\n PREACHING FRIAR, 221\n\n PRE-ADAMITE BONE CAVERNS, 199\n\n PRIESTS OF SIKKIM, 664\n\n PRINCE RUPERT, HEAD QUARTERS OF, DURING THE SIEGE\n OF LIVERPOOL, IN 1644, 292\n\n PULPIT OF JOHN KNOX AT ST. ANDREW'S, 270\n\n PUNISHMENT, ANCIENT INSTRUMENT OF, 680\n\n PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT, 131\n\n\n QUEEN ELIZABETH'S STATE COACH, 198\n\n ---- ---- SIDE SADDLE OF, 340\n\n\n RAFFAELLE, TOMB OF, 569\n\n RALEIGH'S (SIR WALTER) ANCIENT RESIDENCE AT BLACKWALL, 161\n\n REVOLVER, A, OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, 30\n\n RING, FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF CHARLES I., 263\n\n RINGS, CALCINATED, 408\n\n ---- SARDONYX, WITH CAMEO HEAD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, 372\n\n ---- A TOAD STONE, 424\n\n ROCK OF CASHEL, THE, 352\n\n RUINS OF CLONMACNOIS, 612\n\n\n SACK-POT, OLD ENGLISH, 521\n\n SAINT GEORGE, TOMB OF, 281\n\n SAINT GEORGE'S HALL, GIBRALTAR, 7\n\n SALAGRAM, HINDOO ADORATION OF THE, 589\n\n SARDONYX RING, WITH CAMEO HEAD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, 373\n\n SCEPTRE, IVORY, OF LOUIS XII., 476\n\n SCHOOL, A CHINESE, 525\n\n SCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES:--DRUM, OR TIMBREL; DRUM IN USE\n IN THE EAST; HARP; LUTES; INSCRIBED STONE; SANDALS;\n DISTAFF; ROMAN FARTHING; STONEMONEY-WRIGHTS; HAND\n MILL; EASTERN WINE AND WATER BOTTLES, 217\n\n SELKIRK (ALEXANDER) AND THE DANCING GOATS, 22\n\n SEPULCHRAL VASE, 320, 608\n\n SHAKESPEARE'S JUG, 576\n\n SHIELD, ANCIENT DANISH, 420\n\n SHRINE OF ST. SEBALD AT NUREMBERG, 604\n\n SILVER LOCKET IN MEMORY OF THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I., 263\n\n SNAKE CHARMER, 300\n\n SOUTH STACK LIGHTHOUSE, 240\n\n SPANISH DAGGER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 263\n\n SPIDER, THE TRAP-DOOR, 384\n\n ---- NEST OF THE, 385\n\n ST. WINIFRED'S WELL, 304\n\n STAMP, MEDICINE, ANTIQUE ROMAN, 449\n\n STANDARDS, EGYPTIAN, 396\n\n ---- ASSYRIAN, 584, 585\n\n STEAM BOAT, FAC-SIMILE OF THE FIRST, 301\n\n STICKS, OLD WALKING, 388\n\n SWORD BREAKER, ANCIENT, 672\n\n ---- AN EXECUTIONER'S, 676\n\n ---- CURIOUS ANTIQUE, 596\n\n ---- THE HAWTHORNDEN, 353\n\n ---- THE SETON, 357\n\n SUMMERS' MAGNET, OR LOADSTONE, 41\n\n\n TEMPLAR'S BANNER, CALLED BEAUSEANT, 565\n\n TEMPLE AT SIMONBONG, INTERIOR VIEW OF, 620\n\n THRASHING CORN, ANCIENT METHOD OF, 67\n\n TILBURY FORT, WATER-GATE OF, 190\n\n TOILET BOXES, EGYPTIAN, 381\n\n TOMB, ANCIENT GREEK, INTERIOR VIEW OF, 617\n\n ---- A CHINESE, 508\n\n ---- OF RAFFAELLE, 569\n\n TOMB OF CAECILIA METELLA, 477\n\n TOPE, THE SANCHI, 389\n\n TORTURE CHAMBER AT NUREMBERG, 616\n\n TOWER OF THE THUNDERING WINDS, 93\n\n TRAJAN, ARCH OF, AT BENEVENTUM, 445\n\n TREATY STONE AT LIMERICK, 564\n\n TRIPOD, AN ANCIENT, 549\n\n TUMBREL, THE, 2\n\n TUNISIAN TURNER, A, 652\n\n TYRIAN PURPLE, THE SHELL FISH FROM WHICH IT IS OBTAINED, 644\n\n\n UMBRELLA, ANGLO-SAXON, 624\n\n\n VASES, ANCIENT, 337\n\n ---- GREEK, 501\n\n ---- ROMAN, IN BLACK WARE, 372\n\n ---- A SEPULCHRAL, OF ANCIENT EGYPT, 608\n\n VASES TEUTONIC, HUT-SHAPED, 580\n\n VAUXHALL, 380\n\n VESSEL, A CURIOUSLY SHAPED, 376\n\n VESUVIUS, CRATER OF, IN 1829, 165\n\n VISHNU, THE GOD, 645\n\n VOLCANO OF JORULLO, MEXICO, 161\n\n\n WAR CHARIOT OF EGYPT, 365\n\n WATCH, ANTIQUE, 368\n\n ---- PRESENTED BY LOUIS XII. OF FRANCE TO CHARLES I.\n OF ENGLAND, 640\n\n ---- PRESENTED BY MARY OF SCOTLAND TO MARY SKATON, 285\n\n WATER CARRIER OF THE OLDEN TIME, 259\n\n WEAPON, AN ANCIENT, 660\n\n ---- A POISON, 672\n\n WEAVER BIRD, SOCIAL NEST OF, 441\n\n WIGS OF VARIOUS PERIODS, 31\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Abbey Buildings, The Arrangement of, 658\n\n Abraham and Sarah, 101\n\n Abyssinian Ladies, Dress of the, 491\n\n Abyssinian Lady, Tattooed, 495\n\n Advertisement, an American, 111\n\n Advertisements, Curious, 406, 447, 455, 478\n\n ---- in the last Century, 207\n\n ---- of a Dying-speech Book, 116\n\n ---- New Style of, 249\n\n ---- a Pudding as an, 228\n\n ---- of a Fleet Parson, 116\n\n A False Find, 31\n\n A Female Sampson, 62\n\n A Fine Old Soldier, 314\n\n A Floating City, 308\n\n A Funeral appropriately conducted, 235\n\n Aged Persons, instances of many Dying, 283\n\n Ages of Celebrated Men, 102\n\n A Great Marvel seen in Scotland, 138\n\n A Happy Family, 28\n\n A Harmless Eccentric, 186\n\n Albertus Magnus, Receipts from, 91\n\n Ale Too Strong, 267\n\n Alexandria, Pharos at, 274\n\n Algerine Invasion of Ireland, 176\n\n A Last Chance, 103\n\n All Humbugs, 85\n\n A Lucky Find, 6\n\n A Man in a Vault Eleven Days, 69\n\n ---- Carries his House on his Head, 290\n\n ---- Selling his own Body, 95\n\n ---- aged One Hundred Years, 256\n\n A Monster, 287\n\n Ambassador, French, Entry into London, 262\n\n ---- why Held by the Arms, 162\n\n Amphitheatres, 102\n\n Amulets worn by Egyptian Females, 120\n\n ---- Brotche, 332\n\n Amusements in the 15th Century, 254\n\n ---- in 1743, Popular, 56\n\n An apparent Singularity accounted for, 93\n\n An Eccentric Tourist, 139\n\n Ancients, Credulity of the, 144\n\n Anglo-Saxons, Sepulchral Barrow of, 26\n\n Animals, Food of, 24\n\n ---- Communication between, 294\n\n Animation, Suspended, 374\n\n Anne Boleyn, Execution of, 375\n\n Antimony, 570\n\n Antipathies, 391\n\n ---- Unaccountable, 196\n\n Antiquities, Egyptian, 642\n\n Apollo, Oracles of, in France, 675\n\n Arabian Horses, 291\n\n Arabs, Horses of the, 498\n\n Archbishop, an, Washing Feet, 5\n\n Arch, A Beautiful, 433\n\n A remarkable Old Man, 214\n\n Armlet, Ancient, 425\n\n Armour, Ancient, Curious Piece of, 341\n\n Arms, Abyssinian, 509\n\n Artists, Duration of Life amongst, 196\n\n A Sea above the Sky, 81\n\n Ash, the Shrew, 397\n\n Ass, The, 116\n\n Assiduity and Perseverance, 304\n\n Attar of Roses, Origin of, 343\n\n Attar of Roses, 298\n\n A Woman takes the Lighted Match, 40\n\n ---- Defends a Post singly, 52\n\n Authors, some Learned, Amusements of, 137\n\n A Unique Library, 211\n\n Aztec Children, 37\n\n\n Babes of Bethlehem, The, 660\n\n Bagpipes, Irish, 505\n\n Ballot, Origin of the, 673\n\n Bandoliers, 560\n\n Bank, A Mattrass for a, 323\n\n Banner, The Templars', called Beauseant, 564\n\n Banquets of the Ancients, 439\n\n Bara, a Machine used in Sicily, 415\n\n Barbers, 94\n\n Barometer, Incident connected with, 136\n\n Bartholomew Fair in 1700, Handbill of, 148\n\n Bastille of Paris, Storming of the, 194\n\n Bazaar, a Turkish, 614\n\n Bear, a Shaved, 17\n\n Beard, Care of the, 503\n\n Beau Brummell (a) of the 17th Century, 61\n\n Bective Abbey, 392\n\n Bedesmen in the time of Henry VII., 593\n\n Bedford Missal, The, 407\n\n Bee, The Queen, 25\n\n Bees, Obedient to Training, 95\n\n Beggars, Severe Enactment against, 302\n\n ---- selected as Models by Painters, 281\n\n Bell, The Great, of Burmah, 559\n\n ---- of Rouen, 650\n\n Bells, 193\n\n ---- of the Ancients, 279\n\n ---- of St. Mura, 411\n\n Bell-Shrine, an Ancient, 347\n\n Bellows, Primitive Pair of, 637\n\n Bible, 118, 372, 490\n\n ---- Bunyan's, 121\n\n ---- Summary of the, 169\n\n ---- used by Charles I. on the Scaffold, 271\n\n Billy in the Salt-box, 181\n\n Birds, The Ear of, not to be Deceived, 228\n\n Blind Jack, 23\n\n ---- Granny, 70\n\n ---- Workman, 155\n\n Boat, Burmese, 667\n\n Bobart, Jacob, 22\n\n Boiling to Death, 663\n\n Bolton Abbey, Origin of, 273\n\n Bombardier Beetle, The, 68\n\n Bones, Adaptation of to Age, 52\n\n Book-shaped Watch, 328\n\n Boots an object of Honour, 232\n\n Boydell, Alderman, 9\n\n Brama, the Hindoo Deity, 555\n\n Bramins, Philosophy of the, 371\n\n Brank, The, 2\n\n Brass Medal, of our Saviour, 241\n\n Breakfasting Hut in 1745, 158\n\n Bribery, 141\n\n Bricks of Babylon, The, 612\n\n Bridge, Old London, The Gate of, 561\n\n ---- Chinese, 439\n\n ---- Suspension, at Freybourg, 166\n\n Britannia Tubular Bridge, 172\n\n British Islands, Size of the, 245\n\n Brooch, Ancient Scandinavian, 401\n\n Bruce, Lord Edward, Case containing the Heart of, 215\n\n Brunswick, House of, Anecdote of the, 459\n\n Buckinger, Matthew, 53\n\n Buddist Temples, Instruments used in, 621\n\n Bumper, 153\n\n Bunyan's, John, Tomb, 156\n\n Burial Places of Distinguished Men, 390\n\n Burmah, Elephant God of, 537\n\n Bust, Etrurian, An Ancient, 677\n\n Byng, Admiral, Execution of, 182\n\n\n Cader Idris, 118\n\n Cagots, The, 638\n\n Calculation, Interesting, 474\n\n Cambridge Clods, 20\n\n Camden Cup, 250\n\n Camel, as a Scape-Goat, 522\n\n Cameleon, The Eye of the, 479\n\n Candles in the Church, 449\n\n Cannon, Ancient, raised from the Sea, 40\n\n ---- at the Siege of Constantinople, 69\n\n ---- First Iron, 320\n\n Canute, The Discovery of the Body of, 176\n\n Cardinals, Colour of the Hat for, 234\n\n Cards, Games with, in the 16th Century, 618\n\n Carfax Conduit, 333\n\n Carronades, 149\n\n Carrara, Francis, Cruelty of, 504\n\n Carriage, Turkish, 655\n\n Cascade des Pelerines, 135\n\n Cat, Instinct in a, 353\n\n Catacombs at Rome, 87\n\n Cataract, Extraordinary, 223\n\n Cat-Clock, A, 631\n\n Cats, White, 51\n\n ---- with Knotted Tails, 238\n\n Caves, The Hawthornden, 382\n\n Chaffinch Contest, 651\n\n Chalice, Iona, The Golden, 422\n\n Changes of Fortune, 371\n\n Chaplain, Instructions to a, 458\n\n Chapter-House in Henry VIIth's time, 599\n\n Charing Cross, Autobiography of, 128\n\n Charity instead of Pomp, 407\n\n ---- Rewarded by a Mendicant, 257\n\n Charlemagne, Clock presented to, 145\n\n Charles I., Anecdote relative to, 174\n\n ---- II., Privy Purse, Expenses of, 234\n\n Cherry Tree, 458\n\n Chess, in India, How it Originated, 305\n\n Chieftain, Ancient Scottish, 500\n\n Chilcott, the Giant, 71\n\n Child, Test of Courage in a, 132\n\n Children of Aged Parents, 319\n\n China, Origin of the Great Wall of, 233\n\n Chinese Dainties, 91\n\n ---- Ivory Balls, 144\n\n ---- Method of Fishing, 315\n\n ---- Punishment of the Kang, 134\n\n ---- Ladies, Small Feet of, 475\n\n ---- Mirrors, 425\n\n ---- School, 525\n\n ---- Therapeutics, 369\n\n Chocolate, Early use of, 52\n\n Christmas Customs, Bygone, 14, 19\n\n Christening, Novel Mode of Celebrating a, 393\n\n Chronology of Remarkable Events, 218\n\n Church of Donore, James II. and the, 557\n\n Cigars, Extraordinary Fashion in, 274\n\n Circumstance, a Curious, 430\n\n ---- Extraordinary, 15\n\n Cistern of Majolica Ware, 597\n\n Clock at Hernhuth, Watchmen Imitating, 20\n\n ---- Wonderful, 167\n\n Clocks, Early, 171\n\n Clonmacnois, Ruins of, 289\n\n Coachmen of the Time of Charles II., 257\n\n Cock Fighting at Schools, 219\n\n Coffee, 153\n\n Coffee and Tea, 122\n\n Coffee-house in London, the First, 4\n\n ---- Attractions in 1760, 41\n\n Coin, The First, with Britannia on it, 468\n\n Coinage, Variations in the, 650\n\n Coincidences, some Curious, 434\n\n Collars, Stone, Ancient, 665\n\n Column at Cussi, 533\n\n Comb, Curious Indian, 657\n\n Conecte, Thomas, 433\n\n Confectionary Art in 1660, 373\n\n Conjuring, Public Taste for in 1718, 122\n\n Conway Church, Inscription in, 112\n\n Coral Reefs, 73\n\n Coronations, Prices for Seats at, 160\n\n ---- Expenses at, 283\n\n Corpulent Man, 78\n\n Corpulence, Cure for, 80\n\n Cost of Articles in the 14th Century, 330\n\n Costume, Ancient Female, 71, 78\n\n Costumes, 395, 437, 536, 544, 547, 630, 651\n\n Couteau-de-Chasse, Ancient, 633\n\n Cranmer's (Archbishop) Dietary, 137\n\n Credulity, Extraordinary Instance of, 311\n\n Cricket-Matches, Extraordinary, 408\n\n Criminal, a Rich and Cruel, 450\n\n Criminals, Old Custom Relating to, 598\n\n Cromwell's Bridge at Glengariff, 648\n\n Cross of Cong, The, 457\n\n ---- ---- Muiredach, 369\n\n ---- Ordeal of the, 463\n\n Crown of Charlemagne, 377\n\n Cucking-Stool, The, 1\n\n Cupid, The, of the Hindoos, 230\n\n Curious Feats, 181, 239\n\n ---- Law, 8\n\n ---- Manuscript, 214\n\n Curiously-shaped Vessel, 376\n\n Curiously-shaped Drinking Cups, 413\n\n Curiosities, Strange, 457\n\n Custom, Means of attracting, 683\n\n Customs, Singular Local, 653\n\n\n Daffeys' Elixir, 173\n\n Dagger, An Ancient, 673\n\n Dagobert, Ancient Chair of, 421\n\n Dance, Curious Provincial in France, 679\n\n Dances, Fashionable of the last Century, 220\n\n Dancing Rooms, 57\n\n Dead, Fashions for the, 523\n\n Dead Bodies, Preservation of, 251, 280, 638\n\n Death, Boiling to, 663\n\n ---- Lunar Influence in, 346\n\n ---- Pressing to, 515\n\n Decorative Drinking Vessel, 336\n\n Della Robbia Ware, 601\n\n Demons, Bribing the, 531\n\n Dervishes, Dancing, 669\n\n Desolation, Scene of, 329\n\n Destitute Cats, Asylum for, 280\n\n Dial and Fountain in Leadenhall Street, 553\n\n Dilemma, 499\n\n Dinner, an Egyptian, 537\n\n ---- in China, 596\n\n ---- Party in the 17th Century, 609\n\n Diogenes in a Pithos, not Tub, 101\n\n Disorders Cured by Fright, 307\n\n Dispute and appropriate Decision, 140\n\n Dog (A) Extinguishing a Fire, 20\n\n ---- Combination of Instinct and Force, 284\n\n ---- A Sensible, Refusing to Bait a Cat, 76\n\n ---- Persevering, 80\n\n ---- Friendship, 84\n\n ---- A Piscatorial, 367\n\n ---- Sensible, 376\n\n ---- in Japan, 622\n\n ---- Figures of on Ancient Tombs, 682\n\n Dog-wheel, The Old, 101\n\n Dole in consequence of a Dream, 503\n\n Doles, 399\n\n Down among the Dead Men, 185\n\n Dress, Forty years ago, 212\n\n Dress in London, 18, 114, 253, 295\n\n ---- Fastidiousness at an Old Age, 243\n\n ---- of the Ancient Britons, 79\n\n Drinking Bouts in Persia, 547\n\n Drinks, Intoxicating, Antiquity of, 611\n\n Dropping Wells, 142\n\n Druids' Seat, 464\n\n Drunkenness, the Offspring of, 666\n\n Duns in the Mahratta Country, 379\n\n Dyaks of Borneo, 275\n\n\n Ears, Character Indicated by, 65\n\n Earthenware, English, 575\n\n Earthquake Panic, 520\n\n ---- Swallowed up by an, 329\n\n ---- at Lisbon, 200\n\n ---- Nottingham, in 1816, 280\n\n Earthquakes, 398, 432\n\n East India House, the First, 206\n\n Eating for a Wager, 4\n\n Eccentric Englishman, An, 438\n\n Eccentrics, a Couple of, 318\n\n Echo, Extraordinary, 341\n\n Eddystone Lighthouse, 108\n\n Edicts against Fiddlers, 328\n\n Eel, Large, 10\n\n Egypt, 491\n\n ---- Pyramids of, 130\n\n Egyptian Toys in the British Museum, 129\n\n Elephant Detects a Robber, An, 99\n\n Elephants Frightened at Pigs, 9\n\n Energy, A Triumph of, 193\n\n England before the Romans, 86\n\n Englishman, A Fat, 28\n\n Epitaph, an Inculpatory, 268\n\n Etna, Mount, Great Eruption of, 451\n\n ---- Changes of, 406\n\n Europa, Ruins of, 567\n\n Exchequer-bills, Origin of, 676\n\n Execution, in 1793, 84\n\n Extraordinary Tree, 183\n\n Extravagance at Elections, 149\n\n ---- Oriental, 499\n\n Eyam, The Desolation of, 226\n\n\n Fallacy of the Virtues of a Seventh Son, 315\n\n False Accusers, Punishing, 230\n\n Farmers, Illustrious, 304\n\n Fashionable Disfigurement, 213\n\n Fayence, The, of Henry II. of France, 591\n\n Feasts, Anglo-Saxon, 517\n\n Federation, Fete of the, 288\n\n Female Intrepidity, Extraordinary, 248\n\n Ferrers, Earl, Execution of, 107\n\n Figg, Champion, 113\n\n Finger Rings, Porcelain, 486\n\n Fire at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, 293\n\n Fire-arms in the Tower of London, 29\n\n Fire-engines, When first made, 223\n\n Fish, Shooting, 432\n\n ---- High Price of, in London, 312\n\n ---- Extraordinary Ponds and, 561\n\n ---- Tame, 659\n\n ---- Wonderful, 542\n\n Fishermen, Bulgarian, 497\n\n Fleet Marriages, about 1740, 299\n\n Floods, the Morayshire, 126\n\n Flying Coach, 228\n\n Fog of 1783, The Great, 414\n\n Font at Kilcarn, The, 417\n\n Food of the Ancients, 450\n\n Foot-Racing in 1699, 457\n\n Foreigners in London in 1567, 371\n\n Fortune, Change of, 371\n\n Fox Killed by a Swan, 4\n\n Francis I., Funeral Oration of, 363\n\n Franklin's Celebrated Letter to Strahan, 39\n\n Frederick the Great at Table, 579\n\n French Dress, 102\n\n ---- Assignats, the Origin, 253\n\n Friars, Preaching, 221\n\n Frost Fairs, 67\n\n ---- Extraordinary, 209\n\n Funeral, an Eccentric, 395\n\n ---- Jar, 481\n\n ---- Obsequies, Strange, 108\n\n\n Game Preserves at Chantilly, 362\n\n Gamblers, Chinese, Playing for Fingers, 593\n\n Gambling, Legalised, 141\n\n ---- Extraordinary, 359\n\n Gaming, a National Taste for, 267\n\n Gander, an Old, 27\n\n Garden, an Egyptian, 349\n\n ---- at Kenilworth, when in its Prime, 641\n\n ---- Love of, 419\n\n ---- Sacred, 420\n\n ---- The Hanging, of Babylon, 558\n\n Garrick's Cup, 232\n\n Gauntlet of Henry, Prince of Wales, 661\n\n George II., Proclamation for, 200\n\n Georgians as Topers, 511\n\n Giant Tree, 229\n\n Gibraltar, Siege of, 6\n\n Gigantic Bones, 248\n\n Glaives, 504\n\n Glove Money, 503\n\n Gloves, Anne Boleyn's, 600\n\n ---- Origin of \"Pin Money\", 275\n\n Grace Knives, 641\n\n Graham Island, 443\n\n Graves of the Stone Period, 363\n\n Greek Vases, 501\n\n Gretna Green Marriages, 159\n\n Grey Man's Path, The, 528\n\n Grinning for a Wager, 13\n\n Groaning Boards, 66\n\n Groat, a Castle for a, 470\n\n Grotto, Remarkable, and Story connected with it, 625\n\n Guillotine, Decapitation by the, 8\n\n Gun, Celebrated, 568\n\n Gunpowder, Making a Candlestick of, 249\n\n\n Hackney Coach, The Earliest, 211\n\n Hair, Ancient, Quantity and Colour of the, 4\n\n ---- Price of Human, 242\n\n ---- Remarkable Preservation of, 122\n\n ---- Transplantation of, 40\n\n ---- Turned Grey by Fright, 327\n\n ---- Two of the Fathers, on False, 24\n\n Hamster Rat, The, 265\n\n Handbills, Distributing, 178\n\n ---- from Peckham Fair, in 1726, 72\n\n Hanging a Mayor, 140\n\n \"Happy Dispatch\" in Japan, The, 578\n\n Head Breaker, A., 338\n\n Head-dress, Monstrous, 242\n\n ---- Ornament, Antique, 393\n\n Hejirs, The, 222\n\n Helmet, Early English, 632\n\n ---- of Sir John Crosby, 520\n\n Henry I., Dream of, 26\n\n ---- II., Stripped when Dead, 39\n\n ---- V., Cradle of, 416\n\n ---- the VIIIth's Chair, 488\n\n ---- VIII., Curious Extracts from the Household Book\n of Lady Mary, Daughter of, 399\n\n Highlander, A Remarkable, 238\n\n Highwaymen in 1782, 5\n\n Hindoo Computation, 507\n\n ---- Rites, Cruelty of, 627\n\n Historical Anecdote, 156\n\n Holy Water Sprinkler, 532\n\n Homer in a Nutshell, 127\n\n Hooking a Boy Instead of a Fish, 319\n\n Hoops, in 1740, 6\n\n Horse, A, Getting himself Shod, 76\n\n Horse-race, Indenture of a, 52\n\n Horses of the Arabs, 498\n\n Horses, Different Sorts of, in the 16th Century, 634\n\n ---- Feeding one another, 368\n\n ---- Vicious, Novel Way of Curing, 174\n\n Hot Cross Buns, 251\n\n House, Novel Way of Designating a, 539\n\n ---- of Hens' Feathers, 646\n\n Household Rules of the 16th Century, 518\n\n How Distant Ages are Connected, 200\n\n Hudson, Jeffery, the Dwarf of the Court of Charles I., 472\n\n \"Humbug,\" Origin of the Term, 97\n\n Hume, David, on his own Death, 215\n\n Hundred Families' Lock, 435\n\n Hunting Party, a Regal, 391\n\n Husband, Novel way of Purchasing a, 275\n\n Hydra, Extraordinary Reproductive Power of the, 490\n\n\n Ice, Ground, 506\n\n Ignorance and Fear, 290\n\n Impostor, An, 50\n\n Impudence or Candour? Which is it? 239\n\n Incense Chariot, An Ancient, 513\n\n Incremation, Instance of, 353\n\n Indian Jugglers, European Balancing, 293\n\n Inhumanity, Extraordinary Instances of, 436\n\n Innkeeper's Bill in 1762, 431\n\n Insects, Wonderful Formation of the Eye in, 467\n\n Insect Life, Minuteness of, 338\n\n Instinct of Animals, 410\n\n Insurance Agent, Canvass of an, 465\n\n Interesting and Fanciful Relique, 243\n\n Inventors, The Perils of, 141\n\n Irrigation, Turkish Machine for, 349\n\n \"It's much the same Now\", 94\n\n\n James II. and the Church of Donore, 557\n\n James II., Spent by the Corporation of Coventry at the\n Entertainment of, in his Progress through Coventry, 378\n\n Javanese, Superstition of the, 244\n\n Jenny's Whim, 174\n\n Jewel, A Curious, which belonged to James I., 456\n\n Jews, Wealth of the, 359\n\n Johnson, Dr., A Visit to the Residence of, 48\n\n Joy, William, the English Sampson, 176\n\n Judas Iscariot, Legends of, 339\n\n Judges attending Public Balls, 303\n\n ---- Salaries, 446\n\n Jugglers in Japan, 529\n\n ---- of Modern Egypt, 342\n\n\n Kildare, Death of the Earl of, 172\n\n Killed by eating Mutton and Pudding, 73\n\n King Edward I., Household Expenses of, 231\n\n ---- Fine for Insulting a, 149\n\n ---- of Kippen, The, 139\n\n ---- John and Pope Innocent, 463\n\n King-Maker, Warwick the, 527\n\n King's Bed, Ceremonial for Making the, 562\n\n ---- Cock Crower, The, 137\n\n ---- Dishes with the Cook's Name, 235\n\n ---- Stone, The, at Kingston, 461\n\n Kitchen, Spacious, 383\n\n Knight's Costume of the 13th Century, 480\n\n Knives and Forks, 133\n\n Knox, John, The Pulpit of, at St. Andrews, 269\n\n\n Lady, Origin of the Word, 147\n\n Lagmi, and the Use made of it, 623\n\n Lambeth Wells, the Apollo Gardens, 272\n\n Lamps, Roman, 437\n\n Land, Change in the Value of, 196\n\n Landslip at Colebroke, Shropshire, 184\n\n Lantern, Curious, 100\n\n Lauderdale, The Duchess of, 403\n\n Law of the Mozcas, 454\n\n Law and Order in the Streets of London, 131\n\n Laws, a Hundred years ago, Severity of, 234\n\n Leadenhall Street, Old Dial and Fountain in, 553\n\n Legend, A Superstitious, 351\n\n Legends among Savage Nations, 146\n\n Length of Life without Bodily Exercise, 274\n\n Lepers, Treatment of, in England, 493\n\n Leprosy, Lazars, and Lazar Houses, 169\n\n Letter, Extraordinary, 322\n\n Lettsom's (Dr.) Reasons, 71\n\n Lewson, The Eccentric Lady, 221\n\n Life, An Eventful, 427\n\n ---- in Death, 443\n\n Lighting the Streets, Bequests for, 310\n\n Lightning, Calmuc's Opinion of, 63\n\n Living, Style of, among the Nobility of the 15th Century, 533\n\n ---- in the 16th Century, 357\n\n Lizards, Swallowing, 41\n\n Loaf Sugar, 166\n\n Locomotives, the First, 96\n\n Locusts, 151\n\n London Localities in the 16th Century, 526\n\n London Water Carrier in Olden Time, 258\n\n ---- in 1756, State of, 147\n\n London Resorts a Hundred Years Ago, 197\n\n Longevity, 269\n\n Long Meg and her Daughters, 394\n\n Lord Mayor's Feast in 1663, 551\n\n Lotteries, 619\n\n Louis XVI., Execution of, 258\n\n Luther's (Martin) Tankard, 149\n\n Luxury in 1562, 418\n\n Lynch's Castle, Galway, 581\n\n\n Mackarel, Price of, 576\n\n Madness, Sudden Recovery from, 168\n\n Madyn, the Capital of Persia, Magnificence of,\n when invaded by the Saracens A.D. 636, 554\n\n Magic Rain Stone, 168\n\n Magician's Mirror and Bracelet, 344\n\n Magnet, The Summers' or Loadstone, 41\n\n Magnificence of Former Times, 111\n\n Magpie Stoning a Toad, 92\n\n Mahomet, Personal Appearance of, 571\n\n Mail, Ancient suit of, 483\n\n Malady, Extraordinary, 670\n\n Mandrin, the Smuggler, 167\n\n Manners, Ancient, of the Italian, 585\n\n Man without Hands, 77\n\n Manufacture, One of the Effects of, 142\n\n Marat, Funeral of, 375\n\n Marriage Custom, Curious, 543\n\n ---- Lottery, 91\n\n ---- Vow, 419\n\n Mary, Queen of Scots, her First Letter to English, 370\n\n Mary Queen of Scots, her Candlestick, 436\n\n Maternal Affection in a Dumb Woman, 140\n\n May-pole in the Strand, 534\n\n ---- Fate of the Last, in the Strand, 682\n\n May-poles, 100\n\n Mecca, The Black Stone at, 550\n\n Medmenham Abbey, 429\n\n Memento-Mori Watch, 285\n\n Mental Affection, A Curious, 335\n\n Merman, A, 16\n\n Mexican Tennis, 375\n\n Michaelmas-day, Origin of eating Goose on, 198\n\n Military Hats in Olden Time, 75\n\n Mill at Lissoy, 469\n\n Miraculous Escape, 266\n\n Misers, Two, 459\n\n Missal, The Bedford, 163\n\n Mob Wisdom, 294\n\n Monasteries, Libraries of destroyed, 334\n\n Monkeys Demanding their Dead, 415\n\n Monkish Prayers, 383\n\n Monks, Gluttony of the, 347\n\n ---- and Friars, 680\n\n Monsey (Dr.) bequeaths his own Body, 93\n\n Monsoons, 179\n\n Monument, Rock-cut, of Asia Minor, 441\n\n Monuments, Wayside, 587\n\n Mosque of Omar, 316\n\n Mother Mapp, the Bone Setter, 158\n\n Mountains, Height of, 148\n\n Mouth, Character of the, 106\n\n M.P.'s and Mayors, Privateers, 176\n\n Mulgrave, Origin of the House of, 602\n\n Mullet and Turbot, with the Romans, 488\n\n Mummy Cases, 409\n\n Murderess, a Young but Cruel, 392\n\n Music, Effect of, on a Pigeon, 64\n\n ---- of the Hindoos, 683\n\n ---- ---- ---- Sea, 351\n\n Musical Instrument, A Curious, 628\n\n Musical Instruments, Burmese, 629\n\n ---- ---- Egyptian, 404\n\n\n Names, Strange Custom about, 295\n\n Naora, The, 635\n\n Narrow Escape, 121\n\n Nature, Wonderful Provision of, 55\n\n Nebuchadnezzar, Gold Mask of, 105\n\n Necklace, Ancient Jet, 529\n\n Negro, Bill of Sale for a, in 1770, 39\n\n Nell Gwynne's Looking-Glass, 237\n\n Never Sleeping in a Bed, 331\n\n Newspapers, Vacillating, 514\n\n New South Wales, Dances of the Natives of, 225\n\n Newton, A Visit to the Observatory of, 10\n\n New Zealand, The Wingless Bird of, 307\n\n Norman Caps, 44\n\n North American Indian War Dispatch, 45\n\n Nose, Effect of a New, 102\n\n Nostrums, 63\n\n Nun, The First English, 330\n\n Nut Crackers, Ancient, 236\n\n\n Oaks, Extraordinary, 310, 426, 466, 455\n\n ---- Remarkable, 405\n\n Old Age, Dying of, at Seventeen Years, 47\n\n Old Books, 360\n\n Old London Signs, 118\n\n Opera, The First, 567\n\n Opium, Best Position for Smoking, 675\n\n Oraefa Mountain, in Ireland, 356\n\n Ornaments, Personal Antique, 293, 400, 447, 452\n\n Orthography in the Sixteenth Century, 17\n\n\n Pagoda, The Great Shoemadoo, 572\n\n Pailoos, Chinese, 625\n\n Panama, Isthmus of, Passage through, 148\n\n Paper, 619\n\n Papyrus, The, 82\n\n Parental Authority, Too Much, 513\n\n Paris Garden at Blackfriars, 465\n\n Parlour Dogs, 320\n\n Passport, A Traveller's, 679\n\n Pastimes, Popular, 514\n\n Pates de Foies Gras, 142\n\n Peacocks, 366\n\n Pear-Tree, Great, 454\n\n Pearls, British, 363\n\n ---- Fondness of the Romans for, 208\n\n Pedestrian Feat, Wonderful, 327\n\n Peg Tankards, 43\n\n Penn, Tea Service which belonged to, 201\n\n Penny Post, Origin of the, 47\n\n Pennsylvania Journal, 63\n\n Perfumes, 253\n\n Persecution, 430\n\n ---- in the Reign of Queen Mary, 587\n\n Perseverance rewarded by Fortune, 287\n\n Persia, Drinking Bouts in, 547\n\n Personal Charms Disclaimed, 118\n\n Peru, Condor in, 170\n\n Peruvian Bark, 51\n\n Pest-house, during the Plague, in Tothill Fields, 573\n\n Pestilence, The Black, 402\n\n Peter the Great at Zaandam, 544\n\n Physic, A Friend to, 267\n\n Physick for the Poor, Choice Receipts for, 117\n\n Pigeon Catching near Naples, 437\n\n Pig, Roast, Advertisement of, in 1726, 46\n\n Pike, An Old, 667\n\n Pilgrim Fathers, Chair belonging to, 186\n\n Pillory for Eating Flesh in Lent, 68\n\n Plague in England, The, 183\n\n ---- Corpse Bearers during the, 283\n\n Plantagenets, Yellow Hair in the Time, 103\n\n Plate, Use of, in the time of Henry VIII., 523\n\n Platypus, the Duck-billed, 273\n\n Playbill, Curious, 227\n\n ---- in the time of William III., 530\n\n Ploughing and Threshing, Ancient, 66\n\n Poets, English, Fates of the Families of, 471\n\n Pogonias Vocal Fish, 478\n\n Poison Cup, The, 485\n\n Poisoning the Monarch, 12\n\n Police, London, Disgraceful State of, 193\n\n Pont du Gard, Great Aqueduct of, 312\n\n Pope's Chair, 577\n\n Porcelain, Anecdote in, 517\n\n Port Coon Cave, 516\n\n Poet Haste One Hundred Years ago, 182\n\n \"Postman,\" The, Paragraph from, in 1697, 219\n\n Pottery in China, Art of, 321\n\n Powerscourt Fall, Phenomenon at the, 304\n\n Prayers, Unusual Locality for Saying, 171\n\n Praying by Machinery, 314\n\n ---- by Wheel and Axle, 539\n\n Pre-Adamite Bone Caverns, 199\n\n Precocious Children, 64\n\n Presence of Mind--Escape from a Tiger, 330\n\n Priests in Burmah, Knavery of the, 266\n\n ---- of Sikkim, 663\n\n Prince of Wales, Origin of the Crest of the, 115\n\n Prince Rupert, at Everton, 291\n\n Prolific Author, 320\n\n Proteus Anguinus, The, 152\n\n Psalm, Value of a Long, 512\n\n Pterodactylus, The, 360\n\n Pulpit, Refreshments for the, 262\n\n Punishing by Wholesale, 680\n\n Punishment, Ancient Instrument of, 680\n\n ---- Russian, 654\n\n ---- and Torture, Ancient Instruments of, 58, 88\n\n Puritan Zeal, 579\n\n Purple, Tyrian, 643\n\n\n Quackery in the Olden Time, 671\n\n Queen Elizabeth, Banquets of, 414\n\n ---- ---- Dresses of, 501\n\n ---- ---- Old Verses on, 204\n\n ---- ---- saddle of, 340\n\n ---- ---- State Coach of, 128\n\n ---- ----'s Laws, 151\n\n\n Raffaelle, Tomb of, 568\n\n Raffle, A, in 1725, 47\n\n Raleigh, Sir Walter, Residence of, 160\n\n Ranelagh, 204\n\n Ranz des Vaches, 173\n\n Rats, Destructive Force of, 463\n\n Ravilliac, Execution of, 132\n\n Receipts, Quaint, 153\n\n Red Sea, Luminous Appearance of the, 454\n\n Regiments, The Modern Names of, 639\n\n Reichstadt, The Duke de, 435\n\n Relics, 393\n\n ---- A Group of, 261\n\n ---- Rescued, 618\n\n Remarkable Events and Inventions, 145\n\n Revenge, New Mode of, 423\n\n Rheumatism, Strange Cure for the, 201\n\n Rhinoceros, First in Europe, 655\n\n Richardson, the Showman, 251\n\n Ringing the Changes, 192\n\n Rings, Calcinated, 408\n\n Rites, Hindoo, Cruelty of, 627\n\n Roads in 1780, 327\n\n Rock of Cashel, 352\n\n Romans in Britain, Dress of Native Females at that Period, 86\n\n Rouen, The Great Bell of, 650\n\n Royal Touch, The, 42\n\n Royal Giants, Specimens of, 121\n\n ---- Prisoner, Expenses of, 260\n\n\n Sack Pot, Old English, 521\n\n Sacro Catino, The, 608\n\n Sadler's Wells, 112\n\n Saint George, Tomb of, 281\n\n Saint Lawrence, 464\n\n Salagram, Hindoo Adoration of the, 589\n\n Sand Columns in Africa, 610\n\n Sandwiches, Origin of the, 563\n\n Sardonyx Ring, with Cameo Head of Queen Elizabeth,\n in the possession of Rev. Lord Thynne, 373\n\n Scape Goat, Camel as a, 190\n\n Sceptre, Ivory, of Louis XII., 476\n\n School, Chinese, 525\n\n School Expenses in the Olden Time, 427\n\n Science and Perseverance, Triumphs of, 123\n\n Scottish Wild Cattle, 278\n\n Scriptural Antiquities, 215\n\n Sea, Phosphorescence of the, 418\n\n Sea Serpent, Immense, 42\n\n Sea-Urchin, Wonderful Construction of, 475\n\n Second Sight, 65\n\n Seeing Two Generations, 211\n\n Self-Nourishment, 315\n\n Selkirk and the Dancing Goats, 22\n\n Sepulchral Vase from Peru, 320\n\n Sermons, Anecdotes in, 147\n\n Serpent, Anecdote of a, 85\n\n Seven, The Number, 354\n\n Sevres Porcelain, Prices of, 487\n\n Sex, Change of, 189\n\n \"Sforza,\" Origin of the Title, 554\n\n Shakspeare's Jug, 575\n\n Sham Prophets, 319\n\n Sharks, The Queen's, 203\n\n Sheba, The Queen of, 518\n\n Sheep Killer, Hunting a, 268\n\n Shell Fish, in 1675, Price of, 178\n\n Shetland, The Noss in, 324\n\n Shield, Ancient Danish, 420\n\n Shilling, Cutting a Wife off with a, 359\n\n Shocking Depravity, 117\n\n Shoes, Long-toed, Origin of, 646\n\n Shrine, Curious Figures on a, 202\n\n Shrine of St. Sebald at Nuremberg, 271\n\n Simoom, The, 662\n\n Skin, Human, a Drum made of, 398\n\n Slave Advertisements, 25\n\n Slave Trade, Iniquities of the, 175\n\n Slaves, Recent Prices of, 435\n\n Sleep, Protracted, 483\n\n ---- State of the Mind during, 350\n\n Sleeper, An Extraordinary, 28\n\n Smoking, Attachment to, 322\n\n Snake Charmers, 299\n\n Snakes, Power of Fascination in, 64\n\n Snow Storm, Memorable, 327\n\n Snuff Boxes, Ancient, 209\n\n Snuff, Time Wasted in taking, 512\n\n Something like a Feast, 129\n\n Somnambulism, 72\n\n Sound, Phenomena of, 367\n\n Southcottian Delusion, A Phase of the, 230\n\n South-stack Lighthouse, 239\n\n Spain, Wealth of, under the Moors, 235\n\n Spider, Bite of the Tarantula, 13\n\n Spiders Fond of Music, 157\n\n Spirit Drinker, An Aged, 228\n\n Spontaneous Combustion, 431\n\n Sports of the Lower Classes, 155\n\n Sportsman, A Royal, 443\n\n Springs, Intermittent, 455\n\n Stage Coach in 1760, 155\n\n Stag-Hunt in the 16th Century, 511\n\n Stags like Cattle, Driving, 208\n\n Stamps, Antique Roman, 448, 643\n\n Standards, Ancient Banner and, 396, 583\n\n State Coach in 1796, 156\n\n Statue, Metal, the Largest in the World, 454\n\n Steam boat, Facsimile of the First, 301\n\n Stevens's Specific, 50\n\n St. George's Cavern, 421\n\n St. James's Square, 123\n\n St. Paul's, Old, 162\n\n St. Paul and the Viper, 125\n\n St. Winifred's Well, 303\n\n Sticks, Old Walking, 387\n\n Stirrups, 571\n\n Stomach Brush, 55\n\n Stoneware, 649\n\n Strasburg, Curious Custom at, 185\n\n Strength, Feats of, in 1789, 9\n\n Street Cries of Modern Egypt, 401\n\n Stuff Ball at Lincoln, Origin of the, 49\n\n Sultan, City of the, 103\n\n Sun and Moon, Worship of the, 81\n\n Superstition in 1856, 538\n\n ---- Curious, 424\n\n ---- Death caused by, 124\n\n ---- in France, 519\n\n ---- Vitality of, 474\n\n Sweating Sickness, 110\n\n Sweets, Artificial, 579\n\n Sword, Curious Antique, 596\n\n ---- Executioner's, 340\n\n ---- The Hawthornden, 353\n\n ---- The Seton, 356\n\n ---- Fish and Whales, 565\n\n Sword-Breaker, An Ancient, 672\n\n\n Taking a Man to Pieces, 79\n\n Tapestry, The Bayeux, 642\n\n Tar and Feather, Notices to, 38\n\n Taxation, Universality of, 318\n\n Tea, 94\n\n Tea-Drinkers, The First, Puzzled, 532\n\n Teapot, The, 482\n\n Temple of Pou-tou, The, 673\n\n ---- at Simonbong, 620\n\n Temples of Brambanam, 442\n\n Terrier, Anecdote of a, 358\n\n Thames, Frost Fair on the, 106\n\n ---- The First Bridge over the, 428\n\n Thanksgiving Day in 1697, 527\n\n Theatre, Roman, at Orange, 366\n\n Theatres in the Time of Shakespeare, 597\n\n The First Hermits--Why so Called, 125\n\n The Ruling Passion, 32, 188\n\n Theodora de Verdion, 207\n\n Thief Caught in his own Trap, The, 77\n\n ---- Singular Discovery of a, 115\n\n Thugs, The, 574\n\n Tiger Cave at Cuttack, 361\n\n Tilbury Fort, 189\n\n Time, Division of, in Persia, 633\n\n Tobacco, Origin of the Use of, 57\n\n Toilet, Absurdities of the, 536\n\n ---- Boxes, Egyptian, 381\n\n Tomb, Chinese, 508\n\n ---- of Caecilia Metella, 477\n\n ---- of Darius, 560\n\n Tomb of the Emperor Maximilian at Inspruck, 590\n\n \"Too Late,\" quoth Boice, 489\n\n Tope, the Sanchi, 389\n\n Topers, Georgians as, 511\n\n Toping in the Last Century, 314\n\n Torture, 639\n\n ---- Chamber at Nuremberg, 615\n\n Tower of the Thundering Winds, 93\n\n Trajan, Arch of, at Beneventum, 112\n\n Trance, A, 354\n\n ---- at Will, 462\n\n Trap-door Spider, 383\n\n Travelling, Common, 220\n\n ---- in Olden Times, 108,162\n\n ---- in the United States, 208\n\n Treaty-Stone at Limerick, 563\n\n Tree, Extraordinary Situation for a, 313\n\n Trees, Age of, 521\n\n ---- that Grow Shirts, 62\n\n Tripod, Ancient, 549\n\n Trivial Circumstances, A Great Result from, 605\n\n Tumbrel, The, 2\n\n Tunisians, Ingenuity of the, 652\n\n Turban, The, in Arabia, 618\n\n Turkish Mode of Reparation, 326\n\n Twin-Worm, Extraordinary Formation of the, 136\n\n Types, the Invention of, 152\n\n\n Umbrella, Anglo-Saxon, 624\n\n Upas Tree, 123\n\n Useful and the Beautiful, 647\n\n\n Vampire, The Blood-sucking, 417\n\n Varnish-Tree of the Japanese, 615\n\n Vases, Ancient, 337\n\n ---- Greek, 169\n\n ---- Greek, Prices of, 385\n\n ---- Roman, in Black Ware, 373\n\n ---- Sepulchral, of Greek Pottery, 616\n\n ---- Sepulchral, of Ancient Egypt, 607\n\n ---- Teutonic, Hut-shaped, 580\n\n Vauxhall, 380\n\n Venetians, The, 428\n\n Vengeance, Novel Mode of taking, 586\n\n Ventriloquist, a Female, 62\n\n Vesuvius, Crater of, in 1829, 165\n\n Vinegar on the Skin, Effect of, 115\n\n Vishnu, Incarnations of, 645\n\n Volcanic Eruption in Japan, 601\n\n Volcano of Jurullo, Formation of the, 163\n\n Volition, Suspended, 199\n\n Voltaire, English Letter of, 422\n\n Vow, Singular Hindoo, 658\n\n\n Wagers, Curious, 373\n\n Walking-Sticks, Old, 387\n\n Wall, Governor, Execution of, 154\n\n Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 99\n\n War Boat, A Dyak, in Borneo, 540\n\n ---- Dance of the Dyaks of Borneo, 540\n\n ---- Chariot of Ancient Egypt, 365\n\n Warwick, the King-Maker, 527\n\n Washing Account, Method of Keeping, 3\n\n Washington, 583\n\n Watch, An Antique, 368\n\n ---- presented by Louis XIII. to Charles I. of England, 640\n\n Watches, the First in England, 515\n\n Water for Old London, Supply of, 282\n\n ---- Preservative Power of Coal-pit, 25\n\n ---- Supply of, for London, in Olden Times, 546\n\n ---- Snakes, Battle of, 470\n\n \"We hae been\", 47\n\n Weapon, Ancient, 660\n\n ---- A Poison, 672\n\n Weaver-Bird, The Sociable, 440\n\n Wedding, A, A Hundred Years Ago, 640\n\n Weight, Reducing, 85\n\n Whipping Prisoners, 175\n\n Whitehall, Ceiling of, 121\n\n Whitsuntide, at Durham Cathedral, 8\n\n Why a Man Measures more in the Morning than in the Evening, 75\n\n Wife, Diving for a, 479\n\n Wigs, 17, 31\n\n Will, Eccentric, 209\n\n William the Conqueror, Courtship of, 555\n\n Willow, Weeping, Introduction of the, 148\n\n Wind Mills, The First, 577\n\n Witch-Testing, at Newcastle, in 1649, 21\n\n Wolves in England, 441\n\n Woman, The Hairy, of Burmah, 677\n\n Woman's Cleverness, 260\n\n Women of England, The, 159\n\n ---- in Former Times, 127\n\n Wonderful Escape, 215, 300\n\n Wren's (Sir Christopher) Cost of Churches, 171\n\n ---- ---- ---- Report, 183\n\n Writing Materials, 481\n\n Writings, Terra Cotta, 466\n\n\n Yorkshire Tike, The, 24\n\n Yorkshire in the Last Century, 283\n\n\n\n\nTEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS.\n\n\nPUNISHMENTS IN PROVINCIAL TOWNS IN THE OLDEN TIME.\n\nThe instruments most in vogue with our ancestors were three--the\ncucking-stool, the brank, and the tumbrel.\n\nThe Cucking-stool was used by the pond in many village greens about one\nhundred years ago or little more, and then deemed the best corrective\nof a scolding woman.\n\n[Illustration: The Cucking-stool.]\n\nBy the sea, the quay offered a convenient spot. The barbican, at\nPlymouth, was a locality, doubtless terrible to offenders, however\ncareless of committing their wordy nuisance of scolding. Two pounds\nwere paid for a cucking-stool at Leicester in 1768. Since that it\nhas been placed at the door of a notorious scold as a warning. Upon\nadmission to the House of Correction at Liverpool, a woman had to\nundergo the severity of the cucking-stool till a little before the year\n1803, when Mr. James Neild wrote to Dr. Lettsom. The pump in the men's\ncourt was the whipping-post for females, which discipline continued,\nthough not weekly.\n\n _Kingston-upon-Thames._ _s._ _d._\n\n 1572, The making of the cucking-stool 8 0\n Iron work for the same 3 0\n Timber for the same 7 6\n Three brasses for the same, and three wheels 4 10\n -----------\n L1 3 4\n\n At Marlborough, in 1625, a man had 4_d._ for his help at the\n cucking of Joan Neal.\n\n _Gravesend._\n\n 1636, The porters for ducking of Goodwife Campion 2 0\n Two porters for laying up the ducking-stool 0 8\n\n[Illustration: The Brank.]\n\nThe Brank, for taming shrews, was preferred to the cucking-stool in\nsome counties, and was used there for the same purpose. The brank was\nin favour in the northern counties, and in Worcestershire, though there\nwere, notwithstanding, some of the other instruments of punishment\nused, called in that county gum-stools.\n\nThe brank was put over the head, and was fastened with a padlock. There\nare entries at Worcester about mending the \"scould's bridle and cords\nfor the same.\"\n\nThe cucking-stool not only endangered the health of the party, but also\ngave the tongue liberty 'twixt every dip. The brank was put over the\nhead, and was fastened with a padlock.\n\n[Illustration: The Tumbrel.]\n\nThe tumbrel was a low-rolling cart or carriage (in law Latin,\n_tumberella_) which was used as a punishment of disgrace and infamy.\nMillers, when they stole corn, were chastised by the tumbrel. Persons\nwere sometimes fastened with an iron chain to a tumbrel, and conveyed\nbareheaded with din and cry through the principal streets of towns.\n\n\n_Court of Hustings Book, 1581._ (_Lyme._)\n\n\"The jury present that the tumbrel be repaired and maintained from time\nto time, according to the statute.\"\n\nIn 1583, Mr. Mayor was to provide a tumbrel before All Saints Day,\nunder a penalty of 10_s._\n\n\nANCIENT METHOD OF KEEPING A WASHING ACCOUNT.\n\nShakerley Marmion, in his \"Antiquary,\" says:--\n\n \"I must rev'rence and prefer the precedent\n Times before these, which consum'd their wits in\n Experiments; and 'twas a virtuous\n Emulation amongst them, that nothing\n Which, might profit posterity should perish.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Washing Tablet.]\n\nWithout a full adherence to this dictum, we would nevertheless admit\nthat we are indebted to the past for the germ of many of our most\nimportant discoveries. The ancient washing tablet, although of humble\npretensions to notice, is yet a proof of the simple and effective means\nfrequently adopted in olden times for the economy of time and materials.\n\nA reference to the engraving obviates a lengthened explanation. It\nwill there be seen that if the mistress of a family has fifteen\n_pillow-covers, or so many collars, or so many bands_, to be mentioned\nin the washing account, she can turn the circular dial, by means of\nthe button or handle, to the number corresponding with the rough\nmark at the bottom of the dial, above which is written _sheets_,\n_table-cloths_, &c. This simple and ingenious contrivance, obviates the\nnecessity of keeping a book.\n\nThe original \"washing board,\" from which the engraving is taken, was of\na larger size, and showed the numbers very distinctly. Similar dials\nmay be made of either ivory or metal.\n\n\nTHE HAIR.\n\nThe quality and colour of the hair was a subject of speculative theory\nfor the ancients. Lank hair was considered indicative of pusillanimity\nand cowardice; yet the head of Napoleon was guiltless of a curl!\nFrizzly hair was thought an indication of coarseness and clumsiness.\nThe hair most in esteem, was that terminating in ringlets. Dares, the\nhistorian, states that Achilles and Ajax Telamon had curling locks;\nsuch also was the hair of Timon, the Athenian. As to the Emperor\nAugustus, nature had favoured him with such redundant locks, that no\nhair-dresser in Rome could produce the like. Auburn or light brown\nhair was thought the most distinguished, as portending intelligence,\nindustry, a peaceful disposition, as well as great susceptibility to\nthe tender passion. Castor and Pollux had brown hair; so also had\nMenelaus. Black hair does not appear to have been esteemed by the\nRomans; but red was an object of aversion. Ages before the time of\nJudas, red hair was thought a mark of reprobation, both in the case\nof Typhon, who deprived his brother of the sceptre of Egypt, and\nNebuchadnezzar who acquired it in expiation of his atrocities. Even the\ndonkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened visitation, according to the\nproverb of \"wicked as a red ass.\" Asses of that colour were held in\nsuch detestation among the Copths, that every year they sacrificed one\nby hurling it from a high wall.\n\n\nTHE FIRST COFFEE HOUSE IN LONDON.\n\nCoffee is a native of Arabia, supposed by some to have been the chief\ningredient of the old Lacedemonian broth. The use of this berry was not\nknown in England till the year 1657, at which time Mr. D. Edwards, a\nTurkey merchant, on his return from Smyrna to London, brought with him\none Pasquet Rossee, a Greek of Ragusa, who was used to prepare this\nliquor for his master every morning, who, by the way, never wanted\ncompany. The merchant, therefore, in order to get rid of a crowd of\nvisitants, ordered his Greek to open a coffee-house, which he did in\nSt. Michael's Alley, in Cornhill. This was the first coffee-house\nopened in London.\n\n\nEATING FOR A WAGER.\n\nThe handbill, of which the subjoined is a literal copy, was circulated\nby the keeper of the public-house at which the gluttony was to happen,\nas an attraction for all the neighbourhood to witness:--\n\n\"_Bromley in Kent_, July 14, 1726.--A strange eating worthy is to\nperform a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day, which is the day of our\n_Fair_ for a wager of Five Guineas,--viz.: he is to eat four pounds of\nbacon, a bushel of French beans, with two pounds of butter, a quartern\nloaf, and to drink a gallon of strong beer!\"\n\n\nFOX KILLED BY A SWAN.\n\nAt Peusey, a swan sitting on her eggs, on one side of the river,\nobserved a fox swimming towards her from the opposite side; rightly\njudging she could best grapple with the fox in her own element, she\nplunged into the water, and after beating him off for some time with\nher wings, at length succeeded in drowning him.\n\n\nHIGHWAYMEN IN 1782.\n\nOn Wednesday, the 9th January, 1782, about four o'clock in the\nafternoon, as Anthony Todd, Esq., Secretary to the Post-office, was\ngoing in his carriage to his house at Walthamstow to dinner, and\nanother gentleman with him, he was stopt within a small distance of his\nhouse by two highwaymen, one of whom held a pistol to the coachman's\nbreast, whilst the other, with a handkerchief over his face, robbed\nMr. Todd and the gentleman of their gold watches and what money they\nhad about them. As soon as Mr. Todd got home all his men-servants were\nmounted on horses, and pursued the highwaymen; they got intelligence\nof their passing Lee-bridge, and rode on to Shoreditch; but could not\nlearn anything farther of them.\n\nThe same evening a gentleman going along Aldermanbury, near the church,\nwas accosted by a man with an enquiry as to the time; on which the\ngentleman pulled out his gold watch. The man immediately said, \"I\nmust have that watch and your money, sir, so don't make a noise.\" The\ngentleman seeing nobody near, he delivered his gold watch and four\nguineas, with some silver. The thief said he was in distress, and\nhoped the gentleman would not take away his life if ever he had the\nopportunity.\n\nSunday, the 13th January, 1782, about twelve o'clock, a man was, by\nforce, dragged up the yard of the French-Horn Inn, High Holborn, by\nsome person or persons unknown, and robbed of his watch, four guineas,\nand some silver; when they broke his arm and otherwise cruelly treated\nhim. He was found by a coachman, who took him to the hospital.\n\n\nAN ARCHBISHOP WASHING THE FEET OF THE POOR.\n\nIn the _Gentleman's Magazine_, we find the following\nobservance:--_Thursday, April 15, 1731_.--Being Maunday-Thursday, there\nwas distributed at the Banquetting-house, Whitehall, to forty-eight\npoor men, and forty-eight poor women (the King's age 48) boiled beef\nand shoulders of mutton, and small bowls of ale, which is called\ndinner; after that, large wooden platters of fish and loaves, viz.,\nundress'd, one large old ling, and one large dry'd cod; twelve red\nherrings, and nineteen white herrings, and four half quartern loaves;\neach person had one platter of this provision: after which was\ndistributed to them shoes, stockings, linnen and woolen cloath, and\nleathern bags, with one penny, two penny, three penny, and four penny\npieces of silver, and shillings: to each about L4 in value. His Grace\nthe Lord Archbishop of York, Lord High Almoner, performed the annual\nceremony of washing the feet of a certain number of poor in the Royal\nChapel, Whitehall, which was formerly done by the Kings themselves, in\nimitation of our Saviour's pattern of humility, &c. James II. was the\nlast King who performed this in person. His doing so was thus recorded\nin the _Chapel Royal Register_.--\"On Maunday Thursday April 16 1685 our\ngracious King James y{e} 2{d} wash'd wip'd and kiss'd the feet of 52 poor\nmen w{th} wonderful humility. And all the service of the Church of\nEngland usuall on that occasion was performed, his Maty being psent all\nthe time.\"\n\n\nA LUCKY FIND.\n\n_Sunday, April 1._--A few days ago, Sir Simon Stuart, of Hartley, in\nHampshire, looking over some old writings, found on the back of one\nof them a memorandum noting that 1,500 broad pieces were buried in a\ncertain spot in an adjoyning field. Whereupon he took a servant, and\nafter digging a little in the place, found the treasure in a pot, hid\nthere in the time of the late civil wars, by his grandfather, Sir\nNicholas Stuart.--_Gentleman's Magazine_, 1733.\n\n\nHOOPS IN 1740.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ladies Hoops in 1740.]\n\nThe monstrous appearance of the ladies' hoops, when viewed behind, may\nbe seen from the following cut, copied from one of Rigaud's views.\nThe exceedingly small cap, at this time fashionable, and the close\nup-turned hair beneath it, give an extraordinary meanness to the head,\nparticularly when the liberality of gown and petticoat is taken into\nconsideration: the lady to the left wears a black hood with an ample\nfringed cape, which envelopes her shoulders, and reposes on the summit\nof the hoop. The gentleman wears a small wig and bag; the skirts of his\ncoat are turned back, and were sometimes of a colour different from the\nrest of the stuff of which it was made, as were the cuffs and lappels.\n\n\nSIEGE OF GIBRALTAR.\n\nGibraltar had been taken by a combined English and Dutch fleet in 1704,\nand was confirmed as a British possession, in 1713, by the peace of\nUtrecht; but in 1779 it was assailed by the united forces of France\nand Spain, and the siege continued till the 2nd of February, 1783. The\nchief attack was made on the 13th September, 1782. On the part of the\nbesiegers, besides stupendous batteries on the land side, mounting two\nhundred pieces of ordnance, there was an army of 40,000 men, under the\ncommand of the Duc de Crillon. In the bay lay the combined fleets of\nFrance and Spain, comprising forty-seven sail of the line, beside ten\nbattering ships of powerful construction, that cost upwards of L50,000\neach. From these the heaviest shells rebounded, but ultimately two of\nthem were set on fire by red-hot shot, and the others were destroyed to\nprevent them from falling into the hands of the British commander. The\nrest of the fleet also suffered considerably; but the defenders escaped\nwith very little loss. In this engagement 8,300 rounds were fired by\nthe garrison, more than half of which consisted of red-hot balls.\nDuring this memorable siege, which lasted upwards of three years, the\nentire expenditure of the garrison exceeded 200,000 rounds,--8,000\nbarrels of powder being used. The expenditure of the enemy, enormous\nas this quantity is, must have been much greater; for they frequently\nfired, from their land-batteries, 4,000 rounds in the short space of\ntwenty-four hours. Terrific indeed must have been the spectacle as the\nimmense fortress poured forth its tremendous volleys, and the squadron\nand land-batteries replied with a powerful cannonade. But all this\nwaste of human life and of property was useless on the part of the\nassailants; for the place was successfully held, and Gibraltar still\nremains one of the principal strongholds of British power in Europe.\n\n[Illustration: Saint George's Hall, Gibraltar.]\n\nDuring the progress of the siege, the fortifications were considerably\nstrengthened, and numerous galleries were excavated in the solid rock,\nhaving port-holes at which heavy guns were mounted, which, keeping up\nan incessant fire, proved very efficacious in destroying the enemy's\nencampments on the land side. Communicating with the upper tier of\nthese galleries are two grand excavations, known as Lord Cornwallis's\nand St. George's Halls. The latter, which is capable of holding several\nhundred men, has numerous pieces of ordnance pointed in various\ndirections, ready to deal destruction on an approaching enemy.\n\n\nKEEPING WHITSUNTIDE AT DURHAM CATHEDRAL.\n\nThe following curious account of the consumption of provisions in the\ncathedral of Durham, during Whitsun week, in 1347, together with the\nprices of the articles, is taken from the rolls of the cellarer, at\npresent in the treasury at Durham:--six hundred salt herrings, 3s.;\nfour hundred white herrings, 2s. 6d.; thirty salted salmon, 7s. 6d.;\ntwelve fresh salmon, 5s. 6d.; fourteen ling, fifty-five \"kelengs;\"\nfour turbot, 23s. 1d.; two horse loads of white fish, and a \"congr,\"\n5s. 10d.; \"playc,\" \"sparlings,\" and eels, and fresh water fish, 2s.\n9d.; nine carcases of oxen, salted, so bought, 36s.; one carcase and\na quarter, fresh, 6s. 11-3/4d.; a quarter of an oxe, fresh, bought in\nthe town, 3s. 6d.; seven carcases and a half of swine, in salt, 22s.\n2-1/4d.; six carcases, fresh, 12s. 9d.; fourteen calves, 28s. 4d.;\nthree kids, and twenty-six sucking porkers, 9s. 7-1/2d.; seventy-one\ngeese with their feed, 11s. 10d.; fourteen capons, fifty-nine chickens,\nand five dozen pidgeons, 10s. 3d.; five stones of hog's lard, 4s. 2d.;\nfour stones of cheese, butter, and milk, 6s. 6d.; a pottle of vinegar,\nand a pottle of honey, 6-1/2d.; fourteen pounds of figs and raisins,\nsixteen pounds of almonds, and eight pounds of rice, 3s. 7d.; pepper,\nsaffron, cinnamon, and other spices, 2s. 6d.; one thousand three\nhundred eggs, 15s. 5d.--sum total, L11 4s. Similar consumptions took\nplace during the week of the feast of St. Cuthbert, and other feasts,\namong the monks of Durham, for a long period of years.\n\n\nCURIOUS LAW.\n\nThe following curious law was enacted during the reign of Richard I.\nfor the government of those going by sea to the Holy Land:--\"He who\nkills a man on shipboard, shall be bound to the dead body and thrown\ninto the sea; if the man is killed on shore, the slayer shall be bound\nto the dead body and buried with it. He who shall draw his knife to\nstrike another, or who shall have drawn blood from him, to lose his\nhand; if he shall have only struck with the palm of his hand without\ndrawing blood, he shall be thrice ducked in the sea.\"\n\n\nDECAPITATION BY THE GUILLOTINE.\n\nA gentleman of intelligence and literary attainments, makes, in an\naccount of his travels on the continent, the following most singular\nremarks on an execution he witnessed, in which the culprit was beheaded\nby the guillotine:--\"It appears,\" says he, \"to be the best of all\npossible modes of inflicting the punishment of death; combining the\ngreatest impression on the spectator, with the least possible suffering\nto the victim. It is so rapid, that I should doubt whether there were\nany suffering; but from the expression of the countenance, when the\nexecutioner held up the head, I am inclined to believe that sense and\nconsciousness may remain for a few seconds after the head is off. The\neyes seemed to retain speculation for a moment or two, and there was a\nlook in the ghastly stare with which they stared upon the crowd, which\nimplied that the head was aware of its ignominious situation.\"\n\n\nALDERMAN BOYDELL.\n\nIt was the regular custom of Mr. Alderman Boydell, who was a very early\nriser, at five o'clock, to go immediately to the pump in Ironmonger\nLane. There, after placing his wig upon the ball at the top of it, he\nused to sluice his head with its water. This well-known and highly\nrespected character, who has done more for the British artist than all\nthe print-publishers put together, was also one of the last men who\nwore a three-cornered hat.\n\n\nFEATS OF STRENGTH IN 1739.\n\nApril 21.--The following notice was given to the public:--\"For the\nbenefit of Thomas Topham, the strong man, from Islington, whose\nperformances have been looked upon by the Royal Society and several\npersons of distinction, to be the most surprising as well as curious\nof any thing ever performed in England; on which account, as other\nentertainments are more frequently met with than that he proposes, he\nhumbly hopes gentlemen and ladies, &c., will honour him with their\npresence at the Nag's Head, in Gateshead, on Monday the 23d of this\ninstant, at four o'clock, where he intends to perform several feats of\nstrength, viz.:--He bends an iron poker three inches in circumference,\nover his arm, and one of two inches and a quarter round his neck; he\nbreaks a rope that will bear two thousand weight, and with his fingers\nrolls up a pewter dish of seven pounds hard metal; he lays the back\npart of his head on one chair, and his heels on another, and suffering\nfour men to stand on his body, he moves them up and down at pleasure;\nhe lifts a table six feet in length, by his teeth, with a half hundred\nweight hanging at the further end of it; and, lastly, to oblige the\npublick, he will lift a butt full of water.\" \"Each person to pay one\nshilling.\" This \"strong man\" fell a victim to jealousy, as is proved by\nthe following:--\"August 10th, 1749, died, Mr. Thomas Topham, known by\nthe name of the strong man, master of a publick house in Shoreditch,\nLondon. In a fit of jealousy, he stabbed his wife, then cut his own\nthroat and stabbed himself, after which he lived two days.\"\n\n\nELEPHANTS FRIGHTENED AT PIGS.\n\n\"Then on a tyme there were many grete clerkes and rad of kyng\nAlysaunder how on a tyme as he sholde have a batayle with ye kynge\nof Inde. And this kynge of Inde broughte with hym many olyphauntes\nberynge castelles of tree on theyr backes as the kynde of the is to\nhaue armed knyghtes in ye castell for the batayle, them ne knewe\nAlysaunder the kynge, of the olyphauntes that they drad no thynge more\nthan the jarrynge of swyne, wherefore he made to gader to gyder all\nye swyne that myghte be goten, and caused them to be dryuen as ny the\nolyphauntes as they myghte well here the jarrynge of the swyne, and\nthenne they made a pygge to crye, and whan the swyne herde the pygges a\nnone they made a great jarrynge, and as soone as the olyphauntes herde\nthat, they began to fle eche one, and keste downe the castelles and\nslewe the knyghtes that were in them, and by this meane Alysaunder had\nye vyctory.\"--_Liber Festivalis, printed by W. Caxton in_ 1483.\n\n\nA VISIT TO THE OBSERVATORY OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON.\n\nThe memory of a great and good man is imperishable. A thousand years\nmay pass away, but the fame that has survived the wreck of time remains\nunsullied, and is even brighter with age.\n\n \"The actions of the just\n Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.\"\n\nIn an age of progress like our own we have frequently to regret the\ndestruction (sometimes necessary) of places associated with the genius\nof the past; but in the case of Sir Isaac Newton we have several\nrelics existing, none of which, perhaps, are more interesting than\nthe house in which he resided, still standing in St. Martin's Street,\non the south side of Leicester Square. The engravings of the interior\nand exterior of this building have been made from drawings made on\nthe spot. The house was long occupied as an hotel for foreigners, and\nwas kept by a M. Pagliano. In 1814 it was devoted to the purposes of\neducation. The Observatory, which is at the top, and where Sir Isaac\nNewton made his astronomical researches, was left in a dilapidated\ncondition until 1824, when two gentlemen, belonging to a committee of\nthe school, had it repaired at their own expense, and wrote a brief\nmemoir of the philosopher, which was placed in the Observatory, with a\nportrait of him.\n\n[Illustration: Interior of Sir Isaac Newton's Observatory.]\n\n[Illustration: House of Sir Isaac Newton, St. Martin's Street,\nLeicester Square.]\n\nIn this house Sir Isaac Newton resided for many years; and it was\nhere, according to his biographer, that he dispensed, under the\nsuperintendence of his beautiful niece, an elegant hospitality. Our\nsketch gives a good idea of the appearance of the exterior of the\nhouse at the present day; the front, it will be seen, has been well\nplastered, which, although clean and pleasant-looking to some eyes,\nseems to us to destroy the character of the building. The old doorway,\nwith a projecting top, has also been removed. The interior of the\nhouse is in excellent repair, and has undergone very little change.\nThe cornices, panelling, and the spacious staircase, are not altered\nsince the days of Newton. The rooms are very large. Tradition states\nit was in the back drawing-room that the manuscript of his work, the\n\"New Theory of Light and Colours,\" was destroyed by fire, caused by a\nfavourite little dog in Sir Isaac's absence. The name of this canine\nincendiary was Diamond. The manner in which the accident occurred is\nthus related:--The animal was wantoning about the philosopher's study,\nwhen it knocked down a candle, and set fire to a heap of manuscript\ncalculations upon which he had been employed for years. The loss was\nirretrievable; but Sir Isaac only exclaimed with simplicity, \"Ah,\nDiamond, Diamond, you little know what mischief you have been doing!\"\n\nPassing upstairs, and looking slightly at the various rooms, which\nare all well panelled, but which do not require particular notice, we\nreached the little observatory shown in the engraving. There, in the\nroom in which Sir Isaac has quietly studied, and in which he may have\nheld conferences with the most distinguished of his contemporaries,\nwe found two shoemakers busily at work, with whom we had some\npleasant conversation. Our artist has represented the interior of\nthe observatory, with its laborious occupants, worthy sons of St.\nCrispin. Shoemakers are well known to be a thoughtful class of men,\nalthough sometimes they unfortunately do not make the best use of their\nknowledge. Brand, the historian and author of the excellent book on\n\"Popular Antiquities,\" was at one time a shoemaker; so was Bloomfield,\nthe poet, who, when working at the \"last\" in Bell Alley, near the Bank,\nstrung together the charming recollection of his plough-boy life. We\ncould give a long list of shoemakers who have been eminent for talents.\n\nWe have not the exact date at which Newton came to reside here, but\ncertainly he was living in this house, at intervals, after 1695, when\nhe was appointed Warder of the Mint, of which establishment he rose to\nbe Master in the course of three years. The emoluments of this office\namounted to L1200 a-year, which enabled him to live in ease and dignity.\n\nIn 1703 he was chosen President of the Royal Society--an honourable\npost, to which he was annually elected until the time of his death.\n\n\nPOISONING THE MONARCH.\n\nAn idea of the popular notions about poisoning in the middle of the\nseventeenth century, may be formed from the following extract from an\nold tract, published in 1652, with the title of \"Papa Patris, or the\nPope in his Colours\":--\"Anno Dom: 1596; one Edward Squire, sometimes a\nscrivener at Grenewich, afterwards a deputy purveyor for the Queene's\nstable, in Sir Francis Drake's last voyage was taken prisoner and\ncarried into Spaine, and being set at liberty, one Walpole, a Jesuite,\ngrew acquainted with him, and got him into the Inquisition, whence\nhe returned a resolved Papist, he persuaded Squire to undertake to\npoyson the pummell of the Queene (Elizabeth's) saddle, and, to make\nhim constant, made Squire receive the Sacrament upon it; he then gave\nhim the poyson, showing that he should take it in a double bladder,\nand should prick the bladder full of hoales in the upper part, when he\nshould use it (carrying it within a thick glove for the safety of his\nhand) should after turne it downward, pressing the bladder upon the\npummell of the Queene's saddle. This Squire confest. Squire is now in\nSpaine, and for his safer dispatch into England it was devised that\ntwo Spanish prisoners taken at Cales should be exchanged for Squire\nand one Rawles, that it might not be thought that Squire came over but\nas a redeemed captive. The Munday sennight after Squire returned into\nEngland, he, understanding the horses were preparing for the Queene's\nriding abroad, laid his hand, and crushed the poyson upon the pummell\nof the Queene's saddle, saying, 'God save the Queene,' the Queene\nrode abroad, and as it should seem laid not her hand upon the place,\nor els received no hurt (through God's goodnesse) by touching it.\nWalpole, counting the thing as done, imparted it to some principall\nfugitives there, but being disappointed of his hope, supposing Squire\nto have been false, to be revenged on him sent one hither (who should\npretend to have stolne from thence) with letters, wherein the plot of\nSquires was contained; this letter was pretended to be stolne out of\none of their studies. Squire, being apprehended, confessed all without\nany rigor, but after denied that he put it in execution, although he\nacknowledged he consented to it in the plot, at length he confessed the\nputting it in execution also.\"\n\n\nGRINNING FOR A WAGER.\n\n_June 9, 1786._--On Whit-Tuesday was celebrated at Hendon, in\nMiddlesex, a burlesque imitation of the Olympic Games. One prize was a\ngold-laced hat, to be grinned for by six candidates, who were placed on\na platform, with horses' collars to exhibit through. Over their heads\nwas printed in capitals,--\n\n Detur Tetriori; or\n The ugliest grinner\n Shall be the winner.\n\nEach party grinned five minutes _solus_, and then all united in a\ngrand _chorus_ of distortion. This prize was carried by a porter to a\n_vinegar_ merchant, though he was accused by his competitors of foul\nplay, for rinsing his mouth with _verjuice_. The whole was concluded\nby a hog, with has tail shaved and soaped, being let loose among nine\npeasants; any one of which that could seize him by the _queue_, and\nthrow him across his shoulders, was to have him for a reward. This\noccasioned much sport: the animal, after running some miles, so tired\nhis hunters that they gave up the chase in despair. A prodigious\nconcourse of people attended, among whom were the Tripoline Ambassador,\nand several other persons of distinction.\n\n\nBITE OF THE TARANTULA SPIDER.\n\nA Neapolitan soldier who had been bitten by a tarantula, though\napparently cured, suffered from an annual attack of delirium, after\nwhich he used to sink into a state of profound melancholy; his face\nbecoming livid, his sight obscure, his power of breathing checked,\naccompanied by sighs and heavings. Sometimes he fell senseless, and\ndevoid of pulsation; ejecting blood from his nose and mouth, and\napparently dying. Recourse was had to the influence of music; and the\npatient began to revive at the sound, his hands marking the measure,\nand the feet being similarly affected. Suddenly rising and laying hold\nof a bystander, he began to dance with the greatest agility during\nan uninterrupted course of four-and-twenty hours. His strength was\nsupported by administering to him wine, milk, and fresh eggs. If he\nappeared to relapse, the music was repeated, on which he resumed his\ndancing. This unfortunate being used to fall prostrate if the music\naccidentally stopped, and imagine that the tarantula had again stung\nhim. After a few years he died, in one of these annual attacks of\ndelirium.\n\n\nBYGONE CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.\n\n ------------\"Now, too, is heard\n The hapless cripple, tuning through the streets\n His _carol_ new; and oft, amid the gloom\n Of midnight hours, prevail th' accustom'd sounds\n Of wakeful _waits_, whose harmony (composed\n Of hautboy, organ, violin, and flute,\n And various other instruments of mirth),\n Is meant to celebrate the coming time.\"\n\n[Illustration: The Mummers, Or Ancient Waits.]\n\nThe manner in which this period of the year has been observed has often\nvaried. The observances of the day first became to be pretty general\nin the Catholic church about the year 300. By some of our ancestors\nit was viewed in the double light of a religious and joyful season of\nfestivities. The midnight preceding Christmas-day every person went\nto mass, and on Christmas-day three different masses were sung with\nmuch solemnity. Others celebrated it with great parade, splendour, and\nconviviality. Business was superseded by merriment and hospitality;\nthe most careworn countenance brightened on the occasion. The nobles\nand the barons encouraged and participated in the various sports: the\nindustrious labourer's cot, and the residence of proud royalty, equally\nresounded with tumultuous joy. From Christmas-day to Twelfth-day there\nwas a continued run of entertainments. Not only did our ancestors make\ngreat rejoicings on, but before and after Christmas-day. By a law in\nthe time of Alfred, the \"twelve days after the nativity of our Saviour\nwere made festivals;\"[1] and it likewise appears from Bishop Holt, that\nthe whole of the days were dedicated to feasting.\n\n[1] Thus we have the origin of Twelfth-day.\n\nOur ancestors' various amusements were conducted by a sort of master\nof the ceremonies, called the \"Lord of Misrule,\" whose duty it was to\nkeep order during the celebration of the different sports and pastimes.\nThe universities, the lord mayor and sheriffs, and all noblemen and\ngentlemen, had their \"lords of misrule.\" These \"lords\" were first\npreached against at Cambridge by the Puritans, in the reign of James\nI., as unbecoming the gravity of the university.\n\n[Illustration: The Lord of Misrule.]\n\nThe custom of serving boars' heads at Christmas bears an ancient date,\nand much ceremony and parade has been occasionally attached to it.\nHenry II. \"served his son (upon the young prince's coronation) at the\ntable as server, bringing up the _boar's head_ with trumpets before it.\"\n\nThe custom of strolling from street to street with musical instruments\nand singing seems to have originated from a very ancient practice\nwhich prevailed, of certain minstrels who were attached to the king's\ncourt and other great persons, who paraded the streets, and sounded the\nhour--thus acting as a sort of watchmen. Some slight remains of these\nstill exist, but they no longer partake of the authoritative claim\nas they originally did, as the \"lord mayor's music,\" &c. It may not,\nperhaps, be generally known, that even at the present day \"waits\" are\nregularly sworn before the \"court of burgesses\" at Westminster, and act\nunder the authority of a warrant, signed by the clerk, and sealed with\nthe arms of the city and liberty; in addition to which, they were bound\nto provide themselves with a silver badge, also bearing the arms of\nWestminster.\n\nIn the north they have their _Yule log_, or _Yuletide log_, which is\na huge log burning in the chimney corner, whilst the Yule cakes are\nbaked on a \"girdle,\" (a kind of frying-pan) over the fire; little lads\nand maidens assemble nightly at some neighbouring friends to hear the\ngoblin story, and join in \"fortune-telling,\" or some game. There is a\npart of an old song which runs thus:\n\n \"Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke.\n And _Christmas logs_ are burning;\n Their ovens they with baked meate choke,\n And all their spits are turning.\"\n\nAmong the plants usual to Christmas are the rosemary, the holly, and\nthe mistletoe. Gay says:\n\n \"When _rosemary_ and _bays_, the poet's crown,\n Are bawled in frequent cries through all the town,\n Then judge the festival of Christmas near--\n Christmas, the joyous period of the year.\n Now with bright _holly_ all your temples strow,\n With _laurel_ green and sacred _mistletoe_.\"\n\n\nA MERMAN.\n\n\"The wind being easterly, we had thirty fathoms of water, when at ten\no'clock in the morning a sea monster like a man appeared near our ship,\nfirst on the larboard, where the master was, whose name is William\nLomone, who took a grappling iron to pull him up; but our captain,\nnamed Oliver Morin, hindered him, being afraid that the monster would\ndrag him away into the sea. The said Lomone struck him on the back, to\nmake him turn about, that he might view him the better. The monster,\nbeing struck, showed his face, having his two hands closed as if he\nhad expressed some anger. Afterwards he went round the ship: when he\nwas at the stern, he took hold of the helm with both hands, and we\nwere obliged to make it fast lest he should damage it. From thence he\nproceeded to the starboard, swimming still as men do. When he came\nto the forepart of the ship, he viewed for some time the figure that\nwas in our prow, which represented a beautiful woman, and then he\nrose out of the water as if he had been willing to catch that figure.\nAll this happened in the sight of the whole crew. Afterwards he came\nagain to the larboard, where they presented to him a cod-fish hanging\ndown with a rope; he handled it without spoiling it, and then removed\nthe length of a cable and came again to the stern, where he took hold\nof the helm a second time. At that very moment, Captain Morin got a\nharping-iron ready, and took it himself to strike him with it; but\nthe cordage being entangled, he missed his aim, and the harping-iron\ntouched only the monster, who turned about, showing his face, as he\nhad done before. Afterwards he came again to the fore part, and viewed\nagain the figure in our prow. The mate called for the harping-iron; but\nhe was frightened, fancying that this monster was one La Commune, who\nhad killed himself in the ship the year before, and had been thrown\ninto the sea in the same passage. He was contented to push his back\nwith the harping-iron, and then the monster showed his face, as he had\ndone at other times. Afterwards he came along the board, so that one\nmight have given him the hand. He had the boldness to take a rope held\nup by John Mazier and John Deffiete, who being willing to pluck it out\nof his hands, drew him to our board; but he fell into the water and\nthen removed at the distance of a gun's shot. He came again immediately\nnear our board, and rising out of the water to the navel, we observed\nthat his breast was as large as that of a woman of the best plight.\nHe turned upon his back and appeared to be a male. Afterwards he swam\nagain round the ship, and then went away, and we have never seen him\nsince. I believe that from ten o'clock till twelve that this monster\nwas along our board; if the crew had not been frighted, he might have\nbeen taken many times with the hand, being only two feet distant.\nThat monster is about eight feet long, his skin is brown and tawny,\nwithout any scales, all his motions are like those of men, the eyes\nof a proportionable size, a little mouth, a large and flat nose, very\nwhite teeth, black hair, the chin covered with a mossy beard, a sort of\nwhiskers under the nose, the ears like those of men, fins between the\nfingers of his hands and feet like those of ducks. In a word, he is a\nwell-shaped man. Which is certified to be true by Captain Oliver Morin,\nand John Martin, pilot, and by the whole crew, consisting of two and\nthirty men.\"--_An article from Brest, in the Memoirs of Trevoux._--This\nmonster was mentioned in the Gazette of Amsterdam, October 12, 1725,\nwhere it is said it was seen in the ocean in August, same year.\n\n\nA SHAVED BEAR.\n\nAt Bristol I saw a shaved monkey shown for a fairy; and a shaved\nbear, in a check waistcoat and trousers, sitting in a great chair\nas an Ethiopian savage. This was the most cruel fraud I ever saw.\nThe unnatural position of the beast, and the damnable brutality of\nthe woman-keeper who sat upon his knee, put her arm round his neck,\ncalled him husband and sweet-heart, and kissed him, made it the most\ndisgusting spectacle I ever witnessed! Cottle was with me.--_Southey._\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF WIGS.\n\nAs for the origin of wigs, the honour of the invention is attributed\nto the luxurious Sapygians in Southern Italy. The Louvain theologians,\nwho published a French version of the Bible, affected, however, to\ndiscover the first mention of perukes in a passage in the fourth\nchapter of Isaiah. The Vulgate has these words: \"Decalvabit Dominus\nverticem filiarum Sion, et Dominus crinem earum nudabit.\" This, the\nLouvain gentlemen translated into French as follows: \"Le Seigneur\ndechevelera les tetes des filles de Sion, et le Seigneur decouvrira\nleurs perruques;\" which, done into English, implies that \"The Lord will\npluck the hair from the heads of the daughters of Sion, and will expose\ntheir periwigs.\"\n\n\nDRESS IN 1772.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Maccaronies.]\n\nThe year 1772 introduced a new style for gentlemen, imported by a\nnumber of young men of fashion who had travelled into Italy, and\nformed an association called the Maccaroni Club, in contradistinction\nto the Beef-steak Club of London. Hence these new-fashioned dandies\nwere styled Maccaronies, a name that was afterwards applied to ladies\nof the same genus. The accompanying cut delineates the peculiarities\nof both. The hair of the gentleman was dressed in an enormous toupee,\nwith very large curls at the sides; while behind it was gathered and\ntied up into an enormous club, or knot, that rested on the back of\nthe neck like a porter's knot; upon this an exceedingly small hat\nwas worn, which was sometimes lifted from the head with the cane,\ngenerally very long, and decorated with extremely large silk tassels;\na full white handkerchief was tied in a large bow round the neck;\nfrills from the shirt-front projected from the top of the waistcoat,\nwhich was much shortened, reaching very little below the waist, and\nbeing without the flap-covered pockets. The coat was also short,\nreaching only to the hips, fitting closely, having a small turn-over\ncollar as now worn; it was edged with lace or braid, or decorated\nwith frog-buttons, tassels, or embroidery; the breeches were tight,\nof spotted or striped silk, with enormous bunches of strings at the\nknee. A watch was carried in each pocket, from which hung bunches of\nchains and seals: silk stockings and small shoes with little diamond\nbuckles completed the gentleman's dress. The ladies decorated their\nheads much like the gentlemen, with a most enormous heap of hair, which\nwas frequently surmounted by plumes of large feathers and bunches of\nflowers, until the head seemed to overbalance the body. The gown was\nopen in front; hoops were discarded except in full-dress; and the gown\ngradually spread outward from the waist, and trailed upon the ground\nbehind, shewing the rich laced petticoat ornamented with flowers and\nneedlework; the sleeves widened to the elbow, where a succession of\nruffles and lappets, each wider than the other, hung down below the\nhips.\n\n\nCHRISTMAS OBSERVANCES PUT DOWN BY THE PURITANS.\n\nDuring the Commonwealth, when puritanical feelings held iron sway\nover the rulers of the land, and rode rampant in high places, many\nstrong attempts were made to put down what they were pleased to term\nsuperstitious festivals, and amongst these was that of Christmas\nDay. So determined was the Puritan party to sweep away all vestiges\nof evil creeds and evil deeds, that they were resolved to make one\ngrand attempt upon the time-honoured season of Christmas. The Holly\nand the Mistletoe-bough were to be cut up root and branch, as plants\nof the Evil One. Cakes and Ale were held to be impious libations to\nsuperstition; and the Roundheads would have none of it.\n\n[Illustration: Proclaiming the Non-observance of Christmas.]\n\nAccordingly, we learn that, in the year 1647, the Cromwell party\nordered throughout the principal towns and cities of the country, by\nthe mouth of the common crier, that Christmas Day should no longer\nbe observed--it being a superstitious and hurtful custom; and that\nin place thereof, and the more effectually to work a change, markets\nshould be held on the 25th day of December.\n\nThis was attacking the people, especially the country folks, in\ntheir most sensitive part. It was hardly to be expected that they\nwould quietly submit to such a bereavement; nor did they, as the\nstill-existing \"News-letters\" of those days amply testify.\n\n\nTHE MANNER OF WATCHMEN INTIMATING THE CLOCK AT HERRENHUTH IN GERMANY.\n\n VIII. Past eight o'clock! O, Herrenhuth, do thou ponder;\n Eight souls in Noah's ark were living yonder.\n\n IX. 'Tis nine o'clock! ye brethren, hear it striking;\n Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking.\n\n X. Now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing;\n None rest but such as wait for Christ embracing.\n\n XI. Eleven is past! still at this hour eleven,\n The Lord is calling us from earth to heaven.\n\n XII. Ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming;\n At midnight, our great Bridegroom will be coming.\n\n I. Past one o'clock; the day breaks out of darkness:\n Great Morning-star appear, and break our hardness!\n\n II. 'Tis two! on Jesus wait this silent season,\n Ye two so near related, will and reason.\n\n III. The clock is three! the blessed Three doth merit\n The best of praise, from body, soul, and spirit.\n\n IV. 'Tis four o'clock, when three make supplication,\n The Lord will be the fourth on that occasion.\n\n V. Five is the clock! five virgins were discarded,\n When five with wedding garments were rewarded.\n\n VI. The clock is six, and I go off my station;\n Now, brethren, _watch yourselves for your salvation_.\n\n\nA DOG EXTINGUISHING A FIRE.\n\nOn the evening of the 21st February, 1822, the shop of Mr. Coxon,\nchandler, at the Folly, Sandgate, in Newcastle, was left in charge of\nhis daughter, about nine years of age, and a large mastiff, which is\ngenerally kept there as a safeguard since an attempt was made to rob\nthe shop. The child had on a straw bonnet lined with silk, which took\nfire from coming too near the candle. She endeavoured to pull it off,\nbut being tied, she could not effect her purpose, and in her terror\nshrieked out, on which the mastiff instantly sprang to her assistance,\nand with mouth and paws completely smothered out the flame by pressing\nthe bonnet together. The lining of the bonnet and the child's hair only\nwere burnt.\n\n\nCAMBRIDGE CLODS.\n\nAbout sixty years since, two characters, equally singular in their way,\nresided at Cambridge: Paris, a well-known bookseller, and Jackson, a\nbookbinder, and principal bass-singer at Trinity College Chapel in that\nUniversity; these two gentlemen, who were both remarkably corpulent,\nwere such small consumers in the article of bread, that their\nabstemiousness in that particular was generally noticed; but, to make\namends, they gave way to the greatest excess and indulgence of their\nappetites in meat, poultry, and fish, of almost every description. So\none day, having taken an excursion, in walking a few miles from home,\nthey were overtaken by hunger, and, on entering a public-house, the\nonly provision they could procure was a clod of beef, weighing near\nfourteen pounds, which had been a day or two in salt; and this these\ntwo moderate bread consumers contrived to manage between them broiled,\nassisted by a due proportion of buttered potatoes and pickles. The\nlandlord of the house, having some knowledge of his guests, the story\ngot into circulation, and the two worthies were ever after denominated\nthe Cambridge Clods!\n\n\nWITCH-TESTING AT NEWCASTLE IN 1649.\n\nMarch 26.--Mention occurs of a petition in the common council books\nof Newcastle, of this date, and signed, no doubt, by the inhabitants,\nconcerning witches, the purport of which appears, from what followed,\nto have been to cause all such persons as were suspected of that crime\nto be apprehended and brought to trial. In consequence of this, the\nmagistrates sent two of their sergeants, viz.--Thomas Shevill and\nCuthbert Nicholson, into Scotland, to agree with a Scotchman, who\npretended knowledge to find out witches, by pricking them with pins, to\ncome to Newcastle, where he should try such who should be brought to\nhim, and to have twenty shillings a piece, for all he should condemn as\nwitches, and free passage thither and back again. When the sergeants\nhad brought the said witch-finder on horseback to town, the magistrates\nsent their bellman through the town, ringing his bell and crying,\nall people that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a\nwitch, they should be sent for, and tried by the person appointed.\nThirty women were brought into the town-hall, and stripped, and then\nopenly had pins thrust into their bodies, and most of them were found\nguilty. The said reputed witch-finder acquainted Lieutenant-Colonel\nPaul Hobson, deputy-governor of Newcastle, that he knew women whether\nthey were witches or no by their looks; and when the said person\nwas searching of a personable and good-like woman, the said colonel\nreplied, and said, surely this woman is none, and need not be tried,\nbut the Scotchman said she was, and, therefore, he would try her; and\npresently, in the sight of all the people, laid her body naked to the\nwaist, with her cloathes over her head, by which fright and shame all\nher blood contracted into one part of her body, and then he ran a pin\ninto her thigh, and then suddenly let her cloathes fall, and then\ndemanded whether she had nothing of his in her body, but did not bleed!\nbut she being amazed, replied little; then he put his hands up her\ncloathes and pulled out the pin, and set her aside as a guilty person,\nand child of the devil, and fell to try others, whom he made guilty.\nLieutenant-Colonel Hobson, perceiving the alteration of the aforesaid\nwoman, by her blood settling in her right parts, caused that woman to\nbe brought again, and her cloathes pulled up to her thigh, and required\nthe Scot to run the pin into the same place, and then it gushed out of\nblood, and the said Scot cleared her, and said she was not a child of\nthe devil. The witch-finder set aside twenty-seven out of the thirty\nsuspected persons, and in consequence, fourteen witches and one wizard,\nbelonging to Newcastle, were executed on the town moor.\n\n\nALEXANDER SELKIRK AND THE DANCING GOATS.\n\nThe adventures of Alexander Selkirk, an English sailor, who, more than\none hundred and fifty years since, was left alone on the island of Juan\nFernandez are very wonderful.\n\nThis extraordinary man sought to beguile his solitude by rearing kids,\nand he would often sing to them, and dance with his motley group around\nhim. His clothes having worn out, he dressed himself in garments made\nfrom the skins of such as run wild about the island; these he sewed\ntogether with thongs of the same material. His only needle was a long\nslender nail; and when his knife was no longer available, he made an\nadmirable substitute from an iron hoop that was cast ashore.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Alexander Selkirk.]\n\nUpon the wonderful sojourn of this man, Defoe founded his exquisite\ntale of \"Robinson Crusoe,\" a narrative more extensively read and better\nknown than perhaps any other ever written.\n\n\nJACOB BOBART.\n\nA curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden at\nOxford, occurs in one of Grey's notes to _Hudibras_--\"He made a dead\nrat resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and\ntail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which, distended the skin on\neach side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as possible.\nThe learned immediately pronounced it a dragon; and one of them sent\nan accurate description of it to Dr. Magliabecchi, librarian to the\nGrand Duke of Tuscany; several fine copies of verses were wrote on so\nrare a subject; but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat. However, it was\nlooked upon as a masterpiece of the art; and, as such, deposited in the\nMuseum.\"\n\n\nBLIND JACK.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Blind Jack.]\n\nThe streets of London, in the reigns of Queen Anne and Georges I. and\nII., were infested with all sorts of paupers, vagabonds, impostors,\nand common adventurers; and many, who otherwise might be considered\nreal objects of charity, by their disgusting manners and general\nappearance in public places, rather merited the interference of the\nparish beadles, and the discipline of Bridewell, than the countenance\nand encouragement of such persons as mostly congregated around common\nstreet exhibitions. One-eyed Granny and Blind Jack were particular\nnuisances to the neighbourhoods in which the first practised her\nmad-drunk gambols, and the latter his beastly manner of performing on\nthe flageolet. John Keiling, alias _Blind Jack_, having the misfortune\nto lose his sight, thought of a strange method to insure himself a\nlivelihood. He was constitutionally a hale, robust fellow, without\nany complaint, saving blindness, and having learnt to play a little\non the flageolet, he conceived a notion that, by performing on that\ninstrument in a different way to that generally practised, he should\nrender himself more noticed by the public, and be able to levy larger\ncontributions on their pockets.\n\nThe manner of _Blind Jack's_ playing the flageolet was by obtruding\nthe mouthpiece of the instrument up one of his nostrils, and, by long\ncustom, he could produce as much wind as most others with their lips\ninto the pipe; but the continued contortion and gesticulation of his\nmuscles and countenance rendered him an object of derision and disgust,\nas much as that of charity and commiseration.\n\n\nTHE YORKSHIRE TIKE.\n\n Ah iz i truth a country youth,\n Neean us'd teea Lunnon fashions;\n Yet vartue guides, an' still presides,\n Ower all mah steps an' passions.\n\n Neea coortly leear, bud all sincere,\n Neea bribe shall ivver blinnd me,\n If thoo can like a Yorkshire tike,\n A rooague thoo'll nivver finnd me.\n\n Thof envy's tung, seea slimlee hung,\n Wad lee aboot oor country,\n Neea men o' t' eearth booast greter wurth,\n Or mare extend ther boounty.\n\n Oor northern breeze wi' uz agrees,\n An' does for wark weel fit uz;\n I' public cares, an' all affairs,\n Wi' honour we acquit uz.\n\n Seea gret a moind is ne'er confiand,\n Tu onny shire or nation;\n They geean meeast praise weea weel displays\n A leearned iddicasion.\n\n Whahl rancour rolls i' lahtle souls,\n By shallo views dissarning,\n They're nobbut wise 'at awlus prize\n Gud manners, sense, and leearnin.\n\n\nTWO OF THE FATHERS ON FALSE HAIR.\n\nTertullian says, \"If you will not fling away your false hair, as\nhateful to Heaven, cannot I make it hateful to yourselves, by reminding\nyou that the false hair you wear may have come not only from a\ncriminal, but from a very dirty head; perhaps from the head of one\nalready damned?\" This was a very hard hit indeed; but it was not nearly\nso clever a stroke at wigs as that dealt by Clemens of Alexandria. The\nlatter informed the astounded wig-wearers, when they knelt at church\nto receive the blessing, that they must be good enough to recollect\nthat the benediction remained on the wig, and did not pass through\nto the wearer! This was a stumbling-block to the people; many of\nwhom, however, retained the peruke, and took their chance as to the\npercolating through it of the benediction.\n\n\nFOOD OF ANIMALS.\n\nLinnaeus states the cow to eat 276 plants, and to refuse 218; the goat\neats 449, and declines 126; the sheep takes 387, and rejects 141;\nthe horse likes 262, and avoids 212; but the hog, more nice in its\nprovision than any of the former, eats but 72 plants, and rejects 171.\n\n\nSLAVE ADVERTISEMENTS.\n\nThe following announcements are curious, as showing the merchandise\nlight in which the negro was regarded in America while yet a colony of\nGreat Britain:--\n\n _FRANCIS LEWIS, Has for SALE_,\n\n A Choice Parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars, in Hogsheads,\n Tierces, and Barrels; Ravens, Duck, and a Negro Woman and Negro\n Boy.--The Coach-House and Stables, with or without the Garden\n Spot, formerly the Property of Joseph Murray, Esq; in the Broad\n Way, to be let separately or together:--Inquire of said Francis\n Lewis.\n\n _New York Gazette_, Apr. 25, 1765.\n\n * * * * *\n\n This Day Run away from _John M' Comb_, Junier, an Indian Woman,\n about 17 Years of Age, Pitted in the face, of a middle Stature and\n Indifferent fatt, having on her a Drugat, Wastcoat, and Kersey\n Petticoat, of a Light Collour. If any Person or Persons, shall\n bring the said Girle to her said Master, shall be Rewarded for\n their Trouble to their Content.\n\n _American Weekly Mercury_, May 24, 1726.\n\n * * * * *\n\n A Female Negro Child (of an extraordinary good Breed) to be given\n away; Inquire of Edes and Gill.\n\n _Boston Gazette_, Feb. 25, 1765.\n\n * * * * *\n\n _To be Sold, for want of Employ._\n\n A Likely Negro Fellow, about 25 Years of Age, he is an\n extraordinary good Cook, and understands setting or tending a\n Table very well, likewise all Kind of House Work, such as washing,\n scouring, scrubbing, &c. Also a Negro Wench his Wife, about 17\n Years old, born in this City, and understands all Sorts of House\n Work. For farther Particulars inquire of the Printer.\n\n _New York Gazette_, Mar. 21, 1765.\n\n\nPRESERVATIVE POWER OF COAL-PIT WATER.\n\nThe following is extracted from the register of St. Andrew's, in\nNewcastle:--\"April 24th, 1695, wear buried, James Archer and his son\nStephen, who, in the moneth of May, 1658, were drowned in a coal-pit\nin the Galla-Flat, by the breaking in of water from an old waste. The\nbodys were found intire, after they had lyen in the water 36 years and\n11 months.\"\n\n\nTHE QUEEN BEE.\n\nReaumur relates the following anecdote of which he was a witness:--A\nqueen bee, and some of her attendants, were apparently drowned in a\nbrook. He took them out of the water, and found that neither the queen\nbee, nor her attendants were quite dead. Reaumur exposed them to a\ngentle heat, by which they were revived. The plebeian bees recovered\nfirst. The moment they saw signs of animation in their queen, they\napproached her, and bestowed upon her all the care in their power,\nlicking and rubbing her; and when the queen had acquired sufficient\nforce to move, they hummed aloud, as if in triumph!\n\n\nDREAM OF KING HENRY I.\n\nA singular dream, which happened to this monarch when passing over\nto Normandy in 1130, has been depicted in a manuscript of Florence\nof Worcester, in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The rapacity and\noppressive taxation of his government, and the reflection forced on\nhim by his own unpopular measures, may have originated the vision. He\nimagined himself to have been visited by the representatives of the\nthree most important grades of society--the husbandmen, the knights,\nand the clergy--who gathered round his bed, and so fearfully menaced\nhim, that he awoke in great alarm, and, seizing his sword, loudly\ncalled for his attendants. The drawings that accompany this narrative,\nand represent each of these visions, appear to have been executed\nshortly afterwards, and are valuable illustrations of the general\ncostume of the period. One of them is introduced in this place.\n\n[Illustration: [++] King Henry I. Dreaming.]\n\nThe king is here seen sleeping; behind him stand three husbandmen,\none carrying a scythe, another a pitchfork, and the third a shovel.\nThey are each dressed in simple tunics, without girdles, with plain\nclose-fitting sleeves; the central one has a mantle fastened by a\nplain brooch, leaving the right arm free. The beards of two of these\nfigures are as ample as those of their lords, this being an article\nof fashionable indulgence within their means. The one with the scythe\nwears a hat not unlike the felt hat still worn by his descendants in\nthe same grade: the scroll in his left hand is merely placed there to\ncontain the words he is supposed to utter to the king.\n\n\nSEPULCHRAL BARROW OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.\n\nThe engraving on the next page is copied from a plate in Douglas's\n_Neniae_ and represents one of the most ancient of the Kentish barrows\nopened by him in the Chatham Lines, Sept. 1779; and it will enable the\nreader at once to understand the structure of these early graves, and\nthe interesting nature of their contents. The outer circle marks the\nextent of the mound covering the body, and which varied considerably in\nelevation, sometimes being but a few inches or a couple of feet from\nthe level of the ground, at others of a gigantic structure. In the\ncentre of the mound, and at the depth of a few feet from the surface,\nan oblong rectangular grave is cut, the space between that and the\nouter circle being filled in with chalk, broken into small bits, and\ndeposited carefully and firmly around and over the grave. The grave\ncontained the body of a male adult, tall and well-proportioned, holding\nin his right hand a spear, the shaft of which was of wood, and had\nperished, leaving only the iron head, 15 inches in length, and at the\nbottom a flat iron stud (_a_), having, a small pin in the centre, which\nwould appear to have been driven into the bottom of the spear-handle;\nan iron knife lay by the right side, with remains of the original\nhandle of wood. Adhering to its under side were very discernible\nimpressions of coarse linen cloth, showing that the warrior was buried\nin full costume. An iron sword is on the left side, thirty-five and\na quarter inches in its entire length, from the point to the bottom\nof the handle, which is all in one piece, the wood-work which covered\nthe handle having perished; the blade thirty inches in length and two\nin breadth, flat, double-edged, and sharp-pointed, a great portion of\nwood covering the blade, which indicates that it was buried with a\nscabbard, the external covering being of leather, the internal of wood.\nA leathern strap passed round the waist, from which hung the knife and\nsword, and which was secured by the brass buckle (_b_), which was found\nnear the last bone of the vertebrae, or close to the os sacrum. Between\nthe thigh-bones lay the iron umbo of a shield, which had been fastened\nby studs of iron, four of which were found near it, the face and\nreverse of one being represented at (_c_.) A thin plate of iron (_d_),\nfour and a half inches in length, lay exactly under the centre of the\numbo, having two rivets at the end, between which and the umbo were\nthe remnants of the original wooden (and perhaps hide-bound) shield;\nthe rivets of the umbo having apparently passed through the wood to\nthis plate as its bracer or stay. In a recess at the feet was placed a\nvase of red earth, slightly ornamented round the neck with concentric\ncircles and zigzag lines.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Anglo-Saxon Sepulchral Barrow.]\n\n\nAN OLD GANDER.\n\nWilloughby states in his work on Ornithology, that a friend of his\npossessed a gander eighty years of age; which in the end became so\nferocious that they were forced to kill it, in consequence of the\nhavock it committed in the barn-yard. He also talks of a swan three\ncenturies old; and several celebrated parrots are said to have attained\nfrom one hundred to one hundred and fifty years.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY SLEEPER.\n\nM. Brady, Physician to Prince Charles of Lorraine, gives the following\nparticulars of an extraordinary sleeper:--\n\n\"A woman, named Elizabeth Alton, of a healthful strong constitution,\nwho had been servant to the curate of St. Guilain, near the town\nof Mons, about the beginning of the year 1738, when she was about\nthirty-six years of age grew extremely restless and melancholy. In\nthe month of August, in the same year, she fell into a sleep which\nheld four days, notwithstanding all possible endeavours to awake her.\nAt length she awoke naturally, but became more restless and uneasy\nthan before; for six or seven days, however, she resumed her usual\nemployments, until she fell asleep again, which continued eighteen\nhours. From that time to the year 1753, which is fifteen years, she\nfell asleep daily about three o'clock in the morning, without waking\nuntil about eight or nine at night. In 1754 indeed her sleep returned\nto the natural periods for four months, and, in 1748, a tertian ague\nprevented her sleeping for three weeks. On February 20, 1755, M. Brady,\nwith a surgeon, went to see her. About five o'clock in the evening,\nthey found her pulse extremely regular; on taking hold of her arm it\nwas so rigid, that it was not bent without much trouble. They then\nattempted to lift up her head, but her neck and back were as stiff as\nher arms. He hallooed in her ear as loud as his voice could reach; he\nthrust a needle into her flesh up to the bone; he put a piece of rag\nto her nose flaming with spirits of wine, and let it burn some time,\nyet all without being able to disturb her in the least. At length, in\nabout six hours and a half, her limbs began to relax; in eight hours\nshe turned herself in the bed, and then suddenly raised herself up,\nsat down by the fire, ate heartily, and began to spin. At other times,\nthey whipped her till the blood came; they rubbed her back with honey,\nand then exposed it to the stings of bees; they thrust nails under her\nfinger-nails; and it seems these triers of experiments consulted more\nthe gratifying their own curiosity than the recovery of the unhappy\nobject of the malady.\"\n\n\nA FAT ENGLISHMAN.\n\nKeysler, in his travels, speaks of a corpulent Englishman, who in\npassing through Savoy, was obliged to make use of twelve chairmen. He\nis said to have weighed five hundred and fifty pounds, or thirty-nine\nstone four pounds.\n\n\nA HAPPY FAMILY.\n\nA gentleman travelling through Mecklenburg, some years since, witnessed\na singular association of incongruous animals. After dinner, the\nlandlord of the inn placed on the floor a large dish of soup, and gave\na loud whistle. Immediately there came into the room a mastiff, an\nAngora cat, an old raven, and a remarkably large rat, with a bell about\nits neck. They all four went to the dish, and, without disturbing each\nother, fed together; after which the dog, cat, and rat, lay before\nthe fire, while the raven hopped about the room. The landlord, after\naccounting for the familiarity of these animals, informed his guest\nthat the rat was the most useful of the four; for the noise he made had\ncompletely freed his house from the rats and mice with which it was\nbefore infested.\n\n\nANCIENT FIRE-ARMS IN THE TOWER OF LONDON ARMORY.\n\nWe have just now before us a drawing of an old piece of ordnance,\nformed of bars of iron, strongly hooped with the same material, which\nforms a striking contrast with the finely-wrought cannons which may be\nseen in store at Woolwich Arsenal, and elsewhere, at the present day.\nThe exact date and manner of the introduction of cannon is a matter\nwhich has caused much dispute. The earliest mention of the use of\ncannon on shipboard is in Rymer's \"Foedera.\" It is an order to Henry\nSomer, Keeper of the Private Wardrobe in the Tower, to deliver to Mr.\nGoveney, Treasurer to Queen Philippa, Queen of Sweeden, Denmark, and\nNorway, (who was then sent by her uncle, Henry the Fourth, to her\nhusband, in the ship called the Queen's Hall,) the following military\nstores: 11 guns, 40 petras pro gunnes, 40 tumpers, 4 torches, 1 mallet,\n2 fire-pans, 40 pavys, 24 bows, 40 sheaves of arrows.\n\nAfter the old cannon composed of bars of iron, hooped together, had\nbeen some time in use, hand-cannon, a simple tube fixed on a straight\nstake, was used in warfare, charged with gunpowder and an iron bullet.\nThis was made with trunnions and casabel precisely like the large\ncannon. In course of time, the touch-hole was improved, and the barrel\ncast in brass. This, fixed to a rod, had much the appearance of a large\nsky-rocket. What is now called the stock was originally called the\nframe of the gun.\n\nVarious improvements were from time to time made in the hand-gun,\namongst which was a pan fixed for containing the touch-powder. In rainy\nweather, this became a receptacle for water; to obviate which, a small\npiece of brass made to turn on a pin was placed as a cover. This done,\nthere was a difficulty in preserving the aim in consequence of the\nliability of the eye to be diverted from the sight by the motion of the\nright hand when conveying the lighted match to the priming. This was,\nto a certain extent, prevented by a piece of brass being fixed to the\nbreech and perforated. The improved plan for holding the lighted match\nfor firing the hand-guns is shown in the engraving of the Buckler and\nPistol; it consists of a thin piece of metal something in shape of an S\nreversed, the upper part slit to hold the match, the lower pushed up by\nthe hand when entended to ignite the powder.\n\nAfter the invention of the hand-cannon, its use became general in a\nvery short space of time in most parts of the civilized world.\n\nPhilip de Comines, in his account of the battle of Morat, in 1476, says\nhe encountered in the confederate army 10,000 _arquebusiers_.\n\nThe arquebusiers in Hans Burgmain's plates of the \"Triumph of\nMaximilian the First,\" have suspended from their necks large powder\nflasks or horns, a bullet bag on the right hip, and a sword on the\nleft, while they carry the matchlock in their hands.\n\nHenry the Eighth's Walking-stick, as the Yeomen of Guard at the Tower\ncall it, is a short spiked mace, in the head of which are three short\nguns or pistols, which may be fired at very primitive touch-holes by a\nmatch.\n\nThe Revolver has four barrels, and although clumsy in construction, is\nnot very different in principles from those recently introduced.\n\n[Illustration: 1. Henry the Eighth's Walking-stick. 2. A Revolver of\nthe Fifteenth century. 3. Buckler, with Pistol inserted.]\n\nThe use of the pistol inserted inside the buckler is obvious as the\nlatter affords protection to the person while using the former.\n\n\nWIGS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Wigs.]\n\nIn 1772 the Maccaronies, as the exquisites of that time were called,\nwore wigs similar to 1, 2, 3, with a large toupee, noticed as early as\n1731, in the play of the _Modern Husband_: \"I meet with nothing but a\nparcel of _toupet_ coxcombs, who plaster up their brains upon their\nperiwigs,\" alluding to the pometum with which they were covered. Those\nworn by the ladies in 1772 are given as 4, showing the rows of curls at\nthe sides. The pig-tails were worn hanging down the back, or tied up in\na knot behind, as in 5. About 1780 the hair which formed it was allowed\nto stream in a long lock down the back, as in 6, and soon afterwards\nwas turned up in a knot behind. Towards the end of the century, the\nwig, as a general and indispensable article of attire to young and old,\nwent out of fashion.\n\n\nA FALSE FIND.\n\nAt Falmouth, some years ago, the sexton found coal in digging a grave;\nhe concluded it must be a mine, and ran with the news and the specimen\nto the clergyman. The surgeon explained that they had stolen a French\nprisoner who died, and filled his coffin with coal that the bearers\nmight not discover its emptiness.\n\n\nBELLS.\n\nAs far back as the Anglo-Saxon times, before the conclusion of the\nseventh century, bells had been in use in the churches of this country,\nparticularly in the monastic societies of Northumbria; and were,\ntherefore, in use from the first erection of parish churches among us.\nThose of France and England appear to have been furnished with several\nbells. In the time of Clothaire II., King of France, and in the year\n610, the army of that king was frightened from the siege of the city of\nSens, by ringing the bells of St. Stephen's Church. They were sometimes\ncomposed of iron in France; and in England, as formerly at Rome, they\nwere frequently made of brass. And as early as the ninth century many\nwere cast of a large size and deep note.\n\nWeever, in his work on funeral monuments, says--\"In the little\nsanctuary at Westminster, King Edward III., erected a clochier, and\nplaced therein three bells, for the use of St. Stephen's Chapel. About\nthe biggest of them were cast in the metal these words:--\n\n \"King Edward made mee thirty thousand weight and three;\n Take me down and wey mee, and more you shall find mee.\"\n\n\"But these bells being taken down in the reign of Henry VIII., one\nwrote underneath with a coal:--\n\n \"But Henry the Eight,\n Will bait me of my weight.\"\n\nThis last distich alludes to a fact mentioned by Stow, in his survey\nof London--ward of Farringdon Within to wit--that near to St. Paul's\nSchool stood a clochier, in which were four bells, called _Jesus'\nbells_, the greatest in all England, against which Sir Miles Partridge\nstaked an hundred pounds, and won them of Henry VIII., at a cast of\ndice.\n\nMatthew Paris observes, that anciently the use of bells was prohibited\nin time of mourning. Mabillon adds, that it was an old practice to\nring the bells for persons about to expire, to advertise the people\nto pray for them--whence our passing-bell. The passing-bell, indeed,\nwas anciently for two purposes--one to bespeak the prayers of all good\nChristians for a soul just departing; the other to drive away the evil\nspirits who were supposed to stand at the bed's foot.\n\nThis dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend, by\nWynkyn de Worde. \"It is said, evill spirytes that ben in the regyon\nof thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen; and this is\nthe cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete\ntempeste and outrages of wether happen; to the ende that the fiends and\nwycked spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of\ntempeste.\" Another author observes, that the custom of ringing bells at\nthe approach of thunder is of some antiquity; but that the design was\nnot so much to shake the air, and so dissipate the thunder, as to call\nthe people to church, to pray that the parish might be preserved from\nthe terrible effect of lightning.\n\nWarner, in his history of Hampshire, enumerates the virtues of a bell,\nby translating the lines from the \"Helpe to Discourse:--\n\n \"Men's death's I tell by doleful knell;\n Lightning and thunder I break asunder.\n On Sabbath all to church I call;\n The sleepy head I raise from bed;\n The winds so fierce I doe disperse;\n Men's cruel rage I doe assuage.\"\n\n[Illustration: The Curfew Bell.]\n\nFour of the bells of the ancient Abbey of Hexham were dedicated or\nbaptised; and although the old bells no longer exist, the legends upon\nthe whole six have been preserved, and a free translation given by Mr.\nWright, is as follows:--\n\n 1. Even at our earliest sound,\n The light of God is spread around.\n\n 2. At the echo of my voice,\n Ocean, earth and air, rejoice.\n\n 3. Blend thy mellow tones with mine,\n Silver voice of Catherine!\n\n 4. Till time on ruin's lap shall nod.\n John shall sound the praise of God.\n\n 5. With John in heavenly harmony,\n Andrew, pour thy melody.\n\n 6. Be mine to chant Jehovah's fame,\n While Maria is my name.\n\nThese epigraphs or legends on bells, are not uncommon. The Rev. W. C.\nLukis, in his notices on church bells, read at the Wilts Archaeological\nMeeting, gave the following instances:--\n\nAt Aldbourne, on the first bell, we read, \"The gift of Jos. Pizzie and\nWm. Gwynn.\n\n \"Music and ringing we like so well,\n And for that reason we gave this bell.\"\n\nOn the fourth bell is,--\n\n \"Humphry Symsin gave xx pound to buy this bell,\n And the parish gave xx more to make this ring go well.\"\n\nA not uncommon epigraph is,--\n\n \"Come when I call\n To serve God all.\"\n\nAt Chilton Foliatt, on the tenor, is,--\n\n \"Into the church the living I call,\n And to the grave I summon all.\n Attend the instruction which I give,\n That so you may for ever live.\"\n\nAt Devizes, St. Mary, on the first bell, is,--\n\n \"I am the first, altho' but small.\n I will be heard above you all.\"\n\nAnd on the second bell is,--\n\n \"I am the second in this ring,\n Therefore next to thee I will sing.\"\n\nWhich, at Broadchalk, is thus varied:--\n\n \"I in this place am second bell,\n I'll surely do my part as well.\"\n\nOn the third bell at Coln is,--\n\n \"Robert Forman collected the money for casting this bell\n Of well-disposed people, as I do you tell.\"\n\nAt Bath Abbey, on the tenth bell, is,--\n\n \"All you of Bath that hear me sound,\n Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound.\"\n\nOn the fifth bell at Amesbury is,--\n\n \"Be strong in faith, praise God well,\n Frances Countess Hertford's bell.\"\n\nAnd, on the tenor,--\n\n \"Altho' it be unto my loss,\n I hope you will consider my cost.\"\n\nAt Stowe, Northamptonshire, and at St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, we\nfind,--\n\n \"Be it known to all that doth me see,\n That Newcombe, of Leicester, made me.\"\n\nAt St. Michael's, Coventry, on the fourth bell, is,--\n\n \"I ring at six to let men know\n When to and from their work to go.\"\n\nOn the seventh bell is,--\n\n \"I ring to Sermon with a lusty bome,\n That all may come and none can stay at home.\"\n\nOn the eighth bell is--\n\n \"I am and have been called the common bell\n To ring, when fire breaks out to tell.\"\n\nAt St. Peter's-le-Bailey, Oxford, four bells were sold towards\nfinishing the tower, and in 1792 a large bell was put up, with this\ninscription:--\n\n \"With seven more I hope soon to be\n For ages joined in harmony.\"\n\nBut this very reasonable wish has not yet been realized; whereas at St.\nLawrence's, Reading, when two bells were added to form a peal of ten,\non the second we find--\n\n \"By adding two our notes we'll raise,\n And sound the good subscribers' praise.\"\n\nThe occasion of the erection of the Westminster Clock-tower, is said\nto have been as follows:--A certain poor man, in an action for debt,\nbeing fined the sum of 13s. 4d., Radulphus Ingham, Chief Justice of\nthe King's Bench, commiserating his case, caused the court roll to\nbe erased, and the fine reduced to 6s. 8d., which being soon after\ndiscovered, Ingham was amerced in a pecuniary mulct of eight hundred\nmarks, which was employed in erecting the said bell-tower, in which\nwas placed a bell and a clock, which, striking hourly, was to remind\nthe judges in the hall of the offence of their brother. This bell was\noriginally called Edward; \"but,\" says a writer in the \"Antiquarian\nRepertory,\" \"when the Reformation caused St. Edward and his hours to\nbe but little regarded; as other bells were frequently called Tom, as\nfancied to pronounce that name when stricken--that at Lincoln, for\ninstance, and that at Oxford--this also followed the fashion, of which,\nto what I remember of it before it was hung up, I may add another proof\nfrom a catch made by the late Mr. Eccles, which begins--\n\n \"'Hark, Harry, 'tis late--'tis time to be gone,\n For Westminster Tom, by my faith, strikes one.\"\n\nHawkins, in his \"History of Music,\" says,--\"The practice of ringing\nbells in change, or regular peals, is said to be peculiar to England:\nwhence Britain has been termed the _ringing island_. The custom seems\nto have commenced in the time of the Saxons, and was common before the\nConquest. The ringing of bells, although a recreation chiefly of the\nlower sort, is, in itself, not incurious. The tolling of a bell is\nnothing more than the producing of a sound by a stroke of the clapper\nagainst the side of the bell, the bell itself being in a pendant\nposition, and at rest. In ringing, the bell, by means of a wheel and\na rope, is elevated to a perpendicular; in its motion, the clapper\nstrikes forcibly on one side, and in its return downwards, on the\nother side of the bell, producing at each stroke a sound.\" There are\nstill in London several societies of ringers. There was one called the\nCollege Youths (bell-ringers, like post-boys, never seem to acquire old\nage). Of this it is said Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of the\nKing's Bench, was, in his youthful days, a member; and in the life of\nthat upright judge, by Burnet, some facts are mentioned which favour\nthis relation. In England the practice of ringing has been reduced to\na science, and peals have been composed which bear the names of their\ninventors; some of the most celebrated of these were composed about\nfifty years ago by one Patrick. This man was a maker of barometers.\nIn the year 1684, one Abraham Rudhall, of the city of Gloucester,\nbrought the art of bell-founding to great perfection. His descendants\nin succession have continued the business of casting bells; and by a\nlist published by them at Lady Day, 1774, the family, in peals and odd\nbells, had cast to the amount of 3,594. The peals of St. Dunstan's\nin the East, St. Bride's, London, and St. Martin's-in-the-Fields,\nare among the number. The following \"Articles of Ringing\" are upon\nthe walls of the belfry in the pleasant village of Dunster, in\nSomersetshire. They are dated 1787:--\n\n \"1. You that in ringing take delight,\n Be pleased to draw near;\n These articles you must observe,\n If you mean to ring here.\n\n \"2. And first, if any overturn\n A bell, as that he may,\n He forthwith for that only fault\n In beer shall sixpence pay.\n\n \"3. If any one shall curse or swear\n When come within the door,\n He then shall forfeit for that fault\n As mentioned before.\n\n \"4. If any one shall wear his hat\n When he is ringing here,\n He straightway then shall sixpence pay\n In cyder or in beer.\n\n \"5. If any one these articles\n Refuseth to obey,\n Let him have nine strokes of the rope,\n And so depart away.\"\n\n\nBILL OF SALE FOR A NEGRO IN 1770.\n\n\"Know all Men by these Presents, That I, Elizabeth Treat, of Boston,\nin the county of Suffolk, widow, in consideration of the sum of L25\n13s. 4d. to me in hand, paid before the ensealing hereof by Samuel\nBreck, of Boston aforesaid, merchant, the receipt whereof I do hereby\nacknowledge, have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents\ndo fully and absolutely grant, bargain, and sell unto the said Samuel\nBreck, my Negro man named Harry, aged about forty years, with his\napparel, to have and to hold the said Negro man Harry, with his\napparel, unto the said Samuel Breck, his executors, administrators,\nand assigns, to his and their only proper use, benefit, and behoof for\never; And I, the said Elizabeth Treat, for myself, my heirs, executors,\nand administrators, do covenant, that at the time of ensealing, and\nuntil the delivery hereof, I am the true and lawful owner of the said\nNegro man, and that he is free from all former sales, charges, and\nincumbrances whatsoever, and that I will warrant and defend the said\nNegro man unto the said Samuel Breck, his heirs, and assigns for ever,\nagainst the lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever.\n\n\"Witness my hand and seal, this tenth day of October, Anno Domini, one\nthousand seven hundred and seventy, in the tenth year of His Majesty's\nreign.\n\n\"Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us.\n\n \"THOMAS MELVILLE.\n \"MARY WHITE.\n \"ELIZABETH TREAT.\"\n\n\nTHE AZTEC CHILDREN.\n\n[Illustration: The Aztec Children, As Exhibited in England.]\n\nAmong the animated curiosities which are occasionally exposed to\nthe gaze of the wonder-loving public, we may prominently notice the\nAZTEC CHILDREN--two singular Lilliputians who were recently exhibited\nthroughout the kingdom. Maximo and Bartolo (for by these names the two\nAztec children have been baptized) are by some medical men supposed\nto be of the respective ages of twenty-two and sixteen. Professor\nOwen, stated them to be ten or twelve, and seven or nine in 1853. The\nheight of the boy (the elder is about three feet, and the girl does\nnot reach quite two feet six inches). Their limbs, though slender,\nare proportionate and well formed, and the general development of\ntheir figures is remarkably graceful. The cranium is peculiar, being\nnarrower than that of any other races of beings known to the world;\nand though the face is somewhat prominent, the features are regular\nand the countenances agreeable, and, after a short acquaintance,\nhighly interesting. Each has a beautiful head of jet black hair, which\nflows gracefully in curls. They are lively and intelligent, showing\nconsiderable aptitude for mental training, and have already learned to\ngive utterance to several expressions which can be readily understood\nby visitors.\n\nSince the arrival of these prodigies from the United States, they have\nbeen the objects of curious ethnological speculations. Dr. Latham does\nnot consider them as a new species of the _genus homo_. Professor Owen\nregards them as instances of impeded development, and Dr. Conolly was\nstruck with their resemblance to idiots.\n\n\nNOTICES TO TAR AND FEATHER.\n\nThe original handbills of the committee for Tarring and Feathering\nsubjoined, are of singular interest, as they were the earliest\nemanations of the spirit that led to England's losing her American\ncolonies, and the consequent rise of the United States:--\n\n\n_To the Delaware Pilots._\n\nThe Regard we have for your Characters, and our Desire to promote your\nfuture Peace and Safety, are the Occasion of this Third Address to you.\n\nIn our second Letter we acquainted you, that the Tea Ship was a Three\nDecker; We are now informed by good Authority, she is not a Three\nDecker, but an _old black Ship_, _without a Head_, or _any Ornaments_.\n\nThe _Captain_ is a _short fat_ Fellow, and a little _obstinate_\nwithal.--So much the worse for him.--For, so sure as he _rides rusty_,\nWe shall heave him Keel out, and see that his Bottom be well fired,\nscrubb'd and paid.--His Upper-Works too, will have an Overhawling--and\nas it is said, he has a good deal of _Quick Work_ about him, We will\ntake particular Care that such Part of him undergoes a thorough\nRummaging.\n\nWe have a still _worse Account of his Owner_;--for it is said, the Ship\nPOLLY was bought by him on Purpose, to make a Penny of us: and that\n_he_ and Captain _Ayres_ were well advised, of the Risque they would\nrun, in thus daring to insult and abuse us.\n\n_Captain Ayres_ was here in the Time of the Stamp-Act, and ought to\nhave known our People better, than to have expected we would be so mean\nas to suffer his _rotten_ TEA to be funnel'd down our Throats, with the\n_Parliament's Duty_ mixed with it.\n\nWe know him well, and have calculated to a Gill and a Feather, how much\nit will require to fit him for an _American Exhibition_. And we hope,\nnot one of your Body will behave so ill, as to oblige us to clap him in\nthe Cart along Side of the _Captain_.\n\nWe must repeat, that the SHIP POLLY is an _old black Ship_, of about\nTwo Hundred and Fifty Tons burthen, _without a Head_, and _without\nOrnaments_,--and, that CAPTAIN AYRES is a _thick chunky Fellow_.--As\nsuch, TAKE CARE TO AVOID THEM.\n\n Your Old Friends,\n THE COMMITTEE FOR TARRING AND FEATHERING.\n _Philadelphia, December 7, 1773._\n\n\n_To Capt. Ayres, of the Ship Polly, on a Voyage from London to\nPhiladelphia._\n\n SIR,\n\nWe are informed that you have, imprudently, taken Charge of a Quantity\nof Tea; which has been sent out by the _India_ Company, _under the\nAuspices of the Ministry_, as a Trial of _American_ Virtue and\nResolution.\n\nNow, as your Cargo, on your Arrival here, will most assuredly bring you\ninto hot water; and as you are perhaps a Stranger _to these Parts_,\nwe have concluded to advise you of the present Situation of Affairs\nin _Philadelphia_--that, taking Time by the Forelock, you may stop\nshort in your dangerous Errand--secure your Ship against the Rafts of\ncombustible Matter which may be set on Fire, and turned loose against\nher: and more than all this, that you may preserve your own Person,\nfrom the Pitch and Feathers that are prepared for you.\n\nIn the first Place, we must tell you, that the _Pennsylvanians_\nare, _to a Man_, passionately fond of Freedom; the Birthright of\n_Americans_; and at all Events are determined to enjoy it.\n\nThat they sincerely believe, no Power on the Face of the Earth has a\nRight to tax them without their Consent.\n\nThat in their Opinion, the Tea in your Custody is designed by the\nMinistry to enforce such a Tax, which they will undoubtedly oppose; and\nin so doing, give you every possible Obstruction.\n\nWe are nominated to a very disagreeable, but necessary Service.--To our\nCare are committed all Offenders against the Rights of _America_; and\nhapless is he, whose evil Destiny has doomed him to suffer at our Hands.\n\nYou are sent out on a diabolical Service; and if you are so foolish and\nobstinate as to compleat your Voyage; by bringing your Ship to Anchor\nin this Port; you may run such a Gauntlet, as will induce you, in your\nlast Moments, most heartily to curse those who have made you the Dupe\nof their Avarice and Ambition.\n\nWhat think you Captain, of a Halter around your Neck--ten Gallons of\nliquid Tar decanted on your Pate--with the Feathers of a dozen wild\nGeese laid over that to enliven your Appearance?\n\nOnly think seriously of this--and fly to the Place from whence you\ncame--fly without Hesitation--without the Formality of a Protest--and\nabove all, Captain _Ayres_ let us advise you to fly without the wild\nGeese Feathers.\n\n Your Friends _to serve_\n THE COMMITTEE _as before subscribed_.\n _Philadelphia, Nov. 27, 1773._\n\n\nB. FRANKLIN'S CELEBRATED LETTER TO STRAHAN.\n\nAs a sequel to the foregoing notices, we give Dr. Franklin's celebrated\nletter, written in the actual heat of the first outbreak.\n\n Philadelphia, July 5, 1775.\n\nMr. STRAHAN,--You are a member of Parliament, and one of that majority\nwhich has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our\ntowns, and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained\nwith the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends; you are\nnow my enemy, and\n\n I am, yours,\n B. FRANKLIN.\n\n\nHENRY II. STRIPT WHEN DEAD.\n\n1189. Immediately upon his death, those that were about him applied\ntheir market so busilie in catching and filching awaie things that\nlaie readie for them, that the king's corps laie naked a long time,\ntill a child covered the nether parts of his body with a short cloke,\nand then it seemed that his surname was fulfilled that he had from his\nchildhood, which was Shortmantell, being so called, because he was the\nfirst who brought short clokes out of Anjou into England.\n\n\nTRANSPLANTATION OF HAIR.\n\nThe Signor Dottore Domenico Nardo addressed a letter to the Academy of\nPadua, in 1826, on the subject of the growth of hair after death, and\neven after its separation from the body. The latter property had been\npreviously observed by Krafft. The Signor Nardo recounts the results of\nexperiments made on his own person in the transplantation of hair, and\nrelates, that by transplanting quickly a hair, with its root, from a\npore of his head, into a pore of his chest, easily to be accomplished\nby widening the pore somewhat with the point of a needle, introducing\nthe root with nicety, and exciting within the pore itself, by friction,\na slight degree of inflammation, the hair takes root, continues to\nvegetate, and grows; in due season changes colour, becomes white, and\nfalls.\n\n\nANCIENT CANNON RAISED FROM THE SEA.\n\nA fisherman of Calais some time since, drew up a cannon, of very\nancient form, from the bottom of the sea, by means of his nets. M. de\nRheims has since removed the rust from it, and on taking off the breech\nwas much surprised to find the piece still charged. Specimens of the\npowder have been taken, from which, of course, all the saltpetre has\ndisappeared after a submersion of three centuries. The ball was of\nlead, and was not oxidized to a depth greater than that of a line.\n\n\nCOFFEE-HOUSE ATTRACTIONS IN 1760.\n\nThe great attraction of Don Saltero's Coffee-house was its collection\nof rarities, a catalogue of which was published as a guide to the\nvisitors. It comprehends almost every description of curiosity, natural\nand artificial. \"Tigers' tusks; the Pope's candle; the skeleton of\na Guinea-pig; a fly-cap monkey; a piece of the true Cross; the Four\nEvangelists' heads cut on a cherry-stone; the King of Morocco's\ntobacco-pipe; Mary Queen of Scot's pincushion; Queen Elizabeth's\nprayer-book; a pair of Nun's stockings; Job's ears, which grew on a\ntree; a frog in a tobacco-stopper;\" and five hundred more odd relics!\nThe Don had a rival, as appears by \"A Catalogue of the Rarities to be\nseen at Adams's, at the Royal Swan, in Kingsland Road, leading from\nShoreditch Church, 1756.\" Mr. Adams exhibited, for the entertainment\nof the curious, \"Miss Jenny Cameron's shoes; Adam's eldest daughter's\nhat; the heart of the famous Bess Adams, that was hanged at Tyburn with\nLawyer Carr, January 18, 1736-7; Sir Walter Raleigh's tobacco-pipe;\nVicar of Bray's clogs; engine to shell green pease with; teeth that\ngrew in a fish's belly; Black Jack's ribs; the very comb that Abraham\ncombed his son Isaac and Jacob's head with; Wat Tyler's spurs; rope\nthat cured Captain Lowry of the head-ach, ear-ach, tooth-ach and\nbelly-ach; Adam's key of the fore and back door of the Garden of Eden,\n&c., &c.\" These are only a few out of five hundred others equally\nmarvellous.\n\n\nA WOMAN TAKES THE LIGHTED MATCH FROM A BOMB.\n\nDuring the siege of Gibraltar, in 1782, the Count d'Artois came\nto St. Roch, to visit the place and works. While his highness was\ninspecting the lines, in company with the Duke de Crillon, they both\nalighted with their suite, and all lay flat upon the ground, to avoid\nthe effects of a bomb that fell near a part of the barracks where a\nFrenchwoman had a canteen. This woman, who had two children in her arms\nat the time, rushed forth with them, and having seated herself, with\nthe utmost _sang-froid_, on the bomb-shell, she put out the match,\nthus extricating from danger all that were around her, many of whom\nwitnessed this courageous and devoted act. His highness rewarded this\nintrepid female by bestowing on her a pension of three francs a day,\nand engaged to promote her husband after the siege; while the Duke de\nCrillon, imitating the generous example of the prince, ensured to her\nlikewise a daily payment of five francs.\n\n\nTHE SUMMERS MAGNET, OR LOADSTONE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Summers Magnet.]\n\nAmong the great naval officers of Elizabeth's reign must be ranked\nSir George Summers, the discoverer of the Bermudas, often called the\nSummers Islands from that circumstance. Here is a representation given\nof what the descendants of Sir George Summers call the \"Summers magnet,\nor loadstone.\" It is in the possession of Peter Franklin Bellamy, Esq.,\nsurgeon, second son of Dr. Bellamy, of Plymouth. The tradition in the\nfamily is that the admiral before going to sea used to touch his needle\nwith it. The stone is dark-coloured, the precise geological formation\ndoubtful. This curious stone, with armature of iron, was probably an\nancient talisman.\n\n\nSWALLOWING LIZARDS.\n\nBertholin, the learned Swedish doctor, relates strange anecdotes of\nlizards, toads, and frogs; stating that a woman, thirty years of age,\nbeing thirsty, drank plentifully of water at a pond. At the end of a\nfew months, she experienced singular movements in her stomach, as if\nsomething were crawling up and down; and alarmed by the sensation,\nconsulted a medical man, who prescribed a dose of orvietan in a\ndecoction of fumitory. Shortly afterwards, the irritation of the\nstomach increasing, she vomited three toads and two young lizards,\nafter which, she became more at ease. In the spring following, however,\nher irritation of the stomach was renewed; and aloes and bezoar being\nadministered, she vomited three female frogs, followed the next day by\ntheir numerous progeny. In the month of January following, she vomited\nfive more living frogs, and in the course of seven years ejected as\nmany as eighty. Dr. Bertholin protests that he heard them croak in her\nstomach!\n\n\nIMMENSE SEA SERPENT.\n\nA species of sea-serpent was thrown on shore near Bombay in 1819. It\nwas about forty feet long, and must have weighed many tons. A violent\ngale of wind threw it high above the reach of ordinary tides, in which\nsituation it took nine months to rot; during which process travellers\nwere obliged to change the direction of the road for nearly a quarter\nof a mile, to avoid the offensive effluvia. It rotted so completely\nthat not a vestige of bone remained.\n\n\nTHE ROYAL TOUCH.\n\nFor many ages one of the regal prerogatives in this country was to\ntouch for the cure of _regius morbus_, or scrofula; a disease too\nwell known to need any description. At different periods hundreds of\npersons assembled from all parts of the country annually to receive\nthe royal interposition. Lists of the afflicted were published, to\nafford a criterion for determining as to its success; and from Edward\nthe Confessor to the reign of Queen Anne, its efficacy appears to have\nobtained a ready and general belief.\n\nThe ceremony was announced by public proclamations; one of which we\ncopy from \"The Newes,\" of the 18th of May, 1664. \"His Sacred Majesty\"\n(Charles II.) \"having declared it to be his royal will and purpose to\ncontinue the healing of his people for the Evil during the month of\nMay, and then to give over until Michaelmas next, I am commanded to\ngive notice thereof, that the people may not come up to town in the\ninterim, and lose their labour.\"\n\nAn extract from the \"Mercurius Politicus\" affords additional\ninformation. \"Saturday,\" says that paper, \"being appointed by His\nMajesty to touch such as were troubled with the Evil, a great company\nof poor afflicted creatures were met together, many brought in chairs\nand flaskets, and being appointed by His Majesty to repair to the\nbanqueting-house, His Majesty sat in a chair of state, where he stroked\nall that were brought unto him, and then put about each of their necks\na white ribbon, with an angel of gold on it. In this manner His Majesty\nstroked above six hundred; and such was his princely patience and\ntenderness to the poor afflicted creatures, that, though it took up\na very long time, His Majesty, who is never weary of well-doing, was\npleased to make inquiry whether there were any more who had not yet\nbeen touched. After prayers were ended, the Duke of Buckingham brought\na towel, and the Earl of Pembroke a basin and ewer, who, after they\nhad made obeisance to His Majesty, kneeled down, till His Majesty had\nwashed.\"\n\nThis sovereign is said to have touched nearly one hundred thousand\npatients.\n\nWith Queen Anne the practice was discontinued. But so late as the\n28th of February, 1712, little more than two years before her death,\nthe following proclamation appeared in the \"Gazette\":--\"It being Her\nMajesty's royal intention to touch for the Evil on Wednesday, the\n19th of March next, and so to continue weekly during Lent, it is Her\nMajesty's command that tickets be delivered the day before at the\noffice in Whitehall; and that all persons shall bring a certificate\nsigned by the Minister and Churchwardens of their respective parishes,\nthat they have never received the royal touch.\" Dr. Johnson, when\nan infant, was brought, with others, for this purpose; \"and when\nquestioned upon the subject, confessed he had a faint recollection of\nan old lady with something black about her head.\"\n\nA religious service, of which Dr. Heylin, Prebendary of Westminster, in\nhis \"Examen Historicum,\" has given us the particulars, accompanied the\nceremony; which, as a document of pious interest, we transcribe:--\"The\nfirst Gospel is the same as that on the Ascension-day, Mark xvi. 14,\nto the end. At the touching of every infirm person these words are\nrepeated: 'They shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall\nrecover.' The second Gospel begins with the first of St. John, and ends\na these words: (John i. 14:) 'Full of grace and truth.' At the putting\nthe angel about their necks were repeated, 'That light was the true\nlight, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'\n\n\"'Lord, have mercy upon us.'\n\n\"'Christ have mercy upon us.'\n\n\"'Lord have mercy upon us. Our Father, &c.'\n\n\"'_Minister._--O Lord, save thy servants:'\n\n\"'_Response._--Which put their trust in thee.'\n\n\"'_M._--Send unto them help from above:'\n\n\"'_R._--And ever more defend them.'\n\n\"'_M._--Help us, O God, our Saviour!'\n\n\"'_R._--And for the glory of thy name sake deliver us: be merciful unto\nus, sinners, for thy name sake!'\n\n\"'_M._--O Lord, hear our prayer:'\n\n\"'_R._--And let our cry come unto thee.'\n\n\"'_The Collect._--Almighty God, the eternal health of all such as\nput their trust in thee, hear us, we beseech thee, on the behalf of\nthese thy servants, for whom we call for thy merciful help; that they\nreceiving health, may give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church, through\nJesus Christ our Lord! Amen.'\n\n\"'The peace of God,' &c.\"\n\n\nPEG TANKARDS.\n\nThe pegging, or marking the drinking cups, was introduced by St.\nDunstan, to check the intemperate habits of the times, by preventing\none man from taking a larger draught than his companions. But the\ndevice proved the means of increasing the evil it was intended to\nremedy; for, refining upon Dunstan's plan, the most abstemious were\nrequired to drink precisely to a peg or pin, whether they could soberly\ntake such a quantity of liquor or not. To the use of such cups may be\ntraced the origin of many of our popular phrases. When a person is much\nelated, we still say, \"He is in a merry pin;\" and, \"He is a peg too\nlow,\" when he is not in good spirits. On the same principle we talk of\n\"taking a man down a peg,\" when we would check forwardness.\n\n\nNORMAN CAPS.\n\nThere is nothing more amusing to the traveller on the continent, than\nto observe the extraordinary variety of those head-appendages, many\nof them heirlooms for generations in some families, all more or less\nprized according to the richness of materials employed upon them, and\nthe peculiarity of shape. There is no article of dress more important\nto the _Normande_, whatever may be her means, than the cap which so\njauntily and triumphantly asserts the dignity of the wearer. The\nwives of fermieres who can afford such luxuries as expensive lace and\ntrimmings, spend a little income in the decoration of their caps.\nMany cost upwards of three thousand francs for the materials and\nmanufacture; and these, as we have before observed, are handed from\nmother to daughter through successive years, and are highly prized.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Norman Caps.]\n\nIn the primitive villages of Normandy, on some holidays, it is a\npleasing sight to see the dense army of caps, with flaps fanning the\nair, and following the gesticulatory movements of their talkative and\nvolatile owners. When the weather is doubtful, the cap-wearers take\ncare to be provided with a red umbrella of a clumsy construction,\nremarkably heavy, and somewhat similar, perhaps, to the original with\nwhich Jonas Hanway braved the jeers of a London populace in first\nintroducing it.\n\n\nNORTH AMERICAN INDIAN WAR DESPATCH.\n\nThe following is a _facsimile_ of a gazette of a tribe of North\nAmerican Indians, who assisted the French forces in Canada, during the\nwar between France and England:--\n\n[Illustration: [++] Gazette of North American Indians.]\n\n_Explanation of the Gazette, giving an account of one of their\nexpeditions. The following divisions explain those on the plate, as\nreferred to by the numbers_:--\n\n1. Each of these figures represents the number ten. They all signify,\nthat 18 times 10, or 180 American Indians, took up the hatchet, or\ndeclared war, in favour of the French, which is represented by the\nhatchet placed over the arms of France.\n\n2. They departed from Montreal--represented by the bird just taking\nwing from the top of a mountain. The moon and the buck show the time to\nhave been in the first quarter of the buck-moon, answering to July.\n\n3. They went by water--signified by the canoe. The number of huts, such\nas they raise to pass the night in, shows they were 21 days on their\npassage.\n\n4. Then they came on shore, and travelled seven days by\nland--represented by the foot and the seven huts.\n\n5. When they arrived near the habitations of their enemies, at\nsunrise--shown by the sun being to the eastward of them, beginning,\nas they think, its daily course, there they lay in wait three\ndays--represented by the hand pointing, and the three huts.\n\n6. After which, they surprised their enemies, in number 12 times 10, or\n120. The man asleep shows how they surprised them, and the hole in the\ntop of the building is supposed to signify that they broke into some of\ntheir habitations in that manner.\n\n7. They killed with the club eleven of their enemies, and took five\nprisoners. The former represented by the club and the eleven heads, the\nlatter by the figures on the little pedestals.\n\n8. They lost nine of their own men in the action--represented by the\nnine heads within the bow, which is the emblem of honour among the\nAmericans, but had none taken prisoners--a circumstance they lay great\nweight on, shown by all the pedestals being empty.\n\n9. The heads of the arrows, pointing opposite ways, represent the\nbattle.\n\n10. The heads of the arrows all pointing the same way, signify the\nflight of the enemy.\n\n\nRECEIPTS FROM ALBERTUS MAGNUS.\n\n_If thou wylt make a Carbuckle stone, or a thyng shyning in the\nnyght._--Take verye many of the lyttle beastes shyninge by nyghte, and\nput them beaten smale in a bottel of glasse, and close it, and burye\nit in hoate horses doung, and let it tarye xv dayes, afterwarde thou\nshalte destyll water of them Peralembicum, which thou shalt put in a\nvessel of Christal or glasse. It giueth so great clearnesse, that euery\nman may reade and write in a darke place where it is. Some men make\nthis water of the gall of a snale, the gal of a wesel, the gall of a\nferet, and of a water dogge: they burie them in doung and destyll water\nout of them.\n\n_If thou wylt see that other men can not see._--Take the gall of a male\ncat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint\nthy eyes, and thou shalt see it that others cannot see.\n\nIf the hart, eye, or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged\nvpon a mans necke it is profitable agaynste forgetfulnesse, and\nsharpeth mans vnderstanding.--\"_Albertus Magnus._\" _Black Letter: very\nold._\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT OF ROAST PIG IN 1726.\n\n\"On Tuesday next, being Shrove Tuesday, there will be a fine _hog\nbarbyqu'd_ whole, at the house of Peter Brett, at the Rising Sun, in\nIslington Road, with other diversions.--_Note._ It is the house where\nthe ox was roasted whole at Christmas last.\"\n\nA hog barbecu'd is a West Indian term, and means a hog roasted whole,\nstuffed with spice, and basted with Madeira wine. Oldfield, an eminent\nglutton of former days, gormandised away a fortune of fifteen hundred\npounds a-year. Pope thus alludes to him,--\n\n \"Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endu'd,\n Cries, 'Send me, O, gods, a whole hog _barbecu'd!_'\"\n\n\nDYING OF OLD AGE AT SEVENTEEN YEARS.\n\nMarch 19th, 1754, died, in Glamorganshire, of mere old age and a\ngradual decay of nature, at seventeen years and two months, Hopkins\nHopkins, the little Welchman lately shown in London. He never weighed\nmore than seventeen pounds, but for three years past no more than\ntwelve. The parents have still six children left, all of whom no way\ndiffer from other children, except one girl of twelve years of age, who\nweighs only eighteen pounds, and bears upon her most of the marks of\nold age, and in all respects resembles her brother when at that age.\n\n\n\"WE HAE BEEN.\"\n\nIn Ayrshire there is a tradition, that the family motto of De\nBruce--\"We have been,\" originated from a lady named Fullarton, married\nto a cadet of the family of Cassilis. They had been gained to favour\nEngland during the chivalrous achievements of Wallace, and still\ncontinued zealous partisans of Edward. Before Bruce avowed his purpose\nto emancipate his country, he came, disguised as a palmer, to acquaint\nhimself how far he could rely on aid from the people. A storm compelled\nhim, and a few faithful adherents, to take shelter on the coast of\nAyrshire. Extreme darkness, and the turbulence of the billows, deprived\nthem of all knowledge where they landed; and as, in those unhappy\ntimes, the appearance of a few strangers would create alarm, the chiefs\ndispersed in different directions. Bruce chanced to go into the house\nof Mr. Kennedy, where the servants treated him with great reverence.\nThe lady had gone to bed, and the prince wished they would not disturb\nher, but permit him to sit by the fire till day; however, one damsel\nhad given her immediate notice of the visitor. He was ushered into her\npresence. She eyed him with scrutinizing earnestness. \"We hae been--we\nhae been fause,\" said she, in the Scottish dialect, \"but a royal ee\ntakes me back to haly loyalty. I seid ye, mes royal de Bruce, I ken\nye weel. We hae been baith untrue to Scotland, but rest ye safe: and\nalbiet a' that's gane, Meg Fullarton wad dee in your cause.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE PENNY POST.\n\nThe penny-post was devised in 1683, by one Mr. David Murray, an\nupholder in Paternoster Row. It soon became an object of attention to\nGovernment; but so low were its profits that one Dockwra, who succeeded\nMurray, had a pension of only L200 a year given him in lieu of it. This\noccurred in 1716.\n\n\nA RAFFLE IN 1725.\n\nMay 8. The following copy of an advertisement, in the _Newcastle\nCourant_ of this date, may be considered curious:--\"On Friday in the\nrace week, being the 28th of May, at the Assembly House, in Westgate,\nwill be raffled for, 12 fine Fans, the highest three guineas, the worst\n5s., at half a Crown per Ticket. Note: the lowest throw is to have the\nsecond best Fan, value L3, the other according to the height of the\nnumbers which shall be thrown. There will be an assembly after for\nthose who raffle.\"\n\n\nA VISIT TO THE RESIDENCE OF DR. JOHNSON, IN INNER TEMPLE LANE, LONDON.\n\nIn one of the dreary, old-fashioned houses leading from the arched\nentrance to the Temple, which almost every passenger through Temple\nBar must have remarked, whether he is a stranger, or a resident in the\nmetropolis, Dr. Johnson, who occupies one of the most distinguished\npositions in the literature of our country, resided for several years.\n\n[Illustration: Dr. Johnson's Residence in Inner Temple Lane.]\n\nIt was in this place that Dr. Johnson became acquainted with his future\nbiographer, Boswell, who thus describes their first meeting:--\n\n\"A few days afterwards I called on Davies, and asked him if he thought\nI might take the liberty of waiting on Mr. Johnson at his chambers\nin the Temple. He said I certainly might, and that Mr. Johnson would\ntake it as a compliment. His chambers were on the first floor of No.\n1, Inner Temple Lane, and I entered them with an impression given me\nby the Rev. Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh, who described his having found\nthe giant in his den. He received me very courteously; but it must be\nconfessed, that his apartment, and furniture, and morning dress, were\nsufficiently uncouth. His brown suit of clothes looked very rusty; he\nhad on a little, old, shrivelled, unpowdered wig, which was too small\nfor his head; his shirt neck and knees of his breeches were loose, his\nblack worsted stockings ill drawn up, and he had a pair of unbuckled\nshoes by way of slippers;--but all these slovenly particulars were\nforgotten the moment he began to talk.\"\n\nThe \"den\" in which the \"giant\" lived, the staircase leading to it, and\nindeed the whole appearance of the locality, has recently undergone\ndemolition, and its interesting features knocked down to the highest\nbidder, to be, let us hope, preserved in some museum or other place of\nsafety.\n\n[Illustration: Old Staircase in the Residence of Dr. Johnson.]\n\nDr. Johnson resided at various times in Holborn, the Strand, and other\nplaces, and died, as it is well known, in No. 8, Bolt Court, Fleet\nStreet, in 1784. His remains were placed in a grave under the statue\nof Shakspere, in Westminster Abbey, and near the resting-place of his\nfriend and companion, David Garrick.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE STUFF BALL AT LINCOLN.\n\nDuring the want of employment in the manufactories in 1801, Mrs.\nChaplain, of Blankney, in Lincolnshire, formed a patriotic institution\nfor the encouragement of the local trade of the district. A ball was\ngiven at Lincoln for the benefit of the stuff manufactory, at which\nladies were admitted gratis, on their appearance in a stuff gown and\npetticoat, spun, wove, and finished within the county, and producing a\nticket signed by the weaver and dyer at Louth, one of which tickets\nwas delivered with every twelve yards of stuff. The gentlemen were\nrequired to appear without silk or cotton in their dress, stockings\nexcepted. The impulse thus given to trade, was of the most signal\nservice in relieving distress, and at the same time promoting habits of\nindustry.\n\n\nSTEVENS'S SPECIFIC.\n\nIn the reign of Charles II., Dr. Jonathan Goddard obtained 5,000_l._\nfor disclosing his secret for making a medicine, called \"_Guttae\nAnglicanae_.\" And in 1739, the Parliament of England voted 5,000_l._ to\nMrs. Stevens for a solvent for stone.\n\nThe celebrated David Hartley was very instrumental in procuring this\ngrant to Joanna Stevens. He obtained also a private subscription to the\namount of L1,356, published one hundred and fifty-five _successful_\ncases, and, by way of climax to the whole, after eating _two hundred\npounds weight_ of soap! David himself died of the stone.\n\n\nAN IMPOSTOR.\n\nFrom the Testament of Jerome Sharp, printed in 1786:--\"I entered,\"\nsays the narrator, \"with one of my friends, and found a man resembling\nan ourang-outang crouched upon a stool in the manner of a tailor. His\ncomplexion announced a distant climate, and his keeper stated that he\nfound him in the island of Molucca. His body was bare to the hips,\nhaving a chain round the waist, seven or eight feet long, which was\nfastened to a pillar, and permitted him to circulate out of the reach\nof the spectators. His looks and gesticulations were frightful. His\njaws never ceased snapping, except when sending forth discordant cries,\nwhich were said to be indicative of hunger. He swallowed flints when\nthrown to him, but preferred raw meat, which he rushed behind his\npillar to devour. He groaned fearfully during his repast, and continued\ngroaning until fully satiated. When unable to procure more meat, he\nwould swallow stones with frightful avidity; which, upon examination\nof those which he accidentally dropped, proved to be partly dissolved\nby the acrid quality of his saliva. In jumping about, the undigested\nstones were heard rattling in his stomach.\"\n\nThe men of science quickly set to work to account for these feats,\nso completely at variance with the laws of nature. Before they had\nhit upon a theory, the pretended Molucca savage was discovered to\nbe a peasant from the neighbourhood of Besancon, who chose to turn\nto account his natural deformities. When staining his face for the\npurpose, in the dread of hurting his eyes, he left the eyelids\nunstained, which completely puzzled the naturalists. By a clever\nsleight of hand, the raw meat was left behind the pillar, and cooked\nmeat substituted in its place. Some asserted his passion for eating\nbehind the pillar to be a proof of his savage origin; most polite\npersons, and more especially kings, being addicted to feeding in\npublic. The stones swallowed by the pretended savage were taken from\na vessel left purposely in the room full of them; small round stones,\nencrusted with plaster, which afterwards gave them the appearance of\nhaving been masticated in the mouth. Before the discovery of all this,\nthe impostor had contrived to reap a plentiful harvest.\n\n\nPERUVIAN BARK.\n\nIn 1693, the Emperor Kanghi (then in the thirty-second year of his\nreign, and fortieth of his age) had a malignant fever, which resisted\nthe remedies given by his physicians; the emperor recollected that\nTchang-tchin, (Father Gerbillon), and Pe-tsin, (Father Bouret) two\njesuit missionaries, had extolled to him a remedy for intermittents,\nbrought from Europe, and to which they had given the name of chin-yo\n(two Chinese words, which signify \"_divine remedies_;\") and he proposed\nto try it, but the physicians opposed it. The emperor, however, without\ntheir knowledge took it, and with good effect. Sometime afterwards,\nhe experienced afresh several fits of an intermittent, which, though\nslight, made him uneasy; this led him to proclaim through the city,\nthat any person possessed of a specific for this sort of fever, should\napply without delay at the palace, where patients might also apply to\nget cured. Some of the great officers of his household were charged\nto receive such remedies as might be offered, and to administer them\nto the patients. The Europeans, Tchang-tching, (Gerbillon) Hang-jo,\n(Father de Fontenay, jesuit) and Pe-tsin, (Bouret) presented themselves\namong others, with a certain quantity of quinquina, offered it to the\ngrandees, and instructed them in the manner of using it. The next\nday it was tried on several patients, who were kept in sight, and\nwere cured by it. The officers, or grandees who had been appointed\nto superintend the experiment, gave an account to the Emperor of the\nastonishing effect of the remedy, and the monarch decided instantly on\ntrying it himself, provided the hereditary prince gave his consent.\nThe prince, however, not only refused, but was angry with the grandees\nfor having spoken so favourably of a remedy, of which only one\nsuccessful trial had been made; at last, after much persuasion, the\nPrince reluctantly grants his consent, and the emperor takes the bark\nwithout hesitation, and permanently recovers. A house is given by the\nemperor to the Europeans, who had made known the remedy, and through\nthe means of Pe-tsin (Father Bouret) presents were conveyed to the King\nof France, accompanied with the information, that the Europeans (that\nis, the French jesuits) were in high favour.--_Histoire Generale de la\nChine, &c._ tome xi. p. 168, 4to. Paris, 1780.\n\n\nWHITE CATS.\n\nIn a number of \"Loudon Gardener's Magazine,\" it is stated that white\ncats with blue eyes are always deaf, of which extraordinary fact there\nis the following confirmation in the \"Magazine of Natural History,\" No.\n2, likewise conducted by Mr. Loudon:--Some years ago, a white cat of\nthe Persian kind (probably not a thorough-bred one), procured from Lord\nDudley's at Hindley, was kept in a family as a favourite. The animal\nwas a female, quite white, and perfectly deaf. She produced, at various\ntimes, many litters of kittens, of which, generally, some were quite\nwhite, others more or less mottled, tabby, &c. But the extraordinary\ncircumstance is, that of the offspring produced at one and the same\nbirth, such as, like the mother, were entirely white, were, like her,\ninvariably deaf; while those that had the least speck of colour on\ntheir fur, as invariably possessed the usual faculty of hearing.\n\n\nA WOMAN DEFENDS A FORT SINGLY.\n\nLord Kames in his \"Sketches of the History of Man,\" relates an\nextraordinary instance of presence of mind united with courage.\n\nSome Iroquois in the year 1690, attacked the fort de Vercheres, in\nCanada, which belonged to the French, and had approached silently,\nhoping to scale the palisade, when some musket-shot forced them to\nretire: on their advancing a second time they were again repulsed, in\nwonder and amazement that they could perceive no person, excepting\na woman who was seen everywhere. This was Madame de Vercheres, who\nconducted herself with as much resolution and courage as if supported\nby a numerous garrison. The idea of storming a place wholly undefended,\nexcept by women, occasioned the Iroquois to attack the fortress\nrepeatedly, but, after two days' siege, they found it necessary to\nretire, lest they should be intercepted in their retreat.\n\nTwo years afterwards, a party of the same nation so unexpectedly made\ntheir appearance before the same fort, that a girl of fourteen, the\ndaughter of the proprietor, had but just time to shut the gate. With\nthis young woman there was no person whatever except one soldier, but\nnot at all intimidated by her situation, she showed herself sometimes\nin one place, sometimes in another, frequently changing her dress,\nin order to give some appearance of a garrison, and always fired\nopportunely. In short, the faint-hearted Iroquois once more departed\nwithout success. Thus the presence of mind of this young girl was the\nmeans of saving the fort.\n\n\nINDENTURE OF A HORSE-RACE BETWIXT THE EARLS OF MORTON AND ABERCORN AND\nTHE LORD BOYDE.\n\nAs indicating the state of the English language amongst the nobility of\nScotland in 1621, the following is curious:--\n\n\"_Ane Indentour of ane Horse-raise betuix my Lords Mortoun, Abercorne,\nand Boyde._--The erle of Mortoun obleissis himselff to produce George\nRutherfuirdis Barb Naig: The erle of Abercorne obleissis him to produce\nhis gray Naig: My lord Boyd obleissis him to produce his bay horse;\nUpone the conditions following. Thay ar to run the first Thursday\nNovember nixtocum, thrie mett myleis of Cowper raise in Fyff. The\nwaidger to be for euery horse ten dowbill Anegellis. The foirmest horse\nto win the hail thretty. Ilk rydare to be aucht scottis stanewecht.\nAnd the pairtie not comperaud, or refuisand to consigne the waidger,\nsall undergo the foirfaltour of this sowme, and that money foirfaltit\nsalbe additt to the staik to be tane away be the wynner. Forder, we\ndeclair it to be lesum to ony gentilman to produce ane horse and the\nlyk waidger, and thay salbe welcum. Subscrybith with all our handis, at\nHammiltoune the fyfteine day off August 1621. MORTON, ABERCORNE, BOYDE.\"\n\n\nEARLY USE OF CHOCOLATE.\n\nAn advertisement in \"The Public Adviser,\" from Tuesday, June 16th, to\nTuesday, June 23d, 1657, informs us that \"in Bishopsgate-street, in\nQueen's-head-alley, at a Frenchman's House, is an excellent West India\ndrink, called _Chocolate_, to be sold, where you may have it ready at\nany time, and also unmade, at reasonable rates.\"\n\n\nMATTHEW BUCKINGER.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Matthew Buckinger.]\n\nOf all the imperfect beings brought into the world, few can challenge,\nfor mental and acquired endowments, any thing like a comparison to\nvie with this truly extraordinary little man. Matthew Buckinger was\na native of Nuremberg, in Germany, where he was born, June 2, 1674,\nwithout hands, feet, legs, or thighs; in short, he was little more\nthan the trunk of a man, saving two excrescences growing from the\nshoulder-blades, more resembling fins of a fish than arms of a man. He\nwas the last of nine children, by one father and mother, viz. eight\nsons and one daughter; after arriving at the age of maturity, from the\nsingularity of his case, and the extraordinary abilities he possessed,\nhe attracted the notice and attention of all persons, of whatever rank\nin life, to whom he was occasionally introduced.\n\nIt does not appear, by any account extant, that his parents exhibited\nhim at any time for the purposes of emolument, but that the whole of\nhis time must have been employed in study and practice, to attain the\nwonderful perfection he arrived at in drawing, and his performance on\nvarious musical instruments; he played the flute, bagpipe, dulcimer,\nand trumpet, not in the manner of general amateurs, but in the style of\na finished master. He likewise possessed great mechanical powers, and\nconceived the design of constructing machines to play on all sorts of\nmusical instruments.\n\nIf Nature played the niggard in one respect with him she amply repaid\nthe deficiency by endowments that those blessed with perfect limbs\ncould seldom achieve. He greatly distinguished himself by beautiful\nwriting, drawing coats of arms, sketches of portraits, history,\nlandscapes, &c., most of which were executed in Indian ink, with a pen,\nemulating in perfection the finest and most finished engraving. He was\nwell skilled in most games of chance, nor could the most experienced\ngamester or juggler obtain the least advantage at any tricks, or game,\nwith cards or dice.\n\nHe used to perform before company, to whom he was exhibited, various\ntricks with cups and balls, corn, and living birds; and could play\nat skittles and ninepins with great dexterity; shave himself with\nperfect ease, and do many other things equally surprising in a person\nso deficient, and mutilated by Nature. His writings and sketches of\nfigures, landscapes, &c., were by no means uncommon, though curious;\nit being customary, with most persons who went to see him, to purchase\nsomething or other of his performance; and as he was always employed\nin writing or drawing, he carried on a very successful trade, which,\ntogether with the money he obtained by exhibiting himself, enabled\nhim to support himself and family in a very genteel manner. The late\nMr. Herbert, of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, editor of \"Ames's History\nof Printing,\" had many curious specimens of Buckinger's writing\nand drawing, the most extraordinary of which was his own portrait,\nexquisitely done on vellum, in which he most ingeniously contrived to\ninsert, in the flowing curls of the wig, the 27th, 121st, 128th, 140th,\n149th, and the 150th Psalms, together with the Lord's Prayer, most\nbeautifully and fairly written. Mr. Isaac Herbert, son of the former,\nwhile carrying on the business of a bookseller in Pall-Mall, caused\nthis portrait to be engraved, for which he paid Mr. Harding fifty\nguineas.\n\nBuckinger was married four times, and had eleven children, viz., one\nby his first wife, three by his second, six by his third, and one by\nhis last. One of his wives was in the habit of treating him extremely\nill, frequently beating and other ways insulting him, which, for a\nlong time, he very patiently put up with; but once his anger was so\nmuch aroused, that he sprung upon her like a fury, got her down, and\nbuffeted her with his stumps within an inch of her life; nor would he\nsuffer her to arise until she promised amendment in future, which it\nseems she prudently adopted, through fear of another thrashing. Mr.\nBuckinger was but twenty-nine inches in height, and died in 1722.\n\n\nWONDERFUL PROVISION OF NATURE.\n\nThe insects that frequent the waters, require predaceous animals to\nkeep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth;\nand the water-spider (_Argyroneta aquatica_) is one of the most\nremarkable upon whom that office is devolved. To this end, her instinct\ninstructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that\nelement. She usually selects still waters for this purpose. Her house\nis an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which\nthreads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding\nplants. In this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey,\nand even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It\nis most commonly, yet not always, under water; but its inhabitant has\nfilled it for her respiration, which enables her to live in it. She\nconveys the air to it in the following manner: she usually swims on her\nback, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears\nlike a globe of quicksilver. With this she enters her cocoon, and\ndisplacing an equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading,\ntill she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all\nwater. How these little animals can envelope their abdomen with an\nair-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one\nof Nature's mysteries that has not been explained. It is a wonderful\nprovision, which enables an animal that breathes the atmospheric air,\nto fill her house with it under water, and by some secret art to clothe\nher body with air, as with a garment, which she can put off when it\nanswers her purpose. This is a kind of attraction and repulsion that\nmocks all inquiries.\n\n\nSTOMACH BRUSH.\n\nOne of the Court Physicians, in the reign of Charles II., invented an\ninstrument to cleanse the stomach, and wrote a pamphlet on it; and\nridiculous as a chylopoietic-scrubbing-brush may appear, it afterwards\ngot a place among surgical instruments, and is described as the\n_Excutor Ventriculi_, or cleanser of the stomach; but the moderns not\nhaving _stomach_ for it, have transferred it to the wine merchant, who\nmore appropriately applies it to the scouring the interior of bottles.\nHeister gives a minute description of it, and very gravely enters on\nthe mode and manner of using it: the patient is to drink a draught\nof warm water, or spirit of wine, that the mucus and foulness of the\nstomach may be washed off thereby: then, the brush being moistened in\nsome convenient liquor, is to be introduced into the oesophagus, and\nslowly protruded into the stomach, by twisting round its wire handle.\nWhen arrived in the stomach, it is to be drawn up and down, and through\nthe oesophagus, like the sucker in a syringe, till it be at last\nwholly extracted. Some recommend plentiful drinking in the operation,\nto be continued till no more foulness is discharged. But though this\ncontrivance is greatly extolled, and said to prolong life to a great\nage, especially if practiced once a week, month, or fortnight; yet,\nthere are very few (probably, because tried by very few) instances of\nits happy effects.\n\n\nPOPULAR AMUSEMENTS IN 1743.\n\nIn _Merrie England of the Olden Time_, we find the following copy of a\nhandbill announcing performances:--\n\nBy a company of English, French, and Germans, at Phillips's New Wells,\nnear the London Spa, Clerkenwell, 20th August, 1743.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Rope Dancing.]\n\nThis evening, and during the Summer Season, will be performed several\nnew exercises of Rope-dancing, Tumbling, Vaulting, Equilibres,\nLadder-dancing, and Balancing, by Madame Kerman, Sampson Rogetzi,\nMonsieur German, and Monsieur Dominique; with a new Grand Dance,\ncalled Apollo and Daphne, by Mr. Phillips, Mrs. Lebrune, and others;\nsinging by Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Jackson; likewise the extraordinary\nperformance of Herr Von Eeckenberg, who imitates the lark, thrush,\nblackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and German flute; a\nSailor's Dance by Mr. Phillips; and Monsieur Dominique flies through\na hogshead, and forces both heads out. To which will be added The\nHarlot's Progress. Harlequin by Mr. Phillips; Miss Kitty by Mrs.\nPhillips. Also, an exact representation of the late glorious victory\ngained over the French by the English at the battle of Dettingen, with\nthe taking of the White Household Standard by the Scots Greys, and\nblowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most part of the\nFrench army. To begin every evening at five o'clock. Every one will be\nadmitted for a pint of wine, as usual.\n\n\nDANCING ROOMS.\n\nDancing rooms were much frequented a century or so ago in London, which\nwas then pretty well supplied with this means of recreation. We find\nthat there were rare dancing doings at the original dancing room\n\n in the year\n at the _field_-end of King-Street, Bloomsbury, 1742\n Hickford's great room, Panton-Street, Haymarket, 1743\n Mitre Tavern, Charing-Cross, 1743\n Barber's Hall, 1745\n Richmond Assembly, 1745\n Lambeth Wells, 1747\n Duke's long room, Paternoster Row, 1748\n Large Assembly Room at the Two Green Lamps, near Exeter Change,\n (at the particular desire of Jubilee Dickey!) 1749\n The large room next door to the Hand and Slippers, Long-lane,\n West Smithfield, 1750\n Lambeth Wells, where a _Penny Wedding_, in the _Scotch_\n manner, was celebrated for the benefit of a young couple, 1752\n Old Queen's Head, in Cock-lane, Lambeth, 1755\n\nand at Mr. Bell's, at the sign of the Ship, in the Strand, where, in\n1755, a _Scotch_ Wedding was kept. The bride \"to be dressed without any\nlinen; all in ribbons, and green flowers, with Scotch masks. There will\nbe three bagpipes; a band of Scotch music, &c. &c. To begin precisely\nat two o'clock. Admission, two shillings and sixpence.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE USE OF TOBACCO.\n\n\"Maister John Nicot, Counsellor to the Kyng, beeyng Embassadour for\nthe Kyng in Portugall, in the yeres of our Lorde, 1559, 60, 61, wente\none daye to see the Prysons of the Kyng of Portugall, and a gentleman\nbeeyng the keeper of the saide Prisons presented hym this hearbe, as\na strange Plant brought from Florida; the same Maister Nicot, hauyng\ncaused the saide hearbe to be set in his garden, where it grewe and\nmultiplied marveillously, was vpon a tyme aduertised, by one of his\nPages, that a young man, a kinne to that Page, made a saye of that\nhearbe bruised, both the herbe and the joice together upon an ulcer\nwhiche he had vpon his cheeke nere vnto his nose, coming of a _Noli\nme tangere_ whiche bega to take roote already at the gristles of the\nNose, wherewith he founde hym self marveillously eased. Therefore the\nsaid Maister Nicot caused the sicke yong man to be brought before hym,\ncausing the said herbe to be continued to the sore eight or tenne\ndaies, this saide _Noli me tangere_, was vtterly extinguished and\nhealed: and he had sent it, while this cure was a working to a certaine\nPhysition of the Kyng of Portugall of the moste fame, for to see the\nfurther workyng and effect of the said _Nicotiane_, and sending for the\nsame yong man at the end of tenne daies, the said Phisition seeyng the\nuisage of the said sicke yong man certified, that the saide _Noli me\ntangere_ was utterly extinguished, as in deede he never felt it since.\nWithin a while after, one of the Cookes of the said Embassadour hauyng\nalmost cut off his Thombe, with a great choppyng knife, the steward\nof the house of the saide gentleman ranne to the saide _Nicotiane_,\nand dresssed him there with fyve or sixe times, and so in the ende\nthereof he was healed: from that time forwarde this hearbe began to\nbee famous throughout all _Lisborne_, where the court of the Kyng of\nPortugall was at that presente, and the vertue of this saide hearbe was\npreached, and the people beganne to name it the Ambassadour's hearbe!\nWherefore there came certaine daies after, a gentleman of the country,\nFather to one of the Pages of the Ambassadour, who was troubled with\nan vlcer in his Legge, hauyng had the same two yeres, and demaunded\nof the saide Ambassadour for his hearbe, and vsing the same in suche\norder as is before written, at the ende of tenne or twelve daies he\nwas healed. From that time fourth the fame of that hearbe encreased in\nsuch sorte, that manye came from all places to have that same herbe.\nEmong all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a\nRingworme rooted, as though she had a Visour on her face, to whom the\nsaide L: Ambassadour caused the herbe to be given her, and told how she\nshould vse it, and at the ende of eight or tenne daies, this woman was\nthoroughleye healed, she came and shewed herself to the Ambassadour,\nshewing him of her healyng. After there came a captain to presente\nhis sonne, sick of the Kinges euill to the saide L: Ambassadour, for\nto send him into France, vnto whom there was saye made of the saide\nhearbe, whiche in fewe daies did beginne to shewe greate signes of\nhealing, and finally was altogether healed of the kinges euill. The\nL: Ambassadour seeing so great effectes proceeding of this hearbe,\nand hauing heard say that the Lady Montigny that was, dyed at Saint\nGermans, of an vlcer bredde in her breast, that did turn to a _Noli\nme tangere_, for which there could never be remedey bee founde, and\nlikewise that the Countesse of Ruffe, had sought for all the famous\nPhisitions of that Realme, for to heale her face, unto whom they\ncould give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into\nFraunce, and did send it to Kyng Fraunces the seconde; and to the\nQueen Mother, and to many other Lords of the Courte with the maner of\ngovernyng the same: and how to applie it vnto the said diseases, even\nas he had found it by experience; and chiefly to the lorde of Jarnac\ngovernour of Rogell, with whom the saide Lorde Ambassadour had great\namitie for the service of the Kyng. The whiche Lorde of Jarnac, told\none daye at the Queenes Table, that he had caused the saide _Nicotiane_\nto be distilled, and caused the water to be dronke, mingled with\nwater _Euphrasie_, otherwise called eyebright, to one that was shorte\nbreathed, and was therewith healed.\"--_Joyfvll News ovt of the newe\nfound worlde, &c._, 1577.--_Black Letter._\n\n\nANCIENT INSTRUMENTS OF PUNISHMENT AND TORTURE IN THE TOWER OF LONDON.\n\nThere are few things among the valuable collection of antiquities\npreserved in the Tower of London, which excite so much interest as the\ngrim-looking objects forming the group figured in the accompanying\nengraving.\n\nWith the executioner's axe, that long list of unfortunates who have met\ntheir fate within the walls of the Tower, or on Tower Hill, since the\ntime of Henry VIII., have been beheaded. Among them may be enumerated\nQueen Anne Boleyn, whom Henry first presented to his people as their\nQueen while standing with her on the Tower Stairs, after she had been\nconveyed thither from Greenwich with every possible pomp. Crowds of\ngilded barges, with gay banners waving at their sterns, then lined the\nstream. The noblest of the land were in the young Queen's train or were\nwaiting to receive her. Loud rounds of cannon, and soft, merry strains,\nannounced her arrival; and the burly King stepped forward to kiss her\nin the sight of the assembled multitude. On the same day, three short\nyears afterwards, she was led forth to execution within the Tower\nwalls. The good Sir Thomas More and the chivalrous Earl of Surrey, Lady\nJane Grey and her young husband, the gallant Raleigh, and a host of\nothers, also perished by that sad symbol of the executioner's office.\n\nThe block is said to be of less ancient date, but is known to have been\nused at the execution of three Scotch lords--the unfortunate adherents\nof the Pretender--a little more than a century ago. On the top part of\nthe block, there are three distinct cuts, two of them very deep and\nparallel, and the other at an angle and less effective.\n\nThe horrible instrument of torture called the \"Scavenger's Daughter,\"\nwas, in the \"good old days,\" used as a means of extorting confession.\nThe head of the culprit was passed through the circular hole at the\ntop, and the arms through those below. The whole of this part of the\nmachine opens in somewhat the same manner as a pair of tongs, the upper\npart being fixed round the neck and arms, and the semicircular irons\nplaced on the legs. The body was then bent, and a strong iron bar was\npassed through the irons connected with the head and arms, and those\nin which the legs were placed. \"The culprit would then,\" as one of the\n\"Beefeaters\" who attends on visitors makes a point of observing, \"be\ndoubled up into very small compass, and made exceedingly uncomfortable.\"\n\nThe Bilboes need little explanation, being only a strong rod of iron,\nwith a nob at one end, on which are two moveable hoops, for the purpose\nof holding the legs; these being fixed, and a heavy iron padlock put on\nthe proper part--the wearer was said to be in a _Bilboe_. Instruments\nof this description were much used on board of ship for the purpose of\nsecuring prisoners of war.\n\nThe Iron Collar is a persuader of a formidable description, for it\nweighs upwards of 14 lbs., and is so made that it can be fixed on the\nneck and then locked. Such a necklace would, we think, be sufficiently\ninconvenient; but it is rendered still more uncomfortable by sundry\nprickles of iron knowingly placed.\n\nThe Thumb-screw, also preserved in the Tower, is a characteristic\nexample of a species of torture at one time much resorted to. The\nengraved example has been constructed so as to press both thumbs;\nnevertheless, it is a convenient little instrument, which might be\neasily carried about in the pocket. We have met with varieties of the\nthumb-screw in several collections--some for the accommodation of one\nthumb only. In the Museum of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Scotland\nthere are some thumb-screws which are said to have been used upon the\nCovenanters.\n\n[Illustration: 1. The Executioner's Axe. 2. The Block on which Lords\nBalmerino, Lovat, &c., were beheaded. 3. The Scavenger's Daughter. 4.\nSpanish Bilboes. 5. Massive Iron Collar for the Neck. 6. Thumb-Screw.]\n\nTimes have changed for the better since the \"Scavenger's Daughter,\" and\nthe other matters represented, were amongst the mildest of the methods\nused for the purposes of punishment and intimidation. The stocks,\nthe public whipping-posts, boilings, and burnings in Smithfield and\nelsewhere, the exhibition of dead men's heads over gateways, the boot,\nthe rack, the pillory, the practice of making men eat their own books\nin Cheapside, drawing on hurdles to the place of execution, and then\nhanging, drawing, and quartering, chopping off hands and ears, and\nother revolting punishments, have gone out of use, and it is gratifying\nto know that we are all the better for it.\n\n\nA BEAU BRUMMELL OF THE 17TH CENTURY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Picture of an English Anticke.]\n\nThis very curious representation of a first-rate exquisite is copied\nfrom a very rare broadside, printed in 1646, and styled _The Picture\nof an English Anticke, with a List of his ridiculous Habits and apish\nGestures_. The engraving is a well-executed copperplate, and the\ndescription beneath is a brief recapitulation of his costume: from\nwhich we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of riband on\none side, and a feather on the other; his face spotted with patches;\ntwo love-locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his\nbosom, and are tied at the ends with silk riband in bows. His beard on\nthe upper lip encompassing his mouth; his band or collar edged with\nlace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring; a tight vest,\npartly open and short in the skirts, between which and his breeches\nhis shirt protruded. His cloak was carried over his arm. His breeches\nwere ornamented by \"many dozen of points at the knees, and above them,\non either side, were two great bunches of riband of several colours.\"\nHis legs were incased in \"boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the\ncalf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a\nruff-band; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and\nturned down as low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells of a\nmorrice-dancer as he walked;\" the \"feet of his boots were two inches\ntoo long.\" In his right hand he carried a stick, which he \"played with\"\nas he \"straddled\" along the streets \"singing.\"\n\n\nPRAYING FOR REVENGE.\n\nIn North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it is\nnot uncommon for him to go to some church dedicated to a celebrated\nsaint, as Llan Elian in Anglesea, and Clynog in Carnarvonshire, and\nthere to offer his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees in the\nchurch, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses\nand misfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to\ncome; in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled.\nSometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of a church.\n\n\nA FEMALE SAMPSON: FROM A HANDBILL.\n\nSeptember 4th, 1818, was shown at Bartholomew Fair, \"The strongest\nwoman in Europe, the celebrated French Female Hercules, Madame\nGobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet long and\nthree feet wide, with several persons seated upon it; also carry\nthirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds each, equal to 2,016 lbs., and\nwill disengage herself from them without any assistance; will carry\na barrel containing 340 bottles; also an anvil 400 lbs. weight, on\nwhich they will forge with four hammers at the time she supports it\non her stomach; she will also lift with her hair the same anvil,\nswing it from the ground, and suspend it in that position to the\nastonishment of every beholder; will take up a chair by the hind stave\nwith her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body.\nHer travelling caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Harwich\nto Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the\nroad, sunk in the mud, nearly up to the box of the wheels; the two\nhorses being unable to extricate it she descended, and, with apparent\nease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance\nwhatever.\"\n\n\nTREES THAT GROW SHIRTS.\n\n\"We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida,\" says M. Humboldt, \"shirt\ntrees, fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet\nin diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark, without\nmaking any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of\ngarment which resembles a sack of a very coarse texture, and without\na seam. The upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes\nare cut to admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina\nin the rainy season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of\ncotton which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito, and in Peru. As in\nthis climate the riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the\nprimary causes of the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries\ndo not fail to say in showing the shirts of Marina, 'in the forests of\nOroonoko, garments are found ready made upon the trees.'\"\n\n\nA FEMALE VENTRILOQUIST.\n\nA female ventriloquist, named Barbara Jacobi, narrowly escaped being\nburnt at the stake in 1685, at Haarlem, where she was an inmate of\nthe public Hospital. The curious daily resorted thither to hear her\nhold & dialogue with an imaginary personage with whom she conversed\nas if concealed behind the curtains of her bed. This individual, whom\nshe called Joachim, and to whom she addressed a thousand ludicrous\nquestions, which he answered in the same familiar strain, was for some\ntime supposed to be a confederate. But when the bystanders attempted to\nsearch for him behind the curtains, his voice instantly reproached them\nwith their curiosity from the opposite corner of the room. As Barbara\nJacobi had contrived to make herself familiar with all the gossip of\nthe city of Haarlem, the revelations of the pretended familiar were\nsuch as to cause considerable embarrassment to those who beset her with\nimpertinent questions.\n\n\nCALMUC OPINION OF LIGHTNING.\n\nThe Calmucs hold the lightning to be the fire spit out of the mouth of\na dragon, ridden and scourged by evil Daemons, and the thunder they make\nto be his roarings.\n\n\nTHE HEADING OF THE EXPIRING PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL.\n\nJournalism has had its trials and difficulties in England as well as in\nAmerica; but we do not remember to have ever seen a more quaint last\nNumber, than the subjoined _facsimile_ exhibits:--\n\n[Illustration:\n\n The TIMES are\n Dreadful\n Dismal,\n Doleful\n Dolorous, and\n Dollar-less.\n\n An Emblem of the Effect\n of the Stamp\n Of the Fatal Stamp\n\n Adieu Adieu to the LIBERTY OF THE PRESS\n\n Thursday, October 31. 1765\n\n NUMB. 1195\n\n THE\n\n PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL;\n\n AND\n\n WEEKLY ADVERTISER.\n\n EXPIRING: In Hopes of a Resurrection to LIFE again.\n\n I am sorry to be obliged to acquaint my Readers, that as The\n STAMP-ACT, is fear'd to be obligatory upon us after the _First of\n November_ ensuing, (the _fatal To-morrow_) the Publisher of this\n Paper unable to bear the Burthen, has thought it expedient TO STOP\n awhile, in order to deliberate, whether any Methods can be found to\n elude the Chains forged for us, and escape the insupportable Slavery;\n which it is hoped, from the last Representations now made against the\n Act, may be effected. Mean while, I must earnestly Request every\n Individual of my Subscribers, many of whom have been long behind Hand,\n that they would immediately Discharge their respective Arrers, that I\n may be able, not only to support myself during the Interval, but be\n better prepared to proceed again with this Paper, whenever an opening\n for that Purpose appears, which I hope will be soon.\n\n WILLIAM BRADFORD.]\n\n\nNOSTRUMS.\n\nUnsuccessful gamesters used formerly to make a knot in their linen, of\nlate years they have contented themselves with changing their chair\nas a remedy against ill-luck. As a security against cowardice, it was\nonce only necessary to wear a pin plucked from the winding sheet of a\ncorpse. To insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you had but\nto tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times. To get rid of\nwarts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as you had warts, and\nthrow them upon the high road; when the unlucky person who picked them\nup became your substitute. In the present day, to cure a toothache, you\ngo to your dentist. In the olden time you would have solicited alms in\nhonour of St. Lawrence, and been relieved without cost or pain.\n\n\nPRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.\n\nBaillet mentions one hundred and sixty-three children endowed with\nextraordinary talents, among whom few arrived at an advanced age. The\ntwo sons of Quintilian, so vaunted by their father, did not reach their\ntenth year. Hermogenes, who, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to\nMarcus Aurelius, who triumphed over the most celebrated rhetoricians of\nGreece, did not die, but at twenty-four, lost his faculties, and forgot\nall he had previously acquired. Pica di Mirandola died at thirty-two;\nJohannes Secundus at twenty-five; having at the age of fifteen composed\nadmirable Greek and Latin verses, and become profoundly versed in\njurisprudence and letters. Pascal, whose genius developed itself at ten\nyears old, did not attain the third of a century.\n\nIn 1791, a child was born at Lubeck, named Henri Heinekem, whose\nprecocity was miraculous. At ten months of age, he spoke distinctly;\nat twelve, learnt the Pentateuch by rote, and at fourteen months, was\nperfectly acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. At two years\nof age, he was as familiar with Ancient History as the most erudite\nauthors of antiquity. Sanson and Danville only could compete with him\nin geographical knowledge; Cicero would have thought him an \"alter\nego,\" on hearing him converse in Latin; and in modern languages he was\nequally proficient. This wonderful child was unfortunately carried off\nin his fourth year. According to a popular proverb--\"the sword wore out\nthe sheath.\"\n\n\nEFFECT OF MUSIC ON A PIGEON.\n\nBingley gives a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a pigeon,\nas related by John Lockman, in some reflections concerning operas,\nprefixed to his musical drama of Rosalinda. He was staying at a\nfriend's house, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord,\nand observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song\nof \"Speri-si,\" in Handel's opera of Admetus (and this only), would\ndescend from an adjacent dove-house to the room-window where she sat,\nand listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions; and when\nthe song was finished it always returned immediately to the dove-house.\n\n\nPOWER OF FASCINATION IN SNAKES.\n\nSome animals are held in universal dread by others, and not the least\nterrible is the effect produced by the rattle-snake. Mr. Pennant\nsays, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree,\non which a squirrel is seated. He fixes his eyes on the animal, and\nfrom that moment it cannot escape: it begins a doleful outcry, which\nis so well known that a passer by, on hearing it, immediately knows\nthat a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a little way,\ncomes down again, then goes up and afterwards comes still lower. The\nsnake continues at the bottom of the tree, with his eyes fixed on the\nsquirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person\naccidentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so\nmuch as the snake's turning about. The squirrel comes lower, and at\nlast leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended for\nits reception. Le Vaillant confirms this fascinating terror, by a\nscene he witnessed. He saw on the branch of a tree a species of shrike\ntrembling as if in convulsions, and at the distance of nearly four\nfeet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with\noutstretched neck and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal.\nThe agony of the bird was so great that it was deprived of the power of\nmoving away, and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found\ndead upon the spot--and that entirely from fear--for, on examination,\nit appeared not to have received the slightest wound. The same\ntraveller adds, that a short time afterwards he observed a small mouse\nin similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards from a snake, whose\neyes were intently fixed upon it; and on frightening away the reptile,\nand taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand.\n\n\nSECOND SIGHT.\n\nAbout the year 1725, the marvellous history of a Portuguese woman\nset the whole world of science into confusion, as will be found by\nreferring to the \"Mercure de France.\" This female was said to possess\nthe gift of discovering treasures. Without any other aid than the keen\npenetration of her eyes, she was able to distinguish the different\nstrata of earth, and pronounce unerringly upon the utmost distances at\na single glance. Her eye penetrated through every substance, even the\nhuman body; and she could discern the mechanism, and circulation of\nall animal fluids, and detect latent diseases; although less skilful\nthan the animal magnetisers, she did not affect to point out infallible\nremedies. Ladies could learn from her the sex of their forthcoming\nprogeny.\n\nThe King of Portugal, greatly at a loss for water in his newly built\npalace, consulted her; and after a glance at the spot, she pointed out\nan abundant spring, upon which his Majesty rewarded her with a pension,\nthe order of Christ, and a patent of nobility.\n\nIn the exercise of her miraculous powers, certain preliminaries were\nindispensable. She was obliged to observe a rigid fast; indigestion, or\nthe most trifling derangement of the stomach, suspending the marvellous\npowers of her visual organs.\n\nThe men of science of the day were of course confounded by such\nprodigies. But instead of questioning the woman, they consulted the\nworks of their predecessors; not forgetting the inevitable Aristotle.\nBy dint of much research, they found a letter from Huygens asserting\nthat there was a prisoner of war at Antwerp, who could see through\nstuffs of the thickest texture provided they were not red. The\nwonderful man was cited in confirmation of the wonderful woman, and\n_vice versa_.\n\n\nCHARACTER INDICATED BY THE EARS.\n\nAccording to Aristotle, large ears are indicative of imbecility; while\nsmall ones announce madness. Ears which are flat, point out the rustic\nand brutal man. Those of the fairest promise, are firm and of middling\nsize. Happy the man who boasts of square ears; a sure indication of\nsublimity of soul and purity of life. Such, according to Suetonius,\nwere the ears of the Emperor Augustus.\n\n\nGROANING BOARDS.\n\nGroaning boards were the wonder in London in 1682. An elm plank was\nexhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably\nproduced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman Tavern, in\nDrury Lane, the mantel-piece did the same so well that it was supposed\nto be part of the same elm-tree; and the dresser at the Queen's Arm\nTavern, St. Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality.\nStrange times when such things were deemed wonderful; even to meriting\nexhibition before the monarch.\n\n\nANCIENT PLOUGHING AND THRESHING.\n\nThe ancient plough was light, the draught comparatively easy; but then\nthe very lightness required that the ploughman should lean upon it with\nhis whole weight, or else it would glide over the soil without making\na single furrow. \"Unless,\" said Pliny, \"the ploughman stoop forward,\nto press down the plough, as well as to conduct it, truly it will turn\naside.\"\n\n[Illustration: Ancient Mode of Ploughing.]\n\nOxen were anciently employed in threshing corn, and the same custom is\nstill retained in Egypt and the east. This operation is effected by\ntrampling upon the sheaves, and by dragging a clumsy machine, furnished\nwith three rollers that turn on their axles. A wooden chair is attached\nto the machine, and on this a driver seats himself, urging his oxen\nbackwards and forwards among the sheaves, which have previously been\nthrown into a heap of about eight feet wide and two in height. The\ngrain thus beaten out, is collected in an open place, and shaken\nagainst the wind by an attendant, with a small shovel, or, as it is\ntermed, a winnowing fan, which disperses the chaff and leaves the grain\nuninjured:--\n\n \"Thus, with autumnal harvests covered o'er,\n And thick bestrewn, lies Ceres' sacred floor;\n While round and round, with never-wearied pain,\n The trampling steers beat out th' unnumber'd grain.\"\n\n HOMER.\n\nHorace further tells us, that the threshing floor was mostly a smooth\nspace, surrounded with mud walls, having a barn or garner on one side;\noccasionally an open field, outside the walls, was selected for this\npurpose, yet uniformly before the town or city gates. Such was the void\nplace wherein the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat\neach of them on his throne, clothed in his robes, at the entering in of\nthe gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. In\nthe marginal reading we are informed, that this void space was no other\nthan a threshing floor; and truly the area was well adapted for such an\nassemblage, being equally suited to accommodate the two kings and their\nattendants, and to separate them from the populace.\n\n[Illustration: Oxen Threshing Corn.]\n\nEastern ploughshares were of a lighter make than ours, and those who\nnotice the shortness and substance of ancient weapons, among such as\nare preserved in museums, will understand how readily they might be\napplied to agricultural uses.\n\n\nFROST FAIRS.\n\nIn 1788-9, the Thames was completely frozen over below London-bridge.\nBooths were erected on the ice; and puppet-shows, wild beasts,\nbear-baiting, turnabouts, pigs and sheep roasted, exhibited the\nvarious amusements of Bartholomew Fair multiplied and improved. From\nPutney-bridge down to Redriff was one continued scene of jollity during\nthis seven weeks' saturnalia. The last frost fair was celebrated\nin the year 1814. The frost commenced on 27th December, 1813, and\ncontinued to the 5th February, 1814. There was a grand walk, or mall,\nfrom Blackfriars-bridge to London-bridge, that was appropriately\nnamed _The City Road_, and lined on each side with booths of all\ndescriptions. Several printing-presses were erected, and at one of\nthese an orange-coloured standard was hoisted, with \"_Orange Boven_\"\nprinted in large characters. There were E O and Rouge et Noir tables,\ntee-totums, and skittles; concerts of rough music, viz. salt-boxes\nand rolling-pins, gridirons and tongs, horns, and marrow-bones and\ncleavers. The carousing booths were filled with merry parties, some\ndancing to the sound of the fiddle, others sitting round blazing fires\nsmoking and drinking. A printer's devil bawled out to the spectators,\n\"Now is your time, ladies and gentlemen,--now is your time to support\nthe freedom of the press! Can the press enjoy greater liberty? Here you\nfind it working in the middle of the Thames!\"\n\n\nMAGIC RAIN STONE.\n\nThe Indian magi, who are to invoke Yo He Wah, and mediate with the\nsupreme holy fire that he may give seasonable rains, have a transparent\nstone of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain, when\nit is put in a basin of water, by a reputed divine virtue, impressed on\none of the like sort, in time of old, which communicates it circularly.\nThis stone would suffer a great decay, they assert, were it even seen\nby their own laity; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled\nof its divine communicative power.\n\n\nTHE BOMBARDIER BEETLE.\n\nThe bombardier beetle (_Carabus crepitans_) when touched produces a\nnoise resembling the discharge of a musket in miniature, during which\na blue smoke may be seen to proceed from its extremity. Rolander says\nthat it can give twenty discharges successively. A bladder placed near\nits posterior extremity, is the arsenal that contains its store. This\nis its chief defence against its enemies; and the vapour or liquid\nthat proceeds from it is of so pungent a nature, that if it happens to\nbe discharged into the eyes, it makes them smart as though brandy had\nbeen thrown into them. The principal enemy of the bombardier is another\ninsect of the same tribe, but three or four times its size. When\npursued and fatigued it has recourse to this stratagem; it lies down in\nthe path of its enemy, who advances with open mouth to seize it; but on\nthe discharge of the artillery, this suddenly draws back, and remains\nfor a while confused, during which the bombardier conceals itself in\nsome neighbouring crevice, but if not lucky enough to find one, the\nother returns to the attack, takes the insect by the head, and bears it\noff.\n\n\nTHE PILLORY FOR EATING FLESH IN LENT.\n\nEven in this kingdom, so late as the Reformation, eating flesh in\nLent was rewarded with the pillory. An instance of this occurs in\nthe \"Patriot King,\" the particulars of which, quoted in \"Clavis\nCalendaria,\" are somewhat amusing. Thomas Freburn's wife, of\nPaternoster-row, London, having expressed a particular inclination\nfor pig, one was procured, ready for the spit; but the butter-woman\nwho provided it, squeamish as to the propriety of what she had done,\ncarried a foot of it to the Dean of Canterbury. The Dean was at\ndinner, and one of his guests was Freburn's landlord, and Garter King\nat Arms, who sent to know if any of his family were ill, that he ate\nflesh in Lent. 'All well,' quoth Freburn, (perhaps too much of a\nDissenter for the times,) 'only my wife longs for pig.' His landlord\nsends for the Bishop of London's apparitor, and orders him to take\nFreburn and his pig before Stocksly, the Bishop, who sent them both\nto Judge Cholmley; but he not being at home, they were again brought\nback to the Bishop, who committed them to the Compter. Next day, being\nSaturday, Freburn was carried before the Lord Mayor, who sentenced\nhim to stand in the pillory on the Monday following, with one half\nof the pig on one shoulder, and the other half on the other. Through\nCromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his liberty by a\nbond of twenty pounds for his appearance. The mischief-making pig was,\nby the order of the Bishop, buried in Finsbury-field, by the hand of\nhis Lordship's apparitor; but Freburn was turned out of his house, and\ncould not get another in four years. Hence we may infer his ruin.\n\n\nHUGE CANNON AT THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.\n\nIn 1432, several kinds of artillery are mentioned, cannons, bombards,\nvulgaires, coulverins. The vulgaires were ordinary artillery. In the\nyear 1460, James II. of Scotland was killed by the accidental bursting\nof a cannon. The artillery of the Turks, in the year 1453, surpassed\nwhatever had yet appeared in the world. A stupendous piece of ordnance\nwas made by them; its bore was twelve palms, and the stone bullet\nweighed about 600 lbs.; it was brought with great difficulty before\nConstantinople, and was flanked by two almost of equal magnitude:\nfourteen batteries were brought to bear against the place, mounting 130\nguns; the great cannon could not be loaded and fired more than seven\ntimes in one day. Mines were adopted by the Turks, and counter-mines\nby the Christians. At this siege, which was in 1453, ancient and\nmodern artillery were both used. Cannons, intermingled with machines\nfor casting stones and darts, and the battering-ram was directed\nagainst the walls. The fate of Constantinople could no longer be\naverted: the diminutive garrison was exhausted by a double attack; the\nfortifications were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon;\na spirit of discord impaired the Christian strength. After a siege\nof fifty-three days, Constantinople, which had defied the power of\nChosroes, the Chagan, and the Caliphs, was subdued by the arms of\nMahomet II.\n\n\nA MAN IN A VAULT ELEVEN DAYS.\n\n_St. Benedict Fink._--\"1673, April 23, was buried Mr Thomas Sharrow,\nCloth-worker, late Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an accidental\nfall into a vault, in London Wall, Amen Corner, by Paternoster Row,\nand was supposed had lain there eleven days and nights before any\none could tell where he was, _Let all that read this take heed of\ndrink._\"--Truly, a quaint warning!\n\n\nBLIND GRANNY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Blind Granny.]\n\nThis miserable, wretched, drunken object, who was blind of one eye,\nused to annoy the passengers in the streets of London, while sober,\nwith licking her blind eye with her tongue, which was of a most\nenormous length, and thickness; indeed, it was of such a prodigious\nsize, that her mouth could not contain it, and she could never close\nher lips, or to use a common expression, keep her tongue within\nher teeth. This wonderful feat of washing her eye with her tongue\nwas exhibited with a view of obtaining money from such as crowded\naround her, and no sooner had she obtained sufficient means, but\nshe hastened to the first convenient liquor-shop, to indulge her\npropensity in copious libations, and when properly inspired, would\nrush into the streets with all the gestures of a frantic maniac, and\nroll and dance about, until she became a little sobered, which was\nsometimes accelerated by the salutary application of a pail of water,\ngratuitously bestowed upon her by persons whose doorway she had taken\npossession of, as shelter from the persecuting tormentings of boys and\ngirls who generally followed her.\n\n\nANCIENT FEMALE COSTUME.\n\n[Illustration: [++] costume of a female of the higher classes.]\n\nA good specimen of the costume of a female of the higher classes is\nhere given, from an effigy of a lady of the Ryther family, in Ryther\nchurch, Yorkshire, engraved in Hollis's _Monumental Effigies_. She\nwears a wimple, covering the neck and encircling the head, the hair\nof which is gathered in plaits at the sides, and covered with a\nkerchief, which falls upon the shoulders, and is secured by a fillet\npassing over the forehead. The sleeves of the gown hang midway from\nthe elbow and the wrist, and display the tight sleeve with its rows of\nbuttons beneath. The mantle is fastened by a band of ribbon, secured\nby ornamental studs. The lower part of the dress consists of the wide\ngown, lying in folds, and completely concealing the feet, which have\nbeen omitted, in order to display the upper part of this interesting\neffigy to greater advantage.\n\n\nCHILCOTT, THE GIANT.\n\n1815. Died at Trenaw, in Cornwall, a person known by the appellation\nof Giant Chilcott. He measured at the breast six feet nine inches, and\nweighed four hundred and sixty pounds. One of his stockings held six\ngallons of wheat.\n\n\nDR. LETTSOM'S REASONS FOR DISMISSING A SERVANT.\n\nThe Doctor was in the practice of carrying the produce of his fees\ncarelessly in his coat-pocket. His footman being aware of this, used to\nmake free with a guinea occasionally, while it hung up in the passage.\nThe Doctor, having repeatedly missed his gold, was suspicious of the\nfootman, and took an opportunity of watching him. He succeeded in\nthe detection, and, without even noticing it to the other servants,\ncalled him into his study, and coolly said to him, \"John, art in want\nof money?\" \"No;\" replied John. \"Oh! then, why didst thou make so free\nwith my pocket? And since thou didst not want money, and hast told me a\nlie, I must part with thee. Now, say what situation thou wouldst like\nabroad, and I will obtain it for thee; for I cannot keep thee; I cannot\nrecommend thee; therefore thou must go.\" Suffice it to say, the Doctor\nprocured John a situation, and he went abroad.\n\n\nHANDBILL FROM PECKHAM FAIR IN 1726.\n\nOur ancestors just 133 years ago had but limited opportunities for\ngratifying a taste for Natural History if we may judge from the supply\nof animals deemed sufficient to attract attention in 1726:--\n\n\"_Geo. I. R._\n\n\"To the lovers of living curiosities. To be seen during the time of\n_Peckham Fair_, a Grand Collection of Living Wild Beasts and Birds,\nlately arrived from the remotest parts of the World.\n\n\"1. The _Pellican_ that suckles her young with her heart's blood, from\nEgypt.\n\n\"2. The Noble _Vultur Cock_, brought from _Archangell_, having the\nfinest tallons of any bird that seeks his prey; the fore part of his\nhead is covered with hair, the second part resembles the wool of a\nBlack; below that is a white ring, having a Ruff, that he cloaks his\nhead with at night.\n\n\"3. An _Eagle of the Sun_, that takes the loftiest flight of any bird\nthat flies. There is no bird but this that can fly to the face of the\nSun with a naked eye.\n\n\"4. A curious Beast, bred from a _Lioness_, like a foreign _Wild Cat_.\n\n\"5. The _He-Panther_, from Turkey, allowed by the curious to be one of\nthe greatest rarities ever seen in _England_, on which are thousands of\nspots, and not two of a likeness.\n\n\"6 & 7. The two fierce and surprising _Hyaenas_, Male and Female, from\nthe River _Gambia_. These Creatures imitate the human voice, and so\ndecoy the Negroes out of their huts and plantations to devour them.\nThey have a mane like a horse, and two joints in their hinder leg more\nthan any other creature. It is remarkable that all other beasts are to\nbe tamed, but _Hyaenas_ they are not.\n\n\"8. An _Ethiopian Toho Savage_, having all the actions of the human\nspecies, which (when at its full growth) will be upwards of five feet\nhigh.\n\n\"Also several other surprising Creatures of different sorts. To be seen\nfrom 9 in the morning till 9 at night, till they are sold. Also, all\nmanner of curiosities of different sorts, are bought and sold at the\nabove place by John Bennett.\"\n\n\nSOMNAMBULISM.\n\nSome years ago a Hampshire Baronet was nearly driven to distraction\nby the fact that, every night, he went to bed in a shirt, and every\nmorning awoke naked, without the smallest trace of the missing garment\nbeing discovered.\n\nHundreds of shirts disappeared in this manner; and as there was no fire\nin his room, it was impossible to account for the mystery. The servants\nbelieved their master to be mad; and even he began to fancy himself\nbewitched. In this conjuncture, he implored an intimate friend to\nsleep in the room with him; and ascertain by what manner of mysterious\nmidnight visitant his garment was so strangely removed. The friend,\naccordingly, took up his station in the haunted chamber; and lo! as the\nclock struck one, the unfortunate Baronet, who had previously given\naudible intimation of being fast asleep, rose from his bed, rekindled\nwith a match the candle which had been extinguished, deliberately\nopened the door, and quitted the room. His astonished friend followed:\nsaw him open in succession a variety of doors, pass along several\npassages, traverse an open court, and eventually reach the stable-yard;\nwhere he divested himself of his shirt, and disposed of it in an old\ndung-heap, into which he thrust it by means of a pitchfork. Having\nfinished this extraordinary operation, without taking the smallest heed\nof his friend who stood looking on, and plainly saw that he was walking\nin his sleep, he returned to the house, carefully reclosed the doors,\nre-extinguished the light, and returned to bed; where the following\nmorning he awoke as usual, stripped of his shirt!\n\nThe astonished eye-witness of this extraordinary scene, instead of\napprising the sleep-walker of what had occurred, insisted that the\nfollowing night, a companion should sit up with him; choosing to have\nadditional testimony to the truth of the statement he was about to\nmake; and the same singular events were renewed, without the slightest\nchange or deviation. The two witnesses, accordingly, divulged all they\nhad seen to the Baronet; who, though at first incredulous, became of\ncourse convinced, when, on proceeding to the stable-yard, several\ndozens of shirts were discovered; though it was surmised that as many\nmore had been previously removed by one of the helpers, who probably\nlooked upon the hoard as stolen goods concealed by some thief.\n\n\nKILLED BY EATING MUTTON AND PUDDING.\n\n_Teddington._--\"James Parsons, who had often eat a shoulder of mutton\nor a peck of hasty pudding, at a time, which caused his death, buried\nMarch 7, 1743-4, aged 36.\"\n\n\nCORAL REEFS.\n\nCoral reefs are produced by innumerable small zoophytes, properly\ncalled _Coral-insects_. The Coral insect consists of a little oblong\nbag of jelly closed at one end, but having the other extremity open,\nand surrounded by tentacles or feelers, usually six or eight in number,\nset like the rays of a star. Multitudes of these diminutive animals\nunite to form a common stony skeleton called _Coral_, or _Madrepore_,\nin the minute openings of which they live, protruding their mouths\nand tentacles when under water; but suddenly drawing them into their\nholes when danger approaches. These animals cannot exist at a greater\ndepth in the sea than about ten fathoms, and as the Coral Islands often\nrise with great steepness from a sea more than three hundred fathoms\ndeep, it would seem that a great alteration must have taken place in\nthe depth of the ocean since the time when these little architects\ncommenced their labours. Throughout the whole range of the Polynesian\nand Australasian islands, there is scarcely a league of sea unoccupied\nby a coral reef, or a coral island; the former springing up to the\nsurface of the water, perpendicularly from the fathomless bottom,\n\"deeper than did ever plummet sound;\" and the latter in various stages,\nfrom the low and naked rock, with the water rippling over it, to an\nuninterrupted forest of tall trees.\n\n\"Every one,\" says Mr. Darwin, \"must be struck with astonishment when\nhe first beholds one of these vast rings of coral rock, often many\nleagues in diameter, here and there surmounted by a low verdant island\nwith dazzling white shores, bathed on the outside by the foaming\nbreakers of the ocean, and on the inside surrounding a calm expanse of\nwater, which, from reflection, is of a bright but pale green colour.\nThe naturalist will feel this astonishment more deeply after having\nexamined the soft and almost gelatinous bodies of these apparently\ninsignificant creatures; and when he knows that the solid reef\nincreases only on the outer edge, which, day and night, is lashed by\nthe breakers of an ocean never at rest.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Coral Reefs.]\n\nCoral being beautiful in form and colour, is sought after for purposes\nof ornament; and its fishery or gathering gives employment to many\npersons in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, and other\nplaces. In the Straits of Messina, the rocks which yield coral are from\nabout 350 to 650 feet below the surface of the water. The coral here\ngrows to about the height or length of twelve inches, and requires\neight or ten years to come to perfection. In the general mode of\nfishing for coral, the instrument used consists of two heavy beams of\nwood, secured together at right angles, and loaded with stones to sink\nthem.\n\n\nMILITARY HATS IN OLDEN TIME.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 1, Charles I.\n No. 2, William III.\n No. 3, Nivernois.\n No. 4, Kevenhuller.\n No. 5, Ramilies.\n No. 6, Wellington.]\n\n\nWHY A MAN MEASURES MORE IN THE MORNING THAN IN THE EVENING, &c.\n\nThere is an odd phenomenon attending the human body, as singular as\ncommon: that a person is shorter standing than lying; and shorter in\nthe evening when he goes to bed, than in the morning when he rises.\n\nThis remark was first made in England, and afterwards confirmed at\nParis, by M. Morand, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in\nFrance, and by the Abbot Fontana likewise.\n\nThe last-mentioned person found, from a year's experience, that\nordinarily in the night he gained five or six lines, and lost nearly as\nmuch in the day.\n\nThe cause of which effect, so ancient, so common, but so lately\nperceived, proceeds from the different state or condition of the\nintervertebral annular cartilages.\n\nThe vertebrae, or joints of the spine, are kept separate, though joined\nby particular cartilages, every one of which has a spring. These yield\non all sides, without any inflexion on the spine, to the weight of\nthe head and upper extremities; but this is done by very small and\nimperceptible degrees, and most of all when the upper parts of the body\nare loaded with any exterior weight. So that a man is really taller\nafter lying some time, than after walking, or carrying a burthen a\ngreat while.\n\nFor this reason it is that, in the day and evening, while one is\nsitting or standing, the superior parts of the body that weigh or press\nupon the inferior, press those elastic annular cartilages, the bony\njointed work is contracted, the superior parts of the body descend\ntowards the inferior, and proportionably as one approaches the other,\nthe height of the stature diminishes.\n\nHence it was, that a fellow enlisting for a soldier, by being measured\nover-night, was found deficient in height, and therefore refused; but\nby accident being gauged again the next morning, and coming up to the\nstature, he was admitted.\n\nOn the contrary, in the night-time, when the body is laid a-bed, as\nit is in an horizontal situation, or nearly so, the superior parts\ndo not weigh, or but very little, upon the inferior; the spring of\nthe cartilages is unbent, the vertebrae are removed from one another,\nthe long jointed work of the spine is dilated, and the body thereby\nprolonged; so that a person finds himself about half an inch, or more,\nhigher in stature in the morning than when going to bed. This is the\nmost natural and simple reason that can be given, for the different\nheights of the same person at different times.\n\n\nA SENSIBLE DOG REFUSING TO BAIT A CAT.\n\nA dustman of the name of Samuel Butcher, residing at Mile-end, who\nkept a large dog, having taken it into his head to divert himself and\nothers, a few days ago, by the cruel sport of cat baiting, which the\ndog refusing to perform to the satisfaction of his master, was beat by\nhim in a most brutal manner, when the animal at length, in retaliation,\nflew at his unmerciful keeper, and inflicted very severe wounds about\nhis face, limbs, and body, in some instances tearing large mouthfuls of\nhis flesh quite clean out, and at one time clung so fast to the man,\nthat before he disengaged from him the animal's throat was obliged to\nbe cut. The man was promptly conveyed to the London Hospital, and there\ndied of the injuries he received.\n\n\nA HORSE GETTING HIMSELF SHOD.\n\nA horse having been turned into a field by its owner, Mr. Joseph Lane,\nof Fascombe, in the parish of Ashelworth, was missed therefrom the\nnext morning, and the usual inquiries set afoot, as to what could have\nbecome of him. He had, it seems, been shod (all fours) a few days\nbefore, and _as usual_ got pinched in a foot. Feeling, no doubt, a\nlively sense of proper shoeing, and desirous of relieving the cause of\npain, he contrived to unhang the gate of his pasture with his mouth,\nand make the best of his way to the smithy, a distance of a mile and a\nhalf from Fascombe, waiting respectfully at the door until the bungling\n_artist_ got up. The smith relates that he found him there at opening\nhis shed; that the horse advanced to the forge and held up his ailing\nfoot; and that he himself, upon examination, discovered the injury,\ntook off the shoe, and replaced it more carefully, which having done,\nthe sagacious creature set off at a merry pace homewards. Soon after,\nMr. Lane's servants passed by the forge in quest of the animal, and\nupon inquiry, received for answer--\"Oh, he has been here and got shod,\nand is gone home again.\"\n\n\nMAN WITHOUT HANDS.\n\nThe following account is extracted from a letter sent to the Rev. Mr.\nWesley by a person named Walton, dated Bristol, October 14, 1788:--\n\n\"I went with a friend to visit this man, who highly entertained us at\nbreakfast, by putting his half-naked foot upon the table as he sat,\nand carrying his tea and toast between his great and second toe to\nhis mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, and\nhis toes fingers. I put half a sheet of paper upon the floor, with a\npen and ink-horn: he threw off his shoes as he sat, took the ink-horn\nin the toes of his left foot, and held the pen in those of his right.\nHe then wrote three lines, as well as most ordinary writers, and as\nswiftly. He writes out all his own bills, and other accounts. He then\nshowed how he shaves himself with a razor in his toes, and how he combs\nhis own hair. He can dress and undress himself, except buttoning his\nclothes. He feeds himself, and can bring both his meat or his broth to\nhis mouth, by holding the fork or spoon in his toes. He cleans his own\nshoes; can clean the knives, light the fire, and do almost every other\ndomestic business as well as any other man. He can make his hen-coops.\nHe is a farmer by occupation; he can milk his own cows with his toes,\nand cut his own hay, bind it up in bundles, and carry it about the\nfield for his cattle. Last winter he had eight heifers constantly to\nfodder. The last summer he made all his own hay-ricks. He can do all\nthe business of the hay-field (except mowing), as fast and as well,\nwith only his feet, as others can with rakes and forks. He goes to the\nfield and catches his horse; he saddles and bridles him with his feet\nand toes. If he has a sheep among his flock that ails anything, he can\nseparate it from the rest, drive it into a corner, and catch it when\nnobody else can. He then examines it, and applies a remedy to it. He is\nso strong in his teeth, that he can lift ten pecks of beans with them.\nHe can throw a great sledge-hammer as far with his feet as other men\ncan with their hands. In a word, he can nearly do as much without, as\nothers can with, their arms. He began the world with a hen and chicken;\nwith the profit of these he purchased an ewe; the sale of these\nprocured him a ragged colt (as he expressed it) and then a better;\nafter this he raised a few sheep, and now occupies a small farm.\"\n\n\nTHE THIEF CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP.\n\nA man having, some years since, stolen a sheep at Mitcham, in Surrey,\ntied its hind legs together, and put them over his forehead to carry it\naway, but in getting over a gate the sheep, it is thought, struggled,\nand, by a sudden spring, slipped its feet down to his throat; for they\nwere found in that posture, the sheep hanging on one side of this gate\nand the man dead on the other.\n\n\nCOSTUME OF THE LADIES IN THE TIME OF THE PLANTAGENETS.\n\nThe ladies' costume may be seen to advantage in the annexed engraving\nfrom the Sloane MSS., No. 3983. A wimple or gorget is wrapped round\nthe neck, and is fastened by pins at the sides of the face, which are\ncovered above the ears; a gown of capacious size, unconfined at the\nwaist and loose in the sleeves, trails far behind in the dirt. The\nunder-garment, which is darker, has sleeves that fit closely; and\nit appears to be turned over, and pinned up round the bottom. The\nunnecessary amount of stuff that was used in ladies' robes rendered\nthem obnoxious to the satirists of that period.\n\n[Illustration: [++] proud woman who wore a white dress.]\n\nIn Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, published by the Percy\nSociety, there is one of the fourteenth century, which is so curious an\ninstance of monkish satire, and is so apt an illustration of the cut\nbefore us, that I cannot resist presenting it to my readers. It runs\nthus:--\n\n\"_Of a Proud Woman._--I have heard of a proud woman who wore a white\ndress with a long train, which, trailing behind her, raised a dust as\nfar as the altar and the crucifix. But, as she left the church, and\nlifted up her train on account of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a\ndevil laughing; and having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the\ndevil said, \"A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of\nthat woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she lifted her\ntrain up, my companion was shaken off into the dirt: and that is why I\nwas laughing.\"\n\n\nCORPULENT MAN. NOTTINGHAM, 1819.\n\nNovember 10.--Death of Mr. Henry Bucknall, confectioner,\nChandlers-lane, aged forty-nine. He was excessively corpulent, weighing\nmore than twenty-five stone, and died very suddenly, immediately after\neating a hearty breakfast. In Lord Howe's memorable engagement, on the\n1st of June, 1794, he had served as a marine on board the Brunswick.\nHis interment, at St. Mary's New Burial-ground, on the 14th, drew\ntogether a large concourse of spectators. The coffin was of enormous\nsize, and nearly equalled the body in weight. It was made of excellent\noak, was 6 feet 8 inches in length, and 2 feet 11 inches across the\nbreast; the bottom was 2-1/2 inches thick, the sides 1-1/2, and the\nlid 1. The whole, including the body, considerably exceeded five\nhundred-weight.\n\n\nTAKING A MAN TO PIECES AND SETTING HIM UP AGAIN.\n\n\"Don John, of Austria,\" says Staveley, \"Governor of the Netherlands for\nPhilip the 2d of Spain, dying at his camp at Buge (Bouges, a mile from\nNamur), was carried from thence to the great church at Havre, where his\nfuneral was solemnised, and a monument to posterity erected for him\nthere by Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma. Afterwards his body\nwas taken to pieces, and the bones, packed in mails, were privately\ncarried into Spain, where being set together with small wires, the\nbody was rejointed again, which being filled or stuffed with cotton,\nand richly habited, Don John was presented to the king entire, leaning\non his commander's staff. Afterwards the corpse being carried to the\nchurch of St. Laurence, at the Escurial, was there buried near his\nfather, Charles V., with a fitting monument for him.\"\n\n\nORNAMENTS OF FEMALE DRESS IN THE TIMES OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Necklace of Beads.]\n\nFig. 1 is a necklace of beads, each bead being cut so as to represent\na group of several, and give the effect of many small round beads to\nwhat are in reality long and narrow ones. Fig. 2 is a necklace of\nsimpler construction, consisting of a row of rudely-shaped beads, its\ncentre being remarkable for containing a rude attempt at representing a\nhuman face, the only thing of the kind Hoare discovered of so ancient\na date in Britain. Fig. 3 is another necklace, consisting of a series\nof curious little shells, like the hirlas horn used by the Britons,\nwhich are perforated lengthways, and thus strung together. Fig. 4 is a\npin of iron, supposed to have been used as a fastening for a mantle; it\nis ornamented with two movable rings. Fig. 5 is a small gold ornament,\ncheckered like a chessboard, and suspended from a chain of beautiful\nworkmanship, which, in taste and execution, bears a striking similarity\nto our modern curb-chains. Fig. 6 is an ear-ring, a bead suspended\nfrom a twisted wire of gold. Fig. 7 is a brass ornament, and Fig. 8 a\nsimilar one of gold: such ornaments are usually found upon the breasts\nof the exhumed skeletons of our barrows, and were probably fastened on\ntheir clothes as ornaments. Their cruciform character might lead to a\ndoubt of their high antiquity, if we were not aware of the fact, that\nthe symbol of the cross was worn, as an amulet or ornament, ages before\nthe Christian era.\n\n\nLARGE EEL.\n\nLately, near Malden, an eel was taken, measuring _five feet six inches\nin length, seventeen in girth_, and weighing _26 pounds_, the largest\nof the species ever caught, or described in natural history.\n\n\nPERSEVERING DOG.\n\nA boast being made of the obedience of a Newfoundland dog in fetching\nand carrying, the master put a marked shilling under a large square\nstone by the road side, and, having ridden on three miles, ordered\nthe dog to go back and fetch it. The dog set off, but did not return\nthe whole day. He had gone to the place, and being unable to turn the\nstone, sat howling by it. Two horsemen came by and saw his distress,\nand one of them alighting removed the stone, and finding the shilling,\nput it in his pocket, not supposing that the dog could possibly be\nlooking for that. The dog followed the horses for upwards of twenty\nmiles, stayed in the room where they supped, got into the bed-room, got\nthe breeches in which the fatal shilling had been put, made his escape\nwith them, and dragged them through mud and mire, hedge and ditch, to\nhis master's house.\n\n\nCURE FOR CORPULENCE.\n\nA few years ago, a man of about forty years of age, hired himself as a\nlabourer, in one of the most considerable ale-breweries in the City: at\nthis time he was a personable man; stout, active, and not fatter than a\nmoderate-sized man in high health should be. His chief occupation was\nto superintend the working of the new beer, and occasionally to set up\nat night to watch the sweet-wort, an employment not requiring either\nactivity or labour; of course, at these times, he had an opportunity of\ntasting the liquor, of which, it appears, he always availed himself;\nbesides this, he had constant access to the new beer. Thus leading a\nquiet inactive life, he began to increase in bulk, and continued to\nenlarge, until, in a very short time, he became of such an unwieldy\nsize, as to be unable to move about, and was too big to pass up the\nbrewhouse staircase; if by any accident he fell down, he was unable to\nget up again without help. The integuments of his face hung down to\nthe shoulders and breast: the fat was not confined to any particular\npart, but diffused over the whole of his body, arms, legs, &c., making\nhis appearance such as to attract the attention of all who saw him. He\nleft this service to go into the country, being a burthen to himself,\nand totally useless to his employers. About two years afterwards he\ncalled upon his old masters in very different shape to that above\ndescribed, being reduced in size nearly half, and weighing little\nmore than ten stone. The account that he gave of himself was, that as\nsoon as he had quitted the brewhouse he went into Bedfordshire, where\nhaving soon spent the money he had earned, and being unable to work,\nhe was brought into such a state of poverty, as to be scarcely able to\nobtain the sustenance of life, often being a whole day without food;\nthat he drank very little, and that was generally water. By this mode\nof living he began to diminish in size, so as to be able to walk about\nwith tolerable ease. He then engaged himself to a farmer, with whom he\nstayed a considerable time, and in the latter part of his service he\nwas able to go through very hard labour, being sometimes in the field\nploughing and following various agricultural concerns, for a whole day,\nwith no other food than a small pittance of bread and cheese. This was\nthe history he gave of the means by which this extraordinary change was\nbrought about. He added, his health had never been so good as it then\nwas.\n\n\nWORSHIP OF THE SUN AND MOON.\n\nThe Sun was first worshipped, probably, as a bright manifestation of\nGod, but soon began to be regarded as the Deity himself. The Moon,\nin the absence of the Sun, and next in splendour, would succeed\nit in superstitious attention. And so we find the Romans, as well\nas the Saxons, dedicating the first and second days of the week\nrespectively to these \"great lights.\" Formerly, festivals were held\non the appearance of a New Moon; and in some parts of England it is\nstill customary to bless it, and in Scotland at the same time to drop\na courtesy. And in times not long past, the influence of the Moon was\nconsidered to be so great as to regulate the growth of air, and the\neffect of medicine, and to cause steeples and other elevated buildings\nto bend from their upright positions.\n\n\nA SEA ABOVE THE SKY.\n\nThis belief is curiously illustrated by two legendary stories preserved\nby Gervase of Tilbury. \"One Sunday,\" he says, \"the people of a village\nin England were coming out of church on a thick cloudy day, when they\nsaw the anchor of a ship hooked to one of the tombstones; the cable,\nwhich was tightly stretched, hanging down from the air. The people were\nastonished, and while they were consulting about it, suddenly they saw\nthe rope move as though some one laboured to pull up the anchor. The\nanchor, however, still held fast by the stone, and a great noise was\nsuddenly heard in the air, like the shouting of sailors. Presently a\nsailor was seen sliding down the cable for the purpose of unfixing the\nanchor; and when he had just loosened it, the villagers seized hold of\nhim, and while in their hands he quickly died, just as though he had\nbeen drowned. About an hour after, the sailors above, hearing no more\nof their comrade, cut the cable and sailed away. In memory of this\nextraordinary event, the people of the village made the hinges of the\nchurch doors out of the iron of the anchor, and 'there they are still\nto be seen.'--At another time, a merchant of Bristol set sail with\nhis cargo for Ireland. Some time after this, while his family were at\nsupper, a knife suddenly fell in through the window on the table. When\nthe husband returned, he saw the knife, declared it to be his own, and\nsaid that on such a day, at such an hour, while sailing in an unknown\npart of the sea, he dropped the knife overboard, and the day and hour\nwere known to be exactly the time when it fell through the window.\nThese accidents, Gervase thinks, are a clear proof of there being a sea\nabove hanging over us.\"--_St. Patrick's Purgatory. By Thos. Wright._\n1844.\n\n\nTHE PAPYRUS.\n\nPaper as we now have it, that is to say, paper made of the pulp of\nfibrous materials, pressed into thin sheets, dried, and, when intended\nfor writing or printing purposes, sized, is of comparatively modern\nintroduction to Europe and Western Asia; although the Chinese appear to\nhave formed paper out of silk pulp, mixed with the inner pith of the\nbamboo, as early at least as 95 A.D.:--not from time immemorial, as\nsome authors have stated, because the circumstance is well attested,\nthat in the time of Confucius, the Chinese wrote with a style on the\ninner bark of trees.\n\n[Illustration: Papyrus Roll, from a Specimen in the British Museum.]\n\nBefore the invention of paper, the surfaces employed for writing upon\nwere numerous. Surfaces of lead or other metal; tables covered with\nwax, skins of animals,--(parchment in fact)--all were used; but no one\nof these was ever so extensively employed as the Egyptian papyrus,\nwhenever the latter material could be obtained. So soon, however, as\nthe Saracens in the seventh century conquered Egypt, the exportation of\npapyrus was at an end; and writing surfaces became so scarce in Europe\nthat many ancient documents of great value were erased in order to\nrender them adapted for being written on once more. Thus perished many\ntreasures of antiquity.\n\nAs the Saracens closed the avenue of supply for the ancient papyrus,\nso they compensated to Europe for this deprivation by discovering the\nmanufacture of ordinary paper--at least paper made in the ordinary\nmodern fashion,--though the material was cotton, not linen. This\ndiscovery was made some time anterior to the year 706 A.D., for at\nthat period a manufactory of paper existed at Samarcand. In the\neighth century the Saracens conquered Spain, and introduced into the\nPeninsula, amongst other arts, that of the manufacture of paper, which\nart was a long time finding its way into other parts of Europe,--in\nItaly not until the eleventh or twelfth century. The vast amount of\npapyrus which must have been employed in Italy, may be inferred\nfrom the number of rolls or _scapi_ of this substance discovered in\nHerculaneum and Pompeii; also from a perusal of many existing documents\nbearing directly or indirectly on this branch of commerce. Even so late\nas the commencement of the sixth century, Cassiodorus congratulated the\nworld on the abolition, by King Theodoric, of the high duty on papyrus\nfrom Egypt; and he spoke in high flown terms of the great utility of\nthe material. The latest papyrus roll known is of the twelfth century,\ncontaining a brief of Pope Paschal II., in favour of the Archiepiscopal\nsee of Ravenna.\n\n[Illustration: Syrian Papyrus Without Flowers.]\n\n[Illustration: Syrian Papyrus With Flowers.]\n\nThe various species of papyrus plants belong to the natural order\n\"Cyperaceae,\" or sedges, of botanists; a main characteristic of which is\na certain triangularity of stem. The method of constructing a writing\nsurface from these stems was as follows:--The available portion being\ncut off (it was seldom more than twelve inches in length), and split,\nor, more properly speaking, unfolded into thin sheets, which were glued\ntogether transversely in such a manner that the original length of the\npapyrus stem became the breadth of the future sheet; the length of\nwhich might be increased at the pleasure of the operator. Frequently\nthe manufactured scrolls were more than thirty feet long. As different\nmethods prevail in the manufacture of our ordinary paper, so in like\nmanner there were different processes of fashioning the papyrus into\nshape. The rudest manufacture appears to have been that of Egypt, and\nthe best papyrus sheets appear to have been made in Rome during the\nAugustine AEra. The preceding sketch represents a papyrus roll, copied\nfrom a specimen in the Egyptian Room of the British Museum.\n\nConsidering the numerous pieces entering into the composition of the\nroll, of which our illustration represents a portion, the lines of\njuncture are remarkably well concealed, only a sort of grain being\nvisible. The surface, moreover, is smoothed, and its colour very\nmuch like that of India paper. The hieroglyphics are coloured as is\nusual, red is the predominant tint, and the colours are no less well\ndemarcated and separate than they would have been on glazed paper.\n\nOur preceding wood-cuts represent the Sicilian or Syrian papyrus,\nhitherto termed _cyperus papyrus_, in two states of development--one\nwith flowers, the other without. In order that inflorescence may take\nplace, the plant requires to be well supplied with water.\n\n\nEXECUTION IN 1733.\n\n_Friday, March 9_--Was executed at Northampton, William Alcock, for the\nmurder of his wife. He never own'd the fact, nor was at all concerned\nat his approaching death; refusing the prayers and assistance of any\npersons. In the morning he drank more than was sufficient, yet sent and\npaid for a pint of wine, which being deny'd him, he would not enter\nthe cart before he had his money return'd. On his way to the gallows\nhe sung part of an old song of \"Robin Hood,\" with the chorus, \"Derry,\nderry, down,\" &c., and swore, kick'd, and spurn'd at every person that\nlaid hold of the cart; and before he was turn'd off, took off his\nshoes, to avoid a well known proverb; and being told by a person in the\ncart with him, it was more proper for him to read, or hear somebody\nread to him, than so vilely to swear and sing, he struck the book out\nof the person's hands, and went on damning the spectators and calling\nfor wine. Whilst psalms and prayers were performing at the tree he did\nlittle but talk to one or other, desiring some to remember him, others\nto drink to his good journey, and to the last moment declared the\ninjustice of his case.\n\n\nDOG FRIENDSHIP.\n\nAt Bishops Stortford there were two dogs, which belonged to nobody, and\nlived upon the quay of the river or canal there. They took the greatest\ndelight in rat hunting, and when the maltsters went about at night to\nsee that all was safe, these dogs invariably followed them. Their mode\nof proceeding was very ingenious. As soon as the door of the malt-house\nwas unlocked, one rushed in and coursed round the warehouse, not\nchasing any rat which might start, but pursuing its way among the malt.\nThe other stood at the door and snapped at the rats as they endeavoured\nto escape. The one standing at the door was known to kill six rats,\nall of which had rushed to the door at the same time. The next room\nthey came to, they would change posts; the one which hunted before,\nnow standing at the door and seizing the prey. By this means the dogs\nkilled in the malting-houses of one maltster alone, upwards of 2,000\nrats in the course of one year. One of them on one occasion killed\nsixty-seven in less than five minutes. They seemed to pursue the sport\nsimply for their amusement.\n\n\nALL HUMBUGS.\n\nJust as a strolling actor at Newcastle had advertised his benefit, a\nremarkable stranger, no less than the _Prince Annamaboo_, arrived, and\nplacarded the town that he granted audiences at a shilling a-head. The\nstroller, without delay, waited on the proprietor of the _Prince_, and\nfor a good round sum prevailed on him to command his Serene Highness\nto exhibit his august person on his benefit night. The bills of the\nday announced that between the acts of the comedy _Prince Annamaboo_\nwould give a lively representation of the _scalping operation_, sound\nthe _Indian war-whoop_ in all its melodious tones, practice the\ntomahawk exercise, and dine _a la cannibal_. An intelligent mob were\ncollected to witness these interesting exploits. At the conclusion of\nthe third act, his _Highness_ marched forward flourishing his tomahawk,\nand shouting, \"_Ha, ha!--ho, ho!_\" Next entered a man with his face\nblacked, and a piece of bladder fastened to his head with gum; the\n_Prince_, with an enormous carving-knife, began the scalping part of\nthe entertainment, which he performed in a truly _imperial_ style,\nholding up the piece of bladder as a token of triumph. Next came the\nwar-whoop, an unearthly combination of discordant sounds; and lastly,\nthe banquet, consisting of raw beef-steaks, which he rolled up into\nrouleaus, and devoured with right royal avidity. Having finished\nhis delicate repast, he wielded his tomahawk in an exulting manner,\nbellowed \"_Ha, ha!--ho, ho!_\" and made his exit. The _beneficiaire_\nstrolling through the market-place the following-day, spied the most\npuissant _Prince Annamaboo_ selling penknives, scissors, and quills,\nin the character of a Jew pedlar. \"What!\" said the astonished _Lord\nTownley_, \"my _Prince_, is it you? Are you not a pretty circumcised\nlittle scoundrel to impose upon us in this manner?\" Moses turned round,\nand with an arch look, replied, \"_Princh_ be d--d! I _vash_ no Princh;\nI _vash_ acting like you. Your troop _vash_ Lords and Ladies last\nnight; and to-night dey vil be Kings, _Prinches_, and Emperor! I _vash\nhumpugs_, you _vash humpugs_, all _vash humpugs_!\"\n\n\nREDUCING WEIGHT.\n\nA gentleman, of great respectability in the mercantile world, who\nweighed thirty-two stone nine pounds, put himself upon a strict diet of\n_four ounces of animal food_, _six ounces_ of bread, and _two pounds\nof liquid_, in twenty-four hours. In one week he lost thirty pounds\nweight, and in six months he was diminished the astonishing quantity of\none hundred and thirty-four pounds. His health and spirits were much\nimproved, and considering his remaining size of twenty-three stone, he\nwas very active.\n\n\nANECDOTE OF A SERPENT.\n\nLord Monboddo relates the following singular anecdote of a serpent:--\"I\nam well informed of a tame serpent in the East Indies, which belonged\nto the late Dr. Vigot, once kept by him in the suburbs of Madras. This\nserpent was taken by the French, when they invested Madras, and was\ncarried to Pondicherry in a close carriage. But from thence, he found\nhis way back again to his old quarters, though Madras was above one\nhundred miles distant from Pondicherry.\"\n\n\nENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMANS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Shoes of Raw Cow-Hide.]\n\nBefore the Roman invasion, the dress of its chieftains consisted of\na close coat or covering for the body, called by Dio a tunic, and\ndescribed as checkered with various colours in divisions. It was open\nbefore, and had long close sleeves to the wrist. Below were loose\npantaloons, called by the Irish _brigis_, and by the Romans _brages_\nand _bracae_; whence the modern term \"breeches.\" Over their shoulders\nwas thrown the mantle or cloak, called by the Romans _sagum_, and\nderived from the Celtic word _saic_, which signified a skin or hide,\nand which was the original cloak of the country. Diodorus tells us\nthat it was of one uniform colour, generally either blue or black, the\npredominating tint in the checkered trousers and tunic being red. On\ntheir heads they wore a conical cap, which derived its name from the\n\"cab,\" or hut of the Briton, which was of similar form. On their feet\nwere shoes made of raw cow-hide, that had the hair turned outward, and\nwhich reached to the ankles. Shoes so constructed were worn within the\nlast few years in Ireland; and we engrave two from specimens in the\nRoyal Irish Academy. One is of cow-hide, and drawn together by a string\nover the foot; and the other has a leather thong, which is fastened\nbeneath the heel inside, and, passing over the instep, draws the shoe\nlike a purse over the foot. It is of untanned leather.\n\n\nROMANS IN BRITAIN--DRESS OF NATIVE FEMALES AT THAT PERIOD.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Female Roman Shoes.]\n\nThe British _gwn_, from whence comes the modern \"gown,\" descended to\nthe middle of the thigh, the sleeves barely reaching to the elbows:\nit was sometimes confined by a girdle. Beneath this a longer dress\nreached to the ancles. The hair was trimmed after the Roman fashion;\nand upon the feet, when covered, were sometimes worn shoes of a\ncostly character, of which we know the Romans themselves to have\nbeen fond. An extremely beautiful pair was discovered upon opening a\nRoman burial-place at Southfleet in Kent, in 1802. They were placed\nin a stone sarcophagus, between two large glass urns or vases, each\ncontaining a considerable quantity of burnt bones. They were of\nsuperb and expensive workmanship, being made of fine purple leather,\nreticulated in the form of hexagons all over, and each hexagonal\ndivision worked with gold, in an elaborate and beautiful manner.\n\n[Illustration: The Catacombs. Rome.]\n\nAmid the ruins of stately temples, and numerous remains of the \"Eternal\nCity,\" there are no objects which have such great and general interest\nas the subterranean churches, dwellings, and places of sepulchre of the\nearly Christians, which perforate, by a network of excavations, the\nneighbourhood of Rome.\n\nThe great increase in the extent and magnificence of Rome during\nthe times of the Republic, led to the formation of quarries in the\nsurrounding parts. The peculiar nature of the soil has caused the\nexcavations to be made in a manner similar to that used in the working\nof coal, iron, stone, lime, &c. The useful material has, in fact, been\ncleared away, leaving long ranges of dark caves and passages. After\nthe stone had been removed from these underground quarries, it was,\nfor many centuries, customary to work out the sand for the purpose of\nmaking cement. Vitruvius has stated that the sand obtained from the\nEsquiline pits was preferable to any other. Ultimately the quarries\nand sandpits extended to a distance of upwards of fifteen miles on\none side of Rome. Parts of this large range of excavations were from\ntime to time used as burial-grounds by such of the Romans as could not\nafford the cost of burning the bodies of their dead relations. And, in\naddition, the Esquiline hills became infested by banditti, and was from\nthese various causes rendered almost impassable.\n\nIn these excavations, it is said, that not only persons, but cattle,\ncontrived to support existence; and although it was well known that\nlarge numbers were lodged in these dismal dwellings, their intricacy\nand numberless entrances rendered them a comparatively secure retreat.\nIt is related that attempts were made to cover the galleries with\nearth, in order to destroy those who were concealed within.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Inscription in the Catacombs.]\n\nIn course of time the catacombs became, with the exception of one or\ntwo, neglected and filled up with rubbish, and remained for a period\nof upwards of one thousand years untouched and almost unknown. In the\nsixteenth century the whole range of the catacombs were reopened, and\nnumerous inscriptions and other matters connected with the struggles\nand hardships of the early Christians brought to light. The annexed\nbrief memorial will show the general style of the lettering.\n\n\nOBSOLETE MODES OF PUNISHMENT.\n\nAnte page 60, we gave representations of some ancient instruments of\npunishment and torture, all more or less terrible in their character,\nthe use of which, for many a long year, has been happily abandoned. As\na companion to this group, we have engraved a few of the instruments\nof punishment by which criminals of a vulgar character were sought\nto be reformed. The first of these is the felon's brand, the mark of\nwhich rendered a man infamous for life. Figure 1, p. 90 represents the\ninstrument itself. Figure 2, the mark branded in, which latter has\nbeen engraved the exact size. The device, which is deeply cut into the\nmetal, is a gallows, such as was used before the invention of the Drop\nand the Wheel for Execution and torture.\n\nThe Stocks and Whipping-post, although long since removed from London\nBridge, may be met with in retired country places. We have noticed\nsome characteristic examples in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,\nwhere some of the may-poles, day-wheels, and other curious relics, may\nstill be seen.[2] In some instances the Stocks and Whipping-posts were\nrichly carved, and clamped with iron work of an ornamental character.\nWe remember seeing the stocks used within the last thirty years, once\nat Newcastle-on-Tyne, and once at Gateshead, the adjoining town. The\nculprit in the one instance was an elector, who, in the excess of zeal\nand beer, during an old-fashioned contested election, rushed into one\nof the churches during the Sunday's service, and shouted out, \"Bell\n(one of the candidates) for ever.\" He was speedily taken hold of,\nand placed for several hours in the stocks in the churchyard; and,\nas the stimulating effect of the strong drink passed away, he looked\na deplorable object, decked as he was with numerous cockades, the\n\"favours\" of the candidate, whose cause he so indiscreetly supported.\n\n[2] A good specimen was demolished at Tottenham not long ago.\n\nThe punishment of the barrel we should think to have been adapted for\ndrunkards who could preserve a perpendicular position.\n\nIn the histories of London, it is mentioned that bakers and other\ndealers caught giving false weight, or in any other ways cheating the\npoor, were exhibited occasionally in this manner; but more frequently\nthey were placed in the parish dung-cart, and slowly drawn through the\nstreets of the district.\n\nThe Whirligig, a circular cage which could be moved swiftly round on\na pivot, was, in bygone days, in use for offenders in the English\narmy. There was another instrument used for the same purpose called\nthe Horse, which was made in rude resemblance of the animal whose\nname it bore. The body was composed of planks of wood, which formed a\nsharp angle along the back. On this the soldier was seated, and his\nlegs fastened below to several heavy muskets. This is said to have\nbeen a very severe and dangerous punishment. In addition to the above,\nand flogging, imprisonment, &c., there were three ancient methods of\npunishment in the English army--viz., beheading, hanging, and drowning.\nThe latter of these, according to Grose, was in use only in the reign\nof Richard I. This author observes that, some centuries ago, capital\npunishment was rare in our army, the men having generally property,\nwhich was confiscated in case of ill conduct. He, however, refers\nto some terrible means which were resorted to for the purpose of\npreserving discipline. Hanging was chiefly confined to spies; who were\ntaken to a tree in sight of the camp, and yet sufficiently distant, and\nthere hung up. In many instances, when a corps or a considerable body\nof men were guilty of crime, for which the established punishment was\ndeath, to prevent too great a weakening of the army, the delinquents,\nGrose says, \"were decimated, that is, only every tenth man was taken. A\nnumber of billets, equal to that of the body to be decimated, were put\ninto a helmet, every tenth billet being marked with the letter D, or\nsome other character signifying death; the helmet was then shaken, in\norder to mix them, and the soldiers, filing off singly from the right,\npassed by the commanding officers, before whom, on a table, stood the\nhelmet; as they passed, each drew a billet and presented it to an\nofficer placed to receive them. If the billet had the fatal mark; the\nsoldier was seized and marched into the rear.\"\n\nThis wholesale method of capital punishment must have been a solemn\naffair. At times, it was customary to punish the man at the right hand\nof companies; without giving them the chance of the billet--on the\nprincipal that these were the most influential persons, and must, from\ntheir companionship with the others, have been acquainted with and have\npossessed the means of checking or giving information, which would\nprevent dangerous offences.\n\n[Illustration: 1. Brand for Marking Felons. 2. Impression of Brand. 3.\nPunishment for Drunkards, formerly in use at Newcastle-on-Tyne. 4. The\nWhirligig, a military method of punishment. 5. Pillory, Stocks, and\nWhipping Post, formerly on London Bridge.]\n\nThe regulations of the English army during the time of Henry VIII., and\nprevious reigns, may be met with in \"Grose's Military Antiquities.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE TERM \"HUMBUG.\"\n\nThis, now, common expression, is a corruption of the word Hamburgh, and\noriginated in the following manner:--During a period when war prevailed\non the Continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were\nfabricated at Hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his\ndisbelief of a statement, he would say, \"You had that from Hamburgh;\"\nand thus, \"That is Hamburgh,\" or Humbug, became a common expression of\nincredulity.\n\n\nMARRIAGE LOTTERY.\n\nIt has often been said figuratively that marriage is a lottery; but we\ndo not recollect to have met with a practical illustration of the truth\nof the simile, before the following, which is a free translation of an\nadvertisement in the Louisiana Gazette:--\"A young man of good figure\nand disposition, unable, though desirous to procure a wife, without\nthe preliminary trouble of amassing a fortune, proposes the following\nexpedient to attain the object of his wishes. He offers himself as\nthe prize of a lottery to all widows and virgins under 32. The number\nof tickets to be 600, at 50 dollars each. But one number to be drawn\nfrom the wheel, the fortunate proprietor of which is to be entitled to\nhimself and the 30,000 dollars.\"\n\n\nCHINESE DAINTIES.\n\nThe common people of the country seem to fare hardly and sparingly\nenough, but one of our envoys praises much of the good cheer he found\nat the tables of the great men. They had pork, fish, and poultry,\nprepared in a great variety of ways, and very nice confectionery in\nabundance. The feasts, moreover, were served up in a very neat and\ncleanly manner. But there was one dainty which much offended their\nnostrils, and nearly turned their stomachs when it was named to them.\nIt was not stewed dog or fricaseed pup. No; it consisted of three\nbowls of _hatched eggs_! When the Englishmen expressed some surprise\nat the appearance of this portion of the repast, one of the native\nattendants observed that hatched eggs formed a delicacy beyond the\nreach of the poor--a delicacy adapted only for persons of distinction!\nOn inquiry, it was found that they cost in the market some thirty\nper cent. more than fresh eggs. It seems that they always form a\ndistinguished part of every great entertainment, and that it is the\npractice, when invitations are sent out, to set the hens to hatch.\nThe feast takes place about the tenth or twelfth day from the issuing\nthe invitations,--the eggs being then considered as ripe, and exactly\nin the state most agreeable and pleasant to the palate of a Chinese\nepicure.\n\n\nRECEIPTS FROM ALBERTUS MAGNUS.\n\n\"Bubo a shrick owle, is a byrd wel inough knowen, which is called\nMagis of the Chaldes, and Hysopus of the Greekes. There bee maruaylous\nvertues of this Fowle, for if the hart and ryght foote of it be put\nupon a man sleeping, hee shall saye anone to thee whatsoever thou shalt\naske of him. And thys hath beene prooued of late tyme of our brethren.\nAnd if any man put thys onder his arme hole, no Dog wyll barke at hym,\nbut keepe silence. And yf these thynges aforesayde ioyned together with\na wyng of it be hanged up to a tree, byrdes wyl gather together to that\ntree.\"\n\n\"When thou wylt that thy wyfe or wenche shewe to thee all that shee\nhath done, take the hart of a Doove, and the heade of a Frog, and drye\nthem both, and braie them vnto poulder, and lay them vpon the brest of\nher sleeping, and shee shall shew to thee all that shee hath done, but\nwhen shee shall wake, wipe it awaye from her brest, that it bee not\nlifted vp.\"\n\n\"Take an Adders skyn, and Auri pigmentum, and greeke pitch of\nReuponticum, and the waxe of newe Bees, and the fat or greace of an\nAsse, and breake them all, and put them all in a dull seething pot full\nof water, and make it to seeth at a slowe fire, and after let it waxe\ncold, and make a taper, and euery man that shall see light of it shall\nseeme headlesse.\"--_The Secreetes of Nature, set foorth by Albertus\nMagnus in Latine, newlye translated into English._ Imprinted at London\nby me Wyllyam Copland. No date. _Black letter_, very old.\n\n\nTHE MAGPIE STONING A TOAD.\n\nThere is a story told of a tame magpie, which was seen busily employed\nin a garden, gathering pebbles, and with much solemnity, and a\nstudied air, dropping them in a hole, about eighteen inches deep,\nmade to receive a post. After dropping each stone, it cried, Currack!\ntriumphantly, and set off for another. On examining the spot a poor\ntoad was found in the hole, which the magpie was stoning for his\namusement.\n\n\nADAPTATION OF BONES TO AGE IN THE HUMAN FRAME.\n\nGrowth produces in the species a somewhat remarkable change in the\nmechanical qualities of the bones. This important part of our organism\nconsists of three constituents--fibre, cartilage, and the earthy matter\nalready mentioned called _phosphate of lime_. From the fibre they\nderive their toughness; from the cartilage their elasticity; and from\nthe lime their hardness and firmness. Nothing can be more admirable\nin the economy of our body than the manner in which the proportion of\nthese constituents adapts itself to the habitudes of age. The helpless\ninfant, exposed by a thousand incidents to external shocks, has bones,\nthe chief constituents of which being gristly and cartilaginous, are\nyielding and elastic, and incur little danger of fracture. Those of the\nyouth, whose augmented weight and increased activity demand greater\nstrength, have a larger proportion of the calcareous and fibrous\nelements, but still enough of the cartilaginous to confer upon the\nsolid framework of his body the greatest firmness, toughness, and\nelasticity. As age advances, prudence and tranquil habits increasing,\nas well as the weight which the bones have to sustain, the proportion\nof the calcareous constituent increases, giving the requisite hardness\nand strength, but diminishing the toughness and elasticity.\n\nWhile the bones thus change their mechanical qualities as age advances,\nthey diminish in number, the frame consequently having fewer joints\nand less flexibility. The bones of a child, whose habits require\ngreater bodily pliability, are more numerous than those of an adult,\nseveral of the articulations becoming ossified between infancy and\nmaturity. In like manner, the bones at maturity are more numerous than\nin advanced age, the same progressive ossification of the joints being\ncontinued.\n\nIt has been ascertained by anatomists that, on attaining the adult\nstate, the number of bones constituting the framework of the human body\nis 198; of which 52 belong to the trunk, 22 to the head, 64 to the\narms, and 60 to the legs.\n\n\nTOWER OF THE THUNDERING WINDS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Tower of the Thundering Winds.]\n\nThe Great Wall is certainly a wonderful monument of ancient times; but\nit is almost the only one that we read of in China, except a famous\nTemple, or Tower, partly in ruins, which stands on an eminence in\nthe neighbourhood of Hang-chow-foo. It is called the \"Tower of the\nThundering Winds,\" and is supposed to have been built about 2,500 years\nago.\n\n\nDR. MONSEY BEQUEATHS HIS OWN BODY.\n\nThis eccentric person died at the great age of 96, and was for half\na century, physician to Chelsea Hospital. He left his body for\ndissection, and a few days before he died, wrote to Mr. Cruikshanks,\nthe Anatomist, begging him to know, whether it would suit his\nconvenience to do it, as he felt he could not live many hours, and Mr.\nForster, his surgeon, was then out of town. He died as he predicted,\nand his wishes with respect to his body, were strictly attended to.\n\n\nTEA.\n\nA folio sheet of the time of Charles II. entitled \"An Exact Description\nof the Growth, Quality, and Virtues of the Leaf Tea, by Thomas Garway,\nin Exchange Alley, near the Royal Exchange, in London, Tobacconist, and\nSeller and Retailer of Tea and Coffee,\" informs us that \"in England\nit hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten\npounds the pound weight; and in respect of its former scarceness and\ndearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments, and\nentertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees till\nthe year 1657. The said Thomas Garway did purchase a quantity thereof,\nand first publikely sold the said Tea in leaf and drink, made according\nto the direction of the most knowing merchants and travellers in those\neastern countries: and upon knowledge and experience of the said\nGarway's continued care and industry, in obtaining the best Tea, and\nmaking drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, and\ngentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf,\nand daily resort to his house, in Exchange Alley, to drink the drink\nthereof.\"\n\n\nIT'S MUCH THE SAME NOW.\n\nThe following lines, from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ of 1733, will give\nus some idea of what fashionable life was at that period:--\n\n_The Town Lady's Answer to_,--\"_What tho' I am a Country Lass_.\"\n\n What tho' I am a London dame,\n And lofty looks I bear, a?\n I carry, sure, as good a name,\n As those who russet wear, a.\n\n What tho' my cloaths are rich brocades?\n My skin it is more white, a\n Than any of the country maids\n That in the fields delight, a.\n\n What tho' I to assemblies go,\n And at the Opera's shine, a?\n It is a thing all girls must do,\n That will be ladies fine, a:\n\n And while I hear Faustina sing,\n Before the king and queen, a\n By Eyes they are upon the wing,\n To see, if I am seen, a.\n\n My Peko and Imperial Tea\n Are brought me in the Morn, a.\n At Noon Champaign and rich Tokay\n My table do adorn, a.\n\n The Evening then does me invite\n To play at dear Quadrille, a:\n And sure in this there's more delight,\n Than in a purling rill, a.\n\n Then since my Fortune does allow\n Me to live as I please, a;\n I'll never milk my father's cow\n Nor press his coming cheese, a.\n\n But take my swing both night and day,\n I'm sure it is no sin, a:\n And as for what the grave ones say,\n I value not a pin, a.\n\n\nBARBERS.\n\nThe barber's pole, one of the popular relics of Merrie England, is\nstill to be seen in some of the old streets of London and in country\ntowns, painted with its red, blue, and yellow stripes, and surmounted\nwith a gilt acorn. The lute and violin were formerly among the\nfurniture of a barber's shop. He who waited to be trimmed, if of\na musical turn, played to the company. The barber himself was a\nnimble-tongued, pleasant-witted fellow. William Rowley, the dramatist,\nin \"A Search for Money, 1609,\" thus describes him:--\"As wee were but\nasking the question, steps me from over the way (over-listning us) a\nnews-searcher, viz. a _barber_: hee, hoping to attaine some discourse\nfor his next patient, left his baner of basons swinging in the ayre,\nand closely eave-drops our conference. The saucie treble-tongu'd knave\nwould insert somewhat of his knowledge (treble-tongu'd I call him, and\nthus I prove't: hee has a reasonable mother-tonger, his barber-surgions\ntongue; and a tongue betweene two of his fingers, and from thence\nproceeds his wit, and 'tis a snapping wit too). Well, sir, hee (before\nhee was askt the question,) told us that the wandring knight (Monsier\nL'Argent) sure was not farre off; for on Saterday-night hee was faine\nto watch till morning to trim some of his followers, and its morning\nthey went away from him betimes. Hee swore hee never clos'd his eyes\ntill hee came to church, and then hee slept all sermon-time; (but\ncertainly hee is not farre afore, and at yonder taverne showing us\nthe bush) I doe imagine hee has tane a chamber.\" In ancient times the\n_barber_ and the _tailor_, as news-mongers, divided the crown. The\nbarber not only erected his _pole_ as a sign, but hung his _basins_\nupon it by way of ornament.\n\n\nBEES OBEDIENT TO TRAINING.\n\nThough it is customary in many rural districts of England, when bees\nare swarming, to make a clanging noise with metal implements, under the\nimpression--an erroneous one we believe--that it will induce the swarm\nto settle, it is not generally supposed that bees are susceptible of\nbeing trained to obey in many respects the orders of their teacher.\nSuch, however, is the fact, and an instance of it occurs in the\nfollowing advertisement, which we have copied from an old newspaper. We\ngive it as we find it, but it is not very clear what locality is meant\nby \"their _proper_ places\":--\n\n\"At the Jubilee Gardens, Dobney's, 1772. Daniel Wildman rides, standing\nupright, one foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck,\nwith a curious mask of bees on his face. He also rides, standing\nupright on the saddle, with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a\npistol, makes one part of the bees march over a table, and the other\npart swarm in the air, and return to their proper places again.\"\n\n\nA MAN SELLING HIS OWN BODY.\n\nAnatomists and surgeons have frequently incurred the odium of being\nprecipitate in their post mortem examinations. It has been charged\nupon the illustrious Vessalius, and, in more modern times, on Mons. de\nLassone, and others; nay, credulity has gone so far, as to suppose,\nthat subjects have occasionally been kept till wanted; nor is such\na notion altogether extravant, when we find an article of this kind\noffered to Joshua Brookes, the anatomical lecturer, in the following\nterms:--\n\n\"Mr. Brooke, i have taken it into consideration to send this poor man\nto you, being greatly in distress, hopeing you will find sum employment\nfor him in silling the dead carcases; and if you can find him no\nemployment, the berer of this wishes to sill himself to you, as he is\nweary of this life. And I remain your humble servant,\n\n \"JOHN DAVIS.\"\n\n\nTHE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES.\n\n[Illustration: The First Locomotive.]\n\nIt is little more than thirty years ago, when, on the river Tyne, a\nlarge fleet of peculiarly-formed vessels was to be seen daily employed\nin the carriage of coals to the ships from the \"staiths,\" which\nprojected into the river from the various colliery tramways. At that\nperiod, there was only one very small and ill-constructed steam-packet\nfor the conveyance of passengers between Newcastle and Shields, and\nagainst which so much prejudice existed, that the majority of persons\npreferred the covered wherries, which, for some centuries before,\nhad been in use; yet so slow and uncertain was this means of transit\nbetween the two towns, that persons in a hurry often found it advisable\nto walk the intervening distance, which is about eight miles.\n\n[Illustration: The Present Locomotive and Train.]\n\nThe collieries situated away from the river had tramways of wood let\ninto the ordinary roads, in such a manner as to form wheel-tracks for\ncarriages. These, drawn by horses, were the only means thought of for\nbringing the coals to the river bank. Some of these tramways were\nnearly as old as the times of Queen Elizabeth or James I., when the\nincrease of London and other causes began to overcome the prejudice\nagainst the use of \"sea-coal.\" Many of the tramways passed amid green\nand shadowy woods and other pleasant places, and we have often thought\nwhen wandering through them, of the difficulties that beset travellers\nat that time. Even at a more recent date, in 1673, day coaches were\nconsidered dangerous, and it was suggested that the multitude of them\nin London should be limited, and not more than one be allowed to\neach shire, to go once a week backwards and forwards, and to perform\nthe whole journey with the same horses they set out with, and not to\ntravel more than thirty miles a day in summer, and twenty-five in\nwinter. The arguments advanced in favour of these proposals were, that\ncoaches and caravans were mischievous to the public, destructive to\ntrade, and prejudicial to the land--because, firstly, they destroyed\nthe breed of good horses, and made men careless of horsemanship;\nsecondly, they hindered the breed of watermen, who were the nursery of\nseamen; thirdly, they lessened the revenue.\n\nIn 1703, the road from Petworth to London (less than 50 miles) was so\nbad that the Duke of Somerset was obliged to rest a night on the road.\n\nIn March, 1739 or 1740, Mr. Pennant, the historian, travelled by the\n_stage_, then no despicable vehicle for country gentlemen, and in the\nfirst day, with \"much labour,\" got from Chester to Whitechurch--twenty\nmiles; and, after a \"wondrous effort,\" reached London before the\ncommencement of the sixth night.\n\nWithout entering into an account of the rapid improvement of the\nEnglish roads soon after the time of Pennant, we may mention that,\nat about the date 1765, the colliery tramways underwent considerable\nimprovement, by plating the wooden rails in many parts with iron:\nstone-ways were tried in some instances, but were not found successful;\nand in course of time the old tramways were covered with cast-iron\nrails laid on the old foundations. Inclined planes, with fixed\nsteam-engines, also came into use; and at the same time the idea of\na locomotive engine was attracting attention in various directions.\nIn 1805 a machine was used on a tramway near Merthyr Tydvil, and soon\nafter this the \"Iron Horse,\" shown in the engraving, was placed upon\nthe wagon way of the Wylam Colliery, from Wylam to Newburn, on the\nTyne, near Newcastle, and greatly astonished all who saw it drawing\nalong, at the rate of three miles and a half per hour, from fifteen to\ntwenty wagons of coals, making all the while a horrible and snorting\nnoise, difficult to describe, and sending forth at the same time fire\nand dense clouds of black smoke. George Stephenson was then beginning\nto make way, and had provided several improved locomotives for Heaton\nColliery. In 1816-1817, patents for improvements in locomotives were\ntaken out by George Stephenson, in connexion with Messrs. Dodd and\nLosh; and in 1825 the projection of the Liverpool and Manchester\nRailway afforded a further opportunity for their development. The\nopposition to the use of steam-engines on this line of railway seems\nsingular enough at the present day; still it was very great. The use of\nhorses was, however, found to be too expensive, and George Stephenson\nhaving stated that he could work a locomotive with safety at a rate\nof from six to eight miles an hour (\"I knew,\" said he, \"that if I\ntold them more than that, they would look upon me as more fit for a\nlunatic house than to give evidence in the House of Commons\"), a reward\nof 500_l._ was offered for the best locomotive engine. A trial took\nplace in October, 1829--_only twenty-seven years ago!_--of the steam\nlocomotive engines which were offered in competition. Of these, one\nwas withdrawn at the commencement of the experiment. The \"Novelty,\" by\nBraithwait and Ericsson, met with an accident; and the \"Sanspareil,\" by\nHackworth, attained a velocity of fifteen miles an hour, with a gross\nload of nineteen tons, but at length gave way, owing to an accident;\nthe remaining engine, constructed by Robert Stephenson and Mr. Booth,\nsucceeded in performing more than was stipulated.\n\nThe contrast between the date mentioned at the commencement of our\narticle and the present time is remarkable: the old and clumsy fleet\nhas vanished from the Tyne; a railway carries passengers from Newcastle\nto Shields in a few minutes; numerous steam vessels sail upon the\nriver, some of large size; which travel to various and distant ports.\nOn the colliery railway hundreds of locomotives are at work, and\nhundreds of thousands of miles of iron rails spread over a wide extent\nof the civilized world; and, in addition to other wonders, the electric\ntelegraph will, ere long, outrival the power of Puck, the fairy, and\n\"put a girdle round the world in (less than) forty minutes.\"\n\n\nSIR WILLIAM WALLACE THE HERO OF SCOTLAND.\n\n1305.--This year was marked by the capture of Sir William Wallace.\nIt appears that the King of England had anxiously sought to discover\nhis retreat, and that, tempted by the prospects of the rewards his\nbaseness might earn for him, Ralph de Haliburton, one of the prisoners\ntaken a short time previously at Sterling, had proffered his services\nfor that purpose. Upon being seized, he was conveyed to the castle\nof Dumbarton, and thence to England. He was brought to London, \"with\ngreat numbers of men and women,\" says Stow, \"wondering upon him. He\nwas lodged in the house of William Delect, a citizen of London, in\nFenchurch-street. On the morrow, being the eve of St. Bartholomew, he\nwas brought on horseback to Westminster, John Segrave and Geoffrey,\nknights, the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London, and many others,\nboth on horseback and on foot, accompanying him; and in the great\nhall at Westminster, he being placed on the south bench, crowned with\nlaurel--for that he had said in times past that he ought to bear a\ncrown in that hall, as it was commonly reported--and being appeached\nfor a traitor by Sir Peter Malorie, the king's justice, he answered,\nthat he was never traitor to the king of England, but for other things\nwhereof he was accused, he confessed them.\" These circumstantial and\nminute details, inartificially as they are put together, and homely or\ntrivial as some of them may be thought, are yet full of interest for\nall who would call up a living picture of the scene. Wallace was put to\ndeath as a traitor, on the 23rd of August, 1305, at the usual place of\nexecution--the Elms in West Smithfield. He was dragged thither at the\ntails of horses, and there hanged on a high gallows, after which, while\nhe yet breathed, his bowels were taken out and burnt before his face.\nThe barbarous butchery was then completed by the head being struck\noff, and the body being divided into quarters. The head was afterwards\nplaced on a pole on London-bridge; the right arm was sent to be set\nup at Newcastle, the left arm to Berwick, the right foot and limb to\nPerth, and the left to Aberdeen.\n\n\nAN ELEPHANT DETECTS A ROBBER.\n\nAn officer in the Bengal army had a very fine and favourite elephant,\nwhich was supplied daily in his presence with a certain allowance of\nfood, but being compelled to absent himself on a journey, the keeper of\nthe beast diminished the ration of food, and the animal became daily\nthinner and weaker. When its master returned, the elephant exhibited\nthe greatest signs of pleasure; the feeding time came, and the keeper\nlaid before it the former full allowance of food, which it divided into\ntwo parts, consuming one immediately, and leaving the other untouched.\nThe officer, knowing the sagacity of his favourite, saw immediately the\nfraud that had been practiced, and made the man confess his crime.\n\n\nMAY-POLES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Village May-pole.]\n\nThe May-pole, decked with garlands, round which the rustics used to\ndance in this month, yet stands in a few of our villages through the\nwhole circle of the year. A May-pole formerly stood in the Strand,\nupon the site of the church by Somerset House, but was taken down in\n1717. The village May-pole we engrave still remains by the ruins of St.\nBriavel Castle, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and forms an object\nof considerable interest to the visitor. Several in the village could\nremember the May-day dancers, and the removal and setting up of the\nMay-pole. No notice whatever of this old English festival has, however,\nbeen taken for some years. The May-pole is about sixty feet high; about\nhalf-way up is the rod to which it was usual to fasten the garlands\nand ribbons. Let us observe, that in many parts of Dean Forest, those\nwho love to trace the remains of old manners and customs will find\nample employment. The people are civil and hospitable; their manner of\naddress reminds us of the wording of the plays of Shakspere's times;\nand in most houses, if a stranger calls, cider and bread are offered,\nas in the olden time.\n\n\nTHE OLD DOG WHEEL.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Old Dog Wheel.]\n\nAbout a century and a half ago, the long-backed \"turnspit\" dog, and\nthe curious apparatus here shown, yclept the \"Old Dog Wheel,\" were\nto be found in most farm houses; simple machinery has, however, now\nbeen substituted for the wheel which the dog was made to turn round,\nlike the imprisoned squirrels and white mice of the present day; and\nnot only the dog wheels, but also the long-backed \"turnspit\" dog have\nalmost disappeared. That which we engrave, however, still exists, and\nmay be seen by the curious, at the Castle of St. Briavel, which stands\non the borders of the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire.\n\n\nABRAHAM AND SARAH.\n\nThe Talmudists relate that Abraham, in travelling to Egypt, brought\nwith him a chest. At the custom-house the officers exacted the duties.\nAbraham would have readily paid them, but desired they would not open\nthe chest. They first insisted on the duties for clothes, which Abraham\nconsented to pay; but then they thought by his ready acquiescence that\nit might be gold. Abraham consents to pay for gold. They now suspect\nit might be silk. Abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly\npearls--in short, he consented to pay as if the chest contained the\nmost valuable of things. It was then they resolved to open and examine\nthe chest; and, behold, as soon as the chest was opened, that great\nlustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in the land\nof Egypt--it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abraham, to conceal her\nbeauty, had locked her up in this chest.\n\n\nAGES OF CELEBRATED MEN.\n\nHippocrates, the greatest physician the world has ever seen, died at\nthe age of one hundred and nine, in the island of Cos, his native\ncountry. Galen, the most illustrious of his successors, reached the\nage of one hundred and four. The three sages of Greece, Solon, Thales,\nand Pittacus, lived for a century. The gay Democritus outlived them\nby two years. Zeno wanted only two years of a century when he died.\nDiogenes ten years more; and Plato died at the age of ninety-four,\nwhen the eagle of Jupiter is said to have borne his soul to heaven.\nXenophon, the illustrious warrior and historian, lived ninety years.\nPolemon and Epicharmus ninety-seven; Lycurgus eighty-five; Sophocles\nmore than a hundred. Gorgias entered his hundred and eighth year;\nand Asclepiades, the physician, lived a century and a half. Juvenal\nlived a hundred years; Pacuvius and Varro but one year less. Carneades\ndied at ninety; Galileo at sixty-eight; Cassini at ninety-eight; and\nNewton at eighty-five. In the last century, Fontenelle expired in\nhis ninety-ninth year; Buffon in his eighty-first; Voltaire in his\neighty-fourth. In the present century, Prince Talleyrand, Goethe,\nRogers, and Niemcewicz are remarkable instances. The Cardinal du Belloy\nlived nearly a century; and Marshal Moncey lately terminated a glorious\ncareer at eighty-five.\n\n\nEFFECT OF A NEW NOSE.\n\nVan Helmont tells a story, of a person who applied to Taliacotius to\nhave his nose restored. This person, having a dread of an incision\nbeing made in his own arm, for the purpose of removing enough skin\ntherefrom for a nose, got a labourer, who, for a remuneration, suffered\nthe skin for the nose to be taken from his arm. About thirteen months\nafter, the adscitious nose suddenly became cold, and, after a few days,\ndropped off, in a state of putrefaction. The cause of this unexpected\noccurrence having been investigated, it was discovered that, at the\nsame moment in which the nose grew cold, the labourer at Bologna\nexpired.\n\n\nFRENCH DRESS.\n\nSigebert was buried in St. Medrad's church, at Soissons, where his\nstatue is still seen in long clothes, with the mantle, which the Romans\ncalled _chlamys_. This was the dress of Colvil's children, whether as\nmore noble and majestic, or that they looked on the title of Augustus\nas hereditary in their family. However it be, long clothes were, for\nseveral ages, the dress of persons of distinction, with a border of\nsable, ermine, or miniver. Under Charles V. it was emblazoned with all\nthe pieces of the coat of arms. At that time, neither ruffs, collars,\nnor bands were known, being introduced by Henry II. 'Till this time\nthe neck of the French king was always quite bare, except Charles\nthe _Wise_, who is everywhere represented with an ermin collar. The\nshort dress anciently worn in the country and the camp, came to be the\ngeneral fashion under Louis XI. but was laid aside under Louis XII.\nFrancis I. revived it, with the improvement of flashes. The favourite\ndress of Henry II. and his children was a tight, close doublet, with\ntrunk hose, and a cloak scarce reaching the waist. The dress of French\nladies, it may be supposed, had likewise its revolutions. They seem\nfor nine hundred years, not to have been much taken up with ornament.\nNothing could require less time or nicety than their head-dress, and\nthe disposition of their hair. Every part of their linen was quite\nplain, but at the same time extremely fine. Laces were long unknown.\nTheir gowns, on the right side of which was embroidered their husband's\ncoat of arms, and on the left that of their own family, were so close\nas to shew all the delicacy of their shape, and came up so high as to\ncover their whole breast, up to their neck. The habit of widows was\nvery much like that of the nuns. It was not until Charles VI. that they\nbegan to expose their shoulders. The gallantry of Charles the VII.'s\nCourt brought in the use of bracelets, necklaces, and ear-rings. Queen\nAnne de Bretagne despised those trinkets; and Catherine de Medicis made\nit her whole business to invent new.\n\n\nA LAST CHANCE.\n\nJohn Jones and Jn. Davis, condemn'd for robberries on the highway,\nwere executed at Tyburn. Davis feign'd himself sick, and desir'd he\nmight not be ty'd in the cart: But when he came to the tree, while the\nhangman was fastening the other's halter, he jumpt out of the cart,\nand ran over two fields; but being knock'd down by a countryman, was\nconvey'd back and hang'd without any more ceremony. Jones confessed\nhe had been confederate in several robberies with Gordon, lately\nexecuted.--_Gentleman's Magazine 1733._\n\nA convict running away over two fields at Tyburn, and then being caught\nby a countryman! How strange this seems, when we look at the streets\nand squares which now cover the locality, and when the only countrymen\nnow seen there are those who come up from the rural districts!\n\n\nYELLOW HAIR IN THE TIME OF THE PLANTAGENETS.\n\nYellow hair was at this time esteemed a beauty, and saffron was used by\nthe ladies to dye it of a colour esteemed \"odious\" by modern ladies.\nElizabeth also made yellow hair fashionable, as hers was of the same\ntint. In the romance of _King Alisaunder_, we are told of Queen\nOlympias:--\n\n \"Hire yellow hair was fair atyred\n With riche strings of gold wyred,\n And wryen hire abouten all\n To hire gentil myddel small.\"\n\n\nTHE CITY OF THE SULTAN.\n\n[Illustration: The Mosque of St. Sophia.]\n\nThe Mosques of Constantinople are the most wonderful objects of\nthat renowned city. More than 300 are picturesquely distributed in\nconspicuous parts, and form a most attractive feature to the eye of\nthe traveller. The city itself is built upon seven gentle hills,\nwhich is the main cause not only of its grandeur of appearance, but\nalso of its salubrity and comparative cleanliness. There are fourteen\nchief or imperial mosques, all lofty, and magnificent in their general\ndimensions, and built from base to dome, of enduring materials, chiefly\nof white marble, slightly tinged with grey. Some of these have two,\nsome four, and one (that of Sultan Achmet) has even six of those light,\nthin, lofty, arrowy, and most graceful towers called minarets. The\nmosque of Santa Sophia was once a Christian cathedral, and is rich in\nhistorical recollections. This mosque ranks as one of the grandest\nedifices. The ridge of the first hill on which the city stands, setting\nout from the north eastern part, is covered by the Serai or palace of\nthe Sultan, behind which, a little on the reverse of the hill, the dome\nof Santa Sophia shows itself. The colleges and hospitals, which are\ngenerally attached to or near the great mosques, offer no striking\narchitectural features; but some of the detached chapels or sepulchres\n(_turbes_), where sultans, viziers, and other great personages repose,\nare handsome.\n\n\nGOLD MASK FROM THE BANKS OF THE EUPHRATES.\n\n[Illustration: Mask of Nebuchadnezzar.]\n\nThis interesting relic of remote antiquity is at present preserved in\nthe Museum of the East India Company. It was found by Colonel Rawlinson\nwhile engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced by Layard and\nBotta, at Nineveh and Babylon; and is supposed to have belonged to\nKing Nebuchadnezzar. In exhuming from the mounds of these long-lost\nrival cities, the instructive remains of this once gigantic Power, the\nColonel discovered, in a perfect state of preservation, what is well\nbelieved to be the mummy of Nebuchadnezzar. The face of the rebellious\nmonarch of Babylon, covered by one of those gold masks usually found in\nAssyrian tombs, is described as very handsome--the forehead high and\ncommanding, the features marked and regular. The mask is of thin gold,\nand independent of its having once belonged to the great monarch, has\nimmense value as a relic of an ancient and celebrated people.\n\nThe Arab tribes encamping about Wurka and other great mounds search\nin the loose gravel with their spears for coffins. Gold and silver\nornaments, which have been buried in these graves for centuries, are\nworn by the Arab women of the present day; and many a rare object\nrecovered from them is sold and melted by the goldsmiths of the East.\nThe Arabs mention the discovery, by some fortunate shepherd, of Royal\ntombs, in which were crowns and sceptres of solid gold.\n\n\nFROST FAIR ON THE THAMES.\n\n\"I went crosse the Thames,\" says Evelyn, January 9, 1683-4, \"on the\nice, which now became so thick as to bear not only streetes of boothes,\nin which they roasted meate, and had divers shops of wares, quite\nacrosse as in a towne, but coaches, carts, and horses passed over.\nSo I went from Westminster Stayres to Lambeth, and din'd with the\nArchbishop. I walked over the ice (after dinner) from Lambeth Stayres\nto the Horseferry.\n\n\"The Thames (Jan{y} 16) was filled with people and tents, selling all\nsorts of wares as in a citty. The frost (Jan{y} 24) continuing more and\nmore severe, the Thames before London was still planned with boothes\nin formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnished and full\nof commodities, even to a printing-presse, where the people and ladyes\ntook a fancy to have their names printed on the Thames. This humour\ntook so universally, that 'twas estimated the printer gained L5 a-day,\nfor printing a line only, at sixpence a day, besides what he got by\nballads, &c. Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from\nseveral other staires to and fro, as in the streetes, sleds, sliding\nwith skeates, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet playes and\ninterludes, cookes, tipling, and other lewd places, so that it seem'd\nto be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water.\"\n\n\"It began to thaw (Feb. 5), but froze againe. My coach crossed from\nLambeth to the Horseferry at Millbank, Westminster. The booths were\nalmost all taken down; but there was first a map, or landskip, cut\nin copper, representing all the manner of the camp, and the several\nactions, sports, and pastimes thereon, in memory of so signal a frost.\"\n\n\nTHE CHARACTER OF THE MOUTH.\n\nWe give the following extract from a very old work; not only because\nit contains several shrewd observations, but also because it is a good\nspecimen of the spelling and diction which prevailed in the sixteenth\ncentury, at which period there is internal evidence that the book was\nwritten, though it bears no date on the title page:--\n\n\"The mouth greate and wyde betokeneth wrath, boldnes and warre.\nAnd such men are commonly glottons. A wyde mouth withoute meesure,\nas thought it were cutte and stretched out, sygnifieth ravening\ninhumanitie, wickednes, a warlyke hart and cruell, like unto beastes\nof the sea. Such men are greate talkers, boasters, babblers, enuious,\nlyars, and full of follye. The mouthe that hathe but a lyttle closynge\nand a lyttle openynge, sygnyfyeth a fearful man, quyet, and yet\nunfaithfull. The mouthe that is verye apparent and rounde with thycknes\nof lyppes, sygnyfyeth vnclenlynes, follye, and cruelltye. The mouth\nwhyche hath a quantitie in his sytuation with a lyttle shutting, and\nsmylynge eyes wyth the reste of the face, sygnyfyeth a carnall man,\na lover of daunces, and a greate lyar. When the mouthe turneth in\nspeakinge it is a sygne that it is infected with some catarre or murre\nas is manyfest ynough. The long chynne declareth the man to be very\nlyttle subiecte to anger, and of a good complexion: and yet he is\nsomewhat a babbler and a boaster of hymselfe. They that have a lyttle\nchinne, are much to be avoyded and taken heede of, for besydes all\nvices with the whyche they are fylled they are full of impietye and\nwyckednes and are spyes, lyke unto serpents. If the ende of the chynne\nbe round it is a sygne of feminine maners and also it is a sygne of a\nwoman. But the chynne of a man muste be almoste square.\"--\"_The most\nexcellent, profitable, and pleasant booke of the famous doctour and\nexpert Astrologien Arcandam or Aleandrin._\" * * *. _Now ready turned out\nof French into our vulgare tonge, by Will. Warde. Black letter. No\ndate._ Printed by J. Rowbothum.\n\n\nEXECUTION OF EARL FERRERS FOR MURDER, 1760.\n\nLord Ferrers was hung for the deliberate and cruel murder of his\nsteward, Mr. Johnson, and his execution at Tyburn furnishes a curious\ninstance of the exhibition of egregious vanity in a man who was just\nabout to meet an ignominious death, and of misplaced pride in his\nfamily who could actually decorate the scaffold with the emblems of\nrespectful mourning.\n\nHis lordship was dressed in his wedding-clothes, which were of light\ncolour, and embroidered in silver. He set out from the Tower at nine\no'clock, amidst crowds of spectators. First went a large body of\nconstables, preceded by one of the high constables; next came a party\nof grenadiers and a party of foot; then the sheriff, in a chariot\nand six, the horses dressed with ribbons; and next, Lord Ferrers, in\na landau and six, escorted by parties of horse and foot. The other\nsheriff's carriage followed, succeeded by a mourning-coach and six,\nconveying some of the malefactor's friends; and lastly, a hearse and\nsix, provided for the purpose of taking the corpse from the place of\nexecution to Surgeons' Hall.\n\nThe procession was two hours and three-quarters on its way. Lord\nFerrers conversed very freely during the passage. He said, \"the\napparatus of death, and the passing through such crowds of people,\nare ten times worse than death itself; but I suppose they never saw a\nlord hanged, and perhaps they will never see another.\" He said to the\nsheriff. \"I have written to the king, begging that I might suffer where\nmy ancestor, the Earl of Essex, the favourite of Elizabeth, suffered,\nand was in great hopes of obtaining that favour, as I have the honour\nof being allied to his Majesty, and of quartering part of the royal\narms. I think it hard that I must die at the place appointed for the\nexecution of common felons.\"\n\nThe scaffold was hung with black by the undertaker, at the expense of\nLord Ferrers' family. His lordship was pinioned with a black sash,\nand was unwilling to have his hands tied, or his face covered, but\nwas persuaded to both. On the silken rope being put round his neck,\nhe turned pale, but recovered instantly. Within seven minutes after\nleaving the landau, the signal was given for striking the stage, and in\nfour minutes he was quite dead. The corpse was subjected to dissection.\n\n\nSTRANGE FUNERAL OBSEQUIES.\n\nThe following, taken from an old magazine, is a singular manifestation\nof eccentricity in a person who, from the books he selected to be\nburied with him, was evidently a man of an educated and refined mind:--\n\nDied, May 4, 1733, Mr. John Underwood, of Whittlesea, in\nCambridgeshire. At his burial, when the service was over, an arch was\nturn'd over the coffin, in which was placed a small piece of white\nmarble, with this inscription, \"_Non omnis moriar_, 1733.\" Then the six\ngentlemen who follow'd him to the grave sung the last stanza of the\n20th Ode of the 2d book of Horace. No bell was toll'd, no one invited\nbut the six gentlemen, and no relation follow'd his corpse; the coffin\nwas painted green, and he laid in it with all his cloaths on; under his\nhead was placed Sanadon's \"Horace,\" at his feet Bentley's \"Milton;\"\nin his right hand a small Greek Testament, with this inscription in\ngold letters, \"eimientobaus [Greek: ei mi en to bausa], J. U,\" in his\nleft hand a little edition of \"Horace\" with this inscription, \"_Musis\nAmicus_, J. U.;\" and Bentley's \"Horace\" under his back. After the\nceremony was over they went back to his house, where his sister had\nprovided a cold supper; the cloth being taken away the gentlemen sung\nthe 31st Ode of the 1st Book of \"Horace,\" drank a chearful glass,\nand went home about eight. He left about 6,000_l._ to his sister, on\ncondition of her observing this his will, order'd her to give each of\nthe gentlemen ten guineas, and desir'd they would not come in black\ncloaths. The will ends thus, \"Which done I would have them take a\nchearful glass, and think no more of John Underwood.\"\n\n\nQUICK TRAVELLING IN OLD TIMES.\n\nSaturday, the seventeenth day of July, 1619, Bernard Calvert, of\nAndover, about three o'clock in the morning, tooke horse at St.\nGeorge's Church in Southwarke, and came to Dover about seaven of the\nclocke the same morning, where a barge, with eight oares, formerly sent\nfrom London thither, attended his suddaine coming: he instantly tooke\nbarge, and went to Callice, and in the same barge returned to Dover,\nabout three of the clocke the same day, where, as well there as in\ndiverse other places, he had layed sundry swift horses, besides guides:\nhe rode back from thence to St. George's Church in Southwarke the\nsame evening, a little after eight o'clock, fresh and lusty.--_Stow's\nAnnals._\n\n\nEDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.\n\n[Illustration: The Eddystone Lighthouse.]\n\nAs the arts and sciences improved, so did the construction of\nLighthouses, until one of the greatest accomplishments of engineering\nskill, ever attempted upon such works, was exhibited in the\nconstruction of the Eddystone Lighthouse, which is, indeed, much\nmore entitled than the Pharos of Alexandria to be considered one of\nthe wonders of the world. The rock on which this tower is built is\nplaced about twelve miles south-west of Plymouth, and consists of a\nseries of submarine cliffs, stretching from the west side (which is so\nprecipitous that the largest ship can ride close beside them) in an\neasterly direction, for nearly half a mile. At the distance of about\na quarter of a mile more is another rock, so that a more dangerous\nmarine locality can hardly be imagined. Both these rocks had proved the\ncause of many fatal shipwrecks, and it was at last resolved to make an\nattempt to obviate the danger. In the year 1696, a gentleman of Essex,\nnamed Winstanley, who had a turn for architecture and mechanics, was\nengaged to erect a lighthouse upon the Eddystone rock, and in four\nyears he completed it. It did not, however, stand long, for while some\nrepairs were in progress under his direction in 1703, on the 26th\nNovember, a violent hurricane came on which blew the lighthouse down,\nand Mr. Winstanley and all his workmen perished--nothing remaining of\nthe edifice but a few stones and a piece of iron chain.\n\nIn the spring of 1706 an Act of Parliament was obtained for rebuilding\nthe lighthouse, and a gentleman named Rudyerd, a silk mercer, was the\nengineer engaged. He placed five courses of heavy stones upon the\nrock and then erected a superstructure of wood. The lighthouse on the\nBell Rock, off the coast of Fife, and the one placed at the entrance\nof the Mersey on the Black Rock, are similarly constructed, so that\nthere seemed to be good reason for adopting the principle. Mr. Smeaton\nthought that the work was done in a masterly and effective manner; but\nin 1755 the edifice was destroyed by fire, and he was next retained as\nthe engineer for this important building.\n\nThe result of his labours has justly been considered worthy of the\nadmiration of the world, for it is distinguished alike for its\nstrength, durability, and beauty of form. The base of the tower is\nabout twenty-six feet nine inches in diameter, and the masonry is so\nformed as to be a part of the solid rock, to the height of thirteen\nfeet above the surface, where the diameter is diminished to nineteen\nfeet and a half. The tower then rises in a gradually diminishing curve\nto the height of eighty-five feet, including the lantern, which is\ntwenty-four feet high. The upper extremity is finished by a cornice, a\nbalustrade being placed around the base of the lantern for use as well\nas ornament.\n\nThe tower is furnished with a door and windows, and the whole edifice\noutside bears the graceful outline of the trunk of a mighty tree,\ncombining lightness with elegance and strength. Mr. Smeaton commenced\nhis labours in 1756, and completed the building in four years. Before\ncommencing operations he took accurate drawings of the exterior of the\nrock, and the stones, which were brought from the striking and romantic\ndistrict of Dartmoor, were all formed to fit into its crevices, and so\nprepared as to be dovetailed together, and strung by oaken plugs. When\nput into their places, and then firmly cemented, the whole seemed to\nform, and does indeed constitute, a part of the solid rock.\n\n\nSWEATING SICKNESS.\n\nThe Sweating Sickness first visited England Anno Dom. 1483, and\nrepeated its visitations 1485, 1506, 1517, 1528, and last of all, 1551.\n\nThis epidemic disease raged with such peculiar violence in England,\nand had so quick a crisis, that it was distinguished by the name of\n_Ephemera Britannica_. This singular fever seems to have been of the\nmost simple, though of the most acute kind, and notwithstanding princes\nand nobles were its chief victims, the physicians of the day never\nagreed upon the method of treating it.\n\nThe splendid French embassy, which arrived in England in 1550, found\nthe court-festivities damped by a visitation of that strange and\nterrific malady.\n\n\"This pestilence, first brought into the island by the foreign\nmercenaries who composed the army of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards\nHenry VII., now made its appearance for the fourth and last time in\nour annals. It seized principally, it is said, on males, on such as\nwere in the prime of their age, and rather on the higher than the\nlower classes: within the space of twenty-four hours, the fate of the\nsufferer was decided for life or death. Its ravages were prodigious;\ntwo princes died of it; and the general consternation was augmented,\nby a superstitious idea which went forth, that Englishmen alone were\nthe destined victims of this mysterious minister of fate, which tracked\ntheir steps, with a malice and sagacity of an evil spirit, into every\ndistant country of the earth whither they might have wandered, whilst\nit left unassailed all foreigners in their own.\"\n\n\nAN AMERICAN ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following is an early specimen of that system of poetical\nadvertising which in recent times has become so common. It is always\ninteresting to note the origin of customs with which we subsequently\nbecome familiar:--\n\n_Notice to the Public, and especially to Emigrants, who wish to settle\non Lands._--The Subscriber offers for Sale, several Thousand Acres\nof Land, situated in well settled Front Townships, in Lots to suit\nPurchasers.\n\n Particulars about Location,\n May be known by application.\n For quality of soil, and so forth,\n Buyers to see, on Nag must go forth.\n This much I'll tell ye plainly,\n Of big trees ye'll see mainly.\n 'Bout Butter Nut and Beach,\n A whole week I could preach;\n But what the plague's the use of that?\n The lands are nigh, low, round, and flat.\n There's rocks and stumps, no doubt enough,\n And bogs and swamps, just _quantum-suff_\n To breed the finest of Musquitoes;\n As in the sea are bred Bonitos,\n No lack of fever or of ague;\n And many other things to plague you.\n In short, they're just like other people's,\n Sans houses, pigsties, barns, or steeples\n What most it imports you to know,\n 'S the terms on which I'll let 'em go.\n So now I offer to the Buyer,\n A Credit to his own desire,\n For butter, bacon, bread, and cheese,\n Lean bullocks, calves, or ducks and geese,\n Corn, _Tates_, flour, barley, rye,\n Or any thing but _Punkin-Pie_.\n In three, four years, _Aye, five or six_,\n If that won't do, why let _him_ fix.\n But when once fix'd, if payment's slack,\n As sure as Fate, I'll take 'em back.\n\n THOMAS DALTON.\n\n Kingston Brewery, (Canada,) Nov. 2, 1821.\n\n\nMAGNIFICENCE OF FORMER TIMES.\n\n_Account how the Earl of Worcester lived at Ragland Castle in\nMonmouthshire, before the Civil Wars, which began in 1641._\n\nAt eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Castle gates were shut, and the\ntables laid; two in the dining-room; three in the hall; one in Mrs.\nWatson's apartment, where the chaplains are, (Sir Toby Mathews being\nthe first;) and two in the housekeeper's room for the lady's women.\n\nThe Earl came into the dining-room attended by his gentlemen. As soon\nas he was seated, Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward of the house, retired.\nThe Comptroller, Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, as did the\nSewer, Mr. Blackburne; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, and\nMr. Scudamore; with many gentlemen's sons, from two to seven hundred\npounds a year, bred up in the Castle; my Lady's Gentleman Usher, Mr.\nHarcourt; my Lord's Gentlemen of the Chamber, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Fox.\n\nAt the first table sat the noble family, and such of the nobility as\ncame.\n\nAt the second table, in the dining-room, sat Knights and Honourable\nGentlemen, attended by footmen.\n\nIn the hall, at the first table sat Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward; the\nComptroller, Mr. Holland; the Secretary; the Master of the Horse, Mr.\nDelewar; the Master of the Fish Ponds, Mr. Andrews; my Lord Herbert's\nPreceptor, Mr. Adams; with such Gentlemen as came there under the\ndegree of a Knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with\nwine.\n\nAt the second table in the hall, (served from my Lord's table, and with\nother hot meats,) sat the Sewer, with the Gentlemen Waiters and Pages,\nto the number of twenty-four.\n\nAt the third table in the hall, sat the Clerk of the Kitchen, with the\nYeomen Officers of the House, two Grooms of the Chamber, &c.\n\nOther Officers of the Household were, Chief Auditor, Mr. Smith; Clerk\nof the Accounts, Mr. George Wharton; Purveyor of the Castle, Mr.\nSalsbury; Ushers of the Hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Croke; Closet Keeper,\nGentleman of the Chapel, Mr. Davies; Keeper of the Records; Master of\nthe Wardrobe; Master of the Armoury; Master Groom of the Stable for the\nWar Horses; Master of the Hounds; Master Falconer; Porter and his man.\n\nTwo Butchers; two Keepers of the Home Park; two Keepers of the Red Deer\nPark.\n\nFootmen, Grooms, and other menial Servants, to the number of 150. Some\nof the footmen were brewers and bakers.\n\nOut Officers.--Steward of Ragland, William Jones, Esq.; the Governor of\nChepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, Bart.; Housekeeper of Worcester\nHouse, in London, James Redman, Esq.\n\nThirteen Bailiffs.\n\nTwo Counsel for the Bailiffs to have recourse to.\n\nSolicitor, Mr. John Smith.\n\n\nSADLER'S WELLS.\n\n\"T. G., Doctor in Physic,\" published, in 1684, a pamphlet upon\nthis place, in which he says:--\"The water of this well, before the\nReformation, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures\nperformed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called\nHolywell. The priests belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to\nattend there, made the people believe that the virtue of the water\nproceeded from the efficacy of their prayers; but at the Reformation\nthe well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of\nit was altogether superstitious; and so by degrees it grew out of\nremembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out; when a gentleman\nnamed Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being\nsurveyor of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden,\nin the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch\nof stone.\" After the decease of Sadler, Francis Forcer, a musician of\nsome eminence in his profession, became proprietor of the well and\nmusic-room; he was succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the\ndiversions of rope-dancing and tumbling, which were then performed in\nthe garden. The rural vicinity of the \"Wells,\" long made it a favourite\nretreat of the pleasure-seeking citizens.\n\n[Illustration: Champion Figg.]\n\nJames Figg, a native of Thame, in Oxfordshire, was a man of remarkable\nathletic strength and agility, and signalized himself greatly over any\nof his country competitors in the art of cudgel-playing, single-stick,\nand other gymnastic exercises. Having acquired a considerable knowledge\nof the broadsword, he came to London, and set up as master in that\nscience, undertaking to teach the nobility and gentry of his day\nthe noble art of self defence; and championed himself against all\ncomers. He took a waste piece of ground, the corner of Wells and\nCastle-streets, Oxford-road, and erected a wooden edifice, which,\nin imitation of the Romans, he denominated an amphitheatre; and\nestablished here a regular academy, to train pupils in the practice of\ncudgeling, broadsword, &c. &c., as well to use it, on fixed occasions,\nfor the exhibition of prizefighting. He had many followers, and we find\nhim commemorated and praised by most of the wits of his time. \"The\nTattler,\" \"Guardian,\" and \"Craftsman,\" have equally contributed to\npreserve his memory, as have several writers. Bramstone, in his \"Man of\nTaste\" tells us:--\n\n \"In Figg the prize-fighter by day delight,\n And sup with Colley Cibber every night.\"\n\nAnother writer notices him in the following lines:--\n\n \"To Figg and Broughton he commits his breast,\n To steel it to the fashionable test.\"\n\nSutton, the pipe-maker of Gravesend, was his rival, and dared the\nmighty Figg to the combat. Twice they fought, with alternate advantage;\nbut, at the third trial, a considerable time elapsed before victory\ndecided for either party; at length the palm of victory was obtained\nby Figg. In short, neither Ned Sutton, Tom Buck, nor Bob Stokes, could\nresist, or stand against his skill and valour. He was never defeated\nbut once, and then by Sutton, in one of their previous combats, and\nthat was generally supposed to have been in consequence of an illness\nhe had on him at the time he fought.\n\nWhen Faber engraved his portrait from a painting by Ellys, he was at\na loss what he should insert, as an appropriate motto, and consulting\nwith a friend what he should put, was answered, \"_A Figg for the\nIrish._\" This was immediately adopted, and the print had a rapid sale.\n\nFigg died in 1734. William Flander a noted scholar of his, fought at\nthe amphitheatre, in 1723, with Christopher Clarkson, from Lancashire,\nwho was called the Old Soldier. The fashion of attending prizefighting\nmatches had attained its highest zenith in Figg's time, and it was\nlooked upon as a very great proof of self-denial in an amateur if he\nfailed a meeting on those occasions.\n\n From Figg's theatre he will not miss a night,\n Though cocks, and bulls, and Irish women, fight.\n\nFigg left a widow and several children; so recently as 1794 a\ndaughter-in-law of his was living, and resided in Charles-street,\nWestminster, where she kept a house, and supported herself very\ndecently by letting lodgings, aided by a very small income.\n\n\nDRESS IN 1573.\n\nThe wardrobe of a country gentleman is thus given from a will, dated\n1573, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in Brayley and Britton's\n_Graphic Illustrator_--\"I give unto my brother Mr. William Sheney\nmy best black gown, garded and faced with velvet, and my velvet cap;\nalso I will unto my brother Thomas Marcal my new shepe colored gowne,\ngarded with velvet and faced with cony; also I give unto my son Tyble\nmy shorte gown, faced with wolf (skin), and laid with Billements lace;\nalso I give unto my brother Cowper my other shorte gowne, faced with\nfoxe; also I give unto Thomas Walker my night gown, faced with cony,\nwith one lace also, and my ready (ruddy) colored hose; also I give\nunto my man Thomas Swaine my doublet of canvas that Forde made me, and\nmy new gaskyns that Forde made me; also I give unto John Wyldinge a\ncassock of shepes colour, edged with ponts skins; also I give unto John\nWoodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas, and my hose with fryze bryches;\nalso I give unto Strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons; also I\ngive Symonde Bisshoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkyn, with stone\nbuttons; also I give to Adam Ashame my hose with the frendge (fringe),\nand lined with crane-coloured silk; which gifts I will to be delivered,\nimmediately after my decease.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE CREST OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.\n\nThe loss of the French at the battle of Crecy was immense. There fell\n1,200 knights; 1,400 esquires; 4,000 commissioned officers; 30,000 rank\nand file; Dukes of Lorraine and Bourbon; Earls of Flanders, Blois,\nHarcourt, Vaudemont, and Aumale; the King of Bohemia; the King of\nMajorca. The English lost one esquire, three knights, and less than one\nhundred rank and file. Here did they first use field artillery; and\non this battle-field did the young Prince of Wales adopt the ostrich\nplumes and motto of the slain King of Bohemia, who, being blind,\ndesired to be led at a gallop between two knights into the thick of\nthe fight, and thus met death. Those feathers and the two words \"Ich\ndien,\" \"I serve,\" are to this day the heraldic bearings of the Prince\nof Wales, whom God preserve! So much for Crecy or Cressy!\n\n\nSINGULAR DISCOVERY OF A THIEF IN 1822.\n\nOn February 20, as a servant in the employ of J. L. King, Esq., of\nStogumber, was entering a field, his attention was attracted by a\nmagpie, which appeared to have escaped from a neighbouring house. The\nbird spoke so uncommonly plain that the man was induced to follow it.\n\"_Cheese for Marget, Cheese for Marget_,\" was its continual cry, as\nit hopped forward, till it stopped behind a hay-stack, and began to\neat. On inspection, a number of hams, a quantity of cheese, &c., were\ndiscovered, which had been stolen, a short time previously, from Mr.\nBowering, of Williton. The plunder was deposited in sacks, on one of\nwhich was marked the name of a person residing in the neighbourhood,\nwhich led to the apprehension of four fellows, who have been committed\nto Wilton gaol.\n\n\nEFFECT OF VINEGAR ON THE SKIN.\n\nBy the use of vinegar the Spanish General Vitellis, made his skin hang\nabout him like a pelisse; but of the wonderful dilatability of the\nskin, no instance equals the Spaniard who showed himself to Van-Horn,\nSilvius, Piso, and other learned men at Amsterdam. Taking up with his\nleft hand the skin of his right shoulder, he would bring the same up\nto his mouth: again he would draw the skin of his chin down to his\nbreast like a beard, and presently put it upwards to the top of his\nhead, hiding both his eyes therewith; after which, the same would\nreturn orderly and equally to its proper place.\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT OF A DYING SPEECH BOOK IN 1731.\n\nNewgate literature was more popular in the last century than it is now.\nThe following is an advertisement in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ of the\nabove date:--\n\n\"A General History of Executions for the year, 1730. Containing the\nlives, actions, dying speeches, confessions and behaviour, of sixty\nmalefactors executed at Tyburn, and elsewhere; particularly three\nunfortunate young gentlemen, viz., Mr. Goodburn, a Cambridge scholar,\nMr. Johnston, and Mr. Porter, son to the late Lord Mayor of Dublin:\nand of several notorious highwaymen, foot-pads, street-robbers, and\nhousebreakers, as Dalton, Everet, Doyle, Newcomb, &c., and of the five\nyoung highwaymen taken at Windsor, said to have formed a design to rob\nthe Queen there. To which is added, the trial of William Gordon at\nChelmsford for a robbery on the highway; an account of the incendiaries\nat Bristol, and the apprehending John Power, for sending threatening\nletters, and firing Mr. Packer's house; also the life of Col. Ch--s.\nTogether with an alphabetical list of all the persons indicted or\ntried at the Old Bailey, the year past. With the judgment of the court\nrespectively passed upon each, referring to the pages in the session\nbooks for the trials at large. Printed for R. Newton at St. John's\nGate, and sold by the booksellers price bound 2_s._ 6_d._\"\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT OF A FLEET PARSON.\n\nIn the last century, when marriages were allowed to be transacted--we\ncannot say solemnized--in the Fleet Prison, and the adjacent taverns,\nthe profligate wretches who disgraced their sacred profession by taking\npart in such iniquities, were obliged to bid against one another for\ncustom--here is one of their advertisements:--\n\n G. R.\n\n At the true Chapel\n at the old Red Hand and Mitre, three doors from Fleet Lane and\n next Door to the White Swan;\n Marriages are performed by authority by the Reverend Mr. Symson\n educated at the University of Cambridge, and late Chaplain to the\n Earl of Rothes.\n\n N.B. Without Imposition.\n\n\nTHE ASS.\n\nIn all countries, this sure-footed and faithful animal is adopted as\nan emblem of stupidity, from the patience with which it submits to\npunishment and endures privation. A pair of ass's ears is inflicted\nupon a child in reproof of his duncehood; and through life we hear\nevery blockhead of our acquaintance called an ass. Whereas the ass is\na beast of great intelligence; and we often owe our safety to its sure\nand unerring foot beside the perilous precipice, where the steps of the\nman of science would have faltered.\n\nThe Fathers of the Church, and the Disciples of the Sorbonne, persuaded\nof the universal influence of the Christian faith, believed the dark\ncross on the back of the ass to date only from the day on which our\nSaviour made his entry into Jerusalem. The ass of the desert was an\nanimal of great price. Pliny mentions that the Senator Arius paid\nfor one the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces. Naturalists have\nfrequently remarked the extraordinary dimensions of an ass's heart,\nwhich is thought an indication of courage; and it is the custom of the\npeasantry of some countries to make their children wear a piece of\nass's skin about their person. The ass's skin is peculiarly valuable,\nboth for the manufacture of writing-tablets and drums; which may be\nthe reason why a dead ass is so rarely seen. It is too valuable to be\nleft on the highway. In many places, the ass serves as a barometer.\nIf he roll in the dust, fine weather may be expected; but if he erect\nhis ears, rain is certain. Why should not these animals experience the\nsame atmospheric influences as man? Are we not light-hearted in the\nsunshine, and depressed in a heavy atmosphere?\n\n\nCHOICE RECEIPTS FROM \"PHYSICK FOR THE POOR. LONDON, 1657.\"\n\n_To make any one that Sleepeth answer to whatsoever thou ask._--Take\nthe heart of an oul, and his right legg, and put them upon the breast\nof one that sleepeth, and they shall reveal whatsoever thou ask them.\n\n_To know any Man or Woman's minde when they are Asleep._--Take the hart\nof a dove, and the legg of a frog, dry it well, and beat them to powder\nin a morter, put this up in a linnen cloth, with three or four round\npibble stones, as big as wallnuts, then lay this upon the parties pit\nof their stomach, and they shall tell you all things that they have\ndone, if there is anything remarkable that troubles them.\n\n_To make the Nose Bleed._--Take the leaves of yerrow, put it up in thy\nnose; this will make the nose bleed immediately.\n\n_To make a Tooth Drop out._--Mizaldus saith that if you make a powder\nof earth-worms and put it in the hollow of a rotten tooth, it will\nimmediately drop out.\n\nHow strange must have been the education and intelligence of the\nperiod, when people could write, publish, and practice such incredible\ntrash!\n\n\nSHOCKING DEPRAVITY.\n\nThe following account, from an old magazine, affords a strange and\nlamentable instance of a wretch just about to die, being only intent\nwith his latest breath to defame his own mother:--\n\nMary Lynn, condemn'd last Assizes for the County of Norfolk, was burnt\nto ashes at a stake, for being concern'd in the murder of her mistress;\nand Smith, the principal, was hang'd for the same fact. She deny'd her\nbeing guilty, and said Smith could clear her if he would. She behaved\nwith decency, and died penitent. Smith was drunk at the gallows; and\nseem'd to have but little sense either of his crime or punishment;\nhowever, desired all masters to pay their servants' wages on Saturday\nnight, that they might have money to spend, and not run in debt. Said,\n\"My mother always told me I should die in my shoes, but I will make her\na liar;\" so threw them off.\n\n\nPERSONAL CHARMS DISCLAIMED.\n\nIf any human being was free from personal vanity, it must have been\nthe second Duchess d'Orleans, Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria. In one\nof her letters (dated 9th August, 1718), she says, \"I must certainly\nbe monstrously ugly. I never had a good feature. My eyes are small, my\nnose short and thick, my lips broad and thin. These are not materials\nto form a beautiful face. Then I have flabby, lank cheeks, and long\nfeatures, which suit ill with my low stature. My waist and my legs\nare equally clumsy. Undoubtedly I must appear to be an odious little\nwretch; and had I not a tolerable good character, no creature could\nendure me. I am sure a person must be a conjuror to judge me by my eyes\nthat I have a grain of wit.\"\n\n\nCADER IDRIS.\n\nOn the very summit of Cader Idris there is an excavation in the solid\nrock, resembling a couch; and it is said that whoever should rest a\nnight in that seat, will be found in the morning either dead, raving\nmad, or endued with supernatural genius.\n\n\nOLD LONDON SIGNS.\n\nSome notion of the houses and shops of old London may be gathered by\na visit to Bell Yard, near Temple Bar; Great Winchester Street, near\nthe Bank; the wooden houses near Cripplegate Church; and a few other\ndistricts which were spared by the Great Fire of 1666. In Bell Yard,\nfor instance, the national feeling for improvement has from time to\ntime effected changes; the lattices of diamond-shaped lead-work, carved\npendants, and the projecting signs of the various tradesmen, have\ndisappeared, and here and there sheets of plate glass have been used,\nto give a somewhat modern appearance to the places of business. Still\nthe projecting and massive wood-work of the shops, and the peculiar\npicturesque appearance of the houses, cannot be altogether disguised;\nand if any of our readers, who may be curious in such matters, will\nwalk up Bailey's Court, on the west side of Bell Yard, he will there\nsee a group of wooden buildings exactly like the great mass which was\ncleared by the fire. In some of the pictures of London of about this\ntime, the shops of the various tradesmen were chiefly unglazed, and\nabove the door of each was suspended the silver swans; the golden\nswans; the chained swans; the golden heads; mitres; bells--black, red,\nwhite, and blue; rising and setting suns; moons of different phases;\nmen in the moon; sceptres; crowns, and many other devices, which, even\nat that time, were necessary to distinguish one shop from another. The\nchequers; St. George and the dragon; royal oaks; king's heads; and\ndouble signs, such as the horseshoe and magpie; bell and crown; bell\nand horns, and such like, were more particularly set apart for the use\nof the various hostelries. Everyone, however, who had a London shop of\nany kind or consequence, had his sign. Many of them were well carved in\nwood, and ornamented with emblazonry and gilding.\n\nNo doubt if it were possible to find at the present time the same\npicturesque architectural displays as were to be met with in London in\nQueen Elizabeth's days, our artistic friends would be able to pick up\nmany a nice subject for their pencils, but in those days there were\nplenty of drawbacks; the pavement was bad, the drainage was worse, and\nfrom the eaves of the houses and pents of the shops, streams of water\nran down in wet weather upon the wayfarers, and, by lodging in the\nthoroughfares, made the London streets something in the same state as\nthose of Agar Town and some other neglected parts of the metropolis.\nWe must not forget that in the days to which we allude there were no\nflagged footpaths, and that the only distinction from the horse and\ncart roads, and that for the foot passengers, was a separation by\nwooden posts, which, in genteel places, were made supports for chains.\nPeople, however, got tired of this bad state of things, and measures\nwere taken to put a stop to the streams of water from the roofs, &c.\nAfter the Great Fire, an enactment was made for an alteration in\nthe spouts, &c.; all barbers poles, and projecting signs, and other\nprojections were to be done away with, and other changes made for the\nbetter. Up to the reign of Queen Anne, we find, by reference to views\nof Cheapside and the neighbourhood of the Monument, that the projecting\nsigns were still in use; and that even at that recent date, many of\nthe London shops in the important neighbourhoods above mentioned were\nwithout glazing, and looked much like some of the greengrocers' sheds\nin use now in Bermondsey and some other places.\n\nSevere measures seem to have been at length taken against the\nprojecting signs, and most of them disappeared, and then it became\na most difficult matter either to address letters, or find a man's\nshop. In Dr. Johnson's day, he and other persons gave the address\n\"over against\" a particular sign, or so many doors from such a sign.\nIn consequence of this uncertainty, many houses in London, which from\ntheir association with eminent men would possess much interest now,\ncannot be pointed out; and it was a wonderful benefit to the metropolis\nwhen the plan of numbering the houses in each street was hit upon. But\nfor this, considering that the population has doubled in the last fifty\nyears, it is difficult to know how the genius of Rowland Hill would\nhave worked his plan of London post-office delivery, or business could\nbe carried on with any kind of comfort.\n\nThe booksellers and publishers seem to have been the last, with the\nexception of the tavern-keepers, to give up the old signs. After the\nGreat Fire, some of the ancient signs which were cut in stone, and\nwhich had escaped the conflagration, were got out of the ruins, and\nafterwards placed in the front of the plain, yet solid, brick buildings\nwhich were erected after that event. Some of these--the \"Chained\nBear,\" the \"Collared Swan,\" the \"Moon and Seven Stars,\" and \"Sun,\" in\nCheapside, and some others which we now engrave--are still preserved.\nThe carved wooden sign of the \"Man in the Moon,\" in Wych Street,\nStrand, is a rare example; and the \"Horse-shoe and Magpie,\" in Fetter\nLane, is one of the last of the suspended signs to be now found in the\nCity.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Painted Signs of London Taverns.]\n\nAmongst the painted signs of London taverns worth notice, is one in\nOxford-street (nearly opposite Rathbone-place), said to have been\npainted by Hogarth. The subject is \"a man loaded with mischief.\" He has\na stout woman on his shoulders, together with a monkey, magpie, etc.\nThe male figure shown in this street picture seems to bear up pretty\nwell under his burden.\n\n\nNARROW ESCAPE.--CALM RELIANCE ON PROVIDENCE.\n\nIn the year 1552, Francis Pelusius, of sixty-three years old, digging a\nwell forty foot deep in the hill of St. Sebastian, the earth above him\nfell in upon him to thirty-five foot depth; he was somewhat sensible\nbefore of what was coming, and opposed a plank, which by chance he had\nwith him, against the ruins, himself lying under it; by this means he\nwas protected from the huge weight of earth, and retained some room\nand breath to himself, by which he lived seven days and nights without\nfood or sleep, without any pain or sorrow, being full of hope, which\nhe placed in God only. Ever and anon he called for help, as being yet\nsafe, but was heard by none, though he could hear the motion, noise\nand words of those that were above him, and could count the hours as\nthe clock went. After the seventh day, he being all this while given\nfor dead, they brought a bier for his corpse, and when a good part of\nthe well was digged up, on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying\nfrom the bottom. At first they were afraid, as if it had been the\nvoice of a subterranean spirit; the voice continuing, they had some\nhope of his life, and hastened to dig to him, till at last, after they\nhad given him a glass of wine, they drew him up living and well, his\nstrength so entire that to lift him out he would not suffer himself to\nbe bound, nor would use any help of another. Yea, he was of so sound\nunderstanding, that, jesting, he drew out his purse and gave them\nmoney, saying _He had been with such good hosts, that for seven days it\nhad not cost him a farthing_.\n\n\nCEILING OF WHITEHALL.\n\nThe celebrated painting on the roof of the Banqueting House, has been\nrestored, re-painted, and refreshed, not fewer than three times. In the\nreign of James II., 1687, Parrey Walton, a painter of still life, and\nthe keeper of the king's pictures, was appointed to re-touch this grand\nwork of art, which had then (as appears by the Privy Council Book)\nbeen painted only sixty years. Walton was paid L212 for its complete\nrestoration, which sum was considered by Sir Christopher Wren, \"as very\nmodest and reasonable.\" It was restored a second time by the celebrated\nCipriani; and for a third time by a painter named Rigaud.\n\n\nBUNYAN'S BIBLE.\n\nJohn Bunyan's Bible (printed by Bill and Barker) bound in morocco, and\nwhich had been his companion during his twelve years' unjustifiable\nconfinement in Bedford gaol, where he wrote his \"Pilgrim's Progress,\"\nwas purchased at the sale of the library of the Rev. S. Palmer, of\nHackney, March, 1814, for the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq., for the\nsum of L21. This Bible, and the \"Book of Martyrs,\" are said to have\nconstituted the whole library of Bunyan during his imprisonment.\n\n\nSPECIMENS OF ROYAL GRANTS.\n\nIn 1206, King John grants to W. de Camville a licence to destroy game\nin any of the royal forests, which proves the origin of the Game Laws.\n\n1238. Henry III. gave 500_l._ to Baldwyn, Emperor of Constantinople.\n\n1342. King Edward III. forgives to the mayor and citizens of London the\nindignation and rancour of mind that he had conceived against them.\n\n1344. The king grants to Adam Thorp, the trimmer of his beard, certain\nlands at Eye, near Westminster. The scrupulous attention which Edward\nIII. paid to that ornament of his face, may be seen in his bronze\neffigy in Westminster Abbey, which was taken from a mask after his\ndeath.\n\n1409. The king settles on Joan of Navarre, his queen, 10,000_l._ per\nannum.\n\n1417. Henry V. grants to Joan Warin, his nurse, an annuity of 20_l._\nduring life.\n\n1422. The jewels which had belonged to King Henry V., and were valued\nat so large a sum as 40,000_l._, were delivered to Sir Henry Fitz Hugh,\nand his other executors, for the payment of his personal debts.\n\n1422. The \"Pysane,\" or great collar of gold and rubies, was pawned by\nthe king to his uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, who is supposed, at the time\nof his death, to have amassed more wealth than any subject in England.\n\n\nCOFFEE AND TEA.\n\nThe bill for attendance at the Dorchester Assizes in 1686 of Mr. John\nBragge, the town-clerk of Lyme, presents this novelty--the article\n_coffee_ is charged 2d. This may have been drunk at a coffee-house.\nCoffee was introduced from Turkey in 1650.\n\nAn advertisement in the \"Mercurius Politicus,\" Sept. 30, 1658,\ninstructs how \"That excellent and by all physitians approved _China_\ndrink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations, _tay_ alias\n_tee_, is sold at the Sultana's Head Coffee-house, in Sweeting's-rents,\nby the Exchange, _London_.--\"\n\nThere was a \"cophee-house\" in St. Michael's-alley, Cornhill, about\n1657. Tea, coffee, and chocolate were placed under the excise. There\nwas no tax upon these commodities when imported, but when made into\ndrink, as tea was, at 8d. a gallon, and sold at these houses.\n\n\nREMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF HUMAN HAIR SINCE THE NORMAN PERIOD.\n\nIn 1839 a coffin was discovered in the abbey church of Romsey, which\nhad originally contained the body of a female of the above early time.\nThe bones had entirely decayed, but the hair, with its characteristic\nindestructibility, was found entire, and appeared as if the skull had\nonly recently been removed from it, retaining its form entire, and\nhaving plaited tails eighteen inches in length. It is still preserved\nin a glass case, lying upon the same block of oak which has been its\npillow for centuries.\n\n\nPUBLIC TASTE FOR CONJURING IN 1718.\n\nOne of the amusements of 1718 was the juggling exhibition of a\nfire-eater, whose name was De Hightrehight, a native of the valley\nof Annivi in the Alps. This tremendous person ate burning coals,\nchewed flaming brimstone and _swallowed_ it, licked a red-hot poker,\nplaced a red-hot heater on his tongue, kindled coals on his tongue,\nsuffered them to be blown, and broiled meat on them, ate melted pitch,\nbrimstone, bees-wax, sealing-wax, and rosin, with a spoon; and, to\ncomplete the business, he performed all these impossibilities five\ntimes _per diem_, at the Duke of Marlborough's Head, in Fleet-street,\nfor the trifling receipts of 2s. 6d., 1s. 6d., and 1s. Master\nHightrehight had the honour of exhibiting before Lewis XIV., the\nEmperor of Germany, the King of Sicily, the Doge of Venice, and an\ninfinite number of princes and nobles--and the Prince of Wales, who had\nnearly lost this inconceivable pleasure by the envious interposition of\nthe Inquisition at Bologna and in Piedmont, which holy office seemed\ninclined to try _their mode of burning_ on his _body_, leaving to him\nthe care of resisting the flames and rendering them harmless; but he\nwas preserved from the unwelcome ordeal by the interference of the\nDutchess Royal Regent of Savoy and the Marquis Bentivoglia.\n\n\nTHE TRIUMPHS OF SCIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE.\n\nDistance seems not to have entered into the calculations of the\nengineers who built those monuments of human skill--carriage-roads\nover the Alps. They were after a certain grade, and they obtained it,\nthough by contortions and serpentine windings that seem almost endless.\nThus the Simplon averages nowhere more than one inch elevation to a\nfoot, and, indeed, not quite that. Thirty thousand men were employed on\nthis road six years. There are six hundred and eleven bridges in less\nthan forty miles, ten galleries, and twenty houses of refuge, while\nthe average width of the road is over twenty-five feet. The Splugen\npresents almost as striking features as the Simplon. From these facts,\nsome idea may be gathered of the stupendous work it must be to carry a\ncarriage-road over the Alps.\n\n\nCHRISTMAS PIE.\n\nThe following appeared in the _Newcastle Chronicle_, 6th January,\n1770:--\n\n\"Monday last was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipped for\nLondon, for Sir Henry Grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as\nfollows:--2 bushels of flour, 20 lbs. of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkeys, 2\nrabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats'\ntongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons: it is supposed a very\ngreat curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, housekeeper at\nHowick. It was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about\ntwelve stones, will take two men to present it at table; it is neatly\nfitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to\nevery guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table.\"\n\n\nTHE UPAS, (POISON) TREE.\n\nWe give here an instance of the extravagancies of ancient travellers,\nthis tissue of falsehoods being taken from \"Foersch's Description of\nJava:\"--\n\nThe _Bohon Upas_ is situated in the Island of Java about twenty-seven\nleagues from Batavia, fourteen from Soulis Charta, the seat of the\nEmperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from Tinkjoe, the\npresent residence of the Sultan of Java. It is surrounded on all sides\nby a circle of high hills and mountains; and the country round it,\nto the distance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely\nbarren. Not a tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is\nto be seen. I have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at\nabout eighteen miles distant from the centre, and I found the aspect\nof the country on all sides equally dreary. The easiest ascent of the\nhills is from that part where the old Ecclesiastick dwells. From his\nhouse the criminals are sent for the poison, into which the points of\nall warlike instruments are dipped. It is of high value, and produces\na considerable revenue to the Emperor. The poison which is procured\nfrom this tree is a gum that issues out between the bark and the tree\nitself, like the _camphor_. Malefactors, who for their crimes are\nsentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch the poison; and this\nis the only chance they have of saving their lives. After sentence is\npronounced upon them by the Judge, they are asked in Court, whether\nthey will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go\nto the Upas-tree for a box of poison? They commonly prefer the latter\nproposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving their lives,\nbut also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a provision\nwill be made for them in future by the Emperor. They are also permitted\nto ask a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of a trifling\nnature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a silver or\ntortoise-shell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are\nproperly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous\nexpedition. They are always told to attend to the direction of the\nwind, as they are to go towards the tree before the wind; so that the\neffluvia from the tree is always blown from them. They go to the house\nof the old ecclesiastick who prepares them by prayers and admonitions\nfor their future fate; he puts them on a long leathern cap with two\nglasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their breast; and\nalso provides them with a pair of leather gloves. They are conducted by\nthe priest, and their friends, and relations, about two miles on their\njourney. The old Ecclesiastick assured me that in upwards of thirty\nyears, he had dismissed above seven hundred criminals in the manner\ndescribed, and that scarcely two out of twenty have returned. All the\nMalayans consider this tree as an holy instrument of the great prophet\nto punish the sins of mankind, and, therefore, to die of the poison of\nthe Upas is generally considered among them as an honourable death.\nThis, however, is certain, that from fifteen to eighteen miles round\nthis tree, not only no human creature can exist, but no animal of _any\nkind_ has ever been discovered, there are no fish in the waters, and\nwhen any birds fly so near this tree that the effluvia reaches them,\nthey drop down dead.\n\n\nDEATH CAUSED BY SUPERSTITION.\n\nIn Hamburg, in 1784, a singular accident occasioned the death of a\nyoung couple. The lady going to the church of the Augustin Friars,\nknelt down near a Mausoleum, ornamented with divers figures in marble,\namong which was that of Death, armed with a scythe, a small piece\nof the scythe being loose, fell on the hood of the lady's mantelet.\nOn her return home, she mentioned the circumstance as a matter of\nindifference to her husband, who, being a credulous and superstitious\nman, cried out in a terrible panic, that it was a presage of the death\nof his dear wife. The same day he was seized with a violent fever,\ntook to his bed, and died. The disconsolate lady was so affected at\nthe loss, that she was taken ill, and soon followed him. They were\nboth interred in the same grave; and their inheritance, which was very\nconsiderable, fell to some very distant relations.\n\n\nST. PAUL AND THE VIPER.--THE CHURCH AT MALTA.\n\nNot far from the old city of Valetta, in the island of Malta, there\nis a small church dedicated to St. Paul, and just by the church, a\nmiraculous statue of the Saint with a viper on his hand; supposed to be\nplaced on the very spot on which he was received after his shipwreck\non this island, and where he shook the viper off his hand into the\nfire, without being hurt by it. At which time the Maltese assure us,\nthe Saint cursed all the venomous animals of the island, and banished\nthem for ever; just as St. Patrick treated those of his favourite isle.\nWhether this be the cause of it or not, we shall leave to divines to\ndetermine, though if it had, St. Luke would probably have mentioned it\nin the Acts of the Apostles; but the fact is certain, that there are no\nvenomous animals in Malta.\n\n\nTHE FIRST HERMITS--WHY SO-CALLED.\n\nHermits, or _Eremites_, (from the Greek [Greek: _eremos_], a desert\nplace,) were men who retired to desert places to avoid persecution;\nthey lodged in caves and cells:--\n\n \"Where from the mountain's grassy side,\n Their guiltless feast they bring;\n A scrip with herbs and fruit supply'd,\n And water from the spring.\"\n\nThe first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the\nyear 260; the second, was St. Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345,\nat the age of 105.\n\n\nST. JAMES'S SQUARE.\n\nThe author of _A Tour through the Island of Great Britain_ (Daniel\nDefoe), second edition, 1738, gives us the following particulars of\nthis aristocratic locality:--\"The alterations lately made in St.\nJames's Square are entitled to our particular notice. It used to be in\na very ruinous condition, considering the noble houses in it, which are\ninhabited by the first quality. But now it is finely paved all over\nwith heading-stone; a curious oval bason full of water, surrounded with\niron rails on a dwarf wall, is placed in the middle, mostly 7 feet\ndeep and 150 diameter. In the centre is a pedestal about fifteen feet\nsquare, designed for a statue of King William III. The iron rails are\noctagonal, and at each angle without the rails, is a stone pillar about\n9 feet high, and a lamp on the top. The gravel walk within the rails\nis about 26 feet broad from each angle to the margin of the basin.\nIt was done at the expense of the inhabitants by virtue of an act of\nparliament. The house that once belonged to the Duke of Ormond, and\nsince to the Duke of Chandos, is pulled down and makes three noble\nones, besides fine stables and coach-houses behind, and two or three\nmore good houses in the street leading to St. James's Church. This\nnoble square wants nothing but to have the lower part of it, near Pall\nMall, built of a piece with the rest, and the designed statue to be\nerected in the middle of the basin.\n\n\"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has taken the Duke of Norfolk's\nhouse, and another adjoining to it, which are now (October, 1737),\nactually repairing for his town residence; Carlton House being too\nsmall for that purpose.\"\n\n\nTHE MORAYSHIRE FLOODS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Morayshire Floods.]\n\nIn the month of August, 1829, the province of Moray and adjoining\ndistricts were visited by a tremendous flood. Its ravages were most\ndestructive along the course of those rivers which have their source\nin the Cairngorm mountains. The waters of the Findhorn and the Spey,\nand their tributaries, rose to an unexampled height. In some parts\nof their course these streams rose fifty feet above their natural\nlevel. Many houses were laid desolate, much agricultural produce\nwas destroyed, and several lives were lost. The woodcut in our text\nrepresents the situation of a boatman called Sandy Smith, and his\nfamily, in the plains of Forres. \"They were huddled together,\" says\nthe eloquent historian of the Floods, \"on a spot of ground a few feet\nsquare, some forty or fifty yards below their inundated dwelling. Sandy\nwas sometimes standing and sometimes sitting on a small cask, and, as\nthe beholders fancied, watching with intense anxiety the progress of\nthe flood, and trembling for every large tree that it brought sweeping\npast them. His wife, covered with a blanket, sat shivering on a bit of\na log, one child in her lap, and a girl of about seventeen, and a boy\nof about twelve years of age, leaning against her side. A bottle and\na glass on the ground, near the man, gave the spectators, as it had\ndoubtless given him, some degree of comfort. About a score of sheep\nwere standing around, or wading or swimming in the shallows. Three cows\nand a small horse, picking at a broken rick of straw that seemed to be\nhalf-afloat, were also grouped with the family.\" The account of the\nrescue of the sufferers is given with a powerful dramatic effect, but\nwe cannot afford space for the quotation. The courageous adventurers\nwho manned the boat for this dangerous enterprise, after being\ncarried over a cataract, which overwhelmed their boat, caught hold\nof a floating hay-cock, to which they clung till it stuck among some\nyoung alder-trees. Each of them then grasping a bough, they supported\nthemselves for two hours among the weak and brittle branches. They\nafterwards recovered the boat under circumstances almost miraculous,\nand finally succeeded in rescuing Sandy and his family from their\nperilous situation.\n\n\nTREATMENT AND CONDITION OF WOMEN IN FORMER TIMES.\n\nFrom the subversion of the Roman Empire, to the fourteenth or fifteenth\ncentury, women spent most of their time alone, almost entire strangers\nto the joys of social life; they seldom went abroad, but to be\nspectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashions of\nthe times countenanced. Francis I. was the first who introduced women\non public days to Court; before his time nothing was to be seen at\nany of the Courts of Europe, but grey-bearded politicians, plotting\nthe destruction of the rights and liberties of mankind, and warriors\nclad in complete armour, ready to put their plots in execution. In\nthe thirteenth and fourteenth centuries elegance had scarcely any\nexistence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. The\nuse of linen was not known; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore\nwoollen shifts. In Paris they had meat only three times a week; and\none hundred livres, (about five pounds sterling,) was a large portion\nfor a young lady. The better sort of citizens used splinters of wood\nand rags dipped in oil, instead of candles, which, in those days,\nwere a rarity hardly to be met with. Wine was only to be had at the\nshops of the Apothecaries, where it was sold as a cordial; and to ride\nin a two-wheeled cart, along the dirty rugged streets, was reckoned\na grandeur of so enviable a nature, that Philip the Fair prohibited\nthe wives of citizens from enjoying it. In the time of Henry VIII. of\nEngland, the peers of the realm carried their wives behind them on\nhorseback, when they went to London; and in the same manner took them\nback to their country seats with hoods of waxed linen over their heads,\nand wrapped in mantles of cloth to secure them from the cold.\n\n\nHOMER IN A NUTSHELL.\n\nHuet, Bishop of Avranches, thus writes in his autobiography:--\"When\nhis Highness the Dauphin was one day confined to his bed by a slight\nillness, and we who stood round were endeavouring to entertain him by\npleasant conversation, mention was by chance made of the person who\nboasted that he had written Homer's Iliad in characters so minute,\nthat the whole could be enclosed in a walnut shell. This appearing\nincredible to many of the company, I contended not only that it might\nbe done, but that I could do it. As they expressed their astonishment\nat this assertion, that I might not be suspected of idle boasting, I\nimmediately put it to the proof. I therefore took the fourth part of\na common leaf of paper, and on its narrower side wrote a single line\nin so small a character that it contained twenty verses of the Iliad:\nof such lines each page of the paper could easily admit 120, therefore\nthe page would contain 2400 Homeric verses: and as the leaf so divided\nwould give eight pages it would afford room for above 19,000 verses,\nwhereas the whole number in the Iliad does not exceed 17,000. Thus by\nmy single line I demonstrated my proposition.\"\n\n\nAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARING CROSS AND CHEAPSIDE CROSS.\n\nThe following interesting \"Autobiographies\" of the Old London Crosses,\nare extracted from Henry Peacham's _Dialogue between the Crosse in\nCheap and Charing Cross, confronting each other, as fearing their fall\nin these uncertaine times_, four leaves, 4to. 1641.\n\n\"_Charing Cross._--I am made all of white marble (which is not\nperceived of euery one) and so cemented with mortar made of the purest\nlime, Callis sand, whites of eggs and the strongest wort, that I defie\nall hatchets and hammers whatsoever. In King Henry the Eighth's daies\nI was begged, and should have been degraded for that I had:--Then in\nEdward the Sixe, when Somerset-house was building, I was in danger;\nafter that, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one of her footmen had\nlike to have run away with me; but the greatest danger of all I was in,\nwhen I quak'd for fear, was in the time of King James, for I was eight\ntimes begged:--part of me was bespoken to make a kitchen chimney for a\nchiefe constable in Shoreditch; an inn-keeper in Holborn had bargained\nfor as much of me as would make two troughes, one to stand under a\npumpe to water his guests' horses, and the other to give his swine\ntheir meate in; the rest of my poore carcase should have been carried\nI know not whither to the repaire of a decayed stone bridge (as I was\ntold) on the top of Harrow-hill. Our royall forefather and founder,\nKing Edward the First you know, built our sister crosses, Lincolne,\nGranthame, Woburne, Northampton, Stonie-Stratford, Dunstable, Saint\nAlbanes, and ourselves here in London, in the 21st yeare of his raigne,\nin the yeare 1289.\"\n\n\"_Cheapside Cross._--After this most valiant and excellent king had\nbuilt me in forme, answerable in beauty and proportion to the rest,\nI fell to decay, at which time one John Hatherley, maior of London,\nhaving first obtained a licence of King Henry the Sixt, anno 1441, I\nwas repaired in a beautiful manner. John Fisher, a mercer, after that\ngave 600 markes to my new erecting or building, which was finished\nanno 1484, and after in the second yeare of Henry the Eighth, I was\ngilded over against the coming in of Charles the Fift Emperor, and\nnewly then gilded against the coronation of King Edward the Sixt, and\ngilded againe anno 1554, against the coronation of King Philip. Lord,\nhow often have I been presented by juries of the quest for incombrance\nof the street, and hindring of cartes and carriages, yet I have kept my\nstanding; I shall never forget how upon the 21st of June, anno 1581,\nmy lower statues were in the night with ropes pulled and rent down, as\nin the resurrection of Christ--the image of the Virgin Mary, Edward\nthe Confessor, and the rest. Then arose many divisions and new sects\nformerly unheard of, as Martin Marprelate, _alias_ Penrie, Browne, and\nsundry others, as the chronicle will inform you. My crosse should have\nbeen taken quite away, and a _Piramis_ errected in the place, but Queen\nElizabeth (that queen of blessed memory) commanded some of her privie\ncouncell, in her Majesties name, to write unto Sir Nicholas Mosely,\nthen Maior, to have me againe repaired with a crosse; yet for all this\nI stood bare for a yeare or two after: Her Highness being very angry,\nsent expresse word she would not endure their contempt, but expressly\ncommanded forthwith the crosse should be set up, and sent a strict\ncommand to Sir William Rider, Lord Maior, and bade him to respect my\nantiquity; for that is the ancient ensigne of Christianity, &c. This\nletter was dated December 24, anno 1600. Last of all I was marvellously\nbeautified and adorned against the comming in of King James, and\nfenced about with sharp pointed barres of iron, against the rude and\nvillainous hands of such as upon condition as they might have the\npulling me down, would be bound to rifle all Cheapside.\"\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to say that both crosses have long since\ndisappeared, and their sites become uncertain, although the name of\nCharing Cross still distinguishes an important London district.\n\n\nSOMETHING LIKE A FEAST.\n\nLeland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his\ninstallation, in the reign of Edward IV. The following is a\nspecimen:--300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine,\n1,000 sheep, 104 oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2,000 geese, 1,000\ncapons, 2,000 pigs, 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 1,500 hot venison pasties,\n4,000 cold, 5,000 custards hot and cold. Such entertainments are a\npicture of manners.\n\n\nEGYPTIAN TOYS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.\n\nThe truth of the old proverb, that \"there is nothing new under the\nsun,\" will be recognised on an examination of the interesting group\nwhich forms the subject of our engraving. Here are dolls of different\nshapes, some of them for good children, and some, perhaps, for bad;\nfoot-balls, covered with leather, &c., the stitches in parts still\nfirmly adhering; models of fishes and fruit; and round pellets, which\nthe \"small boys\" of the present day would call \"marbles.\" These toys\nhave been played with by little Egyptians who have been dead and buried\nthree or four thousand years.\n\nMany of the toys that hold places in the English and other markets\nare, so far as fashion is concerned, of considerable antiquity, having\nbeen made, without any alteration in pattern, by certain families for\nseveral generations. In the mountainous districts of the Savoy and\nSwitzerland, large numbers, both of children and grown persons, are\nconstantly employed in the manufacture of Noah's-arks, milkmaids &c.\nSome of the animals carved in wood, and sold here for small prices,\nshow considerable skill in the imitation of the forms of nature, and\ncould only be produced at their present cost, owing to the cheapness of\nliving in those districts, and to the systematic division of labour.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Egyptian Toys.]\n\nNear the birthplace of Prince Albert is a very large manufactory of\nmilitary toys, such as drums, trumpets, helmets, &c.; and in parts of\nHolland--\n\n \"----The children take pleasure in making\n What the children of England take pleasure in breaking.\"\n\n\nTHE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT.\n\nThe Pyramids of Egypt, especially the two largest of the Pyramids of\nJizeh, are the most stupendous masses of building, in stone, that human\nlabour has ever been known to accomplish. The Egyptian Pyramids, of\nwhich, large and small, and in different states of preservation, the\nnumber is very considerable, are all situated on the west side of the\nNile, and they extend, in an irregular line, and in groups, at some\ndistance from each other, from the neighbourhood of Jizeh, in 30 deg. N.\nlat. as far south as 29 deg. N. lat., a length of between 60 and 70 miles.\nAll the Pyramids have square bases, and their sides face the cardinal\npoints.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Pyramids of Jizeh.]\n\nThe Pyramids of Jizeh are nearly opposite to Cairo. They stand on a\nplateau or terrace of limestone, which is a projection from the Libyan\nmountain-chain. The surface of the terrace is barren and irregular,\nand is covered with sand and small fragments of rock; its height,\nmeasured from the base of the Great Pyramids, is 164 feet above the\nNile in its low state, taken at an average of the years 1798 to 1801.\nThe north-east angle of the Great Pyramid is 1700 yards from the canal\nwhich runs between the terrace and the Nile, and about five miles from\nthe Nile itself.\n\nHerodotus was informed by the priests of Memphis that the Great Pyramid\nwas built by Cheops, King of Egypt, about 900 B. C., or about 450 years\nbefore Herodotus visited Egypt. He says that 100,000 men were employed\ntwenty years in building it, and that the body of Cheops was placed\nin a room beneath the bottom of the Pyramid, surrounded by a vault\nto which the waters of the Nile were conveyed through a subterranean\ntunnel. A chamber under the centre of the Pyramid has indeed been\ndiscovered, but it does not appear to be the tomb of Cheops. It is\nabout 56 feet above the low-water level of the Nile. The second Pyramid\nwas built, Herodotus says, by Cephren, or Cephrenes, the brother and\nsuccessor of Cheops; and the third by Mycerinus, the son of Cheops.\n\n\nTEST OF COURAGE IN A CHILD.\n\nIn the education of their children, the Anglo-Saxons only sought to\nrender them dauntless and apt for the two most important occupations\nof their future lives--war and the chase. It was a usual trial of a\nchild's courage, to place him on the sloping roof of a building, and\nif, without screaming or terror he held fast, he was styled a stout\nherce, or brave boy.--_Howel._\n\n\nEXECUTION OF RAVILLIAC, WHO ASSASSINATED HENRY THE FOURTH OF FRANCE.\n\nThe scene is thus described in a volume published in 1728:--\n\n\"This Francis Ravilliac was born in Angoulesme, by profession a lawyer,\nwho, after the committing of that horrid fact, being seized and put\nupon the rack, May 27; the 25th he had sentence of death passed on him,\nand was executed accordingly in the manner following. He was brought\nout of prison in his shirt, with a torch of two pound weight lighted in\none hand, and the knife wherewith he murdered the king chained to the\nother; he was then set upright in a dung-cart, wherein he was carried\nto the greve or place of execution, where a strong scaffold was built;\nat his coming upon the scaffold he crossed himself, a sign that he dyed\na Papist; then he was bound to an engine of wood made like St. Andrew's\ncross; which done, his hand with the knife chained to it was put into\na furnace, then flaming with fire and brimstone, wherein it was in a\nmost terrible manner consumed, at which he cast forth horrible cries\nyet would he not confess any thing; after which the executioner having\nmade pincers red hot in the same furnace, they did pinch the brawn of\nhis arms and thighs, the calves of his legs, with other fleshy parts of\nhis body, then they poured into the wounds scalding oil, rosin, pitch,\nand brimstone melted together; but to make the last act of his tragedy\nequal in torments to the rest, they caused four strong horses to be\nbrought to tear his body in pieces, where being ready to suffer his\nlast torment, he was again questioned, but would not reveal any thing,\nand so died without calling upon God, or speaking one word concerning\nHeaven: his flesh and joints were so strongly knit together, that\nthese four horses could not in a long time dismember him, but one of\nthem fainting, a gentleman who was present, mounted upon a mighty\nstrong horse, alighted, and tyed him to one of the wretch's limbs, yet\nfor all this they were constrained to cut the flesh under his arms\nand thighs with a sharp razor, whereby his body was the easier torn\nin pieces; which done, the fury of the people was so great, that they\npulled his dismembered carcass out of the executioner's hands, which\nthey dragged up and down the dirt, and, cutting off the flesh with\ntheir knives, the bones which remained were brought to the place of\nexecution, and there burnt, the ashes were cast in the wind, being\njudged unworthy of the earth's burial; by the same sentence all his\ngoods were forfeited to the king. It was also ordained that the house\nwhere he had been born should be beaten down, a recompence being given\nthe owner thereof, and never any house to be built again upon that\nground; that within fifteen days after the publication of the sentence,\nby sound of trumpet in the town of Angoulesme, his father and mother\nshould depart the realm, never to return again; if they did, to be\nhanged up presently: his brethren, sisters, and other kindred were\nforbidden to carry the name of Ravilliac, but to take some other, and\nthe substitute of the king's attorney-general had charge to see the\nexecution of the sentence at his peril.\"\n\n\nKNIVES AND FORKS.\n\n\"In all ancient pictures of Eating, &c. knives are seen in the hands of\nthe guests, but _no Forks_.\"--_Turner's Saxons._\n\n\"Here I will mention a thing,\" says Coryat in his 'Crudities,' \"that\nmight have been spoken of before in the discourse of the first Italian\ntoun. I obserued a custome in all those Italian cities and townes\nthrough which I passed, that is not vsed in any other country that\nI saw in my traules, neither doe I think that any other nation of\nChristendome doth vse it, but only Italy. The Italians, and also most\nstrangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at their meales vse\na _little forke_ when they cut their meate. For while with their knife,\nwhich they hold in one hand, they cut their meate out of the dish, they\nfasten their forke, which they hold in their other hand, upon the same\ndish, so that whatsoever he be that sitting in the company of others at\nmeate, should vnaduisedly touch the dish of meate with his fingers from\nwhich all at the table doe cut, he will give occasion of offence unto\nthe company, as hauing transgressed the laws of good manners, in so\nmuch that for his error he shall be at the least broue-beaten, if not\nreprehended in words.\n\nThis form of feeding, I vnderstand, is generally vsed in all places of\nItaly, their forkes being for the most part made of yron or steele, and\nsome of siluer; but those are used only by gentlemen. The reason of\nthis their curiosity is, because the Italian cannot by any means indure\nto have his dish touched with fingers, seeing all men's fingers are\nnot alike clean. Hereupon I myself thought good to imitate the Italian\nfashion by this forked cutting of meate, not only while I was in Italy,\nbut also in Germany, and oftentimes in England, since I came home:\nbeing once quipped for that frequent vsing of my forke, by a certain\ngentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one Mr. Laurence Whitaker, who\nin his merry humour doubted not to call me at table _furcifer_, only\nfor vsing a forke at feeding, but for no other cause.\"--_Coryat's\nCrudities_, 1611.\n\nEven when Heylin published his Cosmography, (1652,) forks were still a\nnovelty. See his Third Book, where having spoken of the ivory sticks\nused by the Chinese, he adds, \"The use of silver forks, which is by\nsome of our spruce gallants taken up _of late_, came from thence into\nItaly, and from thence into England.\"--_Antiquarian Repertory._\n\n\nCHINESE PUNISHMENT OF THE KANG OR WOODEN COLLAR.\n\nThe Chinese are very quiet and orderly; and no wonder, because they are\nafraid of the great bamboo stick.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Kang or Wooden Collar.]\n\nThe mandarins (or rulers of towns) often sentence offenders to lie upon\nthe ground, and to have thirty strokes of the bamboo. But the wooden\ncollar is worse than the bamboo stick. It is a great piece of wood with\na hole for a man to put his head through. The men in wooden collars are\nbrought out of their prisons every morning and chained to a wall, where\neverybody passing by can see them. They cannot feed themselves in their\nwooden collars, because they cannot bring their hands to their mouths;\nbut sometimes a son may be seen feeding his father, as he stands\nchained to the wall. There are men also whose business it is to feed\nthe prisoners. For great crimes men are strangled or beheaded.\n\n\nCASCADE DES PELERINES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Cascade des Pelerines.]\n\nThere is a waterfall in Chamouni which no traveller should omit going\nto see, called the Cascade des Pelerines. It is one of the most curious\nand beautiful scenes in Switzerland. A torrent issues from the Glacier\ndes Pelerines, high up the mountain, above the Glacier du Bossons, and\ndescends, by a succession of leaps, in a deep gorge, from precipice\nto precipice, almost in one continual cataract; but it is all the\nwhile merely gathering force, and preparing for its last magnificent\ndeep plunge and recoil of beauty. Springing in one round condensed\ncolumn out of the gorge, over a perpendicular cliff, it strikes, at\nits fall, with its whole body of water, into a sort of vertical rock\nbasin, which one would suppose its prodigious velocity and weight would\nsplit into a thousand pieces; but the whole cataract, thus arrested,\nat once suddenly rebounds in a parabolic arch, at least sixty feet\ninto the air; and then, having made this splendid airy curvature,\nfalls with great noise and beauty into the natural channel below. It\nis beyond measure beautiful. It is like the fall of divine grace into\nchosen hearts, that send it forth again for the world's refreshment,\nin something like such a shower and spray of loveliness, to go winding\nits life-giving course afterwards, as still waters in green pastures.\nThe force of the recoil from the plunge of so large a body of water, at\nsuch a height, is so great, that large stones, thrown into the stream\nabove the fall, may be heard amidst the din striking into the basin,\nand then are instantly seen careering in the arch of flashing waters.\nThe same is the case with bushes and pieces of wood, which the boys\nare always active in throwing in, for the curiosity of visitors, who\nstand below, and see each object invariably carried aloft with the\ncataract, in its rebounding atmospheric gambols. When the sun is in\nthe right position, the rainbows play about the fall like the glancing\nof supernatural wings, as if angels were taking a shower-bath. If you\nhave \"the head and the legs of a chamois,\" you may climb entirely above\nthis magnificent scene, and look out over the cliff right down into the\npoint where the cataract shoots like the lightning, to be again shot\nback in ten thousand branching jets of diamonds.\n\n\nINTERESTING INCIDENT CONNECTED WITH THE BAROMETER.\n\nIn navigation, the barometer has become an important element of\nguidance, and a most interesting incident is recounted by Capt. Basil\nHall, indicative of its value in the open sea. While cruising off the\ncoast of South America, in the Medusa frigate, one day, when within\nthe tropics, the commander of a brig in company was dining with him.\nAfter dinner, the conversation turned on the natural phenomena of the\nregion, when Captain Hall's attention was accidentally directed to\nthe barometer in the state-room where they were seated, and to his\nsurprise he observed it to evince violent and frequent alteration. His\nexperience told him to expect bad weather, and he mentioned it to his\nfriend. His companion, however, only laughed, for the day was splendid\nin the extreme, the sun was shining with its utmost brilliance, and\nnot a cloud specked the deep blue sky above. But Captain Hall was too\nuneasy to be satisfied with bare appearances. He hurried his friend to\nhis ship, and gave immediate directions for shortening the top hamper\nof the frigate as speedily as possible. His lieutenants and the men\nlooked at him in mute surprise, and one or two of the former ventured\nto suggest the inutility of the proceeding. The captain, however,\npersevered. The sails were furled; the topmasts were struck; in short,\neverything that could oppose the wind was made as snug as possible. His\nfriend, on the contrary, stood in under every sail.\n\nThe wisdom of Captain Hall's proceedings was, however, speedily\nevident; just, indeed, as he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his\ninstrument. For hardly had the necessary preparations been made, and\nwhile his eye was ranging over the vessel to see if his instructions\nhad been obeyed, a dark hazy hue was seen to rise in the horizon,\na leaden tint rapidly overspread the sullen waves, and one of the\nmost tremendous hurricanes burst upon the vessels that ever seaman\nencountered on his ocean home. The sails of the brig were immediately\ntorn to ribbons, her masts went by the board, and she was left a\ncomplete wreck on the tempestuous surf which raged around her, while\nthe frigate was driven wildly along at a furious rate, and had to scud\nunder bare poles across the wide Pacific, full three thousand miles,\nbefore it could be said that she was in safety from the blast.\n\n\nARCHBISHOP CRANMER'S DIETARY.\n\nIn this curious document, quoted by Warton (Hist. of Poet, iii., 177,\nedit. 1840) an archbishop is allowed to have two swans or two capons in\na dish, a bishop one; an archbishop six blackbirds at once, a bishop\nfive, a dean four, an archdeacon two. If a dean has four dishes in\nhis first course, he is not afterwards to have custards or fritters.\nAn Archbishop may have six snipes, an archdeacon two. Rabbits, larks,\npheasants, and partridges, are allowed in these proportions. A canon\nresidentiary is to have a swan only on a Sunday; a rector of sixteen\nmarks, only three blackbirds in a week.\n\n\nTHE KING'S COCK CROWER.\n\nA singular custom, of matchless absurdity, formerly existed in the\nEnglish Court. During Lent, an ancient officer of the crown, styled the\nKing's Cock Crower, crowed the hour each night within the precincts\nof the Palace. On the Ash Wednesday, after the accession of the house\nof Hanover, as the Prince of Wales (afterwards George II) sat down to\nsupper, this officer abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound\nresembling the shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock! The\nastonished prince, at first conceiving it to be a premeditated insult,\nrose to resent the affront, but upon the nature of the ceremony being\nexplained to him, he was satisfied. Since that period, this silly\ncustom has been discontinued.\n\n\nCHINESE DELICACIES.\n\nThe Chinese eat, indiscriminately, almost every living creature which\ncomes in their way; dogs, cats, hawks, owls, eagles and storks, are\nregular marketable commodities: in default of which a dish of rats,\nfield-mice, or snakes, is not objected to. Cockroaches, and other\ninsects and reptiles are used for food or for medicine. Their taste\nfor dogs' flesh is quite a passion. Young pups--plump, succulent, and\ntender--fetch good prices at the market-stalls, where a supply is\nalways to be found. A dish of puppies, prepared by a skilful cook,\nis esteemed as a dish fit for the gods. At every grand banquet it\nmakes its appearance as a hash or stew. A young Englishman attached to\nour Canton factory, dining one day with a wealthy Hong merchant, was\ndetermined to satisfy his curiosity in Chinese gastronomy by tasting\nall or most of the numerous dishes which were successively handed\nround. One dish pleased him so well that he ate nearly all that was put\nbefore him. On returning homewards some of his companions asked him\nhow he liked the dinner, and how such and such dishes; and then began\nto imitate the whining and barking of half a dozen puppies. The poor\nyoung man then understood, for the first time, that he had been eating\ndog, and was very angry, and very sick at the stomach. Other Europeans,\nhowever, have been known to declare that they succeeded in conquering a\nprejudice, and that a six weeks old pup, properly fattened upon rice,\nand dressed _a la Chinoise_, was really a _bonne bouche_.\n\n\nA GREAT MARVEL SEEN IN SCOTLAND.\n\nThe following strange and almost incredible account is given by\nLindsay, of Pitscottie:--\"About this time (the beginning of the\nsixteenth century) there was a great marvel seen in Scotland. A bairn\nwas born, reckoned to be a man-child, but from the waist up was two\nfair persons, with all members pertayning to two bodies; to wit, two\nheads, well-eyed, well-eared, and well-handed. The two bodies, the\none's back was fast to the other's, but from the waist down they were\nbut one personage; and it could not be known by the ingene of men\nfrom which of the bodies the legs, &c., proceeded. Notwithstanding\nthe King's Majesty caused great care and diligence on the up-bringing\nof both bodies; caused nourish them, and learn them to sing and play\non instruments of music. Who within short time became very ingenious\nand cunning in the art of music, whereby they could play and sing two\nparts, the one the treble, and the other the tenor, which was very\ndulce and melodious to hear; the common people (who treated them also)\nwondered that they could speak diverse and sundry languages, that is\nto say, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, English, and Irish.\nTheir two bodies long continued to the age of twenty-eight years, and\nthe one continued long before the other, which was dolorous and heavy\nto the other; for which, when many required of the other to be merry,\nhe answered, \"How can I be merry which have my true marrow as a dead\ncarrion about my back, which was wont to sing and play with me: when I\nwas sad he would give me comfort, and I would do the like to him. But\nnow I have nothing but dolour of the having so heavy a burthen, dead,\ncold, and unsavoury, on my back, which taketh all earthly pleasure from\nme in this present life; therefore I pray to God Allmighty to deliver\nme out of this present life, that we may be laid and dissolved in the\nearth, wherefrom we came, &c.\"\n\nBuchanan, who relates the same strange tale, avers that he received it\nfrom \"many honest and credible persons, who saw the prodigy with their\nown eyes.\" He adds that the two bodies discovered different tastes\nand appetites; that they would frequently disagree and quarrel, and\nsometimes would consult each other, and concert measures for the good\nof both; that when any hurt was done to the lower parts, each upper\nbody felt pain; but that when the injury was above the junction, then\none body only was affected. This monster, he writes, lived twenty-eight\nyears, but died wretchedly; one part expiring some days before the\nother, which, half-putrified, pined away by degrees.\n\n\nTHE KING OF KIPPEN.\n\nThe following anecdote is valuable, inasmuch as it gives us an idea of\nthe manners which a King of Scotland could practice without offence to\nhis subjects:--\n\nKing James V. was a very sociable, _debonnaire_ prince. Residing at\nStirling in Buchanan of Arnpryor's time, carriers were very frequently\npassing along the common road with necessaries for the use of the\nking's family. One of these being near Arnpryor's house, and he having\nsome extraordinary occasion, ordered him to leave his load at his house\nand he would pay him for it; which the carrier refused to do, telling\nhim he was the king's carrier, and his load was for his majesty's use.\nTo which Arnpryor seemed to have small regard, compelling the carrier,\nin the end, to leave his load; telling him, if King James was King of\nScotland, he was king of Kippen, so that it was reasonable he should\nshare with his neighbour king in some of these loads so frequently\ncarried that road. The carrier representing this usage, and telling the\nstory as Arnpryor spoke it, to some of the king's servants, it came\nat length to his majesty's ears, who, shortly thereafter, with a few\nattendants, came to visit his neighbour king, who was, in the meantime,\nat dinner. King James having sent a servant to demand access, was\ndenied the same by a tall fellow with a battle-axe, who stood porter at\nthe gate, telling him there could be no access till dinner was over.\nThis answer not satisfying the king, he sent to demand access a second\ntime; upon which he was desired by the porter to desist, otherwise\nhe would find cause to repent his rudeness. His majesty finding this\nmethod would not do, desired the porter to tell his master that the\ngood man of Ballangeich desired to speak with the King of Kippen. The\nporter telling Arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, came and\nreceived the king, and having entertained him with much sumptuousness\nand jollity, became so agreeable to King James, that he allowed him to\ntake so much of any provision he found carrying that road as he had\noccasion for; and, seeing he made the first visit, desired Arnpryor in\na few days to return him a second at Stirling, which he performed, and\ncontinued in very much favour with the king, always thereafter being\ntermed King of Kippen while he lived.\n\n\nAN ECCENTRIC TOURIST.\n\nSir Hildebrand Jacob, of Yewhall, in Oxfordshire, died at Malvern\nin 1790. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir John, 1740, his father,\nHildebrand, having died in 1739. He was a very extraordinary character.\nAs a general scholar, he was exceeded by few; in his knowledge of the\nHebrew language he scarcely had an equal. In the earlier part of his\nlife, one custom which he constantly followed was very remarkable. As\nsoon as the roads became pretty good, and the fine weather began to\nset in, his man was ordered to pack-up a few things in a portmanteau,\nand with these his master and himself set off, without knowing whither\nthey were going. When it drew towards evening, they enquired at the\nfirst village they saw, whether the great man in it was a lover of\nbooks, and had a fine library. If the answer was in the negative,\nthey went on farther; if in the affirmative, Sir Hildebrand sent his\ncompliments, that he was come to see him; and there he used to stay\ntill time or curiosity induced him to move elsewhere. In this manner\nSir Hildebrand had, very early, passed through the greatest part of\nEngland, without scarcely ever sleeping at an inn, unless where the\ntown or village did not afford one person in it civilized enough to be\nglad to see a gentleman and a scholar.\n\n\nHANGING A MAYOR.\n\nOn the right of the road leading towards Caergwrle, and about a mile\nfrom Mold, is an old structure, which presents a singular specimen\nof the style of domestic architecture during the ages of lawless\nviolence in which it was erected: it consists of an ancient square\ntower of three stories, and appears to have been designed as a place of\nfortified habitation. During the wars between the houses of York and\nLancaster, it was inhabited by Reinallt ab Gruffydd ab Bleddyn, who was\nconstantly engaged in feuds with the citizens of Chester. In 1495, a\nconsiderable number of the latter came to Mold fair, and a fray arising\nbetween the hostile parties, great slaughter ensued on both sides; but\nReinallt, who obtained the victory, took the mayor of Chester prisoner,\nand conveyed him to his mansion, where he hung him on the staple in\nhis great hall. To avenge this affront, a party of two hundred men\nwas despatched from Chester to seize Reinallt, who, retiring from his\nhouse into the adjoining woods, permitted a few of them to enter the\nbuilding, when, rushing from his concealment, he blocked up the door,\nand, setting fire to the house, destroyed them in the flames; he then\nattacked the remainder, whom he pursued with great slaughter; and such\nas escaped the sword were drowned in attempting to regain their homes.\nThe staple on which the mayor was hung still remains fixed on the\nceiling of the lower apartment.\n\n\nMATERNAL AFFECTION IN A DUMB WOMAN.\n\nMary, Countess of Orkney, was both deaf and dumb; she was married in\nthe year 1753, by signs. Shortly after the birth of her first child,\nthe nurse, with considerable astonishment, saw the mother cautiously\napproach the cradle in which the infant was sleeping, evidently full\nof some deep design. The Countess, having perfectly assured herself\nthat the child really slept, raised an immense stone which she had\nconcealed under her shawl, and, to the horror of the nurse, (who\nwas an Irishwoman, and like all persons of the lower orders in her\ncountry, and indeed in most countries, was fully impressed with an\nidea of the peculiar cunning and malignity of \"dumbies,\") lifted it\nwith an apparent intent to fling it down vehemently. Before the nurse\ncould interpose, the Countess had flung the stone,--not, however, as\nthe servant had apprehended, at the child, but on the floor, where,\nof course, it made a great noise. The child immediately awoke, and\ncried. The Countess, who had looked with maternal eagerness to the\nresult of her experiment, fell on her knees in a transport of joy. She\nhad discovered that her child possessed the sense which was wanting\nin herself. She exhibited on many other occasions similar proofs of\nintelligence, but none so interesting.\n\n\nTHE PERILS OF INVENTORS.\n\nThe dangers which inventors have frequently to encounter are very\ngreat. Among many instances we may mention the following:--\n\nMr. Day perished in a diving bell, or diving boat of his own\nconstruction, at Plymouth, in June, 1774, in which he was to have\ncontinued for a wager, twelve hours, one hundred feet deep in water,\nand probably, perished from his not possessing all the hydrostatic\nknowledge that was necessary. Mr. Spalding was professionally\ningenious in the art of constructing and managing the diving bell,\nhe had practised the business many years with success. He went down,\naccompanied by one of his young men, twice to view the wreck of the\nImperial East Indiaman, at Kish Bank, in Ireland; on descending the\nthird time, in June, 1783, they remained about an hour under water, and\nhad two barrels of air sent down to them, but on the signals from below\nnot being repeated, after a certain time, they were drawn up by their\nassistants, and both found dead in the bell.\n\n\nBRIBERY.\n\nThe triumphant exposure and punishments of corrupt bribe-takers on a\ngrand scale belongs to the close of the seventeenth century. In 1695\nSir John Trevor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, was compelled\nto put the question himself that he should be expelled. A bill for\nsecuring the right application to poor orphans of freemen of London of\nfunds belonging to them could not be carried without purchasing the\nsupport of influential members and of the Speaker himself, at a bribe\nfor the latter of 1,000 guineas!\n\nSir Thomas Cook, the governor of the East India Company, paid L167,000\nin one year for bribes to members of the House, of which Sir Basil\nFirebrace took for his share L40,000. Corruption was universal,\ntherefore deemed venial.\n\n\nLEGALISED GAMBLING.\n\nThe following statement shows the extent to which lotteries encouraged\na spirit of gambling among the people, and we may hence appreciate the\nsoundness of the policy which dictated their suppression:--\n\nThe _Post Boy_ of December 27, says:--\"We are informed that the\nParliamentary Lottery will be fixed in this manner:--150,000 tickets\nwill be delivered out at 10_l._ each ticket, making in all the sum\nof 1,500,000_l._ sterling; the principal whereof is to be sunk, the\nParliament allowing nine per cent. interest for the whole during the\nterm of 32 years, which interest is to be divided as follows: 3,750\ntickets will be prizes from 1,000_l._ to 5_l._ per annum during the\nsaid 32 years; all the other tickets will be blanks, so that there\nwill be 39 of these to one prize, but then each blank ticket will be\nentitled to fourteen shillings a year for the term of 32 years, which\nis better than an annuity for life at ten per cent. over and above\nthe chance of getting a prize.\" Such was the eagerness of the publick\nin subscribing to the above profitable scheme, that Mercers'-hall was\nliterally crowded, and the Clerks were found incompetent to receive the\ninflux of names. 600,000_l._ was subscribed January 21; and on the 28th\nof February, the sum of 1,500,000_l._ was completed.\n\n\nONE OF THE EFFECTS OF MANUFACTURES.\n\nHow greatly does the introduction of a manufacturing establishment into\na town where none previously existed, alter its whole character and\ncondition!\n\nIt is said that the burgh of Lanark was, till very recent times, so\npoor that the single butcher of the town, who also exercised the\ncalling of a weaver, in order to fill up his spare time, would never\nventure upon the speculation of killing a sheep till every part of\nthe animal was ordered beforehand. When he felt disposed to engage\nin such an enterprise, he usually prevailed upon the minister, the\nprovost, and the town-council, to take shares; but when no person came\nforward to bespeak the fourth quarter, the sheep received a respite\ntill better times should cast up. The bellman or _skellyman_, as he\nis there called, used often to go through the streets of Lanark with\nadvertisements such as are embodied in the following popular rhyme:--\n\n \"Bell-ell-ell!\n There's a fat sheep to kill!\n A leg for the provost,\n Another for the priest,\n The bailies and deacons,\n They'll tak the neist;\n And if the fourth leg we connot sell,\n The sheep it maun leeve and gae back to the hill!\"\n\n\nPATES DE FOIES GRAS.\n\nStrasbourg is the great market for _pates de foies gras_, made, as it\nis known, of the livers of geese. These poor creatures are shut up\nin coops, so narrow they cannot turn round in them, and then stuffed\ntwice a day with Indian corn, to enlarge their livers, which have been\nknown to swell till they reached the enormous weight of two pounds and\na half. Garlick, steeped in water, is given them, to increase their\nappetites. This invention is worthy of the French nation, where cooks\nare great as nobles.\n\n\nINSCRIPTION IN CONWAY CHURCH.\n\nHere lyeth the body of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, gentleman, (who was\nthe forty-first child of his father, Wm. Hookes, Esq., by Alice, his\nwife,) the father of twenty-seven children, who died the 27th day of\nMarch, 1637.\n\n\nDROPPING-WELLS.\n\nIf you journey through Yorkshire, be sure to stop opposite the ruins\nof Knaresborough Castle, because, on the south-west bank of the river\nNidd, you will observe the petrifying spring of Knaresborough,--the\ncelebrated dropping-well--where the peasants and the needy crowd to\nmake their humble fortunes by afterwards retailing small sprigs of\ntrees, such as the elder or ash, or pieces of the elegant geranium, the\nwild angelica, or the lovely violet, turned into \"obdurate stone.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Petrifying Spring of Knaresborough.]\n\nEvery spring does not possess the petrifying properties of that\nof Knaresborough; but there are, doubtless, many dropping-wells\ndistributed over the earth's crust; and some of these are well known\nto possess the property of petrifying various objects submitted to the\naction of their waters. For example: we have seen birds' nests, with\nthe eggs, and delicate sprigs of moss surrounding them, and even the\nfibres of wool turned into stone, aye, and delicate flowers. Whence is\nthis extraordinary power? From the soil over which the waters flow!\nThe limpid streams absorb the silicious particles, and deposit them in\nthe intimate structure of the materials submitted to the action of the\nwaters; and thus we find the materials of which the earth's crust is\ncomposed, always undergoing a change.\n\nTwenty gallons are poured forth every minute from the top of the\nKnaresborough cliff, and the beauty of the scene can only be\nappreciated by those who have stood upon the margin of those \"stony\nwaters\" and beheld the crystal fluid descend from above with metallic\nfall.\n\n\nCHINESE IVORY BALLS.\n\nNothing can afford a greater proof of the patience and perseverance,\nas well as of the taste of a Chinese handicraftsman, than one of these\nelegant baubles, each ball being exquisitely carved, and no two alike\nin pattern. Each of the balls rolls freely within that which encloses\nit, and is visible through apertures; so that however many there be,\nthe beauties of each can be examined, and the number of the whole\ncounted. Much time is spent upon the carving of these toys, for the\ncleverest artist will employ a whole month in the execution of each\nseparate ball; consequently the labour of two years is not unfrequently\nbestowed on the production of a single toy, which is formed out of a\nsolid globe of ivory, and has no junction in any part. The outside\nof this globe is first carved in some very open pattern, and is then\ncarefully cut with a sharp, fine instrument, through the openings, till\na complete coating is detached from the solid part inside, as the peel\nof an orange might be loosened with a scoop from the fruit, without\nbeing taken off. One hollow ball is thus formed, with a solid one\ninside of it. The surface of the inner ball is then carved through the\ninterstices of the outer one, and when finished, is subjected to the\nsame operation as the first; and thus a second hollow ball is produced,\nstill with a solid one of smaller dimensions inside. This process is\nrepeated again and again, the difficulties increasing as the work\nproceeds, till at length only a small ball, of the size of a marble, is\nleft in the centre, which is also ornamented with figures cut upon it,\nand then the ingenious but useless bauble is complete. This process is\nsaid to be performed under water.\n\n\nCREDULITY OF THE ANCIENTS.\n\nThe credulity of even the learned men in the early ages may be judged\nof by the following facts:--\n\nMarcus Varro writeth, that there was a town in Spain undermined with\nrabbits; another likewise in Thessaly by moles or molewharps. In Africa\nthe people were compelled by locusts to leave their habitations;\nand out of Gyaros, an island, one of the Cyclades, the islanders\nwere forced by rats and mice to fly away; moreover in Italy the city\nof Amyclae was destroyed by serpents. In Ethiopia there is a great\ncountry lies waste and desert, by reason it was formerly dispeopled\nby scorpions; and if it be true that Theophrastus reporteth, the\nTreriens were chased away by certain worms called scolopendres.\nAnnius writes, that an ancient city situate near the Volscian Lake,\nand called Contenebra, was in times past overthrown by pismires, and\nthat the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day, the Camp of\nAnts. In Media, saith Diodorus Siculus, there was such an infinite\nnumber of sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast\ninto the ground, so that men were constrained to depart from their old\nhabitations, and remove to other places.\n\n\nCLOCK PRESENTED TO CHARLEMAGNE.\n\nThe French historians describe a clock sent to Charlemagne in the\nyear 807, by the famous eastern caliph, Haroun al Raschid, which was\nevidently furnished with some kind of wheelwork, although the moving\npower appears to have been produced by the fall of water. This clock\nwas a rather wonderful affair, and excited a great deal of attention\nat the French court. In the dial of it were twelve small doors forming\nthe divisions for the hours, each door opened at the hour marked by the\nindex, and let out small brass balls, which, falling on a bell, struck\nthe hours--a great novelty at that time. The doors continued open\nuntil the hour of twelve, when twelve figures representing knights on\nhorseback came out and paraded round the dial plate.\n\n\nREMARKABLE EVENTS, INVENTIONS, &c.\n\nMemnon, the Egyptian, invents the letters, in the year 1822, _before_\nChrist.\n\nThe Alexandrian library, consisting of 400,000 valuable books, burnt by\naccident, B. C. 52.\n\nSilk first brought from India, 274: the manufactory of it introduced\ninto Europe by some monks, 551: first worn by the clergy in England, in\n1534.\n\nGlass invented in England by Benalt, a monk, A. C. 400.\n\nThe University of Cambridge founded A. C. 915.\n\nPaper made of cotton rags was in use, 1000; that of linen rags in 1170:\nthe manufactory introduced into England, at Dartford, 1588.\n\nMusical notes invented, 1070.\n\nJustices of the Peace first appointed in England in 1076.\n\nDoomsday-book began to be compiled by order of William, from a survey\nof all the estates in England (and finished in 1086), 1080.\n\nGlass windows began to be used in private houses in England in 1186.\n\nSurnames now began to be used, first among the nobility, in 1200.\n\nThe houses of London and other cities in England, France, and Germany,\nstill thatched with straw in 1233.\n\nTallow candles so great a luxury, that splinters of wood were used for\nlights, 1298.\n\nWine sold by apothecaries as a cordial, 1298.\n\nGunpowder and guns first invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologn, 1340;\nEdward 3rd had four pieces of cannon, which contributed to gain him the\nbattle of Cressy, 1346; bombs and mortars were invented in the same\nyear.\n\nCards invented in France for the king's amusement in 1391.\n\nWindsor Castle built by Edward 3rd, 1386.\n\nGuildhall, London, built 1410.\n\nAbout 1430, Laurentius, of Haarlem, invented the art of Printing,\nwhich he practised with separate wooden types. Guttenburg afterwards\ninvented cut metal types: but the art was carried to perfection\nby Peter Schoeffer, who invented the mode of casting the types in\nmatrices. Frederick Corsellis began to print at Oxford, in 1468, with\nwooden types; but it was William Caxton who introduced into England the\nart of printing with fusile types, in 1474.\n\nShillings first coined in England, 1505.\n\nSilk stockings first worn by the French King, 1543; first worn in\nEngland by Queen Elizabeth in 1561.\n\nTobacco first brought from Virginia into England, 1583.\n\nWatches first brought into England from Germany, in 1597.\n\nRegular Posts established from London to Scotland, Ireland, &c., 1635.\n\nThe Plague rages in London, and carries off 68,000 persons, 1665.\n\nThe great fire of London began, September 2nd, and continued three\ndays, in which were destroyed 13,000 houses, and 400 streets, 1666.\n\nTea first used in England, 1666.\n\nThe Habeas Corpus act passed, 1678.\n\nWilliam Penn, a Quaker, receives a charter for planting Pennsylvania,\n1680.\n\nBank of England established by King William 1693.\n\nThe first public Lottery was drawn same year.\n\nThe first British Parliament, 1707.\n\nThe Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher\nWren, in 37 years, at one million expense, by a duty on coals, 1710.\n\nWestminster Bridge, consisting of 15 arches, begun 1738, finished in\n1750, at the expense of 389,000_l._, defrayed by parliament.\n\nCommodore Anson returns from his voyage round the world, 1774.\n\nThe British Museum erected at Montagu House, 1753.\n\n149 Englishmen are confined in the black-hole at Calcutta, in the East\nIndies, by order of the Nabob, and 123 found dead next morning, 1755.\n\n\nLEGENDS AMONG SAVAGE NATIONS.\n\nIt is curious to note how savages endeavour to account for the\nprodigies of nature. In the island of Samoa, one of the Sandwich group,\nthere is the following legend.\n\nMafuie is their god of earthquakes, who was deemed to possess great\npower, but has, according to the Samoans, lost much of it. The way in\nwhich they say this occurred is as follows:--One Talago, who possessed\na charm capable of causing the earth to divide, coming to a well-known\nspot, cried, \"Rock, divide! I am Talago; come to work!\" The earth\nseparating at his command, he went down to cultivate his taro patch.\nHis son, whose name was Tiitii, became acquainted with the charm, and\nwatching his father, saw him descend, and the earth close after him. At\nthe same spot, Tiitii said, \"Rock, divide! I am Talago; come to work!\"\nThe rock did not open, but on repeating the words and stamping his foot\nviolently, the earth separated, and he descended. Being a young man,\nhe made a great noise and bustle, notwithstanding the advice of his\nfather to be quiet, lest Mafuie would hear him. The son then asked,\n\"Who is Mafuie, that I should be afraid of him?\" Observing smoke at\na distance, he inquired the cause of it. Talago said, \"It is Mafuie\nheating his oven.\" Tiitii determined to go and see, notwithstanding\nall the persuasions of his father, and met Mafuie, who inquired who he\nwas, \"Are you a planter of taro, a builder, or a twister of ropes?\" \"I\nam a twister of ropes,\" said Tiitii; \"give me your arm, and I shall\nshow you.\" So, taking the arm of Mafuie, he twisted it off in a moment.\nSuch a practical illustration of his powers soon made Mafuie cry out,\n\"Na fia ola, na fia ola!\"--I desire to live, I desire to live! Tiitii\nthen took pity upon him, and let him go. The natives, on feeling an\nearthquake, exclaim, \"Thanks that Mafuie has but one arm! if he had\ntwo, he would shake the earth to pieces.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE WORD LADY.\n\nIt was the custom at the time of the Plantagenets, and previously, for\nladies of distinction and wealth regularly to distribute money or food\nto the poor. The title of _lady_, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and\nliterally signifies _giver of bread_. The purse, with similar meaning,\nwas named as a receptacle for _alms_, and not as an invention for the\npreservation of money.\n\n\nANECDOTES IN SERMONS.\n\nThe fashion which once prevailed of introducing historical anecdotes\ninto addresses from the pulpit, is illustrated by the following extract\nfrom a sermon by the Martyr Bishop Ridley:--\n\nCambyses was a great emperor, such another as our master is; he had\nmany lord-deputies, lord-presidents, and lieutenants under him. It is\na great while ago since I read the history. It chanced he had under\nhim, in one of his dominions, a briber, a gift-taker, a gratifier of\nrich men; he followed gifts as fast as he that followed the pudding,\na hand-maker in his office, to make his son a great man; as the old\nsaying is, \"Happy is the child whose father goeth to the devil.\" The\ncry of the poor widow came to the emperor's ear, and caused him to flay\nthe judge quick, and laid his skin in his chair of judgment, that all\njudges that should give judgment afterward should sit in the same skin.\nSurely it was a goodly sign, a goodly monument, the sign of the judge's\nskin: I pray God we may once see the sign of the skin in England.\n\n\nSTATE OF LONDON IN 1756.\n\nThe state of the police regulations in the metropolis at the above\ndate, is exhibited in the following extract from an old magazine:--\n\n\"At one o'clock this morning (Oct. 4, 1756), the Hon. Captain Brudenel\nwas stopped in his chair, just as it entered Berkeley-square, from\nthe Hay-hill, by two fellows with pistols, who demanded his money; he\ngave them five-sixpences, telling them he had no more, which having\ntaken, they immediately made off. The captain then put his purse and\nwatch under the cushion, got out, drew his sword, and being followed\nby one of the chairmen with his pole, and the watchman, pursued them\nup the hill, where the Hon. Captain West, who was walking, having\njoined them, one of the fellows having got off, they followed the other\ninto Albemarle-mews, where finding himself closely beset, he drew a\npistol, and presented it, upon which the captain made a lunge at him,\nand ran him through the body. The fellow at the same time fired his\npistol, which, the captain being still stooping, went over his head\nand shot the watchman through the lungs; at the instant the pistol was\ndischarged, while the fellow's arm was extended, the chairman struck\nit with his pole and broke it; he was then seized and carried with\nthe watchman to the round-house in Dover-street, where Mr. Bromfield\nand Mr. Gataker, two eminent surgeons, came; but the captain would\nnot suffer the villain to be dressed, till he discovered who he and\nhis confederates were; when he acknowledged they were both grenadiers\nin Lord Howe's company. The poor watchman died in half an hour after\nhe was shot; and the soldier was so disabled by his wound that he was\ncarried in a chair to Justice Fielding, who sent him to New Prison,\nwhere he died.\"\n\n\nFROM A HANDBILL OF BARTHOLOMEW FAIR IN 1700.\n\nThe following extract is worth notice, inasmuch as it shows that in the\nmatter of amusement, the tastes of the lower orders of the present day\nare not much improved since the last century:--\n\n\"You will see a wonderful girl of ten years of age, who walks backwards\nup the sloping rope driving a wheelbarrow behind her; also you will see\nthe great Italian Master, who not only passes all that has yet been\nseen upon the low rope, but he dances without a pole upon the head of a\nmast as high as the booth will permit, and afterwards stands upon his\nhead on the same. You will be also entertained with the merry conceits\nof an Italian scaramouch, who dances on the rope with two children and\na dog in a wheelbarrow, and a duck on his head.\"\n\n\nPASSAGE THROUGH THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA SUGGESTED THREE HUNDRED TEARS AGO.\n\n_Ancient Globe._--In the Town Library (_Stadt Bibliothek_) of Nuremberg\nis preserved an interesting globe made by John Schoner, professor of\nmathematics in the Gymnasium there, A.D. 1520. It is very remarkable\nthat the passage through the Isthmus of Panama, so much sought after in\nlater times, is, on this old globe, carefully delineated.\n\n\nHEIGHT OF MOUNTAINS.\n\nThe perpendicular height of Snowdon is, by late admeasurements, 1,190\nyards above the level of the sea. This makes it, according to Pennant,\n240 yards higher than Cader Idris. Some state Whernside, in Yorkshire\nto be the highest mountain in South Britain, and more than 4,000 feet.\nHelvellyn is 3,324 feet, Ben Lomond 3,262. Mont Blanc rises 15,680\nfeet; the American Chimborazo is 20,909 feet, the highest ground ever\ntrodden by man; and the mountains of Thibet above 25,000 feet, the\nhighest at present known.\n\n\nINTRODUCTION OF THE WEEPING WILLOW INTO ENGLAND.\n\nThe _Salix Babylonica_, that is the Willow of Babylon, or our English\nweeping Willow, is a native of the Levant, the coast of Persia,\nand other places in the East. The manner of its introduction into\nEngland is curious; the account is as follows: Pope, the celebrated\npoet, having received a present of Turkey figs, observed a twig of\nthe basket, in which they were packed, putting out a shoot. The twig\nhe planted in his garden: it soon became a fine tree, and from this\nstock, all our weeping Willows have descended. This species of Willow\nis generally planted by a still pool, to which it is a beautiful\nappropriate ornament; and when in misty weather, drops of water are\nseen distilling from the extremities of its branches, nothing can be\nmore descriptive than the title it has obtained of _the weeping Willow_.\n\n\nFINE FOR INSULTING A KING.\n\nThe use of gold and silver was not unknown to the Welsh in 842, when\ntheir laws were collected. The man who dared to insult the King of\nAberfraw, was to pay (besides certain cows and a silver rod) a cup,\nwhich would hold as much wine as his majesty could swallow at a\ndraught; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face; and the whole\nas thick as a goose's egg, or a ploughman's thumb-nail.\n\n\nCARRONADES.\n\nThis species of great gun, so much used on board of ships, is generally\naccounted a modern invention, taking its name from the Carron foundry\nwhere they were made. In the patent office, however, will be found\na notice dated September, 1727, to the following effect: \"That his\nMajesty was pleased to grant to Henry Brown, Esquire, a patent for the\nsole use and benefit of his new invention of making cannon and great\nguns, both in iron and brass, which will be much shorter and lighter,\nand with less powder will carry farther than those of equal bore now in\nuse, and which, it is said, will save great expense to the public.\"\n\n\nEXTRAVAGANCE AT ELECTIONS.\n\nOn the death of Sir James Lowther, his son William stood for the shire\nof Cumberland, and entertained 3,650 gentlemen freeholders at a dinner,\nat which were consumed 768 gallons of wine, 1,454 gallons of ale, and\n5,814 bottles of punch. Sir James appears to have been eccentric in\nsome of his habits, for after his decease L30,000 in bank notes were\ndiscovered in a closet, and L10,000 in the sleeve of an old coat.\n\n\nMARTIN LUTHER'S TANKARD.\n\nThis interesting relic of the great Reformer is of ivory, very richly\ncarved, and mounted in silver gilt. There are six medallions on its\nsurface, which consist, however, of a repetition of two subjects. The\nupper one represents the agony in the garden, and the Saviour praying\nthat the cup might pass from Him; the base represents the Lord's\nSupper, the centre dish being the incarnation of the bread. This\ntankard, now in the possession of Lord Londesborough, was formerly in\nthe collection of Elkington of Birmingham, who had some copies of it\nmade. On the lid, in old characters, is the following inscription--\"C.\nM. L., MDXXIIII.\" This drinking vessel, which, independent of its\nartistic merit, was no doubt highly valued as a mere household\npossession, brings to mind many recollections of the life of him who\nraised himself from a very lowly position to one of great power and\nusefulness.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Martin Luther's Tankard.]\n\nMartin Luther, who was the son of John Lotter or Lauther (which name\nour Reformer afterwards changed to Luther) and Margaret Lindenen, was\nborn in the little town of Islebern, in Saxony, on November 10th,\n1483. His father was a miner. Luther died in 1546, and princes, earls,\nnobles, and students without number, attended the funeral of the\nminer's son in the church of Islebern. On this occasion, Melancthon\ndelivered the funeral oration.\n\n\nHOT CROSS BUNS.\n\nHow strange the following reads from an old journal! and how odd the\nstate of things to give rise to such an intimation!\n\n 1793.\n _Wednesday, 27th March._\n ROYAL BUN HOUSE, CHELSEA, GOOD FRIDAY.\n _No Cross Buns._\n\nMrs. Hand respectfully informs her friends, and the public, that in\nconsequence of the great concourse of people which assembled before her\nhouse at a very early hour, on the morning of Good Friday; by which her\nneighbours (with whom she has always lived in friendship and repute,)\nhave been much alarmed and annoyed; it having also been intimated, that\nto encourage or countenance a tumultuous assembly at this particular\nperiod, might be attended with consequences more serious than have\nhitherto been apprehended; desirous, therefore, of testifying her\nregard and obedience to those laws by which she is happily protected,\nshe is determined, though much to her loss, not to sell _Cross Buns_ on\nthat day, to any person whatever; but Chelsea Buns as usual.\n\nMrs. Hand would be wanting in gratitude to a generous public, who, for\nmore than fifty years past, have so warmly patronized and encouraged\nher shop, to omit so favourable an opportunity of offering her sincere\nacknowledgments for their favours; at the same time, to assure them she\nwill, to the utmost of her power, endeavour to merit a continuance of\nthem.\n\n\nLOCUSTS.\n\nThe locusts are remarkable for the hieroglyphic that they bear upon the\nforehead. Their colour is green throughout the whole body, excepting a\nlittle yellow rim that surrounds their head, and which is lost at the\neyes. This insect has two upper wings, pretty solid. They are green,\nlike the rest of the body, except that there is in each a little white\nspot. The locust keeps them extended like great sails of a ship going\nbefore the wind. It has besides two other wings underneath the former,\nand which resemble a light transparent stuff pretty much like a cobweb,\nand which it makes use of in the manner of smack sails, that are along\na vessel. But when the locust reposes herself, she does like a vessel\nthat lies at anchor; for she keeps the second sails furled under the\nothers.\n\n\nQUEEN ELIZABETH'S LAWS.\n\nThe following extract from a very old book is truly curious:--\n\n\"Queene Elizabeth, in the xiiii and xviii yeres of hir gracious rayne,\ntwo Actes were made for ydle vagrante and maisterlesse persons, that\nvsed to loyter, and would not worke, should for the first offence\nhaue a hole burned through the gristle of one of his eares of an\nynch compasse. And for the second offence committed therein, to be\nhanged. If these and such lyke lawes were executed iustlye, treulye,\nand severelye (as they ought to be,) without any respect of persons,\nfavour, or friendshippe, this dung and filth of ydlenesse woulde\neasily be reiected and cast oute of thys Commonwealth, there woulde\nnot be so many loytering ydle persons, so many Ruffians, Blasphemers,\nSwinge-Buckelers, so many Drunkards, Tossepottes, Dauncers, Fydlers,\nand Minstrels, Dice-players, and Maskers, Fencers, Theeves,\nEnterlude-players, Cut-purses, Cosiners, Maisterlesse Seruantes,\nJugglers, Roges, sturdye Beggars, counterfaite Egyptians, &c., as there\nare, nor yet so manye Plagues to bee amongst vs as there are, if these\nDunghilles and filthe in Commonweales were remooued, looked into, and\ncleane caste oute, by the industrie, payne, and trauell of those that\nare sette in authoritie, and haue gouernment.\"--\"_A Treatise against\nDicing, Dauncing, Vaine playes or Enterluds._\" _Black Letter; no date._\n\n\nTHE INVENTION OF TYPES.\n\nThe honour of the invention of movable types has been disputed by\ntwo cities, Haarlem and Mentz. The claims of Haarlem rest chiefly\nupon a statement of Hadrien Junius, who gave it upon the testimony\nof Cornelius, alleged to be a servant of Lawrence Coster, for whom\nthe invention is claimed. The claims of Mentz, which appear to be\nmore conclusive, are in favour of Peter Schaeffer, the assistant and\nson-in-law of John Faust, better known as Dr. Faustus. The first\nedition of the _Speculum humanae salvationis_ was printed by Coster at\nHaarlem, about the year 1440, and is one of the earliest productions of\nthe press of which the printer is known. The celebrated Bible, commonly\nknown as the Mentz Bible, without date, is the first important specimen\nof printing with moveable metal types. This was executed by Gutenberg\nand Faust, or Fust, as it is sometimes spelt, between the years 1450\nand 1455. The secret of the method then becoming known, presses were\nspeedily established in all parts of Europe, so that before the year\n1500 there were printing-offices in upwards of 220 different places in\nAustria, Bavaria, Bohemia, Calabria, the Cremonese, Denmark, England,\nFlanders, France, Franconia, Frioul, Geneva, Genoa, Germany, Holland,\nHungary, Italy, Lombardy, Mecklenburg, Moravia, Naples, the Palatinate,\nPiedmont, Poland, Portugal, Rome, Sardinia, Upper and Lower Saxony,\nSicily, Silesia, Spain, Suabia, Switzerland, Thessalonica, Turkey,\nTuscany, the Tyrol, Venice, Verona, Westphalia, Wurtemberg, &c.\n\nThis vast and rapid extension of the art, combined with the skill which\nthe earlier printers displayed in it, seems to be totally incompatible\nwith the date assigned to the invention, and it is more than probable,\nthat the art having been long practised in private under continued\nattempts at secrecy, it at length broke into publicity after it had\nalready attained a considerable degree of perfection.\n\n\nTHE PROTEUS ANGUINUS.\n\nIt has been satisfactorily proved that the polypus cannot see its\nprey, but is only aware of its presence by the actual agitation of\nthe water, from its remaining altogether passive when a thin piece\nof glass is interposed between them. There are many Monads, which,\nwithout possessing any trace of an eye, are yet susceptible of light.\nAn equally extraordinary phenomenon presents itself in the Proteus\nAnguinus. This singular animal is found in the subterranean lakes of\nthe interminable stalactital caverns in the limestone range of the\nCarniolan Alps, where the author saw it. In appearance it is between a\nfish and a lizard; it is of a flesh-colour, and its respiratory organs,\nwhich are connected with lungs, so as to enable it to breathe above or\nbelow the water, form a red crest round the throat, like a cock's comb.\nIt has no eyes, but small points in the place of them, and light is so\nobnoxious to it, that it uses every effort to exclude it, by thrusting\nits head under stones. It is reported also to exist in Sicily, but is\nknown nowhere else.\n\n\nBUMPER.\n\n[Illustration: [++] A Bumper.]\n\nThe jolly toper is so fond of the thing we call a _bumper_, that he\ntroubles not himself about the name, and so long as the liquor is but\nfine and clear, cares not a farthing in how deep an obscurity the\netymology is involved. The sober antiquarian, on the contrary, being\nprone to etymology, contemplates the sparkling contents of a full glass\nwith much less delight than he does the meaning, the occasion, and the\noriginal of the name. The common opinion is, that the _bumper_ took\nits name from the _grace-cup_; our Roman Catholic ancestors, say they,\nafter their meals, always drinking the Pope's health in this form, _au\nbon Pere_. But there are great objections to this; the Pope was not the\n_bon Pere_, but the _Saint Pere_; amongst the elder inhabitants of this\nkingdom, the attribute of sanctity being in a manner appropriated to\nthe Pope of Rome, and his see. Again, the grace-cup, which went round\nof course, after every repast, did not imply anything extraordinary,\nor a full glass. Drinking-glasses were not in use at the time here\nsupposed, for the grace-cup was a large vessel, proportioned to the\nnumber of the society, which went round the table, the guests drinking\nout of one cup, one after another.\n\n\nCOFFEE.\n\nFrom a number of the \"_Public Advertiser_,\" of May 19 to May 26, 1657,\nwe have 'In Bartholomew-lane, on the back side of the Old Exchange, the\ndrink called _Coffee_ is advertised as to be sold _in the morning_, and\nat _three of the clock_ in the afternoon.'\n\n\nQUAINT RECEIPTS.\n\nThe following Receipts are taken from a work entitled, \"_New\nCuriosities_ in _Art_ and _Nature_, or a _Collection_ of the most\nvaluable _Secrets_ in all _Arts_ and _Sciences_. Composed and\nExperimented by Sieur Lemery, Apothecary to the French King. London:\nJohn King, Little Britain. 1711.\"\n\n_To make one Wake or Sleep._--You must cut off dexterously the head of\na toad alive, and at once, and let it dry, in observing that one eye be\nshut, and the other open; that which is found open makes one wake, and\nthat shut causes sleep, by carrying it about one.\n\n_Preservative against the Plague._--Take three or four great toads,\nseven or eight spiders, and as many scorpions, put them into a pot well\nstopp'd, and let them lye some time; then add virgin-wax, make a good\nfire till all become a liquor, then mingle them all with a spatula, and\nmake an ointment, and put it into a silver box well stopp'd, the which\ncarry about you, being well assured that while you carry it about you,\nyou will never be infected with the plague.\n\nWe give the above as indicating the delusions which prevailed with\nrespect to certain nostrums as late as the year 1711.\n\n\nEXECUTION OF GOVERNOR WALL IN 1802.\n\nAs the following account, by a gentleman who witnessed the scene,\navoids all disgusting details, we give it as containing a description\nof some of the circumstances which attended the execution, at the\ncommencement of the present century, of a criminal of the higher class.\nThe wretched man was hung for murder and barbarity: his victims were\nthe men he had under his charge as Governor of the Island of Goree:--\n\n\"As we crossed the Press-yard, a cock crew; and the solitary clanking\nof a restless chain was dreadfully horrible.\n\n\"The prisoner entered. He was death's counterfeit, tall, shrivelled,\nand pale; and his soul shot so piercingly through the port-holes of\nhis head that the first glance of him nearly petrified me. I said in\nmy heart, putting my pencil in my pocket, God forbid that I should\ndisturb thy last moments! His hands were clasped, and he was truly\npenitent. After the yeoman had requested him to stand up, 'he pinioned\nhim,' as the Newgate phrase is, and tied the cord with so little\nfeeling that the governor, who had not given the wretch the accustomed\nfee, observed 'You have tied me very tight;' upon which Dr. Ford,\nthe chaplain, ordered him to slacken the cord, which he did, but not\nwithout muttering, 'Thank you, sir,' said the governor to the doctor:\n'it is of little moment.' He then observed to the attendant, who had\nbrought in an immense iron shovel-full of coals to throw on the fire,\n'Ay, in one hour that will be a blazing fire,' then turning to the\ndoctor, questioned him: 'Do tell me, sir: I am informed I shall go down\nwith great force; is it so?' After the construction and action of the\nmachine had been explained, the doctor questioned the governor as to\nwhat kind of men he had at Goree:--'Sir,' he answered, 'they sent me\nthe very riff-raff.' The poor soul then joined the doctor in prayer;\nand never did I witness more contrition at any condemned sermon than he\nthen evinced.\n\n\"The sheriff arrived, attended by his officers, to receive the prisoner\nfrom the keeper. A new hat was then partly flattened on his head,\nfor owing to its being too small in the crown, it stood many inches\ntoo high behind. As we were crossing the Press Yard, the dreadful\nexecrations of some of the felons so shook his frame that he observed,\nthe clock had struck; and quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the\nroom where the sheriff was to give a receipt for his body, according to\nthe usual custom. Owing, however, to some informality in the wording of\nthis receipt, he was not brought out as soon as the multitude expected;\nand it was this delay which occasioned a partial exultation from those\nwho betted as to a reprieve, and not from any pleasure in seeing him\nexecuted.\n\n\"After the execution, as soon as I was permitted to leave the prison,\nI found the Yeoman selling the rope with which the malefactor had\nbeen suspended, at a shilling an inch; and no sooner had I entered\nNewgate-street, than a lath of a fellow, passed threescore years\nand ten, who had just arrived from the purlieus of Black Boy Alley,\nwoe-begone as _Romeo's_ apothecary, exclaimed, 'Here is the identical\nrope at sixpence an inch.'\"\n\n\nSTAGE-COACH IN 1760.\n\n_Ayscough's Nottingham Courant_ of this date, contained the following\nadvertisement:--The flying machines on steel springs set off from the\nSwan with Two Necks Inn, Lad-lane, London, and from the Angel Inn in\nSheffield, every Monday and Thursday morning at five o'clock, and lies\nthe first night from London at the Angel Inn in Northampton, the second\nat the Blackmoor's Head Inn, Nottingham, and the third at Sheffield.\nEach passenger to pay 1_l._ 17_s._, and to be allowed fourteen pounds\nof luggage. Performed (if God permit) by John Hanforth and Samuel\nGlanville.\n\n\nBLIND WORKMAN.\n\nA young man, in Greenock, of the name of Kid, who was blind from his\ninfancy, finished the model of a sixty-four gun ship, of about five\nfeet keel, planked from the keel, with carriages for the guns, and\nevery necessary material and apparelling of a ship of that rate,\nwithout any assistance whatever, or other instrument than a small knife\nand hammer.\n\n\nSPORTS OF THE LOWER CLASSES IN 1749.\n\nThe following handbill is curious, on account of the light it sheds on\nwhat was considered attractive to the million a hundred years ago:--\n\n\"_According to Law. September 22, 1749._ On Wednesday next, the 27th\ninst., will be run for by _Asses_ (!!) in _Tothill Fields_, a purse\nof gold, not exceeding the value of Fifty Pounds. The first will be\nentitled to the gold; the second to two pads; the third to thirteen\npence half-penny; the last to a halter fit for the neck of any ass in\nEurope. Each ass must be subject to the following articles:--\n\n\"No person will be allowed to run but _Taylors_ and _Chimney-sweepers_;\nthe former to have a cabbage-leaf fixed in his hat, the latter a\nplumage of white feathers; the one to use nothing but his yard-wand,\nand the other a brush.\n\n\"No jockey-tricks will be allowed upon any consideration.\n\n\"No one to strike an ass but the rider, lest he thereby cause a\nretrograde motion, under a penalty of being ducked three times in the\nriver.\n\n\"No ass will be allowed to start above thirty years old, or under ten\nmonths, nor any that has won above the value of fifty pounds.\n\n\"No ass to run that has been six months in training, particularly above\nstairs, lest the same accident happen to it that did to one nigh a town\nten miles from London, and that for reasons well known to that place.\n\n\"Each ass to pay sixpence entrance, three farthings of which are to be\ngiven to the old clerk of the race, for his due care and attendance.\n\n\"Every ass to carry weight for inches, if thought proper.\"\n\nThen follow a variety of sports, with \"an ordinary of _proper\nvictuals_, particularly for the riders, if desired.\"\n\n\"_Run, lads, run! there's rare sport in Tothill Fields!_\"\n\n\nSTATE COACH AT THE PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT IN 1796.\n\nNever was a greater assemblage of persons collected together than on\nthis occasion: in the Park and in Parliament-street there were at least\n20,000 people. By the repair of the state coach, which has undergone\nseveral material alterations since the damage it received at the\nopening of the last session, the king is now secluded from the sight.\nHitherto, the upper pannels of it had always been of glass, so that\nthe multitude could see the king in all directions, through the front,\nthrough the sides, as well as through the windows in the doors: it has\nbeen newly glazed, and the whole of the carriage is lined with sheet\ncopper, musket proof; between the crimson lining of the carriage is a\nwadding of fine wool, coated with buffalo skin, the nature of which is\nso close that no bullets can penetrate it.\n\n\nHISTORICAL ANECDOTE.\n\nOn the dollars, stivers, &c., coined at the town of Dordrecht in\nHolland, is the figure of a milk-maid sitting under her cow, which\nfigure is also exhibited in relievo on the water-gate of the place. The\noccasion was as follows: In the noble struggle of the United Provinces\nfor their liberties, the Spaniards detached a body of forces from the\nmain army, with the view of surprising Dordrecht. Certain milkmaids,\nbelonging to a rich farmer in the vicinity of the town, perceived as\nthey were going to milk, some soldiers concealed under the hedges.\nThey had the presence of mind to pursue their occupation without any\nsymptoms of alarm. On their return home they informed their master of\nwhat they had seen, who gave information to the Burgomaster, and the\nsluices were let loose, by which great numbers of the Spaniards were\ndrowned, and the expedition defeated. The States ordered the farmer a\nhandsome revenue for the loss he sustained by the overflowing of his\nlands, rewarded the women, and perpetuated the event in the manner\ndescribed.\n\n\nTOMB OF JOHN BUNYAN.\n\n\"Who has not read the \"Pilgrim's Progress,\" \"that wonderful book,\"\nwrites Mr. Macaulay, \"which, while it obtains admiration from the most\nfastidious critics, is loved by those who are too simple to admire it?\"\nWe can remember our own delight on reading, for the first time, the\nprecious volume. This was in the days of our childhood, when we were\ndeeply imbued with the fairy lore which at that time was so plentifully\nsupplied, and so eagerly devoured.\n\nJohn Bunyan was buried in Bunhill Fields burying-ground, City-road; and\nthe tablet on his tomb, which the engraving very correctly represents\nis as follows:--\"Mr. John Bunyan, author of the 'Pilgrim's Progress,'\nob. 12 Aust. 1688, aet. 60.\" Formerly there were also the following\nlines:--\n\n \"The Pilgrim's Progress now is finished.\n And death has laid him in his earthly bed.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Tomb of John Bunyan.]\n\nBunhill Fields burying-ground was opened as a suburban cemetery\nin 1665, in the time of the great plague, and was a favourite\nburying-place with the Dissenters. Here are buried Daniel Defoe; Dr.\nIsaac Watts; Joseph Ritson the antiquary; Dr. Thomas Goodwin, the\nchaplain who attended Cromwell's death-bed; George Fox, the founder\nof the Quakers; the mother of John Wesley; Lieut.-General Fleetwood,\nson-in-law of Oliver Cromwell; Thomas Stothard, R.A., and other eminent\nmen.\n\n\nSPIDERS FOND OF MUSIC.\n\nSpiders hear with great acuteness, and it is affirmed that they are\nattracted by music. Disjonval relates the instance of a spider which\nused to place itself on the ceiling of a room over the spot where a\nlady played the harp, and which followed her if she removed to another\npart; and he also says that the celebrated violinist Berthome, when a\nboy, saw a spider habitually approach him as soon as he began to play,\nand which eventually became so familiar that it would fix itself on his\ndesk, and on his arm. Bettina noticed the same effect with a guitar, on\na spider which accidentally crossed over it as she was playing.\n\n\nBREAKFASTING HUT IN 1745.\n\nThis quaint announcement, in a handbill of the time, shows how cheaply\nthose who lived a century or so past could enjoy suburban pleasures in\nmerrie Islington:--\n\n\"This is to give notice to all Ladies and Gentlemen, at Spencer's\noriginal Breakfasting-Hut, between Sir Hugh Middleton's Head and St.\nJohn Street Road, by the New River side, fronting Sadler's Wells, may\nbe had every morning, except Sundays, fine tea, sugar, bread, butter,\nand milk, at fourpence per head; coffee at threepence a dish. And in\nthe afternoon, tea, sugar, and milk, at threepence per head, with good\nattendance. Coaches may come up to the farthest garden-door next to the\nbridge in St. John Street Road, near Sadler's Wells back gate.--_Note._\nLadies, &c., are desired to take notice that there is another person\nset up in opposition to me, the next door, which is a brick-house,\nand faces the little gate by the Sir Hugh Middleton's, and therefore\nmistaken for mine; but mine is the _little boarded place_ by the river\nside, and my backdoor faces the same as usual; for\n\n I am not dead, I am not gone,\n Nor liquors do I sell;\n But, as at first, I still go on,\n Ladies, to use you well.\n\n No passage to my hut I have,\n The river runs before;\n Therefore your care I humbly crave,\n Pray don't mistake my door.\n\n \"Yours to serve,\n S. SPENCER.\"\n\n\nSPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.\n\nIn Leroux's Journal de Medicine, is an account of a very fat woman,\ntwenty-eight years of age, who was found on fire in her chamber, where\nnothing else was burning. The neighbours heard a noise of something\nlike frying, and when the body was removed it left a layer of black\ngrease. The doctor conceives that the combustion began in the internal\nparts, and that the clothes were burnt secondarily.\n\n\nMOTHER MAPP THE BONE-SETTER.\n\nShe was the daughter of a man named Wallis, a bone-setter at Hindon, in\nWiltshire, and sister to the celebrated \"Polly Peachem,\" who married\nthe Duke of Bolton. Upon some _family quarrel_, Sally Wallis left\nher professional parent, and wandered up and down the country in a\nmiserable manner, calling herself \"Crazy Sally,\" and pursuing, in her\nperambulations, a course that fairly justified the title. Arriving at\nlast at Epsom, she succeeded in humbugging the worthy bumkins of that\nplace, so decidedly, that a subscription was set on foot to keep her\namong them; but her fame extending to the metropolis, the dupes of\nLondon, a numerous class then as well as now, thought it no trouble\nto go ten miles to see the conjuror, till at length, she was pleased\nto bless the afflicted of London with her presence, and once a week\ndrove to the Grecian Coffee-house, in a coach and six with out-riders!\nand all the appearance of nobility. It was in one of these journeys,\npassing through Kent-street, in the Borough, that being taken for a\ncertain woman of quality from the Electorate in Germany, a great mob\nfollowed and bestowed on her many bitter reproaches, till Madame,\nperceiving some mistake, looked out of the window, and accosted them in\nthis gentle manner, \"Confound you, don't you know me? I am Mrs. Mapp,\nthe _bone-setter_!\" upon which, they instantly changed their revilings\ninto loud huzzas.\n\n\nTWO CERTIFICATES OF GRETNA-GREEN MARRIAGES AT DIFFERENT DATES.\n\n\"This is to sartfay all persons that my be consernid, that A B from the\nparish of C in the County of D and E F from the parish of G and in the\ncounty of H and both comes before me and declayred themseless both to\nbe single persons, and now mayried by the form of the Kirk of Scotland,\nand agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my hand, this\n18{th} day of March 1793.\"\n\n \"Kingdom of Scotland\n \"County of Dumfries\n \"Parish of Gretna\n\n\"These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that John N....\nfrom the parish of Chatham in the County of Kent, and Rosa H.... from\nthe Parish of St. Maries in the County of Nottingham, being both here\nnow present and having declared to me that they are single persons,\nbut have now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of\nEngland, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness our hands at\nSpringfield this 4th day of October 1822.\n\n \"Witness \"Witness me.\n Jane Rae David Lang.\n John Ainslie.\" John N....\n Rosa H....\"\n\n\nTHE WOMEN OF ENGLAND.\n\nThe women here are generally more handsome than in other places,\nsufficiently endowed with natural beauties, without the addition of\nadulterate sophistications. In an absolute woman, say the Italians,\nare required the parts of a Dutch woman, from the girdle downwards; of\na French woman, from the girdle to the shoulders: over which must be\nplaced an English face. As their beauties, so also their prerogatives\nare greater than any nation; neither so servilely submissive as the\nFrench, nor so jealously guarded as the Italians; but keeping so true a\ndecorum, that as England is termed the Pergatorie of Servants, and the\nHell of Horses, so is it acknowledged the _Paradise_ of _Women_. And it\nis a common by-word amongst the Italians, that _if there were a bridge\nbuilt across the narrow seas, all the women in Europe would run into\nEngland_. For here they have the upper hand in the streets, the upper\nplace at the table, the thirds of their husband's estates, and their\nequal share of all lands; privileges with which other women are not\nacquainted. They were in high esteem in former times amongst foreign\nnations, for the modestie and gravitie of their conversation; but of\nlate so much addicted to the light garb of the French, that they have\nlost much of their ancient honour and reputation amongst knowing and\nmore sober men of foreign countries who before admired them.--_Peter\nHeylin's Cosmographie_, 1652.\n\n\nPRICES FOR SEATS AT CORONATIONS.\n\nOn consulting Stowe, Speed, and other antiquaries, it appears that the\nprice of a good place at the coronation of William the Conqueror was\na _blank_; and probably the same at that of his son William Rufus. At\nthat of Henry I. it was a _crocard_, and at King Stephen's and Henry\nthe Second's a _pillard_. At King Richard's and King John's, it was a\n_fuskin_; and rose at Henry the Third's to a _dodkin_. In the reign of\nEdward I. the coins began to be more intelligible; and we find that for\nseeing his coronation a Q was given, or the half of a _ferling_, or\nfarthing, which was, as now, the fourth part of a _sterling_, or penny.\nAt the coronation of Edward II. it was a farthing; and at that of\nEdward III. a halfpenny, which was very generally given. In the reign\nof Richard II. it was a penny, and continued the same at that of Henry\nIV. But at that of Henry V. it was two pennies, or half of a _grossus_,\nor groat; and the same at that of Henry VI. and of Edward IV.; nor do\nwe find it raised at the coronation of Richard III. or that of Henry\nVII.\n\nAt that of Henry VIII. it was the whole _grossus_, or groat, nor was\nthe price altered at those of Edward VI. and Queen Mary; but at Queen\nElizabeth's it was a _teston_, _tester_, or sixpence. At those of James\nI. and Charles I. a shilling was given; which sum was advanced to half\na crown at the coronations of Charles and James II. At King William's\nand Queen Anne's, it was a crown; and at George the First's the show\nwas seen by many at the same price.\n\nAt the coronation of George II. some gave half a guinea; but at that\nof George III. and Queen Charlotte, anno 1761, curiosity seems to\nhave risen to an amazing height. On this occasion the price given for\nsingle seats were almost incredible; in some houses ten guineas, and\nin ordinary houses five guineas. Great and universal anxiety prevailed\nto see this grand spectacle, from the reflection how improbable\nit was that many who were there could ever have an opportunity of\nwitnessing the like again. As an instance of this extreme anxiety, it\nis confidently related, that a gentleman was prevailed on to take a\nroom for his lady, at the price of one hundred and forty guineas; but\nthe appointment of the solemnity of the coronation falling unluckily at\nthe exact time when she expected to be delivered, she actually further\nprevailed on her husband to let a skilful man-midwife, nurse, &c.,\nattend her, and to hire another room, lest the hurry of the day should\nbring on her labour, when it might be impossible for her to be removed\nwithout endangering her life.\n\n\nANCIENT HOUSE AT BLACKWALL--SAID TO BE THE RESIDENCE OF SIR WALTER\nRALEIGH.\n\nThe house shown in the engraving is interesting from two causes; first,\nthat it was the house in which Sir Walter Raleigh smoked his first\npipe of tobacco in England, and secondly, that it is one of the few\nrelics remaining of those picturesque old houses of the days of Queen\nBess. The house is built of strongly framed timber, which, in recent\nyears, has been plastered over; and the carved heads that ornament the\ngables, and which are good both in design and execution, show that this\nhouse is at least 350 years old.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient House at Blackwall.]\n\nAt the present time a tavern has been built between this house and\nthe river. Formerly, however, there was, no doubt, a trimmed garden\nand terrace towards the Thames, from which the inhabitants may have\nwatched the progress of Queen Elizabeth from the Tower to her palace at\nGreenwich.\n\nIt is singular to notice the fashion of these old houses, arising from\nthe value of space within walled towns; each floor projects over the\nother, so that the upper apartments have more room than the lower.\nWhile, in an artistic point of view, we cannot help regretting the\ndisappearance of the venerable and quaint gables, for sanitary and\nother reasons we must be content with the change.\n\n\nAMBASSADORS--WHY HELD BY THE ARMS AT THE OTTOMAN COURT.\n\nA dervise addressed Bajazet, emperor of the Turks, 1495, for alms, and\nwhile the charitable Sultan searched for his money, the treacherous\nbeggar wounded him with a dagger, and was instantly slain by the\nroyal attendants. This incident is rendered memorable by its having\noccasioned the ungracious restraint under which even the ambassadors of\nChristian powers were subject to in former times when they received an\naudience from the Ottoman Emperor.\n\nThey were held by the arms by two attendants, when they approached the\nthrone, nor were their arms loosed till they had quitted the presence.\n\n\nTRAVELLING IN 1760.\n\nThe nobility and gentry were accustomed to make their long journeys in\nponderous family-carriages, drawn by four horses. These vehicles would\nbe laden at the top with an array of trunks and boxes, while perhaps\nsix or seven persons, with a lapdog, would be stowed within. The danger\nof famine on the road was averted by a travelling larder of baskets of\nvarious condiments; the risk of thirst would be provided against by\nbottles of usquebaugh, black cherry-brandy, cinnamon-water, sack, port,\nor strong beer: while the convoy would be protected by a basket-hilted\nsword, an old blunderbuss, and a bag of bullets and a great horn of\ngunpowder.\n\n\nOLD ST. PAUL'S.\n\nIn the old cathedral was a tower of stone, in height from the ground\n260 feet, on which was a spire of wood, covered with lead, 274 feet\nhigh. In the tower was a celebrated peal of bells; and somewhat above\nthe stone-work was a \"faire dial,\" from which there was order taken in\nthe eighteenth year of Edward III. that the rich chasing and gilding\nshould be always kept in good preservation. On this dial was the figure\nof an angel pointing to the hours of both day and night--a device more\nappropriate than most of the clock-hands in present use. From this\nlofty steeple, which formed such an important feature of old London,\nthe chimes rung merrily on saints' days and holidays; and at times the\nchoristers mounted up aloft and chaunted forth their orisons at dawn\nand sunset--a custom still observed at Durham Cathedral. Before the\nfire of London, the spire of St. Paul's was more than once destroyed or\ndamaged by fire and lightning.\n\nOn Candlemas Eve, 1444, about two o'clock in the afternoon, the\nlightning fired the steeple. The citizens came forth and succeeded in\novercoming the fire; it, however, broke forth again at night, and but\nlittle of the spire was saved. In the year 1561, in the month of June,\nthere fell a prodigious quantity of rain, attended with thunder and\nlightning. St. Paul's steeple was struck within a yard of the top. At\nfirst, a little fire appeared, resembling the light of a torch, and\nin eight minutes the weather-cock fell; and the wind rising high, the\nfire within an hour afterwards destroyed the steeple down to the very\nbattlements, and then, in consequence of the mass of burning timber\nthat fell from the spire, burnt so violently that the iron-work and\nthe bells melted and fell upon the stairs in the church; the east and\nwest roofs catching fire communicated with the north and south, and\ndestroyed them all. Much damage was also done to other parts.\n\nThe spire was again reared, and the damaged bells properly replaced.\nIn addition to the bells in the tower of old St. Paul's there was a\ncommon bell, the property of the city, hung in a suitable building,\nclosely adjoining to the Cathedral, which was rung that the inhabitants\nmight assemble at wardmotes and other important occasions. Another fire\ndamaged the ancient church, and then the great fire of 1666, swept\nsteeples, bells, churches, and all before it.\n\n\nTHE BEDFORD MISSAL.\n\nIn January, 1786, when the Bedford Missal was on sale, with the rest\nof the Duchess of Portland's collection, King George III. sent for\nhis bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser.\nThe bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty, that the article in\nquestion, as one highly curious, was likely to fetch a high price. \"How\nhigh?\" exclaimed the king. \"Probably two hundred guineas,\" replied the\nbookseller. \"Two hundred guineas for a Missal!\" exclaimed the Queen,\nwho was present, and lifted up her hands with astonishment. \"Well,\nwell,\" said his Majesty, \"I'll have it still; but since the Queen\nthinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a Missal, I'll go no\nfurther.\" The biddings for the royal library did actually stop at that\npoint; and Mr. Edwards carried off the prize by adding three pounds\nmore. The same Missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards's sale, in\n1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough, for L637 15s.\n\n\nFORMATION OF THE VOLCANO OF JORULLO.\n\nThe Mexican volcanoes of Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Jorullo, and Colima\nappear to be connected with each other, being placed in the direction\nof a line running transverse to the former, and passing east and west\nfrom sea to sea.\n\nAs was first observed by Humboldt, these mountains are all situated\nbetween north latitude 18 deg. 59' and 19 deg. 12'. In an exact line of\ndirection with the other volcanoes, and over the same transverse\nfissure, Jorullo was suddenly elevated on the 29th of September, 1759.\nThe circumstances attending the production of this volcano are so\nremarkable, that we shall here notice them in some detail.\n\n[Illustration: Volcano of Jorullo, Mexico.]\n\nAn extensive plain, called the Malpays, was covered by rich fields of\ncotton, sugar-cane, and indigo, irrigated by streams, and bounded by\nbasaltic mountains, the nearest active volcano being at the distance\nof eighty miles. This district, situated at an elevation of about 2600\nfeet above the level of the sea, was celebrated for its beauty and\nextreme fertility. In June, 1759, alarming subterranean sounds were\nheard, and these were accompanied, by frequent earthquakes, which were\nsucceeded by others for several weeks, to the great consternation of\nthe neighbouring inhabitants. In September tranquillity appeared to\nbe re-established, when, in the night of the 28th, the subterranean\nnoise was again heard, and part of the plain of Malpays, from three to\nfour miles in diameter, rose up like a mass of viscid fluid, in the\nshape of a bladder or dome, to a height of nearly 1700 feet; flames\nissued forth, fragments of red-hot stones were thrown to prodigious\nheights, and, through a thick cloud of ashes, illumined by volcanic\nfire, the softened surface of the earth was seen to swell up like an\nagitated sea. A huge cone, above 500 feet high, with five smaller\nconical mounds, suddenly appeared, and thousands of lesser cones\n(called by the natives _hornitos_, or ovens,) issued forth from the\nupraised plain. These consisted of clay intermingled with decomposed\nbasalt, each cone being a _fumarolle_, or gaseous vent, from which\nissued thick vapour. The central cone of Jorullo is still burning,\nand on one side has thrown up an immense quantity of scoriaceous and\nbasaltic lavas, containing fragments of primitive rocks. Two streams,\nof the temperature of 186 deg. of Fahrenheit, have since burst through the\nargillaceous vault of the hornitos, and now flow into the neighbouring\nplains. For many years after the first eruption, the plains of Jorullo\nwere uninhabitable from the intense heat that prevailed.\n\n\nCRATER OF VESUVIUS IN 1829.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Crater of Vesuvius.]\n\nThe crater Stromboli, which has been in activity since the most\nancient times, presents at present the same appearances as those which\nwere described by Spallanzani, in 1788. It is constantly filled with\nlava in a state of fusion, which alternately rises and falls in the\ncavity. Having ascended to ten or twelve yards below the summit of the\nwalls, this boiling fluid is covered with large bubbles, which burst\nwith noise, letting enormous quantities of gas escape from them, and\nprojecting on all sides scoriaceous matter. After these explosions, it\nagain subsides, but only to rise again and produce like effects--these\nalternations being repeated regularly at intervals of some minutes.\nIn craters where the lava is less fluid than in that of Stromboli, new\ncones are sometimes formed in the midst of the Crater, which first\nrise in the form of a dome, and then burst out so as to form a small\nactive volcano in the middle of the crater of the great one. This\nphenomenon is often presented within the crater of Vesuvius, and was\nmore particularly witnessed in 1829.\n\n\nLOAF SUGAR.\n\nIn 1553 a sugar-loaf was presented to Mr. Waldron, of Bovey House,\nwhich weighed 7 lbs., at 1s. 1d. per lb. (7s. 7d.)\n\nThe late Lord Rolle married the last of that branch of the Waldron\nfamily. The house remains about ten miles west of Lyme. The sugar-loaf\nwas charged at a high rate, considering the greater value of money\nin Queen Mary's reign. This article began to be highly prized. The\nsugar-cane, which had been grown from the year 1148 in Sicily, had\nbeen imported into Madeira A.D. 1419. About the year 1503 the art\nof refining sugar, before called \"blanch powdre,\" was discovered by\na Venetian; before which the juice, when selected instead of honey\nfor sweetening, was used as it came from the cane. Only twenty-seven\nyears from this date, in 1526, it was imported from St. Lucar in Spain\nby Bristol merchants. Let not the present of the Mayor of Lyme be\nconsidered as a cheap article produced in abundance in the islands of\nthe West Indies. The sugar-cane was not imported thither into Barbadoes\nfrom the Brazils till the year 1641. How surprising the result of\nofficial inquiries in the year 1853 into the consumption of sugar! It\namounted to 7,523,187 cwts., or 30 lbs. each individual of the United\nKingdom.\n\n\nSUSPENSION BRIDGES AT FREYBOURG.\n\nThere are two suspension bridges in Freybourg; one remarkable for its\ngreat length, the other for its extreme beauty. The latter connects\nthe top of two mountains, swinging over a frightful gulf that makes\none dizzy to look down into. There are no buttresses or masonwork in\nsight at a little distance; shafts are sunk in the solid rock of the\nmountains, down which the wires that sustain it are dropped. There\nit stretches, a mere black line, nearly three hundred feet in the\nheavens, from summit to summit. It looks like a spider's web flung\nacross a chasm; its delicate tracery showing clear and distinct against\nthe sky. While you are looking at the fairy creation suspended in\nmid-heaven, almost expecting the next breeze will waft it away, you\nsee a heavy waggon driven on it; you shrink back with horror at the\nrashness that could trust so frail a structure at that dizzy height;\nbut the air-hung cobweb sustains the pressure, and the vehicle passes\nin safety. Indeed, weight steadies it; while the wind, as it sweeps\ndown the gulf, makes it swing under you. The large suspension bridge\nis supported on four cables of iron wire, each one composed of one\nthousand and fifty-six wires. As the Menai bridge of Wales is often\nsaid to be longer than this, I give the dimensions of both as I find\nthem in Mr. Murray:--Freybourg: length, nine hundred and five feet;\nheight, one hundred and seventy-four feet; breadth, twenty eight feet.\nMenai: length, five hundred and eighty feet; height, one hundred and\nthirty feet; breadth, twenty-five feet. A span of nine hundred and five\nfeet, without any intermediate pier, seems impossible at first, and one\nneeds the testimony of his own eyes before he can fully believe it.\n\n\nWONDERFUL CLOCK.\n\nTowards the end of the last century, a clock was constructed by a\nGenevan mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of\nsurprising movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro,\na shepherd, and a dog. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six\ntunes on his flute, and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This\nclock was exhibited to the King of Spain, who was highly delighted with\nthe ingenuity of the artist. The king, at the request of Droz, took an\napple from the shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked\nso loud that the king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark\nalso. We are moreover informed that the negro, on being asked what hour\nit was, answered the question in French, so that he could be understood\nby those present.\n\n\nMANDRIN THE SMUGGLER, 1757.\n\nMandrin was the son of a peasant in Dauphiny who dealt in cattle. His\nfirst employment was buying and selling horses, by which he subsisted\nseveral years. But having on some occasion committed a murder, he was\nobliged to fly from justice, and in his absence was condemned by the\nParliament of Grenoble to be broken on the wheel. Being now a fugitive,\nand destitute of employment, he learned to counterfeit money, and\nby this fraud made considerable gain, till, being discovered, the\nofficers of the Mint at Lyons issued a warrant for apprehending him,\nand he was again obliged to quit the country. While he was wandering\nabout from place to place, and hiding himself in caves and woods,\nhe became acquainted with a gang of smugglers, and associating with\nthem was, after some time, made their captain. As this gang was very\nnumerous, he was less cautious of being seen, and having at length\nlost his sense of fear by habitual danger, he frequently entered towns\nand cities, raised contributions on the king's officers by force, and\nspread the same terror among others that others had brought upon him.\nBut in proportion as he became more formidable he was, in fact, less\nsecure; for the Government found it necessary to detach after him such\na force as he could not resist, and the Farmers-General offered 48,000\nlivres reward for taking him. After many times attacking his party in\na running fight, in which several were cut off, Mandrin, with eight of\nhis men, took shelter in a castle on the frontiers of Savoy. They were\nclosely pursued by several detachments, under the command of Colonel\nde Moliere, who entered the King of Sardinia's territory after him,\nwithout having first obtained leave. Moliere was immediately opposed by\na great number of peasants: whether they were instigated by Mandrin, or\nwhether they were jealous of their privilege, is not known; but all his\nexpostulations being fruitless, and being determined not to relinquish\nhis prey, for whom he hoped to receive so considerable a reward, he\nforced his way against them, killing twelve and wounding many others.\nMandrin waited the issue of this contest in his castle, where he was\nsoon besieged by 150 men, who attacked the place with great vigour.\nMandrin and his partisans defended themselves like men who had nothing\nto fear in a battle equal to being taken alive; and after several of\nthem were killed, and the castle gates burst open, they retreated,\nfighting from chamber to chamber, and from story to story, till,\nreaching the garret, and being able to proceed no further, they were at\nlast overpowered by numbers, having killed twenty of their adversaries,\nand spent all their ammunition. Mandrin, with those that survived of\nhis little party, were carried prisoners to Valence in Dauphiny. * * *\nMandrin was examined every day from the 13th of May to the 25th,\nin order to discover his accomplices. In the mean time several of\nhis associates were put to the torture to discover what they knew of\nhim, and were afterwards broken on the wheel, that death might give a\nsanction to their testimony.\n\nHe himself was subjected to torture, but without eliciting anything\nfurther than he had previously revealed. Throughout he steadfastly\nrefused to betray his comrades, and conducted himself with much dignity\nand heroism. On the day of his execution he received absolution\nfrom Father Gasperini, a Jesuit, who had administered to him the\nconsolations of religion during his confinement.\n\nBefore he was led out of the prison, his shoes and stockings were taken\nfrom him; but, though barefooted, he walked along with great firmness\nand a good grace. When he came to the cathedral to perform the _amende\nhonorable_, he asked forgiveness of the monks and priests for his want\nof respect to their order, and was then conducted to the scaffold. He\nmounted with great composure, and addressed himself in a short and\npathetic exhortation to the spectators, especially the young persons\nof both sexes; he then sat down on the nave of the wheel, and loosened\nthe buttons of his shirt-sleeves himself. Then he entreated pardon of\nthe custom-house officers, whom he had so often and so grossly injured;\nand turning to the penitents who surrounded the scaffold--with his\nconfessor and two other eminent persons of his order--he earnestly\nrecommended himself as the object of their prayer, and immediately\ndelivered himself up to the executioner. He received eight blows on\nhis arms and legs, and one on his stomach, and was intended to have\nbeen left to expire of the wounds; but as the executioner was going\ndown from the scaffold, an order came to strangle him; the bishop\nand all the considerable persons at Valence having interceded for\nthis mitigation of his punishment. Mandrin was twenty-nine years of\nage, about five feet five inches high, well made, had a long visage,\nblue eyes, and sandy chesnut hair; he had something rough in his\ncountenance, and a strong robust port; he was perpetually smoking\ntobacco, with which he drank plentifully of any liquor that was at\nhand, and ate till the last with a good appetite.\n\n\nSUDDEN RECOVERY FROM MADNESS.\n\nThe following extraordinary account is taken from the _Gentleman's\nMagazine_ of 1784:--\"About six years since, a seafaring person was\ntaken into the Asylum for Maniacs at York; during the space of five\nyears and six months he never expressed any desire for sustenance,\nand was fed in the manner of an infant. The servants undressed him at\nnight, and dressed him in the morning; he never spoke, and remained\nwith his body bent all day, and was regarded by all about him as an\nanimal nearly converted into a vegetable. About the middle of May,\n1783, he suddenly astonished the people round him with saying, 'Good\nmorrow to you all.' He then thanked the servants for the care they had\ntaken of him, and appeared perfectly sane. A few days after, he wrote a\nletter to his wife, in which he expressed himself with great propriety.\nOn the 28th of May following he was allowed to leave the hospital, and\nreturn to his family; and has now the command of a ship in the Baltic\ntrade, and is in full enjoyment of perfect health, both in mind and\nbody. This very singular case is attested by Dr. Hunter, F.E.S., of\nYork, in a letter to Dr. Percival, of Manchester, and by the servants\nnow at the Asylum in York.\"\n\n\nSUMMARY OF THE BIBLE.\n\nThe following table is published, as containing accurate particulars of\nthe English version of the Bible:--\n\n _In the Old Testament._| _In the New Testament._| _Total._\n Books, 39 | Books, 27 | Books, 66\n Chapters, 929 | Chapters, 260 | Chapters, 1,189\n Verses, 23,214 | Verses, 7,959 | Verses, 31,173\n Words, 592,493 | Words, 181,253 | Words, 773,746\n Letters, 2,728,100 | Letters, 838,380 | Letters, 3,566,480\n\nThe middle chapter and the shortest in the Bible is the hundred and\nseventeenth Psalm; the middle verse is the eighth of the hundred and\neighteenth Psalm. The twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of\nEzra, in the English version, has all the letters of the alphabet\nin it. The nineteenth chapter of the second book of Kings and the\nthirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah are alike.\n\n\nTHE LEPROSY.--LAZARS.--LAZAR-HOUSES.\n\nThat loathsome disorder, leprosy, was introduced into England in the\nreign of Henry I., and was supposed to have been brought out of Egypt,\nor perhaps the East, by means of the crusaders. To add to the horror,\nit was contagious, which enhanced the charity of a provision for such\nmiserables, who were not only naturally shunned, but even chased by\nroyal edict, from the society of their fellow-creatures.\n\nLepers, or Lazars, were sick persons removed out of monasteries to\ncells or hospitals, always built out of cities and towns. Their\nusual maintainence was, from liberty allowed them to go upon every\nmarket-day, to the market, where with a dish, called a _clap_ dish,\nthey would beg corn.\n\nTheir sickness and loathsome appearance giving great disgust, many\nwithheld their charity, upon which account they were afterwards\nrestrained from begging at large, but permitted to send the proctor\nof the hospital, who came with his box one day in every month to the\nchurches, and other religious houses, at time of service; and there\nreceived the voluntary charity of the congregations. This custom is\nsaid to be the origin of the present practice of collecting briefs.\n\nThe leprosy was much more common formerly, in this part of the globe,\nthan at present. It is said, that there were in Europe fifteen thousand\nhospitals founded for them. Perhaps near half the hospitals that were\nin England were built for lepers.\n\nLepers were so numerous in the twelfth century, that by a decree of\nthe Lateran Council under pope Alexander III., A.D. 1179, they were\nempowered to erect churches for themselves, and to have their own\nministers to officiate in them. This shows at once how infectious and\noffensive their distemper was.\n\nAnd on this account, \"In England where a man was a leper, and was\ndwelling in a town, and would come into the churches, or among his\nneighbours when they were assembled, to talk to them to their annoyance\nor disturbance, a writ lay De Leproso amovendo.\"--What follows is\nremarkable. The writ is for those lepers \"who appear to the sight\nof all men, they are lepers, by their voice and their sores, the\nputrefaction of their flesh, and by the smell of them.\"\n\nAnd so late as the reign of Edward VI. multitudes of lepers seem to\nhave been in England; for in 1 Edw. 6. c. 3. in which directions are\ngiven for carrying the poor to the places where they were born, &c. we\nread the following clause: \"Provided always, that all _leprous_ and\npoor _bed-red_ creatures may, at their liberty, remain and continue in\nsuch houses appointed for lepers, or bed-red people, as they now be in.\"\n\n1184 to 1191.--The leprosy was at this period, and long after, a cruel\nepidemic in our country, possibly brought by the crusaders from the\nHoly Land, and spread here by filth and bad diet. It was supposed to\nbe infectious, and was shunned as the plague; so that, had it not been\nfor these pious institutions, multitudes must have perished under this\nloathsome disorder.\n\nAmong other wild fancies of the age, it was imagined that the persons\nafflicted with leprosy, a disease at that time (1327, Edward II.) very\ncommon, probably from bad diet, had conspired with the Saracens to\npoison all springs and fountains; and men being glad of any pretence\nto get rid of those who were a burthen to them, many of those unhappy\npeople were burnt alive on the chimerical imputation.\n\nEvery one of the lazar-houses had a person, called a _fore-goer_, who\nused to beg daily for them.\n\n\nTHE CONDOR IN PERU.\n\nDr. Pickering, of the United States Antarctic Expedition of 1839,\nbeing in the vicinity of the Andes, attempted the ascent of one of the\nsummits; by noon he had reached a high elevation, and looking up, he\nespied a huge condor soaring down the valley. He stopped to observe the\nmajestic bird as it sailed slowly along. To his surprise it took a turn\naround him, then a second and a third, the last time drawing so near\nthat he began to apprehend that it meditated an attack. He describes\nhimself as being in the worst possible condition for a fight, his\nstrength being exhausted by climbing, and his right hand having been\nlamed for some days from a hurt. The nature of the ground, too, was\nanything but favourable for defence; but there was nothing left but to\nprepare for a fight, and with this intent he took a seat and drew his\nknife. At the instant, as if intimidated by the sight of the weapon,\nthe bird whirled off in another direction. Dr. Pickering confessed,\nhowever humiliating the acknowledgment, that he was at the time very\nwell satisfied with the condor's determination to let him alone.\n\n\nCOST OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN'S CHURCHES.\n\nThe following is an account of what the undermentioned churches cost\nbuilding, the designs for which were furnished by Sir Christopher\nWren:--\n\n L s. d.\n St. Paul's 736,752 2 3-1/4\n Allhallows the Great 5,641 9 9\n ---- Bread-street 3,348 7 2\n ---- Lombard-street 8,058 15 6\n St. Alban's, Wood-street 3,165 0 8\n St. Anne and Agnes 2,448 0 10\n St. Andrew's, Wardrobe 7,060 16 11\n ---- Holborn 9,000 0 0\n St. Antholin's 5,685 5 10-3/4\n St. Austin's 3,145 3 10\n St. Benet, Grailchurch 3,583 9 5-1/4\n ---- Paul's Wharf 3,328 18 10\n ---- Fink 4,129 16 10\n St. Bride's 11,430 5 11\n St. Bartholomew's 5,077 1 1\n Christ Church 11,778 9 6\n St. Clement, Eastcheap 4,365 3 4-1/2\n ---- Danes 8,786 17 0-1/2\n St. Dionis Back Church 5,737 10 8\n St. Edmund the King 5,207 11 0\n St. George, Botolph-lane 4,509 4 10\n St. James, Garlick-hill 5,357 12 10\n ---- Westminster 8,500 0 0\n St. Lawrence, Jewry 11,872 1 9\n St. Michael, Basinghall 2,822 17 1\n ---- Royal 7,455 7 9\n St. Michael, Queenhithe 4,354 3 8\n ---- Wood-street 2,554 2 11\n ---- Crooked-lane 4,641 5 11\n ---- Cornhill 4,686 5 11\n St. Martin, Ludgate 5,378 18 8\n St. Matthew, Friday-str 2,301 8 2\n St. Margaret Pattens 4,986 10 4\n ---- Lothbury 5,340 8 1\n St. Mary, Abchurch 4,922 2 4-1/2\n ---- Magdalen 4,291 12 9-1/4\n ---- Somerset 6,579 18 1-1/4\n ---- at Hill 3,980 12 3\n ---- Aldermanbury 5,237 3 6\n ---- le Bow 8,071 18 1\n ---- le Steeple 7,388 8 7-3/4\n St. Magnus, Lond. bridge 9,579 19 10\n St. Mildred, Bread-street 3,705 13 6-1/4\n ---- Poultry 4,654 9 7-3/4\n St. Nicholas Cole Abbey 5,042 6 11\n St. Olav, Jewry 5,580 4 10\n St. Peter's, Cornhill 5,647 8 2\n St. Swithin, Canon-street 4,687 4 6\n St. Stephen, Wallbrook 7,652 13 8\n ---- Coleman-str 4,020 16 6\n St. Vedast, Foster-lane 1,853 15 6\n\n\nEARLY CLOCKS.\n\nThe first clock which appeared in Europe, was probably that which\nEginhard (the secretary of Charlemagne), describes as sent to his royal\nmaster by Abdalla, King of Persia. \"A horologe of brass, wonderfully\nconstructed, for the course of the twelve hours, answered to the\nhourglass, with as many little brazen balls, which drop down on a sort\nof bells underneath, and sounded each other.\"--The Venetians had clocks\nin 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Constantinople.\n\n\nSINGULAR SPECIMEN OF ORTHOGRAPHY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe following letter was written by the Duchess of Norfolk to Cromwell,\nEarl of Essex. It exhibits a curious instance of the monstrous\nanomalies of our orthography in the infancy of our literature, when a\nspelling book was yet a precious thing:--\n\n\"My ffary gode lord,--her I sand you in tokyn hoff the neweyer, a\nglasse hoff Setyl set in Sellfer gyld, I pra you tak hit in wort. An hy\nwer babel het showlde be bater. I woll hit war wort a m crone.\"\n\nThus _translated_:--\n\n\"My very good lord,--Here I send you, in token of the new year, a glass\nof setyll set in silver gilt; I pray you take it in worth. An I were\nable it should be better. I would it were worth a thousand crown.\"\n\n\nDEATH OF THE EARL OF KILDARE.\n\nIn 1513, died the most powerful baron and active soldier of his age,\nFitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. He had been, during thirty years, at\ndifferent times, chief governor of Ireland, and was too potent to\nbe set aside, otherwise his strong attachment to the house of York\nwould probably have been his ruin. The untameable spirit of the earl\nsometimes involved him in trouble, from which he was extricated by a\nlucky bluntness; as when once, when charged before Henry VIII. with\nsetting fire to the cathedral of Cashel, \"I own it,\" said the earl,\n\"but I never would have done it had I not believed that the archbishop\nwas in it.\" The king laughed, and pardoned the ludicrous culprit. The\nBishop of Meath was his bitterest foe. He accused him to Henry of\ndivers misdeeds, and closed his accusation with \"Thus, my liege, you\nsee that all Ireland cannot rule the earl.\" \"Then,\" said the perverse\nmonarch, \"the earl shall rule all Ireland,\" and instantly made him\nlord-deputy. The English loved the earl because he was brave and\ngenerous, and because his good humour equalled his valour. Once, when\nhe was in a furious paroxysm, a domestic who knew his temper, whispered\nin his ear, \"My lord, yonder fellow has betted me a fine horse, that\nI dare not take a hair from your lordship's beard; I pray, my lord,\nwin me that wager.\" The earl's features relaxed, and he said to the\npetitioner, \"Take the hair, then, but if thou exceedest thy demand, my\nfist shall meet thy head.\"\n\n\nTHE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE.\n\nThis is one of the most remarkable structures in the world, the design\nof the celebrated architect, Sir R. Stephenson. This bridge is on the\nline of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, crossing the Menai Straits,\nwithin sight of Telford's Chain Suspension Bridge. It is made of cast\niron of a tubular form, in the tube of which the railway passes. Four\nof these span the Strait, and are supported by piles of masonry; that\non the Anglesea side is 143 feet 6 inches high, and from the front\nto the end of the wing walls is 173 feet. These wing walls terminate\nin pedestals, on which repose colossal lions of Egyptian character.\nThe Anglesea pier is 196 feet high, 55 feet wide, and 32 feet long.\nIn the middle of the Strait is the Britannia Rock, from which the\nbridge derives its name; on this the Britannia pier is raised. It is\nequi-distant from the Anglesea and Carnarvon piers, being 460 feet in\nthe clear from each, and sustains the four ends of the four long tubes,\nwhich span the distance from shore to shore. There are two pairs of\nshort and two of long tubes, the lengths of these pairs being 250 feet\nand 470 respectively. The Egyptian lions are 25 feet 6 inches long, 12\nfeet 6 inches high, 8 feet wide, and weigh 80 tons. Two thousand cubic\nfeet of stone were required for each lion. The total quantity of stone\nin the bridge is 1,400,000 cubic feet. The weight of malleable iron in\nthe tubes is 10,000 tons; of cast iron, 1,400 tons. The whole length of\nthe entire bridge, measuring from the extreme front of the wing walls,\nis 1,833 feet, and its greatest elevation at Britannia pier, 240 feet\nabove low-water-mark. The total cost of the structure is L601,865. This\nwonderful structure was begun April 13, 1846, and completed July 25,\n1850; opened for traffic Oct. 21, 1850.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Britannia Tubular Bridge.]\n\n\nDAFFEY'S ELIXIR.\n\nIn the _Postboy_, Jan. 1, 1707-8, is the following curious\nadvertisement:--\"Daffey's famous _Elixir Salutis_ by Catherine Daffey,\ndaughter of Mr. Thomas Daffy, late rector of Redmile, in the valley\nof Belvoir, who imparted it to his kinsman, Mr. Anthony Daffy, who\npublished the same to the benefit of the community and his own great\nadvantage. The original receipt is now in my possession, left to me by\nmy father. My own brother, Mr. Daniel Daffy, apothecary in Nottingham,\nmade the Elixir from the said receipt, and sold it there during his\nlife. Those who know it, will believe what I declare; and those who do\nnot, may be convinced that I am no counterfeit, by the colour, taste,\nsmell, and operation of my Elixir. To be had at the Hand and Pen,\nMaiden-Lane, Covent Garden.\"\n\n\nJENNY'S WHIM.\n\n\"This was a tea garden, situated, after passing over a wooden bridge on\nthe left, previous to entering the long avenue, the coach way to where\nRanelagh once stood. This place was much frequented, from its novelty,\nbeing an inducement to allure the curious, by its amusing deceptions,\nparticularly on their first appearance there. Here was a large garden,\nin different parts of which were recesses; and if treading on a spring,\ntaking you by surprise, up started different figures, some ugly enough\nto frighten you--a harlequin, a Mother Shipton, or some terrific\nanimal. In a large piece of water, facing the tea alcoves, large fish\nor mermaids, were showing themselves above the surface. This queer\nspectacle was first kept by a famous mechanist, who had been employed\nat one of the winter theatres, there being then two.\"--Angelo's _Pic\nNic or Table Talk_, p. 106.\n\nHorace Walpole, more than once alludes to this place of entertainment\nin his Letters; and in 1755 a 4to. satirical tract appeared entitled\n_Jenny's Whim; or a Sure Guide to the Nobility, Gentry, and other\nEminent Persons, in this Metropolis_.\n\n\nANECDOTE RELATIVE TO THE MASKED EXECUTIONER OF CHARLES I.\n\nIt is universally known, that, at the execution of King Charles I., a\nman in a vizor performed the office of executioner. This circumstance\nhas given rise to a variety of conjectures and accounts. In the\nGentleman's Magazine for November, 1767, and January, 1768, are\naccounts of one William Walker, who is said to be the executioner.\nIn the same magazine for June, 1784, it is supposed to be a Richard\nBrandon, of whom a long account is copied from an Exeter newspaper.\nBut William Lilly, in his \"History of his Life and Times,\" has the\nfollowing remarkable passage:--\"Many have curiously inquired who it\nwas that cut off his [the king's] head: I have no permission to speak\nof such things: only thus much I say, he that did it is as valiant and\nresolute a man as lives, and one of a competent fortune.\" To clear up\nthis passage, we shall present our readers with Lilly's examination (as\nrelated by himself) before the first parliament of King Charles II. in\nJune, 1660.\n\n\"At my first appearance, many of the young members affronted me highly,\nand demanded several scurrilous questions. Mr. Weston held a paper\nbefore his mouth; bade me answer nobody but Mr. Prinn; I obeyed his\ncommand, and saved myself much trouble thereby, and when Mr. Prinn put\nany difficult or doubtful query unto me, Mr. Weston prompted me with\na fit question. At last, after almost one hour's tugging, I desired\nto be fully heard what I could say as to the person that cut Charles\nI.'s head off. Liberty being given me to speak, I related what follows,\nviz.:--\n\n\"That the next Sunday but one after Charles I. was beheaded, Robert\nSpavin, Secretary to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that time, invited\nhimself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Pearson, and several\nothers, along with him to dinner. That their principal discourse all\ndinner-time was only who it was that beheaded the king; one said it was\nthe common hangman; another, Hugh Peters; others were also nominated;\nbut none concluded. Robert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took\nme by the hand, and carried me to the south window: saith he. 'These\nare all mistaken; they have not named the man that did the fact; it\nwas Lieutenant-Colonel Joice. I was in the room when he fitted himself\nfor the work, stood behind him when he did it; when done, went in with\nhim again. There is no man knows this but my master, viz., Cromwell,\nCommissary Ireton, and myself.'--'Doth Mr. Rushworth know it?' saith\nI.--'No, he doth not know it,' saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin\nsince has often related to me when we were alone.\"\n\n\nWHIPPING PRISONERS.\n\nMr. Ellesdon, Mayor of Lyme, in 1595, paid for--\n\n _s._ _d._\n Four yards of canvas to make a coat to whip the rogues in 3 0\n\n Making the same 0 6\n\n Whipping of three of the ship boys for stealing of Mr.\n Hassard's salmon fish in the Cobb 1 0\n\n (N.B.--Salmon was plentiful in the west at this epoch.)\n\nThe charge of fourpence made for whipping a boy continued for many\nyears the same. The whipping of a woman who was a stranger was little\nmore costly; but the inflicting such a punishment upon a townswoman\nwas remunerated at a higher rate, as may well be supposed, from a\nconsideration of several circumstances. To take a violent, noisy woman\nfrom her chamber, tie madam to the tumbrel and whip her round the town,\nwas an undertaking that demanded assistance and protection to the\nofficial or hireling that wielded the thong. In the Town Accompt Book\nare found such entries as those which are given in illustration:--\n\n _s._ _d._\n 1625. For whipping William Wynter's boy 0 4\n \" Agnes Abbott twice 2 4\n 1644. Paid two soldiers to attend the whipping of a woman 2 6\n Paid to whipping four women 4 0\n\n\nTHE INIQUITIES OF THE SLAVE TRADE.\n\nWe may form some idea of the temptations which the trade in human\nbeings held out, even to people who held an honourable position in the\nworld, from the fact that the captain of a frigate, within a few years\nbefore the slave trade was abolished, was known to purchase slaves in\nthe West India market, have them entered as able seamen, and compel the\nartificers to teach them a trade; so that when the ship returned each\nwas sold at a high rate as a valuable piece of property. The worst,\nhowever, has to be told. Upon sailing from Portsmouth, some of the\nbest men were sent away upon duty in a ship's boat, in order that they\nmight be returned \"run,\" by which they lost pay and clothes, but made\nroom for the negroes lately kidnapped, who were entered, though they\ndid no work for the ship, as able seamen! We have all heard of a naval\nofficer who had his pocket picked at a Westminster election, and who\nopenly professed his vow, which he rigidly performed, of flogging every\nLondoner that joined his ship for this act. This, it is said, was no\nidle vow!\n\n\nDISCOVERY OF THE BODY OF CANUTE THE GREAT.\n\nIn June 1766, some workmen who were repairing Winchester Cathedral\ndiscovered a monument, wherein was contained the body of King Canute.\nIt was remarkably fresh, had a wreath round the head, and several other\nornaments of gold and silver bands. On his finger was a ring, in which\nwas set a large and remarkably fine stone; and in one of his hands a\nsilver penny. _Archaeologia_, vol. iii. The penny found in the hand is\na singular instance of a continuance of the pagan custom of always\nproviding the dead with money to pay Charon.\n\n\nM.P.'S AND MAYORS PRIVATEERS.\n\nWilliam Morfote, who represented Winchelsea in Parliament in 1428, was\na privateer with a hundred men under him. He found it necessary to\nobtain the king's pardon in 1435, by the advice of Parliament, there\nbeing a legal difficulty about his having broken prison at Dover Castle.\n\nTwo merchants of Sherborne in Dorsetshire were robbed of their cargo,\nworth L80, A.D. 1322, by Robert de Battyle. This transaction did not\nlose him the good opinion of his townsmen, who chose him Mayor of\nWinchelsea a few years later.\n\n\nALGERINE INVASION OF IRELAND.\n\nThe Algerines landed in Ireland in 1627, killed 50 persons, and carried\noff about 400 into slavery. One vessel captured by them was worth\nL260,000. They made purchases of stores and provisions they wanted in\nthe western parts of Ireland by Baltimore, and in 1631 carried off 100\ncaptives from that town. They landed their poor captives at Rochelle,\nand marched them in chains to Marseilles. Twenty-six children are said\nto have been carried off at one time from Cornwall. In 1633, Lord\nWentworth, appointed lord deputy of Ireland, named noted pirate vessels\noff the coast of Ireland and their captures. Persons in their wills\nused to leave sums of money for redeeming well-known captives from\nbondage in Algiers and other places.\n\n\nWILLIAM JOY, THE ENGLISH SAMPSON.\n\n[Illustration: [++] William Joy.]\n\nWilliam Joy was a native of Kent, and born May 2, 1675, at St.\nLawrence, a small village one mile from Ramsgate, in the Isle of\nThanet. When very young, he distinguished himself among his juvenile\ncompanions and playmates, by his amazing superiority in strength,\nover any antagonist that dare to come in competition with his power,\nwhether in play or earnest When about twenty-four years of age, he\nfirst began to exhibit in public his astonishing feats, in a display of\npersonal prowess inferior to none but the Hebrew champion recorded in\nholy writ. Among many other of this man's extraordinary performances\nmay be recorded:--1. A strong horse, urged by the whip to escape his\npowerful rein, is restrained and kept from escape solely by the check\nof his pull, aided by a strong rope, and this without any stay or\nsupport whatever. 2. Seated upon a stool, with his legs horizontally\nelevated, solely by muscular power, he jumps clearly from his seat.\n3. To prove the agility and flexibility of his joints, he places\na glass of wine on the sole of his foot, and, in an erect posture,\nwithout the least bending of his head or body, raises the glass to\nhis mouth, and drinks the contents, turning his foot with both hands,\nto accommodate his draught. 4. Aided by a strong leather girdle, or\nbelt, and supporting himself by pressing his arms on a railing, he\nlifts from the ground a stone of the enormous weight of 2,240 lbs. 5.\nA rope fastened to a wall, which had borne 3,500 lbs. weight, without\ngiving way, is broke asunder by his amazing strength. The celebrity\nof this man attracted the curiosity of King William III., before whom\nhe exhibited at Kensington Palace; likewise before George, Prince of\nDenmark, and his royal consort, the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne,\nand their son William, Duke of Gloucester, called the Hope of England.\nHe also went through a regular course of performances at the Duke's\nTheatre, in Dorset-gardens, Salisbury-square, which was attended by the\nfirst nobility and gentry in the kingdom.\n\n\nPRICE OF SHELL-FISH IN 1675.\n\nA bill for shell-fish enables us to ascertain the prices paid in\nCharles II.'s reign for these delicacies. Mr. Walter Tucker, mayor of\nLyme, Dorset, paid for the judges, for--\n\n 30 lobsters L1 10 0\n 6 crabs 0 6 0\n 100 scallops 0 5 0\n 300 oysters 0 4 0\n 50 oranges 0 2 0\n -------\n L2 7 0\n\n\nDISTRIBUTING HAND-BILLS.\n\nThe month of July 1736 afforded a singular _popular explosion_,\ncontrived in the following strange manner:--A brown paper parcel,\nwhich had been placed unobserved near the side-bar of the Court of\nKing's-bench, Westminster-hall, blew up during the solemn proceedings\nof the Courts of Justice assembled, and scattered a number of printed\nbills, giving notice, that on the last day of Term five Acts of\nParliament would be publicly burnt in the hall, between the hours of\ntwelve and one, at the Royal Exchange, and at St. Margaret's hill,\nwhich were the Gin Act, the Smuggling Act, the Mortmain Act, the\nWestminster Bridge Act, and the Act for borrowing 600,000_l._ on the\nSinking fund.\n\nOne of the bills was immediately carried to the Grand Jury then\nsitting, who found it an infamous libel, and recommended the offering\nof a reward to discover the author.\n\n\nRANZ DES VACHES.\n\nThe \"Ranz des Vaches,\" which is commonly supposed to be a single air,\nstands in Switzerland for a class of melodies, the literal meaning\nof which is cow-rows. The German word is _Kureihen_--rows of cows.\nIt derives its origin from the manner the cows march home along the\nAlpine paths at milking time. The shepherd goes before, keeping every\nstraggler in its place by the tones of his horn, while the whole herd\nwind along in Indian file, obedient to the call. From its association\nit always creates home-sickness in a Swiss mountaineer, when he hears\nit in a foreign land. It is said, these melodies are prohibited in\nthe Swiss regiments attached to the French army, because it produces\nso many desertions. One of the \"Ranz des Vaches\" brings back to his\nimagination his Alpine cottage--the green pasturage--the bleating of\nhis mountain goats--the voices of the milkmaids, and all the sweetness\nand innocence of a pastoral life; till his heart turns with a sad\nyearning to the haunts of his childhood, and the spot of his early\ndreams and early happiness.\n\nThe Swiss retain their old fondness for rifle-shooting, and there is\nannually a grand rifle match at some of the large towns, made up of the\nbest marksmen in all Switzerland. There are also yearly contests in\nwrestling, called _Zwing Feste_, the most distinguished wrestlers at\nwhich are from Unterwalden, Appenzel, and Berne.\n\n\nMONSOONS.\n\nThese are periodical winds which blow over the Indian Ocean, between\nAfrica and Hindustan for nearly six months from the north-east, and\nduring an equal period from the south-west. The region of the monsoons\nlies a little to the north of the northern border of the trade-winds,\nand they blow with the greatest force and with most regularity between\nthe eastern coast of Africa and Hindustan. When the sun is in the\nsouthern hemisphere a north-east wind, and when it is in the northern\nhemisphere, a south-west wind blows over this sea. The north-east\nmonsoon blows from November to March. It extends one or two degrees\nsouth of the equator. It becomes regular near the coasts of Africa\nsooner than in the middle of the sea, and near the equator sooner than\nin the vicinity of the coasts of Arabia. This wind brings rain on the\neastern coasts of Africa. The south-west monsoon does not extend south\nof the equator, but usually begins a short distance north of it. It\nblows from the latter end of April to the middle of October. Along the\ncoast of Africa, it appears at the end of March; but along the coast\nof Malabar, not before the middle of April; it ceases, however, sooner\nin the former than in the latter region. The rainy season on the west\ncoast of Hindustan commences with the first approach of the south-west\nmonsoon. The monsoons prevail also on the seas between Australia and\nChina.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Mpnsoons.]\n\nThe effect of the struggle which precedes the change in the direction\nof the wind in this part of the world is thus described in \"Forbes's\nOriental Memoirs.\" The author was encamped with the English troops:\n\n\"The shades of evening approached as we reached the ground, and just\nas the encampment was completed, the atmosphere grew suddenly dark,\nthe heat became oppressive, and an unusual stillness presaged the\nimmediate setting-in of the monsoon. The whole appearance of external\nnature resembled those solemn preludes to earthquakes and hurricanes\nin the West Indies, from which the East in general is providentially\nfree. We were allowed very little time for conjecture. In a few minutes\nthe heavy clouds burst over us. I had witnessed seventeen monsoons\nin India, but this surpassed them all in its awful appearance and\ndreadful effects. Encamped in a low situation on the borders of a lake\nformed to collect the surrounding water, we found ourselves in a few\nhours in a liquid plain; tent-pins giving way in a loose soil--the\ntents fell down--and left the whole army exposed to the contending\nelements. It requires a lively imagination to conceive the situation of\na hundred thousand human beings of every description, with more than\ntwo hundred thousand elephants, camels, horses, and oxen, suddenly\noverwhelmed by this dreadful storm in a strange country, without any\nknowledge of high or low ground, the whole being covered by an immense\nlake, and surrounded by thick darkness, which rendered it impossible\nfor us to distinguish a single object except such as the vivid\nglare of the lightning occasionally displayed in horrible forms. No\nlanguage can adequately describe the wreck of a large encampment thus\ninstantaneously destroyed, and covered with water, amid the cries of\nold men and helpless women, terrified by the piercing shrieks of their\nexpiring children, unable to afford them relief. During this dreadful\nnight more than two hundred persons and three thousand cattle perished\nmiserably, and the morning dawn exhibited a shocking spectacle!\"\n\n\nUNUSUAL LOCALITY FOR SAYING PRAYERS.\n\nFrancis Atkins was porter at the palace gate, at Salisbury, from the\ntime of Bishop Burnet to the period of his death in 1761, at the age\nof 104 years. It was his office every night to wind up the clock,\nwhich he was capable of performing regularly till within a year of his\ndecease, though on the summit of the palace. In ascending the lofty\nflight of stairs, he usually made a halt at a particular place and said\nhis evening prayers. He lived a regular and temperate life, and took a\ngreat deal of exercise; he walked well, and carried his frame upright\nand well balanced to the last.\n\n\nBILLY IN THE SALT BOX.\n\nPolitical caricatures are generally well worth preserving, they\nfamiliarize us with the features and peculiarities of celebrated men,\nand they tell us what was the popular feeling of the day. We regret\nthat in general they are too large for our pages, but now and then we\nmeet with a small one which we are glad to present to our readers.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Billy in the Salt Box.]\n\nMr. Pitt's budget of 1805 was not allowed to pass without severe\nremarks, and a heavily increased duty on salt excited general\ndissatisfaction. People said that the grand contriver of taxes had\nvisited every corner of the house above stairs, and that he had now\ndescended into the kitchen; and the annexed caricature, by Gilray,\nwhich was published at this period, represents the premier alarming the\npoor cook by popping his head out of the salt-box, with the unexpected\nsalutation--\"How do you do, cookey?\" The person thus apostrophised\ncries out in consternation, \"Curse the fellow, how he has frightened\nme!--I think, on my heart, he is getting in everywhere!--who the deuce\nwould have thought of finding him in the salt-box?\"\n\n\nDANGEROUS FEAT.\n\nAn extraordinary instance of the rash feats which men with cool\nheads and courageous hearts will sometimes perform, was witnessed at\nNottingham on January 22, 1789.--The vane at the top of St. Peter's\nspire, which was placed there in 1735, and measured thirty-three inches\nin length, having become insecure, the parish officers agreed with Mr.\nRobert Wooton, of Kegworth, to take it down and reinstate it.\n\nThis venturous man, henceforth known as \"_the steeple climber_,\"\ncommenced his undertaking by placing a ladder against the steeple, and\nsecuring it to the wall with tenters: he then mounted that with another\non his shoulder, which he fastened above it in like manner; and so on\ntill he reached the top. To prevent himself falling, he was girded\nround with belts, which he connected with the ladders by means of\nhooks. In this manner he replaced the vane and cock, and rebuilt four\nyards of the steeple.\n\nThe celerity with which the man placed the ladders was remarkable. He\nbegan to affix the first at eleven in the morning, and brought the\nvane down in triumph by two in the afternoon. The bells were then set\na-ringing, the congregation of people became very great, and Wooton\nre-ascended the spire, to exhibit his daring. He extended himself on\nits summit, only thirteen inches in diameter, and spread out his arms\nand legs. He afterwards balanced himself on the uppermost stave of\nthe top ladder, and for a quarter of an hour capered about in every\nimaginable posture, the admiring crowd beneath expecting momentarily to\nwitness his descent in a manner much less agreeable than precipitate.\n\nSubsequently, when his undertaking was accomplished, to excite\nadmiration and obtain money, he again balanced himself on the apex\nof the spire, beat a drum, and drank a bottle of ale, in the sight\nof thousands of people, on a market-day; but the reprobation of the\nman's temerity so far preponderated over public approval, as in a\nconsiderable degree to diminish his expected reward.\n\n\nPOST-HASTE ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nGlasgow is now within one minute of London; in the last century it was\nscarcely within a fortnight of it. It is a positive fact that when the\npost arrived there a hundred years ago, the firing of a gun announced\nits coming in. The members of the clubs who heard it tumbled out of\nbed, and rushed down to the club-room, where a tankard of hot herb ale,\nor a beverage which was a mixture of rum and sugar, was ready for them\nbefore breakfast. How forcibly do these things bring before us the size\nof Glasgow at that time, and the habits of its citizens.\n\n\nEXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG.\n\nThe horrid details of the execution of criminals are wholly unfitted\nfor our pages, but Admiral Byng was not a criminal; his life was\nsacrificed to party spirit and party interests, and an account of his\nmurder--for such it really was--is therefore highly interesting, as it\nenables us to see the dauntless manner in which a brave man can meet\na dreadful fate, which he knew to be wholly undeserved. The execution\ntook place on board the \"St. George,\" man-of-war in Portsmouth harbour,\non the 14th of March, 1757. The Admiral, accompanied by a clergyman who\nattended him during his confinement, and two gentlemen, his relations,\nwalked out of the great cabin to the quarterdeck, where he suffered, on\nthe larboard side, a few minutes before twelve o'clock. He was dressed\nin a light grey coat, white waistcoat, and white stockings, and a large\nwhite wig, and had in each hand a white handkerchief. He threw his hat\non the deck, kneeled on a cushion, tied one handkerchief over his eyes,\nand dropped the other as a signal, on which a volley from six marines\nwas fired, five of whose bullets went through him, and he was in an\ninstant no more. The sixth went over his head. From his coming out\nof his cabin could not be two minutes till he fell motionless on his\nleft side. He died with great resolution and composure, not showing\nthe least sign of timidity. The _Ramillies_, the ship the admiral had\nin the Mediterranean, was riding at her moorings in the harbour, and\nabout half an hour before he suffered, she broke her mooring chain, and\nonly held by her bridle, which is looked on as a wonderful incident by\npeople who do not consider the high wind at that time.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY TREE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Banyan Tree.]\n\nThe Samoan group of islands in the South Sea lies between the latitudes\nof 13 deg. 30' and 14 deg. 30' S, and the longitudes of 168 deg. and 173 deg. W. In\nsome of these islands there is a most remarkable tree which well\ndeserves a place in our roll of extraordinary productions. It is a\nspecies of banyan (_Ficus religiosa_), and is called by the natives\nOhwa. Our sketch gives a good idea of some of these trees. The pendant\nbranches of many of them take root in the ground to the number of\nthousands, forming stems from an inch to two feet in diameter,\nuniting in the main trunk more than eighty feet above the ground, and\nsupporting a vast system of horizontal branches, spreading like an\numbrella over the tops of the other trees.\n\n\nTHE PLAGUE IN ENGLAND.\n\nThe Register of Ramsay, in Huntingdonshire, mentions 400 people who\ndied there of the plague, in or about February 1665, and that it\nwas introduced into the place by a gentleman, who first caught the\ninfection by wearing a coat, the cloth of which came from London: the\ntailor who made the coat, with all his family, died, as did no less\nthan the number above mentioned.\n\nBut the ravages made by the plague in _London_, about 1665, are well\nknown: it was brought over from Holland, in some Levant goods, about\nthe close of the year 1664: its progress was arrested, in a great\ndegree, by a hard frost which set in in the winter; but as the spring\nof 1665 advanced, its virulence advanced. Infected houses were shut\nup and red crosses painted on the doors, with this inscription, \"Lord\nhave mercy upon us.\" Persons going to market took the meat off the\nhooks themselves, for their _own_ security, and for the _Butcher's_,\ndropped their money into pans of vinegar; for it was supposed that even\ntheir provisions were tainted with the infection. In the months of\nAugust and September the greatest mortality occurred; for the deaths\nof one week have been estimated at 10,000! It may be supposed, that no\ngreat accuracy existed in the Registers, to afford a correct estimate;\nfor, in the parish of Stepney, it is said they lost, within the year,\n116 sextons, grave-diggers and their assistants; and, as the disorder\nadvanced, the churchyards were incapable of holding more bodies, and\nlarge pits were therefore dug in several parts, to which the dead\nwere brought by cartloads, collected by the ringing of a bell and the\nmournful cry of \"Bring out your dead.\" Add to this, that these carts\nworked in the night, and no exact account was kept, as the clerks\nand sextons were averse to a duty exposing them to such dangerous\nconsequences, and often carried off before such accounts as they had\ntaken were delivered in. All the shops were shut up, grass grew in the\nmost public streets, until about December 1665, when the plague abated,\nand the citizens who had left their abodes for the country, crowded\nback again to their residences. The computation is, that this horrible\ndisease carried off 100,000 persons in London: it is singular, that the\nonly parish quite exempt from infection was St. John the Evangelist, in\nWatling Street.\n\n\nLANDSLIP AT COLEBROOK, SHROPSHIRE.\n\nA most remarkable circumstance happened there in the morning of the\n27th of May, 1773, about four o'clock. Near 4,000 yards from the river\nSevern stood a house, where a family dwelt; the man got up about three\no'clock, heard a rumbling noise, and felt the ground shake under him,\non which he called up his family. They perceived the ground begin to\nmove, but knew not which way to run; however, they providentially and\nwonderfully escaped, by taking an immediate flight, for just as they\ngot to an adjacent wood, the ground they had left separated from that\non which they stood. They first observed a small crack in the ground\nabout four or five inches wide, and a field that was sown with oats\nto heave up and roll about like waves of water; the trees moved as\nif blown with wind, but the air was calm and serene; the Severn (in\nwhich at that time was a considerable flood) was agitated very much,\nand the current seemed to run upwards. They perceived a great crack\nrun very quick up the ground from the river. Immediately about thirty\nacres of land, with the hedges and trees standing (except a few that\nwere overturned), moved with great force and swiftness towards the\nSevern, attended with great and uncommon noise, compared to a large\nflock of sheep running swiftly. That part of the land next the river\nwas a small wood, less than two acres, in which grew twenty large oaks;\na few of them were thrown down, and as many more were undermined and\noverturned; some left leaning, the rest upright, as if never disturbed.\nThe wood was pushed with such velocity into the channel of the Severn\n(which at that time was remarkably deep), that it forced the waters up\nin columns a considerable height, like mighty fountains, and drove the\nbed of the river before it on the opposite shore, many feet above the\nsurface of the water, where it lodged, as did one side of the wood;\nthe current being instantly stopped, occasioned a great inundation\nabove, and so sudden a fall below, that many fish were left on dry\nland, and several barges were heeled over, and when the stream came\ndown were sunk, but none were damaged above. The river soon took its\ncourse over a large meadow that was opposite the small wood, and in\nthree days wore a navigable channel through the meadow. A turnpike road\nwas moved more than thirty yards from its former situation, and to all\nappearance rendered for ever impassable. A barn was carried about the\nsame distance, and left as a heap of rubbish in a large chasm; the\nhouse received but little damage. A hedge that was joined to the garden\nwas removed about fifty yards. A great part of the land was in confused\nheaps, full of cracks, from four inches to more than a yard wide.\nSeveral very long and deep chasms were formed in the upper part of the\nland, from about fourteen to upwards of thirty yards wide, in which\nwere many pyramids of earth standing, with the green turf remaining on\nthe tops of some of them. Hollows were raised into mounts, and mounts\nreduced into hollows. Less than a quarter of an hour completed this\ndreadful scene.\n\n\nCURIOUS CUSTOM AT STRASBOURG.\n\nAt Strasbourg they show a large French horn, whose history is as\nfollows:--About 400 years ago, the Jews formed a conspiracy to betray\nthe city, and with this identical horn they intended to give the enemy\nnotice when to attack.\n\nThe plot, however, was discovered; many of the Jews were burnt alive,\nthe rest were plundered of their money and effects, and banished the\ntown; and this horn is sounded twice every night from the battlements\nof the steeple in gratitude for the deliverance.\n\nThe Jews deny the fact of this story, except the murdering and\npillaging their countrymen. They say the whole story is fabricated to\nfurnish a pretext for these robberies and murders, and assert that the\nsteeple of Strasbourg, as has been said of the Monument of London,--\n\n \"Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies.\"\n\n\nDOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN.\n\nThe following is an extraordinary instance of the recklessness of\nsailors when in the pursuit of what they call pleasure. In the year\n1779, a Mr. Constable, of Woolwich, passing through the churchyard\nthere at midnight, heard people singing jovially. At first he thought\nthey were in the church, but the doors were locked, and it was all\nsilent there:--on looking about he found some drunken sailors who had\ngot into a large family vault, and were regaling with bread, cheese,\ntobacco, and strong beer. They belonged to the Robust, man of war,\nand having resolved to spend a jolly night on shore, had kept it up in\na neighbouring alehouse till the landlord turned them out, and then\nthey came here to finish their evening. They had opened some of the\ncoffins in their dare-devil drunkenness and crammed the mouth of one\nof the bodies with bread, and cheese, and beer. Constable, with much\ndifficulty, prevailed on them to return to the ship. In their way one\nfell down in the mud, and was suffocated, as much from drunkenness as\nthe real danger. The comrades took him on their shoulders, and carried\nhim back to sleep in company with the honest gentlemen with whom he had\npassed the evening.\n\n\nCHAIR BROUGHT OVER TO AMERICA IN THE MAYFLOWER BY THE PILGRIM FATHERS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] John Carver's Chair.]\n\nHow frequently do we obtain, from the ordinary articles of domestic\nlife which they were accustomed to use, a correct idea of the habits\nand tastes of whole communities which have long since passed away.\nA striking instance of this is the chair, of which the above is a\ncorrect sketch. It belonged to John Carver, who was one of the band of\nsingle-hearted men who constituted the Pilgrim Fathers, and who after\nfirst setting out from Holland, eventually sailed from Plymouth in\nEngland, in August, 1620. They landed in Cape Cod Harbour, New England,\non the 9th of November following. Carver, was one of the chief spirits\nof the band, and the chair which we have sketched was one of his best\narticles of furniture, which he took with him in the Mayflower. He\nwas elected the first governor of the community, and died in the year\nfollowing his election. How forcibly does it show the simplicity of\ntaste, and the freedom from pomp and vanity which characterised the\ndevoted and fearless men who left their native shores, and sought\n\"freedom to worship God\" in a land to them unknown, that they should\nhave selected as their first governor, an individual, the best chair in\nwhose house was the homely article which we have here depicted.\n\n\nA HARMLESS ECCENTRIC.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Jenny Darney, a Harmless Eccentric.]\n\nThe annexed cut represents a singular character who was well known\nabout the year 1790 in the southern part of the county of Cumberland.\nHer appearance is thus described by a correspondent of the Gentleman's\nMagazine of that date:--\"Though I have seen her at various times, and\nfrequently conversed with her, for these 20 years, I have never been\nable to learn any particulars respecting her family, friends, or name.\nThe country people know her by the appellation of Jenny Darney, from\nthe manner, I presume, in which she used to mend her clothes. Her\npresent garb is entirely of her own manufacture. She collects the small\nparcels of wool which lie about the fields in sheep farms, spins it on\na rock and spindle of her own making; and as she cannot find any other\nmethod of making the yarn into cloth, she knits it on wooden needles,\nand by that means procures a warm comfortable dress. In the lifetime of\nthe late Charles Lutwidge, Esq., of Holm Rook, she took possession of\nan old cottage, or rather cow-house, on his estate, in which she has\never since been suffered to continue. Her intellects seem at certain\ntimes greatly deranged, but her actions are harmless, and her language\ninoffensive. On that score she is caressed by all the villagers, who\nsupply her with eatables, &c., for money she utterly refuses. She\nseems a person in her lucid intervals, of much shrewdness, and her\nunderstanding is above the common level. This has also been improved\nby a tolerable education. Her appearance has been much the same for\nthese 20 years, so that she must now be nearly 90 years of age; but of\nthis, as well as her family and name, she is always silent. She seems\nto have chosen out the spot where she now lives, to pass the remainder\nof her days unknown to her friends, and in a great measure from a\ndistaste of a wicked world, to 'prepare herself,' as she often in her\nquiet hours says, 'for a better.'\"\n\n\nTHE RULING PASSION.\n\nA remarkable instance of the irresistible strength of the ruling\npassion was to be seen a few years ago in a Londoner, who had kept are\nretail spirit-shop, and retired into the adjoining county when he had\nmade a fortune, to enjoy himself. This man used to amuse himself by\nhaving one puncheon filled with water, and measuring it off by pints\ninto another. There was also another retired cit who used every day to\nangle in his round wash-hand-basin sized fish-pond for gold-fish. One\nfish he knew, because it had once lost its eye in being caught--and he\nused to say \"Confound that fellow, this is the fifth, sixth, &c., time\nthat I have caught him this season.\" It used to provoke him.\n\n\nINTERESTING REPORT WRITTEN BY SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.\n\nIn the history of public buildings and monuments, it is always\ncurious to note the original plans of those who designed them, and to\nmark the different proposals and suggestions which were taken into\nconsideration. On this account our readers will no doubt be gratified\nby perusing the following Report of Sir Christopher Wren, on the\nornament which it would, in his opinion, be most desirable to place on\nsummit of the Monument, on Fish Street-hill. The Report was drawn up\nfor the use of the Committee of City Lands:--\n\n\"In pursuance of an Order of the Comittee for City Landes, I doe\nheerwith offer the several designes which some monthes since I showed\nHis M{tie}. for his approbation; who was then pleased to thinke a\nlarge Ball of metall, gilt, would be most agreeable, in regard it would\ngive an Ornament to the Town at a very great distance; not that His\nM{tie}. disliked a statue; and if any proposall of this sort be more\nacceptable to the City, I shall most readily represent the same to His\nM{tie}.\n\n\"I cannot but comend a large Statue, as carrying much dignitie with it,\nand that w{ch} would be more valewable in the eyes of Forreiners and\nstrangers. It hath been proposed to cast such a one in Brasse, of 12\nfoot high for L1,000. I hope (if it be allowed) wee may find those who\nwill cast a figure for that mony of 15 foot high, w{ch} will suit the\ngreatnesse of the pillar, & is (as I take it) the largest at this day\nextant, and this would undoubtedly be the noblest finishing that can be\nfound answerable to soe goodly a worke in all men's judgements.\n\n\"A Ball of Copper, 9 foot diameter, cast in severall peeces with the\nFlames and gilt, may well be don with the iron worke and fixing for\n350lb., and this will be most acceptable of any thing inferior to a\nstatue, by reason of the good appearance at distance, and because one\nmay goe up into it, & upon occasion use it for fireworkes.\n\n\"A Phoenix was at first thought of, & is the ornament in the wooden\nmodell of the pilar w{ch} I caused to be made before it was begun; but\nupon second thoughtes I rejected it, because it will be costly, not\neasily understood at that highth, and worse understood at a distance,\nand lastly dangerous, by reason of the sayle, the spread winges will\ncarry in the winds.\n\n\"The Belcony must be made of substantial well forged worke, there being\nnoe need at that distance of filed worke, and I suppose (for I cannot\nexactly guesse the weight) it may be well performed and fixed according\nto a good designe for fourscore & ten poundes, including painting, All\nw{ch} is humbly submitted to your consideration.\n\n\"July 28, 1675.\n\n \"CHR. WREN.\"\n\n\nCHANGE OF SEX.\n\nConnected with the plumage of birds is an extraordinary problem which\nhas baffled all research, and towards the solution of which not the\nslightest approach has been made. Among certain of the gallinaceous\nbirds, and it has been observed in no other family, the females\noccasionally assume the male plumage. Among pheasants in a wild state,\nthe hen thus metamorphosed, assumes with the livery a disposition\nto war with her own race, but in confinement she is spurned and\nbuffeted by the rest. From what took place in a hen pheasant in the\npossession of a lady, a friend of the late Sir Joseph Banks, it would\nseem probable that this change arises from some alteration in the\ntemperament at a late period of the animal's life. This lady had paid\nparticular attention to the breeding of pheasants. One of the hens,\nafter having produced several broods, moulted, and the succeeding\nfeathers were exactly those of a cock. This animal never afterwards\nlaid an egg. The pea-hen, has sometimes been known to take the plumage\nof the cock bird. Lady Tynte had a favourite pea-hen, which at eight\nseveral times produced chicks. Having moulted when about eleven years\nold, the lady and her family were astonished by her displaying the\nfeathers peculiar to the other sex, and appearing like a pied peacock.\nIn this process the tail, which was like that of the cock, first\nappeared. In the following year she moulted again, and produced similar\nfeathers. In third year she did the same, and then had also spurs\nresembling those of the cock. The bird never bred after this change of\nher plumage.\n\n\nTILBURY FORT.\n\nThe chief fame of Tilbury rests on the formation of the camp here, in\nthe reign of Queen Elizabeth, to defend London against the Spanish\ninvasion. Although it is unnecessary to recount the well-known\ncircumstances which led to the formation of the Tilbury camp, it may\nnot be out of place to give the famous speech of Queen Elizabeth on the\noccasion of her visit:--\n\n\"My loving People,--We have been persuaded by some that are careful of\nour safety, to take heed how we trust ourselves to armed multitudes\nfor fear of treachery; but assure you I do not desire to live to\ndistrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always\nso behaved myself that under God I have placed my chiefest strength\nand safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and\ntherefore I am come among you at this time, not as for my recreation or\nsport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live\nor die amongst you all--to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and\nfor my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. I know that I\nhave but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a\nking, and a king of England too; and I think foul scorn that Parma or\nSpain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of\nmy realms to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I will\nmyself take up arms--I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder\nof every one of your victories in the field.\"\n\nThe most full description of Elizabeth's reception at Tilbury is\nprinted in a sort of doggrel poem, headed, \"Elizabetha Triumphans,\nbriefly, truly, and effectually set forth, declared, and handled by\nJames Aske.\"\n\nThe poem mentions, that when about 20,000 well-appointed men had\narrived at Tilbury, orders were sent to the various shires to cause the\ntroops in each to remain until further notice; and so great was the\ndesire to meet the enemy, that one thousand men of Dorsetshire offered\nL500 to be allowed to march to the camp at Tilbury.\n\nThe alarm of the Spanish invasion was, however, not the last to\nthreaten the Londoners, and direct attention to Tilbury.\n\nOn the 8th of June, 1667, Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, sailed out of\nthe Texel with fifty ships, and came to the mouth of the Thames, from\nwhence he detached Vice-Admiral Van Ghent, with seventeen of his\nlightest ships and some fire-ships. Van Ghent in the same month sailed\nup the Medway, made himself master of the fort of Sheerness, and,\nafter burning a magazine of stores to the value of L40,000, blew up\nthe fortifications. This action alarmed the City of London; so that\nto prevent similar mischief, several ships were sunk, and a large\nchain put across the narrowest part of the Medway. But by means of an\neasterly wind and a strong tide, the Dutch ships broke through the\nchain, and sailed between the sunk vessels. They burnt three ships,\nand carried away with them the hull of the \"Royal Charles,\" besides\nburning and damaging several others. After this they advanced as far as\nUpnor Castle, and burnt the \"Royal Oak,\" the \"Loyal London,\" and the\n\"Great James.\" Fearing that the whole Dutch fleet would sail to London\nBridge, the citizens caused thirteen ships to be sunk at Woolwich, and\nfour at Blackwall, and platforms furnished with artillery to defend\nthem were raised in several places. The consternation was very great,\nand the complaints were no less so. It was openly said the king, out\nof avarice, had kept the money so generously given to him to continue\nthe war, and left his ships and subjects exposed to the insults of\nthe enemy. After this exploit, Ruyter sailed to Portsmouth, with a\ndesign to burn the ships in that harbour; but finding them secured,\nhe sailed to the west, and took some ships in Torbay. He then sailed\neastward, beat the English force before Harwich, and chased a squadron\nof nineteen men-of-war, commanded by Sir Edward Spragg, who was obliged\nto retire into the Thames. In a word, he kept the coasts of England in\na continual alarm all July, till he received news of the conclusion of\npeace.\n\n[Illustration: Water-gate of Tilbury Fort.]\n\nThis daring attack was no doubt the cause of Tilbury Fort being made\nto assume its present form. It is now a regular fortification, and\nmay be justly looked upon as the key to the City of London. The plan\nof the building was laid out by Sir Martin Beckman, chief engineer to\nCharles II., who also designed the works at Sheerness. The foundation\nis laid upon piles driven down, two on end of each other, till they\nwere assured they were below the channel of the river, and that the\npiles, which were pointed with iron, entered into the solid chalk rock.\nOn the land side, the works are complete; the bastions are faced with\nbrick. There is a double ditch, or moat, the innermost of which is 180\nfeet broad, with a good counterscarp, and a covered way marked out\nwith ravelins and tenailles. There are some small brick redoubts; the\nchief strength, however, of this part of the fort consists in being\nable to lay the whole level under water, and, by that means, make it\nimpossible for an enemy to carry on approaches that way. On the river\nside is a very strong curtain, with the picturesque water-gate shown\nin our engraving in the middle. Before this curtain is a platform, in\nthe place of a counterscarp, on which are planted cannon of large size.\nThese completely command the river, and would no doubt cripple the\nships of an enemy attempting to pass in this direction. A few years ago\nthere were placed on the platform 106 cannon, carrying from 24 to 46\npounds each, besides smaller ones planted between them. The bastions\nand curtains are also planted with guns.\n\nThe circular tower shown in the engraving was in existence in the time\nof Queen Elizabeth, and was called the Block-house.\n\n\nRINGING THE CHANGES.\n\nIt is curious to note the number of changes which may be rung on\ndifferent peals. The changes on seven bells are 5,040; on twelve\n479,001,600, which it would take ninety-one years to ring at the rate\nof two strokes in a second. The changes on fourteen bells could not\nbe rung through at the same rate in less than 16,575 years: and upon\nfour-and-twenty, they would require more than 117,000 billions of years.\n\n\nDISGRACEFUL STATE OF THE LONDON POLICE IN 1724.\n\nThat notorious burglar, Jack Sheppard, finished his disgraceful career\nat Tyburn in the year 1724, and we notice the event, not with the view\nof detailing the disgusting particulars of an execution, but because\nthe outrages which were allowed to take place after the dreadful scene\nwas over, exhibit in a striking light the miserable police regulations\nwhich existed at that period, and the manner in which the mob were\nallowed to have it nearly all their own way. The Sheriff's officers,\naware of the person they had to contend with, thought it prudent to\nsecure his hands on the morning of execution. This innovation produced\nthe most violent resistance on Sheppard's part; and the operation was\nperformed by force. They then proceeded to search him, and had reason\nto applaud their vigilance, for he had contrived to conceal a penknife\nin some part of his dress. The ceremony of his departure from our\nworld passed without disorder; but, the instant the time expired for\nthe suspension of the body, an undertaker, who had followed by his\nfriends' desire with a hearse and attendants, would have conveyed it to\nSt. Sepulchre's churchyard for interment; but the mob, conceiving that\nsurgeons had employed this unfortunate man, proceeded to demolish the\nvehicle, and attack the sable dependants, who escaped with difficulty.\nThey then seized the body, and, in the brutal manner common to those\nwretches, beat it from each to the other till it was covered with\nbruises and dirt, and till they reached Long-acre, where they deposited\nthe miserable remains at a public-house called the Barley-mow. After\nit had rested there a few hours the populace entered into an enquiry\nwhy they had contributed their assistance in bringing Sheppard to\nLong-acre; when they discovered they were duped by a bailiff, who\nwas actually employed by the surgeons; and that they had taken the\ncorpse from a person really intending to bury it. The elucidation of\ntheir error exasperated them almost to phrensy, and a riot immediately\ncommenced, which threatened the most serious consequences, The\ninhabitants applied to the police, and several magistrates attending,\nthey were immediately convinced the civil power was insufficient to\nresist the torrent of malice ready to burst forth in acts of violence.\nThey therefore sent to the Prince of Wales and the Savoy, requesting\ndetachments of the guards; who arriving, the ringleaders were secured,\nthe body was given to a person, a friend of Sheppard, and the mob\ndispersed to attend it to the grave at St. Martin's in the fields,\nwhere it was deposited in an elm coffin, at ten o'clock the same night,\nunder a guard of soldiers, and with the ceremonies of the church.\n\n\nA TRIUMPH OF ENERGY.\n\nAfter the accession of Tippoo Saib to the throne of Mysore in 1782,\nthe English made overtures for a termination of the war which had been\ncommenced by his father; but flushed by the possession of a large\narmy, a well-filled treasury, a passion for war, and an inordinate\nsense of his own importance, Tippoo refused all terms of pacification,\nand left the English no alternative but to battle against him as they\ncould. Lord Macartney, who was at that time the Governor of Madras,\non becoming acquainted with the determination of Tippoo, resolved to\nprosecute hostilities with the greatest vigour, and having placed Col.\nFullerton at the head of his force, he provided him with an army,\ncollected from various parts, of 16,000 good troops, and afforded that\nexcellent officer all available assistance in carrying the war into\nTippoo's territory. Fullerton laid his plans with considerable skill;\nhe encouraged the natives to bring and sell provisions to him on his\nmarch, effectually checked devastation and plundering, scrupulously\nrespected the religious opinions of the Hindus, consolidated and\nimproved the mode of march, and availed himself of the subtle cunning\nand nimble feet of the natives to establish a remarkably complete\ncourier-system, whereby he could receive and communicate intelligence\nwith a rapidity never before attained by any European officer in\nIndia. He had to choose between two systems of strategy--either to\nmarch through the Mysore territory, and frustrate Tippoo in his\nsiege of Mangalore; or boldly to attack Seringapatam, in order to\ncompel Tippoo to leave Mangalore as a means of defending his own\ncapital. The colonel decided on the adoption of the latter course, as\npromising more fruitful results. Being at Daraporam, 200 miles south\nof Seringapatam, Fullerton resolved to divert the route, and take a\ncircuit nearer the western coast, where the capture of the strong\nfort of Palagatcherry would afford him a valuable intermediate depot,\ncommanding one of the chief roads from the Malabar to the Coromandel\ncoasts. On the 18th of October he started. After capturing a few small\nforts, he ascended to high ground, where dense forests, deep ravines,\nand tortuous water courses embarrassed every yard of his progress:\nto fill up the ravines before he could drag his artillery over them,\nto throw trees across them where the depth was too great for filling\nup, to clear gaps through forests with the axe, to contend against\ntremendous rains--were only part of the difficulties he had to meet;\nbut he met them like a skilful commander, reached Palagatcherry on\nthe 5th of November, and captured the fort on the 15th, obtaining\nwith it a welcome supply of money, grain, guns, powder, shot, and\nmilitary stores. When the difficulties which Colonel Fullerton had\nto encounter, and the triumphant manner in which he overcame them,\nare taken into consideration, it will be readily admitted, we think,\nthat his enterprise is well deserving of being recorded as a striking\nexample of what may be accomplished by a union of professional skill\nand invincible energy. Our engraving represents one of the devices\nwhich Colonel Fullerton employed for the purpose of enabling his forces\nto pass over a mountain torrent.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Bridge over Mountain Torrent.]\n\n\nSTORMING OF THE BASTILLE AT PARIS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Bastille.]\n\nThe great Revolution in France, at the close of the last century, was\nfull of wonderful events, many of which might be appropriately recorded\nin our pages. One of the most striking among them was the storming and\ncapture of the Bastille, a vast state-prison which was begun to be\nbuilt in 1369 by Charles V., and finished by his successor in 1383.\nThe demolition of this fortress was the first triumph of the armed\npopulace of Paris, and it rendered the progress of the revolution\nirresistible. As the day closed in on the evening of Monday, the 14th\nof July, 1789, a reckless multitude of rioters, after seizing 30,000\nmuskets and several pieces of artillery at the Hotel des Invalides,\nrushed in wild excitement to the Bastille, rendered hateful to the\npeople by the political imprisonment of many hapless men in past times,\nalthough less frequently applied to similar purposes under the milder\nrule of Louis XVI. An armed mob of at least 100,000 men, aided by\ntroops who joined them in whole regiments at a time, had not long to\ncontend against the old fortress. The governor, De Launay, made such a\ndefence as a brave officer might at such a juncture; but his few troops\nwere bewildered and wavering; he received orders from the Hotel de\nVille which he knew not whether to obey or resist, but no instructions\nfrom the court or the ministers; and the military aid to the mob became\nstronger than any force he could bring to bear against them. The chains\nof three drawbridges were broken by hatchets; straw, wood, oil, and\nturpentine were brought and kindled, to burn down the gates; and after\nmany volleys from the mob had been answered by a few from the fortress,\nDe Launay, seeing no hope of succour, resolved to blow up the place\nrather than yield. In this he was prevented by the Swiss guards, who\nformed a part of the small garrison, and who, after a parley with\nthe insurgents, opened the gates, and surrendered. The Bastille was\ntaken. The ruffians, heeding nothing but their own furious passions,\ndisregarded the honourable rules of capitulation; they beheaded De\nLaunay in a clumsy and barbarous manner, and putting his head on a\nspike, carried it through the streets shouting, laughing, and singing;\nthey were prevented only by an accidental interruption from burning\nalive a young lady whom they found in one of the court-yards; they\nhung or maltreated many of the Swiss and invalid soldiers; and they\nfearfully hacked the bodies of three or four officers in the endeavour\nto decapitate them. The prisoners within, only seven in number, were\nliberated, and treated with a drunken revel; while the Chatelet and\nother prisons became scenes of renewed disorders. The sketch which we\ngive above, of the attack on the Bastille, is taken from a medallion by\nAndrieu.\n\n\nDURATION OF LIFE AMONG ARTISTS.\n\nIn Gould's Dictionary of Artists, published in 1839, the names, with\nthe ages, of 1,122 persons are given; which furnish the following\nremarkable facts as to the longevity of this class of men. Died under\n60 years old, 474; 60 years and under 70, 250; 70 years and under 80,\n243; 80 years and under 90, 134; 90 years and under 100, 19; above 100,\n1. The mean age at death of the whole number being 55 years; from which\nit would appear that the pursuit of the fine arts has a tranquilizing\neffect upon the spirits, and a tendency to moral refinement in the\nhabits and manners of its professors extremely favourable to the\nprolongation of life.\n\n\nCHANGE IN THE VALUE OF LAND.\n\nAt Brighton, within the present century, a spot of ground was offered\nto a hair-dresser in fee, upon condition of shaving the possessor for\nlife. The terms were declined, and the land soon became of immense\nvalue.\n\n\nUNACCOUNTABLE ANTIPATHIES.\n\nThe following are a few of the more striking manifestations of that\nunaccountable feeling of antipathy to certain objects, to which so many\npersons are subject, and with instances of which--in a modified form\nperhaps--most people are acquainted with:--\n\nErasmus, though a native of Rotterdam, had such an aversion to fish,\nthat the smell of it threw him into a fever.\n\nAmbrose Pare mentions a gentleman, who never could see an eel without\nfainting.\n\nThere is an account of another gentleman, who would fall into\nconvulsions at the sight of a carp.\n\nA lady, a native of France, always fainted on seeing boiled lobsters.\nOther persons from the same country experienced the same inconvenience\nfrom the smell of roses, though they were particularly partial to the\nodour of jonquils or tuberoses.\n\nJoseph Scaliger and Peter Abono never could drink milk.\n\nCardan was particularly disgusted at the sight of eggs.\n\nUladislaus, king of Poland, could not bear to see apples.\n\nIf an apple was shown to Chesne, secretary to Francis I., he bled at\nthe nose.\n\nA gentleman, in the court of the emperor Ferdinand, would bleed at the\nnose on hearing the mewing of a cat, however great the distance might\nbe from him.\n\nHenry III. of France could never sit in a room with a cat.\n\nThe Duke of Schomberg had the same aversion.\n\nM. de Lancre gives an account of a very sensible man, who was so\nterrified at seeing a hedgehog, that for two years he imagined his\nbowels were gnawed by such an animal.\n\nThe same author was intimate with a very brave officer, who was so\nterrified at the sight of a mouse, that he never dared to look at one\nunless he had his sword in his hand.\n\nM. Vangheim, a great huntsman in Hanover, would faint, or, if he had\nsufficient time, would run away at the sight of a roasted pig.\n\nJohn Rol, a gentleman in Alcantara, would swoon on hearing the word\n_lana_, wool, pronounced, although his cloak was woollen.\n\nThe philosophical Boyle could not conquer a strong aversion to the\nsound of water running through a pipe.\n\nLa Mothe le Vayer could not endure the sound of musical instruments,\nthough he experienced a lively pleasure whenever it thundered.\n\nThe author of the Turkish Spy tells us that he would rather encounter\na lion in the deserts of Arabia, provided he had but a sword in his\nhand, than feel a spider crawling on him in the dark. He observes, that\nthere is no reason to be given for these secret dislikes. He humorously\nattributes them to the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul; and\nas regarded himself, he supposed he had been a fly, before he came into\nhis body, and that having been frequently persecuted with spiders, he\nstill retained the dread of his old enemy.\n\n\nLONDON RESORTS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nIn addition to the regular theatres, there were many places of\namusement, such as the Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens, the site of the\nlatter being now occupied by the houses that hem in Chelsea College;\nthe Rotunda, famous for its music, its gardens, and its piece of water;\nBell-size House and Gardens on the Hampstead Road, where tea, coffee,\nand other refreshments could be had, together with music, from seven in\nthe morning,--with the advantage of having the road to London patrolled\nduring the season by twelve \"lusty fellows,\" and of being able to ride\nto Hampstead by coach for sixpence a-head; Perrot's inimitable grotto,\nwhich could be seen by calling for a pot of beer; Jenny's Whim, at the\nend of Chelsea Bridge, where \"the royal diversion of duck-hunting\"\ncould be enjoyed, \"together with a decanter of _Dorchester_\" for\nsixpence; Cuper's Gardens, in Lambeth, nearly opposite Somerset House,\nthrough which the Waterloo Road was ruthlessly driven; the Marble\nHall, at Vauxhall, where an excellent breakfast was offered for one\nshilling; Sadler's Wells, celebrated both for its aquatic and its\nwire-dancing attractions; the Floating Coffee-House, on the river\nThames, the Folly House at Blackwall, Marybone Gardens, the White\nConduit House, and a multitude of others, to enumerate which would be\ntedious and unprofitable. On Sunday, we are told, the \"snobocracy,\"\namused themselves by thrusting their heads into the pillory at Georgia,\nby being sworn at Highgate, or rolling down Flamstead Hill in Greenwich\nPark. Some regaled their wives and families with buns at Chelsea and\nPaddington; others indulged in copious draughts of cyder at the Castle\nin the pleasant village of Islington; while the undomestic cit, in\nclaret-coloured coat and white satin vest, sipped his beer and smoked\nhis pipe at Mile End, or at the \"Adam and Eve\" in Pancras, or \"Mother\nRed Cap's\" at Camden.\n\n\nQUEEN ELIZABETH'S STATE COACH.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Queen Elizabeth's State Coach.]\n\nThe accompanying engraving is taken from a very old print representing\nthe state procession of Queen Elizabeth on her way to open Parliament\non 2nd April, 1571. This was the first occasion on which a state coach\nhad ever been used by a Sovereign of England, and it was the only\nvehicle in the procession; the Lord Keeper, and the Lords Spiritual and\nTemporal, all attending on horseback. It was drawn by two palfreys,\nwhich were decked with trappings of crimson velvet; and, according\nto an old authority, the name of the driver was William Boonen, a\nDutchman, who thus became the first state coachman.\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF EATING GOOSE ON MICHAELMAS DAY.\n\nQueen Elizabeth, on her way to Tilbury Fort on the 29th of September,\n1589, dined at the ancient seat of Sir Neville Umfreville, near that\nplace; and as British Bess had much rather dine off a high-seasoned\nand substantial dish than a simple fricassee or ragout, the knight\nthought proper to provide a brace of fine geese, to suit the palate\nof his royal guest. After the Queen had dined heartily, she asked for\na half-pint bumper of Burgundy, and drank \"Destruction to the Spanish\nArmada.\" She had but that moment returned the glass to the knight who\nhad done the honours of the table, when the news came (as if the Queen\nhad been possessed with the spirit of prophecy) that the Spanish fleet\nhad been destroyed by a storm. She immediately took another bumper,\nin order to digest the goose and good news; and was so much pleased\nwith the event, that she every year after, on that day, had the above\nexcellent dish served up. The Court made it a custom, and the people\nthe same, ever since.\n\n\nPRE-ADAMITE BONE CAVERNS.\n\nAmong the wonders of the world, the bone caves of the pre-Adamite\nperiod deserve a prominent place. It is to this period that the\nextensive remains of Mammiferae found in the strata of the Pampas\nof Buenos Ayres, and in the caverns which are scattered in such\nvast numbers over the continents of Europe and America, and even in\nAustralia, are to be ascribed. We regret that we can find room for a\ndescription of only one of these caverns, but it is a most extensive\none, and among the first which attracted attention. It is situated\nat Baylenreuth, in Franconia, and the engraving which we here give\nrepresents a section of it.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Pre-Adamite Bone Cavern.]\n\nThe entrance of this cave, about seven feet in height, is placed on\nthe face of a perpendicular rock, and leads to a series of chambers\nfrom fifteen to twenty feet in height, and several hundred feet in\nextent, in a deep chasm. The cavern is perfectly dark, and the icicles\nand pillars of stalactite reflected by the torches present a highly\npicturesque effect. The floor is literally paved with bones and fossil\nteeth, and the pillars and corbels of stalactite also contain osseous\nremains. Cuvier showed that three-fourths of the remains in this and\nlike caverns were those of bears, the remainder consisting of bones of\nhyenas, tigers, wolves, foxes, gluttons, weasels, and other Carnivora.\n\n\nHOW DISTANT AGES ARE CONNECTED BY INDIVIDUALS.\n\nMr. Robert Chambers, in a curious and interesting chapter in the\n\"Edinburgh Journal,\" entitled \"Distant Ages connected by Individuals,\"\nstates, in 1847, \"There is living, in the vicinity of Aberdeen, a\ngentleman who can boast personal acquaintance with an individual who\nhad seen and conversed with another who actually had been present at\nthe battle of Flodden Field!\" Marvellous as this may appear, it is not\nthe less true. The gentleman to whom allusion is made was personally\nacquainted with the celebrated Peter Garden, of Auchterless, who died\nin 1775, at the reputed age of 131, although there is reason to believe\nthat he was several years older. Peter, in his young days, was servant\nto Garden, of Troup, whom he accompanied on a journey through the north\nof England, where he saw and conversed with the famous Henry Jenkins,\nwho died 1670, at the age of 169. Jenkins was born in 1501, and was of\ncourse twelve years old at the period of the battle of Flodden Field;\nand, on that memorable occasion, bore arrows to an English nobleman\nwhom he served in the capacity of page. \"When we think of such things,\"\nadds Mr. Chambers, \"the ordinary laws of nature seem to have undergone\nsome partial relaxation; and the dust of ancient times almost becomes\nliving flesh before our eyes.\"\n\n\nTHE EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON.\n\nOn the 1st of November, 1755, a few minutes before 10 a.m. the\ninhabitants of Lisbon were alarmed by several violent vibrations of\nthe ground which then rose and fell several times with such force that\nhundreds of houses came toppling into the streets, crushing thousands\nof people. At the same time the air grew pitchy dark from the clouds of\ndust that rose from the crumbling edifices. Many persons ran down to\nthe river side, in the hope of escaping to the shipping; but the water\nsuddenly rose some yards perpendicularly, and swept away everything\nbefore it. The quay, with nearly 200 human beings standing on it,\nall at once disappeared. Large ships, which were lying high and dry,\nfloated off, and were dashed against each other or carried down the\nriver. In every direction the surface of the water was overspread with\nboats, timber, casks, household furniture and corpses. The scene on\ndry land was yet more horrifying. Churches, government buildings, and\nprivate houses, were all involved in the same ruin. Many thousands\nof trembling fugitives had collected in the great square, when it\nwas discovered that flames were spreading in every quarter. Taking\nadvantage of the universal panic and confusion, a band of miscreants\nhad fired the city. Nothing could be done to stay the progress of\nthe flames, and for eight days they raged unchecked. Whatever the\nearthquake had spared fell a prey to this new calamity. \"It is not to\nbe expressed by human tongue,\" writes an eye-witness, \"how dreadful\nand how awful it was to enter the city after the fire was abated; and\nlooking upwards, one was struck with horror in beholding dead bodies,\nby six or seven in a heap, crushed to death, half buried and half\nburnt; and if one went through the broad places or squares, nothing was\nto be met with but people bewailing their misfortunes, wringing their\nhands, and crying, 'The world is at an end.' If you go out of the city,\nyou behold nothing but barracks, or tents made with canvass or ship's\nsails, where the poor inhabitants lye.\"\n\nAnother eye-witness is still more graphic. \"The terror of the people\nwas beyond description: nobody wept,--it was beyond tears;--they ran\nhither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment--beating\ntheir faces and breasts--crying '_Misericordia_, the world's at\nan end;' mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with\ncrucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for\nprotection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor\ncreatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people, were buried\nin one common ruin. * * * The prospect of the city was deplorable.\nAs you passed along the streets you saw shops of goods with the\nshopkeepers buried with them, some alive crying out from under the\nruins, others half buried, others with broken limbs, in vain begging\nfor help; they were passed by crowds without the least notice or sense\nof humanity. The people lay that night in the fields, which equalled,\nif possible, the horrors of the day; the city all in flames; and if\nyou happened to forget yourself with sleep, you were awakened by the\ntremblings of the earth and the howlings of the people. Yet the moon\nshone, and the stars, with unusual brightness. Long wished-for day at\nlast appeared, and the sun rose with great splendour on the desolated\ncity. In the morning, some of the boldest, whose houses were not burnt,\nventured home for clothes, the want of which they had severely felt in\nthe night, and a blanket was now become of more value than a suit of\nsilk.\"\n\n\nSTRANGE CURE FOR RHEUMATISM.\n\nBridget Behan, of Castle-waller, in the county of Wicklow, Ireland,\nretained the use of all her powers of body and mind to the close of\nher long life, 110 years, in 1807. About six years preceding her death\nshe fell down stairs, and broke one of her thighs. Contrary to all\nexpectation, she not only recovered from the effects of the accident,\nbut actually, from thence, walked stronger on this leg, which,\npreviously to the accident, had been a little failing, than she had\ndone for many years before. Another remarkable circumstance relating\nto this fracture was, that she became perfectly cured of a chronic\nrheumatism of long standing, and from which on particular occasions she\nhad suffered a good deal of affliction. A short while before her death\nshe cut a new tooth.\n\n\nSILVER TEA SERVICE WHICH BELONGED TO WILLIAM PENN.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Silver Tea Service.]\n\nArticles of ordinary use, however small may be their intrinsic value,\nwhich have once been the property of men who have been good and\ngreat--how rare the conjunction!--are always invested with a peculiar\ninterest. They often afford a clue to the tastes of those who once\npossessed them. On this account we have great pleasure in laying\nbefore our readers a representation of the silver tea-service which\nbelonged to the celebrated William Penn, the founder and legislator\nof Pennsylvania, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus.\nHe was the son of Admiral Penn, was born at London in 1644, and was\neducated at Christchurch, Oxford. At college he imbibed the principles\nof Quakerism, and having endeavoured to disseminate them by preaching\nin public, he was thrice thrown into prison. It was during his first\nimprisonment that he wrote \"_No Cross, no Crown_.\" In March, 1680-81,\nhe obtained from Charles II. the grant of that territory which now\nbears the name of Pennsylvania. In 1682 he embarked for his new\ncolony; and in the following year he founded Philadelphia. He returned\nto England in 1684, and died in July, 1718. He was a philosopher, a\nlegislator, an author, the friend of man, and, above all, a pious\nChristian. In addition to the reasons above given, the sketch of\nthe tea-service is an object of curiosity, as showing the state of\nsilversmith's work in England, at the close of the seventeenth century,\nfor articles of domestic use.\n\n\nCURIOUS FIGURES ON A SMALL SHRINE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Soldiers Watching the Body of Our Lord.]\n\nThe figures here given are copied from a curious little bronze,\nstrongly gilt, which was engraved in the \"Gentleman's Magazine\" for\n1833, accompanied with a description, by A. J. Kempe, Esq., the author\nof the letterpress to \"Stothard's Monumental Effigies,\" whose intimate\nknowledge in these matters enables him to well authenticate dates; and\nhe considers this relic may safely be attributed to the early part of\nthe twelfth century; it was discovered in the Temple Church, and had\noriginally formed a portion of a pyx, or small shrine, in which the\nconsecrated host was kept. Our engraving is more than half the size of\nthe original, which represents the soldiers watching the body of Our\nLord, who was, in mystical form, supposed to be enshrined in the pyx.\nThey wear scull-caps of the Phrygian form, with the nasal like those in\nthe Bayeux Tapestry; and the mailles or rings of the hauberk appear,\nas in the armour there, sewn down, perhaps, on a sort of gambeson, but\nnot interlaced. They bear kite-shaped shields, raised to an obtuse\nangle in the centre, and having large projecting bosses: the third of\nthese figures is represented beside the cut in profile, which will\nenable the reader more clearly to detect its peculiarities. On two of\nthese shields are some approaches to armorial bearings; the first is\nmarked with four narrow bendlets; the second is fretted, the frets\nbeing repeated in front of his helmet, or _chapelle de fer_: all the\nhelmets have the nasal. A long tunic, bordered, and in one instance\nornamented with cross-lines, or chequered, appears beneath the tunic.\nThe sword is very broad, and the spear carried by the first figure,\nobtuse in the head,--a mark of its antiquity. The shoes are admirable\nillustrations of that passage of Geoffry of Malmesbury, where,\nrepresenting the luxury of costume in which the English indulged at the\ntime when Henry I. began his reign, he says: \"Then was there flowing\nhair, and extravagant dress; and then was invented the fashion of shoes\nwith curved points: then the model for young men was to rival women in\ndelicacy of person, to mimic their gait, to walk with loose gesture,\nhalf-naked.\" The curvature of the points of the shoes in the little\nrelic before us, in conformity with the custom censured by Malmesbury,\nis quite remarkable. One turns up, another down; one to the left,\nanother to the right; and scarcely any two in the same direction.\n\n\nTHE QUEEN'S SHARKS.\n\nThe harbour of Trincomalee swarms with gigantic sharks, and strange to\nrelate, they are all under British protection; and if any one is found\nmolesting or injuring them, the fine is L10, or an imprisonment! How\nthis ridiculous custom originated, it is hard to say; but we are told,\nthat in the early days of British conquest in the East, sailors were\napt to desert, and seek refuge in the then inaccessible wilds of the\ninterior; and of later years, when civilisation has unbarred the gates\nof Cingalese commerce to all nations of the world, the soldiers of\nthe regiment stationed at Trincomalee, discontented with their lot in\nlife, were wont to escape from the thraldom of the service, by swimming\noff to American and other foreign vessels, preferring chance, under a\nstrange flag, to a hard certainty under their own. Thus the Queen's\nsharks are duly protected as a sort of water-police for the prevention\nof desertion both from the army and navy.\n\n\nOLD VERSES ON QUEEN ELIZABETH.\n\nThe following quaint and curious verses are taken from a very old\nvolume, entitled _A Crowne Garland of Goulden Roses, Gathered out of\nEngland's Royall Garden, &c., &c. By Richard Johnson_.\n\nA SHORT AND SWEET SONNET MADE BY ONE OF THE MAIDES OF HONOR UPON THE\nDEATHE OF QUEENE ELIZABETH, WHICH SHE SOWED UPON A SAMPLER IN RED SILKE.\n\n_To a new tune, or \"Phillida flouts me.\"_\n\n Gone is Elizabeth,\n Whom we have lov'd so deare;\n She our kind mistres was\n Full foure and forty yeare.\n\n England she govern'd well,\n Not to be blamed;\n Flanders she govern'd well\n And Ireland tamed.\n\n France she befrended,\n Spaine she hath foiled,\n Papists rejected,\n And the Pope spoyled.\n\n To princes powerfull,\n To the world vertuous,\n To her foes mercifull,\n To her subjects gracious.\n\n Her soule is in heaven,\n The world keeps her glory,\n Subjects her good deeds,\n And so ends my story.\n\n\nRANELAGH.\n\nRanelagh, of which no traces now remain, was situated on part of\nChelsea Hospital garden, between Church Row and the river, to the east\nof the Hospital. It takes its name from a house erected in 1691, by\nViscount Ranelagh. This house, in which the Viscount had resided from\nthe period of its being built, was sold in 1733 to an eminent builder\nnamed Timbrell for L3,200, who advertised it for sale in the following\nyear, as a freehold with garden, kitchen garden, and offices, and a\nsmaller house and garden with fruit trees, coach-houses, &c., &c. These\nwere the first vicissitudes of Ranelagh, preparatory to its conversion\ninto a place of public amusement.\n\nWalpole, in one of his entertaining letters to Mann, April 22nd, 1742,\nthus speaks of the gardens, which were then unfinished:--\n\n\"I have been breakfasting this morning at Ranelagh Garden; they have\nbuilt an immense ampitheatre, with balconies full of little alehouses;\nit is in rivalry to Vauxhall, and cost above twelve thousand pounds.\nThe building is not finished, but they got great sums by people going\nto see it and breakfasting in the house: there were yesterday no less\nthan three hundred and eighty persons, at eighteen-pence a piece.\"\nAgain, under the date May 26th, 1742, he writes to his friend as\nfollows:--\n\n\"Two nights ago, Ranelagh Gardens were opened at Chelsea; the prince,\nprincess, duke, much nobility, and much mob besides were there. There\nis a vast ampitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated; into\nwhich everybody that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is\nadmitted for twelve pence. The building and disposition of the gardens\ncost sixteen thousand pounds. Twice a week there are to be ridottos at\nguinea tickets, for which you are to have a supper and music. I was\nthere last night, but did not find the joy of it. Vauxhall is a little\nbetter, for the garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water.\"\n\n\"The only defect in the elegance and beauty of the ampitheatre at\nRanelagh,\" says the _London Chronicle_ for August, 1763, \"is an\nimproper and inconvenient orchestra, which, breaking into the area\nof that superb room about twenty feet farther than it ought to do,\ndestroys the symmetry of the whole, and diffuses the sound of music\nwith such irregular rapidity, that the harmonious articulations escape\nthe nicest ear when placed in the most commodious attitude; it also\nhurts the eye upon your first entry.\n\n\"To remedy these defects, a plan has been drawn by Messrs. Wale\nand Gwin, for adding a new orchestra, which being furnished with a\nwell-proportioned curvature over it, will contract into narrower bounds\nthe modulations of the voice, and render every note more distinctly\naudible. It will, by its form, operate upon the musical sounds, in the\nsame manner as concave glasses affect the rays of light, by collecting\nthem into a focus. The front of this orchestra being planned so as\nto range parallel to the balustrade, the whole area also will be\ndisencumbered of every obstruction that might incommode the audience\nin their circular walk. There is likewise provision made in this plan\nfor a stage capable of containing 30 or 40 performers, to officiate as\nchorus-singers, or otherwise assist in giving additional solemnity on\nany extraordinary occasion.\"\n\n\"At Ranelagh House, on the 12th of May, 1767,\" says the _Gentleman's\nMagazine_, \"were performed (in the new orchestra) the much admired\ncatches and glees, selected from the curious collection of the Catch\nClub; being the first of the kind publickly exhibited in this or any\nother kingdom. The entertainments consisted of the favourite catches\nand glees, composed by the most eminent masters of the last and present\nage, by a considerable number of the best vocal and instrumental\nperformers. The choral and instrumental parts were added, to give the\nthe catches and glees their proper effect in so large an amphitheatre;\nbeing composed for that purpose by Dr. Arne.\"\n\nThe Rotunda, or amphitheatre, was 185 feet in diameter, with an\norchestra in the centre, and tiers of boxes all round. The chief\namusement was promenading (as it was called) round and round the\ncircular area below, and taking refreshments in the boxes while the\norchestra and vocalists executed different pieces of music. It was a\nkind of 'Vauxhall under cover,' warmed with coal fires. The rotunda\nis said to have been projected by Lacy, the patentee of Drury Lane\nTheatre. \"The _coup d'oeil_,\" Dr. Johnson declared, \"was the finest\nthing he had ever seen.\"\n\nThe last great event in the history of Ranelagh was the installation\nball of the knights of the Bath, in 1802, shortly after which the place\nwas pulled down.\n\n\nTHE FIRST EAST INDIA HOUSE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The First East India House.]\n\nThe tradition is, that the East India Company, incorporated December\n31st, 1600, first transacted their business in the great room of the\nNag's Head Inn, opposite St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate Street.\nThe maps of London, soon after the Great Fire of 1666, place the\nIndia House on a part of its present site in Leadenhall Street. Here\noriginally stood the mansion of Alderman Kerton, built in the reign of\nEdward VI., rebuilt on the accession of Elizabeth, and enlarged by its\nnext purchaser, Sir W. Craven, Lord Mayor in 1610. Here was born the\ngreat Lord Craven, who, in 1701, leased his house and a tenement in\nLime Street to the Company at L100 a year. A scarce Dutch etching, in\nthe British Museum, of which the annexed engraving is a correct copy,\nshows this house to have been half timbered, its lofty gable surmounted\nwith two dolphins and a figure of a mariner, or, as some say, of the\nfirst governor; beneath are mecrhant ships at sea, the royal arms,\nand those of the Company. This grotesque structure was taken down in\n1726, and upon its site was erected the old East India House, portions\nof which yet remain; although the present stone front, 200 feet long,\nand a great part of the house, were built in 1798 and 1799, and\nsubsequently enlarged by Cockerell, R.A., and Wilkins, R.A.\n\n\nADVERTISEMENTS IN THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nThe following strange advertisements have been culled at random from\nmagazines and newspapers _circa_ 1750. They give us a good idea of the\nmanners and tastes of that period:--\n\n\"Whereas a tall young Gentleman above the common size, dress'd in a\nyellow-grounded flowered velvet (supposed to be a Foreigner), with a\nSolitair round his neck and a glass in his hand, was narrowly observed\nand much approved of by a certain young lady at the last Ridotto. This\nis to acquaint the said young Gentleman, if his heart is entirely\ndisengaged, that if he will apply to A. B. at Garaway's Coffee House in\nExchange Alley, he may be directed to have an interview with the said\nyoung lady, which may prove greatly to his advantage. Strict secresy on\nthe Gentleman's side will be depended on.\"\n\n\"A Lady who had on a Pink-coloured Capuchin, edged with Ermine, a black\nPatch near her right eye, sat in a front seat in the next Side Box but\none to the Stage on Wednesday night at Drury Lane Playhouse; if that\nLady is single and willing to treat on terms of honour and generosity\nof a married state, it would be deemed a favour to receive a line\ndirected to C. D., at Clifford's Inn Old Coffee House, how she may be\naddress'd, being a serious affair.\"\n\n\"To be seen this week, in a large commodious room at the George Inn, in\nFenchurch-street, near Aldgate, the Porcupine Man and his Son, which\nhas given such great satisfaction to all that ever saw them: their\nsolid quills being not to be numbered nor credited till seen; but give\nuniversal satisfaction to all that ever saw them; the youth being\nallowed by all to be of a beautiful and fine complexion, and great\nnumbers resort daily to see them.\"\n\n\"A Bullfinch, that pipes 'Britons rouse up your great magnanimity,' at\ncommand, also talks, is to be sold at the Cane Shop facing New Broad\nstreet, Moorfields; likewise to be sold, two Starlings that whistle and\ntalk extremely plain.\n\n \"Great variety of fine long Walking Canes.\"\n\n\nTHEODORA DE VERDION.\n\nThis singular woman was born in 1744, at Leipsic, in Germany, and\ndied at her lodgings, in Upper Charles-street, Hatton Garden, London,\n1802. She was the only daughter of an architect of the name of Grahn,\nwho erected several edifices in the city of Berlin, particularly the\nChurch of St. Peter's. She wrote an excellent hand, and had learned\nthe mathematics, the French, Italian, and English languages, and\npossessed a complete knowledge of her native tongue. Upon her arrival\nin England she commenced teaching of the German language, under the\nname of Dr. John de Verdion.\n\nIn her exterior, she was extremely grotesque, wearing a bag wig, a\nlarge cocked hat, three or four folio books under one arm, and an\numbrella under the other, her pockets completely filled with small\nvolumes, and a stick in her right hand. She had a good knowledge of\nEnglish books; many persons entertained her for her advice relative\nto purchasing them. She obtained a comfortable subsistence from\nteaching and translating foreign languages, and by selling books\nchiefly in foreign literature. She taught the Duke of Portland the\nGerman language, and was always welcomed to his house, the Prussian\nAmbassador to our Court received from her a knowledge of the English\nlanguage; and several distinguished noblemen she frequently visited\nto instruct them in the French tongue; she also taught Edward Gibbon,\nthe celebrated Roman Historian, the German language, previous to his\nvisiting that country. This extraordinary female has never been known\nto have appeared in any other but the male dress, since her arrival in\nEngland, where she remained upwards of thirty years; and upon occasions\nshe would attend court, decked in very superb attire; and was well\nremembered about the streets of London; and particularly frequent in\nattending book auctions, and would buy to a large amount, sometimes a\ncoachload. Here her singular figure generally made her the jest of the\ncompany. Her general purchase at these sales was odd volumes, which she\nused to carry to other booksellers, and endeavour to sell, or exchange\nfor other books. She was also a considerable collector of medals\nand foreign coins of gold and silver; but none of these were found\nafter her decease. She frequented the Furnival's Inn Coffee-house,\nin Holborn, dining there almost every day; she would have the first\nof every thing in season, and was as strenuous for a large quantity,\nas she was dainty in the quality of what she chose for her table.\nAt times, it is well-known, she could dispense with three pounds of\nsolid meat; and we are very sorry to say, she was much inclined to the\ndreadful sin of drunkenness. Her death was occasioned by falling down\nstairs, and she was, after much affliction, at length compelled to make\nherself known to a German physician, who prescribed for her, when the\ndisorder she had, turned to a dropsy, defied all cure, and finished the\nlife of so remarkable a female.\n\n\nDRIVING STAGS LIKE CATTLE.\n\nBuried at Disley, Cheshire, June 2nd, 1753, Mr. Joseph Watson, in the\n105th year of his age. He was born at Moseley Common, in the parish of\nLeigh, in the county of Lancaster; and married his wife from Etchells,\nnear Manchester, in the said county. They were an happy couple 72\nyears. She died in the 94th year of her age. He was park-keeper to\nthe late Peter Leigh, Esq., of Lime, and his father used to drive and\nshow red deer to most of the nobility and gentry in that part of the\nkingdom, to the general satisfaction of all who ever saw them; for he\ncould have driven and commanded them at his pleasure, as if they had\nbeen common horned-cattle. In the reign of Queen Anne, Squire Leigh was\nat Macclesfield, in Cheshire, in company with a number of gentlemen,\namongst whom was Sir Roger Mason, who was then one of the members for\nthe said county; they being merry and free, Squire Leigh said his\nkeeper should drive 12 brace of stags to the Forest of Windsor, a\npresent to the Queen. Sir Roger opposed it with a wager of 500 guineas,\nsaying that neither his keeper, nor any other person, could drive 12\nbrace of red deer from Lime Park to Windsor Forest on any account. So\nSquire Leigh accepted the wager from Sir Roger, and immediately sent\na messenger to Lime for his keeper, who directly came to his master,\nwho told him he must immediately prepare himself to drive 12 brace\nof stags to Windsor Forest, for a wager of 500 guineas. He gave the\nSquire, his master, this answer, that he would, at his command, drive\nhim 12 brace of stags to Windsor Forest, or to any part of the kingdom\nby his worship's direction, or he would lose his life and fortune. He\nundertook, and accomplished this most astonishing performance, which\nis not to be equalled in the annals of the most ancient history. He\nwas a man of low stature, not bulky, of a fresh complexion, pleasant\ncountenance, and he believed he had drank a gallon of malt liquor a\nday, one day with another, for above sixty years of his time.\n\n\nECCENTRIC WILL.\n\nThe following will, as an exhibition of strange eccentricity, is not\ninappropriate to our pages. Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who died\nin 1810, bequeathed one penny to every child that attended his funeral\n(there came from 600 to 700); 1s. to every poor woman in Wath; 10s.\n6d. to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike\noff while they were putting him into the grave. To seven of the oldest\nnavigators, one guinea for puddling him up in his grave. To his natural\ndaughter, L4 4s. per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph\nPitt, L21 per annum. To an old woman who had for eleven years tucked\nhim up in bed, L1 1s. only. Forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from\nthe church leads at twelve o'clock on Christmas day for ever. Two\nhandsome brass chandeliers for the church, and L20 for a set of new\nchimes.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY FROST.\n\nAs an instance of great rarity in England of the severity of a frost,\nit is worth notice, that in January, 1808, the rain froze as it fell,\nand in London the umbrellas were so stiffened that they could not be\nclosed. Birds had their feathers frozen so that they could not fly, and\nmany were picked up as they lay helpless on the ground.\n\n\nANCIENT SNUFF-BOXES.\n\nThese ancient snuff-boxes furnish proof of the love of our ancestors\nfor the titillating powder. An admiring writer of the last century,\nreflecting on the curious and precious caskets in which snuff was then\nimprisoned, asks--\n\n \"What strange and wondrous virtue must there be,\n And secret charm, O snuff! concealed in thee,\n That bounteous nature and inventive art,\n Bedecking thee thus all their powers exert.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Snuff Boxes.]\n\nBut every age, since snuff was in use, appears to have cherished\ngreat regard for the beauty and costliness of its snuff boxes, and\neven at the present time, the snuff box is the recognised vehicle of\nthe highest honour a corporation can bestow. Those here represented\nare not so much boxes as bottles. They are richly and elaborately\nornamented with sporting subjects, and no doubt once belonged to some\nfamous personage. Judging of their very antique form and figures, we\nare inclined to think they must have been in use earlier than it is\ngenerally supposed that snuff was introduced into this country.\n\n\nSEEING THE FIRST AND THE LAST OF TWO GENERATIONS.\n\nFrances Barton, of Horsley, Derbyshire, died 1789, aged 107. She\nfollowed the profession of a midwife during the long period of eighty\nyears. Her husband had been sexton of the parish seventy years; so that\nthis aged pair frequently remarked, that _she_ had twice brought into\nthe world, and _he_ had twice buried, the whole parish. Her faculties,\nher memory in particular, were remarkably good, so that she was enabled\nwell to remember the Revolution in 1688, and being present at a merry\nmaking on that glorious occasion.\n\n\nTHE EARLIEST HACKNEY-COACH.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Earliest Hackney-Coach.]\n\nThe above is a correct representation of one of the earliest forms in\nwhich coaches for hire were first made. They were called Hackney, not,\nas is erroneously supposed, from their being first used to carry the\ncitizens of London to their villas in the suburb of Hackney, but from\nthe word \"hack,\" which signifies to offer any article for sale or hire.\nHackney coaches were first established in 1634, and the event is thus\nmentioned in one of _Strafford's Letters_, dated April in that year:--\n\n\"One Captain Bailey hath erected some four _Hackney-coaches_, put\nhis men in livery, and appointed them to stand, at the May-pole in\nthe Strand, giving them instructions at what rates to carry men into\nseveral parts of the town, where all day they may be had. Other\nhackney-men seeing this way, they flock to the same place, and perform\ntheir journeys at the same rate. So that sometimes there is twenty of\nthem together, which disperse up and down; that they and others are to\nbe had everywhere, as watermen are to be had by the water-side. * * *\nEverybody is much pleased with it.\"\n\n\nA UNIQUE LIBRARY.\n\nA singular library existed in 1535, at Warsenstein, near Cassel; the\nbooks composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, being made of\nwood, and every one of them is a specimen of some different tree. The\nback is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished\npieces of the same stock. When put together, the whole forms a box;\nand inside of it are stored the fruit, seed, and leaves, together with\nthe moss which grows on the trunk, and the insects which feed upon the\ntree; every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether\nhas an excellent effect.\n\n\nDRESS FORTY YEARS AGO.\n\nCaricature, even by its very exaggeration, often gives us a better idea\nof many things than the most exact sketches could do. This is more\nespecially the case with respect to dress, a proof of which is here\ngiven by the three caricatures which we now lay before our readers.\nThey are copied from plates published at the period to which they\nrefer, and how completely do they convey to us a notion of the fashions\nof the day!\n\n[Illustration: [++] Caricature of Dress.]\n\nWith the peace of 1815 commenced a new era in English history; and\nwithin the few years immediately preceding and following it, English\nsociety went through a remarkably rapid change; a change, as far as\nwe can see, of a decidedly favourable kind. The social condition of\npublic sentiment and public morals, literature, and science, were all\nimproved. As the violent internal agitation of the country during the\nregency increased the number of political caricatures and satirical\nwritings, so the succession of fashions, varying in extravagance,\nwhich characterised the same period, produced a greater number of\ncaricatures on dress and on fashionable manners than had been seen at\nany previous period. During the first twelve or fifteen years of the\npresent century, the general character of the costume appears not to\nhave undergone any great change. The two figures here given represent\nthe mode in 1810.\n\nA few years later the fashionable costume furnished an extraordinary\ncontrast with that just represented. The waist was again shortened, as\nwell as the frock and petticoat, and, instead of concealment, it seemed\nto be the aim of the ladies to exhibit to view as much of the body\nas possible. The fops of 1819 and 1820 received the name of dandies,\nthe ladies that of dandizettes. The accompanying cut is from a rather\nbroadly caricatured print of a dandizette of the year 1819. It must\nbe considered only as a type of the general character of the foppish\ncostume of the period; for in no time was there ever such a variety of\nforms in the dresses of both sexes as at the period alluded to.\n\nWe give with the same reservation, a figure of a dandy, from a\ncaricature of the same year. The number of caricatures on the dandies\nand dandizettes, and on their fopperies and follies, during the years\n1819, 1820, and 1821, was perfectly astonishing.\n\n[Illustration: Dandizette.]\n\n[Illustration: Dandy.]\n\n\nFASHIONABLE DISFIGUREMENT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Patching of the Face.]\n\nThe extent to which people may be led to disfigure themselves by a\nblind compliance with the fashion of the day, was never more strikingly\ndisplayed than in the custom of dotting the face with black patches of\ndifferent patterns. It might easily be supposed that the annexed sketch\nis a caricature, but such is not the case; it is a correct likeness of\na lady of the time of Charles the First, with her face in full dress.\nPatching was much admired during the reign of that sovereign, and for\nseveral succeeding years. Some authors think that the fashion came\noriginally from Arabia. No sooner was it brought to England and France,\nthan it became an absolute _fureur_. In the former country, old and\nyoung, the maiden of sixteen and the grey-haired grandmama, covered\ntheir faces with these black spots, shaped like suns, moons, stars,\nhearts, crosses, and lozenges; and some even, as in the instance\nbefore us, carried the mode to the extravagant extent of shaping the\npatches to represent a carriage and horses.\n\n\nA REMARKABLE OLD MAN.\n\nMr. Ingleby, of Battle Abbey, Sussex, died 1798, aged 117. He had\nbeen for upwards of ninety-five years a domestic in the family of\nLady Webster. The following narrative of this remarkable man is by a\ngentleman who visited him in the autumn of 1797:--\n\n\"To my great surprise,\" he says, \"I found Mr. Ingleby in a situation\nvery far removed from the luxuries of life, or the place which might\nbe deemed necessary for his years. He was in an antique outbuilding,\nnear the Castle Gate, where his table was spread under an arched roof;\nnearly the whole of the building being filled with billet-wood, and\nscarcely affording room for the oaken bench on which this wonder of\nlongevity was reclining by the fire. His dress was a full-bottomed\nwig, and a chocolate-coloured suit of clothes with yellow buttons. His\nair and demeanour was pensive and solemn; though there was nothing\nin his look which impressed the mind with the idea of a person more\nthan fourscore years old, except a slight falling of the under jaw,\nwhich bespoke a more advanced age. We were introduced by a matron, who\nserved as a sort of interpreter between us--Mr. Ingleby's deafness\nnot permitting any regular conversation. When the nurse explained\nour errand, he replied, in a very distinct but hollow voice, 'I am\nmuch obliged to the gentlemen for the favour they do me; but I am not\nwell, and unable to converse with them.' He then turned his face to\nthe higher part of the bench on which he reclined, and was silent.\nIn each of his withered hands he held a short, rude, beechen walking\nstick, about three feet high, by the help of which he was accustomed\nnot only to walk about the extensive premises in which he passed the\nmost part of his life, but also to take his little rambles about the\ntown; and once (for, occasionally, the old gentleman was irascible,)\nhe set out on a pedestrian excursion to Hastings, _to inquire for\nanother situation in service_, because his patroness desired him to\nbe more attentive to personal neatness. It is but justice to the lady\nalluded to, to add, that the uncouth abode in which Mr. Ingleby dwelt\nwas the only one in which he could be persuaded to reside, and which\nlong familiarity had rendered dear to him. The choice appeared very\nextraordinary; but such persons, in their conduct, are seldom governed\nby the fixed and settled rules by which human life is ordinarily\nregulated.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS MANUSCRIPT.\n\nA very curious manuscript was presented to the Antiquarian Society\nof Yorkshire in 1828. It contains sundry rules to be observed by\nthe household of Henry the 8th, and enjoins the following singular\nparticulars:--\"None of his Highness's attendants to _steal_ any\nlocks, or keys, tables, forms, cupboards, or other furniture, out\nof noblemen's, or gentlemen's, houses where he goes to visit. No\nherald, minstrel, falconer, or other, to bring to the Court any boy or\n_rascal_; nor to keeps lads or rascals in Court to do their business\nfor them. Master cooks not to employ such scullions as shall go about\n_naked, or lie all night on the ground_ before the kitchen fire. Dinner\nto be at _ten_, and supper at _four_. The Knight Marshal to take\ncare that all such unthrifty and common women as follow the Court be\nbanished. The proper officers are, between six and seven o'clock every\nmorning, to make the fire in and _straw_ his Highness's Privy Chamber.\nOfficers of his Highness's Privy Chamber to keep secret every thing\nsaid or done, leaving hearkening or inquiring where the King is or\ngoes, be it early or late, without grudging, mumbling, or talking of\nthe King's past time, late or early going to bed, or any other matter.\nCoal only allowed to the King's, Queen's, and Lady Mary's Chambers.\nThe Queen's Maids of Honour to have a chet loaf, a manchet, a _gallon\nof ale_, and a chine of beef, for their _breakfasts_. Among the fishes\nfor the table is a porpoise, and if it is too big for a _horse-load_, a\nfurther allowance is made for it to the purveyor.\" The manuscript ends\nwith several proclamations. One is \"to take up and punish strong and\nmighty beggars, rascals, and vagabonds, who hang about the Court.\"\n\n\nWONDERFUL ESCAPE.\n\nIn 1809, a barge was going along the new cut from Paddington with\ncasks of spirits and barrels of gunpowder. It is supposed that one of\nthe crew bored a hole in a powder-barrel by mistake, meaning to steal\nspirits; the gimlet set fire to the powder, and eleven other barrels\nwere driven to the distance of 150 yards; but only the single barrel\nexploded.\n\n\nDAVID HUME ON HIS OWN DEATH.\n\nThe letter which we here lay before our readers was addressed by David\nHume to the Countess de Boufflers, and is supposed to be the last\nthat was ever written by that great historian, as he died only five\ndays afterwards, August 25th. With what calmness did that illustrious\nphilosopher contemplate the rapid approach of his own death!\n\nThe letter was torn at the places where the words are printed in\nitalics:\n\n \"Edinburgh, 20th of August, 1776.\n\n\"Tho' I am certainly within a few weeks, dear Madam, and perhaps within\na few days, of my own death, I could not forbear being struck with the\ndeath of the Prince of Conti, so great a loss in every particular. My\nreflection carried me immediately to your situation in this melancholy\nincident. What a difference to you in your whole plan of life! Pray,\nwrite me some particulars; but in such terms that you need not care, in\n_event_ of decease, into whose hands your letter may fall.\n\n\"_My_ distemper is a diarrhoea, or disorder in my bowels, which has\n_been_ gradually undermining me these two years; but within these six\nmonths has been visibly hastening me to my end. I see death approach\ngradually without any anxiety or regret. I salute you with great\naffection and regard for the last time.\n\n \"DAVID HUME.\"\n\n\nSCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES.\n\n[Illustration: A. Drum, or Timbrel, of Baked Potter's Clay.--AA. Drum\nin use in the East.--B. Harp.--C. Lutes.--D. Inscribed Stone.--E.\nSandals.]\n\nThe rude musical instruments here represented, have been collected by\nmodern travellers, and are but little changed from the ancient forms.\nThe drum or timbrel marked A, is made of thin baked clay, something in\nthe shape of a bottle, with parchment stretched over the wider part. On\nbeing struck with the finger, this instrument makes a remarkably loud\nsound. These relics are lodged in the London Scriptural Museum, and are\nall ticketed with the texts they serve to illustrate. This arrangement\nis very judicious, and gives a great additional interest to the sacred\nobjects while under inspection.\n\n[Illustration: 1. Distaff.--2. Roman Farthing.--3. Stone Money\nWeights.--4. Hand Mill. 5. Eastern Wine and Water Bottles.]\n\nThe distaff was the instrument which wrought the materials for the\nrobes of the Egyptian Kings, and for the \"little coat\" which Hannah\nmade for Samuel; by it, too, were wrought the cloths, and other fabrics\nused in Solomon's temple. By reference to the above engraving, it will\nbe seen that nothing can be more simple than this ancient instrument,\nwhich is a sort of wooden skewer, round which the flax is wrapped; it\nis then spun on the ground in the same manner as a boy's top, and the\nthread wrought off, and wound upon a reel shown in the foreground of\nthe picture. \"Querns,\" or stone hand-mills of various sizes, similar\nto that represented in our engraving, have been repeatedly found\nin connection with Roman, Saxon, and other ancient remains in this\ncountry. They are still to be met with in constant use over the greater\npart of India, in Africa, and also those districts of the East which\nare more particularly associated with Holy Writ. It may be worth while\nto mention that this description of mill is an improvement upon the\nmethod of simply crushing the corn laid on a flat stone with another\nheld in the hand. The \"Quern\" is a hard stone roughly rounded, and\npartly hollowed, into which another stone, which has a handle, is\nloosely fitted. The corn required to be ground is placed in the hollow\nreceptacle, and the inner stone is moved rapidly round, and, in course\nof time, by immense labour, the wheat &c. is ground into flour. The\nScripture prophecies mention that of two women grinding at the mill,\none shall be left, and the other taken--the two-handled mill will\nexplain the meaning of this passage.\n\n\nCHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF REMARKABLE EVENTS.\n\nThe following curious table is extracted _literatim_ from Arthur\nHopton's _Concordancie of Years_, 1615:--\n\n1077.--A blazing star on Palm Sunday, nere the sun.\n\n1100.--The yard (measure) made by Henry I.\n\n1116.--The moone seemed turned into bloud.\n\n1128.--Men wore haire like women.\n\n1180.--Paris in France, and London in Englande, paued, and\n thatching in both left, because all Luberick was spoiled\n thereby with fire.\n\n1189.--Robin Hood and Little John lived. This yeare London\n obtained to be gouerned by sheriffes and maiors.\n\n1205.--By reason of a frost from January to March wheate was sold\n for a marke the quarter, which before was at 12 pence. _Anno\n Regni_ 6. John.\n\n1209.--London bridge builded with stone; and this yeare the\n citizens of London had a grant to choose them a maior.\n\n1227.--The citizens of London had libertie to hunt a certain\n distance about the citie, and to passe toll-free through\n England.\n\n1231.--Thunder lasted fifteen daies; beginning the morrow after\n St. Martin's day.\n\n1233.--Four sunnes appeared, beside the true sunne, of a red colour.\n\n1235.--The Jews of Norwich stole a boy and circumcised him,\n minding to have crucified him at Easter.\n\n1247.--The king farmed Queene-hiue for fifty pounds per annum, to\n the citizens.\n\n1252.--Great tempests upon the sea, and fearful; and this year the\n king (Henry III.) granted, that wheretofore the citizens of\n London were to present the maior before the king, wheresoeuer\n he were, that now barons of the exchequer should serue.\n\n1292.--The Jewes corrupting England with vsury, had first a badge\n giuen them to weare, that they might be knowne, and after were\n banished to the number of 150,000 persons.\n\n\n1313.--This yeare the king of France burned all his leporous and\n pocky people, as well men as women: for that he supposed they\n had poysoned the waters, which caused his leprosie. About this\n time, also, the Jews had a purpose to poyson all the\n Christians, by poysoning all their springs.\n\n1361.--Men and beasts perished in diuers places with thunder and\n lightning, and fiends were seene speake unto men as they\n trauelled.\n\n1372.--The first bailiffes, in Shrewsbury.\n\n1386.--The making of gunnes found; and rebels in Kent and Essex, who\n entred London, beheaded all lawyers, and burnt houses and all\n bookes of law.\n\n1388.--Picked shooes, tyed to their knees with siluer chaines were\n vsed. And women with long gownes rode in side-saddles, like\n the queene, that brought side-saddles first to England; for\n before they rode astrid.\n\n1401.--Pride exceeding in monstrous apparrell.\n\n1411.--Guildhall in London begun.\n\n1417.--A decree for lantherne and candle-light in London.\n\n1427.--Rain from the 1st of Aprill to Hollontide.\n\n1510.--St. John's College in Cambridge being an ancient hostell, was\n conuerted to a college by the executors of the Countesse of\n Richmond and Derby, and mother of Henry VII., in this yeare, as\n her will was.\n\n1552.--The new service book in English.\n\n1555.--The first use of coaches in England.\n\n1606.--The cawsies about London taken down.\n\n1610.--Britaines Bursse builded. Hix Hall builded. Aldgate builded\n new. Sutton's Hospitall founded. Moore fields new railed and\n planted with trees. Westminster palace paued.\n\n\nCOCK-FIGHTING AT SCHOOLS.\n\nMany years ago the scholars at our large schools had regular\ncock-fights, which would appear to have been an affair of the school,\nrecognised by the masters, and the charges for which were defrayed\nby them, to be afterwards paid by the parents, just as some innocent\nexcursions and festivities are managed now a days. The credit of the\nschool was, without doubt, often involved in the proper issue of the\nfight.\n\nSir James Mackintosh, when at school at Fortrose in 1776-7, had this\nentry in his account, in which books were charged 3s. 6d.:--\n\n To cocks'-fight dues for 2 years, 2s. 6d. each, 5s.\n\nAssociated are three months' fees at the dancing-school, minuet,\ncountry-dances, and hornpipe, &c. Cock-fighting up to the end of\nthe last century was a very general amusement, and an occasion for\ngambling. It entered into the occupations of the old and young.\nTravellers agreed with coachmen that they were to wait a night if\nthere was a cock-fight in any town through which they passed. A battle\nbetween two cocks had five guineas staked upon it. Fifty guineas, about\nthe year 1760, depended upon the main or odd battle. This made the\ndecision of a \"long main,\" at cock-fighting an important matter. The\nchurch bells at times announced the winning of a \"long main.\" Matches\nwere sometimes so arranged as to last the week. When country gentlemen\nhad sat long at table, and the conversation had turned upon the\nrelative merits of their several birds, a cock-fight often resulted, as\nthe birds in question were brought for the purpose into the dining-room.\n\n\nCOMMON TRAVELLING.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Common Travelling Dress.]\n\nWe have here the common travelling dress in use at the commencement\nof the 12th century, _tempus_ Henry I. and Stephen. The original is\nintended for the Saviour meeting the two disciples on the road to\nEmmaus. The Saviour wears an under tunic, and his mantle, fastened by a\nnarrow band across the chest, is held up by the right hand. The figures\nof the disciples are, however, the most curious, the central one\nparticularly so, as he would seem to wear a dress expressly invented\nfor travelling: his large round hat, with its wide brim, seems to be\nthe original of the pilgrim's hat so well known in later times, and\nwhich formed so distinguishing a mark in their costume. His short green\ntunic, well adapted for journeying, is protected by a capacious mantle\nof skin, provided with a \"capa\" or cowl, to draw over the head, and\nwhich was frequently used instead of a hat. He wears white breeches\nornamented with red cross-stripes; they end at the ankle, where they\nare secured by a band or garter, the foot being covered by close shoes.\nHis companion wears the common cap so frequently met with, and he has\nhis face ornamented to profusion by moustaches and beard, each lock\nof which appears to be most carefully separated and arranged in the\nnicest order. He has an under-tunic of white, and an upper one of red,\nand a white mantle bordered with gold; he also wears the same kind of\nbreeches, reaching to the ankle, but he has no shoes, which frequently\nappears to have been the case when persons were on a journey.\n\n\nFASHIONABLE DANCES OF THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nThe style of dancing which was fashionable at the latter part of the\nlast century, may be seen from the following advertisement from a\ndancing-master, which we have copied from a newspaper of the year\n1775:--\n\n\"At Duke's Long Room, in Paternoster Row, Grown Gentlemen or Ladies\nare taught a Minuet, or the Method of Country Dances, with the modern\nMethod of Footing; and that in the genteelest, and most expeditious,\nand private Manner. And for the greater expedition of such gentlemen,\nas chuse to dance in company, there's a complete Set of Gentlemen\nassembled every Monday and Wednesday evening for the said purpose.\nGentlemen or Ladies may be waited on at their own Houses by favouring\nme with a line directed as above. Likewise to be had at my House, as\nabove, a Book of Instructions for the figuring part of Country Dances,\nwith the Figure of the Minuet annex'd thereon, drawn out in Characters,\nand laid down in such a Manner, that at once casting your Eye on it,\nyou see the Figure directly form'd as it is to be done; so that a\nperson, even that had never learnt, might, by the help of this book,\nsoon make himself Master of the figuring Part. Such as reside in the\nCountry, I doubt not, would find it of immediate Service, as they have\nnot always an Opportunity of having Recourse to a Dancing Master. Price\n10s. 6d. N. Dukes, Dancing Master.\"\n\n\nPREACHING FRIARS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Preaching Friar.]\n\nIn the romance of \"St. Graal,\" executed in the fourteenth century, we\nhave this representation of one of these preaching friars in his rude\nportable pulpit. From the contrast afforded by their mendicancy, and\nenthusiasm in teaching, to the pride and riches of the higher clergy,\nand their constant mixing with the people, they became excessively\npopular. The preacher in the cut has a crowded and attentive audience\n(though one lady seems inclined to nap); the costume of the entire\nbody, who are all seated, after a primitive fashion, on the bare\nground, is worthy of note, and may be received as a fair picture of the\ncommonalty of England about the year 1350.\n\n\nTHE ECCENTRIC LADY LEWSON.\n\nMrs. Jane Lewson, widow, of No. 12, Coldbath Square, London, died 1816,\naged 116. Mrs. Lewson, from the very eccentric style of her dress,\nwas almost universally recognised as _Lady_ Lewson. She was born in\nEssex Street, Strand, in the year 1700, during the reign of William\nand Mary; and was married at an early age to a wealthy gentleman then\nliving in the house in which she died. She became a widow at the early\nage of 26, having only one child, a daughter, living at the time. Mrs.\nLewson being left by her husband in affluent circumstances, though\nshe had many suitors, preferred to remain in a state of widowhood.\nWhen her daughter married, being left alone, she became very fond of\nretirement, and rarely went out or permitted the visits of any person.\nFor the last thirty years of her life she had kept no servant, except\none old female, who died in 1806; she was succeeded by the old woman's\ngranddaughter, who was married about 1813; and she was followed in\nthe situation by an old man, who attended the different houses in\nthe square to go on errands, clean shoes, &c. Mrs. Lewson took this\nman into her house, and he acted as her steward, butler, cook, and\nhousemaid; and with the exception of two old lap-dogs and a cat, he was\nher only companion. The house she occupied was elegantly furnished,\nbut after the old style; the beds were kept constantly made, although\nthey had not been slept in for about fifty years. Her apartment was\nonly occasionally swept out, but never washed; the windows were so\nencrusted with dirt that they hardly admitted a ray of light to pass\nthrough them. She had used to tell her acquaintances that if the rooms\nwere wetted, it might be the occasion of her taking cold; and as to\ncleaning the windows, she observed that many accidents happened through\nthat ridiculous practice; the glass might be broke, and the person\nwounded, when the expense of repairing the one, and curing the other,\nwould both fall upon her. A large garden at the rear of the house was\nthe only thing connected with her establishment to which she really\npaid attention. This was always kept in good order; and here, when\nthe weather permitted, she enjoyed the air, or sometimes sat and read\nby way of pastime; or else chatted on times past with any of the few\nremaining acquaintances whose visits she permitted. She seldom visited\nany person except Mr. Jones, a grocer at the corner of the square,\nwith whom she dealt. She was so partial to the fashions prevailing in\nher youthful days, that she never changed the manner of her dress from\nthat worn by ladies in the reign of George the First. She always wore\npowder with a large _toupee_ made of horsehair on her head, nearly\nhalf a foot high, over which her front hair was turned up; a cap over\nit, which knotted under the chin, and three or four curls hanging down\nher neck. She generally wore silk gowns, the train long with a deep\nflounce all round, a very long narrow waist, very tightly laced up to\nher neck, round which was a ruff or frill. The sleeves of her gown, to\nwhich four or five large ruffles were attached, came below the elbow;\na large straw bonnet, quite flat, high-heeled shoes, a full-made black\nsilk cloak trimmed round with lace, and a gold-headed cane, completed\nher every-day costume for the last eighty years of her life, and in\nwhich habiliments she occasionally walked round the square, when she\nwas uniformly spoken of by all spectators as _Lady Lewson_. She never\npractised ablutions of any kind, or hardly in any degree, because, as\nshe alleged, those persons who washed themselves were always taking\ncold, or laying the foundation of some dreadful disorder. Her method\nwas to besmear her face and neck all over with hog's lard, because\nthat was soft and lubricating; and then, because she required a little\ncolour in her cheeks to set off her person to advantage, she had used\nto paint them with rose-pink. Her manner of living was so methodical,\nthat she would not take her tea out of any other than a favourite\ncup. She was equally particular with respect to her knives, forks,\nplates, &c. At breakfast she arranged, in a particular manner, the\nparaphernalia of her table: at dinner she always observed a particular\nrule as to the placing of the two or three empty chairs, by which the\ntable was surrounded, but herself always sat in one favourite chair.\nShe constantly enjoyed an excellent state of health; assisted at all\ntimes in regulating the affairs of her household; and never, until a\nlittle previous to her decease, had an hour's illness. She entertained\nthe greatest aversion to medicine; and, what is remarkable, cut two\nnew teeth at the age of 87, and was never troubled with the toothache.\nTowards the close of her life her sight failed her. She lived in five\nreigns, and was believed to be the most faithful living chronicler of\nthe age. A few days previous to her decease, an old lady who was her\nneighbour died suddenly, which had such an effect upon her that she\nfrequently said her time was also come, and she should soon follow.\nShe enjoyed the use of all her faculties till that period, when she\nbecame weak and took to her bed; but steadily refused all medical aid.\nHer conduct to a few relations was extremely capricious; and she would\nnever see any of them; and it was not until a few hours before her\ndissolution that any relaxation in her temper was manifested. She was\ninterred in Bunhill Fields burying-ground.\n\n\nWHEN FIRE ENGINES WERE FIRST MADE.\n\nThe Phoenix was the first fire-office established, in 1682. There were\nused, in towns, squirts or syringes, for extinguishing fire, which\ndid not exceed two or three feet in length. These yielded to the Fire\nEngine, with leathern pipes, which was patented in 1676. Water-tight,\nseamless hose was made in Bethnal Green in 1720. About this date--\n\n L s. d.\n A fire engine and pipe for Lyme cost 6 0 0\n A square pipe, 23 feet long 1 18 0\n 12 leather fire-buckets 2 3 3\n\nA Fire Engine was considered an appropriate present for an aspirant to\na borough. At Lewes, in 1726, T. Pelham, Esq., gave one, and having\nbeen chosen representative in 1731, he presented a second.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY CATARACT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Cataract in Pulo Penang.]\n\nIn the Island of Pulo Penang, in the Straits of Malacca, there is a\ncataract which is surpassed by very few in the four quarters of the\nearth. It is rarely visited, and, therefore, has been but seldom\ndescribed; but those who have been fortunate enough to witness it all\nagree in the opinion that it forms one of the wonders of the world.\nThe stream which supplies it is of considerable volume, and after\ntraversing a long tract of comparatively level country, is suddenly\nprecipitated almost without a break into a ravine nearly two hundred\nfeet below the summit of the fall. The annexed engraving gives an\nexcellent representation of the scene. The stream descends with a\nmighty roar, and rushes on with a lightning speed. If you take the\ntrouble of bringing a small looking-glass in your pocket, and come\nhere about an hour before noon, you will be able to produce some very\nbeautiful artificial rainbows. But, whatever you do, never attempt to\nclamber to the top of the rocks; for though, doubtless, the scenery\nis very sublime up there, the pathway is slippery and dangerous in\nthe extreme; and the guides can tell how two hapless youths, officers\nbelonging to a regiment stationed here some twenty years ago, clambered\nup that hill, and how they shouted with triumph on reaching yon summit,\nand waved their handkerchiefs bravely; but they can also tell the\ngloomy and disastrous end of all this; how the wild screams echoed far\nand wide, as both slipped and fell headlong into the surging torrent,\nand the sun shone brightly upon the bright red uniforms as they were\nhurried over the precipice, and dashed from rock to rock; and, whilst\nyet the horror-stricken spectators gazed with speechless agony and\nterror, the bodies of the poor young men were borne away and hid by the\nblood-stained waters from human recovery.\n\n\nDANCES OF THE NATIVES IN NEW SOUTH WALES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Festival Dance.]\n\nThe manners and customs of the uncivilized are always legitimate\nobjects of wonder and curiosity to the civilized. It is on this account\nthat we give the above sketch of one of the festival dances of the\nnatives of Australia.\n\nThese dances are not only the usual close of their combats, but are\nfrequent in time of peace. They appear almost necessary to stir up\ntheir blood; and under the excitement they produce, the whole nature\nof the people seems to be changed. To a spectator the effect of one of\nthese exhibitions almost equals that of a tragic melo-drama.\n\nA suitable place for the performance is selected in the neighbourhood\nof their huts. Here a fire is built by the women and boys, while\nsuch of the men as are to take a share in the exhibition, usually\nabout twenty in number, disappear to arrange their persons. When\nthese preparations are completed, and the fire burns brightly, the\nperformers are seen advancing in the guise of as many skeletons. This\neffect is produced by means of pipe clay, with which they paint broad\nwhite lines on their arms and legs, and on the head, while others of\nless breadth are drawn across the body, to correspond to the ribs. The\nmusic consists in beating time on their shields, and singing, and to it\nthe movements of the dancers conform. It must not be supposed that this\nexhibition is a dance in our sense of the word. It consists of violent\nand odd movements of the arms, legs, and body, contortions and violent\nmuscular actions, amounting almost to frenzy. The performers appear\nmore like a child's pasteboard supple-jack than anything human in their\nmovements.\n\nThis action continues for a time, and then the skeletons, for so they\nappear to be, since they truly resemble them, suddenly seem to vanish\nand reappear. The disappearance is effected by merely turning round,\nfor the figures are painted only in front, and their dusky forms are\nlost by mingling with the dark background. The trees, illuminated by\nthe fire, are brought out with some of the figures in bold relief,\nwhile others were indistinct and ghost-like. All concurs to give an\nair of wildness to the strange scene. As the dance proceeds, the\nexcitement increases, and those who a short time before appear only\nhalf alive, become full of animation, and finally are obliged to stop\nfrom exhaustion.\n\n\nA PUDDING AS AN ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following fact is interesting, inasmuch as it gives us an insight\ninto the popular tastes of the period, and the power of mob-law:--\n\nIn 1718, James Austin, inventor of the Persian ink powder, invited his\ncustomers to a feast. There was a pudding promised, which was to be\nboiled fourteen days, instead of seven hours, and for which he allowed\na chaldron of coals. It weighed 900 pounds. The copper for boiling it\nwas erected at the Red Lion in Southwark Park, where crowds went to\nsee it; and when boiled, it was to be conveyed to the Swan Tavern,\nFish Street Hill, to the tune of \"What lumps of pudding my mother gave\nme.\" The place was changed to the Restoration Gardens in St. George's\nFields, in consequence of the numerous company expected, and the\npudding set out in procession with banners, streamers, drums, &c., but\nthe mob chased it on the way and carried all off.\n\n\nTHE DESOLATION OF EYAM.\n\nThe ancient custom of hanging a garland of white roses, made of writing\npaper, and a pair of white gloves over the pew of the unmarried\nvillagers who die in the flower of their age, prevailed up to the year\n1837 in the village of Eyam, and in most other villages and little\ntowns in the Peak of Derbyshire. In the year 1665, the plague was\nconveyed to this unfortunate village, which for a time had been chiefly\nconfined to London. The infection, it appears, was carried in a box of\nwoollen clothes; the tailor, to whom they were directed was, together\nwith his family, the immediate victims of this fatal importation;\nand a few days sufficed to confirm the fact, that the entire hamlet\nwas deeply infected. A general panic ensued, the worthy and truly\nchristian Rector, the Rev. William Mompesson, at this eventful and\nawful crisis, summoned the parish, and after energetically stating the\ncase, and declaring his decided intention of remaining at his post,\ninduced his hearers to adopt the measures he was about to propose, if\nnot for their own preservation, at least for the more important cause,\nthe preservation of the surrounding country. Eyam, from this moment,\nlike a besieged city, was cut off from the living world, and to the\nzeal and fidelity of this ever-to-be-respected minister was confided\nthe present, as well as eternal welfare of those who were about to\nprove to posterity, that devotion to their country, as well as to\ntheir God, was combined in the truly christian creed taught them by\nthis reverend man. But alas! it was the will of the Almighty that the\nranks of this devoted flock should be rapidly thinned, though Mr. and\nMrs. Mompesson had been hitherto spared; but in August, the latter\nwas carried off by the fatal disease, in the 27th year of her age;\nher monument may still be seen at no great distance from the chancel\ndoor. A number of grave-stones, bearing date 1666, in the churchyard,\nshow that for a time, at least, the dead had been deposited there in\nthe usual manner. Soon after the death of Mrs. Mompesson, the disorder\nbegan to abate, and in about two months might be said to have entirely\nceased. The pious and amiable Rector was graciously preserved.\n\n\nCURIOUS PLAY BILL.\n\nThe following remarkable theatrical announcement is worth preservation,\ninasmuch as it forms a curious effusion of vanity and poverty, in the\nshape of an appeal to the taste and feelings of the inhabitants of a\ntown in Sussex:--\n\n (_Copy._)\n\nAt the old theatre in East Grinstead, on Saturday, May 5th, 1758, will\nbe represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of Mrs. P.)\nthe deep and affecting Tragedy of Theodosius, or the Force of Love,\nwith magnificent scenes, dresses, &c.\n\nVaranes, by Mr. P., who will strive, as far as possible, to support the\ncharacter of this fiery Persian Prince, in which he was so much admired\nand applauded at Hastings, Arundel, Petworth, Midworth, Lewes, &c.\n\nTheodosius, by a young gentleman from the university of Oxford, who\nnever appeared on any stage.\n\nAthenais, by Mrs. P. Though her present condition will not permit her\nto wait on gentlemen and ladies out of the town with tickets, she\nhopes, as on former occasions, for their liberality and support.\n\nNothing in Italy can exceed the altar, in the first scene of the play.\nNevertheless, should any of the Nobility or Gentry wish to see it\nornamented with flowers, the bearer will bring away as many as they\nchoose to favour him with.\n\nAs the coronation of Athenais, to be introduced in the fifth act,\ncontains a number of personages, more than sufficient to fill all\nthe dressing rooms, &c., it is hoped no gentlemen and ladies will be\noffended at being refused admission behind the scenes.\n\nN.B. The great yard dog, that made so much noise on Thursday night,\nduring the last act of King Richard the Third, will be sent to a\nneighbour's over the way; and on account of the prodigious demand for\nplaces, part of the stable will be laid into the boxes on one side, and\nthe granary be open for the same purpose on the other.\n\n _Vivat Rex._\n\n\nTHE EAR OF BIRDS NOT TO BE DECEIVED.\n\nThe sense of hearing in birds is singularly acute, and their instinct\nleads them instantly to detect the slightest variation in the song\nof those of their own kind. The following is a laughable instance of\nthis:--\n\nA bird-catcher, wishing to increase his stock of bullfinches, took\nout his caged bird and his limed twigs, and placed them in such a\nsituation of hedge and bush as he judged favourable to his success. It\nso happened that his own bird was one of education, such as is usually\ntermed a piping bullfinch. In the first instance a few accidentally\nthrown out natural notes, or calls, had attracted three or four of his\nkindred feather, which had now taken their station not far distant\nfrom the cage. There they stood in doubt and curiosity, and presently\nmoving inch by inch, and hop by hop towards him and the fatal twigs,\nthey again became stationary and attentive. It was in this eager and\nsuspended moment that the piping bullfinch set up the old country-dance\nof \"Nancy Dawson.\" Away flew every astounded bullfinch as fast as wings\ncould move, in such alarm and confusion as bullfinches could feel and\nthey only can venture to describe.\n\n\nFLYING COACH.\n\nIf the _Exeter Flying Stage_ arrived from London at Dorchester in two\ndays, and at Exeter at the end of the third day, about 1739, the speed\nmust have been considered surprising. Those who made use of such a\nconveyance were doubtless looked upon as presumptuous, neck-or-nothing\nmortals.\n\nThere was a \"Devizes chaise\" from London at this time which took a\nroute through Reading, Newbury, and Marlborough.\n\nThere is a good house at Morcomb Lake, east of Charmouth, now no longer\nin the road, owing to this having been diverted. This was a road-side\ninn, where the judges slept. The Fly Coach from London to Exeter\n_slept_ there the fifth night from town. The coach proceeded the next\nmorning to Axminster, where _it_ breakfasted, and there a woman barber\n_shaved the coach_.\n\n\nAN AGED SPIRIT DRINKER.\n\nDaniel Bull M'Carthy, of the county of Kerry, Ireland, died 1752, aged\n111. At the age of eighty-four he married a fifth wife, a girl little\nmore than fourteen years of age, by whom he had twenty children--one\nevery subsequent year of his life. It was remarked that he was scarcely\never seen to expectorate; nor did any extent of cold ever seem to\naffect him. For the last seventy years of his life, when in company, he\ndrank plentifully of rum and brandy, which he always took neat; and, if\nin compliance with solicitations he took wine or punch, always drank\nan equal sized glass of rum or brandy, which he designated _a wedge_.\nThe temperature of his body was generally so hot that he could bear but\nlittle clothing, either by day or night upon his person.\n\n\nGIANT TREE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Giant Tree in Pulo Penang.]\n\nThere are few trees in the world like the giant tree in the island\nof Pulo Penang, of which the annexed engraving is a correct\nrepresentation. It is one of the various kinds of palm, and some idea\nmay be formed of its height from the fact that it is twice as tall,\nand quite as straight, as the mainmast of a line-of-battle ship; there\nare no branches, no twigs anywhere to be seen, save just at the very\nsummit, and here they bend over gracefully, something like what one\nwould imagine a large-sized palm-tree to be if gazed at through Lord\nRosse's telescope. It is a only specimen of its kind to be met with in\nthe whole island.\n\n\nPUNISHING FALSE ACCUSERS.\n\nWisdom may sometimes be learned at a Quarter Sessions, and it would\nbe advantageous if we occasionally took a hint from our ancestors.\nThe magistrates at sessions in Charles the First's reign could and\ndid address themselves to questions arising between parties moving in\nhumble life, very important to them, and who could now-a-day in vain\nseek redress in the same quarter. A modern Bridget might continue\nto charge men with a breach of promise of marriage without legal\nmeasures being available against her. This was not so in 1626. Her\ncase was considered, and her injurious conduct and mode of life were\nduly estimated, with what result we shall learn from the following\nentry in the minute book of a quarter sessions in Devonshire of that\ndate:--\"Forasmuch as it hath appeared unto this Court that Bridget\nHowsley of Langton, spinster, liveth idly and lewdly at home, not\nbetaking herself to any honest course of life, and hath lately falsely\nand scandalously accused one [left blank in the original] of Honiton,\nin Devon, challenging a promise of marriage from him, which tended\nmuch to his disgrace, and that she is a continual brawler and sower\nof strife and debate between her neighbours, inhabitants of Langton\naforesaid, this court doth therefore think fit and order that the said\nBridget Howsley be forthwith committed to the House of Correction,\nthere to be set on work and remain for the space of six whole months,\nand from thenceforth until she shall find very good sureties for her\nappearance at the next Sessions, after the said six months shall be\nexpired, or until she shall procure a master that will take her into\nservice.\"\n\n\nA PHASE OF THE SOUTHCOTTIAN DELUSION.\n\nOne of the most remarkable cases on record of combined knavery,\ncredulity, and superstition, is the belief which so extensively\nprevailed about fifty years ago in the mission and doctrines of Joanna\nSouthcott, and of which, strange to say, some traces remain even to\nthe present day. Is it not astonishing that so recently as the year\n1814, August 3rd, the following paragraph--which we believe gives a\ncorrect statement of the facts--should have appeared in the _Courier_\nnewspaper? \"Joanna Southcott has lately given out that she expects in\na few weeks to become the mother of the true Messiah. She is nearly\nseventy years of age. A cradle of most expensive and magnificent\nmaterials has been bespoken by a lady of fortune for the accouchement,\nand has been for some days exhibited at the warehouse of an eminent\ncabinet maker in Aldersgate-street. Hundreds of genteel persons of both\nsexes have been to see this cradle, in which her followers believe the\ntrue Messiah is to be rocked. The following has been given us as a\ncorrect description: 'A child's crib, three feet six inches, by two\nfeet, of satin wood, with brass trellis, side and foot board; turned\nfeet, carved and gilt, on castors; a swing cot, inside caned, to swing\non centre; at each end gilt mouldings, top and bottom for gold letters;\na canopy cover, with blue silk; carved and gilt under it, a gold ball,\nand dove, and olive branch; green stars at each corner, gilt; blue silk\nfurniture; an embroidered celestial crown, with Hebrew characters, gold\nletters; a lambs'-wool mattress, with white fustian down bed, down\npillow, and two superfine blankets.'\"\n\n\nHOUSEHOLD EXPENSES OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST.\n\nEdward the First kept three Christmasses at Rhuddlan castle, in\nFlintshire; and it is a fact not generally known, that his queen\nEleanor, exclusively of the young prince Edward, born at Caernarvon,\nwas delivered of a princess there in 1283. This shows that his entire\nhousehold must have been transferred into Wales, at the time his\npolicy was directed to complete the annexation of the principality of\nWales to that of England. In an ancient record in the tower of London,\ndated 1281-2, and translated by Samuel Lysons, Esq., is a curious roll\nof Edward's expenses when at Rhuddlan. It consists of four sheets,\ncontaining the particulars, under proper heads, of the sums of money\npaid for the maintenance of his household. The sum of the expenses in\nthis roll is L1,395 10s., which sum, with the expenses of the other\nroll of the queen's household is L2,220 2s. 10-1/2d. The roll is very\ncurious, but too long to be inserted here. We append the following as a\nspecimen of the various items it contains:--\n\n Paid on the day of the queen's churching in oblations to\n mass L0 3 0\n The queen's gift to divers minstrels attending her churching 10 0 0\n The queen's gift to a female spy 0 1 0\n A certain female spy, to purchase her a house as a spy 1 0 0\n For the brethren at the hospital at Rhuddlan 0 1 1\n For a certain player as a gift 0 8 0\n For the celebration of mass for the soul of William de Bajor 0 1 10\n For the messenger carrying letters to the king at London,\n to be sent to the court of Rome, for his expenses 0 1 0\n Paid sundry bailiffs at the castle 0 4 10\n For the carriage of 80 casks of wine from the water to\n the castle 0 22 0\n For a cart bringing lances and cross bows from Ruthlan\n to Hope 0 1 4\n For the carriage of L3,000 from the king's wardrobe to\n the queen's wardrobe 0 10 5\n For 600 turves, to place about the queen's stew pond in\n the castle 0 1 0\n Carriage of figs and raisins to Aberconway 0 0 1\n Paid wages for 1,060 archers at twopence, with 53 captains\n at fourpence, with 10 constables of cavalry at 12d.\n a day 68 8 6\n Paid the same for 1,040 archers, &c. &c. 67 4 0\n\n\nGARRICK'S CUP.\n\n[Illustration [++] Garrick's Cup.]\n\nThis celebrated Shakspearean relic was presented to David Garrick,\nby the Mayor and Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon, in September,\n1769, at the Jubilee which he instituted in honour of his favourite\nBard. It measures about 11 inches in height. The tree from which it\nis carved was planted by Shakspeare's own hand, in the year 1609,\nand after having stood 147 years, was, in an evil hour, and when at\nits full growth and remarkably large, cut down, and cleft to pieces\nfor fire-wood, by order of the Rev. Francis Gastrell, to whom it had\nbecome an object of dislike, from its subjecting him to the frequent\nimportunities of travellers. Fortunately, the greater part of it fell\ninto the possession of Mr. Thomas Sharp, a watchmaker of Stratford,\nwho, \"out of sincere veneration\" for the memory of its immortal\nplanter, and well knowing the value the world set upon it, converted\nthe fragments to uses widely differing from that to which they had been\nso sacrilegiously condemned. Garrick held this cup in his hand at the\nJubilee, while he sung the beautiful and well-known air, which he had\ncomposed for the occasion, beginning\n\n \"Behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree,\n Which, O my sweet Shakspeare, was planted by thee;\n As a relic I kiss it, and bow at the shrine,\n What comes from thy hand must be ever divine!\n All shall yield to the Mulberry tree,\n Bend to thee,\n Blest Mulberry;\n Matchless was he\n Who planted thee,\n And thou like him immortal be!\"\n\n\nQUICK WORK.\n\nMr. John Coxetter, of Greenham Mills, Newbury, had two South down sheep\nshorn at his factory exactly at five o'clock in the morning, from the\nwool of which, after passing its various processes, a complete damson\ncoloured coat was made, and worn by Sir John Throckmorton, at a quarter\npast six in the evening, being two and three-quarter hours within the\ntime allotted, for a wager of 1,000 guineas. The sheep were roasted\nwhole, and a sumptuous dinner given by Mr. Coxetter.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.\n\n[Illustration [++] Great Wall of China.]\n\nAs has been invariably the case in the early history of all the leading\nnations of the earth, great confusion and civil discord existed in\nthe empire of China in its first stages. It was divided into petty\nprincedoms, each prince striving to outwit the other, and all anxiously\naiming at the supreme power of the land, till the Emperor Chi-hoang-ti,\nwho came to the throne about three hundred years before the Christian\nera, conquered the whole of the jealous petty princes, and united\ntheir states into one vast empire. But no sooner had he achieved this,\nthan the Tartars began to be troublesome, and, hoping effectually\nto exclude their invasions, this emperor caused to be constructed\nthe often-read-of great wall of China, a stupendous work of masonry,\nextending from the sea to the western province of Shensee and carried\nover a tract of fifteen hundred miles, comprising high mountains, deep\nvalleys, and broad rivers, the wall being supported over the latter\nby gigantic arches. Fortified towers were erected at every hundred\nyards, and its summit admitted of six horsemen riding abreast. This\nsovereign is said to be the founder of the Hau dynasty. The wall proved\nan insignificant barrier to the Huns or Tartars, who harassed the\nprinces of the Hau dynasty, and were a very scourge to the farmers of\nthe frontier provinces. About the year 264, the Hau dynasty gave way\nto the Tsin, which latter was founded by a lineal descendant, through\nmany generations, of the builder of the great wall. In the sketch which\nwe have given, our chief object has been to show the extraordinary\ninflexibility of the Chinese in carrying their wall strictly along\ntheir frontier line, in spite of the stupendous obstacles which,\nintervened in the shape of mountains and valleys.\n\n\nPRIVY PURSE EXPENSES OF CHARLES II.\n\nMalone, the well known editor of Shakespeare, possessed a curious\nvolume--an account of the privy expenses of Charles II, kept by Baptist\nMay. A few extracts from this MS., taken from Malone's transcripts, are\nhere offered:--\n\n L s. d.\n\n My Lord St. Alban's bill 1,746 18 11\n Lady Castlemaine's debts 1,116 1 0\n Sir R. Viner, for plate 850 0 0\n For grinding cocoa-nuts 5 8 0\n Paid Lady C., play money 300 0 0\n For a band of music 50 0 0\n To the footman that beat Teague 5 7 6\n To Mr. Pears, for the charges of a body\n dissected before the king 5 1 0\n Lady C., play money 300 0 0\n To the Morrice Dancers at Ely 1 1 0\n Lady C., play money 300 0 0\n Mr. Knight for bleeding the king 10 10 0\n For a receipt of chocolate 227 0 0\n Mr. Price, for milking the asses 10 0 0\n To one that showed tumblers' tricks 5 7 6\n For weighing the king 1 0 0\n Paid Hall for dancing on the rope 20 0 0\n The Queen's allowance 1,250 0 0\n Paid Lord Lauderdale for ballads 5 0 0\n To a bone-setter attending the Duchess\n of Monmouth 10 0 0\n Paid Terry for waiting on the king swimming 10 0 0\n For 3,685 ribbons for the healing 107 10 4\n Mrs. Blague, the king's valentine 218 0 0\n Nell Gwyn 100 0 0\n Lost by the king at play on Twelfth-night 220 0 0\n Paid what was borrowed for the Countess of\n Castlemaine 1,650 0 0\n\n\nCOLOUR OF THE HAT FOR CARDINALS.\n\nInnocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the\ncardinals, enjoining them to wear a _red_ hat at the ceremonies and\nprocessions, _in token of their being ready_ to spill their blood for\nJesus Christ.\n\n\nSEVERITY OF THE LAWS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nTwo lads were hanged for stealing a purse containing two shillings\nand a brass counter. Of ten criminals convicted at one sessions,\nfour were hanged and six transported. Very often half a dozen were\nsentenced to death at a single sessions. On the 17th March, 1755,\neight malefactors were hanged together at Tyburn. It was recorded as a\nmatter of surprise, that, \"only six convicts received sentence of death\nat Gloucester Assizes.\" One of these was a woman named Anne Ockley,\nwho was executed on the following day, on the charge of murdering an\nillegitimate child. To the last she denied her guilt, except in not\nhaving called in medical advice for her infant after a bad fall. She\ntook the Sacrament, and begged for more time to prepare herself for the\nchange; this favour being denied, she remained praying for two hours on\nthe drop before she would give the signal.\n\n\nMARKING THE KING'S DISHES WITH THE COOK'S NAMES.\n\nKing George II. was accustomed every other year to visit his German\ndominions, with the greater part of the officers of his household, and\nespecially those belonging to the kitchen. Once on his passage at sea,\nhis first cook was so ill with the sea-sickness, that he could not\nhold up his head to dress his majesty's dinner; this being told to the\nking, he was exceedingly sorry for it, as he was famous for making a\nRhenish soup, which his majesty was very fond of; he therefore ordered\ninquiry to be made among the assistant-cooks, if any of them could make\nthe above soup. One named Weston (father of Tom Weston, the player)\nundertook it, and so pleased the king, that he declared it was full\nas good as that made by the first cook. Soon after the king's return\nto England, the first cook died; when the king was informed of it, he\nsaid, that his steward of the household always appointed his cooks, but\nthat he would now name one for himself, and therefore asking if one\nWeston was still in the kitchen, and being answered that he was, \"That\nman,\" said he, \"shall be my first cook, for he makes most excellent\nRhenish soup.\" This favour begot envy among all the servants, so that,\nwhen any dish was found fault with, they used to say it was Weston's\ndressing: the king took notice of this, and said to the servants, it\nwas very extraordinary that every dish he disliked should happen to be\nWeston's; \"In future,\" said he, \"let every dish be marked with the name\nof the cook that makes it.\" By this means the king detected their arts,\nand from that time Weston's dishes pleased him most.\n\nThis custom was kept up till late in the reign of George III.\n\n\nPARLOUS DAYS.\n\nBloodletting, considered during the last century to be necessary for\nevery one in health or not, at spring and fall, was an operation\nperformed by the country surgeons on the labourers on a Sunday morning,\nat a charge of 6d. each. Bleeding in bed by a barber was, in the reign\nof Charles II., sometimes charged, for a lady, so high as 10s., and\nfor a gentleman, 1s. and 2s. 6d. The operator perhaps barboured the\npatient at an additional charge. Barbouring by the year was charged\n16s. Superstition had marked certain days in each month as dangerous\nfor bloodletting, which were called _parlous_ days. In July, the 1st,\n7th, 13th, 12th, 25th, and 20th were of the above kind.\n\nAs the whole population had recourse to bloodletting twice a year,\nbleeders or barbers were in constant demand.\n\n\nA FUNERAL APPROPRIATELY CONDUCTED.\n\nDuring the year 1700, the minister of a parish in Kent was interred\nat the age of 96 years; the gentleman who preached his funeral sermon\nwas 82; he who read the service 87; the clerk of the parish was the\nsame age; the sexton was 86; in addition to which list of aged persons,\nthere were several present from the adjacent parishes 100 years old\neach, and upwards.\n\n\nANCIENT NUT-CRACKERS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ancient Nut-Crackers.]\n\nThe two quaint instruments pictured in our engraving, of about the\ntime of Charles I. or II., are made of hard wood rather rudely carved;\nand look as if in their time they had seen good service. The grotesque\nheads, with the mouth, affording the means of cracking the nuts, are\nexamples of the fitness of design for a particular purpose, which\ncharacterize many of the objects in domestic use in the middle ages,\nand up to the reign of Queen Anne, after which ornamental art for\nhousehold uses seems almost to have been disused. Even in the time of\nGeorge III., our chairs, tables, side-boards, &c., were made heavy,\nvery ugly, and without any attempt at appropriate pattern.\n\n\nNELL GWYNNE'S LOOKING-GLASS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Nell Gwynne's Looking-Glass.]\n\nThis glass is in the possession of Sir Page Dicks, of Port Hall. It\nbears the likeness of Nell Gwynne and King Charles, which are modelled\nin wax; and also the supporters, or crest, which Nell assumed, namely,\nthe lion and the leopard. The whole is curiously worked in coloured\nglass beads, and the figures, with the dresses, made to project in very\nhigh relief; indeed, they are merely attached to the groundwork. In the\nupper compartment is Charles in his state dress; and the bottom one,\nthat of Nell Gwynne, in her court dress--the pattern of which is very\ntasteful. On the right is Charles in his hunting dress. The beads have\nretained their colours, which are very appropriate to the subject, and\nmust have been a work of considerable time and patience; but whether\ndone by Nell or not, there is no record.\n\n\nA REMARKABLE HIGHLANDER.\n\nIn August, 1827, John Macdonald expired in his son's house, in the\nLawnmarket, Edinburgh, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven\nyears. He was born in Glen Tinisdale, in the Isle of Skye, and, like\nthe other natives of that quarter, was bred to rural labour. Early\none morning in his youth, when looking after his black cattle, he was\nsurprised by the sight of two ladies, as he thought, winding slowly\nround a hill, and approaching the spot where he stood. When they came\nup, they inquired for a well or stream, where a drink of water could be\nobtained. He conducted them to the \"Virgin Well,\" an excellent spring,\nwhich was held in great reverence on account of its being the scene of\nsome superstitious and legendary tales. When they had quenched their\nthirst, one of the ladies rewarded Macdonald with a shilling, the first\nsilver coin of which he was possessed. At their own request he escorted\nthem to a gentleman's house at some distance, and there, to his great\nsurprise and satisfaction, he learned that the two \"ladies\" were Flora\nMacdonald and Prince Charles Stewart.\n\nThis was the proudest incident in Macdonald's patriarchal life; and,\nwhen surrounded by his Celtic brethren, he used to dilate on all the\nrelative circumstances with a sort of hereditary enthusiasm, and more\nthan the common garrulity of age. He afterwards turned joiner, and\nbore a conspicuous part in the building of the first Protestant church\nwhich was erected in the island of North Uist. He came to Edinburgh\ntwenty-three years before his death, and continued to work at his trade\ntill he was ninety-seven years of age.\n\nMacdonald was a temperate, regular-living man, and never paid a\nsixpence to a surgeon for himself, nor had an hour's sickness in the\nwhole course of his life. He used to dance regularly on New-year's day,\nalong with some Highland friends, to the bagpipe. On New-year's day,\n1825, he danced a reel with the father, the son, the grandson, and\ngreat-grandson, and was in more than his usual spirits. His hearing was\nnothing impaired, and till within three weeks of his demise he could\nhave threaded the finest needle with facility, without glasses.\n\n\nCATS WITH KNOTTED TAILS.\n\nWe extract the following paragraph from the narrative of a voyager in\nthe Indian Ocean, because it contains an account of a rarity in natural\nhistory with which few, we believe, are acquainted.\n\n\"The steward is again pillowed on his beloved salt fish, and our\nonly companion is a Malacca cat, who has also an attachment for the\nsteward's pillow. Puss is a tame little creature, and comes rubbing\nherself mildly against our shoes, looking up in our faces, and mewing\nher thoughts. Doubtless she is surprised that you have been so long\nlooking at her without noticing the peculiarity in her tail, which\nso much distinguishes her from the rest of the feline race in other\nquarters of the globe. Take her up in your lap, and see for yourself.\nDid you ever observe such a singular knot--so regular, too, in its\nformation? Some cruel monster must have tied it in a knot whilst puss\nwas yet a kitten, and she has outlived both the pain and inconvenience.\nBut here comes a kitten, all full of gambols and fun, and we find\nthat her tail is in precisely the same condition. So, then, this is\na remarkable feature amongst the whole race of Malayan cats, but\nfor which, no one we meet with, is able to give us a satisfactory\nexplanation.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS FEATS.\n\nIn 1553, the following extraordinary exhibition was performed\nin the presence of Queen Mary, in her passage through London to\nWestminster.--It is thus described by Holinshed, in his \"Chronicle,\"\nprinted 1577:--\"When shee didd come to Sainte Paule's churchyarde,\nMaister Haywood sat in a pageant under a vine, and made to her an\noration in Latine; and then there was one Peter, a man of Holland,\nwho didd stand upon the weathercocke of St. Paule's steeple, holdyng\na streamer in his handes of five yardes long, and waving thereof. Hee\nsometimes stood on one foot and shock the other, and then hee kneeled\non his knees to the verie grate marvel of al the people. Hee hadd\nmade two scaffolds under him--one above the cross, having torches\nand streamers sett upon it, and another over the ball of the cross,\nlikewise sett with streamers and torches which could not burne, the\nwind was so greate.\" Our chronicler further informs us, that \"Peter\ndidd have xvi pounds xiii shillings and iii pence given to him by the\ncitie of London for his costes and pains, and for all his stuffe.\"\n\n\nIMPUDENCE OR CANDOUR, WHICH IS IT?\n\nThe following advertisement appeared in the _St. James's Chronicle_ of\n1772. \"Wanted immediately, fifteen hundred, or two thousand pounds,\nby a person not worth a groat; who, having neither houses, land,\nannuities, or public funds, can offer no other security than that\nof simple bond, bearing simple interest, and engaging the repayment\nof the sum borrowed in five, six, or seven years, as may be agreed\non by the parties. Whoever this may suit, (for it is hoped it will\nsuit somebody), by directing a line for A. Z. in Rochester, shall be\nimmediately replied to, or waited on, as may appear necessary.\"\n\n\nTHE SOUTH STACK LIGHTHOUSE.\n\n[Illustration [++] South Stack Lighthouse.]\n\nThough not so celebrated as the Eddystone, the South Stack Lighthouse\nis unquestionably one of the marvels of science, and as such may be\nappropriately described in our pages. It is erected on the summit of\nan isolated rock, three or four miles westward from Holyhead, and\nseparated from the main land by a chasm ninety feet in width. This\nsplendid structure was raised in the year 1808. The elevation of the\nsummit of the rock on which it is erected is 140 feet above the level\nof the sea at high-water mark; the height of the tower, from the base\nto the gallery, is sixty feet; and the lantern is twelve feet high\nfrom the gallery; making the total elevation of the light 212 feet\nabove high-water mark. The light is produced by twenty-one brilliant\nlamps, with powerful reflectors, placed on a revolving triangular\nframe, displaying a full-faced light every two minutes, which, in clear\nweather, is distinctly visible at a distance of ten leagues. Latterly\nthere has been an addition of three red lights placed at the rock,\nwhich are more distinctly visible in foggy weather than the lighthouse\nlights. The rough sea caused by the strong tides about the head\nrendered the communication by boat very precarious. In order to obviate\nthe danger, a passage was contrived by means of two ropes thrown across\nthe gulf, along which the individual was drawn in a box or cradle, by\nthe assistance of pulleys affixed at each end. This plan was superseded\nby a bridge of ropes, which was used some years after, though always\nconsidered unsafe, on account of the constant wear of the ropes. In\n1827, a modern suspension chain-bridge was thrown over the sound, the\nspan of which is 110 feet, the chains being firmly bolted in the rock\non each side, and carried over two massive stone pillars erected for\nthe purpose. The chain supports a platform of timber five feet wide,\nand seventy feet above high-water mark. The bridge is attained by\ndescending the Holyhead mountain in a zigzag direction by a flight of\n380 steps.\n\n\nBRASS MEDAL OF OUR SAVIOUR.\n\nIn 1702, the late Rev. H. Rowlands, author of _Mona Antiqua_, while\nsuperintending the removal of some stones, near Aberfraw, Wales, for\nthe purpose of making an antiquarian research, found a beautiful\nbrass medal of our Saviour, in a fine state of preservation, which he\nforwarded to his friend and countryman, the Rev. E. Llwyd, author of\nthe _Archeologiae Britannica_, and at that time keeper of the Ashmolean\nlibrary at Oxford.\n\nThis medal, of which an engraving is subjoined, has on one side the\nfigure of a head exactly answering the description given by Publius\nLentulus of our Saviour, in a letter sent by him to the emperor\nTiberius and the senate of Rome. On the reverse side, it has the\nfollowing legend or inscription, written in Hebrew characters, \"This\nis Jesus Christ, the Mediator or Reconciler;\" or \"Jesus, the Great\nMessias, or Man Mediator.\" And being found among the ruins of the chief\nDruids resident in Anglesea, it is not improbable that the curious\nrelic belonged to some Christian connected with Bran the Blessed, who\nwas one of Caractacus's hostages at Rome from A.D. 52 to 59, at which\ntime the Apostle Paul was preaching the gospel of Christ at Rome. In\ntwo years afterwards, A.D. 61, the Roman General Suetonius extirpated\nall the Druids in the island. The following is a translation of the\nletter alluded to, a very antique copy of which is in the possession of\nthe family of Kellie, afterwards Lord Kellie, now represented by the\nEarl of Mar, a very ancient Scotch family--taken from the original at\nRome:--\n\n\"There hath appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named\nJesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is\naccepted as a prophet, but his disciples call him 'the Son of God.' He\nraiseth the dead, and cures all manner of diseases; a man of stature\nsomewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance, such as the\nbeholders both love and fear; his hair the colour of chesnut, full\nripe, plain to his ears, whence downwards it is more orient, curling,\nand waving about his shoulders. In the midst of his head is a seam or a\npartition of his hair after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead\nplain and very delicate; his face without a spot or wrinkle, beautified\nwith the most lovely red; his nose and mouth so formed that nothing\ncan be reprehended; his beard thickish, in colour like his hair,\nnot very long but forked; his look, innocent and mature; his eyes,\ngrey, clear, and quick. In reproving, he is terrible; in admonishing,\ncourteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with\ngravity. It cannot be remarked that any one saw him laugh, but many\nhave seen him weep. In proportion of body, most excellent; his hands\nand arms most delicate to behold. In speaking, very temperate, modest,\nand wise. A man, for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of\nmen!\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Brass Medal of Our Saviour.]\n\nThe representation of this sacred person which is in the Bodleian\nlibrary, somewhat resembles that of the print of this medal, when\ncompared together. It was taken from a likeness engraved in agate, and\nsent as a present from the sultan for the release of his brother, who\nwas taken prisoner. There is a well-executed drawing of this at the\nMostyn library, much worse for age.\n\n\nMONSTROUS HEAD-DRESS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Head-Dress of 1782.]\n\nAt no period in the history of the world was anything more absurd in\nhead-dress worn than that here depicted, which was in vogue with the\nfashionables of 1782. The body of this erection was formed of tow, over\nwhich the hair was turned, and false hair added in great curls, bobs,\nand ties, powdered to profusion; then hung all over with vulgarly-large\nrows of pearls, or glass beads, fit only to decorate a chandelier;\nflowers as obtrusive were stuck about this heap of finery, which was\nsurmounted by broad silken bands and great ostrich-feathers, until the\nhead-dress of a lady added three feet to her stature, and the male\nsex, to use the words of the _Spectator_, \"became suddenly dwarfed\nbeside her.\" To effect this, much time and trouble was wasted, and\ngreat personal annoyance was suffered. Heads, when properly dressed,\n\"kept for three weeks,\" as the barbers quietly phrased it; that they\nwould not really \"keep\" longer may be seen by the many recipes they\ngive for the destruction of insects which bred in the flour and pomatum\nso liberally bestowed upon them. The description of \"opening a lady's\nhead,\" after a three weeks' dressing, given in the magazines of this\nperiod, it would be imagined, would have taught the ladies common\nsense; but fashion could reconcile even the disgust that must have been\nfelt by all.\n\n\nPRICE OF HUMAN HAIR.\n\nLong flaxen hair was bought from the head at 10s. the ounce, and any\nother fine hair at 5s. or 7s. the ounce in 1662.\n\nWithin the present century the heads of hair of whole families in\nDevonshire were let out by the year at so much rent per poll. An Exeter\nperriwig maker went round periodically, cut the locks, and oiled the\nnumskull of each thus left in stubble.\n\n\nINTERESTING AND FANCIFUL RELIQUE.\n\n[Illustration [++] Enamelled Jewel.]\n\nThe enamelled jewel, of which we give an engraving, was presented by\nMary, Queen of Scots, to George Gordon, fourth Earl of Huntley. The\nprecise period at which the gift was made is not now known, though\nthe time was not improbably during the residence of the Queen in\nFrance, when the Order of St. Michael was conferred on the Duke of\nChatelherault, the Earl of Huntley, and several other Scottish nobles,\nabout 1548. The lock of Mary's hair which is attached to the small\nivory skull, is of a light auburn, inclining to a gold-colour; and if\nallowance be made for some fading in the course of years, and for the\nhair of the Queen having generally become darker as she advanced in\nlife, the accuracy of Melvil will be confirmed, when, in speaking of\nher after her return to Scotland, he says, \"her hair was light auburn;\nElizabeth's more red than yellow.\" In this particular little reliance\ncan be placed upon the portraits of Queen Mary; since it is well known,\nthat in the latter part of her life, it was a fashionable practice to\nwear false hair of various hues, though in some of her pictures the\ncolour of the locks is nearly similar to the hue of that represented in\nthe present. The skull, from which it issues is connected by a twisted\nskein of silk with the figure of a Cupid shooting an arrow, standing on\na heart enamelled red, transfixed with a dart. On one side the heart is\na setting for a precious stone, now vacant; and, on the other, in white\nletters, the words \"Willingly Wounded.\" From the point of the heart is\na pendant, containing on one side a small ruby, and having the other\nenamelled blue with an ornament in white. Our engraving represents one\nside of the jewel, of the exact size of the original.\n\n\nFASTIDIOUSNESS IN DRESS AT AN OLD AGE.\n\nJonn Benbow, of Northwood, in the parish of Prees, Salop, died 1806,\naged 107. His occupation was that of a maker of clocks and watches.\nHis steadiness of hand, clearness of intellect, and complete command\nof all his faculties, were such that, till within a very few years of\nhis decease, he was enabled to execute the most intricate and delicate\nmanipulations connected with his business. He lived in three centuries;\nand, at the time of his decease, had a son, a grandson, and several\ngreat-grandchildren, living in the house with him. He was remarkable\nfor industry, sobriety, early rising, and soon retiring to rest,\nand was universally respected for his integrity and ingenuity. His\nfavourite beverage was \"small beer\" brewed of molasses. To the very\nclose of his life he was remarkable for his extreme attention to his\ndress and everything relating to his personal appearance, as will be\nseen by the following anecdote. About three years before his death, his\ntailor brought him home a new coat; on examining which he discovered\nthat the man, either through not being provided with the necessary\nmaterial or inadvertence, had substituted a cloth collar for a velvet\none, which he was accustomed to have added to his garment. Mortified at\nthis circumstance, and learning that the tailor had not velvet of the\nnecessary quality by him, he took up his walking-stick and straitway\nwent off to Whitchurch, a distance of seven miles, to purchase the\nmaterials proper to make a new collar, and, to the astonishment of all\nhis family, returned home in a few hours.\n\n\nSUPERSTITION OF THE JAVANESE.\n\nNowhere has superstition a greater power over the human mind than among\nthe inhabitants of Java.\n\nWhen the proper chord is touched, there is scarcely anything too gross\nfor the belief of these islanders. Mr. Crawfurd relates that some\nyears since, it was almost accidentally discovered, that the skull of\na buffalo was superstitiously conveyed from one part of the island to\nanother. The point insisted upon was, never to let it rest, but to keep\nit in constant progressive motion. It was carried in a basket, and no\nsooner was one person relieved from the load than it was taken up by\nanother; for the understanding was, that some dreadful imprecation was\ndenounced against the man who should let it rest. In this manner, the\nscull was hurried from one province to another, and after a circulation\nof many hundred miles, at length reached the town of Samarang, the\nDutch governor of which seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus\nthe spell was broken. The Javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing\nfurther was heard of this unaccountable transaction. None could tell\nhow or where it originated.\n\nThe same writer relates a still more extraordinary instance of\ninfatuation. During the occupation of Java by the English, in the\nmonth of May 1814, it was unexpectedly discovered, that, in a remote\nbut populous part of the island, a road, leading to the top of the\nmountain of Sumbeng, one of the highest in Java, had been constructed.\nAn enquiry being set on foot, it was discovered that the delusion which\ngave rise to the work had its origin in the province of Banyunas, in\nthe territories of the Susunan, and that the infection had spread\nto the territory of the Sultan, and thence extended to that of the\nEuropeans. On examination a road was found constructed twenty feet\nbroad, and from fifty to sixty miles long, and it was wonderfully\nsmooth and well made. One point which appears to have been considered\nnecessary, was, that this road should not cross rivers, and in\nconsequence it wound in a thousand ways. Another point as peremptorily\ninsisted on was, that its straight course should not be interrupted by\nany private rights; and in consequence trees and houses were overturned\nto make way for it. The population of whole districts, occasionally\nto the amount of five or six thousand labourers, were employed on the\nroad, and, among a people disinclined to active exertion the laborious\nwork was nearly completed in two months--such was the effect of the\ntemporary enthusiasm with which they were inspired. It was found in\nthe sequel that the whole work was set in motion by an old woman, who\ndreamt, or pretended to have dreamt, that a divine personage was about\nto descend from heaven on the mountain in question. Piety suggested\nthe propriety of constructing a road to facilitate his descent; and\nit was rumoured that divine vengeance would pursue the sacrilegious\nperson who refused to join in the meritorious labour. These reports\nquickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of the people, and they\nheartily joined in the enterprise. The old woman distributed slips of\npalm-leaves to the labourers, with magic letters written upon them,\nwhich were charms to secure them against sickness and accidents. When\nthis strange affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders\nwere issued to desist from the work, and the inhabitants returned\nwithout a murmur to their wonted occupations.\n\n\nSIZE OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS.\n\nThe exact size of our own country is a legitimate object of curiosity.\nWe believe the following will be found strictly accurate:--\n\n The area of England is estimated at 31,929,340 acres.\n \" Wales 4,320,000 \"\n \" Scotland 16,240,000 \"\n \" S. Isles adjacent to the coast 1,055,080 \"\n \" W. Isles 851,200 \"\n \" Orkneys 153,606 \"\n \" Shetlands 643,840 \"\n\n\nCASE CONTAINING THE HEART OF LORD EDWARD BRUCE.\n\nLord Edward Bruce was eldest son of Sir Edward, baron of Kinloss,\nso created by James I. in 1603, to whom the king gave the dissolved\nabbey of Kinloss, in Ayrshire, after he had been instrumental in his\nsuccession to the crown of England; whither accompanying the king, he\nwas made master of the Rolls in 1604, died in 1610, and was buried\nin the Rolls chapel. His son, the lord Edward, killed in duel by Sir\nEdward Sackville in 1613, was succeeded by his brother, who was created\nEarl of Elgin in 1633, and an English baron in 1641.\n\nSir Edward Sackville, by whose hand the Lord Edward Bruce fell, was\nyounger brother to Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, on whose death\nhe succeeded to the title. He was lord president of the council, a\njoint lord keeper, and filled several other distinguished offices under\nCharles I., to whom he adhered, by whose side he fought at the battle\nof Edge-hill, and whose death he took so much to heart, that he never\nafterwards stirred out of his house in Salisbury-court, but died there\non the 17th of July, 1652.\n\n[Illustration [++] Case Containing the Heart of Lord Edward Bruce.]\n\nBetween these noblemen there arose a quarrel, which terminated in their\nduel; and all that is, or probably can be known respecting it, is\ncontained in the following correspondence, preserved in a manuscript in\nQueen's college library, Oxford.\n\n _A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackvile._\n\n\"I that am in France, hear how much you attribute to yourself in this\ntime, that I have given the world leave to ring your praises; and for\nme, the truest almanack, to tell you how much I suffer. If you call\nto memory, when as I gave you my hand last, I told you I reserved the\nheart for a truer reconcilliation. Now be that noble gentleman, my love\nonce spoke, and come and do him right that could recite the tryals you\nowe your birth and country, were I not confident your honour gives\nyou the same courage to do me right, that it did to do me wrong. Be\nmaster of your own weapons and time; the place wheresoever, I will wait\non you. By doing this, you shall shorten revenge, and clear the idle\nopinion the world hath of both our worths.\n\n \"ED. BRUCE.\"\n\n\n _A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss._\n\n\"As it shall be always far from me to seek a quarrel, so will I always\nbe ready to meet with any that is desirous to make tryal of my valour,\nby so fair a course as you require. A witness whereof yourself shall\nbe, who, within a month, shall receive a strict account of time, place\nand weapon, where you shall find me ready disposed to give honourable\nsatisfaction, by him that shall conduct you thither. In the mean time,\nbe as secret of the appointment, as it seems you are desirous of it.\n\n \"E. SACKVILE.\"\n\n\n _A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss._\n\n\"I am at Tergose, a town in Zeland, to give what satisfaction your\nsword can render you, accompanied with a worthy gentleman for my\nsecond, in degree a knight. And, for your coming, I will not limit you\na peremptory day, but desire you to make a definite and speedy repair,\nfor your own honour, and fear of prevention; at which time you shall\nfind me there.\n\n_Tergose, 10th of August, 1613._\n\n \"E. SACKVILE.\"\n\n\n _A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackvile._\n\n\"I have received your letter by your man, and acknowledge you have\ndealt nobly with me; and now I come, with all possible haste, to meet\nyou.\n\n \"E. BRUCE.\"\n\nThe combat was fierce, and fatal to Lord Bruce.\n\nIt has always been presumed that the duel was fought under the walls of\nAntwerp; but the combatants disembarked at Bergen-op-Zoom, and fought\nnear that town, and not Antwerp.\n\n[Illustration [++] Silver Case Shaped Like a Heart.]\n\nIn consequence of a tradition, that the heart of Lord Edward Bruce had\nbeen sent from Holland, and interred in the vault or burying-ground\nadjoining the old abbey church of Culross, in Perthshire, Sir Robert\nPreston directed a search in that place in 1808, with the following\nresult:--Two flat stones, without inscription, about four feet in\nlength and two in breadth, were discovered about two feet below the\nlevel of the pavement, and partly under an old projection in the wall\nof the old building. These stones were strongly clasped together\nwith iron; and when separated, a silver case, or box, of foreign\nworkmanship, shaped like a heart, was found in a hollow or excavated\nplace between them. Its lid was engraved with the arms and name \"Lord\nEdward Bruse;\" it had hinges and clasps; and when opened, was found to\ncontain a heart, carefully embalmed, in a brownish coloured liquid.\nAfter drawings had been taken of it, as represented in the present\nengravings, it was carefully replaced in its former situation. There\nwas a small leaden box between the stones in another excavation; the\ncontents of which, whatever they were originally, appeared reduced to\ndust.\n\nSome time after this discovery, Sir Robert Preston caused a delineation\nof the silver case, according to the exact dimensions, with an\ninscription recording its exhumation and re-deposit, to be engraved on\na brass plate, and placed upon the projection of the wall where the\nheart was found.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact, that the cause of the quarrel between Lord\nBruce and Sir Edward Sackville has remained wholly undetected,\nnotwithstanding successive investigations at different periods. Lord\nClarendon, in his \"History of the Rebellion,\" records the combat as an\noccurrence of magnitude, from its sanguinary character and the eminence\nof the parties engaged in it. He does not say any thing respecting the\noccasion of the feud, although Lord Bruce's challenge seems to intimate\nthat it was a matter of public notoriety.\n\nThe exact day of the duel is not known, but it was certainly in 1613,\nand most probably in August from the date of one of the above letters.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY FEMALE INTREPIDITY.\n\nEarly on the 24th of January, 1822, the turnpike-house, about four\nmiles from Basingstoke, on this side of Overton, was attacked, with\nintent to enter, by two men, who had taken off some tiles at the\nback part of the premises (the roof being very low) to effect their\npurpose. These villains knew, it would appear, that a lone woman, Mrs.\nWhitehouse, received the tolls at this gate, and that her husband\nattended a gate as far distant as Colebrook. Mrs. Whitehouse, however,\nvery fortunately possessed three loaded pistols, one of which she\nfired--then a second, and a third, without effect. These determined\nruffians (notwithstanding being thrice fired at) were, it appears,\nresolved not to depart without accomplishing the projected robbery.\nMrs. Whitehouse's little boy, only 11 years of age, in the mean time\nhad re-loaded a brace of pistols, one of which Mrs. Whitehouse fired,\nand wounded one of the desperadoes full in the face--he fell, and the\nblood flowed profusely; yet, strange to relate, the accomplice had\nhardihood enough to drag away the wounded robber! On observing this,\nMrs. Whitehouse fired the fifth pistol at them, but missed them. The\nfellow who received the contents of the fourth pistol being supposed to\nhave been killed, and some persons residing at a considerable distance\nfrom the spot having heard of the circumstance, assembled, and made\ndiligent search at daybreak to discover the body of the deceased; but,\nalthough the blood could be traced some distance from the house, the\nbody could not be found; nor were those concerned in the attack ever\nfound out. The successful resistance, however, deserves to be recorded.\n\n\nGIGANTIC BONES.\n\nWhenever any bones of unusual magnitude were discovered, it was\ninvariably the custom to ascribe them to some giant. This was always\nso up to recent years, and no wonder it was intensely the case at the\nearly period of 1660. About that period, when the brook or rivulet\nfrom which the town of Corbridge, in the north of England, derives its\nname, had been worn away by some impetuous land-flood, a skeleton,\nsupposed to be that of a man of extraordinary and prodigious size,\nwas discovered. The length of the thigh bone was nearly six feet, and\nthe skull, teeth, and other parts proportionably monstrous, so that\nthe length of the whole body was computed at twenty-one feet. It is\nconjectured, by the more enlightened men of modern times, that these\nstrange bones belonged to some large animal that had been sacrificed\nby the Romans at the altar dedicated to Hercules, which was found\nhere some years ago. Notwithstanding that the superstition of our\nforefathers has lost nearly all its credit and influence, a singularly\nlarge bone found here is now exhibited in the Keswick Museum as the rib\nof the giant Cor.\n\n\nNEW STYLE OF ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following editorial announcement is taken from the Philadelphia\n_Weekly Mercury_, of November 30, 1752, because it forms a complete\nnovelty in its way, and also affords us an insight into the degree of\ncommunication which existed at that period between the large towns\nand the provinces in America. It is, moreover, a curious jumble of\ninformation, strangely mixing up the starting of the stage coach with\nthe news of the day:--\n\nOn _Monday_ next the Northern Post sets out from _New-York_, in order\nto perform his Stage but once a Fortnight, during the Winter Quarter;\nthe Southern Post changes also, which will cause this Paper to come\nout on _Tuesdays_ during that Time. The Colds which have infested the\nNorthern Colonies have also been troublesome here, few Families having\nescaped the same, several have been carry'd off by the Cold, among whom\nwas _David Brintnall_, in the 77th Year of his Age; he was the first\nMan that had a Brick House in the City of _Philadelphia_, and was much\nesteem'd for his just and upright dealing. There goes a Report here,\nthat the Lord _Baltimore_ and his Lady are arrived in _Maryland_,\nbut the Southern Post being not yet come in, the said Report wants\nConfirmation.\n\n\nMAKING A CANDLESTICK OF GUNPOWDER.\n\nA marvellous escape from destruction is related in the MS. Life of\nAlderman Barnes.--\"One of his brother-in-law's (Alderman Hutchinson's)\napprentices, stepping up into the back-lofts to fetch somewhat he\nwanted, in his heedlessness and haste, stops his candle into a\nbarrel of gunpowder whose head was struck off, to serve instead of a\ncandlestick. But the man reflecting what he had done, was struck with\naffrightment, his heart failed him, nor durst he stay any longer,\nbut running down stairs, leaves the candle burning in the gunpowder\ncask, and with horror, trembling, and despair, tells the family what\nindiscretion he had committed; they were all immediately as their\nwits' end, and well they might, for the lofts were three stories\nhigh, very large, and stowed full with whatever is combustible, as\nbrandy, oil, pitch, tar, rosin, flax, alum, hops, and many barrels of\ngunpowder. Had the candle fallen to one side, or had the least spark\nfallen from the snuff into the cask, the whole town had been shaken,\nand the whole of the house immediately blown up and in a blaze; but\none of the labourers, a stout fellow, ran forthwith into the loft, and\njoining both his hands together, drew the candle softly up between\nhis middlemost fingers, so that if any snuff had dropped, it must\nhave fallen into the hollow of the man's hand, and by this means was\nNewcastle saved from being laid in ashes.\" This must have happened\nabout the year 1684.\n\n\nTHE CAMDEN CUP.\n\nThe subjoined engraving represents the Silver-gilt Standing Cup\nand Cover bequeathed by the celebrated historian, William Camden,\nClarenceux King at Arms, to the Worshipful Company of Painter\nStainers'. Camden's will is recorded in the Prerogative Court\nof Canterbury (in the register designated III Swann 3, probate\ngranted November 10, 1623), and it has been printed by Hearne in\nhis _Collection of Curious Discourses_, Ox. 1720. After directing\nthe sum of eight pounds to be given \"to the poore of that place\n(Chislehurst) when it shall please God to call me to his mercie,\"\nCamden continues--\"I bequeath to Sir Foulke Greville, Lord Brooke,\nChancellor of the Exchequer, who preferred me gratis to my Office, a\npeece of plate of ten pounds; Item, to the Company of Painter-Stainers\nof London, to buy them a peece of plate in memoriall of mee, sixteene\npounds;\" the inscription upon which is directed to be--\"_Guil. Camdenus\nClarenceux, filius Sampsonis, Pictoris Londinensis, dono dedit_.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] The Camden Cup.]\n\nThis stately and richly-decorated cup and cover is used on Corporation\nFestivals, in memory of the illustrious donor. In height, it is\naltogether twenty-three inches and a quarter, the cover only being\neight inches and three-quarters; and the cup, independent of the\nstand, five inches and a-half, its greatest diameter being five inches\nand a-half. The inscription encircles the upper rim of the cup; and\ndirectly under it is an engraved escutcheon of Camden's arms; _Or_, a\nfess engrailed, between six cross crosslets fitchee, _Sable_. The cover\npresents an object of much elegance, a richly ornamented open pyramid,\nbased on the heads of birds, the breasts bending gracefully with\ncartouche ornaments: the pinnacle of the pyramid surmounted by a female\nfigure, the right hand resting on a shield, charged with the same arms\nas shown on the side of the cup. The birds' heads have apparently a\nreference to the phoenix heads in the second and third quarters of the\narmorial ensigns, and to the crest of the Company of Paper-Stainers.\n\n\nRICHARDSON, THE SHOWMAN.\n\nThis eccentric individual, who died in 1836, left behind him upwards of\nL20,000. He was born in the workhouse of Marlow, Bucks, but ran away\nfrom that place in order to seek his fortune in London. After various\nvicissitudes, he became the landlord of the Harlequin public-house, in\nDrury-lane, where he saved some money, which he embarked in fitting up\na portable theatre, and was known for forty years as the \"Prince of\nShowmen,\" and used frequently to boast that Edmund Kean and several\nother eminent actors were brought out by him. His property, after\nvarious legacies to the itinerant company which had attended him for\nmany years, descended to two nephews and a niece, and he desired by\nhis will to be buried in Marlow churchyard, in the same grave as his\nfavourite \"spotted boy,\" a lad who, some years before, was exhibited\nby him, and attracted great notice in consequence of the extraordinary\nmanners in which he was marked on various parts of his body. Some years\nsince the scenery, dresses, and decorations of Richardson's theatre\nwere exposed for auction by Mr. George Robins, and L2,000 were bid\nfor them. They were bought in; the \"old man,\" as he was technically\ndenominated, considering them to be worth at least L3,000.\n\n\nPRESERVATION OF DEAD BODIES.\n\nThere is an arched vault, or burying-ground, under the church of\nKilsyth, in Scotland, which was the burying-place of the family\nof Kilsyth, until the estate was forfeited, and the title became\nextinct in the year 1715; since which it has never been used for that\npurpose, except once. The last Earl fled with his family to Flanders,\nand, according to tradition, was smothered to death about the year\n1717, along with his lady and an infant child, and a number of other\nunfortunate Scottish exiles, by the falling in of the roof of a house\nin which they were assembled. What became of the body of the Earl is\nnot known, but the bodies of Lady Kilsyth and her infant were emboweled\nand embalmed, and soon afterwards sent over to Scotland. They were\nlanded, and lay at Leith for some time in a cellar, whence they were\nafterwards carried to Kilsyth, and buried in great pomp in the vault\nabove mentioned. In the spring of 1796, some rude regardless young men,\nhaving paid a visit to this ancient cemetery, tore open the coffin of\nLady Kilsyth and her infant. With astonishment and consternation, they\nsaw the bodies of Lady Kilsyth and her child as perfect as in the hour\nthey were entombed. For some weeks this circumstance was kept secret,\nbut at last it began to be whispered in several companies, and soon\nexcited great and general curiosity.\n\n\"On the 12th of June,\" says the Minister of the parish of Kilsyth,\nin a letter to J. Garnet, M.D., \"when I was from home, great crowds\nassembled, and would not be denied admission. At all hours of the\nnight, as well as the day, they afterwards persisted in gratifying\ntheir curiosity. I saw the body of Lady Kilsyth soon after the coffin\nwas opened; it was quite entire. Every feature and every limb was as\nfull, nay, the very shroud was as clear and fresh, and the colours of\nthe ribbons as bright, as the day they were lodged in the tomb. What\nrendered this scene more striking and truly interesting was, that the\nbody of her son and only child, the natural heir of the title and\nestates of Kilsyth, lay at her knee. His features were as composed as\nif he had been only asleep. His colour was as fresh, and his flesh as\nplump and full, as in the perfect glow of health; the smile of infancy\nand innocence sat on his lips. His shroud was not only entire, but\nperfectly clean, without a particle of dust upon it. He seems to have\nbeen only a few months old. The body of Lady Kilsyth was equally well\npreserved; and at a little distance, from the feeble light of a taper,\nit would not have been easy to distinguish whether she was dead or\nalive. The features, nay the very expression of her countenance, were\nmarked and distinct; and it was only in a certain light that you could\ndistinguish anything like the ghastly and agonizing traits of a violent\ndeath. Not a single fold of her shroud was decomposed nor a single\nmember impaired.\n\n\"Let the candid reader survey this sketch; let him recal to mind the\ntragic tale it unfolds; and say, if he can, that it does not arrest the\nattention and interest the heart. For my own part, it excited in my\nmemory a thousand melancholy reflections; and I could not but regret\nthat such rudeness had been offered to the ashes (remains) of the dead,\nas to expose them thus to the public view.\n\n\"The body seemed to have been preserved in some liquid, nearly of\nthe colour and appearance of brandy. The whole coffin seemed to have\nbeen full of it, and all its contents saturated with it. The body\nhad assumed somewhat the same tinge, but this only served to give it\na fresher look. It had none of the ghastly livid hue of death, but\nrather a copper complexion. It would, I believe, have been difficult\nfor a chemist to ascertain the nature of this liquid; though perfectly\ntransparent; it had lost all its pungent qualities, its taste being\nquite vapid.\n\n\"The head reclined on a pillow, and, as the covering decayed, it was\nfound to contain a collection of strong-scented herbs. Balm, sage,\nand mint were easily distinguished; and it was the opinion of many,\nthat the body was filled with the same. Although the bodies were thus\nentire at first, I confess I expected to see them crumble into dust;\nespecially as they were exposed to the open air, and the pure aromatic\nfluid had evaporated; and it seems surprising that they did not. For\nseveral weeks they underwent no visible change, and had they not been\nsullied with dust and drops of grease from the candles held over them,\nI am confident they might have remained as entire as ever; for even a\nfew months ago (many months after), the bodies were as firm and compact\nas at first, and though pressed with the finger did not yield to the\ntouch, but seemed to retain the elasticity of the living body. Even the\nshroud, through torn by the rude hands of the regardless multitude, is\nstill strong and free from rot.\n\n\"Perhaps the most singular phenomenon is, that the bodies seem not to\nhave undergone the smallest decomposition or disorganization. Several\nmedical gentlemen have made a small incision into the arm of the\ninfant; the substance of the body was quite firm, and every part in\nits original state.\" To the above remarkable instance we may add the\nfollowing:--The tomb of Edward the First, who died on the 7th July,\n1307, was opened on the 2nd of January, 1770, and after the lapse of\n463 years, the body was found not decayed; the flesh on the face was a\nlittle wasted, but not putrid.\n\nThe body of Canute the Dane, who got possession of England in the year\n1017, was found very fresh in the year 1766, by the workmen repairing\nWinchester Cathedral. In the year 1522, the body of William the\nConqueror was found as entire as when first buried, in the Abbey Church\nof St. Stephen, at Caen; and the body of Matilda, his wife, was found\nentire in 1502, in the Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity in the same\ncity.\n\nNo device of art, however, for the preservation of the remains of the\ndead, appears equal to the simple process of plunging them over head\nand ears in peat-moss.\n\nIn a manuscript by one Abraham Grey, who lived about the middle of\nthe 16th century, now in the possession of his representative, Mr.\nGoodbehere Grey, of Old Mills, near Aberdeen, it is stated, that\nin 1569, three Roman soldiers in the dress of their country, fully\nequipped with warlike instruments, were dug out of a moss of great\nextent, called Kazey Moss. When found, after a lapse of probably about\nfifteen hundred years, they \"were quite fresh and plump.\"\n\n\nPERFUMES.\n\nSo perfect were the Egyptians in the manufacture of perfumes, that some\nof their ancient ointment, preserved in an alabaster vase in the Museum\nat Alnwick, still retains a very powerful odour, though it must be\nbetween 2,000 and 3,000 years old.\n\n\nFRENCH ASSIGNATS--THEIR ORIGIN.\n\nExtraordinary devices for raising money are legitimate subjects for\nour pages. Of these devices, the French Assignats are not the least\nremarkable. They originated thus--in the year 1789, at the commencement\nof the great Revolution in France, Talleyrand proposed in the National\nAssembly a confiscation of all church property to the service of the\nstate. The Abbe Maury opposed this project with great vehemence, but\nbeing supported by Mirabeau, it received the sanction of the Assembly\nby an immense majority on the 2nd of November. The salaries fixed\nfor the priesthood were small, and, moreover, were not sufficiently\nguaranteed; whence originated much misery to all classes of priests,\nfrom the archbishops down to the humble cures; and as monastic\ninstitutions were treated in the same way, monks and nuns were suddenly\nplaced in precarious circumstances regarding the means of subsistence.\nHere, however, an unexpected difficulty sprang up; the National\nAssembly were willing to sell church property, but buyers were wanting;\nconscience, prudence, and poverty combined to lessen the number of\nthose willing to purchase; and thus the urgent claims of the treasury\ncould not be satisfied. Applications for loans were not responded to;\ntaxes had been extinguished; voluntary donations had dwindled almost to\nnothing; and 400,000,000 of livres were necessary for the vast claims\nof the year 1790. The municipalities of Paris and other cities sought\nto ameliorate the state of affairs by subscribing for a certain amount\nof church property, endeavouring to find private purchasers for it, and\npaying the receipts into the national exchequer. This, however, being\nbut a very partial cure for the enormity of the evils, the National\nAssembly fell upon the expedient of creating state-paper or bank-notes,\nto have a forced currency throughout the kingdom. Such was the birth\nof the memorable assignats. Four hundred millions of this paper were\nput in circulation; and a decree was passed that church property to\nthat amount should be held answerable for the assignats. Our sketch\nrepresents several of the different forms in which the Assignats were\nissued to the public.\n\n[Illustration [++] French Assignats.]\n\n\nEXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI.\n\nThe judicial murder of Louis XVI. was the climax of the Revolution in\nFrance. The Convention voted his death at three o'clock on the morning\nof the 20th January, 1793, and he was taken to execution in twenty-six\nhours afterwards.\n\n[Illustration [++] Execution of Louis XVI.]\n\nThe guillotine was erected in the middle of the Place Louis XV.,\na large open square, having the Champs Elysees on one side, and\nthe gardens of the Tuileries on the other. The Place bristled with\nartillery, and every street and avenue leading to it was crowded with\ntroops and armed multitudes, who had cannon with them charged with\ngrape-shot; while the carriage was surrounded by picked men, who\nhad orders to despatch the king with their carbines in case of any\nrescue being attempted. At about half-past ten, the king, who had been\nengaged in prayer during the ride, arrived at the spot; he descended\nfrom the coach, and his confessor followed him. Three executioners\napproached to remove his upper garments, but he put them back, and\nperformed that simple office for himself. He resisted somewhat the\nindignity of having his hands tied, and only yielded on the entreaty\nof his confessor; and had also to yield on the subject of cutting off\nhis back hair. He ascended the steps that led to the platform with\na firm bearing, still followed by M. Edgeworth. When on the top, he\nmade a sudden movement towards the edge of the scaffold, and exclaimed\nwith a loud and firm voice: \"Frenchmen, I die innocent; it is from\nthe scaffold, and when about to appear before my God, that I tell\nyou so. I pardon my enemies; I pray that France\"----Here Santerre, on\nhorseback, raised his right hand, and cried: \"Drums! Executioners, do\nyour duty!\" Several drummers immediately began by their noise to drown\nthe sound of the king's voice: and six executioners brought him to the\ncentre of the scaffold. He exclaimed again: \"I die innocent; I ever\ndesired the good of my people;\" but his voice could be heard only by\nthe executioners and the priest. He then knelt down, in order to place\nhis head in the appointed spot; the confessor, bending over him said:\n\"Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!\" The spring of the machine was\ntouched, the heavy axe descended in its grooves, and the once royal\nhead was severed from the body. Samson, the chief executioner, took\nup the bleeding head by the hair, and walked three times round the\nscaffold, holding it up at arm's-length to show it to the people. The\ntroops and the spectators shouted: \"Vive la Republique!\" put their hats\nand caps upon their bayonets and pikes, and waved them in the air,\nwith prolonged and re-echoing cries of \"Vive la Republique!\" \"Vive la\nNation!\" \"Vive la Liberte!\" Many of the savage men standing near the\nscaffold dipped their pike-heads into the king's blood, and others\ntheir handkerchiefs--not as a sacred memento, but as a symbol of the\ndownfall of all kings; they even paraded these gore-stained objects\nbefore the windows of the Temple, that perchance the queen and her\nchildren might see them. The headless trunk of Louis was put into a\nlarge wicker-basket, placed in the coach, and carried to the cemetery\nof La Madeleine; where, without coffin or shroud, it was thrown into a\ndeep pit, partly filled up with quicklime. On that same morning, one\nBenoit Leduc, a tailor, who had on some occasions worked for Louis,\npresented a petition to the Convention, praying to be allowed, at his\nown expense, to bury the body of the king by the side of his father,\nLouis XV., and under the monument raised to that prince by the city\nof Sens; but the Convention rejected his petition, and ordered the\nexecutive council to see that Louis was buried like other criminals.\n\n\nA MAN AGED ONE HUNDRED YEARS CLAIMING A BOTTLE OF WINE.\n\nJohn Bull, of London, stock-broker, died 1848, aged 100 years. When\nat the age of about 93, and in the employ of Messrs. Spurling,\nstock-brokers, he left by mistake in the office of the accountant of\nthe Bank of England, a large number of bank notes. On discovering\nhis loss, after diligently searching for the missing parcel, he went\nback to the accountant's office, partly to acquaint Mr. Smee with the\ncircumstance, and partly as a last hope that he might there find the\nmissing treasure. To his great joy he found the parcel safe in the\naccountant's possession, whom he earnestly implored to keep the secret,\nlest his employers should think his faculties were failing. Mr. Smee\nof course gave him the required assurance, and goodnaturedly added,\nthat when Mr. Bull should attain the age of 100 years, he would treat\nhim to the finest bottle of wine in his cellar. Some time before his\nbecoming a centenarian, he was pensioned off by his employer, and Mr.\nSmee had, in all probability, quite forgotten the affair; when, true\nto the engagement, the venerable, but still active old clerk, made his\nappearance at the bank on the important day, and claimed the promised\nbottle of wine. The claim was promptly allowed; and the last birthday\nof the aged official was one of the happiest among his friends of the\nlong list of such events which had been its precursor. After continuing\nvigorous and active, and almost free from indisposition up to this\ntime, he, along with many other aged persons, fell a victim to that\nfatal influenza which prevailed so extensively throughout the country,\nand more especially in London and its suburbs, during the autumn of\n1847 and the winter of 1848.\n\n\nCHARITY REWARDED BY A RICH AND LIBERAL MENDICANT.\n\nWithin the present century, a beggar in Moorfields used daily to\nhave a penny given him by a merchant on his way to the Exchange. The\npenny was withheld, and the appearance of the merchant manifested his\nembarrassment and distress. The beggar at length spoke to him, offered\nhim a loan of L500, and another of the same sum if it were required. It\nre-established his affairs.\n\n\nHACKNEY COACHMAN OF THE TIME OF CHARLES II.\n\nThe print from which the engraving on next page is taken, is one of\na set published by Overton, at the sign of the \"White Horse\" without\nNewgate; and its similarity to the figures given by Francis Barlow in\nhis _AEsop's Fables_, and particularly in a most curious sheet-print\netched by that artist, exhibiting Charles the Second, the Duke of\nYork, &c., viewing the Races on Dorset Ferry, near Windsor, in 1687,\nsufficiently proves this Hackney Coachman to have been of the reign of\nthat monarch.\n\nThe early Hackney Coachman did not sit upon the box as the present\ndrivers do, but upon the horse, like a postillion; his whip is short\nfor that purpose; his boots, which have large open broad tops, must\nhave been much in his way, and exposed to the weight of the rain. His\ncoat was not according to the fashion of the present drivers as to the\nnumerous capes, which certainly are most rational appendages, as the\nshoulders never get wet; the front of the coat has not the advantage of\nthe present folding one, as it is single breasted.\n\nHis hat was pretty broad, and so far he was screened from the weather.\nAnother convincing proof that he rode as a postillion is, that his\nboots are spurred. In that truly curious print representing the very\ninteresting Palace of Nonsuch, engraved by Hoefnagle, in the reign of\nQueen Elizabeth, the coachman who drives the royal carriage in which\nthe Queen is seated, is placed on a low seat behind the horses, and has\na long whip to command those he guides. How soon, after Charles the\nSecond's time, the Hackney Coachmen rode on a box we have not been able\nto learn, but in all the prints of King William's time the coachmen are\nrepresented upon the box, though by no means so high as at present;\nnor was it the fashion at the time of Queen Anne to be so elevated as\nto deprive the persons in the carriage of the pleasure of looking over\ntheir shoulders.\n\nIn 1637, the number of Hackney Coaches in London was confined to 50,\nin 1652 to 200, in 1654 to 300, in 1662 to 400, in 1694 to 700, in\n1710 to 800, in 1771 to 1,000, and in 1802 to 1,100. In imitation of\nour Hackney Coaches, Nicholas Sauvage introduced the Fiacres at Paris,\nin the year 1650. The hammer-cloth is an ornamental covering of the\ncoach-box. Mr. S. Pegge says, \"The coachman formerly used to carry a\nhammer, pincers, a few nails, &c., in a leather pouch hanging to his\nbox, and this cloth was devised for the hiding of them from public\nview.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Hackney Coachman.]\n\nIt is said that the sum of L1,500, arising from the duty on Hackney\nCoaches, was applied to part of the expense in rebuilding Temple Bar.\n\n\nA LONDON WATER-CARRIER IN OLDEN TIMES.\n\nThe conduits of London and its environs, which were established at\nan early period, supplied the metropolis with water until Sir Hugh\nMiddleton brought the New River from Amwell to London, and then the\nconduits gradually fell into disuse, as the New River water was by\ndegrees laid on in pipes to the principal buildings in the City, and,\nin the course of time, let into private houses.\n\nWhen the conduits afforded a supply, the inhabitants either carried\ntheir vessels, or sent their servants for the water as they wanted it;\nbut we may suppose that at an early period there were a number of men\nwho for a fixed sum carried the water to the adjoining houses.\n\nThe figure of a Water-carrier in the following engraving, is copied\nfrom one of a curious and rare set of cries and callings of London,\npublished by Overton, at the \"White Horse\" without Newgate. The figure\nretains the dress of Henry the Eighth's time; his cap is similar to\nthat usually worn by Sir Thomas More, and also to that given in the\nportrait of Albert Durer, engraved by Francis Stock. It appears by this\nprint, that the tankard was borne upon the shoulder, and, to keep the\ncarrier dry, two towels were fastened over him, one to fall before him,\nthe other to cover his back. His pouch, in which we are to conclude he\ncarried his money, has been thus noticed in a very curious and rare\ntract, entitled, _Green's Ghost, with the merry Conceits of Doctor\nPinch-backe_, published 1626: \"To have some store of crownes in his\npurse, coacht in a faire trunke flop, like a boulting hutch.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Water-Carrier.]\n\n\nEXPENSES OF A ROYAL PRISONER TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nThe following curious document is a return, by the Parliamentary\nCommittee of Revenue, of the expenses of Charles the First and\nhis retinue, during a residence of twenty days, at Holdenby, in\nNorthamptonshire, in the year 1647, commencing February the 13th and\nending March the 4th inclusive. Sir Christopher Hatton had built a\nsplendid mansion at Holdenby in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and\nto it King Charles was conveyed a prisoner by the Parliamentary\nCommissioners, after he had been given up to them by the Scottish\narmy:--\n\n His Majestie's diet of xxviij dishes at xxxl. per diem L700\n The Lords' diet of xx days 520\n For the Clarke of the green cloth, kitchen, and spicery,\n a messe of vij dishes 40\n Dyetts for the household and chamber officers, and the guard 412\n Board wages for common houshold servants, pott and scourers,\n and turnbroaches 36\n Badges of Court and riding wages 140\n For linnen for his Majestie's table, the lords and other diets 273\n For wheat, wood, and cole 240\n For all sorts of spicery store, wax-lights, torches,\n and tallow-lights 160\n For pewter, brasse, and other necessaries incident to all\n officers and carriages 447\n\n\nWOMAN'S CLEVERNESS.\n\nIt is a singular fact that on one occasion the lives of thousands,\nprobably, of the Irish Protestants, were saved by a clever device,\nwhich the unaided wit and presence of mind of a woman enabled her to\nplan and execute.\n\nAt the latter end of Queen Mary's reign, a commission was signed for\nthe purpose of punishing the heretics in that kingdom, and Dr. Cole,\nDean of St. Paul's, was honoured with this _humane_ appointment, to\nexecute which, he set off with great alacrity. On his arrival at\nChester, he sent for the mayor to sup with him, and in the course of\nconversation related his business; then going to his cloak-bag, he took\nout the box containing the commission, and having shewn it, with great\njoy exclaimed, 'This will lash the heretics of Ireland.' Mrs. Edmonds,\nthe landlady, overheard this discourse, and having several relations\nin Ireland, who were Protestants as well as herself, resolved to put a\ntrick upon the doctor; and while he went to attend the magistrate to\nthe door, took the commission out of the box, and in its room placed a\npack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost. The zealous doctor,\nsuspecting nothing of the matter, put up his box, took shipping,\nand, arriving safe in Dublin, went immediately to the Viceroy. A\ncouncil was called; and, after a speech, the doctor delivered his box,\nwhich being opened by the secretary, the first thing that presented\nitself was the knave of clubs. This sight surprised the Viceroy and\nthe council, but much more the doctor, who assured them that he had\nreceived a commission from the Queen, but what was come of it, he could\nnot tell. 'Well, well,' replied the Viceroy, 'you must go back for\nanother, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean time.' The doctor\naccordingly hastened across the channel; but at Holyhead he received\nthe intelligence of the Queen's death, and the accession of Elizabeth,\nwho settled on Mrs. Edmonds a pension of forty pounds a year, for\nsaving her Protestant subjects in Ireland.\n\n\nDRESS IN THE PROVINCES IN 1777.\n\nIn the days when mail-coaches had not begun to run, and when railroads\nand telegraphs had not entered into the imagination of man, the style\nof dress in the provinces was often very different to what it was in\nLondon, and on this account the following paragraph is deserving of\nrecord. We have taken it from a copy of the _Nottingham Journal_, of\nSeptember 6, 1777, where it is headed \"Ladies undress.\"--\"The ladies'\nfashionable undress, commonly called a _dishabille_, to pay visits in\nthe morning, also for walking in the country, on account of its being\nneat, light, and short, consists of a jacket, the front part of which\nis made like a sultana; the back part is cut out in four pieces; the\nmiddle part is not wider at the bottom than about half an inch; the\nsides in proportion very narrow. The materials most in vogue are, white\nmuslins with a coloured printed border chintz pattern, printed on\npurpose, in borders about an inch deep. The silks, which are chiefly\nlutestrings, are mostly trimmed with gauze. The gauze is tuckered upon\nthe bottom of the jacket, and edged with different-coloured fringes.\nThe petticoat is drawn up in a festoon, and tied with a true lover's\nknot, two tassels hanging down from each festoon. A short gauze apron,\nstriped or figured, cut in three scollops at the bottom, and trimmed\nround, with a broad trimming closely plaited; the middle of the apron\nhas three scollops reversed. The cuffs are puckered in the shape of a\ndouble pine, one in the front of the arm, the other behind, but the\nfront rather lower. To complete this dress for summer walking, the most\nelegant and delicate ladies carry a long japanned walking-cane, with\nan ivory hook head, and on the middle of the cane is fastened a silk\numbrella, or what the French call 'a parasol,' which defends them from\nthe sun and slight showers of rain. It opens by a spring, and it is\npushed up towards the head of the cane, when expanded for use. Hats,\nwith the feathers spread, chiefly made of chip, covered with fancy\ngauze puckered, variegated artificial flowers, bell tassels, and other\ndecorations, are worn large.\"\n\n\nA GROUP OF RELICS.\n\nThe Dagger of Raoul de Courcy, of which a representation is included\nin the cut over leaf, is an interesting relic, and its authenticity\ncan be relied upon. Raoul de Courcy, according to the old French\nchroniclers was a famous knight, the lord of a noble castle, built\nupon a mountain that overlooks the Valee d'Or, and the descendant of\nthat haughty noble who took for his motto: \"Neither king, nor prince,\nnor duke, nor earl am I, but I am the Lord of Courcy\"--in other words,\ngreater than them all. He fell in love with the wife of his neighbour,\nthe Lord of Fayel, and the beautiful Gabrielle loved him in return.\nOne night he went as usual to meet her in a tower of the Chateau of\nFayel, but found himself face to face with her lord and master. Raoul\nescaped, and Gabrielle was ever after closely guarded. Still they found\nthe opportunity for numerous interviews, at which they interchanged\ntheir vows of love. At length, Raoul, like a true knight, set out to\nfight beneath the banner of the Cross, for the possession of the Holy\nSepulchre. Ere he went, at a stolen meeting, he bade the fair Gabrielle\nadieu, giving to her \"a silken love-knot, with locks of his own hair\nworked in with the threads of silk.\" She gave him a costly ring,\nwhich she had always worn, and which he swore to wear till his last\nbreath. What tears were shed--what kisses were exchanged at this last\nmeeting!--for the Holy Land was very far from France in the Middle Ages.\n\nOn his arrival in Syria, Ralph de Courcy became known as the \"Knight of\nGreat Deeds,\" for it seems he could only conquer his love by acts of\ndaring valour. After braving every danger, he was at length wounded in\nthe side by an arrow, at the siege of Acre. The king of England took\nhim in his arms with respect, and gave him the kiss of hope, but the\narrow was a poisoned one, Raoul felt that he had little time to live.\nHe stretched out his arms towards France, exclaiming, \"France, France!\nGabrielle, Gabrielle!\"\n\nHe resolved to return home, but he was hardly on board the ship that\nwas to waft him there, ere he summoned his squire, and begged of him\nafter he was dead, to carry his heart to France, and to give it the\nLady Fayel, with all the armlets, diamonds, and other jewels which he\npossessed, as pledges of love and remembrance.\n\nThe heart was embalmed, and the squire sought to deliver his precious\nlegacy. He disguised himself in a mean dress, but unluckily met with\nthe Lord of Fayel, and, not knowing him, applied to him for information\nas to how admittance into the chateau could be gained. The Lord of\nFayel at once attacked and disarmed the poor squire, who was wounded in\nthe side with a hunting-hanger. The precious packet was soon torn open,\nand the heart discovered. The Lord of Fayel hastened home, and, giving\nit to his cook, desired that it might be dressed with such a sauce as\nwould make it very palatable.\n\nRaoul's heart was served up at table, and the fair Gabrielle partook of\nit. When she had finished eating, the Lord of Fayel said--\"Lady, was\nthe meat you eat good?\" She replied, that the meat was good. \"That is\nthe reason I had it cooked,\" said the Castellan; \"for know that this\nsame meat, which you found so good, was the heart of Raoul de Courcy.\"\n\n\"Lord of Fayel,\" said Gabrielle, \"the vengeance you have taken\ncorresponds with the meanness of your soul; you have made me eat his\nheart, but it is the last meat I shall ever eat. After such noble food\nI will never partake of any other.\"\n\nShe fainted, and only recovered her consciousness a few minutes before\ndeath. Such is the history of Raoul de Courcy and the Lady Gabrielle,\nas told in the language of the old chroniclers.\n\n[Illustration: 1. Dagger of Raoul de Courcy. 2. Embroidered Glove,\npresented by Mary Queen of Scotland, on the Morning of her Execution,\nto one of her Attendants. 3. Spanish Dagger of the Sixteenth Century.\n4. Ring, with Inscription, \"Behold the End,\" formerly the Property of\nCharles I. 5. Silver Locket, in Memory of the Execution of Charles I.]\n\nThe glove shown in the engraving is said to have been presented by\nthe unfortunate Queen Mary, on the morning of her execution, to a\nlady of the Denny family. The embroidery is of tasteful design, and\nmay be useful as a contrast with many of the patterns for needlework\nat present in fashion. Moreover, the sight of this memorial brings\nto recollection a few particulars in connection with this somewhat\nimportant part of both male and female costume.\n\nThe ancient Persians wore gloves, and the Romans, towards the decline\nof the empire, began to use them. In England they seemed to have been\nintroduced at a very early period. In the Anglo-Saxon literature we\nmeet with _glof_, a covering for the hand, and in the illuminated MSS.\nof that period the hands of bishops and other dignitaries are shown\nencased in gloves which, in many instances, were ornamented with costly\nrings; while on the tombs of kings and queens, &c., the hands are shown\nalmost invariably covered.\n\nIt is related of the patron Saint of Brussels, who lived in the sixth\ncentury, that she was famous for only two miracles: one consisted\nin lighting a candle by means of her prayers, after it had been\nextinguished; the other happened in this way--the fair saint being in a\nchurch barefooted, a person near, with respectful gallantry, took off\nhis gloves and attempted to place them under her feet. This comfort she\ndeclined; and, kicking the gloves away, they became suspended at some\nheight in the church for the space of an hour.\n\nOn opening the tomb of Edward the First, some years ago, in Westminster\nAbbey, the antiquaries assembled on that occasion were surprised to\nfind no traces of gloves. It has been suggested that in this instance\nlinen or silk gloves had been used at the burial of the king, but which\nare supposed to have perished with age.\n\nThe practice of throwing down a glove as a challenge, is mentioned by\nMatthew Paris as far back as 1245; and a glove was worn in the hat or\ncap as a mistress's favour, as the memorial of a friend, and as a mark\nto be challenged by an enemy.\n\nAt a time when the Borders were in a state of incessant strife, Barnard\nGilpin, who has been so justly called \"the Apostle of the North,\"\nwandered unharmed amid the confusion. On one occasion, entering a\nchurch (we believe that of Rothbury, Northumberland,) he observed a\nglove suspended in a conspicuous place, and was informed that it had\nbeen hung up as a challenge by some horse-trooper of the district. Mr.\nGilpin requested the sexton to remove it; who answered, \"Not I sir, I\ndare not do it.\" Then Gilpin called for a long staff, took down the\nglove, and put it in his bosom, and in the course of his sermon, said,\n\"I hear that there is one among you who has even in this sacred place\nhung up a glove in defiance;\" and then producing it in the midst of\nthe congregation, he challenged them to compete with him in acts of\nChristian charity.\n\nGloves, in former times, were common amongst other gifts offered to\nfriends at the new year; and they were received without offence by\nthe ministers of justice. It is related that Sir Thomas More, as Lord\nChancellor, decreed in favour of Mrs. Crooker against the Earl of\nArundel. On the following New-year's day, in token of her gratitude,\nshe presented Sir Thomas with a pair of gloves containing forty angels.\n\"It would be against good manners,\" said the chancellor, \"to forsake\nthe ladies' New-year's gift, and I accept the gloves; the lining you\nmay bestow otherwise.\"\n\nThe custom of the presentation by the sheriff of a pair of white gloves\nto the judge on the occasion of a maiden assize is still in vogue; and,\njudging from the reports in the newspapers, such presents appear to be\nof frequent occurrence.\n\n\"Gloves, as sweet as damask roses,\" were highly prized by Queen\nElizabeth, and, in her day, formed such an important item of a lady's\nexpenses, that a sum was generally allowed for \"glove money.\"\n\nThe old fashioned gloves have now a considerable value amongst the\ncurious. At the sale of the Earl of Arran's goods in 1759, the gloves\ngiven by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny, sold for 38_l._ 17s.; those\ngiven by James I. to Edward Denny, sold for 22_l._ 4s.; and the mitten\ngiven by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Denny's lady, for 25_l._ 4s.\n\nSome of the English towns which formerly were famous for the\nmanufacture of gloves, still keep up their character. Amongst these\nWoodstock, Yeovil, Leominster, Ludlow, and Worcester may be mentioned.\n\nThe Spanish dagger formerly belonged to a governor of Castile, in the\nsixteenth century, as is shown by the perforated fetter-lock on the\nblade; and although the initials are engraven there also, we have\nnot been able to discover any particulars of the original owner. The\nworkmanship and style of the dagger are of great beauty.\n\nThe little ring with the inscription \"Behold the end,\" was once the\nproperty of Charles I., and was presented by him to Bishop Juxon on the\nmorning of his execution. The silver lockets, on which are the emblems\nof death, were extensively manufactured and sold after the execution of\nCharles I. They generally bore the date of the king's death.\n\n\nTHE HAMSTER RAT.\n\nThere are various kinds of rats, and one of these is the Hamster, of\nthe genus Cricetus of Cuvier. Though rare in Europe to the west of\nthe Rhine, it is widely spread from that river to the Danube on the\nsouth-west, and north-easterly through a vast extent of country into\nSiberia. We notice it in our pages on account of its extraordinary\nhabits. Its life appears to be divided between eating and fighting.\nIt seems to have no other passion than that of rage, which induces it\nto attack every animal that comes in its way, without in the least\nattending to the superior strength of its enemy. Ignorant of the art\nof saving itself by flight, rather than yield, it will allow itself to\nbe beaten to pieces with a stick. If it seizes a man's hand, it must\nbe killed before it will quit its hold. The magnitude of the horse\nterrifies it as little as the address of the dog, which last is fond of\nhunting it. When the hamster perceives a dog at a distance, it begins\nby emptying its cheek-pouches if they happen to be filled with grain;\nit then blows them up so prodigiously, that the size of the head and\nneck greatly exceed that of the rest of the body. It raises itself on\nits hind legs, and thus darts upon the enemy. If it catches hold, it\nnever quits it but with the loss of its life; but the dog generally\nseizes it from behind, and strangles it. This ferocious disposition\nprevents the hamster from being at peace with any animal whatever. It\neven makes war against its own species. When two hamsters meet, they\nnever fail to attack each other, and the stronger always devours the\nweaker. A combat between a male and a female commonly lasts longer\nthan between two males. They begin by pursuing and biting each other,\nthen each of them retires aside, as if to take breath. After a short\ninterval, they renew the combat, and continue to fight till one of them\nfalls. The vanquished uniformly serves for a repast to the conqueror.\n\n\nKNAVERY OF THE PRIESTS IN BURMAH.\n\n[Illustration: Burmese Priest Preaching.]\n\nThe manner in which an uncivilized people will calmly submit to be\nduped by the extortionate rascality of their priests, is strongly\nexhibited in the kingdom of Burmah. The people who are there held in\nthe highest estimation are the priests. Any one who pleases may be\na priest. The priests pretend to be poor, and go out begging every\nmorning with their empty dishes in their hands; but they get them well\nfilled, and then return to their handsome houses, all shining with\ngold, in which they live together in plenty and in pride. They are\nexpected to dress in rags, to show that they are poor; but not liking\nrags, they cut up cloth in little pieces, and sew the pieces together\nto make their yellow robes; and this they call wearing rags. They\npretend to be so modest, that they do not like to show their faces, and\nso hide them with a fan, even when they preach; for they do preach in\ntheir way, that is, they tell foolish stories about Buddha. The name\nthey give him is Guadama, while the Chinese call him Fo. They have\nfive hundred and fifty stories written in their books about him; for\nthey say he was once a bird, a fly, an elephant, and all manner of\ncreatures, and was so good whatever he was, that at last he was born\nthe son of a king. Is it not marvellous that a whole people should, for\ngeneration after generation, not only submit to be thus scandalously\ncheated, but should also hold those who cheat them in the highest\nesteem? A curious fact, indeed, in the history of mankind.\n\n\nMIRACULOUS ESCAPE.\n\nOne of the most singular circumstances occurred a few years ago that\never came within our observation. Mr. Charlton, surgeon, of Wylam, near\nNewcastle-on-Tyne, having at a late hour been called upon in haste\nto give his attendance at Ovingham, borrowed a spirited horse of a\nfriend, that he might proceed with the least possible delay. He had\nnot gone above half a mile when he perceived his horse stumble, and\nhe immediately threw himself from the saddle. It was fortunate he did\nso, for the next instant his horse had fallen down a precipice of near\nseventy feet; and, incredible as it may seem, the animal sustained no\ninjury, but immediately dashed into the Tyne, and swam to the opposite\nside. Search was made after him, and hearing his master's voice, he was\nheard to neigh even across the water in token of recognition, and was\nultimately restored without speck or blemish.\n\n\nA NATIONAL TASTE FOR GAMING.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact that a taste for gaming appears in some cases\nto pervade a whole people, and to become one of the chief national\ncharacteristics. No where is this more manifest than among the\ninhabitants of the Asiatic Islands.\n\nGames of hazard are the favourites of these islanders. Some of them\nthey have learned of the Chinese, the most debauched of gamesters, and\nothers of the Portuguese. The only game of hazard, of native origin,\namong the Javanese consists in guessing the number of a certain kind of\nbeans which the players hold in their hands.\n\nBut of all the species of gaming that to which the Indian islanders\nare most fondly addicted is betting on the issue of the combats of\npugnacious animals, and particularly the cock. The breed in highest\nestimation is the produce of Celebes. The people of Java fight their\ncocks without spurs; but the Malays and natives of Celebes with an\nartificial spur, in the shape of a small scythe, which, notwithstanding\nits barbarous appearance, is in reality less destructive than the\ncontrivance employed among ourselves.\n\nQuail fighting also is extremely common in Java. The most famous breed\nof this bird is found in the island of Lombok; and it is a singular\nfact, that the female is used in these bitter but bloodless combats,\nthe male being comparatively small and timid. Neither do the Javanese\nhesitate to bet considerable sums on a battle between two crickets,\nwhich are excited to the conflict by the titillation of a blade of\ngrass judiciously applied to their noses. They will likewise risk their\nmoney on the strength and hardness of a nut, called _kamiri_; and much\nskill, patience and dexterity, are exercised in the selection and\nthe strife. At other times two paper kites decide the fortune of the\nparties; the object of each in this contest being to cut the string of\nhis adversary. On a favourable day fifty or sixty kites, raised for\nthis purpose, may sometimes be seen hovering over a Javanese city.\n\n\nA FRIEND TO PHYSIC.\n\nMr. Samuel Jessup, who died at Heckington, Lincolnshire, in 1817,\nwas an opulent grazier and of pill-taking memory. He lived in a\nvery eccentric way, as a bachelor, without known relatives, and at\nhis decease was possessed of a good fortune, notwithstanding a most\ninordinate craving for physic, by which he was distinguished for the\nlast thirty years of his life, as appeared on a trial for the amount of\nan apothecary's bill, at the assizes at Lincoln, a short time before\nMr. Jessup's death, wherein he was defendant. The evidence on the trial\naffords the following materials for the epitaph of the deceased, which\nwill not be transcended by the memorabilia of the life of any man. In\ntwenty-one years (from 1791 to 1816) the deceased took 226,934 pills\n(supplied by a most highly respectable apothecary and worthy person\nof the name of Wright, who resided at Bottesford), which is at the\nrate of 10,806 pills a year, or 29 pills each day; but as the patient\nbegun with a more moderate appetite, and increased it as he proceeded,\nin the last five years preceding 1816, he took the pills at the rate\nof 78 a-day, and in the year 1814, he swallowed not less than 51,590.\nNotwithstanding this, and the addition of 40,000 bottles of mixture,\nand juleps and electuaries, extending altogether to fifty-five closely\nwritten columns of an apothecary's bill, the deceased lived to attain\nthe advanced age of sixty-five years.\n\n\nAN INCULPATORY EPITAPH.\n\nThe following epitaph at West Allington, Devon, is deserving a place in\nour record of curiosities, inasmuch as it appears to be a successful\nattempt in making a monumental stone, both a memorial of the deceased,\nand also a means of reproving the parson of the parish:--\n\n \"Here lyeth the Body of\n Daniel Jeffery the Son of Michael\n Jeffery and Joan his Wife he\n was buried y{e} 22 day of September\n 1746 and in y{e} 18{th} year of his age.\n This Youth When In his sickness lay\n did for the minister Send + that he would\n Come and With him Pray + But he would not ate{nd}\n But When this young man Buried was\n The minister did him admit + he should be\n Caried into Church + that he might money geet\n By this you See what man will dwo + to geet\n money if he can + who did refuse to come\n pray + by the Foresaid young man.\"\n\n\nHUNTING A SHEEP KILLER.\n\nIt has been remarked, that when once a dog acquires wild habits, and\ntakes to killing sheep, he does far more mischief than a wild beast,\nsince to the cunning of the tamed animal he adds the ferocity of the\nuntamed. A remarkable case of this sort is mentioned in the following\nparagraph, which we have copied from the _Newcastle Courant_ of the\nyear 1823. It is also curious to note the account of the chase, and of\nthe joy which the whole country-side seems to have manifested at the\nslaughter of the animal.--September 21--A few days ago a dog of a most\ndestructive nature infested the fells of Caldbeck, Carrock, and High\nPike, about sixteen miles south of Carlisle. Little doubt remains of\nits being the same dog which has been so injurious to the farmers in\nthe northern parts of Northumberland, as no less than sixty sheep or\nupwards have fallen victims to its ferocity. It was thought proper to\nlose no time in attempting to destroy it, and Tuesday last was fixed\nupon. Sir H. Fletcher, Bart., of Clea Hall, offered his pack of hounds,\nand several other dogs with about fifty horsemen set out from Hesket\nNew-market. Several persons with firearms were stationed at different\nparts. The dog was descried upon an eminence of Carrock-fell, and on\nsight of the pursuers set off by way of Hesket New-market, Stocklewath,\nand Barwick-field, then returned by Cowclose, Castle Sowerby, and\nattempted to gain the fells again, when Mr. Sewell, farmer at Wedlock,\nlying in ambush at Mossdale, fired, and succeeded in shooting him. He\nappears to be of the Newfoundland breed, of a common size, wire-haired,\nand extremely lean. During the chase he frequently turned upon the dogs\nwhich were headmost, and so wounded several as obliged them to give up\nthe pursuit. The joy manifested on this occasion was uncommon, insomuch\nthat on the day following about thirty persons sat down to a dinner\nprovided at Mr. Tomlinson's, Hesket New-market. Upon the most moderate\ncomputation, excluding the various windings, the chase could not be\nless than thirty miles, and occupied no less than six hours.\n\n\nLONGEVITY.\n\nHenry Jenkins, of Ellerton-upon-Swale, Yorkshire, died 1670, aged 169.\nHe remembered the battle of Flodden Field, fought between the English\nand the Scotch, September 9, 1513, when he was about twelve years old.\nHe was then sent to Northallerton with a cartload of arrows, but an\nolder boy was employed to convey them to the army. At Ellerton there\nwas also living, at the same time, four or five other old men, reputed\nto be of the age of one hundred years and thereabouts, and they all\ntestified that Jenkins was an elderly man when first they knew him.\nJenkins was once butler to Lord Conyers; he perfectly remembered the\nAbbot of Fountain's Dale before the dissolution of the monasteries.\nIn the last century of his life he was a fisherman, and often swam in\nthe river after he was a hundred years old. In the King's Remembrancer\nOffice in the Exchequer, there is a record of a deposition in a cause,\ntaken April, 1665, at Kettlewell, Yorkshire, where Henry Jenkins, of\nEllerton-upon-Swale, labourer, aged 157 years, was produced, and made\ndeposition as a witness. He was buried at Bolton, Yorkshire. In 1743,\na monument, with a suitable inscription, was erected to perpetuate his\nmemory.\n\n\nTHE PULPIT OF JOHN KNOX AT ST. ANDREW'S.\n\nJohn Knox, the great precursor of the Protestant Reformation, having\nbeen driven from Edinburgh by the threats of his opponents, reluctantly\nwithdrew to St. Andrew's, in the county of Fife, where he continued\nwith undiminished boldness to denounce the enemies of the reformed\nfaith. It was in that place that he had first discoursed against the\ndegeneracy of the Church of Rome, and there he occupied the Pulpit\nrepresented in the accompanying engraving; and the following curious\nand characteristic anecdote connected with his preaching in it, is\nrelated in the Manuscript Diary of James Melville, then a student at\nthe college of St. Andrew's, and subsequently Minister of Anstruther.\n\"Of all the benefits I haid that year (1571) was the coming of that\nmaist notable profet and apostle of our nation, Mr. Jhone Knox, to St.\nAndrew's: who, be the faction of the Queen occupying the castell and\ntown of Edinburgh, was compellit to remove therefra, with a number\nof the best, and chusit to come to St. Andrew's. I heard him teache\nthere the Prophecies of Daniel that simmer, and the winter following;\nI haid my pen and my little buike, and tuk away sic things as I could\ncomprehend. In the opening up of his text he was moderat the space of\nan half houre; but when he onterit to application, he made me so to\n_grew_ (thrill) and tremble, that I could not hold a pen to wryt. He\nwas very weak. I saw him every day of his life go _hulie and fear_\n(hoolie and fairly--slowly and warily) with a furring of marticks,\n(martins) about his neck, a staffe in the ane hand, and gud godlie\nRichard Ballanden, his servand, haldin up the uther _oxier_ (arm-pit),\nfrom the Abbey to the Parish-Kirk; and be the said Richart and another\nservant lifted up to the Pulpit, whar he _behovit_ (was obliged) to\nlean at his first entry: bot er he had done with his sermone he was sa\nactive and vigourous, that he was lyk to _ding the pulpit in blads_\n(beat it into shivers) and flie out of it.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Pulpit of John Knox at St. Andrew's.]\n\nThe interesting relique commemorated in this curious extract, is\nof that stately style of carving which was introduced towards the\nclose of the sixteenth century in Protestant preaching-places; and\ncontinued, though of a more heavy character, throughout the whole of\nthe succeeding century. A scroll-bracket remaining on the preacher's\nleft hand, and some broken pieces at the top of the back, appear to\nindicate that it was once more extended, and had probably a canopy or\nsounding-board.\n\n\nTHE BIBLE USED BY KING CHARLES THE FIRST ON THE SCAFFOLD.\n\n[Illustration [++] Bible Used by Charles the First on the Scaffold.]\n\nThere is so much external evidence of the genuineness of this very\nbeautiful and interesting relique, that no doubt can exist as to its\nperfect authenticity, though the circumstance of the King having a\nBible with him on the scaffold, and of presenting it to Dr. Juxon, is\nnot mentioned in any contemporaneous account of his death. The only\nnotice of such a volume, as a dying gift, appears to be that recorded\nby Sir Thomas Herbert, in his narrative, which forms a part of the\n_Memoirs of the last Two Years of the Reign of that unparalleled Prince\nof ever-blessed memory, King Charles I._ London, 1702, 8vo, p. 129, in\nthe following passage:--\"The King thereupon gave him his hand to kiss:\nhaving the day before been graciously pleased under his royal hand,\nto give him a certificate that the said Mr. Herbert was not imposed\nupon him, but by his Majesty made choice of to attend him in his\nbed-chamber, and had served him with faithfulness and loyal affection.\nHis Majesty also delivered him his Bible, in the margin whereof he\nhad with his own hand, written many annotations and quotations, and\ncharged him to give it to the Prince so soon as he returned.\" That this\nmight be the book represented in our engraving, is rendered extremely\nprobable, by admitting that the King would be naturally anxious, that\nhis son should possess that very copy of the Scriptures which had been\nprovided for himself when he was Prince of Wales. It will be observed\nthat the cover of the volume is decorated with the badge of the\nPrincipality within the Garter, surmounted by a royal coronet in silver\ngilt, inclosed by an embroidered border; the initials C. P. apparently\nimproperly altered to an R., and the badges of the Rose and Thistle,\nupon a ground of blue velvet: and the book was therefore bound between\nthe death of Prince Henry in 1612, and the accession of King Charles\nto the throne in 1625, when such a coronet would be no longer used by\nhim. If the Bible here represented were that referred to by Herbert,\nthe circumstance of Bishop Juxon becoming the possessor of it might\nbe accounted for, by supposing that it was placed in his hands to be\ntransmitted to Charles II. with the George of the Order of the Garter\nbelonging to the late King, well known to have been given to that\nPrelate upon the scaffold, January 30th, 1648-9.\n\n\nLAMBETH WELLS, THE APOLLO GARDENS, AND FINCH'S GROTTO.\n\nAmong the numerous public places of amusement which arose upon the\nsuccess of Vauxhall Gardens, which were first opened about 1661, was\none in Lambeth Walk, known as Lambeth Wells. This place was first\nopened on account of its mineral waters, which were sold at a penny\nper quart. The music commenced at seven o'clock in the morning, and\nthe price of admission was three pence. A monthly concert under the\ndirection of Mr. Starling Goodwin, organist of St. Saviour's Church\nSouthwark, was afterwards held here, and Erasmus King, who had been\ncoachman to the celebrated Dr. Desaguliers, read lectures and exhibited\nexperiments in natural philosophy, the price of admission being raised\nto sixpence.\n\nThis place was open before 1698, and existed as late as 1752, when \"A\nPenny Wedding after the Scotch fashion, for the benefit of a young\ncouple,\" was advertised to be kept there.\n\nLambeth Wells at length becoming a public nuisance, the premises were\nshut up, and ultimately let as a Methodist Meeting-house. The music\ngallery was used as a pulpit; but the preacher being greatly disturbed\nin his enthusiastic harangues, he was obliged to quit, when the\npremises were converted to various purposes, except the dwelling, which\nis now known by the sign of the Fountain public-house.\n\nOn the site of Messrs. Maudslay's factory, in the Westminster Road,\nformerly stood the Apollo Gardens. This place of amusement was opened\nin 1788, by an ingenious musician named Clagget, who published, in\n1793, a small quarto pamphlet, entitled \"Musical Phenomena: An Organ\nmade without Pipes, Strings, Bells, or Glasses; the only Instrument in\nthe world that will never require to be re-tuned. A Cromatic Trumpet,\ncapable of producing just Intervals, and regular Melodies in all Keys,\nwithout undergoing any change whatever. A French Horn answering the\nabove description of the Trumpet.\"\n\nThe Apollo Gardens had one spacious room elegantly fitted up, and\ndecorated in taste suitably to its intention. The gardens consisted\nof a number of elegant pavilions or alcoves, well adapted for the\naccommodation of different companies; they were ornamented chiefly with\na succession of paintings, relating to romantic histories, particularly\nthe different adventures of Don Quixote. It had a fine orchestra\nerected in the centre of the gardens. The place being ultimately\nconverted into a receptacle for loose and dissolute characters, the\nmagistracy very properly suppressed it about the year 1799.\n\nIn Gravel Lane, Southwark, was Finch's Grotto, a public garden and\nplace of amusement, so named from William Finch, the proprietor. The\nGrotto was opened to the public in 1770 upon the plan of Vauxhall\ngardens. An orchestra and a band of musicians, added to the rural\ncharacter of the place, and drew a numerous body of visitors.\n\nVery little is known about the Grotto, but it is supposed to have been\nclosed early in the present century.\n\n\nTHE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OR, ORNITHORYNCHUS PARADOXUS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Duck-billed Platypus.]\n\nOf the genus _Ornithorynchus_ only one species--the _Paradoxus_--has\nyet been discovered in the whole world, and it is, therefore, one of\nthe great curiosities of animal life. It appears to be a union of a\nquadruped and a bird, and is only to be found in New Holland, where it\ninhabits the reeds by the side of rivers. Our engraving represents it\nvery accurately. It is about twenty inches long, having a flattened\nbody, somewhat like the otter, and is clothed with a dark soft fur.\nThe elongated nose very much resembles the beak of a duck, like which\nthese animals feed upon water insects, shell-fish, and aquatic plants.\nThe feet are five-toed and webbed, and in the fore-feet this membrane\nextends beyond the nails: the male is armed with a spur on each hind\nleg. This curious animal, in which a duck's beak is united to the body\nof a quadruped, rolls itself up like a hedgehog, when it sleeps in its\nburrows on the banks of the streams whence its food is derived.\n\n\nORIGIN OF BOLTON ABBEY.\n\nAbout midway up the Vale of Bolton, amidst the gloomy recesses of\nthe woods, the Wharfe, which is otherwise a wide and shallow river,\nis suddenly contracted by two huge rocks, which approach each other\nso nearly, that the country folk, or rather the villagers, call it\nthe _Strid_, because adventurous people stride or leap from one rock\nto the other. In ancient days, the whole of this valley belonged to\nBaron Romillie, whose eldest son having died, left a younger brother,\nof the name of EGREMONT, sole heir of the domains and inheritance of\nthis family. One day, however, when this young man, familiarly called\nthe \"Boy of Egremont,\" was returning from hunting with the hounds in\nthe _leash_, he, as he had done many times before, was going to leap\nthe _Strid_, when, just as he had attempted it, the hounds held back,\nand precipitated him headlong into the deep and awful chasm, which the\nimpetuous fall of water (thus produced by the sudden contraction of the\nriver) had worn in the base of the two rude rocks, and he was never\nseen afterwards. The Baron, being now left childless, built the Abbey,\nand endowed it with the domains of Bolton.\n\n\nLENGTH OF LIFE WITHOUT BODILY EXERCISE.\n\nThe Rev. William Davies, Rector of Staunton-upon-Wye, and Vicar of\nAll Saints, Hereford, died 1790, aged 105. The life of this gentleman\ndisplays one of the most extraordinary instances of departure from all\nthose rules of temperance and exercise, which so much influence the\nlives of the mass of mankind, that is, probably to be found in the\nwhole records of longevity. During the last thirty-five years of his\nlife, he never used any other exercise than that of just slipping his\nfeet, one before the other, from room to room; and they never after\nthat time were raised, but to go down or up stairs, a task, however, to\nwhich he seldom subjected himself. His breakfast was hearty; consisting\nof hot _rolls well buttered_, with a plentiful supply of tea or coffee.\nHis dinner was substantial, and frequently consisted of a variety of\ndishes. At supper he generally eat hot roast meat, and always drank\nwine, though never to excess. Though nearly blind for a number of\nyears, he was always cheerful in his manners, and entertaining in his\nconversation, and was much beloved by all who knew him. He had neither\ngout, stone, paralysis, rheumatism, nor any of those disagreeable\ninfirmities which mostly attend old age; but died peaceably in the\nfull possession of all his faculties, mental and corporeal, save his\neyesight. Like most long livers he was very short of stature.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY FASHION IN CIGARS.\n\nA taste for tobacco in some form or other seems to extend over the\nwhole inhabitable globe. In this respect it matters not whether nations\nare civilized or uncivilized; and however completely they may differ\nfrom each other in everything else, they all agree in a fondness for\n\"the weed.\" In the mode, however, of indulging in the luxury, there is\nthe greatest diversity, and no where is this more strikingly manifested\nthan in the Philippine Islands.\n\n\"It is not till evening that the inhabitants of the higher class begin\nto stir; till that time they are occupied in eating, sleeping, and\nsmoking tobacco, which is no where more general than on the island of\nLuzon; for children, before they can walk, begin to smoke segars. The\nwomen carry their fondness for it to a greater height than the men;\nfor, not content with the usual small segars, they have others made\nfor them, which are a foot long and proportionably thick. These are\nhere called the women's segars, and it is a most ludicrous sight to see\nelegant ladies taking their evening walk, with these burning brands in\ntheir mouths.\"\n\nHow widely does the fashion in Luzon differ from the fashion at Paris!\n\n\nNOVEL WAY OF PURCHASING A HUSBAND.\n\nThe following paragraph, which we have copied from a magazine of 1790,\nnot only gives us a curious instance of female determination in the\npursuit of a husband, but tells us of the price which human hair was\nworth at the period when ladies wore such monstrous head-dresses of\nfalse curls.\n\n\"An Oxfordshire lass was lately courted by a young man of that country,\nwho was not willing to marry her unless her friends could advance\n50_l._ for her portion; which they being incapable of doing, the lass\ncame to London to try her fortune, where she met with a good chapman\nin the Strand, who made a purchase of her hair (which was delicately\nlong and light), and gave her _sixty pounds_ for it, being 20 ounces\nat 3_l. an ounce_; with which money she joyfully returned into the\ncountry, and bought her a husband.\"\n\n\nGLOVES.--ORIGIN OF \"PIN MONEY.\"\n\nGloves were very common as New Year's gifts. For many hundreds of years\nafter their introduction into England in the 10th century, they were\nworn only by the most opulent classes of society, and hence constituted\na valuable present. They are often named in old records. Exchange of\ngloves was at one period a mode of investiture into possession of\nproperty, as amongst the ancient Jews was that of a shoe or sandal; and\n\"glove-money\" is to this day presented by High Sheriffs to the officers\nof their courts, upon occasion of a maiden assize, or one in which\nno cause is tried. Pins, which at the commencement of the sixteenth\ncentury displaced the wooden skewers previously in use, became a\npresent of similar consequence; and at their first introduction were\nconsidered of so much importance in female dress, that \"pin-money\" grew\ninto the denomination of dower, which, by the caution of parents, or\njustice of a consort, was settled upon a lady at her marriage.\n\n\nHABITS AND HABITATIONS OF THE DYAKS OF BORNEO.\n\nIt is impossible to appreciate properly the courage, determination,\nand skill which have been displayed by the gallant Sir James Brooke,\nunless we make ourselves acquainted with the character and habits of\nthe extraordinary race of men over whom he triumphed. The Dyaks are a\nsavage people who inhabit Borneo. They lived there before the Malays\ncame, and they have been obliged to submit to them. They are savages\nindeed. They are darker than the Malays; yet they are not black; their\nskin is only the colour of copper. Their hair is cut short in front,\nbut streams down their backs; their large mouths show a quantity of\nblack teeth, made black by chewing the betel-nut. They wear but very\nlittle clothing, but they adorn their ears and arms, and legs, with\nnumbers of brass rings. Their looks are wild and fierce, but not\ncunning like the looks of the Malays. They are not Mahomedans; they\nhave hardly any religion at all. They believe there are some gods, but\nthey know hardly anything about them, and they do not want to know.\nThey neither make images to the gods, nor say prayers to them. They\nlive like the beasts, thinking only of this life; yet they are more\nunhappy than beasts, for they imagine there are evil spirits among the\nwoods and hills, watching to do them harm. It is often hard to persuade\nthem to go to the top of a mountain, where they say evil spirits dwell.\nSuch a people would be more ready to listen to a missionary than those\nwho have idols, and temples, and priests, and sacred books.\n\n[Illustration: Dyak With Heads.]\n\n[Illustration: Head of a Dyak.]\n\nTheir wickedness is very great. It is their chief delight to get the\nheads of their enemies. There are a great many different tribes of\nDyaks, and each tribe tries to cut off the heads of other tribes. The\nDyaks who live by the sea are the most cruel; they go out into the\nboats to rob and bring home, not _slaves_, but HEADS!! And how do they\ntreat a head when they get it? They take out the brains, and then they\ndry it in the smoke, with the flesh and hair still on; then they put a\nstring through it, and fasten it to their waists. The evening that they\nhave got some new heads, the warriors dance with delight,--their heads\ndangling by their sides;--and they turn round in the dance, and gaze\nupon their heads,--and shout,--and yell with triumph! At night they\nstill keep the heads near them; and in the day they play with them,\nas children with their dolls, talking to them, putting food in their\nmouths, and the betel-nut between their ghastly lips. After wearing the\nheads many days, they hang them up to the ceilings of their rooms.\n\nNo English lord thinks so much of his pictures, as the Dyaks do of\ntheir heads. They think these heads are the finest ornaments of their\nhouses. The man who has _most_ heads, is considered the _greatest_ man.\nA man who has _no heads_ is despised! If he wishes to be respected, he\nmust get a head as soon as he can. Sometimes a man, in order to get a\nhead, will go out to look for a poor fisherman, who has done him no\nharm, and will come back with his head. When the Dyaks fight against\ntheir enemies, they try to get, not only the heads of men, but also\nthe heads of women and children. How dreadful it must be to see a poor\nbaby's head hanging from the ceiling! There was a Dyak who lost all\nhis property by fire, but he cared not for losing anything, so much as\nfor losing his precious heads; nothing could console him for his loss;\nsome of them he had cut off himself, and others had been cut off by his\nfather, and left to him!\n\n[Illustration: House of Sea Dyaks.]\n\n[Illustration: Skull House.]\n\nPeople who are so bent on killing, as these Dyaks are, must have many\nenemies. The Dyaks are always in fear of being attacked by their\nenemies. They are afraid of living in lonely cottages; they think it a\nbetter plan for a great many to live together, that they may be able\nto defend themselves, if surprised in the night. Four hundred Dyaks\nwill live together in one house. The house is very large. To make it\nmore safe, it is built upon very high posts, and there are ladders to\nget up by. The posts are sometimes forty feet high; so that when you\nare in the house, you find yourself as high as the tall trees. There\nis one very large room, where all the men and women sit, and talk,\nand do their work in the day. The women pound the rice, and weave the\nmats, while the men make weapons of war, and the little children play\nabout. There is always much noise and confusion in this room. There are\na great many doors along one side of the long room; and each of these\ndoors leads into a small room where a family lives! the parents, the\nbabies, and the girls sleep there, while the boys of the family sleep\nin the large room, that has just been described.\n\nThe Hill Dyaks do not live in houses quite so large. Yet several\nfamilies inhabit the same house. In the midst of their villages, there\nis always one house where the boys sleep. In this house all the heads\nof the village are kept. The house is round, and built on posts, and\nthe entrance is underneath, through the floor. As this is the best\nhouse in the village, travellers are always brought to this house to\nsleep. Think how dreadful it must be, when you wake in the night to see\nthirty or forty horrible heads, dangling from the ceiling! The wind,\ntoo, which comes in through little doors in the roof, blows the heads\nabout; so that they knock against each other, and seem almost as if\nthey were still alive. This is the Dead-house. Such are the men whom\nthe Rajah Brooke subdued!\n\n\nSCOTTISH WILD CATTLE.\n\nThe wild white cattle, a few of which are still to be found in\nChatelherault Park, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, in Lanarkshire,\nare great objects of curiosity, inasmuch as they are identical with the\nprimitive source of all our domestic cattle.\n\nThe following description of their habits is abridged from an article\nby the Rev. W. Patrick, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture:--\n\n\"I am inclined to believe that the Hamilton breed of cattle is the\noldest in Scotland, or perhaps in Britain. Although Lord Tankerville\nhas said they have 'no wild habits,' I am convinced, from personal\nobservation, that this is one of their peculiar features. In browsing\ntheir extensive pasture, they always keep close together, never\nscattering or straggling over it, a peculiarity which does not belong\nto the Kyloe, or any other breed, from the wildest or most inhospitable\nregions of the Highlands. The white cows are also remarkable for their\nsystematic manner of feeding. At different periods of the year their\ntactics are different, but by those acquainted with their habits they\nare always found about the same part of the forest at the same hour of\nthe day. In the height of summer, they always bivouac for the night\ntowards the northern extremity of the forest; from this point they\nstart in the morning, and browse to the southern extremity, and return\nat sunset to their old rendezvous; and during these perambulations they\nalways feed _en masse_.\n\n\"The bulls are seldom ill-natured, but when they are so they display\na disposition more than ordinarily savage, cunning, pertinacious,\nand revengeful. A poor bird-catcher, when exercising his vocation\namong the 'Old Oaks,' as the park is familiarly called, chanced to be\nattacked by a savage bull. By great exertion he gained a tree before\nhis assailant made up to him. Here he had occasion to observe the\nhabits of the animal. It did not roar or bellow, but merely grunted,\nthe whole body quivered with passion and savage rage, and he frequently\nattacked the tree with his head and hoofs. Finding all to no purpose,\nhe left off the vain attempt, began to browse, and removed to some\ndistance from the tree. The bird-catcher tried to descend, but this\nwatchful Cerberus was again instantly at his post, and it was not till\nafter six hours' imprisonment, and various bouts at 'bo-peep' as above,\nthat the unfortunate man was relieved by some shepherds with their\ndogs. A writer's apprentice, who had been at the village of Quarter on\nbusiness, and who returned by the 'Oaks' as a 'near-hand cut,' was also\nattacked by one of these savage brutes, near the northern extremity of\nthe forest. He was fortunate, however, in getting up a tree, but was\nwatched by the bull, and kept there during the whole of the night, and\ntill near two o'clock the next day.\n\n\"These animals are never taken and killed like other cattle, but are\nalways shot in the field. I once went to see a bull and some cows\ndestroyed in this manner--not by any means for the sake of the sight,\nbut to observe the manner and habits of the animal under peculiar\ncircumstances. When the shooters approached, they, as usual, scampered\noff in a body, then stood still, tossed their heads on high, and\nseemed to snuff the wind; the manoeuvre was often repeated, till they\ngot so hard pressed (and seemingly having a sort of half-idea of the\ntragedy which was to be performed), that they at length ran furiously\nin a mass, always preferring the sides of the fence and sheltered\nsituations, and dexterously taking advantage of any inequality in\nthe ground, or other circumstances, to conceal themselves from the\nassailing foe. In their flight, the bulls, or stronger of the flock,\nalways took the lead! a smoke ascended from them which could be seen at\na great distance; and they were often so close together, like sheep,\nthat a carpet would have covered them. The cows which had young, on the\nfirst 'tug of war,' all retreated to the thickets where their calves\nwere concealed; from prudential motives, they are never, if possible,\nmolested. These and other wild habits I can testify to be inherent\nin the race, and are well known to all who have an opportunity of\nacquainting themselves with them.\"\n\n\nBELLS OF THE ANCIENTS.\n\nBells were known in the earliest ages of which we have any certain\naccount. But the bells of the ancients were very small in comparison\nwith those of modern times, since, according to Polydore Virgil, the\ninvention of such as are hung in the towers, or steeples of Christian\nchurches, did not occur till the latter end of the fourth, or beginning\nof the fifth century; when they were introduced by Paulinus, Bishop of\nNola. The Jews certainly employed bells, since they are spoken of in\nScriptures; and the mention of them by Thucydides, Diodorus Siculus,\nSuidas, Aristophanes, and other ancient writers, proves that they\nwere used in Greece; while Plautus, Ovid, Tibullus, Statius, and a\nvariety of Latin authors, speak of bells as in use among the Romans.\nBut these bells of the ancients were all made for the hand; or were\nof a size to be affixed to other musical instruments, like those\nwhich were occasionally appended to the drum. Whether, when detached\nfrom other instruments, they were used on other occasions, or only in\nparticular ceremonies, or as signals, is not known; nor have we any\nclue by which to guess whether they were tuned in concordance with any\nscale, or whether they were unisons to each other, or not formed to\nany particular pitch, but merely used as sonorous auxiliaries to other\ninstruments, without any regard to their agreement of tone, either with\none another, or with the instruments they accompanied.\n\n\nEARTHQUAKE AT NOTTINGHAM IN 1816.\n\nEarthquakes are providentially occurrences of great rarity in England.\nThe one which took place on the 17th of March, 1816, was one of the\nmost dangerous that has ever been experienced in this kingdom. It\nextended over a vast area of country, and in some localities its\neffects were felt very severely. As a proof of this, we have copied the\nfollowing paragraph from a Nottingham paper of the day:--\n\nNottingham, in common with a great part of the North Midland district,\nexperienced a smart shock of an earthquake. It was felt at half-past\ntwelve p.m., and as Divine service, it being Sunday, was not over\nat the churches, great alarm was expressed by the congregations. At\nSt. Peter's and St. Nicholas's, the consternation was so great, that\nservice had to be suspended for a few seconds, and one lady was borne\nout in a state of insensibility. The pillars supporting St. Mary's\ntower shook very visibly, but, fortunately, the attention of the\ncrowded congregation was so engrossed by the eloquence of the sheriff's\nchaplain, and the presence of the Judge and his retinue, that the alarm\nwas but slight, or the rush and loss of life might have been great.\nIn various parts of the town and neighbourhood, glasses were shaken\noff of shelves, articles of domestic use displaced, window-casements\nthrown open, and other indications manifest of the influence of the\nsubterranean movement.\n\n\nSINGULAR STATE OF PRESERVATION OF A DEAD BODY.\n\nAccording to a statement in Holinshed, in 1495, while digging for a\nfoundation for the church of St. Mary-at-hill, in London, the body of\nAlice Hackney was discovered. It had been buried 175 years, and yet the\nskin was whole, and the joint pliable. It was kept above ground four\ndays without annoyance, and then re-interred.\n\n\nASYLUM FOR DESTITUTE CATS.\n\nOf all the curious charitable institutions in the world, the most\ncurious probably is the Cat Asylum at Aleppo, which is attached to\none of the mosques there, and was founded by a misanthropic old Turk,\nwho being possessed of large granaries, was much annoyed by rats and\nmice, to rid himself of which he employed a legion of cats, who so\neffectually rendered him service, that in return he left them a sum\nin the Turkish funds, with strict injunctions that all destitute\nand sickly cats should be provided for, till such time as they took\nthemselves off again. In 1845, when a famine was ravaging in all\nNorth Syria--when scores of poor people were dropping down in the\nstreets from sheer exhaustion and want, and dying there by dozens per\ndiem before the eyes of their well-to-do fellow creatures, men might\ndaily be encountered carrying away sack loads of cats to be fed up and\nfeasted on the proceeds of the last will and testament of that vagabond\nold Turk, whilst fellow creatures were permitted to perish.\n\n\nTOMB OF SAINT GEORGE.\n\nThe tomb of Saint George, England's patron-saint, is situated in the\nBay of Kesrouan, between the Nahr-et-Kelb and Batroun, surrounded by\nluxuriant gardens and groups of romantic-looking villages and convents.\nThe Arabs venerate St. George, whom they style Mar Djurios, and point\nto a small ruined chapel (as in our engraving), originally dedicated to\nhim to commemorate his victory over the dragon, which, they say, took\nplace near to the spot. The tradition is, that the dragon was about to\ndevour the king of Beyrout's daughter, when St. George slew him, and\nthus saved the lady fair; and the credulous natives point to a kind of\nwell, upwards of sixty feet deep, where they stoutly affirm that the\ndragon used to come out to feed upon his victims.\n\n[Illustration [++] Tomb of Saint George.]\n\nAll this is very curious, inasmuch as it gives an Arabian interest to\nthe career of the patron saint of England, whose portrait, in the act\nof slaying the dragon, constitutes the reverse of most English coin,\nand is regarded as the embodiment of English valour.\n\n\nBEGGARS SELECTED AS MODELS BY PAINTERS.\n\nMichael Angelo Buonarotti often drew from beggars; and report says,\nthat in the early part of his life, when he had not the means of paying\nthem in money, he would make an additional sketch, and, presenting it\nto the party, desire him to take it to some particular person, who\nwould purchase it. Fuseli, in his life of Michael Angelo, says that \"a\nbeggar rose from his hand the patriarch of poverty.\" The same artist,\nin one of his lectures, delivered at the Royal Academy, also observes,\nthat \"Michael Angelo ennobled his beggars into Patriarchs and Prophets,\nin the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.\"\n\nAnnibal Caracci frequently drew subjects in low life. His _Cries of\nBologna_, etched by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli: pub. 1660, in folio, are\nevidently from real characters. It will also be recollected, that some\nof the finest productions of Murillo, Jan Miel, and Drogsloot, are\nbeggars. Callot's twenty-four beggars are evidently from nature; and\namong Rembrandt's etchings are to be found twenty-three plates of this\ndescription.\n\nSir Joshua Reynolds frequently painted from beggars, and from these\npeople have originated some of his finest pictures, particularly\nhis \"Mercury as a Pickpocket,\" and \"Cupid as a Link-boy.\" His Count\nUgolino was painted from a paviour, soon after he had left St. George's\nHospital, from a severe fever. Mr. West painted the portrait of a\nbeggar, on the day when he became a hundred years old; and considered\nhim as a pensioner for several years afterwards. The same person was\nused also as a model, by Copley, Opie, &c. Who can forget the lovely\ncountenance of Gainsborough's \"Shepherd's Boy,\" that has once seen\nEarlom's excellent engraving from it? He was a lad, well known as a\nbeggar to those who walked St. James's-street seventy years ago. The\nmodel for the celebrated picture of the \"Woodman,\" by the same artist,\ndied in the Borough, at the venerable age of 107.\n\nMr. Nollekens, in 1778, when modelling the bust of Dr. Johnson,\nwho then wore a wig, called in a beggar to sit for the hair. The\nsame artist was not equally fortunate in the locks of another great\ncharacter; for on his application to a beggar for the like purpose, the\nfellow declined to sit, with an observation that three half-crowns were\nnot sufficient for the trouble.\n\n\nSUPPLY OF WATER FOR OLD LONDON.\n\nLeaden pipes conveyed spring water to London city from Tyburn in 1236;\nand in 1285 the first great conduit of lead was begun there. In 1442\nHenry VI. granted to John Hatherley, Mayor, license to take up 200\nfother of lead. The pipes from Highbury brought in the water in 1483.\nWe may learn how much was thought of this useful work by the fact that\nthe Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and many worshipful persons used to ride and\nview the conduit heads at Tyburn; and after dinner there, somewhat\ndifferent from recent sportsmen, they hunted a fox.\n\nThe water-works at London Bridge were established in 1512. In 1534,\ntwo-fifteenths were granted by the Common Council for defraying the\nexpense of bringing water from Hackney to Aldgate to a conduit. But\nPeter Morris did not bring his supply of water to the highest parts of\nLondon till the year 1569, and Sir Hugh Middleton's far-famed New River\nwas only rendered available in 1618, that is, a space of sixty-eight\nyears after the introduction of a stream of pure water into the western\nparts of the town of Lyme in Dorset.\n\n\nCOMBINATION OF INSTINCT AND FORCE OF HABIT IN A DOG.\n\nA dog which had been accustomed to go with his master regularly for\nsome time to Penkridge church, still continued to go there by himself\nevery Sunday for a whole year, while the edifice was under repair, and\ndivine service was not held. Whenever he could, he would get into the\nfamily pew and there pass the proper time. His instinct enabled him to\nperceive the occasion, and to measure the regular time, but it could\ncarry him no further. A remarkable exemplification of the difference\nbetween instinct and reason.\n\n\nYORKSHIRE IN THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nAnecdotes which are apparently trifling in themselves, are often of\nimportance, as exhibiting in a striking light the dialect and social\ncondition of the people, and the period they refer to. An instance of\nthis is the following, which has been recorded as the bellman's cry at\nRipon, on the occasion of a great frost and fall of snow, about 1780:--\n\n\"I is to gie notidge, that Joanie Pickersgill yeats yewn to neit, to\nmoarn at moarn, an to moarn at neit, an nea langer, as lang as storm\nhods, 'cause he can git na mare eldin.\"\n\n _The Translation._\n\nI am to give notice, that John Pickersgill heats his oven to-night,\nto-morrow morning, and to-morrow at night, and no longer as long as the\nstorm lasts, because he can get no more fuel.\n\n\nINSTANCE OF MANY AGED PERSONS DYING ABOUT THE SAME DATE.\n\nThe following is taken from a copy of Nile's \"Weekly Register,\"\npublished at Baltimore, in the month of January, 1823. It is the list\nof deaths which had been notified to the paper within one week, and we\ngive it, as a singular instance of the decease of so many persons above\none hundred years old being announced in the same paragraph.\n\n\"In Franklin co. Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Campbell, aged 104--several\nof her relatives had reached 100.--At Troy, N. Y., Ann Fowler,\n100.--At Tyngsboro', N. Y., Abigail Hadlock, 104.--At Somers, N. Y.,\nMichael Makeel, 103.--At Rutland, Oswego, N. Y., Mrs. Buroy, 110.--At\nBrunswick, Maine, Gen. James W. Ryan, 107--his wife is yet living,\naged 94; they were married together 75 years before his death.--At\nGeorgetown, Col. Yarrow, a Moor, (supposed) 135!--At the city of New\nYork, a woman, a native of St. Domingo, 106. At Sargus, Mass., Mrs.\nEdwards, 101.--In Edgecomb county, N. C., William Spicer, aged about\n112.--In Boston, William Homer, 116.\"\n\n\nCORPSE BEARERS DURING THE PLAGUE.\n\nOf all the calamities with which a great city is infested, there can\nbe none so truly awful as that of a plague, when the street doors of\nthe houses that were visited with the dreadful pest were padlocked up,\nand only accessible to the surgeons and medical men, whose melancholy\nduty frequently exposed them even to death itself; and when the\nfronts of the houses were pasted over with large bills exhibiting red\ncrosses, to denote that in such houses the pestilence was raging, and\nrequesting the solitary passenger, to pray that the Lord might have\nmercy upon those who were confined within. Of these bills there are\nmany extant in the libraries of the curious, some of which have borders\nengraved on wood printed in black, displaying figures of skeletons,\nbones, and coffins They also contain various recipes for the cure of\nthe distemper. The Lady Arundel, and other persons of distinction,\npublished their methods for making what was then called plague-water,\nand which are to be found in many of the rare books on cookery of\nthe time; but happily for London, it has not been visited by this\naffliction since 1665, a circumstance owing probably to the Great Fire\nin the succeeding year, which consumed so many old and deplorable\nbuildings, then standing in narrow streets and places so confined, that\nit was hardly possible to know where any pest would stop.\n\n[Illustration [++] Corpse Bearer.]\n\nEvery one who inspects Agas's Plan of London, engraved in the reign of\nElizabeth, as well as those published subsequently to the rebuilding\nof the City after the fire, must acknowledge the great improvements\nas to the houses, the widening of the streets, and the free admission\nof fresh air. It is to be hoped, and indeed we may conclude from the\nvery great and daily improvements on that most excellent plan of\nwidening streets, that this great city will never again witness such\nvisitations.\n\nWhen the plague was at its height, perhaps nothing could have been more\nsilently or solemnly conducted than the removal of the dead to the\nvarious pits round London, that were opened for their reception; and it\nwas the business of Corpse Bearers, such as the one exhibited in the\npreceding engraving, to give directions to the carmen, who went through\nthe city with bells, which they rang, at the same time crying \"Bring\nout your Dead.\" This melancholy description may be closed, by observing\nthat many parts of London, particularly those leading to the Courts of\nWestminster, were so little trodden down, that the grass grew in the\nmiddle of the streets.\n\n\nA MEMENTO-MORI WATCH.\n\nThe curious relic, of which we herewith give an engraving, was\npresented by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her Maid of Honour, Mary Seaton,\nof the house of Wintoun, one of the four celebrated Maries, who were\nMaids of Honour to her Majesty.\n\n \"Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,\n The night she'll hae but three;\n There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton,\n And Marie Carmichael and me.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Memento-Mori Watch.]\n\nThe watch is of silver, in the form of a skull. On the forehead of the\nskull is the figure of Death, with his scythe and sand-glass; he stands\nbetween a palace on the one hand, and a cottage on the other, with\nhis toes applied equally to the door of each, and around this is the\nlegend from Horace \"_Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas\nRegumque turres_.\" On the opposite, or posterior part of the skull, is\na representation of Time, devouring all things. He also has a scythe,\nand near him is the serpent with its tail in its mouth, being an\nemblem of eternity; this is surrounded by another legend from Horace,\n\"_Tempus edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustas_.\" The upper part of the\nskull is divided into two compartments: on one is represented our first\nparents in the garden of Eden, attended by some of the animals, with\nthe motto, \"_Peccando perditionem miseriam aeternam posteris meruere_.\"\nThe opposite compartment is filled with the subject of the salvation\nof lost man by the crucifixion of our Saviour, who is represented as\nsuffering between the two thieves, whilst the Mary's are in adoration\nbelow; the motto to this is \"_Sic justitiae satisfecit, mortem superavit\nsalutem comparavit_.\" Running below these compartments on both sides,\nthere is an open work of about an inch in width, to permit the sound to\ncome more freely out when the watch strikes. This is formed of emblems\nbelonging to the crucifixion, scourges of various kinds, swords, the\nflagon and cup of the Eucharist, the cross, pincers, lantern used in\nthe garden, spears of different kinds, and one with the sponge on its\npoint, thongs, ladder, the coat without seam, and the dice that were\nthrown for it, the hammer and nails, and the crown of thorns. Under all\nthese is the motto, \"_Scala caeli ad gloriam via_.\"\n\nThe watch is opened by reversing the skull, and placing the upper\npart of it in the hollow of the hand, and then lifting the under jaw\nwhich rises on a hinge. Inside, on the plate, which thus may be called\nthe lid, is a representation of the Holy Family in the stable, with\nthe infant Jesus laid in the manger, and angels ministering to him;\nin the upper part an angel is seen descending with a scroll on which\nis written, \"_Gloria excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae\nvolu----_\" In the distance are the shepherds with their flocks, and one\nof the men is in the act of performing on a cornemuse. The works of\nthe watch occupy the position of the brains in the skull itself, the\ndial plate being on a flat where the roof of the mouth and the parts\nbehind it under the base of the brain, are to be found in the real\nsubject. The dial plate is of silver, and it is fixed within a golden\ncircle richly carved in a scroll pattern. The hours are marked in large\nRoman letters, and within them is the figure of Saturn devouring his\nchildren, with this relative legend round the outer rim of the flat,\n\"_Sicut meis sic et omnibus idem_.\"\n\nLifting up the body of the works on the hinges by which they are\nattached, they are found to be wonderfully entire. There is no date,\nbut the maker's name, with the place of manufacture, \"Moyse, Blois,\"\nare distinctly engraven. Blois was the place where it is believed\nwatches were first made, and this suggests the probability of the\nopinion that the watch was expressly ordered by Queen Mary at Blois,\nwhen she went there with her husband, the Dauphin, previous to his\ndeath. The watch appears to have been originally constructed with\ncatgut, instead of the chain which it now has, which must have been\na more modern addition. It is now in perfect order, and performs\nwonderfully well, though it requires to be wound up within twenty-six\nhours to keep it going with tolerable accuracy. A large silver bell, of\nvery musical sound, fills the entire hollow of the skull, and receives\nthe works within it when the watch is shut; a small hammer set in\nmotion by a separate escapement, strikes the hours on it.\n\nThis very curious relic must have been intended to occupy a stationary\nplace on a _prie-dieu_, or small altar in a private oratory, for its\nweight is much too great to have admitted of its having been carried in\nany way attached to the person.\n\n\nA MONSTER.\n\nIt is almost incredible that such a monster, as the one we are about\nto describe should have been allowed to continue his wicked career for\nsome years, in a civilized country like France, little more than a\nhundred years ago, but the following paragraph is copied from a Paris\njournal of that period--1755, January the 17th--and there is every\nreason to believe that it is strictly correct. \"What was his fate we\ndo not know, but can hardly doubt.--The Marquis de Plumartin, whose\nexecrable crimes are known over all France, has at last been taken\nin his castle, by 300 men of the King's Own regiment of foot, and\ncarried to Poitiers, loaded with irons. The king is going to appoint\na commission to try him. This monster turned away his wife some years\nago, and became the terror of Poitou. Neither woman nor man durst\nappear in the neighbourhood. Having one day lost a cause in one of the\nking's courts, he caused the usher and his man, who came to intimate\nthe sentence to him, to be burnt alive. Some days after, having drawn\nsix of his creditors into his castle, where he had shut himself up with\nseveral of his crew, he ordered some of his people to drag them into\na pond, tied to the tails of horses, and afterwards fastened them to\na stake near a great fire, where three expired, and the other three\ndied a few days after. Thirty of the Marshalsea guards, who were sent\nto apprehend him, having beset his castle, he barricaded the doors\nand fired on them from the garret window, killing the commanding\nofficer and five others. After which he left the kingdom, but absurdly\nimagining that his crimes were forgot, he lately returned.\"\n\n\nPERSEVERANCE REWARDED BY FORTUNE.\n\nWe have copied the following paragraph from the pages of a local\nhistorian, because it gives us a striking instance of what perseverance\nand good fortune will accomplish, in raising a man to comparative\ndistinction from the humblest walks of life.\n\nAugust 26, 1691--Sir John Duck, bart., departed this life, being\nWednesday at night, and was buried upon the Monday after, being the\n31st of August. The wealthiest burgess on the civic annals of Durham.\nOf Sir John's birth, parentage, and education, the two first have\nhitherto remained veiled in impenetrable obscurity; as to the third,\nhe was bred a butcher under John Heslop, in defiance of the trade and\nmystery of butchers, in whose books a record still exists, warning\nJohn Heslop that he forbear to sett John Ducke on worke in the trade\nof a butcher. John Duck however grew rich, married the daughter of his\nbenefactor, and was created a baronet by James II. He built a splendid\nmansion in Silver-street, where a panel still exists recording his\nhappy rise to fortune. The baronet, then humble Duck, cast out by\nthe butchers, stands near a bridge in an attitude of despondency; in\nthe air is seen a raven bearing in his bill a piece of silver, which\naccording to tradition fell at the feet of the lucky John, and was\nnaturally calculated to make a strong impression on his mind. He bought\na calf, which calf became a cow, and which cow being sold enabled John\nto make further purchases in cattle, and from such slender beginnings,\nto realise a splendid fortune. On the right of the picture is a view of\nhis mansion in Silver-street, and he seems to point at another, which\nis presumed to be the hospital he endowed at Lumley. He died without\nissue, and was buried at St. Margaret's, where his wife, Pia----\nPrudens---- Felix, lies buried beside him.\n\n On Duck the Butchers shut the door;\n But Heslop's Daughter Johnny wed:\n In mortgage rich, in offspring poor,\n Nor son nor daughter crown'd his bed.\n\n\nTRAVELLING IN THE UNITED STATES EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nThe American advertisement, of which we here give a literal copy,\nis deserving of preservation on account of the quaintness of the\ninn-signs, the peculiarity of the spelling and diction, the \"shifting\"\nof the passengers which it announces, and the general idea it gives us\nof the way in which travelling was performed in America at the time\nwhen it was issued.\n\n Philadelphia STAGE-WAGGON, and New-York STAGE BOAT\n performs their Stages twice a Week.\n\nJOHN BUTLER, with his waggon, sets out on Mondays from his House,\nat the Sign of the Death of the Fox, in Strawberry ally, and drives\nthe same day to Trenton Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him, and\nproceeds on Tuesday to Brunswick, and the passengers and goods being\nshifted into the waggon of Isaac Fitzrandolph, he takes them to the\nNew Blazing-Star to Jacob Fitzrandolph's the same day, where Rubin\nFitzrandolph, with a boat well suted, will receive them, and take\nthem to New-York that night. John Butler returning to Philadelphia\non Tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to him by Francis\nHolman, will again set out for Trenton Ferry on Thursday, and Francis\nHolman, &c. will carry his passengers and goods, with the same\nexpedition as above to New-York.\n\n _Weekly Mercury._\n\n March 8, 1759.\n\n\nFETE OF THE FEDERATION. PARIS 1790.\n\n[Illustration [++] Fete of the Federation.]\n\nThe leading events of the great Revolution in France, may be fairly\nclassed with the marvellous, and among our \"Ten Thousand Wonderful\nThings\" there will be found few more wonderful than the civic festival\nof the general federation of the National Guards of France, which took\nplace on the 14th of July, 1790, and of which the above is a correct\nrepresentation, taken from a view by Duplessis Bertaux. The proceedings\nof that memorable day had in them a mixture of religious celebration\napparently singular among a people who had lately so much trampled on\nreligion; but as this celebration was more pagan than Christian in\nits character, the singularity becomes less marked. On the preceding\nevening, a _Hierodrame_ was performed at the cathedral of Notre Dame--a\nkind of sacred drama, made up by M. Desaugiers of scraps from the\nBible mixed with other matter, and set to music; it professed to tell\nthe story of the taking of the Bastille, and to typify the sadness,\ntrouble, confusion, joy, and alarm of the Parisians. Then succeeded a\n_Te Deum_, chanted in presence of some of the principal federal and\nmunicipal bodies. Early in the morning of the 14th, amid dense clouds\nand heavy rain, the National Guards from all the eighty-three\ndepartments of France, together with deputations from the state army\nand navy, began to assemble, and speedily formed an immense line from\nthe Porte St. Antoine to the Porte St. Martin; whence they marched,\nwith bands playing and colours flying, to the Champ de Mars, regaled\nand cheered by the Parisians on the route. On reaching the great square\nof the Tuileries, the procession was headed by the municipality of\nParis and the members of the National Assembly, and followed by a body\nof gray-headed veterans. The procession traversed the Seine by one of\nthe bridges, greeted by salvos of artillery drawn up on the quays, and\nentered the Champ de Mars under a triumphal arch almost hidden by flags\nand patriotic inscriptions. One o'clock had arrived before the various\nbodies forming the procession had taken their destined places in the\nenclosed parallelogram, surrounded by nearly 300,000 spectators on\nthe raised terraces, most of whom were by this time drenched by the\ncontinuous rain. In the centre of the area was a lofty altar, half\npagan, half Catholic in its adornments; and around this altar the\nprovincial National Guards danced and sang in very excited fashion.\nThe royal family appeared at three o'clock. In an immense gallery near\nthe altar, the National Assembly were seated, with the king and the\npresident on two chairs of state exactly equal in height and richness,\nand the queen and the rest of the court seated behind--a significant\ninterpretation of the decree just announced. At the instant of the king\ntaking his seat, the air was rent with cries of _Vive le Roi! Vive la\nNation!_ The banners were unfurled; 1,800 musicians burst forth with\njubilant strains; cannon poured out continuous volleys; Talleyrand,\nas bishop of Autun, assisted by sixty chaplains of the Paris National\nGuards, performed mass at the altar; and the banners were blessed by\nsprinkling with holy-water. Then Lafayette, dismounting from his white\ncharger, received from the hands of the king a written form of oath;\nhe swore to this oath at the altar, and with his raised arm gave a\nsignal for the countless host to do likewise--every one raising his\nright hand, and saying _Je le jure!_ The king took the oath prescribed\nto him; and the queen held up the dauphin in her arms, as if to denote\nthat he also, poor child, had sworn to defend the national liberties.\nAt five o'clock the royal family retired, and the crowd began to\nleave the Champ de Mars. Twenty-five thousand federates or provincial\ndeputies went to a royal chateau about a mile distant, where a dinner\nhad been prepared for them by order of the municipality of Paris,\nwith Lafayette as chairman of the banquet. At night all Paris was\nilluminated; and for three or four days the feastings, reviews, and\ncelebrations were numerous, including a grand dance on the site of the\ndemolished Bastille. On the 18th, Lafayette reviewed the provincial or\nfederate National Guards, and on the 19th they were reviewed by the\nking. Paris was intoxicated for an entire week, each man displaying at\nonce his delight and his vanity.\n\n\nA MAN CARRIES HIS HOUSE ON HIS HEAD.\n\nSimeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died 1799, aged 104. This man,\nin his day, was a noted pedestrian, and before the establishment of\nregular \"Posts,\" was frequently employed in walking commissions, from\nthe northern counties to London and other places, which he executed\nwith singular fidelity and despatch. He lived in a neat stone cottage\nof his own erecting; and what is remarkable, he had literally carried\nhis house on his head; it being his constant practice to bring back\nwith him from every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or\nother material for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried\n40 or 50 miles on his head.\n\n\nIGNORANCE AND FEAR.\n\nIn the year 1712, Whiston predicted that the comet would appear on\nWednesday, 14th October, at five minutes after five in the morning, and\nthat the world would be destroyed by fire on the Friday following.\nHis reputation was high, and the comet appeared. A number of persons\ngot into boats and barges on the Thames, thinking the water the safest\nplace. South Sea and India stock fell. A captain of a Dutch ship threw\nall his powder into the river, that the ship might not be endangered.\nAt noon, after the comet had appeared, it is said that more than one\nhundred clergymen were ferried over to Lambeth, to request that proper\nprayers might be prepared, there being none in the church service.\nPeople believed that the day of judgment was at hand, and acted some\non this belief, more as if some temporary evil was to be expected.\nThere was a prodigious run on the bank, and Sir Gilbert Heathcote, at\nthat time the head director, issued orders to all the fire offices in\nLondon, requiring them to keep a good look out, and have a particular\neye upon the Bank of England.\n\n\nARABIAN HORSES.\n\nIt is a singular circumstance, that it is to the Arabian that England\nis indebted for her improved, and now unrivalled, breed of horses for\nthe turf, the field, and the road.\n\nThe Arabian horses are divided into two great branches; the Kadischi\nwhose descent is unknown, and the Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy\nhas been kept for 2000 years. These last are reserved for riding\nsolely, they are highly esteemed and consequently very dear. They are\nsaid to derive their origin from King Solomon's studs. However this\nmay be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues, and can pass whole\ndays without food. They are also said to show uncommon courage against\nan enemy. It is even asserted, that when a horse of this race finds\nhimself wounded and unable to bear his rider much longer, he retires\nfrom the fray, and conveys him to a place of security. If the rider\nfalls upon the ground, his horse remains beside him, and neighs till\nassistance is brought. The Kochlani are neither large nor handsome but\namazingly swift. The whole race is divided into several families, each\nof which has its proper name. Some of these have a higher reputation\nthan others on account of their more ancient and uncontaminated\nnobility.\n\nWe may not believe, perhaps, all that is told us of the Arabian. It has\nbeen remarked that there are, on the deserts which his horse traverses,\nno milestones to mark the distance, or watch to calculate the time;\nand the Bedouin is naturally given to exaggeration, and most of all\nwhen relating the prowess of the animal which he loves as dearly as\nhis children; yet it cannot be denied that at the introduction of the\nArabian into the European stables, there was no other horse comparable\nto him.\n\n\nHEAD-QUARTERS OF PRINCE RUPERT AT EVERTON, DURING THE SIEGE OF\nLIVERPOOL, IN 1644.\n\nPrince Rupert, assisted by the Earl of Derby, having taken Bolton\nby storm, and refreshed his army there for some days, advanced on\nLiverpool, where the Parliament had a strong garrison under the command\nof Colonel More, of Bank-hall; and finding on his approach to the\ntown, the high ground near it favourable to his design, compared it\nto a crow's nest, probably imagining it would be taken with as little\ndifficulty; but the resistance he met with, induced him to declare it\nwas more like an eagle's nest, or a den of lions.\n\n[Illustration [++] Head-Quarters of Prince Rupert.]\n\nThe siege began about the 2nd of June, and the view exhibits his\nhead-quarters from that time till the reduction of the place. His main\ncamp was established round the beacon, about a mile from the town,\nand his officers were placed in the adjoining villages, from whence a\ndetachment marched every day, being relieved every twenty-four hours,\nto open trenches and erect batteries. From these advances Prince\nRupert frequently attacked the besieged and their works in the way of\nstorm, but was constantly repulsed with great slaughter of his men. At\nlength, Colonel More, finding the town must of necessity surrender, and\ndesirous of ingratiating himself with the Prince, for the preservation\nof his house and effects at Bank Hall, gave such orders for his\nsoldiers to retire, that the works on the enemy's side were abandoned,\nand the royalists entered the town at three o'clock in the morning of\nJune 26, putting to the sword all they met with, till they arrived\nat the High Cross, which then stood on the site where the Exchange\nnow stands. Here the soldiers of the Castle, drawn up in line, beat a\nparley, and demanded quarter, which, on their submitting as prisoners\nof war, and surrendering the Castle to the Prince, was granted. The\nsoldiers were then sent to the tower, St. Nicholas's Church, and other\nplaces of security; but the Parliament-army, soon after the siege,\nrepossessed themselves of the Castle, and appointed Col. Birch, as\ngovernor.\n\n\nFIRE AT BURWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 1727.\n\nSome strollers brought down a puppet-show, which was exhibited in a\nlarge thatched barn. Just as the show was about to begin, an idle\nfellow attempted to thrust himself in without paying, which the people\nof the show preventing, a quarrel ensued. After some altercation,\nthe fellow went away, and the door being made fast, all was quiet;\nbut the same man, to gain admittance privately, got over a heap of\nhay and straw, which stood near to the barn, and accidentally set it\non fire. The spectators of the show, alarmed by the flames, which\nhad communicated to the barn, rushed to the door; but it happened\nunfortunately that it opened inwards, and the crowd pressing violently\nagainst the door, there could be no escape. Thus the whole company,\nconsisting of more than 160 persons, were kept confined till the roof\nfell in, and covered them with fire and smoke: six only escaped with\nlife; the rest, among whom were several young ladies of fortune, were\nreduced to one undistinguishable heap of mangled bodies, totally\ndisfigured. The friends of the dead, not knowing which were the remains\nthey sought, caused a large hole to be dug in the churchyard, and all\nthe bodies were promiscuously interred together, and a tablet erected\nin the church to perpetuate this most melancholy event.\n\n\nAN APPARENT SINGULARITY ACCOUNTED FOR.\n\nIt is generally well known that birds are very active agents in the\nextension of vegetation, and that fruit and flowers are, to a great\nextent, rendered prolific by the insects which visit their blossoms;\nbut few people are aware of the means through which fish are formed\nin lakes and ponds, which are not connected with other waters. Here,\nalso, an insect is the principal agent. The large water-beetle, which\nis in the habit of feeding upon the spawn of fish, occasionally in\nthe evening climbs up the stems of rushes, &c. out of the water,\nsufficiently high to enable it to take wing; in these circumstances it\nhas been caught, and, putting it into water, has been found to give out\nthe spawn with which it had gorged itself previous to taking flight,\nboth in a digested and undigested state; so that, on trial, it has been\nfound that it produced fish of various kinds.\n\n\nEUROPEAN BALANCING EQUAL TO THE INDIAN JUGGLERS.\n\nThe astonishing dexterity of the Indian jugglers is known to all,\nbut many years ago a Spaniard named Cadenas made himself equal, if\nnot superior to them. He may be truly said to be superior to them,\ninasmuch as several of his feats have never been attempted by them. Don\nCadenas extended himself flat on his back on a large table. He then\nelevated his legs until they were at right angles with his body; he\nwas assisted in keeping this position by a sort of pyramidal cushion,\nwhich was placed under him, a little below the lower end of his back.\nHis feet and ankles were covered with boots, on which were many small\ncastanets and little bells. The tranca, which is a round piece of\nwood, about 8 feet long and five inches in diameter, handsomely\npainted, was then laid horizontally on the soles of his feet, his legs\nbeing perpendicular. Having exactly balanced the tranca, he alternately\nstruck his feet against it, the castanets, &c., keeping time with the\nmusic. In proportion to the strength with which he struck the tranca,\nwith one foot or both feet, was the height to which he elevated it,\nalways catching it, in its descent, with great accuracy, on the soles\nof his feet. Sometimes by bending his knees and then striking out with\nhis limbs, he threw the tranca several feet into the air, catching it,\nin its descent, on his feet, with as much neatness and more certainty\nthan the Indian jugglers used to catch the brass balls in their hands.\nHe concluded the performance with the tranca, by exactly balancing it\non the sole of his left foot, and then by repeated strokes of his right\nfoot set it rapidly in motion like a horizontal fly-wheel.\n\n\nMOB-WISDOM.\n\nA singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their own headlong\nimpetuosity, is to be found in the life of Woodward, the comedian. On\none occasion, when he was in Dublin, and lodged opposite the Parliament\nHouse, a mob who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular\nbill, called out to his family to throw them a Bible out of the window.\nMr. W. was frightened, for they had no such book in the house, but he\nthrew out a volume of Shakespere, telling the mob they were welcome to\nit. They gave him three cheers, swore the members upon this book, and\nafterwards returned it without discovering its contents.\n\n\nCOMMUNICATION BETWEEN ANIMALS.\n\nThe means by which animals contrive to communicate their ideas to each\nother is a phenomenon which has never been satisfactorily explained.\nThe two following instances of it are very curious. A gentleman who\nwas in the habit of occasionally visiting London from a distant county\nperformed the journey on horseback, accompanied by a favourite little\nterrier dog, which he left at an inn at some distance from London\ntill his return. On one occasion on calling for his dog the landlady\ntold him that it was lost; it had had a quarrel with the great house\ndog, and had been so worried and bit that it was thought he would\nnever recover, but at the end of a few days he crawled out of the\nyard, and no one saw him for almost a week, when he returned with\nanother dog bigger than his enemy, on whom they both fell and nearly\ndestroyed him. This dog had actually travelled to its own home at\nWhitmore in Staffordshire, had coaxed away the great dog in question,\nwhich followed him to St. Alban's to assist in resenting the injury\nof his friend. The following story is related of a little spaniel\nwhich had been found lame by a surgeon at Leeds. He carried the poor\nanimal home, bandaged up his leg, and after two or three days turned\nhim out. The dog returned to the surgeon's house every morning till\nhis leg was perfectly well. At the end of several months, the spaniel\nagain presented himself in company with another dog, which had also\nbeen lamed; and he intimated, as well as piteous and intelligent looks\ncould intimate, that he desired the same assistance to be rendered to\nhis friend as had been bestowed upon himself. The combination of ideas\nin this case, growing out of the recollection of his own injury, and\nreferring that to the cure which had been performed; the compassion he\nhad for his friend to whom he communicated the occurrence, and induced\nto seek relief under his guidance, together with the appeal to the\nhumane surgeon, is as extraordinary a piece of sagacity as can be found\nin all the annals of animals.\n\n\nSTRANGE CUSTOM ABOUT NAMES.\n\nThe following anecdote forcibly illustrates the absurd custom which\nprevailed many years ago in America, of giving children names, made up\nof Scripture sentences. We record the anecdote as being descriptive\nof a curious local custom. About the beginning of the present\ncentury a New England sea captain having some business at a public\noffice, which required him to sign his name, was rather tedious in\nperforming the operation, which did not escape the observation of\nthe officer, who was a little impatient at the delay, and curious\nwithal to see what sort of a name it could be that required so long\na time to spread it upon paper. Perhaps the captain had a long\nstring of titles to grace it, such as honorable, esquire, colonel of\nmilitia, selectman of the town of ----, &c., which he chose to make\nan ostentatious parade of; or perhaps it was his whim to subscribe\nthe place of his nativity and that of his residence, together with\nhis age, height, and complexion. He was mistaken; for the captain\nhad subscribed nothing but simply his name, which, when he had\ndone, the officer, after some trouble in decyphering, found to read\nthus:--Through-Much-Tribulation-We-Enter-Into-the-Kingdom-of-Heaven\nClapp. \"Will you please to tell me, Captain Clapp,\" said he, with as\ndemure a face as his violent inclination to indulge in a hearty laugh\nwould allow him to put on, \"what might your mother have called you\nin your infancy, to save herself the trouble of repeating a sermon\nwhenever she had occasion to name her darling?\" \"Why, sir,\" replied\nCaptain Clapp, with laughable simplicity, \"when I was little they used\nto call me Tribby, for shortness.\"\n\n\nDRESS IN LONDON DURING THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nThe seven illustrations which accompany this article represent\nthe progress of dress in London from 1690 to 1779. They speak for\nthemselves, and tell their own tale far better than any description\nin words could tell it for them. The scale in society to which the\npersons depicted in the engravings belong, is what may be called the\nupper middle class, and we thus obtain a more correct idea of the\ngeneral style of dress, than we should have done had we confined our\nobservations solely to the higher ranks.\n\n[Illustration: Dress 1690-1715.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress 1721.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress, 1735--common Life.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress, 1738.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress, 1752.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress Circa 1773, 1778.]\n\n[Illustration: Dress, 1779.]\n\nIt is, however, very curious to notice the value placed upon dress\nduring the period indicated; and how frequently its loss is recorded.\nThus we find it mentioned that Lady Anderson, whose house was robbed\nat a fire in Red Lion Square in 1700, lost a gown of orange damask,\nlined with, striped silk. The family of George Heneage, Esq., at the\nsame time, and by the same casualty, lost \"_a head_, with very fine\nlooped lace of very great value, a Flanders' laced hood, a pair of\ndouble ruffles and tuckers, two laced aprons, one edged with point\nlace, and a large black scarf embroidered with gold.\" At the same\nperiod the ladies wore Holland petticoats, embroidered in figures with\ndifferent coloured silks and gold, with broad orrice at the bottom.\nIn 1702 diamond stomachers adorned the ladies; they were composed of\nthat valuable stone set in silver, and sewed in a variety of figures\nupon black silk. The men imported the Champaign wig from France. They\nwere made very full, curled, and eighteen inches in length to the\npoint, with drop locks. In the _Post Boy_, of November 15, 1709, there\nwere advertised as stolen, \"A black silk petticoat, with red and white\ncalico border, cherry-coloured stays, trimmed with blue and silver, a\nred and dove-coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees; a yellow\nsatin apron, trimmed with white Persian, and muslin head-clothes, with\ncrow-foot edging; a black silk furbelowed scarf, and a spotted hood.\"\nBlack and beaver hats for ladies were advertised in 1719, faced with\ncoloured silks, and trimmed with gold and silver lace. A man of fashion\nin 1720 wore the full flowing curled wig, which fell in ringlets\nhalf-way down his arms and back, a laced coat, straight, formal, with\nbuttons to the very bottom, and several on the pockets and sleeves; his\nshoes were square at the toes, had diminutive buckles, a monstrous flap\non the instep, and high heels, a belt secured the coat and supported\nthe sword. Perukes were a highly important article of dress in 1734.\nFans were much used, ladies seldom appeared without this useful\nornament in their hands. The hoop underwent many important changes;\nsometimes it projected at the sides only, or, like its ancestor, the\nfardingale, it spread itself all round in imposing majesty. High-heeled\nshoes maintained their place. In 1740 tight sleeves with full ruffles,\nsmall pointed waists, enclosed in whalebone, loose gowns, called\nsacques, and cloaks with hoods, named cardinals, were _la grande\nmonde_. Among the gentlemen's costumes, the most striking was the\n_Ramilies_ tail, which was a plaited tail to the wig, with an immense\nbow at the top and one at the bottom. Claret coloured clothes were\nconsidered as handsome; and light blue with silver button-holes, and\nsilver garters to the knees, was very fashionable between 1740 and\n1751. The change to wearing the natural hair instead of wigs took place\nabout 1765. From that date the female dress altered by degrees: the cap\nwas enlarged to an enormous size, and the bonnet swelled in proportion.\nHoops were entirely discontinued. Hats and bonnets of straw, chip, and\nbeaver, became well proportioned, and velvet pelisses, shawls and silk\nspencers were contrived to improve rather than injure the form. The\nmale dress also insensibly changed from formality to ease, and thus, by\ndegrees, the fashion became what our illustrations represent it to have\nbeen in 1779.\n\n\nATTAR OF ROSES.\n\nLieutenant Colonel Polier gives a full history of extracting this\nessential oil, in vol i. p. 332, of the _Asiatic Researches_. The roses\ngrow, cultivated near Lucknow, in fields of eleven acres each. The\noil is procured by distillation; the petals of the flowers only are\nused; and in that country no more than a quantity of about two drachms\ncan be procured from an hundred-weight of rose leaves, and even that\nin a favourable season, and by the process being performed with the\nutmost care. The oil is by accident of different colours; of a bright\nyellow, of a reddish hue, and a fine emerald. It is to the mother of\nMebrul Nessa Begum, afterwards called Nourjehan Begum, or, _Light\nof the World_, that the fair sex is indebted for this discovery. On\nthis occasion the emperor of Hindostan rewarded the inventress with a\nstring of valuable pearls. Nourjehan Begum was the favourite wife of\nJehangir, and her game the fiercest of India. In a hunting party she\nkilled four tigers with a matchlock, from her elephant, and her spouse\nwas so delighted at her skill, that he made her a present of a pair of\nemerald bracelets, valued at a lack of rupees, and bestowed in charity\na thousand mohurs.\n\n\nFLEET MARRIAGES ABOUT 1740.\n\nMany of the early Fleet weddings were _really_ performed at the\nchapel of the Fleet; but as the practice extended, it was found more\nconvenient to have other places within the Rules of the Fleet, (added\nto which the Warden was compelled by act of parliament not to suffer\nthem,) and thereupon many of the Fleet parsons and tavern-keepers in\nthe neighbourhood fitted up a room in their respective lodgings or\nhouses as a chapel. The parsons took the fees, allowing a portion to\nthe plyers, &c., and the tavern-keepers, besides sharing in the fees,\nderived a profit from the sale of liquors which the wedding party\ndrank. In some instances the tavern-keepers kept a parson on their\nestablishment at a weekly salary of twenty shillings; while others,\nupon a wedding-party arriving, sent for any clergyman they might please\nto employ, and divided the fee with him. Most of the taverns near the\nFleet kept their own registers, in which (as well as in their own\nbooks,) the parsons entered the weddings.\n\n\nEFFECTS OF THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON.\n\nThe earthquake happened on November the 1st, 1755, and its sphere of\naction embraced many cities and states. St. Ubes was totally destroyed.\nAt Cadiz the sea broke down the outer wall, flooded the town, and\ndrowned some hundreds of persons. The Cathedral of Seville was\nseriously damaged, several houses overthrown, and many persons injured.\nThe shock was felt, indeed, throughout the whole of Spain, except in\nCatalonia, and also in Germany. In many parts of Great Britain the\nwater in lakes and ponds was violently upheaved, and ebbed and flowed\nover the banks. A solemn Fast was consequently commanded to be observed\non the 6th of February next ensuing, in the hope to avert, by prayer\nand penitence, a similar calamity from this country. A ship at sea,\n100 leagues to the westward of Lisbon, had her cabin windows shattered\nto fragments, and many vessels in deep water quivered as if they had\nstruck against a rock. In Morocco the effects of the shock were most\ndisastrous. In Mequinez two-thirds of the houses were destroyed, and\nabove 300 in Fez. A caravan of 200 persons going along the coast\nfrom Sallee to Morocco were overwhelmed by the sea, and a still more\nnumerous caravan was swept away by the sudden rise of the inland\nrivers. In France and Holland earthquakes were repeatedly felt during\nthe entire month of November, and occasionally even in December.\n\n\nSNAKE-CHARMERS.\n\nIn the East Indies, the Pambatees, or snake-charmers, come from the\nmountains called the Ghauts. They make a trade of catching serpents,\ntraining them and exhibiting them for money. These reptiles are\ncommonly the _cobra-di-capello_, the hooded or spectacle serpent, and\nof other similar species. A Pambatee will sometimes carry eight or\nmore of them in a low round basket, in which the serpents lie coiled\nround one another.\n\nAs soon as the lid is removed from the basket, the serpent creeps\nout of it. The master plays on an instrument somewhat resembling the\nbagpipe, and the snakes are taught to mark the cadence by the motion\nof their heads, till at length they fall asleep. In order to rouse\nthem, the Pambatee suspends his music and shakes a ring round his arm\nto which a piece of red cloth is fastened. The irritated serpent darts\nat the ring; but as the master has taken care to extract the pouch\ncontaining the poison, and to file his teeth, he can do no harm.\n\n[Illustration [++] Snake-Charmer.]\n\nThe musical instrument just mentioned is called _magootee_. It is\ncomposed of a hollow calebash, to one end of which is fitted a\nmouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. To the other extremity is\nadapted a tube perforated with several holes, which are successively\nstopped by the fingers, like those of the flute, while the player blows\ninto the mouthpiece. In the middle of the instrument is a small mirror,\non which the serpents fix their eyes while dancing. The above engraving\nwill convey a correct idea of the Pambatee and his instrument.\n\n\nWONDERFUL ESCAPE.\n\nIn 1785, at Winster, in Derbyshire, a show being exhibited at a\npublic-house, some gunpowder being scattered on the floor of an upper\nchamber, took fire, and communicated to the remainder of a barrel,\nby which the whole upper part of the house was blown up; about sixty\npersons were below, and not one hurt.\n\n\nFAC-SIMILE OF THE FIRST STEAM BOAT.\n\n[Illustration [++] First Steam Boat.]\n\nThe triumph of steam navigation is one of the wonders of science; and,\ntraversed in all directions as the navigable waters of the earth now\nare, by vessels propelled by steam, it is not a little curious to look\nat the first rude effort, and to examine the attempt which has been\nfollowed by such extraordinary success.\n\nThe world stands indebted, not for the discovery, but for the\nsuccessful application of steam power to navigation, to Robert Fulton,\nwho was born in Pennsylvania in 1765, being the son of a poor Irish\nlabourer who had emigrated to America. He came to London in 1786,\nand subsequently, in the character of an inventor and projector,\nproceeded to Paris, where, however, he did not meet with much success\nor encouragement. It is evident, from the following letter to a friend,\nthat while residing in the French capital, that his attention was even\nthen turned to the subject of propelling vessels by mechanical power:--\n\n Paris, the 20th of September, 1802.\n\n TO MR. FULNER SKIPWITH.\n\nSir,--The expence of a patent in France is 300 livers for three years,\n800 ditto for ten years, and 1500 ditto for fifteen years; there can\nbe no difficulty in obtaining a patent for the mode of propelling a\nboat which you have shewn me; but if the author of the model wishes\nto be assured of the mirits of his invention before he goes to the\nexpence of a patent, I advise him to make the model of a boat, in which\nhe can place a clock spring which will give about eight revolutions;\nhe can then combine the movements so as to try oars, paddles, and the\nleaves which he proposes; if he finds that the leaves drive the boat a\ngreater distance in the same time than either oars or paddles, they\nconsequently are a better application of power. About eight years ago\nthe Earl of Stanhope tried an experiment on similar leaves in Greenland\nDock, London, but without success. I have also tried experiments on\nsimilar leaves, wheels, oars, paddles, and flyars similar to those of\na smoak jack, and found oars to be the best. The velocity with which a\nboat moves, is in proportion as the sum of the surfaces of the oars,\npaddles, leaves, or other machine is to the bow of the boat presented\nto the water, and in proportion to the power with which such machinery\nis put in motion; hence, if the sum of the surfaces of the oars is\nequal to the sum of the surfaces of the leaves, and they pass through\nsimilar curves in the same time, the effect must be the same; but oars\nhave this advantage, they return through air to make a second stroke,\nand hence create very little resistance; whereas the leaves return\nthrough water, and add considerably to the resistance, which resistance\nis increased as the velocity of the boat is augmented: no kind of\nmachinery can create power; all that can be done is to apply the manuel\nor other power to the best advantage. If the author of the model is\nfond of mechanics, he will be much amused, and not lose his time, by\ntrying the experiments in the manner I propose, and this perhaps is the\nmost prudent measure, before a patent is taken.\n\n I am, Sir, with much respect, yours,\n\n ROBT. FULTON.\n\nIn the following year, 1803, he appears to have made an experiment in\nFrance of propelling a vessel by mechanism, and though it failed in\nconsequence of the timbers of the boat being too weak, it served to\nconvince him so completely of ultimate success, that he immediately\ngave instructions to Watt and Boulton to prepare a suitable steam\nengine for him, and send it to New York. Having returned to that city\nin 1806, he set about building a boat, and having received the engines\nhe had ordered, he successfully started the first steam-boat in the\nworld on her trial trip to Albany from New York in August, 1807.\nHer name was the \"_Clermont_,\" and the above engraving is a correct\nrepresentation of her. She was in length 133 feet, in depth 7, and in\nbreadth 18.\n\n\nSEVERE ENACTMENT AGAINST BEGGARS.\n\nAt the commencement of the reign of Edward VI., a most severe and\nextraordinary statute was made for the punishment of vagabonds and\nrelief of poor persons. It does not appear who were the contrivers\nof this instrument, the preamble and general spirit of which were\nmore in accordance with the tyrannical and arbitrary measures of the\npreceding reign, than with the mild and merciful character of the\ninfant sovereign, who is well known to have taken a very active part\nin the affairs of government. It repeals all the former statutes on\nthis subject, and enacts, that if any beggar or other person, not being\nlame or impotent, and after loitering or idly wandering for the space\nof three days or more, shall not offer himself to labour, or being\nengaged in any person's service, shall run away or leave his work, it\nshall be lawful for the master to carry him before a justice of peace,\nwho, on proof of the offence, shall cause the party to be marked with\na hot iron with the letter V on the breast, and adjudge him to be his\nmaster's slave for the space of two years, who shall feed him \"on bread\nand water, or at his discretion, on refuse of meat, and cause the said\nslave to work by beating, chaining, or otherwise in such work or labour\n(how vile soever it be) as he shall put him unto.\" If the slave should\nrun away or absent himself for a fortnight without leave, the master\nmay pursue and punish him by chaining or beating, and have his action\nof damage against any one who shall harbour or detain him. On proof\nbefore the justice of the slave's escape, he is to be sentenced to be\nmarked on the forehead or ball of the cheek with a hot iron with the\nletter S, and adjudged to be his master's slave for ever; and for the\nsecond offence of running away, he is to be regarded as a felon and\nsuffer death. The children of beggars to be taken from them, and, with\nother vagrant children, to be apprenticed by the magistrate to whoever\nwill take them; and if such children so apprenticed run away, they are\nto be retaken, and become slaves till the age of twenty in females,\nand twenty-four in males, with punishment by chains, &c., and power\nto the master to let, sell, or bequeath them, as goods and chattels,\nfor the term aforesaid. If any slave should maim or wound the master,\nin resisting correction, or conspire to wound or murder him, or burn\nhis house or other property, he is to suffer death as a felon, unless\nthe master will consent to retain him as a slave for ever; and if any\nparent, nurse, or bearer about of children, so become slaves, shall\nsteal, or entice them away from the master, such person shall be liable\nto become a slave to the said master for ever, and the party so stolen\nor enticed away restored. If any vagrant be brought to a place, where\nhe shall state himself to have been born, and it shall be manifest that\nhe was not so born there, for such lie he shall be marked in the face\nwith an S, and become a slave to the inhabitants or corporation of the\ncity for ever. Any master of a slave may put a ring of iron about his\nneck, arm, or leg, for safe custody, and any person taking or helping\nto take off such ring, without consent of the master, shall forfeit the\nsum of ten pounds.\n\nThis diabolical statute, after remaining for two years, was repealed,\non the ground that, from its extreme severity, it had not been enforced.\n\n\nJUDGES IN THEIR ROBES ATTENDING PUBLIC BALLS.\n\nThat the ideas of good taste and propriety which now prevail are\ngreatly in advance of those which our ancestors entertained, is\nstrikingly manifested by the fact, that the dreadful scenes which\nfollowed the last business of a county assize did not prevent a festive\nbeginning of the same. On the commission day at each county town was\nheld an assize ball. The judges attended in black silk gowns with band\nand two-curl bob-wig. They did not dance, but usually played at whist.\nWhat would be thought now-a-days of judges who went to a public ball\nroom on commission day, and played at whist in their robes?\n\n\nST. WINIFRED'S WELL.\n\nThe most copious spring in Great Britain is St. Winifred's Well, near\nthe town of Holywell, in Flintshire. The well is an oblong square,\nabout twelve feet by seven. The water passes into a small square court\nthrough an arch; it has never been known to freeze, and scarcely ever\nvaries in quantity either in drought or after the greatest rains. The\nwater thrown up is not less than eighty-four hogsheads every minute.\n\n[Illustration: St. Winifred's Well.]\n\nThis sacred well is the object of many pilgrimages, even in the present\nday, and several modern miracles are related of the influence of its\nwaters. Pope Martin V. especially enjoined such pilgrimages, and the\nmonks of Basingwerk were furnished with pardons and indulgences to sell\nto the devotees. James the 2nd visited the well in 1686, and Leopold,\nKing of the Belgians, in 1819. Apart from all superstitious notions,\nits waters doubtless possess many curative properties.\n\nOver the well, Queen Margaret, the mother of Henry VII., erected a\nbeautiful chapel, whose elegantly fretted roof, and graceful columns\nand arches, are generally admired as examples of good architecture. Our\nengraving is a correct representation of the interior.\n\n\nINSTANCE OF ASSIDUITY AND PERSEVERANCE.\n\nThe Rev. Wm. Davy, a Devonshire curate, in the year 1795, begun a\nmost desperate undertaking, viz., that of printing himself twenty-six\nvolumes of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page,\nfor fourteen copies; and continuing this almost hopeless task for\ntwelve years, in the midst of poverty! Such wonderful perseverance\nalmost amounts to a ruling passion.\n\n\nPHENOMENON AT THE POWERSCOURT FALL.\n\n[Illustration [++] Powerscourt Fall.]\n\nThe Powerscourt Fall, of which the annexed is an engraving, is formed\nby the river Dargle, and is situated in the county of Wicklow. When\nthe river is full, it presents a very grand appearance. The stream\nprecipitates itself over a nearly perpendicular cliff, 300 feet in\nheight, and falls into a natural basin or reservoir, encircled by\nrocky masses of considerable magnitude, whilst the whole scene is\nbacked by mountains. This fall exhibits rather a singular phenomenon,\nin the different degrees of velocity with which the water descends\nin different parts of the cascade. Thus, on one side, the water may\nbe observed to pour down with considerable velocity; while, on the\nother side, the fall, in the upper part, presents the appearance of\na continued stream of frothy foam, gliding slowly down the face of\nthe cliff, though the lower part moves with greater velocity. This\ncircumstance is, however, readily accounted for; being, in fact, mainly\nattributable to the comparatively small body of water which forms the\ncascade. The water, on the one side, that which descends with the\ngreater velocity (and this forms by far the larger portion of the\ncascade) meets with no interruption in its descent, but falls, almost\nfrom the top, to the bottom in an unbroken sheet. On the other side,\nhowever, the cliff in the upper part deviates from the perpendicular,\nand the consequence is, that, owing to the slope or inclination of\nthe rock over which it flows, the progress of the water is checked\nin that particular part, though lower down, where the cliff is again\nperpendicular, it regains its velocity. If the body of water in this\ncascade were greater, this phenomenon would not occur.\n\n\nHOW CHESS ORIGINATED IN INDIA.\n\nBy the unanimous consent of all nations, chess holds the first place\namong social amusements. The history of this game has exercised\nmany able pens. According to Sir William Jones, it is decidedly\nof Hindoo invention. \"If,\" says he, in a learned memoir on this\nsubject inserted in the second volume of the _Asiatic Researches_,\n\"evidence were required to prove this fact, we may be satisfied with\nthe testimony of the Persians, who, though as much inclined as other\nnations to appropriate the ingenious inventions of a foreign people,\nunanimously agree that the game was imported from the west of India\nin the sixth century of our era. It seems to have been immemorially\nknown in Hindoostan by the name of _Cheturanga_, the four _angas_, or\nmembers of an army, which are _elephants_, _horses_, _chariots_, and\n_foot-soldiers_; and in this sense, the word is frequently used by epic\npoets in their description of real armies. By a natural corruption\nof the pure Sanscrit word, it was changed by the old Persians into\n_chetrang_; but the Arabs, who soon after took possession of their\ncountry, had neither the initial nor the final letter of that word in\ntheir alphabet, and consequently altered it farther into _shetranj_,\nwhich presently found its way into the modern Persian, and at length\ninto the dialects of India, where the true derivation of the name is\nknown only to the learned. Thus has a very significant word in the\nsacred language of the Brahmins been transformed by successive changes\ninto _axedrez_, _scacchi_, _echecs_, chess, and by a whimsical\nconcurrence of circumstances given birth to the English word _check_,\nand even a name to the _exchequer_ of Great Britain.\"\n\nOf the origin of this game various accounts are given. Some Hindoo\nlegends relate, that it was invented by the wife of Ravanen, king of\nLanca, or Ceylon, to amuse her husband with an image of war, when\nRama, in the second age of the world, was besieging his capital. The\nhigh degree of civilization which the court of Ravanen had attained\nat so remote a period is worthy of notice. An ancient Hindoo painting\nrepresents his capital regularly fortified with embattled towers. He\nthere defended himself with equal skill and valour, whence he and\nhis subjects were denominated magicians and giants. Ravanen seems to\nhave been the Archimedes of Lanca; and his science must have appeared\nsupernatural to the invader, Rama, and his wild horde of mountaineers,\nwho were termed in derision satyrs or apes, whence the fable of the\ndivine Hanooman.\n\nAccording to another account, the occasion of this invention was as\nfollows:--Behub, a young and dissolute Indian prince, oppressed his\npeople in the most cruel manner. Nassir, a Brahmin, deeply afflicted\nby his excesses, and the lamentations of his subjects, undertook to\nrecal the tyrant to reason. With this view he invented a game, in which\nthe king, impotent by himself, is protected only by his subjects, even\nof the lowest class, and frequently ruined by the loss of a single\nindividual.\n\nThe fame of this extraordinary invention reached the throne, and the\nking summoned the Brahmin to teach him the game, as a new amusement.\nThe virtuous Brahmin availed himself of this opportunity to instil\ninto the mind of the young tyrant the principles of good government,\nand to awaken him to a sense of his duties. Struck by the truths which\nhe inculcated, the prince conceived an esteem for the inventor of the\nnew game, and assured him of his willingness to confer a liberal\nremuneration, if he would mention his own terms. Nassir demanded as\nmany grains of wheat as would arise from allowing one for the first\nsquare, two for the second, four for the third, and so on, doubling\nfor each square of the sixty-four on the chessboard. The king, piqued\nat the apparently trivial value of the demand, desired him somewhat\nangrily to ask a gift more worthy of a monarch to bestow. When,\nhowever, Nassir adhered to his first request, he ordered the required\nquantity of corn to be delivered to him. On calculating its amount, the\nsuperintendents of the public granaries, to their utter astonishment,\nfound the demand to be so enormous, that not Behub's kingdom only, but\neven all Hindoostan would have been inadequate to the discharge of it.\nThe king now admired the Brahmin still more for the ingenuity of his\nrequest than for the invention, appointed him his prime-minister, and\nhis kingdom was thenceforward prosperous and happy.\n\nThe claim of the Hindoos to the invention of chess has been disputed in\nfavour of the Chinese; but as they admit that they were unacquainted\nwith the game till 174 years before Christ, and the Hindoos\nunquestionably played it long before that time, the pretensions of the\nlatter must naturally fall to the ground.\n\n\nDISORDERS CURED BY FRIGHT.\n\nFabritius makes mention of a gentleman, with whom he was familiar,\nwho, being unjustly suspected, was tortured upon the rack, and, when\nreleased, found himself quite cured of the gout, which was, _before_\nthis violent remedy, rather troublesome. Again, we have instances of\ndisorders being cured by fright. We find, in the Journal de Henri IV.,\nthat, \"On Friday, June the 9th, 1606, as Henry IV. of France, and his\nQueen, were crossing the water in the ferry-boat of Neuilly, the Duke\nof Vendome being with them, they were all three in great danger of\nbeing drowned, especially the queen, who was obliged to drink a great\ndeal more than was agreeable to her; and had not one of her footmen,\nand a gentleman called La Chatagnieraie, who caught hold of her hair,\ndesperately thrown themselves into the water to pull her out, she\nwould have inevitably lost her life. This accident cured the king of a\nviolent toothache; and, after having escaped the danger, he diverted\nhimself with it, saying he had never met with so good a remedy for that\ndisorder before, and that they had ate too much salt meat at dinner,\ntherefore they had a mind to make them drink after it.\"\n\n\nTHE WINGLESS BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND.\n\nOne of the chief wonders of the world of Ornithology is the Apteryx,\na bird which is found only in New Zealand, and even there, is rapidly\nbecoming extinct. It is a creature so strange, that no imagination\ncould have fancied a bird without wings or tail, with robust legs,\nand with claws which are suited for digging, and are actually used\nin forming excavations, in which this singular bird lays its eggs,\nand hatches its young. If the Apteryx were to become extinct, and all\nthat remained of it, after the lapse of one or two centuries, for the\nscrutiny of the naturalist were a foot in one Museum, and a head in\nanother, with a few conflicting figures of its external form, the real\nnature and affinities of this most remarkable species would be involved\nin as much obscurity and doubt, and become the subject of as many\nconflicting opinions among the ornithologists of that period, as are\nthose of the Dodo in the present day.\n\nThe Apteryx is not larger than a full-grown fowl, and has only a\nrudimentary wing, so covered with the body feathers as to be quite\nconcealed; the terminating slender claw may, however, be discerned on\nexamination.\n\n[Illustration: The Wingless Bird.]\n\nThe bill is long and slightly curved, having the nostrils at the\nextremity; its feathers, the sides of which are uniform in structure,\ndo not exceed four and a-half inches in length, and are much prized as\nmaterial for mantles or cloaks by the chiefs. It is a nocturnal bird,\nusing its long bill in search of worms, upon which it principally\nfeeds; it kicks with great power, and burrows at the root of the rata,\nat the base of which tree is also found the extraordinary Sphaeria\nRobertsia, a species of vegetating caterpillar. Retaining the form\nof the caterpillar, the fungus pervades the whole body, and shoots\nup a small stem above the surface of the ground, the body of the\ncaterpillar being below the earth in an erect position. The Apteryx\nfrequently leans with its bill upon the earth--one of its chief\ncharacteristics--and thus, when viewed from a distance, appears to be\nstanding on three legs.\n\nBy the natives of New Zealand, these birds are called Kiwis, from the\ncry they utter, and they are frequently caught by a cunning imitator of\ntheir tone, who, when they approach, dazzles and frightens them with\na light previously concealed, and throwing his blanket over them thus\nsecures them.\n\n\nA FLOATING CITY.\n\n[Illustration: Floating City of Bankok.]\n\nOne of the most wonderful cities in the world is Bankok. It is the\ncapital of Siam, and is situated on--or rather in--the great river\nMeinam. Our engraving represents a portion of this unique metropolis,\nand we find the following graphic account of it in a volume of recent\ntravels--\"The capital of Siam! Did you ever witness such a sight in\nyour life? On either side of the wide, majestic stream, moored in\nregular streets and alleys, and extending as far as the eye can reach,\nare upwards of seventy thousand neat little wooden houses, each house\nfloating on a compact raft of bamboos; and the whole intermediate space\nof the river presents to our astonished gaze one dense mass of ships,\njunks, and boats, of every conceivable shape, colour, and size. As we\nglide along amongst these, we occasionally encounter a stray floating\nhouse, broken loose from its moorings, and hurrying down the stream\nwith the tide, amidst the uproar and shouts of the inhabitants and\nall the spectators. We also observe that all the front row of houses\nare neatly painted shops, in which various tempting commodities are\nexposed for sale; behind these again, at equal distances, rise the\nlofty and elegant porcelain towers of the various watts and temples.\nOn our right-hand side, far away as we can see, are three stately\npillars, erected to the memory of three defunct kings, celebrated for\nsome acts of valour and justice; and a little beyond these, looming\nlike a line-of-battle ship amongst a lot of cockle-shells, rises the\nstraggling and not very elegant palace of the king, where his Siamese\nMajesty, with ever so many wives and children, resides. Right ahead,\nwhere the city terminates, and the river, making a curve, flows\nbehind the palace, is a neat-looking-fort, surmounted with a tope of\nmango-trees, over which peep the roofs of one or two houses, and a tall\nflag-staff, from which floats the royal pendant and jack of Siam--a\nflag of red groundwork, with a white elephant worked into the centre.\nThat is the fort and palace of the prince Chou Fau, now king of Siam,\nand one of the most extraordinary and intellectual men in the East.\nOf him, however, we shall see and hear more, after we have bundled\nour traps on shore, and taken a little rest. Now, be careful how you\nstep out of the boat into the balcony of the floating house, for it\nwill recede to the force of your effort to mount, and if not aware of\nthis, you lose your balance and fall into the river. Now we are safely\ntranshipped, for we cannot as yet say landed; but we now form an item,\nthough a very small one, of the vast population of the city of Bangkok.\n\nWe take a brief survey of our present apartments, and find everything,\nthough inconveniently small, cleanly and in other respects comfortable.\nFirst, we have a little balcony which overhangs the river, and is about\ntwenty yards long by one and a half broad. Then we have an excellent\nsitting-room, which serves us for parlour, dining-room, and all; then\nwe have a little side room for books and writing; and behind these,\nextending the length of the other two, a bed-room. Of course we must\nbring or make our own furniture; for, though those houses inhabited\nby the Chinese are pretty well off on this score, the Siamese have\nseldom anything besides their bedding materials, a few pots and pans\nto cook with, a few jars of stores and fishing-net or two. Every house\nhas a canoe attached to it, and no nation detests walking so much as\nthe Siamese; at the same time they are all expert swimmers, and both\nmen and women begin to acquire this very necessary art at a very early\nage. Without it a man runs momentary risk of being drowned, as, when a\ncanoe upsets, none of the passers-by ever think it necessary to lend\nany aid, supposing them fully adequate to the task of saving their\nown lives. Canoes are hourly being upset, owing to the vast concourse\nof vessels and boats plying to and fro; and, owing to this negligence\nor carelessness in rendering assistance, a Mr. Benham, an American\nmissionary, lost his life some twelve years ago, having upset his own\ncanoe when it was just getting dusk, and though surrounded by hundreds\nof boats, not one deemed it necessary to stop and pick the poor man up.\"\n\n\nBEQUESTS FOR LIGHTING THE STREETS.\n\nThere cannot be a greater contrast than between the present and the\nancient mode of lighting the streets of London. What a picture do the\ntwo following bequests present to us of the state of things a hundred\nyears ago!\n\nJohn Wardall, by will, dated 29th August, 1656, gave to the Grocers'\nCompany a tenement called the White Bear, in Walbrook, to the intent\nthat they should yearly, within thirty days after Michaelmas, pay to\nthe churchwardens of St. Botolph, Billingsgate, L4, to provide a good\nand sufficient iron and glass lantern, with a candle, for the direction\nof passengers to go with more security to and from the water-side, all\nnight long, to be fixed at the north-east corner of the parish church\nof St. Botolph, from the feast-day of St. Bartholomew to Lady-Day; out\nof which sum L1 was to be paid to the sexton for taking care of the\nlantern. This annuity is now applied to the support of a lamp in the\nplace prescribed, which is lighted with gas.\n\nJohn Cooke, by will, dated 12th September, 1662, gave to the\nchurchwardens, &c., of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, L76, to be laid out\nto the most profit and advantage, for various uses, and amongst them,\nfor the maintenance of a lantern and candle, to be eight in the pound\nat least, to be kept and hanged out at the corner of St. Michael's\nLane, next Thames Street, from Michaelmas to Lady-Day, between the\nhours of nine and ten o'clock at night, until the hours of four or five\nin the morning, for affording light to passengers going through Thames\nStreet, or St. Michael's Lane.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF CREDULITY.\n\nTo the honour of the lords of the creation, there are _some_ husbands\nwho so grieve at the death of their partners, that they will not part\nwith them when actually dead; and even go so far as to wish, and try\nhard, for their resurrection; witness Sir John Pryse, of Newtown,\nMontgomeryshire, who married three wives, and kept the first two\nwho died, in his room, one on each side of his bed; his third lady,\nhowever, declined the honour of his hand till her defunct rivals\nwere committed to their proper place. Sir John was a gentleman of\nstrange singularities. During the season of miracles worked by Bridget\nBostock, of Cheshire, who healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an\nembrocation of fasting spittle, multitudes resorted to her from all\nparts, and kept her salivary glands in full employ. Sir John, with a\nhigh spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this wonderful woman to make him\na visit at Newtown Hall, in order to restore to him his third and\nfavourite wife (above mentioned), now dead. His letter will best tell\nthe foundation on which he built his strange hope, and very uncommon\nrequest:--\n\n _Purport of Sir J. Pryse's letter to Mrs. Bridget Bostock, 1748._\n\nMadam,--Having received information, by repeated advices, both public\nand private, that you have, of late, performed many wonderful cures,\neven where the best physicians have failed, and that the means used\nappeared to be very inadequate to the effects produced, I cannot but\nlook upon you as an extraordinary and highly-favoured person; and why\nmay not the same most merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to\nthe blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the lame, also enable\nyou to raise the dead to life? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom\nI most tenderly loved; my children an excellent step-mother, and our\nacquaintances a very dear and valuable friend, you will lay us all\nunder the highest obligations; and I earnestly entreat you, for God\nAlmighty's sake, that you will put up your petitions to the Throne of\nGrace, on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and\nthe late dame Eleanor Pryse be raised from the dead. If your personal\nattendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach and\nsix, with proper servants, to wait on you hither, whenever you please\nto appoint. Recompense of any kind, that you could propose, would be\nmade with the utmost gratitude; but I wish the bare mention of it is\nnot offensive to both God and you.\n\n I am, madam, your obedient, &c.\n JOHN PRYSE.\n\n (_Pennant's Wales_, vol. 3, p. 190.)\n\n\nHIGH PRICE OF FISH IN LONDON.\n\nIt is on record that on January 4, 1809, there being only four cod-fish\nin Billingsgate, a fishmonger gave fourteen guineas for them, and\nsalmon soon after was sold at a guinea a pound!\n\n\nTHE GREAT AQUEDUCT OF PONT DU GARD.\n\n[Illustration [++] Acqueduct of Pont du Gard.]\n\nThe remains of Roman aqueducts, of great extent and massiveness,\noccur in various parts of Europe, over which the Roman dominion once\nextended. Among these, the most celebrated are the Pont du Gard,\nnear Nismes, in the Department du Gard, in the south of France; the\naqueduct over the Moselle, near Metz; and the aqueduct of Segovia, in\nOld Castile. The Pont du Gard (of which we here give an engraving)\nwas designed to convey the waters of the fountain of Aure to the town\nof Nismes, the ancient Nemausus. This aqueduct crosses the beautiful\nvalley, and the stream of the river Gardon, uniting two steep hills, by\nwhich the valley is bounded at this place. It consists of two tiers of\nlarge arches, the lower of which are eighty feet in span, and a third\ntier of small arches, which support the trunk of the aqueduct. The\nchannel for the water is above four feet wide, and five deep, and is\nlined with cement three inches thick, and covered with a thin coating\nof red clay. The whole work, with the exception of the above-mentioned\nchannel for the water, is built without mortar or any other cement;\nand its elevation above the bed of the river Gardon, is not less than a\nhundred and fifty feet. The extremities of this splendid structure are\nin a dilapidated condition, but the remainder is in a very good state\nof preservation.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY SITUATION FOR A TREE.\n\n[Illustration [++] Tree in Abbey of Muckross.]\n\nThe Lower and Middle Lakes at Killarney are separated by a peninsula,\nupon which stands the ruin of the Abbey of Muckross, which was founded\nin 1440, and re-edified in 1602. The ruin, which consists of parts\nof the convent and church, is not remarkable either for extent, or\nfor beauty of workmanship, but its preservation, seclusion, beauty\nof situation, and accompanying venerable trees, render it one of the\nmost interesting abbey remains in Ireland. The entire length of the\nchurch is about 100 feet, its breadth 24. The cloister, which consists\nof twenty-two arches, ten of them semicircular, and twelve pointed,\nis the best preserved portion of the abbey. In the centre grows a\nmagnificent yew-tree, as represented in our engraving, which covers\nas a roof the whole area; its circumference is thirteen feet, and its\nheight in proportion. It is more than probable that the tree is coeval\nwith the abbey, and that it was planted by the hands of the monks who\nfirst inhabited the building. It is believed by the common people that\nany person daring to pluck a branch, or in any way attempting to injure\nthis tree, will not be alive on that day twelvemonth.\n\n\nPRAYING BY MACHINERY.\n\nMr. Moorcroft informs us, in his \"Journey to Lake Manasawara, in Undes,\na province in Little Thibet,\" that the inhabitants used the following\nmost extraordinary way of saying their prayers:--It is done by motion,\nwhich may be effected by the powers of steam, wind, or water. A large\nhollow cylinder, like a drum, is erected, within which is inclosed all\nthe written prayers the people choose to offer, and then it is set\ngoing, by being whirled round its own axis; thus saving the trouble\nof repeating them. Mr. Turner, whose travels in Thibet are before the\npublic, corroborates the account of these whirligigs. They are common,\nalso, among the Monguls, the Calmucs, and the Kalkas; so that the\nengineers for these pious wheels must have a tolerably extensive trade,\nas this national mode of worship is naturally liable to wear out.\nBut even this mode is innocence itself, compared with that of a set\nof savages, who _pray people to death_; for Lisiansky, in his Voyage\nround the World, gives us an account of an extra-religious sect, in\nthe Sandwich Islands, who arrogate to themselves the power of praying\npeople to death. Whosoever incurs their displeasure, receives notice\nthat the homicide-litany is about to begin; and such are the effects of\nimagination, that the very notice is frequently sufficient, with these\nweak people, to produce the effect, or to drive them to acts of suicide.\n\n\nTOPING IN THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nAt a Somersetshire hunt dinner, seventy years since, thirteen toasts\nused to be drunk in strong beer; then every one did as he liked. Some\nmembers of the hunt occasionally drank a glass of wine at the wind up,\nwho were not themselves previously wound up. In country towns, after a\ndinner at one o'clock P.M., friends used to meet to discuss the local\nnews over their glasses of strong beer, the merits of which furnished\na daily theme. At Bampton one knot of gentlemen took four times the\nduration of the Trojan war, and even then failed to settle which of the\nparty brewed the best beer.\n\n\nA FINE OLD SOLDIER.\n\nJeremiah Atkins, of the Scar, near Bromyard, Herefordshire, died in\n1796, aged 102. He had been a soldier through all the earlier periods\nof his manhood, and had seen much service; was present at the taking\nof Martinico, and at the Havannah; and, on one occasion, being taken\nprisoner by the Indians of North America, was very near being scalped,\nas he was only rescued at the moment they were about to perform the\noperation. He was likewise at the taking of Crown Point, in America,\nand in the battle of Fontenoy with the Duke of Cumberland, whom he also\naccompanied in his resistance to the advance of the Scotch rebels,\nbeing in several of the skirmishes and battles fought on that occasion.\nHe afterwards went again to America, and took part in the storming of\nQuebec, when Wolfe was killed. The last battle in which he was engaged\nwas that of Tournay, in Flanders. This extraordinary man retained the\nfull use of all his natural faculties, save hearing, to the very close\nof his life.\n\n\nPOPULAR FALLACY OF THE VIRTUES OF A SEVENTH SON.\n\nIt is believed that a seventh son can cure diseases, but that a\nseventh son of a seventh son, and no female child born between, can\ncure the king's evil. Such a favoured individual is really looked\non with veneration. An artist visiting Axminster in 1828, noticing\nthe indulgence granted to one urchin in preference to others, and\nseeing something particular in this child, addressed his mother as\nfollows:--\"This little man appears to be a favourite: I presume he is\nyour little Benjamin.\" \"He's a seventh son, sir,\" said the mother.\nAffecting an air of surprise, I expressed myself at the instant as\nbeing one very anxious to know what a _seventh_ son could do? The\nmother, a very civil woman, told me that \"she did think, to cure all\ndiseases, should be the seventh son of a seventh son; but _many folk\ndo come to touch my son_.\" In April, 1826, a respectable looking woman\nwas engaged in collecting a penny from each of thirty young women,\nunmarried; the money to be laid out in purchasing a silver ring, to\ncure her son of epileptic fits. The money was to be freely given,\nwithout any consideration, or else the charm would have been destroyed.\nThe young women gave their pence, because it would have been a _pity_\nfor the lad to continue afflicted _if_ the charm would cure him.\n\n\nSELF-NOURISHMENT.\n\nThat animals may sometimes be kept alive for a long time solely on\nnourishment supplied from their own bodies, is evident from the fact\nthat after a great fall of earth on one occasion from the cliff at\nDover, which buried a whole family, a hog was found alive five months\nand nine days after it had thus been buried! It weighed about seven\nscore when the accident happened, and had wasted to about thirty\npounds, but was likely to do well.\n\n\nCHINESE METHOD OF FISHING.\n\nThere is nothing more extraordinary in the history of the different\nnations of the world than the ingenuity of the Chinese. They are the\nmost handy people on the face of the earth, and the lower orders are\njust as clever as the higher. A proof of this may be seen at a fishing\nvillage which is contiguous to the town of Victoria, in Hong Kong. It\nremains in much the same state as that in which it existed prior to\nthe British occupation of the island. Old worn-out boats, and torn\nmat-sails, bamboos and dried rushes,--these are the principal materials\nemployed in the construction of their domiciles. The fishing boats are\nmost ingeniously built. Each of these has a long projecting bamboo,\nwhich is rigged out from the stem in the form of a bowsprit, only\nworking on a pivot. From the extremity of this outrigger, a strong\nrope communicates with a balance-board, that exactly poises the bamboo\noutrigger, when the net is immersed in water, and the fisherman has\nonly to walk up and down this plank to raise the net and let it drop\nagain in the water. But opposite to the island, and on many of the\nlittle insular rocks which constitute the \"ten thousand isles,\" of\nwhich the emperor of China, amongst his vast pretensions to titles,\nlays claim to be lord, fishing is conducted on a larger scale, though\nworked upon the same principles. Huge poles are driven into the ground\nwhere the water is comparatively shallow, and leading ropes, which pass\nover a block-wheel inserted in the tops of these poles, communicate at\none end with large circular nets, (constructed somewhat in the shape\nof a funnel, the upper rim being attached to floats, whilst from the\ncentre are pendant weights,) the other end being fastened on shore to a\nbalance plank, which the weight of one man suffices to work.\n\n[Illustration: Chinese Method of Fishing.]\n\n\nMOSQUE OF OMAR.\n\nThe opposite engraving represents the Great Mosque at Jerusalem. It is\nbuilt on the exact site of Solomon's Temple, and takes its name from\nits original founder, the Caliph Omar. It is a Turkish edifice, and is\ndevoted to the worship of Mahomet.\n\nTitus having taken Jerusalem in the second year of Vespasian's reign,\nnot one stone was left upon another of that Temple where Christ\nhad done such glorious things, and the destruction of which he had\npredicted. When the Caliph Omar took Jerusalem, in 636 A.D., it appears\nthat the site of the Temple, with the exception of a very small part,\nhad been abandoned by the Christians. Said-Eben-Batrick, an Arabian\nhistorian, relates that the Caliph applied to the Patriarch Sophronius,\nand enquired of him what would be the most proper place at Jerusalem\nfor building a mosque. Sophronius conducted him to the ruins of\nSolomon's Temple. Omar, delighted with the opportunity of erecting a\nmosque on so celebrated a spot, caused the ground to be cleared, and\nthe earth to be removed from a large rock, where God is said to have\nconversed with Jacob. From that rock the new mosque took its name\nof Gameat-el-Sakhra, and became almost as sacred an object to the\nMussulmans, as the mosques of Mecca and Medina. The Caliph El-Oulid\ncontributed still more to the embellishment of El-Sakhra, and covered\nit with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a church at Balbeck. In the\nsequel, the crusaders converted the Temple of Mahomet into a sanctuary\nof Christ; but when Saladin re-took Jerusalem, he restored this edifice\nto its original use.\n\n[Illustration: Great Mosque at Jerusalem.]\n\nThe form is an octagon, either side being seventy feet in width; it is\nentered by four spacious doors, the walls are white below, intermingled\nwith blue, adorned with pilasters, but above, it is faced with glazed\ntiles of various colours. The interior is described as paved with grey\nmarble, the plain walls are covered with the same material in white.\nIt contains many noble columns, in two tiers. The dome is painted, and\ngilt in arabesque, whence depend antique vessels of gold and silver;\nimmediately beneath it stands a mass of limestone, reported to have\nfallen from heaven when the spirit of prophecy commenced. On this sat\nthe destroying angel, during the slaughter caused by David's numbering\nthe people. From this Mahomet ascended to heaven. Within the storied\nwalls, moreover, are the scales for weighing the souls of men, the\nshield of Mahomet, and other relics, besides the entrance to the\ninfernal regions; seventy thousand angels ever guard the precious stone.\n\nEntrance to this hallowed edifice has been gained only by two or three\nEuropeans; indeed, the Turks will not allow infidels to approach the\nsacred enclosure around it, which measures about sixteen hundred feet\nin length, by one thousand in width, and is adorned with fountains,\norange, cypress, and other trees.\n\nThe mosque itself is esteemed the finest piece of Saracenic\narchitecture in existence, far surpassing St. Sophia in beauty. Its\nview, combined with the distinguished monuments in the City of the\nSultan, in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, strongly induces a belief in the\naccuracy of an able article in the _Quarterly Review_, in which the\norigin of the five predominant styles of architecture throughout the\nworld, viz., the Byzantine, Chinese, Egyptian, Grecian, and Gothic are\nassigned respectively to the convex and concave curves, to the oblique,\nhorizontal, and perpendicular lines.\n\n\nA COUPLE OF ECCENTRICS.\n\nMr. Day, the eccentric founder of Fairlop fair, had a housekeeper, who\nhad lived with him for thirty years, and was equally eccentric. She had\ntwo very strong attachments; one to her wedding-ring and garments, and\nthe other to tea. When she died, Mr. Day would not permit her ring to\nbe taken off; he said, \"If that was attempted, she would come to life\nagain;\" and directed that she should be buried in her wedding-suit, and\na pound of tea in each hand; and these directions were literally obeyed.\n\n\nTHE UNIVERSALITY OF TAXATION.\n\nThe following extract, from the _Edinburgh Review_, is not\ninappropriate to our pages, inasmuch as it is both a rare specimen\nof effective composition, and also serves to show us what the state\nof taxation was in England even within the last forty years.--Taxes\nupon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back,\nor is placed upon the feet--taxes upon every thing which it is\npleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste--taxes upon warmth,\nlight, and locomotion--taxes on everything on earth, and the waters\nunder the earth--on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at\nhome--taxes on the raw material--taxes on every fresh value that is\nadded to it by the industry of man--taxes on the sauce which pamper's\nman's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health--on the ermine\nwhich decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal--on\nthe poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice--on the brass nails of\nthe coffin, and the ribands of the bride at bed or board, _couchant_\nor _levant_, we must pay;--the schoolboy whips his taxed top--the\nbeardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a\ntaxed road:--and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has\npaid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent.,\nflings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid twenty-two\nper cent.--makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the\narms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds\nfor the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then\nimmediately taxed from two to ten per cent. Besides the probate, large\nfees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are\nhanded down to posterity on taxed markle; and he is then gathered to\nhis fathers--to be taxed no more.\n\n\nSHAM PROPHETS.\n\nWilliam Hackett, a fanatic of the sixteenth century, after a very ill\nlife, turned prophet, and signified the desolation of England. He\nprophesied at York and at Lincoln; where, for his boldness, he was\nwhipped publicly, and condemned to be banished. He had an extraordinary\nfluency of speech, and much assurance in his prayers; for he said,\nthat if all England should pray for rain, and he should pray to the\ncontrary, it should not rain. Hackett had two brother-prophets joined\nwith him, Edward Coppinger, named the prophet of mercy, and Henry\nArthington, the prophet of judgment. Coppinger, the merciful prophet,\ndeclared that Hackett was the sole monarch of Europe; and at length\nthey proclaimed him, July 16, 1592. On the 28th of the same month,\nhowever, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated\ndivinity, was hanged and quartered. Coppinger famished himself in\nprison, and Arthington was pardoned. Fitz Simon relates, that in a\nquarrel Hackett had at Oundle, \"He threw down his adversary, and\nbit off his nose; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who\npretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it.\"\nHackett, on the scaffold, made a blasphemous prayer, which is recorded\nby Fitz Simon and Camden, too horrid to be repeated. He hated Queen\nElizabeth, and tried to deprive her of her crown; he confessed to\nthe judges that he had stabbed the effigies of this princess to the\nheart, with an iron pin; and a little before he was hanged, being an\naccomplished swearer, he cursed her with all manner of imprecations.\n\n\nHOOKING A BOY INSTEAD OF A FISH.\n\nAbout five and thirty years ago, as Mr. George Moor was fishing in the\nriver Tyne at Pipewellgate, Gateshead, he espied something in the water\nwhich seemed like a drowned dog, but the day being clear, and the sun\nshining, he thought he perceived a face, upon which he threw his line\nto it (which had but three hairs at the hook) and hooked a coat, by\nwhich he found it was a boy, but the hook loosing hold, he again cast\nhis line and struck him in the temple and drew him to the shore, and in\nless than quarter of an hour he revived.\n\n\nCHILDREN OF AGED PARENTS.\n\nMargaret Krasiowna, of the village of Koninia, Poland, died 1763, aged\n108. The following extraordinary circumstances are stated, by Eaton,\nas connected with the life of this woman:--\"At the age of ninety-four\nshe married her third husband, Gaspard Raycolt, of the village of\nCiwouszin, then aged one hundred and five. During the fourteen years\nthey lived together she brought him two boys and a girl; and, what\nis very remarkable, these three children, from their very birth, bore\nevident marks of the old age of their parents--their hair being grey,\nand a vacuity appearing in their gums, like that which is occasioned\nby the loss of teeth, though they never had any. They had not strength\nenough, even as they grew up, to chew solid food, but lived on bread\nand vegetables, they were of a proper size for their age, but their\nbacks were bent, their complexions sallow, with all the other external\nsymptoms of decrepitude. Though most of these particulars,\" he adds,\n\"may appear fabulous, they are certified by the parish registers. The\nvillage of Ciwouszin is in the district of Stenzick, in the palatinate\nof Sendonier. Gaspard Raycolt, the father, died soon after, aged 119.\"\n\n\nSEPULCHRAL VASE FROM PERU.\n\n[Illustration [++] Sepulchral Vase of Peru.]\n\nThe vessel of which the annexed is an engraving, was taken from the\ntomb of one of the ancient inhabitants of Peru; the subjects of the\nIncas, or princes who ruled over that country before it was conquered\nby the Spaniards. Vases of this sort were probably placed in the\nsepulchres of the Peruvians to contain the ashes of the dead, or\nofferings to their disembodied spirits;--usages which are familiar\nto us through the frequent allusions to them which we meet with in\nthe works of the poets of ancient Rome, and the discovery of urns and\nlachrymatories in Roman tombs which have been in our own and other\ncemeteries. The specimen which we have engraved is quadruple, but forms\none vessel.\n\n\nFIRST IRON CANNON.\n\nThe first cannon was cast in Sussex in 1535. In after years bonds were\ntaken in L1,000 from the owners of the charcoal furnaces, that none\nshould be sold till a license for the sale or issue of the ordnance had\nbeen procured. Fears were entertained that the enemy would purchase\nthem.\n\n\nPROLIFIC AUTHOR.\n\nNo one need despair, after the following instance, of shining in\nquantity, if not in quality:--\"Hans Sacks was a Nuremberg shoemaker,\nborn there in 1494; he was instructed, by the master-singers of those\ndays, in the praiseworthy art of poetry; he, therefore, continued to\nmake verses and shoes, and plays and pumps, boots and books, until\nthe seventy-seventh year of his age; when he took an inventory of his\npoetical stock in trade, and found, according to his narrative, that\nhis works filled thirty folio volumes, all written with his own hand;\nand consisted of four thousand two hundred mastership songs, two\nhundred and eight comedies, tragedies, and farces (some of which were\nextended to seven acts), one thousand seven hundred fables, tales, and\nmiscellaneous poems, and seventy-three devotional, military, and love\nsongs; making a sum total of six thousand and forty-eight pieces, great\nand small.\" Out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled\nthree massy folios, which were published in the year 1558-61; and,\nanother edition being called for, he increased this three volumes folio\nabridgement of his works, in the second, from his other works. None but\nLope de Vega exceeded him in quantity of rhyme-making.\n\n\nTHE ART OF POTTERY IN CHINA.\n\n[Illustration: 1. 2. 3.]\n\nThe Chinese traditions carry back the practice of the potter's art to a\nvery remote epoch. Father Entrecolles, a French missionary, resided in\nChina at the beginning of the last century, and his letters published\nin Paris, in 1741, supply some curious and interesting information\non this subject. Writing in 1712, he says that at that time ancient\nporcelain was very highly prized, and bore large prices. Articles were\nextant which were reputed to have belonged to the Emperors Yao and\nChun, two of the most ancient mentioned in the Chinese annals. Yao\nreigned in 2357 and Chun in 2255 before Christ. Other authorities place\nthe reign of Chun in 2600 before Christ. It appears from the researches\nof M. Stanislaus Julian that, from the time of the Emperor Hoang-ti,\nwho reigned 2698 to 2599 before Christ, there had always existed a\npublic officer bearing the title of the Intendant of Pottery, and that\nit was under the reign of Hoang-ti that the potter's art was invented\nby Kouen-ou. It is also certain that porcelain, or fine pottery, was\ncommon in China in the time of the Emperors Han, 163 B.C.\n\nIn digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the dynasties of\nHan and Thang, from 163 B.C. to 903 A.D. great quantities of ancient\nvases were found which were of a pure whiteness, but exhibited little\nbeauty of form or fabrication. It was only under the dynasty of Song,\nthat is to say, from 960 to 1278 A.D., that Chinese porcelain began to\nattain a high degree of perfection.\n\nFurther evidence of the antiquity of the potter's art in China, as well\nas of the existence of intercommunication between that country and\nEgypt, is supplied by the discoveries of Rossellina, Wilkinson, and\nothers, who found numerous vases of Chinese fabrication, and bearing\nChinese inscriptions, in the tombs at Thebes. Professor Rossellini\nfound a small vase of Chinese porcelain with a painting of a flower\non one side, and on the other Chinese characters not differing much\nfrom those used at the present day. The tomb was of the time of the\nPharaohs, a little later than the eighteenth dynasty.\n\nThis vase, with its Chinese inscription, is represented in Fig. 1, from\nan exact cast made by Mr. Francis Davis.\n\nAnother of the Chinese vases, found in the Theban tombs, is represented\nin Fig. 2. This is preserved in the Museum of the Louvre. The shape of\nthe vase is that of a flat-sided flask. A side view is given in Fig. 3.\n\nThese flasks are very small. The engravings represent them of their\nproper dimensions. Mr. Wilkinson thinks it probable that they were\nbrought to Egypt from India, the Egyptians having had commercial\nrelations with that country at a very remote epoch, and that they came\nnot as pieces of porcelain, but as vessels containing some articles of\nimportation.\n\n\nSTRONG ATTACHMENT TO SMOKING.\n\nThe following is a curious case of extreme fondness for smoking in a\nvery poor and very old man. In the year 1810, there died in Dartford\nworkhouse, aged 106, one John Gibson. He had been an inmate of the\nhouse for ten years, and till within two months of his death used daily\nto perambulate the town. His faculties were entire to the last. He was\nso much attached to smoking, that he requested his pipe, together with\nhis walking-stick, might be placed in his coffin, which request was\ncomplied with.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY LETTER.\n\nThe following strange and curious epistle, we are assured, was sent to\na surgeon of eminence by a malefactor who had been sentenced to death.\nIt has a degree of character and quaintness about it which is rarely\nfound in the letters of convicts. Whether or not the surgeon complied\nwith his request we do not know.\n\n\"Sir,--Being informed that you are the only surgeon in this county, in\nthe habit of dissecting dead bodies--being very poor, I am desirous of\npassing what remains to me of life, with as much comfort as my unhappy\ncondition admits of. In all probability I shall be executed in the\ncourse of a month; having no friend to intercede for me, nor even to\nafford me a morsel of bread, to keep body and soul together till the\nfatal moment arrives, I beg you will favour me with a visit; I am\ndesirous of disposing of my body, which is healthy and sound, for a\nmoderate sum of money. It shall be delivered to you on demand, being\npersuaded that on the day of general resurrection, I shall as readily\nfind it in your laboratory, as if it were deposited in a tomb. Your\nspeedy answer will much oblige your obedient servant,\n\n JAMES BROWN.\"\n\n\nA MATTRESS FOR A BANK.\n\nIn the month of April, 1822, Mrs. Motley, broker, Bedford-street,\nNorth Shields, purchased an old mattress for 2s. from a shipowner,\nwho was going to reside with his daughter; in arranging some papers a\nfew days ago, he found a document in the hand-writing of his deceased\nwife, not intended for his perusal, but that of her son by a former\nhusband, in which it was stated that property to a considerable amount\nwas deposited in the said mattress. His daughter in consequence waited\non Mrs. Motley, and offered her a few shillings to return it. Mrs.\nM. naturally supposed that this seeming generosity was not without\na cause, but having sold it to a Mrs. Hill for 3s., for a small\nconsideration she regained possession of the prize, but on entering her\nhouse the original proprietor and a constable were ready to receive\nher, and without ceremony cut open the mattress, when a purse, said to\ncontain 100gs., two gloves filled with current silver coin, several\nvaluable rings, trinkets, silver spoons, &c., were discovered. Mrs.\nHill had considerably reduced the mattress to fit a small bedstead\nwithout finding the hidden treasure.\n\n\nARCHITECTURE FOR EARTHQUAKES.\n\nSumatra is one of the largest islands in the Indian Archipelago, and\nthe houses of the inhabitants are deserving of notice, inasmuch as\nthey furnish a correct and curious specimen of the style of building,\nwhich the frequent occurrence of earthquakes renders the safest in the\ncountries where such visitations are common.\n\nThe frames of the houses are of wood, the under-plates resting on\npillars six or eight feet high, which have a sort of capital, but no\nbase, and are wider at top than at bottom. The people appear to have no\nidea of architecture as a science, though much ingenuity is often shown\nin working up their materials. The general appearance of their houses\nis accurately represented in the annexed plate. For the floorings they\nlay whole bamboos, four or five inches in diameter, close to each\nother, and fasten them at the ends to the timbers. Across these are\nlaid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide and of the length of the\nroom, which are tied down with filaments of the rattan, and over these\nare usually spread mats of different kinds. This sort of flooring has\nan elasticity alarming to strangers when they first tread on it.\n\nThe sides of the houses are generally closed in with bamboo, opened\nand rendered flat by notching or splitting the circular joints on the\noutside, chipping away the corresponding divisions within, and laying\nit to dry in the sun pressed down with weights. This is sometimes\nnailed to the upright timbers or bamboos, but in the country parts\nit is more commonly interwoven or matted in breadths of six inches,\nand a piece or sheet formed at once of the size required. In some\nplaces they use for the same purpose the inner bark procured from some\nparticular trees. When they prepare to take it, the outer bark is first\ntorn or cut away; the inner is then marked out with a proper tool to\nthe requisite size, usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards\nbeaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the stem, and\nbeing peeled off, laid in the sun to dry, care being taken to prevent\nits warping. The bark used in building has nearly the texture and\nhardness of wood; but the pliable and delicate bark of which clothing\nis made is procured from a bastard species of the bread-fruit.\n\n[Illustration [++] Sumatran House.]\n\nThe most general mode of covering houses is with the leaf of a kind of\npalm called _nipah_. These, before they are laid on, are formed into\nsheets about five feet long, and as deep as the length of the leaf will\nadmit, which is doubled at one end over a slip or lath of bamboo. They\nare then disposed on the roof so that one sheet shall lap over the\nother, and are tied to the bamboos which serve for rafters.\n\n\nTHE NOSS IN SHETLAND.\n\nOff Bressay is the most remarkable of the rock phenomena of Shetland,\nthe Noss, a small high island, with a flat summit, girt on all sides\nby perpendicular walls of rock. It is only 500 feet in length, and\n170 broad, and rises abruptly from the sea to the height of 160 feet.\nThe communication with the coast of Bressay is maintained by strong\nropes stretched across, along which a cradle or wooden chair is run, in\nwhich the passenger is seated. It is of a size sufficient for conveying\nacross a man and a sheep at a time. The purpose of this strange\ncontrivance is to give the tenant the benefit of putting a few sheep\nupon the Holm, the top of which is level, and affords good pasture.\nThe animals are transported in the cradle, one at a time, a shepherd\nholding them upon his knees in crossing.\n\n[Illustration: Cradle of Noss.]\n\nThe temptation of getting access to the numberless eggs and young\nof the sea-fowl which whiten the surface of the Holm, joined to the\npromised reward of a cow, induced a hardy and adventurous fowler, about\ntwo centuries ago, to scale the cliff of the Holm, and establish a\nconnexion by ropes with the neighbouring main island. Having driven\ntwo stakes into the rock and fastened his ropes, the desperate man was\nentreated to avail himself of the communication thus established in\nreturning across the gulf. But this he refused to do, and in attempting\nto descend the way he had climbed, he fell, and perished by his\nfoolhardiness.\n\n\nSWALLOWED UP BY AN EARTHQUAKE AND THROWN OUT AGAIN.\n\nA tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following inscription:--\n\n\"Here lieth the body of Lewis Galdy, Esq., who died on the 22nd of\nSeptember, 1737, aged 80. He was born at Montpellier, in France, which\nplace he left for his religion, and settled on this island, where, in\nthe great earthquake, 1672, he was swallowed up, and by the wonderful\nprovidence of God, by a second shock was thrown out into the sea,\nwhere he continued swimming until he was taken up by a boat, and thus\nmiraculously preserved. He afterwards lived in great reputation, and\ndied universally lamented.\"\n\n\nCUSTOMS OF THE BORDER BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.\n\nIn the courts held by the lords wardens of the Marches, a jury was\nestablished: the English lord chose six out of Scotland, and the Scotch\nsix out of England. The defendant, upon the trials, was acquitted\nupon his own oath; these oaths are singular: we transcribe them.--1.\nJUROR'S OATH. You shall clean no bills worthy to be fouled: you shall\nfoul no bills worthy to be cleaned; but shall do that which appeareth\nwith truth, for the maintenance of truth, and suppressing of attempts.\nSo help you God.--2. PLAINTIFF'S OATH. You shall leile (little) price\nmake, and truth say, what your goods were worth at the time of their\ntaking, to have been bought and sold in the market, taken all at\none time, and that you know no other recovery but this. So help you\nGod.--3. DEFENDANT'S OATH. You shall swear, by heaven above you, hell\nbeneath you, by your part in Paradise, by all that God made in six days\nand seven nights, and by God himself, you are whart and sackless, of\nart, part, way, witting, ridd, kenning, having, or reciting, of any of\nthe goods and chattles named in this bill. So help you God. These oaths\nand proceedings arose from the frequent incursions of both Scotch and\nEnglish, on both sides the wall, to where they had no right.\n\n\nTURKISH MODE OF REPARATION.\n\nOn April 25th, 1769, at Constantinople, the Turks were removing the\nstandard of Mahomet, making a grand procession through the city; all\nChristians, upon this occasion, were forbid to appear in the streets or\nat their windows. But the wife and daughter of the Imperial minister,\nbeing excited by curiosity, placed themselves at a secret window to\nobserve the procession; which was no sooner discovered by the Turks,\nthan they attacked the ambassador's house, and endeavoured to force an\nentrance. But the servants of the minister opposing them, well-armed,\na dreadful fray ensued, in which no less than one hundred persons lost\ntheir lives, and the ambassador's lady was very severely treated.\nSome of the rioters dragged her down into the court-yard, and made\npreparations to strangle her; when a party of Janissaries, who were\ndespatched to her assistance by an aga in the neighbourhood, happily\ncame and preserved her. Upon complaint being made of this outrage, by\nher husband, to the grand vizier, that minister expressed great sorrow\nfor the insult that had been offered, and assured him he should have\nall the reparation it was possible to procure. A few hours after the\nvizier sent the Imperial minister a rich present of jewels for his\nlady, _and a bag, which was found to contain the heads of the three\nprincipal rioters_.\n\n\nHAIR TURNED GREY BY FRIGHT.\n\nThere is an interesting anecdote of a boy, in one of the rudest parts\nof the County of Clare, in Ireland, who, in order to destroy some\neaglets, lodged in a hole one hundred feet from the summit of a rock,\nwhich rose four hundred feet perpendicular from the sea, caused himself\nto be suspended by a rope, with a scimitar in his hand for his defence,\nshould he meet with an attack from the old ones; which precaution was\nfound necessary; for no sooner had his companions lowered him to the\nnest, than one of the old eagles made at him with great fury, at which\nhe struck, but, unfortunately missing his aim, nearly cut through the\nrope that supported him. Describing his horrible situation to his\ncomrades, they cautiously and safely drew him up; when it was found\nthat his hair, which a quarter of an hour before was a dark auburn, was\nchanged to grey.\n\n\nMEMORABLE SNOW-STORM.\n\nThe following characteristic account is taken _literatim_ from the\nparish register of the village of Youlgrave in Derbyshire:--\"This year\n1614-5 Jan. 16 began the greatest snow which ever fell uppon the earth,\nwithin man's memorye. It cover'd the earth five quarters deep uppon the\nplayne. And for heapes or drifts of snow, they were very deep, so that\npassengers, both horse and foot, passed over yates hedges and walles.\nIt fell at ten severall tymes, and the last was the greatest, to the\ngreate admiration and fear of all the land, for it came from the foure\np{ts} of the world, so that all c'ntryes were full, yea, the south\np'te as well as these mountaynes. It continued by daily encreasing\nuntil the 12{th} day of March, (without the sight of any earth, eyther\nuppon hilles or valleys) uppon w{ch} daye, being the Lordes day, it\nbegan to decrease; and so by little and little consumed and wasted\naway, till the eight and twentyth day of May, for then all the heapes\nor drifts of snow were consumed, except one uppon Kinder-Scout, w{ch}\nlay till Witson week.\"\n\n\nROADS IN 1780.\n\nA squire from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury, journeying to Sarum in\nhis carriage, about 1780, took care that his footman was provided with\na good axe to lop off any branches of trees that might obstruct the\nprogress of the vehicle.\n\n\nWONDERFUL PEDESTRIAN FEAT.\n\nCaptain Cochrane, who set out from St. Petersburg in May, 1820, to walk\nthrough the interior of Russia to the east of Asia, with a view of\nascertaining the fact of a north-east cape, travelled at the rate of\n_forty-three miles a day for one hundred and twenty-three successive\ndays_. He afterwards walked upwards of four hundred miles without\nmeeting a human being. Wherever he went he seems to have accommodated\nhimself to the habits of the people, however rude and disgusting.\nWith the Kalmucks, he ate horse-flesh, elks, and wolves; and with\nthe Tchutski he found as little difficulty in pasturing upon bears,\nrein-deer, and _raw frozen fish_, the latter of which he considered a\ngreat delicacy.\n\n\nBOOK-SHAPED WATCH.\n\n[Illustration [++] Book-Shaped Watch.]\n\nThe unique curiosity, of which the annexed is an accurate\nrepresentation, was one of the choicest rarities of the Bernal\ncollection, and is, therefore, highly appropriate to our pages. It once\nbelonged to, and was made for, Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in\nthe time of Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an engraved\ninscription of the Duke and his titles, with the date 1627, and the\nengraving of his armorial bearings; on the back of the case there\nare engraved two male portraits, buildings, &c.; the dial-plate is\nof silver, chased in relief; the insides are chased with birds and\nfoliage. This watch has apparently two separate movements, and a large\nbell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is ornamentally pierced\nin a circle, with a dragon and other devices, and the sides are\npierced and engraved in scrolls. It bears the maker's name, \"Dionistus\nHessichti.\"\n\n\nTHE RULING PASSION.\n\nMr. Henry Stribling, farmer, who died at Goodleigh, near Barnstaple,\nAugust 1st, 1800, in the eightieth year of his age, was one of the\ngreatest fox-hunters in Devonshire, and had collected such a number\nof foxes pads, all of which he had himself cut off when in at the\ndeath, that they entirely covered his stable door and door-posts. At\nhis own particular request, a pad was placed in each of his hands\nin his coffin, and he was attended to the grave by the huntsmen and\nwhippers-in of the packs with which he had hunted.\n\n\nEDICTS AGAINST FIDDLERS.\n\nAn idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular\namusements were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendancy, from\nthe fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called\nfiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling, or making music in any\ninn, alehouse, or tavern, &c. If they proffered themselves or offered\nto make music, they were to be adjudged to be rogues, vagabonds, and\nsturdy vagabonds, and were to be proceeded against as such.\n\n\nSCENE OF DESOLATION.\n\n[Illustration [++] Pass of Keim-an-eigh.]\n\nThe pass of Keim-an-eigh is one of the numerous wonders of nature.\nIt is situated on the road from Macroom to Bantry, in the county of\nCork, and winds through a deep and narrow rocky defile, about two\nEnglish miles in length. Its name means, in Irish, \"The Path of the\nDeer.\" Perhaps, in no part of the kingdom, is there to be found a\nplace so utterly desolate and gloomy. A mountain has been divided by\nsome convulsion of nature, and the narrow pass is overhung on either\nside, as seen in our engraving, by perpendicular cliffs clothed in wild\nivy and underwood, with, occasionally, a stunted yew-tree or arbutus\ngrowing among them. At every step advance seems impossible--some huge\nrock jutting out into the path, or sweeping round it, seeming to\nconduct only to some barrier still more insurmountable; while from\nall sides rush down the \"wild fountains,\" and forming for themselves\na rugged channel, make their way onward, the first tributary to the\ngentle and fruitful Lee. Nowhere has Nature assumed a more apalling\naspect, or manifested a more stern resolve to dwell in her own\nloneliness and grandeur, undisturbed by any living thing; for even the\nbirds seem to shun a solitude so awful, and the hum of bee or chirp of\ngrasshopper is never heard within its precincts.\n\n\nTHE FIRST ENGLISH NUN.\n\nFace, widow of Edwin, king of Northumberland, is said to have been the\nfirst English nun; and the first nunnery in England appears to have\nbeen at Barking, in Essex, which was founded by Erkenwald, Bishop of\nLondon, wherein he placed a number of Benedictine or black nuns. The\nmost rigid nuns are those of St. Clara, of the order of St. Francis,\nboth of which individuals were born and lived in the same town: the\nnuns are called poor Clares, and both they and the monks wear grey\nclothes. Abbesses had formerly seats in parliament. In one, held in\n694, says Spelman, they sat and deliberated, and several of them\nsubscribed the decrees made in it. They sat, says Ingulphus, in a\nparliament held in 855. In the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. four\nof them were summoned to a national council, viz. those of Shaftesbury,\nBarking, Winchester, and Wilton.\n\n\nPRESENCE OF MIND--ESCAPE FROM A TIGER.\n\nIn 1812, a party of British naval and military officers were dining in\na jungle at some distance from Madras, when a ferocious tiger rushed in\namong them, seized a young midshipman, and flung him across his back.\nIn the first emotion of terror, the other officers had all snatched\nup their arms, and retired some paces from their assailant, who stood\nlashing his sides with his tail, as if doubtful whether he should seize\nmore prey, or retire with that which he had already secured. They knew\nthat it is usual with the tiger, before he seizes his prey, to deprive\nit of life, by a pat on the head, which generally breaks the skull;\nbut this is not his invariable practice. The little midshipman lay\nmotionless on the back of his enemy; but yet the officers, who were\nuncertain whether he had received the mortal pat or not, were afraid\nto fire, lest they should kill him together with the tiger. While in\nthis state of suspense, they perceived the hand of the youth gently\nmove over the side of the animal, and conceiving the motion to result\nfrom the convulsive throbs of death, they were about to fire, when, to\ntheir utter astonishment, the tiger dropped stone dead; and their young\nfriend sprung from the carcass, waving in triumph a bloody dirk drawn\nfrom the heart, for which he had been feeling with the utmost coolness\nand circumspection, when the motion of his hand had been taken for a\ndying spasm.\n\n\nCOST OF ARTICLES IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe following article is taken from Martin's _History of Thetford_.\nIt is copied from an original record in that borough, when John le\nForester was mayor, in the tenth year of Edward the Third, A.D. 1336.\nIt is so far curious, as it exhibits an authentic account of the value\nof many articles at that time; being a bill, inserted in the town book,\nof the expenses attending the sending two light-horsemen from Thetford\nto the army, which was to march against the Scots that year.\n\n L s. d.\n To two men chosen to go into the army against Scotland 1 0 0\n\n For cloth, and to the tailor for making it into\n two _gowns_ 0 6 11\n\n For two pair of gloves, and a stick or staff 0 0 2\n\n For two horses 1 15 0-1/2\n\n For shoeing these horses 0 0 4\n\n For two pair of boots for the light-horsemen 0 2 8\n\n Paid to a lad for going with the mayor to Lenn (Lynn),\n to take care of the horses (the distance between\n Thetford and Lynn is 53 miles) 0 0 3\n\n To a boy for a letter at Lenn (viz., carrying\n it thither) 0 0 3\n\n Expenses for the horses of two light-horsemen for four\n days before they departed 0 1 0\n\n\nLAW AND ORDER IN THE STREETS OF LONDON IN 1733.\n\nWhat an extraordinary state of things does the following extract from\nthe _Weekly Register_ of December 8th, 1733, disclose! The stages and\nhackney-coaches actually made open war upon private carriages. \"The\ndrivers,\" says the paragraph, \"are commissioned by their masters to\nannoy, sink, and destroy all the single and double horse-chaises they\ncan conveniently meet with, or overtake in their way, without regard\nto the lives or limbs of the persons who travel in them. What havoc\nthese industrious sons of blood and wounds have made within twenty\nmiles of London in the compass of a summer's season, is best known by\nthe articles of accidents in the newspapers: the miserable shrieks of\nwomen and children not being sufficient to deter the villains from\ndoing what they call their duty to their masters; for besides their\ndaily or weekly wages, they have an extraordinary stated allowance for\nevery chaise they can reverse, ditch, or bring by the road, as the term\nor phrase is.\" Verily, we who live in the present day have reason to\nrejoice that in _some_ things there is a decided improvement upon \"the\ngood old times.\"\n\n\nNEVER SLEEPING IN A BED.\n\nChristopher Pivett, of the city of York, died 1796, aged 93. He was\na carver and gilder by trade; but during the early part of his life\nserved in the army, and was in the retinue of the Duke of Cumberland,\nunder whose command he took part in the battle of Fontenoy, as he did\nat the battle of Dettingen under the Earl of Stair; he was likewise\nat the siege of Carlisle, and the great fight of Culloden. His house,\nafter he had settled at York, being accidentally burnt down, he formed\nthe singular resolution of never again sleeping in a bed, lest he\nshould be burned to death whilst asleep, or not have time sufficient,\nshould such a misfortune again befall him, to remove his property; and\nthis resolution he rigidly acted upon during the last forty years of\nhis life. His practice was to repose upon the floor, or on two chairs,\nor sitting in a chair, but always with his clothes on. During the\nwhole of this period he lived entirely alone, cooked his own victuals,\nand seldom admitted any one into his habitation: nor would he ever\ndisclose to any the place of his birth, or to whom he was related. He\nhad many singularities, but possessed, politically as well as socially,\na laudable spirit of independence, which he boldly manifested on\nseveral trying occasions. Among other uncommon articles which composed\nthe furniture of his dwelling, was a human skull, which he left strict\ninjunctions should be interred with him.\n\n\nAMULET BROTCHE.\n\nThe subjoined engraving represents an ancient Gaelic Brotche, which was\nmade in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and once belonged to a Highland\nChief, Maclean of Lochbuy in the Isle of Mull, being formed of silver\nfound on his estate. It is of circular form, scolloped, and surrounded\nby small upright obelisks, each set with a pearl at top; in the centre\nis a round crystalline ball, considered a magical gem; the top may be\ntaken off, showing a hollow, originally for reliques. On the reverse\nside of the brotche are engraved the names of the three kings of\nCologne, with the word _consummation_. It was probably a consecrated\nbrotche, and worn not only for the purpose of fastening the dress, but\nas an amulet.\n\n[Illustration [++] Gaelic Brotche.]\n\n\nTHE GOLYNOS OAK.\n\nThis wonderful tree grew on the estate from which it takes its name,\nabout four miles from Newport, Monmouth. It was purchased by Thomas\nHarrison, Esq., in the year 1810, for 100 guineas, and was felled and\nconverted by him the same year. Five men were twenty days stripping\nand cutting it down; and a pair of sawyers were employed 138 days in\nits conversion. The expense of stripping, felling, and sawing was L82.\nThe trunk of the tree was 9-1/2 feet in diameter, and no saw could\nbe found long enough to cut it down; two saws were therefore brazed\ntogether. The rings in its butt being reckoned, it was discovered that\nthis tree had been improving upwards of 400 years! and, as many of its\nlateral branches were dead, and some broken off, it is presumed it must\nhave stood a century after it had attained maturity. When standing\nit overspread 452 square yards of ground, and produced 2,426 feet of\ntimber. When all its parts were brought to market they produced nearly\nL600.\n\n[Illustration [++] Golynos Oak.]\n\n\nCARFAX CONDUIT.\n\n[Illustration [++] Carfax Conduit.]\n\nIn the grounds at Nuneham Courtenay, near Oxford, belonging to Mr.\nHarcourt, on one of the slopes that ascend directly from the river\nThames, stands the ancient and far-famed Carfax Conduit, which formerly\nstood as a kind of central point to the four principal streets of\nOxford. Certain alterations requiring its removal, it was, with the\nmost perfect propriety, presented to the Earl Harcourt.\n\nIt was built in 1610, by Otho Nicholson--a liberal and enterprising\ngentleman--in order to supply the city with pure water, brought from\na hill above North Hinksey; and although the conduit is removed, the\npipes still remain, and afford a partial supply that will be superseded\nby the new City Waterworks. It is a square, decorated in accordance\nwith the taste of the time--mermaids holding combs and mirrors, and\ndragons, antelopes, unicorns, being scattered about, while the Empress\nMaude is introduced riding an ox over a ford, in allusion to the\nname of the city. The letters O. N., the initials of the founder,\nare conspicuous; while above the centres of the four arches are the\ncardinal virtues--Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence.\n\nCarfax is from a Bishop of that name, who presided over the diocese of\nTours in France, and died in the year 399. He was canonized, and is the\ntutelar saint of Carfax, or St. Martin's church, in the city of Oxford.\n\n\nDESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES IN THE TIME OF HENRY VIII., AT THE DISSOLUTION\nOF THE MONASTERIES.\n\nIt is a circumstance well known, to every one at all conversant in\nEnglish history, that the suppression of the lesser monasteries by that\nrapacious monarch Henry the Eighth took place in 1536. Bishop Fisher,\nwhen the abolition was first proposed in the convocation, strenuously\nopposed it, and told his brethren that this was fairly shewing the\nking how he might come at the great monasteries. \"And so my lords,\"\ncontinued he, \"if you grant the king these smaller monasteries, you do\nbut make him a handle whereby he may cut down all the cedars within\nyour Lebanon.\" Fisher's fears were borne out by the subsequent act\nof Henry, who, after quelling a civil commotion occasioned by the\nsuppression of the lesser monasteries, immediately abolished the\nremainder, and in the whole suppressed six hundred and forty-five\nmonasteries, of which twenty-eight had abbots who enjoyed seats in\nParliament. Ninety colleges were demolished; two thousand three hundred\nand seventy-four charities and free chapels, and one hundred and ten\nhospitals. The havoc that was made among the libraries cannot be better\ndescribed than in the words of Bayle, Bishop of Ossory, in the preface\nto Leland's \"New Year's Gift to King Henry the Eighth.\"\n\n\"A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those superstychouse mansyons\n(monesteries) reserved of those librarye bookes, some to serve theyr\njokes, some to scoure thyr candlestyckes, and some to rubbe theyr\nbootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope-sellers, and some\nthey sent over see to the book bynders, not in small nombre, but at\ntymes whole shyppes full to the wonderynge of foren nacyons: yea ye\nuniversytes of thys realme are not alle clere in this detestable fact,\nbut cursed is that bellye whych seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye\ngaynes, and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe a merchant\nmanne whyche shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes\nof two noble lybraryes for forty shyllinges pryce: a shame it is to be\nspoken: Thys stuffe hath he occupyed in the stede of grey paper by the\nspace of more than these ten yeares and yet he hath store ynoughe for\nas manye yeares to come. A prodygyouse example is thys to be abhorred\nof all men whych love thyr nacyon as they shoulde do. The monkes kept\nthem undre dust, ye ydle headed prestes regarded them not, theyr latter\nowners have most shamefully abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes\nhave solde them awaye into foren nacyons for moneye.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS MENTAL AFFECTION.\n\nSingular faculties have been developed during somnambulism in the\nmental condition. Thus a case is related of a woman in the Edinburgh\ninfirmary who, during her paroxysm, not only mimicked the manner\nof the attendant physicians, but repeated correctly some of their\nprescriptions in Latin.\n\nDr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this\naffection began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly\nduring the day, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking\nor by being taken into the open air. During these attacks she was in\nthe habit of talking of things that seemed to pass before her like\na dream, and was not at the time sensible of anything that was said\nto her. On one occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal\nservice, and concluded with an extempore prayer. In her subsequent\nparoxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer\nwith a considerable degree of consistency, though these replies were\nin a certain measure influenced by her hallucination. She also became\ncapable of following her usual employment during her paroxysm. At one\ntime she would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress\nherself and the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. The\nremarkable circumstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm,\nshe had a distinct recollection of what had taken place in former\nattacks, though she had not the slightest recollection of it during the\nintervals. She was taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended\nthe service with apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected\nby the sermon that she actually shed tears; yet in the interval she\nhad no recollection whatever of the circumstance, but in the following\nparoxysm she gave a most distinct account of it, and actually repeated\nthe passage of the sermon that had so much affected her. This sort of\nsomnambulism, relating distinctly to two periods, has been called,\nperhaps erroneously, a _state of double consciousness_.\n\nThis girl described the paroxysm as coming on with a dimness of sight\nand a noise in the head. During the attack, her eyelids were generally\nhalf shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring under\namaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. Her looks were dull and\nvacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. The\nparoxysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from\nthem. She then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening\nfrom sleep, and instantly recognised those about her. At one time, Dr.\nDyce affirms, she read distinctly a portion of a book presented to her,\nand she would frequently sing pieces of music more correctly and with\nbetter taste than when awake.\n\n\nDECORATIVE DRINKING VESSEL.\n\n[Illustration [++] German Decorative Vessel.]\n\nThe above represents a German decorative drinking vessel of the early\npart of the seventeenth century. It is a stork bearing in its beak an\ninfant; in accordance with the old German nursery tale that the king\nof the Storks is the bringer and protector of babies. It is of silver,\nchased all over; the eyes are formed of rubies; and one wing takes off\nthat liquid may be placed in the body, and imbibed through the neck,\nby a hole in the crown of the bird. It was probably a quaint fancy for\nsome German noble nursery.\n\n\nEXAMPLES OF ANCIENT VASES.\n\nThe Vases which are grouped in the annexed engraving are highly\ndeserving of a place in our collection of curiosities, inasmuch as they\nare truly unique and beautiful specimens of the degree of perfection\nto which the art of glass-making had been carried at the period when\nRome was mistress of the world. They all belong to that period, and in\nelegance of form and skill of workmanship they equal--we had almost\nsaid, surpass, the most artistic productions of the present day.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ancient Vases.]\n\nFigure 1 is that celebrated vase which for more than two centuries was\nthe principal ornament of the Barberini palace at Rome. It was thence\ngenerally known as the \"Barberini Vase;\" but having been purchased\nby Sir W. Hamilton, and then sold by him to the Duchess of Portland,\nit was at her death munificently presented by her son, the Duke of\nPortland, to the British Museum, where it has ever since remained as\none of its choicest gems, and is now known as the \"Portland Cinerary\nVase.\" It was found about the middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed\nin a marble sarcophagus, within a sepulchral chamber under the Monte\ndel Grane, two miles and a half from Rome, on the road to Frascati. The\ntomb is believed to have been that of the Emperor Alexander Severus,\nand his mother Mammaea. The vase is made of purple glass, ornamented\nwith white opaque figures in bas-relief. The execution of the design\nis most admirable. In the first place, the artist must have had the\naptitude to blow in purple glass a beautiful form of vase, with\nhandles attached: and, even thus far, this is considered in our day a\nmasterpiece of skill at our best glass-houses. Secondly, with the oxide\nof tin forming an opaque white glass, the artist managed to cover the\nwhole of the purple vase with this white opaque glass, to at least\nthe thickness of a quarter of an inch. The artist then, in the manner\nof cutting a cameo on the onyx stone, cut the opaque glass away,\nleaving the white figures and allegory embossed upon the purple. The\nfigures in relief are in two groups: in the former of these, a female\nis represented in a recumbent posture, with a cupid hovering above her\nhead, and a serpent in her lap; a young man on one side supporting her\nstretched out arm, and on the other a bearded personage of more mature\nage, attentively regarding her. The latter group, on the opposite side\nof the vase, consists of a female reclining on a pile of tablets, with\nher right hand placed on her head, and holding in her hand a lighted\ntorch with the flame downwards--a young man being seated on a pile on\none side of her, and a female, holding a rod or staff in the right\nhand, sitting on the other. The subject of the bas-relief has created\nmuch difference of opinion, but it is generally supposed to have\nreference to the birth of Severus. A few years ago this vase was broken\nby a madman, but it has since been repaired in a most artistic manner.\n\nFigure 2 is the \"Alexandrian Vase,\" of the Museo Borbonico, Naples.\n\nFigure 3 is the \"Pompeii Vase,\" also of the Museo Borbonico. It was\ndiscovered in a sepulchre of Pompeii in 1839, and is of the same\ncharacter in the colours and quality of the glass as the Portland Vase,\nbut of a more recent date. It is probably the production of Greek\nartists working in Rome.\n\nFigure 4 is the \"Aldjo Vase,\" which was found in 1833 at Pompeii, in\nthe house of the Fauna. The ground of the vase is of a deep sapphire\nblue, on which, in opaque white glass, the ornaments are cut. It was\nfound broken. Part is in the possession of Mr. Auldjo; the other in the\nBritish Museum. The shape of this vase is elegant, the handle and lip\nof exquisite form, and the taste and execution of the ornamental work\nin the purest style.\n\n\nMINUTENESS OF INSECT LIFE.\n\nAs the telescope enables the eye of man to penetrate into far-distant\nspace, and reveals to him myriads of suns and systems which otherwise\nwould have remained for ever hidden from his natural sight, so\nthe microscope opens up a world of life everywhere around us, but\naltogether unsuspected, astounding us as much by the inappreciable\nminuteness of its discoveries, as the former by the stupendous\nmagnitude and remoteness of the objects. If we go to any ditch or pool\nwhich the summer sun has covered with a mantle of stagnant greenness,\nand lift from it a minute drop of water, such as would adhere to\nthe head of a pin, we shall find it, under a high magnifying power,\nswarming with living beings, moving about with great rapidity, and\napproaching or avoiding each other with evident perception and will.\n\n\"Vain would it be,\" observes Professor Jones, \"to attempt by words\nto give anything like a definite notion of the minuteness of some\nof these multitudinous races. Let me ask the reader to divide an\ninch into 22,000 parts, and appreciate mentally the value of each\ndivision: having done so, and not till then, shall we have a standard\nsufficiently minute to enable us to measure the microscopic beings upon\nthe consideration of which we are now entering. Neither is it easy to\ngive the student of nature, who has not accurately investigated the\nsubject for himself, adequate conceptions relative to the numbers in\nwhich the _Infusoria_ sometimes crowd the waters they frequent; but\nlet him take his microscope, and the means of making a rough estimate,\nat least, are easily at his disposal. He will soon perceive that the\nanimalcule-inhabitants of a drop of putrid water, possessing, as many\nof them do, dimensions not larger than the 2,000th part of a line, swim\nso closely together, that the intervals separating them are not greater\nthan their own bodies. The matter, therefore, becomes a question for\narithmetic to solve, and we will pause to make the calculation.\n\n\"The _Monas termo_, for example--a creature that might be pardonably\nregarded as an embodiment of the mathematical point, almost literally\nwithout either length, or breadth, or thickness--has been calculated to\nmeasure about the 22,000th part of an inch in its transverse diameter;\nand in water taken from the surface of many putrid infusions, they are\ncrowded as closely as we have stated above. We may therefore safely\nsay, that, swimming at ordinary distances apart, 10,000 of them would\nbe contained in a linear space one inch in length, and consequently\na cubic inch of such water will thus contain more living and active\norganized beings than there are human inhabitants upon the whole\nsurface! However astounding such a fact may seem when first enunciated,\nnone is more easily demonstrated with the assistance of a good\nmicroscope.\"\n\nThe term _Infusoria_ has been by some naturalists applied to these\ndiminutive animals, because they are invariably found in the infusions\nof vegetable or animal substances. They can thus be obtained at all\ntimes, by simply steeping a little hay, or chaff, or leaves or stems of\nany plant, in a vessel of water, and placing the infusion in the sun\nfor a week or ten days.\n\n\nLEGENDS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT.\n\nIt was believed in Pier della Valle's time, that the descendants of\nJudas Iscariot still existed at Corfu, though the persons who suffered\nthis imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy.\n\nWhen the ceremony of washing the feet is performed in the Greek Church\nat Smyrna, the bishop represents Christ, and the twelve apostles are\nacted by as many priests. He who personates Judas must be paid for it,\nand such is the feeling of the people, that whoever accepts this odious\npart, commonly retains the name of Judas for life (Hasselquist, p. 43).\n\nJudas serves in Brazil for a Guy Faux to be carried about by the\nboys, and made the subject of an auto-da-fe. The Spanish sailors hang\nhim at the yard arm. It is not long since a Spaniard lost his life\nat Portsmouth, during the performance of this ceremony, by jumping\noverboard after the figure.\n\nThe Armenians, who believe hell and limbo to be the same place, say\nthat Judas, after having betrayed our Lord, resolved to hang himself,\nbecause he knew Christ was to go to limbo, and deliver all the souls\nwhich he found there, and therefore he thought to get there in time.\nBut the Devil was cunninger than he, and knowing his intent, held him\nover limbo till the Lord had passed through, and then let him fall plum\ninto hell. (Thevenot.)\n\n\nQUEEN ELIZABETH'S SIDE-SADDLE.\n\nIn a retired part of the county of Essex, at a short distance from the\nroad, in a secluded and lovely spot, stands the picturesque residence\ncalled Horeham Hall. The mansion is in the parish of Thaxted, and is\nabout two miles south-west of the church. It was once in the possession\nof the important family of the De Wauton's; it afterwards belonged to\nSir John Cutts, and eventually it became the property of Sir W. Smijth,\nof Hill Hall, in whose family it has remained up to the present time.\n\nOf the learned Sir Thomas Smijth, the secretary to King Edward VI.\nand Queen Elizabeth, there is still preserved an ancient portrait on\npanel, which is let into a circle over the carved fire-place of one of\nthe parlours. It is remarkable as being one of the very few portraits\npainted by Titian.\n\n[Illustration [++] Queen Elizabeth's Side Saddle.]\n\nAnother interesting relic is represented in the annexed cut. It is\npreserved in the Great Hall, and is the side-saddle of Queen Elizabeth;\nthe pommel is of wrought metal, and has been gilt; the ornament upon\nit is in the then fashionable style of the Renaissance; the seat of\nvelvet is now in a very ruinous condition; but it is carefully kept\nbeneath a glass case, as a memento of the Queen's visits to this place.\nWhen princess, Elizabeth retired to Horeham as a place of refuge during\nthe reign of her sister Mary; the loveliness of the situation and its\ndistance from the metropolis rendered it a seclusion befitting the\nquietude of one anxious to remain unnoticed in troublous times. A room\non the first floor in the square tower is shown as that in which Queen\nElizabeth resided. She found the retirement of Horeham so agreeable,\nthat often after she had succeeded to the throne she took a pleasure in\nre-visiting the place.\n\n\nTHE WINFARTHING OAK, IN NORFOLK.\n\nA writer in the \"Gardener's Magazine\" gives the following account of\nthis remarkable tree:--\"Of its age I regret to be unable to give any\ncorrect data. It is said to have been called the 'Old Oak' at the\ntime of William the Conqueror, but upon what authority I could never\nlearn. Nevertheless, the thing is not impossible, if the speculations\nof certain writers on the age of trees be at all correct. Mr. South,\nin one of his letters to the Bath Society (vol. x.) calculates that an\noak tree forty-seven feet in circumference cannot be less than fifteen\nhundred years old; and Mr. Marsham calculated the Bentley Oak, from its\ngirting thirty-four feet, to be of the same age. Now, an inscription on\na brass plate affixed to the Winfarthing Oak gives us the following\nas its dimensions:--'This oak, in circumference, at the extremities of\nthe roots, is seventy feet; in the middle, forty feet, 1820.' Now, I\nsee no reason, if the size of the rind is to be any criterion of age,\nwhy the Winfarthing should not, at least, equal the Bentley oak; and\nif so, it would be upwards of seven hundred years old at the Conquest;\nan age which might very well justify its then title of the 'Old Oak.'\nIt is now a mere shell, a mighty ruin, bleached to a snowy white; but\nit is magnificent in its decay. The only mark of vitality it exhibits\nis on the south side, where a narrow strip of bark sends forth a few\nbranches, which even now occasionally produce acorns. It is said to\nbe very much altered of late; but I own I did not think so when I saw\nit about a month ago (May 1836); and my acquaintance with the veteran\nis of more than forty years' standing: an important portion of _my_\nlife, but a mere span of its own.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS PIECE OF ANCIENT ARMOUR.\n\n[Illustration [++] Bascinet.]\n\nThe above engraving represents a helmet, of the time of Richard II.,\nwhich was termed by ancient armourers a bascinet. This extremely rare\nspecimen was obtained from Her von Hulshoff, at his castle, near\nMunster, in Westphalia. The visor lifts upward on a hinge, and its\nposition may be further regulated by the screw which slips in the\ngroove above it. The row of holes on the lower edge of the bascinet was\nmade to secure the _camail_, or tippet of chain-mail which covered the\nneck of the wearer.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY ECHO.\n\nBeneath the suspension-bridge across the Menai Strait in Wales, close\nto one of the main piers, is a remarkably fine echo. The sound of a\nblow on the pier with a hammer, is returned in succession from each\nof the cross beams which support the roadway, and from the opposite\npier, at a distance of 576 feet; and in addition to this, the sound is\nmany times repeated between the water and the roadway. The effect is\na series of sounds, which may be thus described:--The first return is\nsharp and strong from the roadway overhead, the rattling which succeeds\ndies rapidly away; but the single repercussion from the opposite pier\nis very strong, and is succeeded by a faint palpitation, repeating the\nsound at the rate of twenty-eight times in five seconds, and which,\ntherefore, corresponds to a distance of 180 feet, or very nearly the\ndouble interval from the roadway to the water. Thus it appears, that\nin the repercussion between the water and the roadway, that from the\nlatter only affects the ear, the line drawn from the auditor to the\nwater being too oblique for the sound to diverge sufficiently in that\ndirection. Another peculiarity deserves especial notice,--viz., that\nthe echo from the opposite pier is best heard when the auditor stands\nprecisely opposite to the middle of the breadth of the pier, and\nstrikes just on that point. As it deviates to one or the other side,\nthe return is proportionably fainter, and is scarcely heard by him when\nhis station is a little beyond the extreme edge of the pier, though\nanother person stationed on the same side of the water, at an equal\ndistance from the central point, so as to have the pier between them,\nhears it well.\n\n\nJUGGLERS OF MODERN EGYPT.\n\nPerformers of sleight-of-hand tricks, who are called _hhowa'h_ (in the\nsingular, _hha'wee_) are numerous in Cairo. They generally perform in\npublic places, collecting a ring of spectators around them; from some\nof whom they receive small voluntary contributions during and after\ntheir performances. They are most frequently seen on the occasions of\npublic festivals; but often also at other times. By indecent jests and\nactions, they attract as much applause as they do by other means. The\nhha'wee performs a great variety of tricks, the most usual of which\nwe will here mention. He generally has two boys to assist him. From a\nlarge leather bag, he takes out four or five snakes, of a largish size.\nOne of these he places on the ground, and makes it erect its head and\npart of its body; another he puts round the head of one of the boys,\nlike a turban, and two more over the boy's neck. He takes these off,\nopens the boy's mouth, apparently passes the bolt of a kind of padlock\nthrough his cheek, and locks it. Then, in appearance, he forces an\niron spike into the boy's throat; the spike being really pushed up\ninto a wooden handle. He also performs another trick of the same kind\nas this. Placing the boy on the ground, he puts the edge of a knife\nupon his nose, and knocks the blade until half its width seems to have\nentered. The tricks which he performs alone are more amusing. He draws\na great quantity of various-coloured silk from his mouth, and winds\nit on his arm; puts cotton in his mouth, and blows out fire; takes\nout of his mouth a great number of round pieces of tin, like dollars;\nand, in appearance, blows an earthen pipe-bowl from his nose. In most\nof his tricks he occasionally blows through a large shell (called the\nhha'wee's zoomma'rah), producing sounds like those of a horn. Most\nof his sleight-of-hand performances are nearly similar to those of\nexhibitors of the same class in our own and other countries. Taking a\nsilver finger-ring from one of the bystanders, he puts it in a little\nbox, blows his shell, and says, \"'Efree't change it!\" He then opens the\nbox, and shows, in it, a different ring: shuts the box again; opens\nit, and shows the first ring: shuts it a third time: opens it, and\nshows a melted lump of silver, which he declares to be the ring melted,\nand offers to the owner. The latter insists upon having his ring in\nits original state. The hha'wee then asks for five or ten fud'dahs to\nrecast it; and having obtained this, opens the box again (after having\nclosed it, and blown his shell), and takes out of it the perfect ring.\nHe next takes a larger covered box; puts one of his boy's skull-caps\nin it, blows his shell, opens the box, and out comes a rabbit: the cap\nseems to be gone. He puts the rabbit in again; covers the box; uncovers\nit, and out run two little chickens. These he puts in again, blows his\nshell, uncovers the box, and shows it full of fatee'rehs (or pancakes),\nand koona'feh (which resembles vermicelli): he tells his boys to eat\nits contents; but they refuse to do it without honey. He then takes a\nsmall jug, turns it upside-down, to show that it is empty; blows his\nshell, and hands round the jug full of honey. The boys, having eaten,\nask for water to wash their hands. The hha'wee takes the same jug, and\nhands it filled with water, in the same manner. He takes the box again,\nand asks for the cap; blows his shell, uncovers the box, and pours out\nfrom it, into the boy's lap (the lower part of his shirt held up), four\nor five small snakes. The boy, in apparent fright, throws them down,\nand demands the cap. The hha'wee puts the snakes back into the box;\nblows his shell, uncovers the box, and takes out the cap. Another of\nhis common tricks is to put a number of slips of white paper into a\ntinned copper vessel (the tisht of a seller of sherbet), and to take\nthem out dyed of various colours. He pours water into the same vessel;\nputs in a piece of linen; then gives to the spectators, to drink, the\ncontents of the vessel, changed to sherbet of sugar. Sometimes he\napparently cuts in two a muslin shawl, or burns it in the middle, and\nthen restores it whole. Often he strips himself of all his clothes,\nexcepting his drawers; tells two persons to bind him, hands and feet,\nand put him in a sack. This done, he asks for a piaster; and some one\ntells him that he shall have it if he will put out his hand and take\nit. He puts out his hand free; draws it back, and is then taken out of\nthe sack, bound as at first. He is put in again, and comes out unbound,\nhanding to the spectators a small tray, upon which are four or five\nlittle plates filled with various eatables; and, if the performance be\nat night, several small lighted candles placed round. The spectators\neat the food.\n\n\nORIGIN OF ATTAR OF ROSES.\n\n\"In the Histoire Generale de l'Empire du Mogol, (_T._ 1, _p_, 327,)\ncompiled by Catrou the Jesuit, from Manouchi's papers, this perfume is\nsaid to have been discovered by accident. Nur-Jahan, the favorite wife\nof the Mogul Jahan-Ghur, among her other luxuries, had a small canal of\nrose water. As she was a walking with the Mogul upon its banks, they\nperceived a thin film upon the water,--it was an essential oil made by\nthe heat of the sun. They were delighted with its exquisite odour, and\nmeans were immediately taken for preparing by art a substance like that\nwhich had been thus fortuitously produced.\"\n\n\nA MAGICIAN'S MIRROR AND BRACELET.\n\nA strange blending of pure science and gross superstition is remarkably\nillustrated in the history of the celebrated Dr. Dee. Born in London\nin 1527, John Dee raised himself at an early age to a great reputation\nfor his learning, in the mathematical sciences especially, in the most\ncelebrated universities in his own country and of the continent. He is\nsaid to have imbibed a taste for the occult sciences while a student at\nLouvain, but there was evidently in his temper much of an enthusiastic\nand visionary turn, which must have given him a taste for such\nmysterious pursuits, without the necessity of an external impulse. One\nof the oldest and most generally credited of magical operations, was\nthat of bringing spirits or visions into a glass or mirror, a practice\nwhich has continued to exist in the East even to the present day, and\nwhich prevailed to a very considerable extent in all parts of Western\nEurope during the sixteenth century. The process was not a direct one,\nfor the magician did not himself see the vision in the mirror, but\nhe had to depend upon an intermediate agent, a sort of familiar, who\nin England was known by the name of a _skyrer_, and whose business\nit was to look into the mirror and describe what he saw. Dr. Dee's\nprincipal skyrer was one Edward Kelly, and during his connexion with\nhim, Dee kept an exact diary of all his visions, a portion of which was\nprinted in a folio volume by Merio Casaubon in 1659. In this journal\nmore than one magical mirror is evidently mentioned, and that which we\nhere engrave is believed to have been of the number. It is now in the\ncollection of Lord Londesborough.\n\n[Illustration [++] Magician's Mirror.]\n\nIt is a polished oval slab of black stone, of what kind we have not\nbeen able to ascertain, but evidently of a description which was not\nthen common in Western Europe, and Dr. Dee, who died in 1608, may have\nconsidered it as extremely precious, and as only to be obtained by\nsome extraordinary means. It was one of the ornaments of the museum\nof Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill; and Walpole has attached to it\na statement of its history in his own hand-writing, from which we\nlearn that it was \"long\" in the possession of the Mordaunts, earls\nof Peterborough, in whose catalogue it was described as \"the black\nstone into which Dr. Dee used to call his spirits.\" It passed from\nthat collection to Lady Elizabeth Germaine, from whom it went to\nJohn Campbell, Duke of Argyll, whose son, Lord Frederick Campbell,\npresented it to Horace Walpole. This interesting relic was bought at\nthe Strawberry Hill sale for the late Mr. Pigott; and at the more\nrecent sale of that gentleman's collection, it passed into the hands\nof Lord Londesborough. Its history and authenticity appear, therefore,\nto be very well made out. The family of the Mordaunts held a prominent\nplace in English history during the whole of the seventeenth century,\nand it is hardly probable that they would have received an object like\nthis without having good reason for believing that its history was\nauthentic. It is believed that Butler alluded to this identical stone\nin his well-known lines:--\n\n \"Kelly did all his feats upon\n The devil's looking-glass or stone,\n When, playing with him at bo-peep,\n He solv'd all problems ne'er so deep.\"\n _Hudibras._ Part II. Canto 3.\n\n[Illustration [++] Magician's Bracelet.]\n\nThe regular fitting out of the magician at this period was a\ncomplicated process. He required his implements of various kinds, and,\nin addition to these, various robes, made especially for the occasion,\nwith girdles and head-pieces, and magical rings and bracelets. A\nvery curious example of the last-mentioned article of the magician's\naccoutrements, is represented in the preceding cut, about one-third\nthe size of the original. It was purchased by Lord Londesborough in\n1851, and had formerly been in the possession of Charles Mainwaring,\nEsq., of Coleby, near Lincoln. It is of silver, the letters of the\ninscription round the bracelet being engraved and filled with niello.\nThis inscription may be distinctly read as follows:--\n\n + IONA + IHOAT + LONA + HELOI + YSSARAY + || +\n MEPHENOLPHETON + AGLA + ACHEDION + YANA +\n BACHIONODONAVALI M[*] ILIOR + || BACHIONODONAVALI M[**] ACH +\n\nSome explanation of this mysterious inscription might, no doubt, be\nobtained by a diligent comparison of some of the numerous works on\nmagic compiled in the age of Dr. Dee, and in the seventeenth century.\nThe bracelet has had four pendants on it, of which three still remain,\nwith the silver setting of the fourth. One of the pendants which remain\nis a brownish pebble, secured by three flat bands of silver; another is\nan oval cage of strong silver wire, containing a nut of some kind and\nsome other vegetable substance; the third has on one side a circular\nconvex pebble set in silver, and on the back three smaller pebbles.\n\n\nLUNAR INFLUENCE IN DEATH.\n\nMany modern physicians have stated the opinions of the ancients as\nregards lunar influence in diseases, but none have pushed their\ninquiries with such indefatigable zeal as the late Dr. Moseley; he\naffirms that almost all people in extreme age die at the new or at full\nmoon, and this he endeavours to prove by the following records:--\n\n Thomas Parr died at the age of 152, two days after the full moon.\n Henry Jenkins died at the age of 169, the day of the new moon.\n Elizabeth Steward, 124, the day of the new moon.\n William Leland, 140, the day after the new moon.\n John Effingham, 144, two days after full moon.\n Elizabeth Hilton, 121, two days after the full moon.\n John Constant, 113, two days after the new moon.\n\nThe doctor then proceeds to show, by the deaths of various illustrious\npersons, that a similar rule holds good with the generality of mankind:\n\n Chaucer, 25th October, 1400, the day of the first quarter.\n Copernicus, 24th May, 1543, day of the last quarter.\n Luther, 18th February, 1546, three days after the full.\n Henry VIII., 28th January, 1547, the day of the first quarter.\n Calvin, 27th May, 1564, two days after the full.\n Cornaro, 26th April, 1566, day of the first quarter.\n Queen Elizabeth, 24th March, 1603, day of the last quarter.\n Shakspeare, 23rd April, 1616, day after the full.\n Camden, 2nd November, 1623, day before the new moon.\n Bacon, 9th April, 1626, one day after last quarter.\n Vandyke, 9th April, 1641, two days after full moon.\n Cardinal Richelieu, 4th December, 1642, three days before full moon.\n Doctor Harvey, 30th June, 1657, a few hours before the new moon.\n Oliver Cromwell, 3rd September, 1658, two days after full moon.\n Milton, 15th November, 1674, two days before the new moon.\n Sydenham, 29th December, 1689, two days before the full moon.\n Locke, 28th November, 1704, two days before the full moon.\n Queen Anne, 1st August, 1714, two days after the full moon.\n Louis XIV., 1st September, 1715, a few hours before the full moon.\n Marlborough, 16th June, 1722, two days before the full moon.\n Newton, 20th March, 1726, two days before the new moon.\n George I., 11th June, 1727, three days after new moon.\n George II., 25th October, 1760, one day after full moon.\n Sterne, 13th September, 1768, two days after new moon.\n Whitfield, 18th September, 1770, a few hours before the new moon.\n Swedenburg, 19th March, 1772, the day of the full moon.\n Linnaeus, 10th January, 1778, two days before the full moon.\n The Earl of Chatham, 11th May, 1778, the day of the full moon.\n Rousseau, 2nd July, 1778, the day after the first quarter.\n Garrick, 20th January, 1779, three days after the new moon.\n Dr. Johnson, 14th December, 1784, two days after the new moon.\n Dr. Franklin, 17th April, 1790, three days after the new moon.\n Sir Joshua Reynolds, 23rd February, 1792, the day after the new moon.\n Lord Guildford, 5th August, 1722, three days after the full moon.\n Dr. Warren, 23rd June, 1797, a day before the new moon.\n Burke, 9th July, 1797, at the instant of the full moon.\n Macklin, 11th July, 1797, two days after full moon.\n Wilkes, 26th December, 1797, the day of the first quarter.\n Washington, 15th December, 1790, three days after full moon.\n Sir W. Hamilton, 6th April, 1803, a few hours before the full moon.\n\nThe doctor winds up this extract from the bills of mortality by the\nfollowing appropriate remark: \"Here we see the moon, as she shines on\nall alike, so she makes no distinction of persons in her influence:\n\n \"----aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,\n Regumque turres.\"\n\n\nGLUTTONY OF THE MONKS.\n\nKing John, pointing to a fat deer said, \"See how plump he is, and yet\nhe has never heard mass!\" John might have alluded to the gluttony of\nthe monks, which was notorious in his days; for Giraldus Cambrensis\nsays, that from the monks of St. Swithin's, Winchester, Henry II.\nreceived a formal complaint against the abbot for depriving his priests\nof three out of thirteen dishes at every meal. The monks of Canterbury\nexceeded those of St. Swithin; they had seventeen dishes every day, and\neach of these cooked with spices and the most savoury and rich sauces.\n\n\nANCIENT BELL-SHRINE.\n\nThe annexed engraving represents one of the most valuable and curious\necclesiastical relics of the early Christian Period that has ever been\ndiscovered. It consists of a bronze bell-shrine and bell, found about\nthe year 1814, on the demolition of the ruined wall at Torrebhlaurn\nfarm, in the parish of Kilmichael-Glassrie, Argyleshire, and now one of\nthe most valued treasures in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries.\n\n[Illustration [++] Bronze Bell-Shrine and Bell.]\n\nThat it must have been deposited in the wall where it was found,\nfor the purpose of concealment at a period of danger and alarm,\nseems abundantly obvious; but of the occasion of this concealment no\ntradition has been preserved. Within the beautiful case is a rude\niron bell, so greatly corroded that its original form can only be\nimperfectly traced; yet this, and not the shrine, was obviously the\nchief object of veneration, and may, indeed, be assumed, with much\nprobability, to be some centuries older than the ornamental case in\nwhich it is preserved. Whether it shall be thought to have been an\nancient reliquary or a mass-bell, or whatever else may be conjectured\nof its nature and use, it may fairly be presumed to have remained\nin the neglected spot in which it was found since the subversion\nof the Roman Catholic worship in the sixteenth century, when the\nfavoured objects of external adoration and reverence, under the\nformer superstition, came to be regarded with impatient contempt and\nabhorrence.\n\nIt is deserving of attention that the figure of our crucified Saviour\nin invested with a regal crown, and not with a crown of thorns, as\nis usually the case. The brass chain or collar, of rude workmanship,\nabout three feet six inches long, now attached to the case, and the\nextremities of which are connected with a small cross of the same\nmetal, was discovered at the same time, not far from the case.\n\n\nEGYPTIAN GARDEN.\n\nThe diagram which accompanies this article is an Egyptian sketch of\nan Egyptian garden; and it is expressly curious, both as an example\nof the pictorial art of the period, and as giving us an idea of the\npleasure-gardens of Egypt in its most flourishing days.\n\n[Illustration [++] Egyptian Garden.]\n\nThe garden here represented stood beside a canal of the Nile, with\nan avenue of trees between it and the bank, on which side was the\nentrance. It was surrounded by an embattled wall, through which a noble\ngateway gave access to the garden. The central space was occupied by\nthe vineyard, surrounded by its own wall, in which the vines were\ntrained on trellises supported by slender pillars. At the further end\nof the vineyard was a building of three storeys, the windows from which\nopened over the luxurious foliage and purple clusters, regaling the\nsenses both of sight and smell. Four large tanks of water kept the\nvegetation well supplied with nutritive moisture; and, with the smooth\nand verdant turf which borders them, the water-fowl that sported over\nthe surface, and the lotus-flowers that sprang from their clear depths,\nadded a new beauty to the scene. Near the tanks stood summer-houses,\noverlooking beds of various flowers, and sheltered from the sun by\nsurrounding trees. Two enclosed spaces between the tanks, being filled\nwith trees, were probably devoted to some species of particular rarity,\nor remarkable for the excellence of their fruit. Rows of date trees and\nTheban palms, alternating with other trees, bordered the whole garden,\nand environed the vineyard wall.\n\nThe very numerous allusions to gardens in the Sacred Scriptures show\nthat the Hebrews inherited the same taste as the Egyptians. In these\nallusions we find the same characteristics that are so observable in\nthose depicted on the monuments; such as the absolute necessity of\nwater, the custom of having pools in them, the advantage of a situation\nby the side of a river, the practice of enclosing them from intrusion,\nand appropriation of enclosures to particular productions.\n\nWith the early Egyptians the love of flowers seems to have been almost\na passion; they appear to have been in constant request in offerings to\nthe gods, and as ornaments of the person, as decorations of furniture;\nas graceful additions to several entertainments, they occur at every\nturn. Flowers were painted on walls, furniture, dresses, chairs, boxes,\nboats, and, in short, on whatever was wished to be ornamental. Wreaths\nand chaplets were likewise in common use among the Egyptians, and\nartificial flowers were not uncommon.\n\n\nSTATE OF THE MIND DURING SLEEP.\n\nThe following is an instance of phantasms being produced by our\nassociations with bodily sensations, and tends to show how alive our\nfaculties continue during sleep to the highest impressions:--\n\nThe subject of this observation was an officer in the expedition to\nLouisburg in 1758, who had this peculiarity in so remarkable a degree,\nthat his companions in the transport were in the constant habit of\namusing themselves at his expense. They could produce in him any kind\nof dream by whispering in his ear, especially if this was done by a\nfriend with whose voice he had become familiar. One time they conducted\nhim through the whole progress of a trial, which ended in a duel; and\nwhen the parties were supposed to have met, a pistol was put into\nhis hand, which he fired, and was awakened by the report. On another\noccasion they found him asleep on the top of a locker in the cabin,\nwhen they made him believe he had fallen overboard, and exhorted him to\nsave himself by swimming. They then told him that a shark was pursuing\nhim, and entreated him to dive for his life. He instantly did so, and\nwith so much force as to throw himself from the locker upon the cabin\nfloor, by which he was much bruised, and awakened of course. After\nthe landing of the army at Louisburg, his friends found him one day\nasleep in his tent, and evidently annoyed by the cannonading. They\nthen made him believe that he was engaged, when he expressed great\nfear, and showed an evident disposition to run away. Against this they\nremonstrated, but at the same increased his fears by imitating the\ngroans of the wounded and the dying; and when he asked, as he often\ndid, who was hit, they named his particular friends. At last they\ntold him that the man next himself in his company had fallen, when he\ninstantly sprung from his bed, rushed out of the tent, and was only\nroused from his danger and his dream by falling over the tent-ropes. A\nremarkable thing in this case was, that after these experiments he had\nno distinct recollection of his dreams, but only a confused feeling of\noppression or fatigue, and used to tell his friends that he was sure\nthey had been playing some trick upon him. It has been observed that\nwe seldom feel courageous or daring in our dreams, and generally avoid\ndanger when menaced by a foe, or exposed to any probable peril.\n\n\nMUSIC OF THE SEA.\n\nThe mysterious music that is heard in the bay at West Pascagoula,\nis described by those who have listened to it as being singularly\nbeautiful. \"It has, for a long time,\" says Mrs. Child, an American\nauthoress, \"been one of the greatest wonders of the south-west.\nMultitudes have heard it, rising, as it were, from the water, like the\ndrone of a bagpipe, then floating away, away, away, in the distance,\nsoft, plaintive, and fairy-like, as if AEolian harps sounded with richer\nmelody through the liquid element; but none have been able to account\nfor the beautiful phenomenon. There are several legends touching these\nmysterious sounds; but in these days few things are allowed to remain\nmysterious.\" These strange sounds, which thus assume the beauty and\nthe harmony of regular music, are stated to proceed from the cat-fish.\nA correspondent of the _Baltimore Republican_ thus explains the\nphenomenon:--\"During several of my voyages on the Spanish main, in the\nneighbourhood of Paraguay and San Juan de Nicaragua, from the nature of\nthe coast, we were compelled to anchor at a considerable distance from\nthe shore; and every evening, from dark to late night, our ears were\ndelighted with AEolian music, that could be heard beneath the counter of\nour schooner. At first I thought it was the sea-breeze sweeping through\nthe strings of my violin (the bridge of which I had inadvertently left\nstanding); but after examination I found it was not so. I then placed\nmy ear on the rail of the vessel, when I was continually charmed with\nthe most heavenly strains that ever fell upon my ear. They did not\nsound as close to us, but were sweet, mellow, and aerial, like the soft\nbreathings of a thousand lutes, touched by fingers of the deep sea\nnymphs, at an immense distance. Although I have considerable \"music in\nmy soul,\" one night I became tired, and determined to fish. My luck,\nin half-an-hour, was astonishing. I had half filled my bucket with\nthe finest white cat-fish I ever saw; and it being late, and the cook\nasleep, and the moon shining, I filled my bucket with water, and took\nfish and all into my cabin for the night. I had not yet fallen asleep,\nwhen the same sweet notes fell upon my ear; and, getting up, what\nwas my surprise to find my cat-fish discoursing sweet sounds to the\nsides of my bucket! I examined them closely, and discovered that there\nwas attached to each lower lip an excrescence, divided by soft wiry\nfibres. By the pressure of the upper lip thereon, and by the exhalation\nand discharge of breath, a vibration was created, similar to that\nproduced by the breath on the tongue of the Jews' harp.\"\n\n\nTHE ROCK OF CASHEL.\n\nAny work which professed to be a record of what is rare and curious,\nwould surely be incomplete if it did not contain an account of the\ncelebrated Rock of Cashel; for the venerable buildings which crown\nits summit are, from their number, variety, preservation, and site,\ndecidedly the most interesting ruins in the Emerald Isle, and, to\nuse the words of Sir Walter Scott, \"such as Ireland may be proud\nof.\" Cashel, which is distant about one hundred miles from Dublin,\nappears to be a place of high antiquity, and was long the residence\nof the kings of Munster; but as its early history is involved in much\nobscurity, it is uncertain at what period it became a diocesan site. It\nis stated that previous to the year 1101 the buildings on the Rock were\noccupied as a royal residence, and that in that year the hitherto royal\nseat was dedicated solely to ecclesiastical uses.\n\n[Illustration [++] Rock of Cashel.]\n\nThe buildings consist of a round tower, Cormack's chapel, cathedral,\ncastle and monastery; the latter is a few yards detached, and the least\nremarkable of the number; all the former are closely connected. The\nRound Tower, the date and uses of which are in common with those of all\nother similar structures involved in much obscurity, raises its tall\nand yet scarce dilapidated head far above its younger and more decaying\ncompanions. It is fifty-six feet in circumference, and ninety feet\nin height. Cormack's Chapel, which, with the exception of the Round\nTower, is the most ancient structure of the group, was built by Cormack\nM'Carthy, king of Munster, in 1136. It is roofed with stone, and in its\ncapitals, arches, and other features and details, the Norman style is\ndistinctly marked. The numerous ornaments, grotesque heads, and other\ncurious sculptures, which adorn the arches, columns, and pilasters,\nare all in uniformity of style. The building altogether is a perfect\ngem, and the architectural antiquary and the artist will find in it\na most valuable addition to their studies. The cathedral is a noble\nremnant of what is usually termed the pointed Gothic, and contains many\ninteresting relics.\n\nThe rock, which is here presented as it appears from the plain below,\nhas the buildings we have just mentioned on its very summit; it rises\nabruptly from a widely extended fertile country, to a considerable\nheight above the town, and from many parts at a distance it forms a\nvery striking object. On the top of the rock, and around the ruins,\nan area of about three acres has been enclosed, which is open to the\npublic.\n\n\nINSTANCE OF INCREMATION.\n\nLast night (26th September, 1769), say the chronicles of the day, the\nwill of Mrs. Pratt, a widow lady, who lately died at her house in\nGeorge Street, Hanover Square, was punctually fulfilled, by the burning\nof her body to ashes in her grave, in the new burying-ground adjoining\nto Tyburn turnpike.\n\n\nTHE HAWTHORNDEN SWORD.\n\nThe great antiquity of the Scottish claymore is proved by its being\nfigured in the sculptures both of Iona and Oronsay, with considerable\nvariety of details. In some the blade is highly ornamented, and the\nhandle varies in form, but all present the same characteristic, having\nthe guards bent back towards the blade. A curious variety of this\npeculiar form is seen in a fine large two-handed sword preserved at\nHawthornden, the celebrated castle of the Drummonds, where the Scottish\npoet entertained Ben Johnson during his visit to Scotland in 1619. It\nis traditionally affirmed to have been the weapon of Robert Bruce,\nthough little importance can be attached to a reputation which it\nshares with one-half the large two-handed swords still preserved. Our\nengraving is a correct representation of it.\n\n[Illustration [++] Hawthornden Sword.]\n\nThe handle appears to be made from the tusk of the narwhal, and it\nhas four reverse guards, as shown in the cut. The object aimed at by\nthis form of guard, doubtless, was to prevent the antagonist's sword\nglancing off, and inflicting a wound ere he recovered his weapon, and,\nin the last example especially, it seems peculiarly well adapted for\nthe purpose.\n\n\nINSTINCT IN A CAT.\n\nThe following anecdote almost places the cat on a level with the\ndog:--\"A physician of Lyons was requested to inquire into a murder\nthat had been committed on a woman of that city. In consequence of\nthis request he went to the habitation of the deceased, where he\nfound her extended lifeless on the floor, weltering in her blood. A\nlarge white cat was mounted on the cornice of a cupboard, at the far\nend of the apartment, where he seemed to have taken refuge. He sat\nmotionless, with his eyes fixed on the corpse, and his attitude and\nlooks expressing horror and affright. The following morning he was\nfound in the same station and attitude, and when the room was filled\nwith officers of justice, neither the clattering of the soldiers' arms,\nnor the loud conversation of the company, could in the least degree\ndivert his attention. As soon, however, as the suspected persons were\nbrought in, his eyes glared with increased fury, his hair bristled, he\ndarted into the middle of the apartment, where he stopped for a moment\nto gaze at them, and then precipitately retreated under the bed. The\ncountenances of the assassins were disconcerted, and they were now, for\nthe first time, abandoned by their atrocious audacity.\"\n\n\nA TRANCE.\n\nMrs. Godfrey, sister to the Duke of Marlborough, had nearly been\nburied alive; the physicians all declaring that the breath of life was\nirrecoverably gone. Her husband, Colonel Godfrey, had, however, the\npleasure to see her revive, seven days after (that day week, and same\nhour), and what is more, she never knew till the day of her death the\nlength of her trance, or sleep.\n\n\nTHE NUMBER SEVEN.\n\nThe number is composed of the first two perfect numbers, equal and\nunequal, 3 and 4; for the number 2, consisting of repeated unity, which\nis no number, is not perfect, it comprehends the primary numerical\ntriangle or trine, and square or quartile conjunction, considered by\nthe favourers of planetary influence as of the most benign aspect.\nIn six days creation was completed, and the 7th was consecrated to\nrest. On the 7th day of the 7th month, a holy observance was ordained\nto the children of Israel, who feasted 7 days, and remained 7 days\nin tents; the 7th year was directed to be a Sabbath of rest for all\nthings; and at the end of 7 times 7 years commenced the grand jubilee.\nEvery 7th year the land lay fallow; every 7th year there was a general\nrelease from all debts, and all bondmen were set free. From this law\nmay have originated the custom of our binding young men to 7 years'\napprenticeship, and punishing incorrigible offenders by transportation\nfor 7, twice 7, and three times 7, years. Every 7 years the law was\nto be read to the people. Jacob served 7 years for the possession of\nRachael; and also other 7. Noah had 7 days' warning of the flood, and\nwas commanded to take the fowls of the air in by 7, and the clean\nbeasts by 7. The ark touched ground on the 7th month; and in 7 days the\ndove was sent out, and again in 7 days after. The 7 years of plenty,\nand 7 years of famine were foretold in Pharaoh's dream by 7 fat and 7\nlean beasts, and the 7 full and 7 blasted ears of corn. Nebuchadnezzar\nwas 7 years a beast; and the fiery furnace was 7 times hotter to\nreceive Shadrach, &c. A man defiled was, by the Mosaic law, unclean 7\ndays; the young of both animals was to remain with the dam 7 days, and\nat the end of the 7th was to be taken away. By the old law, man was\ncommanded to forgive his offending brother 7 times; but the meekness\nof the revealed law extended his humility to 70 times 7: if Cain shall\nbe avenged 7 times, truly Lamech 70 times 7. In the destruction of\nJericho, 7 priests bore 7 trumpets 7 days; on the 7th they surrounded\nthe wall 7 times; after the 7th, the walls fell. Balaam prepared 7\nyears for a sacrifice; and 7 of Saul's sons were hanged to stay a\nfamine. Laban pursued Jacob 7 days' journey. Job's friends sat 7 days\nand 7 nights, and offered 7 bullocks and 7 rams, as an atonement for\ntheir wickedness. In the 7th year of his reign, King Ahazuerus feasted\n7 days, and on the 7th deputed his 7 chamberlains to find a queen,\nwho was allowed 7 maidens to attend her. Miriam was cleansed of her\nleprosy by being shut up 7 days. Solomon was 7 years in building the\nTemple, at the dedication of which he feasted 7 days; in the Temple\nwere 7 lamps; 7 days were appointed for an atonement upon the altar,\nand the priest's son was ordained to wear his father's garments 7\ndays. The children of Israel eat unleavened bread 7 days. Abraham gave\n7 ewe-lambs to Abimelech, as a memorial for a well. Joseph mourned 7\ndays for Jacob. Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy by bathing 7 times\nin Jordan. The Rabbins say that God employed the power of this number\nto perfect the greatness Of Samuel, his name answering the value of\nthe letters in the Hebrew word, which signifies 7; whence Hannah his\nmother, in her thanksgiving, says, the barren hath brought forth 7. In\nScripture are enumerated 7 resurrections: the widow's son, by Elias;\nthe Shunamite's son, by Elisha; the soldier who touched the bones of\nthe prophet; the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue; the widow's\nson of Nain; Lazarus, and our Lord. The apostles chose 7 deacons.\nEnoch, who was translated, was the 7th from Adam; and Jesus Christ was\nthe 77th in a direct line. Our Lord spoke 7 times on the cross, on\nwhich he was 7 hours; he appeared 7 times; and after 7 times 7 days\nsent the Holy Ghost. In the Lord's prayer are 7 petitions, contained in\n7 times 7 words, omitting those of mere grammatical connexion; within\nthis number are concealed all the mysteries of apocalypse revealed\nto the 7 churches of Asia. There appeared seven golden candlesticks\nand 7 stars in the hand of him that was in the midst; 7 lambs before\nthe 7 spirits of God; the book with 7 seals; the lamb with 7 horns\nand 7 eyes; 7 angels with 7 trumpets; 7 kings; 7 thunders; 7,000 men\nslain. The dragon with 7 heads and 7 crowns; and the beast with 7\nheads; 7 angels bearing 7 plagues, and 7 vials of wrath. The vision of\nDaniel was of 70 weeks and the elders of Israel were 70. There were\nalso 7 heavens, 7 planets (query), 7 stars, 7 wise men, 7 champions\nof Christendom, 7 notes in music, 7 primary colours, 7 deadly sins,\nand 7 sacraments in the Catholic church. The 7th son was considered\nas endowed with pre-eminent wisdom; and the 7th son of a 7th son is\nstill thought to possess the power of healing diseases spontaneously.\nPerfection is likened to gold 7 times purified in the fire; and we\nyet say you frightened me out of my 7 senses. The opposite sides of a\ndice make 7, whence the players at hazard make 7 the main. Hippocrates\nsays the septenary number, by its occult virtues, tends to the\naccomplishment of all things, to be the dispense of life, and fountain\nof all its changes; and, like Shakespeare, he divided the life of man\ninto 7 ages; for as the moon changes her phases every seven days,\nthis number influences all sublunary beings. The teeth spring out on\nthe 7th month, and are shed and renewed in the 7th year, when infancy\nis changed into childhood; at twice 7 years puberty begins; at three\ntimes 7 the faculties are developed, and manhood commences, and we are\nbecome legally competent to all civil acts; at four times 7 man is in\nfull possession of all his strength; at five times 7 he is fit for the\nbusiness of the world; at six times 7 he becomes grave and wise, or\nnever: at 7 times 7 he is in his apogee, and from that time decays;\nat eight times 7 he is in his first climacterick; at nine times 7, or\n63, he is in his last or grand climacterick, or year of danger; and\nten times 7, or three score and ten, has, by the royal prophet, been\npronounced the natural period of human life.\n\n\nSUPERSTITIOUS LEGEND.\n\nWe are told that when St. Helena, of pious memory, had discovered the\ntrue Cross of Christ, she permitted various fragments to be taken from\nit, which were encased, some in gold, and some in gems, and conveyed to\nEurope, leaving the principal or main part of the wood in the charge\nof the Bishop of Jerusalem, who exhibited it annually at Easter, until\nChosroes, king of Persia, plundered Jerusalem in the reign of the\nemperor Phocas, and took away this holy relic.\n\nBefore this fatal event we are taught to believe, by Rigordus, an\nhistorian of the thirteenth century, that the mouths of Christians used\nto be supplied with 30, or in some instances, no doubt according to\ntheir faith, with 32 teeth; but that _after_ the Cross was stolen by\nthe infidels no mortal has ever been allowed more than 23!\n\n\nORAEFA MOUNTAIN IN ICELAND.\n\nThis mountain, which is the loftiest in Iceland, has been rendered\ncelebrated by an eruption which took place about a century ago. Nothing\ncan be more striking than the account given of this calamity by the\naged minister of the parish. He was in the midst of his service on\nthe Sabbath, when the agitation of the earth gave warning that some\nalarming event was to follow. Rushing from the church, he saw a peak of\nthe neighbouring mountain alternately heaved up and sinking; till at\nlast, the stone, of which this portion of the mountain was composed,\nran down in a melted state into the plain, like melted metal from a\ncrucible, filling it to such a height, that no more of the mountain,\nwhich formerly towered to such a height, remains, than about the size\nof a bird; volumes of water being in the meantime thrown forth in a\ndeluge from the crater, and sweeping away whatever they encountered in\ntheir course. The Oraefa then broke forth, hurling large masses of ice\nto a great distance; fire burst out in every direction from its side;\nthe sky was darkened by the smoke and ashes, so that the day could\nhardly be distinguished from the night. This scene of horror continued\nfor more than three days, during which the whole region was converted\ninto utter desolation.\n\n\nTHE SETON SWORD.\n\n[Illustration [++] Seton Sword.]\n\nThe two-handed sword, which was introduced later than the claymore,\nthough still so familiar to us, is perhaps the most interesting, in an\narchaeological point of view, of all the military relics pertaining\nto the Medieval Period. The huge, ponderous, and unwieldy weapon,\nseems the fittest emblem that could be devised, of the rude baron of\nthe thirteenth century, who lived by \"the good old rule\" of physical\nforce, and whose hardy virtues, not unsuited to an illiterate age--are\nstrangely mistaken for a chivalry such as later ages have not seen.\nCalmly reasoning from this characteristic heirloom, we detect in it the\nevidence of just such hardy, skilless, overbearing power, as history\ninforms us was the character of the medieval baron, before the rise of\nthe burgher class readjusted the social balance by the preponderance\nof rival interests. The weapon figured here is a remarkably fine and\nunusually large specimen of the old Scottish two-handed sword, now in\nthe possession of George Seton, Esq., representative of the Setons of\nCariston. It measures forty-nine inches in the blade, five feet nine\ninches in entire length, and weighs seven and a half pounds. But the\nchief interest of this old relic arises from the well-authenticated\nfamily traditions which associate it with the memory of its first\nknightly owner, Sir Christopher Seton of that Ilk, from whom some of\nthe oldest scions of the Scottish peerage have been proud to trace\ntheir descent. He was married to Christian, sister of King Robert\nthe Bruce, whom he bravely defended at the battle of Methven. He was\nshortly after taken prisoner by Edward I., and basely hanged as a\ntraitor.\n\n\nSTYLE OF LIVING IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe most perfect notion of the living and domestic arrangements of\nthe old English nobility and gentry will be found in the entries of\nwhat were called the Household Books of the times. One of the most\ncelebrated of these records is the _Northumberland Household Book_,\nbeing the regulations of the establishment of the fifth earl of\nNorthumberland, at his castles of Wrenill and Lekinfield, in Yorkshire,\nbegun in 1512. No baron's family was on a nobler or more splendid\nfooting. It consisted of one hundred and sixty-six persons, masters\nand servants; fifty-seven strangers were reckoned upon every day; on\nthe whole two hundred and twenty-three. During winter they fed mostly\non salt meat and salt fish; and with that view there was a provision of\none hundred and sixty gallons of mustard per year; so that there cannot\nbe any thing more erroneous than the magnificent ideas formed of \"the\nroast beef of _Old_ England.\" On flesh days, (that is, when meat was\nnot forbidden by the Catholic religion), through the year, breakfast\nfor my lord and lady was a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of\nbeer, a quart of wine, half a chine of mutton, or a chine of beef\nboiled. On meagre days (or when meat was forbidden), a loaf of bread,\ntwo manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, a dish of butter, a\npiece of salt fish, or a dish of buttered eggs. During Lent, a loaf\nof bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, two pieces\nof salt fish, six baconed herrings, four white herrings, or a dish of\nsprats. There was as little variety in other meals, except on festival\ndays; and this way of living was, at the time, high luxury. There were\nbut two cooks to dress victuals for two hundred persons; and fowls,\npigeons, plovers, and partridges were prohibited as delicacies, except\nat my lord's table. The table-cloth was washed about once a month; no\nsheets were used; and only forty shillings were allowed for washing\nthroughout the year. The family rose at six in the morning, dined at\nten, and supped at four in the afternoon; and the castle gates were\nshut at nine. Mass was said in the chapel at six o'clock, that all the\nservants might rise early. The earl passed the year at three country\nseats, but he had furniture only for one: he carried every thing along\nwith him, beds, tables, chairs, kitchen utensils; and seventeen carts\nand one waggon conveyed the whole: one cart sufficed for all his\nkitchen utensils, cooks' beds, &c. There were in the establishment\neleven priests, besides seventeen persons, chanters, musicians, &c.,\nbelonging to the chapel. No mention is made of plate, but only of the\nhiring of pewter vessels. Wine was allowed in abundance for the lord's\ntable, but the beer for the hall was poor indeed, only a quarter of\nmalt being allowed for two hogsheads. The servants seem all to have\nbought their own clothes from their wages. Every thing in the household\nwas done by order, with the pomp of proclamation; and laughable as it\nmay now seem, an order was issued for the right making of mustard,\nbeginning \"It seemeth good to us and our council.\"\n\n\nANECDOTE OF A TERRIER.\n\nA terrier, known to Professor Owen, was taught to play at hide and seek\nwith his master, who summoned him, by saying \"Let us have a game;\" upon\nwhich the dog immediately hid his eyes between his paws, in the most\nhonourable manner, and when the gentleman had placed a sixpence, or a\npiece of cake in a most improbable place, he started up and invariably\nfound it. His powers were equalled by what was called a fox-terrier,\nnamed Fop, who would hide his eyes, and suffer those at play with\nhim to conceal themselves before he looked up. If his play-fellow\nhid himself behind a window-curtain, Fop would, for a certain time,\ncarefully pass that curtain, and look behind all the others, behind\ndoors, etc., and when he thought he had looked long enough, seize the\nconcealing curtain and drag it aside in triumph. The drollest thing,\nhowever, was to see him take his turn of hiding; he would get under a\nchair, and fancy that he was not seen; of course, those at play with\nhim pretended not to see him, and it was most amusing to witness his\nagitation as they passed. When he was ill he had been cured by some\nhomoeopathic globules, and ever after, if anything were the matter with\nhim, he would stand near the medicine box, and hold his mouth open.\n\n\nCUTTING A WIFE OFF WITH A SHILLING.\n\nIn the year 1772, died at Lambeth, J---- G----e, Esq. In his will was\nfound the following remarkable clause:--\"Whereas, it was my misfortune\nto be made very uneasy by Elizabeth G----, my wife, for many years,\nfrom our marriage, by her turbulent behaviour; for she was not content\nwith despising my admonitions, but she contrived every method to make\nme unhappy; she was so perverse in her nature, that she would not\nbe reclaimed, but seemed only to be born to be a plague to me; the\nstrength of Sampson, the knowledge of Homer, the prudence of Augustus,\nthe cunning of Pyrrhus, the patience of Job, the subtlety of Hannibal,\nand the watchfulness of Hermogenes, could not have been sufficient to\nsubdue her; for no skill or force in the world would make her good;\nand, as we have lived several years separate, and apart from each other\neight years, and she having perverted her son to leave and totally\nabandon me; therefore I give her one shilling only.\"\n\n\nWEALTH OF THE JEWS.\n\nAbout the year 1707, the Jews offered Lord Godolphin, Minister of Queen\nAnne, to pay L500,000, (and they would have made it a million,) if the\ngovernment would allow them to purchase the town of Brentford, with\nleave of settling there entirely, with full privileges of trade, &c.\nLord Godolphin did not comply with the request, and a curious reason\nis assigned by Dean Lockier, because it would provoke two of the most\npowerful bodies in the nation, the clergy and the merchants. The Jews\nhad better success with Oliver Cromwell: they offered him L60,000 to\nhave a synagogue in London. He took the money, and they had their\ntemple.\n\n\nGAMBLING EXTRAORDINARY.\n\nThe following instance of frantic or drunken gambling appeared in the\n_Times_ of April 17, 1812:--\n\n\"On Wednesday evening an extraordinary investigation took place at\nBow Street. Croker, the officer, was passing the Hampstead Road; he\nobserved at a short distance before him two men on a wall, and directly\nafter saw the tallest of them, a stout man about six feet high,\nhanging by his neck from a lamp-post, attached to the wall, being that\ninstant tied up and turned off by the short man. This unexpected and\nextraordinary sight astonished the officer; he made up to the spot with\nall speed, and just after he arrived there, the tall man who had been\nhanged, fell to the ground, the handkerchief with which he had been\nsuspended having given way. Croker produced his staff, said he was\nan officer, and demanded to know of the other man the cause of such\nconduct; in the mean time the man who had been hanged recovered, got\nup, and on Croker interfering, gave him a violent blow on the nose,\nwhich nearly knocked him backward. The short man was endeavouring to\nmake off; however, the officer procured assistance, and both were\nbrought to the office, when the account they gave was, that they worked\non canals. They had been together on Wednesday afternoon, tossed up\nfor money, and afterwards for their clothes, the tall man who was\nhanged won the other's jacket, trowsers and shoes; they then tossed\nup which should hang the other, and the short one won the toss. They\ngot upon the wall, the one to submit, and the other to hang him on\nthe lamp-iron. They both agreed in this statement. The tall one who\nhad been hanged said, if he won the toss, he would have hanged the\nother. He said, he then felt the effects on his neck at the time he\nwas hanging, and his eyes was so much swelled that he saw double. The\nmagistrates expressed their horror and disgust, and ordered the man who\nhad been hanged to find bail for the violent and unjustifiable assault\nupon the officer, and the short one for hanging the other. Not having\nbail, they were committed to Bridewell for trial.\"\n\n\nOLD BOOKS.\n\nThe Pentateuch and the history of Job are the most ancient books in\nthe world; and in profane literature the works of Homer and Hesiod.\nThe first book known to have been written in our own vernacular was\n\"The Confessions of Richard, Earl of Cambridge,\" _temp._ 1415; and the\nearliest English ballad is supposed to be the \"Cuckoo Song,\" which\ncommences in the following style:--\n\n \"Sumer is icumen in\n Lhude sing cuccu,\n Groweth sed, and bloweth med,\n And springth ye wede nu:\n Singe cuccu.\"\n\n\nFOSSIL REPTILE; THE PTERODACTYLUS.\n\nThe pterodactylus was a flying animal. It had the wings of a bat, and\nthe structure of a reptile; jaws with sharp teeth, and claws with long\nhooked nails. The power which it had of flying was not by means of its\nribs, nor by wings without fingers, as in birds, but by wings supported\nby one very elongated toe, the others being short and furnished with\nclaws. The remains of this animal were brought under examination by M.\nCollini, director of the Museum of the Elector Palatine at Manheim.\nThere was at first some discussion as to the actual character of the\nanimal. M. Blumenbach supposed it to be a bird, and M. de Soemmering\nclassed it among the bats. M. Cuvier, however, maintained that it was\na reptile, and showed that all its bones, from the teeth to the claws,\npossessed the characters which distinguish that class of animals. But\nstill it differed from all other reptiles in possessing the capability\nof flying. It is probable that it could at pleasure fold up its wings\nin the same manner as birds, and might suspend itself on branches\nof trees by its fore toes, though it possessed the power of sitting\nupright on its hind feet. This is the most anomalous of all the fossil\nreptiles.\n\n\nTIGER CAVE AT CUTTACK.\n\nThe geographical distribution of the rock-cut caves of the Buddhists in\nIndia is somewhat singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known\nbeing found within the limits of the Bengal Presidency. The remainder\nconsist of two groups, those of Behar and Cuttack, neither of which\nare important in extent, in Bengal; one only, that of Mahavellipore,\nin Madras; and two or three not very important groups which have been\ntraced in Afghanistan and the Punjaub.\n\nOne of the most remarkable of these caves is that at Cuttack, which is\ncalled the Tiger cave--being in fact a large mass of rock, carved into\na form intended to represent the head of that animal, whose extended\njaws form the verandah leading into a small apartment excavated in the\ninterior of the skull: our engraving is a correct representation of it.\n\n[Illustration [++] Tiger Cave at Cuttack.]\n\nGenerally speaking, these single cells have a porch of two pillars\nto protect the doorway, which leads into a small room, 10 or 12 ft.\nsquare, constituting the whole cave. Buildings on precisely the same\nplan are still very common in India, except that now, instead of being\nthe abode of a hermit, the cell is occupied by an image of some god or\nother, and is surmounted by a low dome, or pyramidal spire, converting\nit into a temple of some pretensions. The lower part, however, of these\nsmall temples is very similar to the rock-cut hermitages of which we\nare speaking.\n\n\nTHE JEWS IN ENGLAND.\n\nWilliam the Conqueror permitted great numbers of Jews to come over from\nRouen, and to settle in England in the last year of his reign. Their\nnumber soon increased, and they spread themselves throughout most of\nthe cities and capital towns in England where they built synagogues.\nThere were fifteen hundred at York about the year 1189. At Bury, in\nSuffolk, is a very complete remain of a Jewish synagogue of stone in\nthe Norman style, large and magnificent. Hence it was that many of the\nlearned English ecclesiastics of those times became acquainted with\ntheir books and their language. In the reign of William Rufus, the Jews\nwere remarkably numerous at Oxford, and had acquired considerable\nproperty; and some of their Rabbis were permitted to open a school\nin the university, where they instructed not only their own people,\nbut many Christian students in Hebrew literature, about the year\n1094. Within 200 years after their admission or establishment by the\nConqueror, they were banished from the kingdom. This circumstance was\nhighly favourable to the circulation of their learning in England. The\nsuddenness of their dismission obliged them for present subsistence,\nand other reasons, to sell their moveable goods of all kinds, among\nwhich were large quantities of all Rabbinical books. The monks\nin various parts availed themselves of the distribution of these\ntreasures. At Huntingdon and Stamford there was a prodigious sale of\ntheir effects, containing immense stores of Hebrew manuscripts, which\nwere immediately purchased by Gregory of Huntingdon, Prior of the abbey\nof Ramsey. Gregory speedily became an adept in the Hebrew, by means\nof these valuable acquisitions, which he bequeathed to his monastery\nabout the year 1250. Other members of the same convent, in consequence\nof these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the\nsame language, soon after the death of Prior Gregory, among whom were\nRobert Dodford, Librarian of Ramsey, and Laurence Holbech, who compiled\na Hebrew Lexicon. At Oxford a great number of their books fell into the\nhands of Roger Bacon, or were bought by his brethren the Franciscan\nfriars of that university.\n\n\nGAME PRESERVES AT CHANTILLY.\n\nThe establishment at Chantilly, which formerly belonged to the great\nfamily of Conde, included 21 miles of park, and 48 miles of forest. The\nhorses, when the family were at that place, were above 500. The dogs,\n60 to 80 couple: the servants, above 500. The stables the finest and\nbest in Europe. We shall now present to the sporting and un-sporting\nreader, for both will lift up their eyes, a list of game killed, year\nby year, through a series of thirty-two years--beginning with the year\n1748, ending with the year 1779:--\n\n _List of the Game._\n 54,878 24,029 37,209 19,932\n 37,160 27,013 42,902 27,164\n 58,712 26,405 31,620 30,429\n 39,892 33,055 25,994 30,859\n 32,470 50,812 18,479 25,813\n 39,893 40,234 18,550 50,666\n 32,470 26,267 26,371 13,304\n 16,186 25,953 19,774 17,566\n\nNow let us give (of birds and beasts) their bill of mortality; that\nis the numbers, in detail, of each specific description, registered\nas below, and detailed to have been killed at Chantilly, in the\nabove-mentioned series of years. Hares, 77,750; rabbits, 587,470;\npartridges, 117,574; red ditto, 12,426; pheasants, 86,193; quails,\n19,696; rattles (the male quail), 449; woodcocks, 2,164; snipes, 2,856;\nducks, 1,353; wood-piquers, 317; lapwings, 720; becfique (small birds\nlike our wheatear), 67; curlews, 32; oyes d'Egypte, 3; oyes sauvage,\n14; bustards, 2; larks, 106; tudells, 2; fox, 1; crapeaux, 8; thrushes,\n1,313; guynard, 4; stags, 1,712; hinds, 1,682; facons, 519; does,\n1,921; young does, 135; roebucks, 4,669; young ditto, 810; wild boars,\n1,942; marcassins (young boars), 818. A magnificent list of animal\nslaughter, carefully and systematically recorded as achievements.\n\n\nBRITISH PEARLS.\n\nThe river Conway, in North Wales, was of considerable importance,\neven before the Roman invasion, for the pearl mussel (the _Mya\nMargaritifera_ of Linnaeus) and Suetonius acknowledged that one of his\ninducements for undertaking the subjugation of Wales was the pearl\nfishery carried forward in that river. According to Pliny, the mussels,\ncalled by the natives _Kregindilin_, were sought for with avidity by\nthe Romans, and the pearls found within them were highly valued; in\nproof of which it is asserted that Julius Caesar dedicated a breastplate\nset with British pearls to Venus Genetrix, and placed it in her temple\nat Rome. A fine specimen from the Conway is said to have been presented\nto Catherine, consort of Charles II., by Sir Richard Wynne, of Gwydir;\nand it is further said that it has since contributed to adorn the regal\ncrown of England. Lady Newborough possessed a good collection of the\nConway pearls, which she purchased of those who were fortunate enough\nto find them, as there is no regular fishery at present. The late Sir\nRobert Vaughan had obtained a sufficient number to appear at Court with\na button and loop to his hat, formed of these beautiful productions,\nabout the year 1780.\n\n\nFUNERAL ORATION OF FRANCIS THE FIRST.\n\nPierre Duchatel, in a funeral oration on the death of Francis I.,\npublished 1547, took upon himself to affirm, that the soul of the king\nhad gone _direct to Paradise_. This passing over of purgatory gave\noffence to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who sent a deputation to warn\nhim of his error. The prelate being absent, one of his friends received\nthem, and, in reply, gaily said--\"Be not uneasy, gentlemen, every one\nknows that the late king, my master, never stopped long in any one\nplace, however agreeable. Supposing, then, that he went to purgatory,\nbe assured that his stay would be very short.\" This pleasantry disarmed\nthe severity of the doctors, and the affair went no farther.\n\n\nGRAVES OF THE STONE PERIOD.\n\nStone Chambers, which once formed places of interment, are frequently\ndiscovered within large barrows of earth raised by the hands of man.\nThey are to be referred to the period of the Danish Invasion, which\nis generally termed among antiquaries the \"Stone Period,\" because the\nuse of metals was then in a great measure unknown; and while a few are\nto be found in Great Britain, there are many more of them in Denmark.\nThese tombs, which are covered with earth, have most probably contained\nthe remains of the powerful and the rich. They are almost all provided\nwith long entrances, which lead from the exterior of the mound of\nearth to the east or south side of the chambers. The entrances, like\nthe chambers, are formed of large stones, smooth on the side which\nis turned inwards, on which very large roof-stones are placed. The\nchambers, and even the entrances, which are from sixteen to twenty\nfeet in length, are filled with trodden earth and pebbles, the object\nof which, doubtless, was to protect the repose of the dead in their\ngraves, and the contents which are found in them consist of unburnt\nhuman skeletons (which were occasionally placed on a pavement of flat\nor round stones), together with implements and weapons, and tools of\nflint or bone, ornaments, pieces of amber, and urns of clay. In some\ncases smaller chambers have been discovered, annexed to one side of the\npassage which leads to the larger chamber, and one of these smaller\nchambers we have engraved as a specimen of the sort of tombs we are now\ndescribing.\n\n[Illustration [++] Stone Chamber in a Barrow.]\n\nThe above sketch represents a chamber which was discovered in a barrow,\nsituated near Paradis, in the parish of the Vale, in the island of\nGuernsey. On digging into the mound, a large flat stone was soon\ndiscovered; this formed the top, or cap-stone, of the tomb, and on\nremoving it, the upper part of two human skulls were exposed to view.\nOne was facing the north, the other the south, but both disposed\nin a line from east to west. The chamber was filled up with earth\nmixed with limpet-shells, and as it was gradually removed, while the\nexamination was proceeding downwards into the interior, the bones\nof the extremities became exposed to view, and were seen to greater\nadvantage. They were less decomposed than those of the upper part;\nand the teeth and jaws, which were well preserved, denoted that they\nwere the skeletons of adults, and not of old men. The reason why the\nskeletons were found in this extraordinary position it is impossible to\ndetermine. Probably the persons who were thus interred were prisoners,\nslaves, or other subordinates, who were slain--perhaps buried alive--on\noccasion of the funeral of some great or renowned personage, who was\nplaced in the larger chamber at the end of the passage; and this view\nof the case is considerably strengthened by the fact that the total\nabsence of arms, weapons, or vases, in the smaller chamber, denotes\nthat the quality of the persons within it was of less dignity or\nestimation.\n\n\nWAR CHARIOT OF ANCIENT EGYPT.\n\nThis chariot, which is mentioned in various parts of Scripture, and\nmore especially in the description of the pursuit of the Israelites\nby Pharaoh, and of his overthrow in the Red Sea, was a very light\nstructure, consisting of a wooden framework strengthened and adorned\nwith metal, and leather binding, answering to the descriptions which\nHomer has given of those engaged in the Trojan war.\n\n[Illustration [++] War Chariot.]\n\nThe sides were partly, and the back wholly open; and it was so low that\na man could easily step into it from behind; for there was no seat, the\nrider always standing in war or hunting, though when wearied he might\noccasionally sit on the sides, or squat, in eastern fashion, on his\nheels. The body of the car was not hung on the axle _in equilibrio_,\nbut considerably forward, so that the weight was thrown more upon the\nhorses. Its lightness, however, would prevent this from being very\nfatiguing to them, and this mode of placing it had the advantage of\nrendering the motion more easy to the driver. To contribute further\nto this end, the bottom or floor consisted of a network of interlaced\nthongs, the elasticity of which in some measure answered the purpose of\nmodern springs.\n\nThe Egyptian chariots were invariably drawn by two horses abreast,\nwhich were richly caparisoned; it is, perhaps, to the extreme elegance\nand magnificence of their trappings, no less than to their own beauty,\nthat allusion is made in the Song of Songs (1-9), where the royal\nbridegroom addresses his spouse thus: \"I have compared thee, O my love,\nto a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.\" The chariot of Egypt\nordinarily carried two persons, one of whom acted as the warrior,\nthe other as the charioteer. Occasionally we find three persons in\na chariot, as when two princes of the blood, each bearing the royal\nsceptre, or flabellum, accompanying the king in a state procession,\nrequiring a charioteer to manage the reins.\n\n\nPEACOCKS.\n\nIndia, says Mr. Pennant, gave us peacocks, and we are assured by Knox,\nin his \"History of Ceylon,\" that they are still found in the wild\nstate, in vast flocks, in that island and in Java. So beautiful a bird\ncould not be permitted to be a stranger in the more distant parts; for\nso early as the days of Solomon (1 Kings, x. 22) we find among the\narticles imported in his Tarshish navies, apes and peacocks. A monarch\nso conversant in all branches of natural history, would certainly not\nneglect furnishing his officers with instructions for collecting every\ncuriosity in the country to which they made voyages, which gave him\na knowledge that distinguished him from all the princes of his time.\nAElian relates that they were brought into Greece from some barbarous\ncountry, and that they were held in such high estimation that a male\nand female were valued at Athens at 1,000 _drachmae_, or L32 5s. 10d.\nTheir next step might be to Samos, where they were preserved about the\ntemple of Juno, being the birds sacred to that goddess; and Gellius, in\nhis \"_Noctes Atticae_\" commends the excellency of the Samian peacocks.\nIt is, therefore probable that they were brought there originally for\nthe purposes of superstition, and afterwards cultivated for the uses of\nluxury. We are also told, when Alexander was in India, he found vast\nnumbers of wild ones on the banks of the Hyarotis, and was so struck\nwith their beauty as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that\nkilled them.\n\nPeacocks' crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the\nkings of England. Ernald de Aclent (Acland) paid a fine to King John\nin a hundred and forty palfries, with sackbuts, _lorains_, gilt spurs,\nand peacocks' crests, such as would be for his credit.--Some of our\nregiments of cavalry bear on their helmets, at present, the figure of a\npeacock.\n\n\nROMAN THEATRE AT ORANGE.\n\nOne of the most striking Roman provincial theatres is that of Orange,\nin the south of France. Perhaps it owes its existence, or at all events\nits splendour, to the substratum of Grecian colonists that preceded the\nRomans in that country. Its auditorium is 340 ft. in diameter, but much\nruined, in consequence of the princes of Orange having used this part\nas a bastion in some fortification they were constructing.\n\nThe stage is tolerably preserved. It shows well the increased\nextent and complication of arrangements required for the theatrical\nrepresentations of the age in which it was constructed, being a\nconsiderable advance towards the more modern idea of a play, as\ndistinguished from the stately semi-religious spectacle in which the\nGreeks delighted. The noblest part of the building is the great wall at\nthe back, an immense mass of masonry, 340 ft. in extent, and 116 ft. in\nheight, without a single opening above the basement, and no ornament\nexcept a range of blank arches, about midway between the basement and\nthe top, and a few projecting corbels to receive the footings of the\nmasts that supported the velarium. Nowhere does the architecture of\nthe Romans shine so much as when their gigantic buildings are left to\ntell their own tale by the imposing grandeur of their masses. Whenever\nornament is attempted, their bad taste comes out. The size of their\nedifices, and the solidity of their construction, were only surpassed\nby the Egyptians, and not always by them; and when, as here, their mass\nstands unadorned in all its native grandeur, criticism is disarmed,\nand the spectator stands awe-struck at its majesty, and turns away\nconvinced that truly \"there were giants in those days.\" This is not, it\nis true, the most intellectual way of obtaining architectural effect,\nbut it is the easiest and the most certain to secure the desired result.\n\n\nA PISCATORIAL DOG.\n\nMr. Jukes, in his \"Excursions in and about Newfoundland,\" speaks of a\ndog which appeared to be of the pure breed, and which he thought to\nbe more intelligent than the mixed race. This animal caught his own\nfish, for which purpose he sat on a projecting rock, beneath a fish\nstage, on which the fish were laid to dry, watching the water, the\ndepth being from six to eight feet, and the bottom quite white with\nfish-bones. On throwing a piece of cod-fish into the water, three or\nfour heavy, clumsy-looking fish, called in Newfoundland _sculpins_,\nwould swim to catch it. The instant one turned his broadside towards\nhim, he darted down, and seldom came up without the fish in his mouth.\nHe regularly carried them as he caught them to a place a few yards off,\nwhere he deposited them, sometimes making a pile of fifty or sixty in\nthe day. As he never attempted to eat them, he appeared to fish for his\namusement.\n\n\nPHENOMENA OF SOUND.\n\nIn the gardens of Les Rochas, once the well-known residence of Madame\nde Sevigne, is a remarkable echo, which illustrates finely the\nconducting and reverberating powers of a flat surface. The Chateau\ndes Rochas is situated not far from the interesting and ancient town\nof Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts through the\ngarden to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular spot, the\nlistener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve yards from\nanother person, who, similarly placed, addresses him in a low and, in\nthe common acceptation of the term, inaudible whisper, when, \"Lo! what\nmyriads rise!\" for immediately, from thousands and tens of thousands\nof invisible tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every\npebble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated with\na slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot passing\nthrough the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the\ndistance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and\nwithin a few feet ceases to be heard. Under the idea that the ground\nwas hollow beneath, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth;\nbut without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery.\n\n\nANTIQUE WATCH.\n\n[Illustration [++] Antique Silver Watch Shaped Like a Duck.]\n\nThe above engraving represents a fancy silver watch of the time of\nQueen Elizabeth. It is shaped like a duck; the feathers chased. The\nlower part opens, and the dial plate, which is also of silver, is\nencircled with a gilt ornamental design of floriated scrolls and\nangels' heads. The wheels work on small rubies. It has no maker's\nname. It is preserved in the original case of thin brass, covered with\nblack leather, and ornamented with silver studs, as represented in the\nwoodcut below. It forms one of the curiosities in the Museum of Lord\nLondesborough.\n\n[Illustration [++] Watch in Original Case.]\n\n\nHORSES FEEDING ONE ANOTHER.\n\nM. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of Beauvilliers,\nrelates in his \"Military Observations,\" printed in Paris, 1760, \"That,\nin the year 1757, an old horse of his company, that was very fine and\nfull of mettle, had his teeth all on a sudden so worn down, that he\ncould not chew his hay and corn; and that he was fed for two months,\nand would still have been so had he been kept, by two horses on each\nside of him, that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay\nfrom the rack, which they chewed, and afterwards threw before the\nold horse; that they did the same with the oats, which they ground\nvery small, and also put before him. This (adds he) was observed and\nwitnessed by a whole company of cavalry, officers and men.\"\n\n\nCROSS OF MUIREDACH.\n\n[Illustration [++] Cross of Muiredach.]\n\nFrom the rude pillar-stone marked with the symbol of our\nfaith, enclosed within a circle, the emblem of Eternity, the\nfinely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later\nperiod are derived. In the latter, the circle, instead of being simply\ncut on the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it\nwere, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. There\nare two beautiful specimens of this style of cross at Monasterboice,\nnear Drogheda, about thirty-five miles from Dublin. The smaller, more\nbeautiful, and more perfect of these we here engrave. The figures and\nornaments with which its various sides are enriched appear to have been\nexecuted with an unusual degree of artistic skill. It is now almost as\nperfect as it was when, nearly nine centuries ago, the artist, we may\nsuppose, pronounced his work finished, and chiefs and abbots, bards,\nshanachies, warriors, and ecclesiastics, and, perhaps, many a rival\nsculptor, crowded round this very spot full of wonder and admiration\nfor what they must have considered a truly glorious, and, perhaps,\nunequalled work. An inscription in Irish upon the lower part of the\nshaft, desires \"A prayer for Muiredach, by whom was made this cross,\"\nand there is reason for assigning it to an abbot of that name who died\nin the year 924. Its total height is exactly fifteen feet, and it is\nsix in breadth at the arms. The shaft, which at the base measures in\nbreadth two feet six inches, and in thickness one foot nine inches,\ndiminishes slightly in its ascent, and is divided upon its various\nsides by twisted bands into compartments, each of which contains either\nsculptured figures, or tracery of very intricate design, or animals,\nprobably symbolical.\n\n\nCHINESE THERAPEUTICS.\n\nIn the treatment of disease, the Chinese, so fond of classification,\ndivide the medicinal substances they employ into heating, cooling,\nrefreshing, and temperate: their _materia medica_ is contained in\nthe work called the _Pen-tsaocang-mou_ in fifty-two large volumes,\nwith an atlas of plates; most of our medicines are known to them and\nprescribed; the mineral waters, with which their country abounds,\nare also much resorted to; and their emperor, Kang-Hi, has given an\naccurate account of several thermal springs. Fire is a great agent, and\nthe _moxa_ recommended in almost every aliment, while acupuncture is in\ngeneral use both in China and Japan; bathing and _champooing_ are also\nfrequently recommended, and bloodletting is seldom resorted to.\n\nChina has also her animal magnetisers, practising the _Cong fou_, a\nmysterious manipulation taught by the bonzes, in which the adepts\nproduce violent convulsions.\n\nThe Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven categories:\n\n1. The great prescription.\n\n2. The little prescription.\n\n3. The slow prescription.\n\n4. The prompt prescription.\n\n5. The odd prescription.\n\n6. The even prescription.\n\n7. The double prescription.\n\nEach of these receipts being applied to particular cases, and the\ningredients that compose them being weighed with the most scrupulous\naccuracy.\n\nMedicine was taught in the imperial colleges of Pekin; but in every\ndistrict, a physician, who had studied six years, is appointed to\ninstruct the candidate for the profession, who was afterwards allowed\nto practise, without any further studies or examination; and it is\nsaid, that, in general, the physician only receives his fee when\nthe patient is cured. This assertion, however, is very doubtful, as\nthe country abounds in quacks, who, under such restrictions as to\nremuneration, would scarcely earn a livelihood. Another singular, but\neconomical practice prevails amongst them--a physician never pays\na second visit to a patient unless he is sent for. Whatever may be\nthe merits of Chinese practitioners both in medicine and surgery, or\ntheir mode of receiving remuneration, it appears that they are as much\nsubject to animadversion as in other countries:--A missionary having\nobserved to a Chinese, that their medical men had constantly recourse\nto fire in the shape of moxa, red-hot iron, and burning needles; he\nreplied, \"Alas! you Europeans are carved with steel, while we are\nmartyrized with hot iron; and I fear that in neither country will the\nfashion subside, since the operators do not feel the anguish they\ninflict, and are equally paid to torment us or to cure us!\"\n\n\nMARY QUEEN OF SCOTS TO SIR FRANCIS KNOLLYS, FROM BOLTON, SEPT. 1ST,\n1568: HER FIRST LETTER IN ENGLISH.\n\n(MS. Cotton. Calig. C. I. fol. 161 b. _Orig._)\n\nMester Knoleis, y heuv har (I have heard) sum neus from Scotland; y\nsend zou the double off them y vreit (wrote) to the quin (queen) my\ngud Sister, and pres (pray) zou to du the lyk, conforme to that y\nspak zesternicht vnto zou, and sut hesti ansur y refer all to zour\ndiscretion, and wil lipne beter in zour gud delin (dealing) for mi,\n(me) nor y kan persuad zou, nemli in this langasg (language) excus\nmy ivil vreitin (writing) for y neuver vsed it afor, and am hestit\n(hasted). Ze schal si my bel (bill) vhuilk (which) is opne, it is sed\nSeterday my unfrinds wil be vth (with) zou, y sey nething bot trests\nweil, and ze send oni to zour wiff ze mey asur schu (she) wald a bin\nweilcom to apur (poor) strenger hua (who) nocht bien (not being)\naquentet vth her, wil nocht bi ouuer bald (bold) to vreit bot for the\naquentans betuix ous (us: _i_. _e_. herself and Sir Francis Knolles). Y\nwil send zou letle tokne (token) to rember (remember) zou off the gud\nhop y heuu (have) in zou guef (gif--if) ze fend (find) a mit (meet)\nmesager y wald wish ze bestouded (bestowed) it reder (rather) apon her\nnon (than) ani vder; thus effter my commendations y prey God heuu zou\nin his kipin.\n\n \"Zour asured gud frind.\n\n \"MARIE R.\n\n \"Excus my ivel vreitin thes furst tym.\"\n\n\nPHILOSOPHY OF THE BRAMINS.\n\nThe order of creation, which is described in the Institutes of Menu\n(c. 1, pp. 75-8), is remarkable. \"First emerges the subtle ether, to\nwhich philosophers ascribe the quality of conveying sound: from ether,\neffecting a transmutation in form, springs the pure and potent air,\na vehicle of all scents; and air is held endued with the quality of\ntouch: then from air, operating a change, rises light, or fire, making\nobjects visible, dispelling gloom, spreading bright rays; and it is\ndeclared to have the quality of figure: but from light, a change being\neffected, comes water, with the quality of taste: and from water is\ndeposited earth, with the quality of smell; such were they created in\nthe beginning.\" This passage bears at least as strong a resemblance to\nthe chemical philosophy of our days, as certain parts of the Hindoo\nfables bear to the mysteries of the Christian religion. But it is more\ndifficult to account for the philosophy, (if, indeed, it be any thing\nmore than mere theory,) than to explain how the distorted traces of\nChristianity found their way into the fables of Hindostan.\n\n\nFOREIGNERS IN LONDON IN 1567.\n\n\"We learn from the Bishop of London's certificate, that, in December,\n1567, there were then in London and its immediate vicinity, or places\nwhich are now included in the word 'London,' 3838 Dutchmen; 720\nFrenchmen; 137 Italians; 14 Venetians; 56 Spaniards; 25 Portuguese; 2\nGrecians; 2 Blackamores; 1 Dane; and but 58 Scots! making a total of\n4851 foreigners.\"\n\n\nCHANGES OF FORTUNE.\n\nIn 1454, Sir Stephen Forster was Lord Mayor of London. He had been long\nin prison and penury, on account of his inordinate profuseness. It\nchanced that a most fantastical widow, who knew not how to get rid of\nher immense wealth, saw him begging at the gate; she admired his fine\nperson, learnt his history, paid his debts, and married him; asking\nof him only this one favour, that he would lavish away her fortune as\nfast as he could. Forster, probably from perverseness, became a sober\nhusband and a prudent manager, and only expended large sums in adding\na chapel and other advantageous appendages to Ludgate, where he had\nsuffered so many hardships.\n\n\nROMAN VASES IN BLACK WARE.\n\nThe principal subjects represented on vases of ancient Roman pottery\nof black ware are hunting scenes--such as dogs chasing stags,\ndeer, hares,--also, dolphins, ivy wreaths, and engrailed lines;\nand engine-turned patterns. In a few instances men with spears are\nrepresented, but in a rude and debased style of art. The principal form\nis the cup of a jar shape, sometimes with deep oval flutings, as on one\nfound at Castor; but dishes, cups, plates, and mortars are not found in\nthis ware.\n\n[Illustration [++] Roman Vase in Black Ware.]\n\nSome of the vases of this ware have ornaments, and sometimes letters\npainted on them in white slip upon their black ground, as represented\nin our engraving. They are generally of a small size, and of the nature\nof bottles or cups, with inscriptions, such as AVE, hail! VIVAS, may\nyou live! IMPLE, fill; BIBE, drink; VINVM, wine; VIVA, life; VIVE BIBE\nMVLTIS; showing that they were used for purposes purely convivial. Such\nare the vases found at Etaples, near Boulogne, the ancient Gessoriacum,\nand at Mesnil.\n\nSome rarer and finer specimens from Bredene, in the department of Lis,\nhave a moulding round the foot. Great quantities are found in England,\nHolland, Belgium, and France. It is found on the right bank of the\nRhine. A variety of this ware has been lately found at a spot called\nCrockhill, in the New Forest, together with the kilns in which it was\nmade, and a heap of potter's sherds, or pieces spoilt in the baking.\nThe paste was made of the blue clay of the neighbourhood, covered with\nan alkaline glaze of a maroon colour, perhaps the result of imperfect\nbaking; for the pieces when submitted again to the action of the fire,\ndecrepitated and split. They were so much vitrified as to resemble\nmodern stone ware, yet as all of them have proofs of having been\nrejected by the potters, it is probable that this was not the proper\ncolour of the ware. Almost all were of the pinched up fluted shape, and\nhad no bas-reliefs, having been ornamented with patterns laid on in\nwhite colour. The kilns are supposed to be of the third century of our\nera, and the ware was in local use, for some of it was found at Bittern.\n\n\nFRENCH BIBLE.\n\nThere was a French Bible, printed at Paris in 1538, by Anthony\nBonnemere, wherein is related \"that the ashes of the golden calf which\nMoses caused to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by\nthe Israelites, stuck to the beards of such as has had fallen down\nbefore it; by which they appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark\nto distinguish those which had worshipped the calf.\" This idle story\nis actually interwoven with the 32nd chapter of Exodus. And Bonnemere\nsays, in his preface, this French Bible was printed in 1495, at the\nrequest of his most Christian Majesty Charles VIII.; and declares\nfurther that the French translator \"has added nothing but the genuine\ntruths, according to the express terms of the Latin Bible; nor omitted\nanything but what was improper to be translated!\" So that we are to\nlook upon this fiction of the gilded beards as matter of fact; and\nanother of the same stamp, inserted in the chapter above mentioned,\nviz., that, \"Upon Aaron's refusing to make gods for the Israelites,\nthey spat upon him with so much fury and violence that they quite\nsuffocated him.\"\n\n\nSARDONYX RING WITH CAMEO HEAD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, IN THE POSSESSION OF\nREV. LORD THYNNE.\n\n[Illustration [++] Sardonyx Ring.]\n\nThis is said to be the identical ring given by Queen Elizabeth to\nEssex, and so fatally retained by Lady Nottingham. It has descended\nfrom Lady Frances Devereux, Essex's daughter, in unbroken succession\nfrom mother and daughter to the present possessor. The ring is gold,\nthe sides engraved, and the inside of blue enamel; the execution of the\nhead of Elizabeth is of a high order, and whether this be _the_ ring or\nnot, it is valuable as a work of art.\n\n\nCURIOUS WAGERS.\n\nThere have been travelling wagers, and none of the least singular of\nsuch was that of Mr. Whalley, an Irish gentleman (and who we believe\nedited Ben Johnson's works), who, for a very considerable wager (twenty\nthousand pounds, it was said,) set out on Monday the 22nd of September,\n1788, to walk to Constantinople and back again in one year. This wager,\nhowever whimsical, is not without a precedent. Some years ago a baronet\nof good fortune (Sir Henry Liddel) laid a considerable wager that he\nwould go to Lapland, bring home two females of that country, and two\nrein-deer, in a given time. He performed the journey, and effected\nhis purpose in every respect. The Lapland women lived with him about\na year, but desiring to go back to their own country, the baronet\nfurnished them with means and money.\n\n\nCONFECTIONERY ART IN 1660.\n\nThe following is extracted from a work on Cookery, by Robert May,\npublished in 1660. It is entitled the \"_Accomplisht Cook, &c., &c._\n\n\"Triumphs and Trophies in Cookery, to be used in Festival Times, as\nTwelfth Day, &c.:--Make the likeness of a ship in pasteboard with flags\nand streamers, the guns belonging to it of kickses, bind them about\nwith pack-thread and cover them with paste proportionable to the\nfashion of a cannon with carriages; lay them in places convenient, as\nyou see them in ships of war, with such holes and trains of powder that\nthey may all take fire. Place your ships firm in a great charger; then\nmake a salt round about it, and stick therein egg-shells full of sweet\nwater; you may by a great pin take out all the meat out of the egg by\nblowing, and then fill it with rose-water. Then in another charger have\nthe proportion of a stag made of coarse paste, with a broad arrow in\nthe side of him, and his body filled up with claret wine. In another\ncharger at the end of the stag have the proportion of a castle with\nbattlements, percullices, gates, and drawbridges, made of pasteboard,\nthe guns of kickses, and covered with coarse paste as the former; place\nit at a distance from the ship to fire at each other. The stag being\nplaced betwixt them, with egg-shells full of sweet water (as before)\nplaced in salt. At each side of the charger wherein is the stag, place\na pie made of coarse paste, in one of which let there be some live\nfrogs, in the other live birds; make these pies of coarse paste, filled\nwith bran, and yellowed over saffron, or yolks of eggs: gild them over\nin spots, as also the stag, the ship and castle; bake them, and place\nthem with gilt bay leaves on the turrets and tunnels of the castle and\npies; being baked make a hole in the bottom of your pies, take out the\nbran, put in your frogs and birds, and close up the holes with the\nsame coarse paste; then cut the lids neatly up to be taken off by the\ntunnels. Being all placed in order upon the table, before you fire the\ntrains of powder, order it so that some of the ladies may be persuaded\nto pluck the arrow out of the stag; then will the claret wine follow,\nas blood running out of a wound. This being done with admiration to\nthe beholders, after some short pause, fire the train of the castle,\nthat the pieces all of one side may go off; then fire the trains of\none side of the ship as in a battle; next turn the chargers, and by\ndegrees fire the trains of each other side, as before. This done, to\nsweeten the stink of the powder, the ladies take the egg-shells full of\nsweet waters, and throw them at each other, all dangers being seemed\nover, and by this time you may suppose they will desire to see what\nis in the pies; when lifting first the lid off one pie, out skip some\nfrogs, which makes the ladies to skip and shriek; next after the other\npie, whence comes out the birds; who by a natural instinct flying at\nthe light, will put out the candles; so that what with the flying\nbirds and skipping frogs, the one above, the other beneath, will cause\nmuch delight and pleasure to the whole company: at length the candles\nare lighted and a banquet brought in, the music sounds, and every one\nwith much delight and content rehearses their actions in the former\npassages. These were formerly the delights of the nobility, before good\nhouse-keeping had left England, and the sword really acted that which\nwas only counterfeited in such honest and laudable exercises as these.\"\n\n\nSUSPENDED ANIMATION.\n\nDavid Beck, the celebrated portrait painter, and pupil of Vandyke,\ntravelling through Germany, was suddenly taken ill, and to all\nappearance died, and was laid out as a corpse. His servants, sitting\nround the bed, grieved heartily for the loss of so good a master; and,\nas grief is thirsty, drank as heartily at the same time. One of them,\nbecoming more fuddled than the rest, then addressed his companions\nthus: \"Our master when alive was fond of his glass, let us now, out of\ngratitude, then give him one now he is dead.\" Assent was given, the\nhead of the dead painter was raised up, and some wine poured down or\nspilt about, the fragrance or spirit of which caused Beck to open his\neyes; upon which the servant, who, being drunk, half forgetting his\nmaster was dead, forced down the remainder of the glass. The painter\ngradually revived, and thus escaped a living interment.\n\n\nFUNERAL OF MARAT.\n\nThe funeral of Marat was celebrated at Paris, July 17th, 1793, with the\ngreatest pomp and solemnity. All the sections joined the procession.\nAn immense crowd of people attended it. Four women bore the bathing\nmachine in which Marat was standing when he was assassinated; his\nshirt, stained with blood, was carried by a fury, in the shape of a\nwoman, at the top of a pike. After this followed a wooden bedstead,\non which the corpse of Marat was carried by citizens. His head was\nuncovered, and the gash he had received could be easily distinguished.\nThe procession was paraded through several streets, and was saluted on\nits march by several discharges of artillery.\n\n\nEXECUTION OF ANNE BOLEYN.\n\nIn Houssaie's \"Memoirs,\" Vol. I. p. 435, a little circumstance is\nrecorded concerning the decapitation of the unfortunate Anne Boleyn,\nwhich illustrates an observation of Hume. Our historian notices that\nher executioner was a Frenchman of Calais, who was supposed to have\nuncommon skill; it is probable that the following incident might\nhave been preserved by tradition in France, from the account of the\nexecutioner himself. Anne Boleyn being on the scaffold, would not\nconsent to have her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had\nno fear of death. All that the divine who assisted at her execution\ncould obtain from her was, that she would shut her eyes. But as she\nwas opening them at every moment, the executioner could not bear their\ntender and mild glances. Fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to\ninvent an expedient to behead the queen. He drew off his shoes, and\napproached her silently; while he was at her left hand, another person\nadvanced at her right, who made a great noise in walking, so that this\ncircumstance drawing the attention of Anne, she turned, her face from\nthe executioner, who was enabled by this artifice to strike the fatal\nblow without being disarmed by that pride of affecting resignation\nwhich shone in the eyes of the lovely Anne Boleyn.\n\n\nMEXICAN TENNIS.\n\nThe Mexicans had one singular law in their play with the ball. In the\nwalls of the court where they played certain stones, like mill-stones\nwere fixed, with a hole in the middle, just large enough to let the\nball pass through; and whoever drove it through, which required great\nskill, and was, of course, rarely effected, won the cloaks of the\nlookers-on. They, therefore, took to their heels to save their cloaks,\nand others pursued to catch them, which was a new source of amusement.\n\n\nCURIOUSLY-SHAPED VESSEL.\n\n[Illustration [++] Vessel in the Shape of a Lion.]\n\nThere is a singular class of Northern relics, of the Christian Period,\nof which analogous types have been found in Scotland, which well\ndeserve our attention. The relics of which we speak consist of a\ncurious variety of vessels, presumed to have been designed for holding\nliquors, but invariably made in the form of some animal or monstrous\nhybrid. The annexed figure represents one of these, in the collection\nof Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp, Esq., and found by him among a hoard of\nlong-forgotten family heirlooms, in a vault of his paternal mansion\nof Hoddam Castle, Dumfriesshire. Of its previous history nothing is\nknown. It is made of bronze. The principal figure is a lion, without a\ntail, measuring fourteen inches in length, and nearly fourteen inches\nin greatest height. On the back is perched a nondescript animal, half\ngreyhound, half fish, apparently intended for a handle to the whole,\nwhile from the breast projects a stag's head with large antlers. This\nhas a perforation in the back of the neck, as if for the insertion of\na stop-cock, and it appears probable was designed for running off the\nliquid contained within the singular vessel to which it is attached. A\nsmall square lid on the top of the lion's head, opening with a hinge,\nsupplies the requisite aperture for whatever liquor it was designed to\nhold. A similar relic, possessed by Sir John Maxwell, Bart., was dug up\na few years since on the Pollock estate; and another, in the collection\nof the late E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., was also in the form of a lion.\n\n\nA SENSIBLE DOG.\n\nProfessor Owen was walking with a friend, the master of the dog,\nby the side of a river, near its mouth, on the coast of Cornwall,\nand picked up a small piece of seaweed. It was covered with minute\nanimals, and Mr. Owen observed to his companion, throwing the weed\ninto the water,--\"If this small piece afforded so many treasures, how\nmicroscopically rich the whole plant would be! I should much like to\nhave one!\" The gentleman walked on; but hearing a splashing in the\nwater, turned round and saw it violently agitated. \"It is Lion!\" both\nexclaimed. \"What can he be about? He was walking quietly enough by our\nside a minute ago.\" At one moment they saw his tail above the water,\nthen his head raised for a breath of air, then the surrounding element\nshook again, and at last he came ashore, panting from his exertions,\nand laid a whole plant of the identical weed at Mr. Owen's feet. After\nthis proof of intelligence, it will not be wondered at, that when Lion\nwas joyfully expecting to accompany his master and his guest on an\nexcursion, and was told to go and take care of and comfort Mrs. Owen,\nwho was ill, that he should immediately return to the drawing-room, and\nlay himself by her side, which he never left during the absence of his\nowner; his countenance alone betraying his disappointment, and that\nonly for a few minutes.\n\n\nTHE CROWN OF CHARLEMAGNE.\n\nAs the emblem of sovereignty which once adorned the brows of one of\nearth's mightiest men, and as a unique specimen of the state at which\nthe goldsmith's art had arrived as early as the ninth century, we here\npresent our readers with an engraving of the crown of Charlemagne.\n\n[Illustration [++] Crown of Charlemagne.]\n\nThis great man was the eldest son of Pepin the Short, and grandson of\nCharles Martel, and was born at the castle of Ingelheim, near Metz,\nin the year 742. His father dying in 768 he succeeded to the crown in\nconjunction with his brother Carloman, whose death in 771 left him sole\nmonarch of the Franks. By his alliances, negociations, and principally\nby his numerous and glorious wars, he so enlarged his dominions, that\nat length they extended from the Ebro to the mouth of the Elbe, from\nthe Atlantic to the mountains of Bohemia and the Saal, and from the\nBritish Channel to the Volturno. In the year 800 he was crowned at\nRome, as Emperor of the West, by Pope Leo III., and died of a pleurisy\nin 814, at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the cathedral of which city he was\nburied with extraordinary magnificence. Equally illustrious in the\ncabinet and in the field, a wise legislator, and a great warrior, the\npatron of men of letters, and the restorer of learning, Charlemagne\nhas united in his favour the suffrages of statesmen and soldiers, and\nof ecclesiastics, lawyers, and men of letters, who have all vied with\none another in bestowing the homage of their praise on the celebrated\nfounder of the Western Empire.\n\nThe crown of this illustrious man, of which our engraving is a correct\nrepresentation, is now preserved at Vienna in the Imperial Treasury.\nIt is composed of eight plates of gold, four large and four small,\nconnected by hinges. The large ones, studded with precious stones, form\nthe front, the back, and the intermediate points of the crown; the\nsmall ones, placed alternately with these, are ornamented with enamels\nrepresenting Solomon, David, King Hezekiah seated on his throne,\nand Christ seated between two flaming seraphim, such as the Greeks\nusually represent them. The costume of the figures resembles that of\nthe Emperors of the Lower Empire, and although the inscriptions which\naccompany the figures are in Latin, the whole bears the impress of\nGreek workmanship. The ground of the figures is formed by the metal\nitself, which has been hollowed out to receive the enamel; but all the\ndetails of the design are traced out with fine fillets of gold. The\nflesh-tints are in rose-coloured enamel; the colours employed in the\ndraperies and accessories are deep and light blue, red, and white. The\ncrown has unquestionably been retouched at various periods, but yet\nthere is nothing to invalidate the tradition which assigns the more\nancient portions to the time of Charlemagne. The enamels must belong to\nthe same early period.\n\n\nSPENT BY THE CORPORATION OF COVENTRY AT THE ENTERTAINMENT OF KING JAMES\nII. IN HIS PROGRESS THROUGH COVENTRY, 1687.\n\n(Mr. Richard Haywood, Treasurer.)\n\n L s. d.\n Gave a gold cup 171 17 6\n Mr. Septimus Butt, mayor, for sweetmeats 27 17 0\n Meat 13 14 0\n Wine 21 12 6\n Homage fee 41 6 8\n King's cook 10 0 0\n City cook 9 8 6\n Steward Fielding, for making a speech to his Majesty 5 7 6\n For linen spoiled, borrowed of Mrs. Smith, Spon-street 2 12 6\n The aldermen that went to Worcester to invite him 3 18 9\n Several companies for waiting on the King 27 9 4\n Alderman Webster, for meat 3 6 0\n Alderman Bradney for corn 3 5 6\n His Majesty's clerk of the market 1 1 6\n The King's trumpeters 2 0 0\n Richard Howcott, for carrying the city streamer 0 7 0\n The city bailiff's bill for fish, fowl, and wine 88 18 2\n -------------\n L434 2 9\n\n\nTRAVELLING EXPENSES IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nOf travelling expenses in the thirteenth century, a roll is in\nexistence, and is too interesting to be passed over. It contains\na steward's accompts of the daily expenses of a person of rank in\nthe reign of Edward I, on a journey from Oxford to Canterbury,\nand during his sojourn in London, about the year 1289; while the\nrecord throws much light upon the mode of our ancestors' living,\nat a period concerning which we have very few similar memorials.\nOne day's expenses are as follow: \"In bread, sixpence. Two gallons\nof wine, a gift of hospitality from the rector of Berton. Item in\nbread, sixpence. Two gallons of wine, a gift of hospitality from the\nrector of Mistern. Beer, sixpence. Herrings, threepence. Stockfish,\nfourpence. Porpoise and fish, fourpence. Perch and roach, seven-pence.\nLarge eels, seven-pence. Vegetables, threepence farthing. Figs and\nraisins, twopence. Fuel, five-pence. A bed for two nights, twopence.\nHay for seven horses, seven-pence. A bushel of oats, twenty-pence.\nApples, a halfpenny. Sum, six shillings and eight-pence halfpenny.\"\nThe most expensive day in the roll is on a Sunday, \"in expenses of\nmy lord at Westminster, when he held a breakfast there for knights,\nclerks, and squires. Bread, two shillings. Beer, twelve-pence. Wine,\nthree shillings and eight-pence. Half a salmon, for the standard,\nwith the chine, three shillings and eight-pence. A fresh conger eel,\nthree shillings. Three fat pikes, five fat eels, and twenty-seven fat\nroaches, twelve shillings and fourpence. Half a hundred lamprorns,\ntwelve-pence. Oysters, threepence. Vegetables, twopence. The hire of\na boy to prepare the breakfast, one penny. Fare to Westminster, one\npenny. A basket, one penny farthing. On the same day at the inn: bread,\nfive-pence farthing. Beer from the store. Two gallons of beer for the\nboys, twopence. Fish from the store. Candles, a halfpenny. Fuel, a\nhalfpenny. Hay bought, five-pence three farthings. Straw, sixpence.\nTwo bushels of oats, eight-pence. Two pair of shoes for my lord,\ntwelve-pence. Sum, thirty shillings and threepence farthing.\"\n\n\nDUNS IN THE MAHRATTA COUNTRY.\n\nThe Mahratta mode of recovering debts is curious. When the creditor\ncannot get his money, and begins to see the debt as rather desperate,\nhe sits _dhurna_ upon his debtor; that is, he squats down at the door\nof the tent, and becomes, in a certain mysterious degree, the master\nof it. No one goes in or out without his approbation. He neither eats\nhimself, nor suffers his debtor to eat; and this famishing contest is\ncarried on till the debt is paid, or till the creditor begins to _feel_\nthat want of food is a greater punishment than the want of money. This\ncurious mode of enforcing a demand is in universal practice among the\nMahrattas; Scindiah himself, the chieftain, not being exempt from it.\nThe man who sits the _dhurna_, goes to the house, or tent, of him\nwhom he wishes to bring to terms, and remains there till the affair\nis settled; during which time, the one under restraint is confined to\nhis apartment, and not suffered to communicate with any persons but\nthose whom the other may approve of. The laws by which the _dhurna_\nis regulated are as well defined and understood as those of any other\ncustom whatever. When it is meant to be very strict, the claimant\ncarries a number of his followers, who surround the tent, sometimes\neven the bed of his adversary, and deprive him altogether of food;\nin which case, however, etiquette prescribes the same abstinence to\nhimself: the strongest stomach, of course, carries the day. A custom of\nthis kind was once so prevalent in the province and city of Benares,\nthat Brahmins were _trained_ to remain a long time without food. They\nwere then sent to the door of some rich individual, where they made a\nvow to remain without eating, till they should obtain a certain sum of\nmoney. To preserve the life of a Brahmin is so absolutely a duty, that\nthe money was generally paid; but never till a good struggle had taken\nplace, to ascertain whether the man was staunch or not; for money is\nthe life and soul of all Hindoos.\n\n\nVAUXHALL.\n\n[Illustration [++] Vauxhall.]\n\nThe trees seen above the houses at the foot of the Surrey side of\nWestminster Bridge are those of Vauxhall Gardens, the site of which\nwill soon be covered with buildings. These grounds were once the glory\nof English pleasure-gardens, frequented by the highest in the land\nfrom the gay days of Charles II. to those of \"the Regency,\" and were\ncelebrated in musical history for talent of the highest kind here\nintroduced. In the old orchestra, whose towering summit may be seen\nfrom the Thames, the greatest musical celebrities have sung. Handel,\nDr. Arne, and Hook superintended its concerts; and Hogarth decorated\nits walls with paintings. It obtained its name from a very old mansion\nthat once stood near it. This old manor-house of Fawkes Hall, as it\nexisted in the reign of Charles I., is shown in our engraving; at that\ntime it was described as a \"fair dwelling-house, strongly built, of\nthree stories high, and a pier staircase breaking out from it nineteen\nfeet square.\" This staircase occupied one of the towers, in accordance\nwith the ancient plan, and the house was a curious specimen of the old\ntimber houses of the gentry in the sixteenth century.\n\nIt appears to have obtained its name from Foukes de Breut, who married\nthe heiress of the manor, the Countess of Albemarle, sister to Baldwin,\nArchbishop of Canterbury; and it was granted by the name of the manor\nof Foukeshall, by Edward III. to his favourite Hugh le Despenser. In\n1615 the records of the Duchy of Cornwall prove the premises known as\nVauxhall Gardens to have been the leasehold property of Jane Vaux,\nwidow of John Vaux, citizen and vintner of London, and a benefactor\nto the parish of Lambeth. It has always remained, with the manor of\nKennington, as the property of the crown, and belongs to the Prince of\nWales as part of his Duchy of Cornwall. Vauxhall Gardens closed for\never on July 25th, 1859, with an _al fresco fete_.\n\n\nEGYPTIAN TOILET BOXES.\n\n[Illustration [++] Egyptian Toilet Boxes.]\n\nThe ladies of ancient Egypt were very fond of having their apartments\nset off with a profusion of knick-knacks, and among other articles of\nthat sort, they usually had several different kinds of toilet-boxes\non their dressing-tables. The above engraving represents a group of\nthem. They have been found in considerable numbers among the ruins\nof the palaces, and they form interesting objects among the Egyptian\ncuriosities in many of our museums. They were made of wood, or of\nivory, often inlaid, and always elaborately carved. Sometimes they\npartook of the nature of spoons, the containing part being shallow,\nat the end of a long solid handle; the handle was carved into the\nmost fanciful forms--a grotesque human figure, a woman, a fox, or a\nfish--and the spoon part was generally covered with a lid, which turned\non a pivot. In one of those in the engraving, the spoon takes the\nform of a fish, the cover being carved to resemble its scales, while\nanother, also in the form of a fish, has two cavities, the one covered,\nthe other permanently open. Sometimes the body of a goose formed the\nbox, either trussed for the table, or in the posture of life, and other\nforms were devised from the fancy of the artist. Some of these shallow\nboxes are supposed to have been used for holding small quantities of\nointments and cosmetics upon the toilet-table.\n\n\nSPACIOUS KITCHEN.\n\nOne of the most spacious kitchens in England is that of Raby Castle,\nthe magnificent seat of the Duke of Cleveland. It is a square of thirty\nfeet, having three chimneys, one for the grate, a second for stoves,\nand the third, (now stopped up,) for the great cauldron. The roof\nis arched, with a small cupola in the centre: it has likewise five\nwindows, from each of which steps descend, but only in one instance to\nthe floor; and a gallery runs round the whole interior of the building.\nThe ancient oven is said to have allowed a tall person to stand upright\nin it, its diameter being fifteen feet. It has since been converted\ninto a wine cellar, the sides being divided into ten parts, and each\nholding a hogshead of wine in bottles. Vast as is this kitchen, it must\nhave been but suitable to the hospitality of former ages: for, in one\nof the apartments of Raby Castle, seven hundred knights are stated to\nhave been entertained at one time.\n\n\nTHE HAWTHORNDEN CAVES.\n\nIn almost every country on the earth there are natural or artificial\ncaves, which have supplied hiding-places, retreats for anchorites, and\neven permanent native dwellings. Such caves abound in Scotland, and\nespecially along the coast, but in general their interest arises rather\nfrom the associations of popular traditions, than from any intrinsic\npeculiarity of character pertaining to them. Few such retreats are more\nremarkable, either for constructive art, or historic associations,\nthan the well-known caves beneath the old tower of Hawthornden, near\nEdinburgh. They have been hewn, with great labour and ingenuity, in\nthe rocky cliff which overhangs the river Esk. No tradition preserves\nthe history or date of their execution, but concealment was evidently\nthe chief design of the excavators. The original entrance is most\ningeniously made in the shaft of a very deep draw-well, sunk in the\ncourt-yard of the castle, and from its manifest utility as the ordinary\nand indispensable appendage of the fortress, it most effectually\nconceals its adaptation as a means of ingress and communication with\nthe rock chambers beneath. These are of various forms and sizes, and\none in particular is pierced with a series of square recesses, somewhat\nresembling the columbaria of a Roman tomb, but assigned by popular\ntradition as the library of its later owner, Drummond, the Scottish\npoet. Whatever was the purpose for which these were thus laboriously\ncut, the example is not singular. A large cave in Roxburghshire, hewn\nout in the lofty cliff which overhangs the Teviot, has in its sides\nsimilar recesses, and from their supposed resemblance to the interior\nof a pigeon-house, the cavern has received the name of the _Doo-cave_.\nAuthentic notices of the Hawthornden caves occur so early as the reign\nof David II., when a daring band of Scottish adventurers made good\ntheir head-quarters there, while Edward held the newly-fortified castle\nof Edinburgh, and the whole surrounding district. In the glen of the\nlittle river Ale, which falls into the Teviot at Ancrum, extensive\ngroups of caves occur, all indicating, more or less, artificial\nadaptation as human dwellings; and in many other districts similar\nevidences may be seen of temporary or permanent habitation, at some\nremote period, in these rude recesses. Along the coast of Arran there\nare several caves of various dimensions, one of which, at Drumandruin,\nor Drumidoon, is noted in the older traditions of the island as the\nlodging of Fin M'Coul, the Fingal of Ossian, during his residence in\nArran. Though low in the roof, it is sufficiently capacious for a\nhundred men to sit or lie in it. In this, as in other examples, we find\nevidences of artificial operations, proving its connexion with races\nlong posterior to those with whose works we have chiefly to do in this\nsection of archaeological inquiry. In the further end a large detached\ncolumn of rock has a two-handed sword engraved on it, surmounted by\na deer, and on the southern side of the cave a lunar figure is cut,\nsimilar in character to those frequently found on the sculptured\npillars and crosses which abound in Scotland. It is now more frequently\nstyled the king's cave, and described as the retreat of Robert the\nBruce, while he lurked as a fugitive in the Western Isles; but, like\nmany other traditions of the Bruce, this seems to be of very recent\norigin. Other caves in the same island are also of large dimensions,\nand variously associated with popular traditions, as, indeed, is\ngenerally the case where subterranean retreats of any considerable\nextent occur. Some are the supposed dwellings of old mythic chiefs,\nwhose names still live in the traditional songs of the Gael. Others\nare the retreats which the primitive confessors of Scotland excavated\nor enlarged for their oratories or cells. Of the latter class are\nthe caves of St. Molio, on the little island of Lamlash, or the Holy\nIsle, on the east coast of Arran; of St. Columba and St. Cormac, on\nthe Argyleshire coast; of St. Ninian, in Wigtonshire; of St. Serf,\nat Dysart, on the Fifeshire coast; and the celebrated \"ocean cave of\nSt. Rule, in Saint Andrew's Bay.\" This last oratory consists of two\nchambers hewn out of the sandstone cliffs of that exposed coast. The\ninner apartment is a plain cell, entered from the supposed oratory of\nthe Greek saint. The latter is nearly circular, measuring about ten\nfeet in diameter, and has a stone altar hewn in the solid rock on its\neastern side.\n\n\nMONKISH PRAYERS.\n\nThe Monks used to pray heartily, or rather say their prayers no less\nthan seven times in the twenty-four hours. We will give their names:--\n\n 1st.--Nocturnal, at cock-crowing, or two o'clock in the morning.\n 2nd.--Matins, at six o'clock in the morning.\n 3rd.--Tierce, at nine o'clock in the morning.\n 4th.--Sext, at twelve o'clock at noon.\n 5th.--None, at three o'clock in the afternoon.\n 6th.--Vespers, at six o'clock in the afternoon.\n 7th.--Compline, soon after seven.\n\nQuarles has a neat epigram on the subject:--\n\n For all our prayers th' Almighty does regard\n The judgment of the _balance_, not the _yard_;\n He loves not words, but matter; 'tis his pleasure\n To buy his wares by _weight_, and not by _measure_.\n\n\nTHE TRAP-DOOR SPIDER.\n\n[Illustration: Trap-door Spider.]\n\nThere are few insects of such extraordinary habits as the Trap-door\nSpider, and the following account of it by Professor Jones is so\ninteresting, that we are glad to extract it from his excellent work on\ninsect Architecture:--\n\nIn the Ionian islands, and also in the West Indies [as well as\nin the south of France, and in Corsica], there are found certain\nspiders (_Cteniza_) commonly known as Trap-door Spiders, which make a\ncylindrical nest in the earth, and cover the entrance with a door of\ntheir own construction, framed of alternate layers of silk and earth,\nand fastened to the opening by a hinge of stout silk. These spiders\nalso line their nests throughout with numerous layers of silken web\nto the thickness of stout cartridge paper, and finish it with the\ngreatest care. This beautiful lining is yet further strengthened in\nparticular parts, where the nest is likely to be exposed to danger. But\nthe greatest amount of skill and care is bestowed upon the trap-door\nand its silken hinge. The door is about the eighth of an inch thick,\nrough on the outside, not much unlike an oyster-shell, which it also\nresembles in being thick and strong near the hinge, but thinner towards\nthe circumference. The breadth of this hinge is various, but sometimes\nit is very considerable, as shown in the figure accompanying. It also\npossesses great elastic force, so that, on being opened, it closes\nagain of itself. This is principally accomplished by a fold or doubling\nof the web, at each end of the hinge, which permits the door to be\nopened nearly to a right angle with the aperture, but no further,\nunless violence be used. The underside of the door is perfectly smooth\nand firm, being shaped so as to fit accurately, and yet to offer no\nresistance when pushed open by the insect.\n\n[Illustration: Section of Nest.]\n\n[Illustration: Nest of Trap-door Spider.]\n\n[Illustration: Trap-door Opening by a Lever.]\n\nAs might be expected, there are varieties in the shape and size of\nthese nests. Some specimens found in the island of Zante had the silken\nlayers of the lid extended into a sort of handle, or lever, just above\nthe hinge, on pressing which, in ever so slight a degree, the trap-door\nopened. From this it would appear, that the entrance to such a nest\ncould be effected as easily by the enemies of the spider as by the\nspider itself; this, however, is not the case; for repeated observation\nhas shown that the spider keeps guard at the entrance, and actually\nholds the door with her fore-feet and palpi, while the hind-feet are\nextended down the side of the nest, and the mandibles are thrust into\nthe opposite side near the door. By this means the insects gets such\npower as to resist with considerable force the opening of the door. If\nit be asked how this is known, we are able to refer to the experiments\nof careful observers, who extracted a number of nests from the ground,\nand opening them at the lower end, looked up, and saw the spider so\noccupied. A section view of the nest will show that the curved form of\nthe cover, and the shape of the side walls, must favour this method of\nkeeping the door shut. In some cases, small hollows were formed round\nthe interior edge of the lid, into which the spider thrust its feet\nwhen keeping guard. It is a curious fact, that when several of these\nspiders enclosed in their nests were kept as a matter of curiosity\nin a box of earth, and the doors frequently opened to examine their\nproceedings, one or two of them, as if wearied at these repeated\ninterruptions, effectually closed their doors by weaving a piece of\nsilken tapestry, which was spread over the interior of the opening, and\nrounded like the inside of a thimble. This was so strongly attached to\nthe door and to the side walls, that no opening could be made without\ndestroying the nest.\n\n\nPRICES OF GREEK VASES.\n\nIn the ancient times of Rome the vases of Greek pottery bore a high\nvalue, and sold for enormous sums to connoisseurs, which has also\nbeen the case in modern times. Cleopatra spent daily, on the fragrant\nor flowery ware of Rhossus, a Syrian town, six minae. Of the actual\nprices paid for painted vases, no positive mention occurs in classical\nauthorities, yet it is most probable that vases of the best class, the\nproducts of eminent painters, obtained considerable prices. Among the\nGreeks, works of merit were at all times handsomely remunerated, and it\nis probable that vases of excellence shared the general favour shown to\nthe fine arts. For works of inferior merit only small sums were paid,\nas will be seen by referring to the chapter on inscriptions, which\nwere incised on their feet, and which mentioned their contemporary\nvalue. In modern times little is known about the prices paid for these\nworks of art till quite a recent period, when their fragile remains\nhave realised considerable sums. In this country the collections of\nMr. Townley, Sir W. Hamilton, Lord Elgin, and Mr. Payne Knight, all\ncontained painted vases. A sum of L500 was paid in consideration of\nthe Athenian vases in Lord Elgin's collection, which is by no means\nlarge when the extraordinary nature of these vases is considered, as\nthey are the finest in the world of the old primitive vases of Athens.\nL8,400 were paid for the vases of the Hamilton collection, one of the\nmost remarkable of the time, and consisting of many beautiful specimens\nfrom southern Italy. The great discoveries of the Prince of Canino, in\n1827, and the subsequent sale of numerous vases, gave them, however,\na definite market value, to which the sale of the collection of Baron\nDurand, which consisted almost entirely of vases, affords some clue.\nHis collection sold in 1836 for 313,160 francs, or about L12,524. The\nmost valuable specimen in the collection was the vase representing\nthe death of Croesus, which was purchased for the Louvre at the price\nof 6,600 francs, or L264. The vase with the subject of Arcesilaus\nbrought 1,050 francs. Another magnificent vase, now in the Louvre,\nhaving the subject of the youthful Hercules strangling the serpents,\nwas only secured for France after reaching the price of 6,000 francs,\nor L240: another, with the subject of Hercules, Dejanira, and Hyllus,\nwas purchased for the sum of 3,550 francs, or L142. A _crater_, with\nthe subject of Acamas and Demophoon bringing back AEthra, was obtained\nby M. Magnoncourt for 4,250 francs, or L170. A Bacchic amphora, of the\nmaker Execias, of the archaic style, was bought by the British Museum\nfor 3,600 francs, or L142 in round numbers. Enough has, however, been\nsaid to show the high price attained by the most remarkable of these\nworks of art. The inferior vases of course realised much smaller sums,\nvarying from a few francs to a few pounds; but high prices continued\nto be obtained, and the sale by the Prince of Canino in 1837, of some\nof his finest vases, contributed to enrich the museums of Europe,\nalthough, as many of the vases were bought in, it does not afford a\ngood criterion as to price. An _oenochoe_, with Apollo and the Muses,\nand a _hydria_, with the same subject, were bought for 2,000 francs,\nor L80 each. A _cylix_, with a love scene, and another with Priam\nredeeming Hector's corpse, brought 6,600 francs, or L264. An amphora\nwith the subject of Dionysius, and a cup with that of Hercules, sold\nfor 8,000 francs, or L320 each. Another brought 7,000 francs, or L280.\nA vase with the subject of Theseus seizing Helen, another with the\narming of Paris, and a third with Peleus and Thetis, sold for 6,000\nfrancs, or L240. Nor can the value of the finest specimens of the art\nbe considered to have deteriorated since. The late Mr. Steuart was\noffered 7,500 francs for a large _crater_, found in southern Italy,\nornamented with the subject of Cadmus and the dragon; 3,000 francs, or\nL120, were paid by the British Museum for a fine _crater_ ornamented\nwith the exploits of Achilles: 2,500 francs, or L100, for an amphora of\nApulian style, with the subject of Pelops and OEnomaus at the altar of\nthe Olympian Zeus. For another vase, with the subject of Musaeus, 3,000\nfrancs, or L120 were paid, and 2,500 francs, or L100, for the Athenian\nprize vase, the celebrated Vas Burgonianum, exhumed by Mr. Burgon. At\nMr. Beckford's sale, the late Duke of Hamilton gave L200 for a small\nvase, with the subject of the Indian Bacchus.\n\nThe passion for possessing fine vases has outstripped these prices\nat Naples; 2,400 ducats, or L500, was given for the vase with gilded\nfigures discovered at Cumae. Still more incredible, half a century back,\n8,000 ducats, L1,500, was paid to Vivenzio for the vase in the Museo\nBorbonico representing the last night of Troy; 6,000 ducats, or L1,000,\nfor the one with a Dionysiac feast; and 4,000 ducats, or L800, for\nthe vase with the grand battle of the Amazons, published by Shultz.\nBut such sums will not be hereafter realised, not that taste is less,\nbut that fine vases are more common. No sepulchre has been spared when\ndetected, and no vase neglected when discovered; and vases have been\nexhumed with more activity than the most of precious relics.\n\n\nOLD WALKING STICKS.\n\nIt would seem that at the present time the fashion of carrying\nwalking-sticks has to a considerable extent \"gone out.\" So great\nis the bustle in our city thoroughfares, that the use of a staff,\nexcept by those who are lame, is seldom adopted by business people.\nProfessional men still affect the custom, however; and your City man,\nalthough he may repudiate the use of a walking-stick in town, straps\na good sapling to his portmanteau whenever he has a chance of getting\namongst the woods and green fields. About a century and a-half ago\neverybody carried a cane. Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and a host\nof others, considered a good stick as necessary as a coat; and a\ncollection of these staves would, if they could be had at the present\nday, be valuable, not only as relics, but also as an indication of the\ncharacters of the owners, perhaps.\n\nIn former times, a golden-mounted stick or staff was commonly used by\nboth the male and female heads of families. Queen Elizabeth carried one\nof these towards the end of her life. They were then more frequently\nused, however, as a sign of authority than for any other purpose.\n\nThe staff was a weapon long before flint-headed arrows and such-like\ninstruments were invented. Sheriffs, and others high in authority, have\nwands or staffs borne before them on important occasions; the bishops'\npastoral staff is as old as episcopal authority.\n\nIn former times the running footmen, who, in a body of half-a-dozen,\non each side of a carriage ran to alarm robbers and to assist the\nlumbering vehicle out of the ruts, were well armed with stout\nstaves. At the present time they are still carried by the Plush\nfamily, although the use of them is not so clear. In the royal state\nprocessions, the footmen with their staves walk as in former days, and\nwe should be sorry were these little bits of ceremony dispensed with,\ninasmuch as they bring to recollection a former condition of things,\nwhich makes us feel comfortable by comparison.\n\nThe monstrous sticks shown in the engraving are drawn from specimens\nwhich have been preserved by dealers in London, and put as a sort of\nsign at the doors of umbrella and walking-stick dealers. These were,\nhowever, a century ago, common enough, and might have been seen by the\nhundred together, borne by tall footmen behind ladies dressed in the\nold hooped dresses which we are trying now to imitate. At that time\nthere was also a taste for various kinds of monsters, in China, wood,\nand other materials. Monkeys and pug-dogs were made pets of, and the\nsticks of the footmen fashioned into such ugly forms as no modern bogey\never dreamed of.\n\nThese clubs, sticks, maces, or whatever they may be called, were about\nsix feet high, and were in parts painted and gilt. The centre one is\nan elm-sapling, and the natural bumps have been taken advantage of by\nthe artist to model a sort of Moorish head, with ornamental covering;\nlower down, the knobs are fashioned into terrible heads, in which are\nmounted glass eyes of various and impossible colours.\n\n[Illustration [++] Old Walking Sticks.]\n\nNo doubt before long these staffs, which might be necessary for\nthe protection of the ladies from the \"Mohawks\" of the time, will\nhave disappeared, and people will look with curiosity at Hogarth's\nrepresentation of them. Perhaps good specimens of such objects, which\nhave passed out of use, would be worthy of a place in our national\nmuseum. One of the old-fashioned tinder-boxes would be a curiosity\nthere now. Although but a few years have passed since the introduction\nof lucifer matches, it is no easy matter to get one of those\nold-fashioned machines.\n\n\nTHE SANCHI TOPE.\n\nUnder the name of topes are included the most important class of\nBuddhist architecture in India. They consist of detached pillars,\ntowers, and tumuli, all of a sacred or monumental character. The word\nis a corruption of the Sanscrit _sthupa_, meaning a mound, heap, or\ncairn.\n\nBy far the finest as well as the most perfect tope in India is that\nof Sanchi, the principal one of those opened near Bilsah, in Central\nIndia. It is uncertain whether it ever contained relics or not, as it\nhad been dug into in 1819 by Sir Herbert Maddock, since which time it\nhas remained a ruin, and may have been plundered by the natives. At any\nrate it must have been a spot of peculiar sanctity, judging both from\nits own magnificence, and from the number of subordinate topes grouped\naround it. In fact there are a greater number of these monuments on\nthis spot, within a space not exceeding 17 miles, than there are, so\nfar at least as we now know, in the whole of India from the Sutlej to\nCape Comorin.\n\n[Illustration [++] Sanchi Tope.]\n\nThe general appearance of the Sanchi Tope will be understood from the\nannexed view of it. The principal building consists of a dome somewhat\nless than a hemisphere, 106 feet in diameter, and 42 feet in height,\nwith a platform on the top 34 feet across, which originally formed the\nbasis of the _tee_ or capital, which was the invariable finish of these\nmonuments.\n\nThe dome rests on a sloping base, 14 feet in height by 120 in\ndiameter, having an offset on its summit about 6 feet wide. This,\nif we may judge from the representations of topes on the sculptures,\nmust have been surrounded by a balustrade, and was ascended by a\nbroad double ramp on one side. It was probably used for processions\nencircling the monument, which seem to have been among the most common\nBuddhist ceremonials. The centre of this great mound is quite solid,\nbeing composed of bricks laid in mud; but the exterior is faced with\ndressed stones. Over these was laid a coating of cement nearly 4 inches\nin thickness, which was, no doubt, originally adorned either with\npainting or ornaments in relief.\n\nThe fence by which this tope is surrounded is extremely curious. It\nconsists of stone posts 8 ft. 8 in. high, and little more than 2 ft.\napart. These are surmounted by a plain architrave, 2 ft. 4 in. deep,\nslightly rounded at the top. So far this enclosure resembles the outer\ncircle at Stonehenge; but between every two uprights three horizontal\ncross-pieces of stone are inserted of an elliptical form, of the same\ndepth as the top piece, but only 9 in. thick in the thickest part. This\nis the only _built_ example yet discovered of an architectural ornament\nwhich is found _carved_ in every cave, and, indeed, in almost every\nancient Buddhist building known in India. The upright posts or pillars\nof this enclosure bear inscriptions indicating that they were all given\nby different individuals. But neither these nor any other inscriptions\nfound in the whole tope, nor in the smaller topes surrounding it\n(though there are as many as 250 inscriptions in all), contain any\nknown name, or any clue to their age.\n\nStill more curious, however, than even the stone railing are the four\ngateways. One of these is shown in our view. It consists of two square\npillars, covered with sculptures, with bold elephant capitals, rising\nto a height of 18 ft. 4 in.; above this are three lintels, slightly\ncurved upwards in the centre, and ending in Ionic scrolls; they are\nsupported by continuations of the columns, and three uprights inserted\nin the spaces between the lintels. They are covered with elaborate\nsculptures, and surmounted by emblems. The total height is 33 ft. 6 in.\nOne gateway has fallen, and if removed to this country would raise the\ncharacter of Indian sculpture, as nothing comparable to it has yet been\ntransported from that part of the world to Europe.\n\n\nBURIAL PLACES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.\n\nChaucer was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, _without_\nthe building, but removed to the south aisle in 1555; Spenser lies\nnear him. Beaumont, Drayton, Cowley, Denham, Dryden, Howe, Addison,\nPrior, Congreve, Gray, Johnson, Sheridan, and Campbell, all lie within\nWestminster Abbey. Shakspeare, as every one knows, was buried in the\nchancel of the church at Stratford, where there is a monument to his\nmemory. Chapman and Shirley are buried at St. Giles'-in-the-Fields;\nMarlow, in the churchyard of St. Paul's, Deptford; Fletcher and\nMassinger, in the churchyard of St. Saviour's, Southwark; Dr. Donne, in\nOld St. Paul's; Edward Waller, in Beaconsfield churchyard; Milton, in\nthe churchyard of St. Giles', Cripplegate; Butler, in the churchyard\nof St. Paul's, Covent Garden; Otway, no one knows where; Garth, in the\nchurchyard at Harrow; Pope, in the church at Twickenham; Swift, in St.\nPatrick's, Dublin; Savage, in the churchyard of St. Peter's, Dublin;\nParnell, at Chester, where he died on his way to Dublin; Dr. Young, at\nWelwyn, in Hertfordshire, of which place he was the rector; Thomson,\nin the churchyard at Richmond, in Surrey; Collins, in St. Andrew's\nChurch, at Chichester; Gray, in the churchyard at Stoke-Pogis, where\nhe conceived his \"Elegy;\" Goldsmith, in the churchyard of the Temple\nChurch; Falconer, at sea, with \"all ocean for his grave;\" Churchill,\nin the churchyard of St. Martin's, Dover; Cowper, in the church at\nDereham; Chatterton, in a churchyard belonging to the parish of St.\nAndrew's, Holborn; Burns, in St. Michael's churchyard, Dumfries; Byron,\nin the church of Hucknall, near Newstead; Crabbe, at Trowbridge;\nColeridge, in the church at Highgate; Sir Walter Scott, in Dryburgh\nAbbey; Southey, in Crosthwaite Church, near Keswick.\n\n\nA REGAL HUNTING PARTY.\n\nThe following is an account of the destruction of game in Bohemia, by\na hunting party of which the Emperor Francis made one, in 1755. There\nwere twenty-three persons in the party, three of whom were ladies;\nthe Princess Charlotte of Lorraine was one of them. The chase lasted\neighteen days, and during that time they killed 47,950 head of game,\nand wild deer; of which 19 were stags, 77 roebucks, 10 foxes, 18,243\nhares, 19,545 partridges, 9,499 pheasants, 114 larks, 353 quails, 454\nother birds. The Emperor fired 9,798 shots, and the Princess Charlotte\n9,010; in all, there were 116,209 shots fired.\n\n\nANTIPATHIES.\n\nCertain antipathies appear to depend upon a peculiarity of the senses.\nThe horror inspired by the odour of certain flowers may be referred to\nthis cause. Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted\nwhen he beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower\nwas blooming. Scaliger mentions one of his relations who experienced\na similar horror when seeing a lily. In these instances it is not the\nagreeableness or the offensive nature of the aroma that inspires the\nrepugnance; and Montaigne remarked on this subject, that there were men\nwho dreaded an apple more than a musket-ball. Zimmerman tells us of a\nlady who could not endure the feeling of silk and satin, and shuddered\nwhen touching the velvety skin of a peach. Boyle records the case of\na man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey. Without his knowledge,\nsome honey was introduced in a plaster applied to his foot, and the\naccidents that resulted compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A\nyoung man was known to faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping.\nHippocrates mentions one Nicanor who swooned whenever he heard a\nflute: our Shakspeare has alluded to the effects of the bagpipe. Julia\ndaughter of Frederick, king of Naples, could not taste meat without\nserious accidents. Boyle fainted when he heard the splashing of water;\nScaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; Erasmus experienced\nfebrile symptoms when smelling fish; the Duke d'Epernon swooned on\nbeholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect.\nTycho Brahe fainted at the sight of a fox, Henry the Third of France\nat that of a cat, and Marshal d'Albert at a pig. The horror that whole\nfamilies entertain of cheese is generally known. Many individuals\ncannot digest, or even retain certain substances, such as rice, wine,\nvarious fruits, and vegetables.\n\n\nA YOUNG BUT CRUEL MURDERESS.\n\nOn the 3d of July, 1772, was executed at Lisbon, pursuant to her\nsentence, Louisa de Jesus, for the murder of the thirty-three infants,\nthat were at different times committed to her care by the Directors\nof the Foundling Hospital at Coimbra; for which (as appears by the\nsentence published) she had no other inducement but six hundred reals\nin money, a coverda of baize, and a cradle, that she received with each\nof them. She was but twenty-two years of age when executed. Going to\nexecution, she was pinched with hot irons, and at the gallows her hands\nwere struck off; she was then strangled, and her body burnt.\n\n\nBECTIVE ABBEY.\n\nBective Abbey, the ruins of which form the subject of the annexed\nengraving differs in its general arrangement from every other monastic\nstructure in the kingdom. It was, in fact, a monastic castle, and,\nprevious to the use of artillery, must have been regarded as a place of\ngreat strength. It is for this reason that we select it as one of our\n\"Wonderful Things.\"\n\n[Illustration [++] Bective Abbey.]\n\nThe ruins are in the immediate neighbourhood of Trim, and about thirty\nmiles from Dublin.\n\nThe ruins combine a union of ecclesiastical with military and domestic\narchitecture in a remarkable degree. Their chief feature is a strong\nbattlemented tower, the lower compartment of which is vaulted, placed\nat the south-west corner of the quadrangular space occupied by the\nvarious buildings, and in the centre of which the cloisters remain\nin excellent preservation. The cloister arches are late in the first\npointed style, and are cinque-foiled. The featherings are mostly\nplain, but several are ornamented with flowers or leaves, and upon\none a hawk-like bird is sculptured. A fillet is worked upon each of\nthe clustered shafts, by which the openings are divided, and also\nupon their capitals. The bases, which are circular, rest upon square\nplinths, the angles of which are ornamented with a leaf, as it were,\ngrowing out of the base of the moulding.\n\nOf the church there are scarcely any remains. As the northern wall\nof the cloister is pierced with several windows, which have now the\nappearance of splaying externally, it is extremely probable that it\nalso served as the south wall of the church, no other portion of which\ncan at present be identified. Those buildings which were for the most\npart devoted to domestic purposes are for the most part situated upon\nthe east side of the quadrangle. Their architectural details are of a\ncharacter later than those of the tower and of the other portions, but\nadditions and alterations have evidently been made.\n\n\nNOVEL MODE OF CELEBRATION.\n\nUpon the occasion of the christening of the 21st child of Mr. Wright,\nof Widaker, near Whitehaven, by the same woman, in the year 1767, the\ncompany came from 21 parishes, and the entertainment consisted of 21\npieces of beef, 21 legs of mutton and lamb, 21 gallons of brandy, three\ntimes 21 gallons of strong ale, three times 21 fowls, roasted and\nboiled, 21 pies, &c.\n\n\nANTIQUE HEAD ORNAMENT.\n\n[Illustration [++] Bronze Head Ornament.]\n\nThe annexed engraving represents an exceedingly beautiful bronze\nrelic, apparently of the class of head rings, in the collection of the\nSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland, which was discovered in the year\n1747, about seven feet below the surface, when digging for a well, at\nthe east end of the village of Stitchel, in the county of Roxburgh.\nIt bears a resemblance in some respects to relics of the same class\nin the Christiansborg Palace, yet nothing exactly similar to it has\nyet been found among Scandinavian relics; while some of its ornamental\ndetails closely correspond to those which characterize the British\nhorse furniture and other native relics of this period. One of its most\nremarkable peculiarities is, that it opens and shuts by means of a\nhinge, being clasped when closed by a pin which passes through a double\ncatch at a line intersecting the ornament; and so perfect is it that\nit can still be opened and secured with ease. It is probable that this\nalso should rank among the ornaments of the head, though it differs\nin some important respects from any other object of the same class.\nThe oval which it forms is not only too small to encircle the head,\nbut it will be observed from the engraving that its greatest length is\nfrom side to side, the internal measurements being five and nine-tenth\ninches by five and one-tenth inches.\n\n\nRELICS.\n\nAt the commencement of the seventeenth century there was a crucifix\nbelonging to the Augustine friars at Burgos in Spain, which produced a\nrevenue of nearly seven thousand crowns per annum. It was found upon\nthe sea, not far from the coast, with a scroll of parchment appended\nto it, descriptive of the various virtues it possessed. The image\nwas provided with a false beard and a chesnut periwig, which its holy\nguardians declared were natural, and they also assured all pious\nvisitors that on every Friday it sweated blood and water into a silver\nbasin. In the garden of this convent grew a species of wheat, the grain\nof which was peculiarly large, and which its possessors averred was\nbrought by Adam out of Paradise. Of this wheat they made small cakes\ncalled pancillos, kneaded with the aforesaid blood and water, and\nsold them to the credulous multitude for a quartillo a piece. These\ncakes were an infallible remedy for all disorders, and over those\nwho carried them the devil had no power. They sold also blue ribands\nof the exact length of the crucifix, for about a shilling each, with\nthis inscription in silver letters, \"La madi del santo crucifisco de\nBurgos.\" These ribands were a sovereign cure for the headache.\n\n\nLONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS.\n\nAs there is something remarkable or out of the way in this family of\nheavy stone, we present it to the reader. This venerable Druidical\nmonument, which is by the country-people called Long Meg and her\nDaughters, stands near Little Salkeld, in the county of Cumberland.\nIt consists of 67 massy stones, of different sorts and sizes, ranged\nin a circle of nearly 120 paces diameter; some of these stones are\ngranite, some blue and grey limestone, and others flint; many of them\nare ten feet high, and fifteen or sixteen feet in circumference:\nthese are called Long Meg's Daughters. On the southern side of this\ncircle, about seventeen or eighteen paces out of the line, stands the\nstone called Long Meg, which is of that kind of red stone found about\nPenrith. It is so placed, that each of its angles faces one of the\ncardinal points of the compass; it measures upwards of eighteen feet\nin height, and fifteen feet in girth; its figure is nearly that of a\nsquare prism; it weighs about sixteen tons and a half. In the part\nof the circle the most contiguous, four large stones are placed in a\nsquare form, as if they had been intended to support an altar; and\ntowards the east, west, and north, two large stones stand a greater\ndistance from each other than any of the rest, seemingly to form the\nentrances into a circle. It is remarkable that no stone-quarry is to\nbe found hereabouts. The appearance of this circle is much hurt by\na stone wall built across it, that cuts off a considerable segment,\nwhich stands in the road. The same ridiculous story is told of these\nstones, as of those at Stonehenge, _i. e._, that it is impossible to\ncount them, and that many persons who have made the trial, could never\nfind them amount twice to the same number. It is added, that this was\na holy place, and that Long Meg and her Daughters were a company of\nwitches transformed into stones, on the prayers of some saint, for\nventuring to prophane it; but when, and by whom, the story does not\nsay. Thus has tradition obscurely, and clogged with fable, handed down\nthe destination of this spot, accompanied with some of that veneration\nin which it was once undoubtedly held, though not sufficiently to\nprotect its remains from the depredations of avarice; the inclosure\nand cultivation of the ground bidding fair to destroy them. These\nstones are mentioned by Camden, who was either misinformed as to, or\nmis-reckoned their number; unless, which seems improbable, some have\nbeen taken away. \"At Little Salkeld, (says he,) there is a circle of\nstones seventy-seven in number, each ten feet high; and before these,\nat the entrance, is a single one by itself, fifteen feet high. This the\ncommon people call Long Meg, and the rest her Daughters; and within\nthe circle, are two heaps of stones, under which they say there are\ndead bodies buried; and, indeed, it is probable enough that this has\nbeen a monument erected in memory of some victory.\" The history of the\nBritish Druidical Antiquities having been thoroughly investigated,\nsince Camden's time, these circles are now universally agreed to have\nbeen temples and places of judgment, and not sepulchral monuments.\nIndeed his editor has, in some measure, rectified his mistake, by the\nfollowing addition: \"But, as to the heaps in the middle, they are no\npart of the monument, but have been gathered off the ploughed lands\nadjoining; and (as in many other parts of the county) thrown up here in\na waste corner of the field; and as to the occasion of it, both this,\nand the Rolrick stones in Oxfordshire, are supposed by many, to have\nbeen monuments erected at the solemn investiture of some Danish Kings,\nand of the same kind as the Kingstolen in Denmark, and Moresteen in\nSweden; concerning which, several large discourses have been written.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO DRESS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE\nFIFTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nCloth of gold, satin, and velvet, enriched by the florid decorations\nof the needle, were insufficient to satisfy the pride of nobles; robes\nformed of these costly materials were frequently ornamented with\nembroidery of goldsmiths' work, thickly set with precious stones;\nand the most absurd and fantastic habits were continually adopted,\nin the restless desire to appear in new inventions. John of Ghent is\nrepresented in a habit divided straight down the middle, one side\nwhite, the other half dark blue; and his son, Henry IV., on his\nreturn from exile, rode in procession through London in a jacket of\ncloth-of-gold, \"after the German fashion.\" The dukes and earls who\nattended his coronation wore three bars of ermine on the left arm, a\nquarter of a yard long, \"or thereabouts;\" the barons had but two: and\nover the monarch's head was borne a canopy of blue silk, supported by\nsilver staves, with four gold bells, \"that rang at the corners.\" \"Early\nin the reign of Richard II. began,\" says Stowe, \"the detestable use of\npiked shoes, tied to the knees with chains of silver gilt; also women\nused high attire on their heads with piked horns and long training\ngowns. The commons also were besotted in excesse of apparel; in wide\nsurcoates reaching to their loines; some in a garment reaching to their\nheels, close before and sprowting out at the sides, so that on the\nbacke they make men seeme women, and this they call by a ridiculous\nname--_gowne_. Their hoodes are little, and tied under the chin.\"\n\n\nECCENTRIC FUNERAL.\n\nMr. John Oliver, an eccentric miller of Highdown Hill, in Sussex, died,\naged eighty-three, the 27th of May, 1793. His remains were interred\nnear his mill, in a tomb he had caused to be erected there for that\npurpose, near thirty years ago; the ground having been previously\nconsecrated. His coffin, which he had for many years kept under his\nbed, was painted white; and the body was borne by eight men clothed in\nthe same colour. A girl about twelve years old read the burial service,\nand afterwards, on the tomb, delivered a sermon on the occasion, from\nMicah 7, 8, 9, before at least two thousand auditors, whom curiosity\nhad led to see this extraordinary funeral.\n\n\nEGYPTIAN STANDARDS.\n\nThe engraving which we here lay before our friends, represents a group\nof Egyptian standards, as they were used in the army in the time of\nPharaoh.\n\n[Illustration [++] Egyptian Standards.]\n\nEach regiment and company had its own peculiar banner or standard,\nwhich were therefore very numerous, and various in their devices. A\nbeast, bird, or reptile, a sacred boat, a royal name in a cartouche,\nor a symbolic combination of emblems, were the most common forms. As\nthey appear to have been objects of superstitious veneration that were\nselected for this purpose, they must have contributed greatly to the\nenthusiasm so highly valued in battle; and instances are common in\nall history of desponding courage revived, and prodigies of valour\nperformed, on behalf of those objects which were so identified with\nnational and personal honour.\n\nAllusions to standards, banners, and ensigns are frequent in the Holy\nScriptures. The four divisions in which the tribes of Israel marched\nthrough the wilderness had each its governing standard, and tradition\nhas assigned to these ensigns the respective forms of the symbolic\ncherubim seen in the vision of Ezekiel and John--that of Judah being\na lion, that of Reuben a man, that of Ephraim an ox, and that of Dan\nan eagle. The post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest\nimportance, and none but officers of approved valour were ever chosen\nfor such a service; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture\nwhich he was about to bring on the haughty King of Assyria, says, \"And\nthey shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.\"\n\n\nTHE SHREW ASH.\n\n[Illustration [++] Shrew Ash.]\n\nAt that end of Richmond Park where a gate leads to Mortlake, and near\na cottage in which resides one of the most estimable gentlemen of the\nage--Professor Owen--there still lives and flourishes a tree that has\nbeen famous for many ages: it is the Shrew Ash, and the above is a\ncorrect engraving of it. It stands on rising ground, only a few yards\nbeyond the pond which almost skirts the Professor's lawn. White, in\nhis Natural History of Selborne, describes a shrew-ash as an ash whose\ntwigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will\nimmediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running\nof a shrew-mouse over the part affected; for it is supposed that a\nshrew-mouse is of so baleful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it\ncreeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal\nis afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the\nuse of the limb. Against this evil, to which they were continually\nliable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand,\nwhich, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A\nshrew-ash was made potent thus:--Into the body of a tree a deep hole\nwas bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in\nalive, and plugged in, no doubt with several quaint incantations, long\nsince forgotten. The shrew-ash in Richmond Park is, therefore, amongst\nthe few legacies of the kind bequeathed to their country by the wisdom\nof our ancestors.\n\nOur readers will perceive that across the hollow of the tree near the\ntop there is a little bar of wood. The legend runs that were this\nbar removed every night, it would be replaced in the same spot every\nmorning. The superstition is, that if a child afflicted with what the\npeople in the neighbourhood call \"decline,\" or whooping-cough, or any\ninfantine disease, is passed nine times up the hollow of that tree, and\nover the bar, while the sun is rising, it will recover. If the charm\nfails to produce the desired effect, the old women believe that the sun\nwas too far up, or not up enough. If the child recovers, of course, the\nfame of the tree is whispered about. There is a sort of shrew-mother to\nevery shrew-ash, who acts as guide and teacher to any young mother who\nhas an afflicted child and believes in the charm. The ash in Richmond\nPark is still used, and still firmly believed in.\n\n\nA DRUM MADE OF HUMAN SKIN.\n\nJohn Zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in the year 1419\nagainst the Emperor Sigismund, to revenge the deaths of John Huss,\nand Jerome of Prague, who had been cruelly burnt to death for their\nreligious tenets, defeated the Emperor in several pitched battles. He\ngave orders that, after his death, they should _make a drum of his\nskin_; which was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of\nthe enthusiastic Zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the Emperor,\nwho, with difficulty, in the space of sixteen years, recovered Bohemia,\nthough assisted by the forces of Germany, and the terror of Crusades.\nThe insurgents were 40,000 in number, and well disciplined.\n\n\nEARTHQUAKE IN JAMAICA.\n\nThe Earthquake of Jamaica, in 1692, is one of the most dreadful that\nhistory has to record. It was attended with a hollow rumbling noise\nlike that of thunder, and in less than a minute all the houses on one\nside of the principal street in the town of Port Royal sank into a\nfearful gulf forty fathoms deep, and water came roaring up where the\nhouses had been. On the other side of the street the ground rose up\nand down like the waves of the sea, raising the houses and throwing\nthem into heaps as it subsided. In another part of the town the street\ncracked along all its length, and the houses appeared suddenly twice\nas far apart as they were before. In many places the earth opened\nand closed again, so that several hundred of these openings were to\nbe seen at the same time; and as the wretched inhabitants ran out of\ntheir tottering dwellings, the earth opened under their feet, and in\nsome cases swallowed them up entirely; while in others, the earth\nsuddenly closing, caught them by the middle, and thus crushed them\nto death. In some cases these fearful openings spouted up cataracts\nof water, which were attended by a most noisome stench. It is not\npossible for any place to exhibit a scene of greater desolation than\nthe whole island presented at this period. The thundering bellowing\nof the distant mountains, the dusky gloom of the sky, and the crash\nof the falling buildings gave unspeakable horror to the scene. Such\nof the inhabitants as were saved sought shelter on board the ships in\nthe harbour, and remained there for more than two months, the shocks\ncontinuing with more or less violence every day. When, at length, the\ninhabitants were enabled to return, they found the whole face of the\ncountry changed. Very few of the houses which had not been swallowed\nup were left standing, and what had been cultivated plantations were\nconverted into large pools of water. The greater part of the rivers had\nbeen choked up by the falling in of detached masses of the mountains,\nand spreading over the valleys, they had changed what was once fertile\nsoil into morasses, which could only be drained by cutting new channels\nfor the rivers; while the mountains themselves had changed their shapes\nso completely, that it was conjectured that they had formed the chief\nseat of the earthquake.\n\n\nCURIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF LADY MARY, DAUGHTER OF THE\nKING, IN VARIOUS YEARS, FROM THE 28TH TO THE 36TH OF HENRY VIII. ROYAL\nMSS. BRIT. MUS.\n\n\"Item, geven to George Mountejoye drawing my Layde's Grace to his\nValentine, xl{s}.\n\n\"Item, geven amongs the yeomen of the King's guard bringing a Leke to\nmy Lady's Grace on Saynt David's Day, xv{s}.\n\n\"Item, geven to Heywood playeng an enterlude with his children before\nmy Lady's Grace, xl{s}.\n\n\"Item, payed for a yerde and a halfe of damaske for Jane the fole,\nvij{s}.\n\n\"Item, for shaving of Jane fooles hedde, iiij{d}.\n\n\"Payed for a frountlet lost in a wager to my Lady Margaret, iiij{li}.\n\n\"Item, payed for a brekefast lost at bolling by my Lady Mary's Grace,\nx{s}.\"\n\n\nGIVING DOLES.\n\nA bishop of Durham, in the reign of Edward III, had every week\neight quarters of wheat made into bread for the poor, besides his\nalms-dishes, fragments from his table, and money given away by him\nin journeys. The bishop of Ely, in 1532, fed daily at his gates two\nhundred poor persons, and the Lord Cromwell fed the same number.\nEdward, earl of Derby, fed upwards of sixty aged poor, besides all\ncomers, thrice a week, and furnished, on Good Friday, two thousand\nseven hundred people with meat, drink, and money. Robert Winchelsey,\narchbishop of Canterbury, gave, besides the daily fragments of his\nhouse, on Fridays and Sundays, to every beggar that came to his door,\na loaf of bread of a farthing value; in time of dearth he thus gave\naway five thousand loaves, and this charity is said to have cost his\nlordship five hundred pounds a year. Over and above this he gave on\nevery festival day one hundred and fifty pence to as many poor persons,\nand he used to send daily meat, drink, and bread unto such as by age\nand sickness were not able to fetch alms from his gate; he also sent\nmoney, meat, apparel, &c., to such as he thought wanted the same, and\nwere ashamed to beg; and, above all, this princely prelate was wont to\ntake compassion upon such as were by misfortune decayed, and had fallen\nfrom wealth to poor estate. Such acts deserve to be written in letters\nof gold.\n\n\nFEMALE ORNAMENT OF THE IRON PERIOD.\n\n[Illustration [++] Beaded Torc.]\n\nOne of the most beautiful neck ornaments of the Teutonic or Iron Period\never found in Scotland is a beaded torc, discovered by a labourer\nwhile cutting turf in Lochar Moss, Dumfriesshire, about two miles to\nthe north of Cumlongan Castle; and exhibited by Mr. Thomas Gray, of\nLiverpool, at the York meeting of the Archaeological Institute. We here\nannex an engraving of it. The beads, which measure rather more than\nan inch in diameter, are boldly ribbed and grooved longitudinally.\nBetween every two ribbed beads there is a small flat one formed like\nthe wheel of a pulley, or the vertebral bone of a fish. The portion\nwhich must have passed round the nape of the neck is flat and smooth\non the inner edge, but chased on the upper side in an elegant incised\npattern corresponding to the ornamentation already described as\ncharacteristic of this period, and bearing some resemblance to that on\nthe beautiful bronze diadem found at Stitchel in Roxburghshire, figured\non a subsequent page. The beads are disconnected, having apparently\nbeen strung upon a metal wire, as was the case in another example\nfound in the neighbourhood of Worcester. A waved ornament, chased\nalong the outer edge of the solid piece, seems to have been designed\nin imitation of a cord; the last tradition, as it were, of the string\nwith which the older necklace of shale or jet was secured. Altogether\nthis example of the class of neck ornaments, to which Mr. Birch has\nassigned the appropriate name of beaded torcs, furnishes an exceedingly\ninteresting illustration of the development of imitative design, in\ncontradistinction to the more simple and archaic funicular torc, which,\nthough continued in use down to a later period, pertains to the epoch\nof primitive art.\n\n\nCURIOUS LANTERN.\n\nIn 1602, it is related that Sir John Harrington, of Bath, sent to James\nVI King of Scotland, at Christmas, for a new year's gift, a dark\nlantern. The top was a crown of pure gold, serving also to cover a\nperfume pan; within it was a shield of silver, embossed, to reflect\nthe light; on one side of which were the sun, moon, and planets, and\non the other side, the story of the birth and passion of Christ, as\nit was engraved by David II King of Scotland, who was a prisoner at\nNottingham. On this present, the following passage was inscribed in\nLatin--\"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.\"\n\n\nANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN BROOCH.\n\n[Illustration [++] Shell-Shaped Brooch.]\n\nThe characteristic and beautiful ornament, usually designated the\nshell-shaped brooch, and equally familiar to Danish and British\nantiquaries, belongs to the Scoto-Scandinavian Period. In Scotland many\nbeautiful examples have been found, several of which are preserved\nin the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries. From these we select the one\nrepresented in the annexed engraving, as surpassing in beauty of design\nand intricacy of ornament any other example of which we are aware. It\nconsists, as usual, of a convex plate of metal, with an ornamental\nborder, surmounted by another convex plate of greater depth, highly\nornamented with embossed and perforated designs, the effect of which\nappears to have been further heightened by the lower plate being gilded\nso as to show through the open work. In this example the gilding\nstill remains tolerably perfect. On the under side are the projecting\nplates, still retaining a fragment of the corroded iron pin, where it\nhas turned on a hinge, and at the opposite end the bronze catch into\nwhich it clasped. The under side of the brooch appears to have been\nlined with coarse linen, the texture of which is still clearly defined\nof the coating of verd antique with which it is now covered. But its\npeculiar features consist of an elevated central ornament resembling a\ncrown, and four intricately-chased projections terminating in horses'\nheads. It was found in September, 1786, along with another brooch of\nthe same kind, lying beside a skeleton, under a flat stone, very near\nthe surface, above the ruins of a Pictish house or burgh, in Caithness.\nIt measures nearly four and a half inches in length, by three inches\nin breadth, and two and two-fifth inches in height to the top of the\ncrown. Like many others of the same type, it appears to have been\njewelled. In several examples of these brooches which we have compared,\nthe lower convex plates so nearly resemble each other, as to suggest\nthe probability of their having been cast in the same mould, while the\nupper plates entirely differ.\n\n\nSTREET CRIES OF MODERN EGYPT.\n\nThe cries of the street hawkers in Egypt at the present day are very\nsingular, and well deserve a place in our repertory of curiosities.\nThe seller of _tir'mis_ (or lupins) often cries \"Aid! O Imba'bee!\naid!\" This is understood in two senses: as an invocation for aid\nto the sheykh El-Imba'bee, a celebrated Moos'lim saint, buried at\nthe Imba'beh, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo; in the\nneighbourhood of which village the best tir'mis is grown; and also as\nimplying that it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that\nthe tir'mis of Imba'beh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable\nalso cries, \"The tir'mis of Imba'beh surpasses the almond!\" Another\ncry of the seller of tir'mis is, \"O how sweet are the little children\nof the river!\" This last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country\ntowns and villages of Egypt, alludes to the manner in which the tir'mis\nis prepared for food. To deprive it of its natural bitterness, it is\nsoaked, for two or three days, in a vessel full of water; then boiled,\nand, after this, sewed up in a basket of palm-leaves (called _furd_),\nand thrown into the Nile, where it is left to soak again, two or three\ndays; after which, it is dried, and eaten cold, with a little salt. The\nseller of sour limes cries, \"God make them light [or easy of sale]!\nO limes!\" The toasted pips of a kind of melon called '_abdalla'wee_,\nand of the water-melon, are often announced by the cry of \"O consoler\nof the embarrassed! O pips!\" though more commonly, by the simple cry\nof \"Roasted pips!\" A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat\n(hhala'wee), composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients,\nis, \"For a nail! O sweetmeat!\" He is said to be half a thief: children\nand servants often steal implements of iron, &c., from the house in\nwhich they live, and give them to him in exchange for his sweetmeat.\nThe hawker of oranges cries, \"Honey! O oranges! Honey!\" and similar\ncries are used by the sellers of other fruits and vegetables; so that\nit is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces for sale;\nas, when we hear the cry of \"Sycamore-figs! O grapes!\" excepting by\nthe rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits,\n&c., mentioned; as sycamore-figs are not so good as grapes. A very\nsingular cry is used by the seller of roses: \"The rose was a thorn:\nfrom the sweat of the Prophet it opened [its flowers].\" This alludes\nto a miracle related of the Prophet. The fragrant flowers of the\nhhen'na-tree (or Egyptian privet) are carried about for sale, and the\nseller cries, \"Odours of paradise! O flowers of the hhen'na!\" A kind of\ncotton cloth, made by machinery which is put in motion by a bull, is\nannounced by the cry of \"The work of the bull! O maidens!\"\n\n\nTHE BLACK PESTILENCE.\n\nThe black pestilence of the fourteenth century caused the most terrific\nravages in England. It has been supposed to have borne some resemblance\nto the cholera, but that is not the case; it derived its name from\nthe dark, livid colour of the spots and boils that broke out upon\nthe patient's body. Like the cholera, the fatal disease appeared to\nhave followed a regular route in its destructive progress; but it did\nnot, like the cholera, advance westward, although, like that fearful\nvisitation, it appears to have originated in Asia.\n\nThe black pestilence descended along the Caucasus to the shores of the\nMediterranean, and, instead of entering Europe through Russia, first\nappeared over the south, and, after devastating the rest of Europe,\npenetrated into that country. It followed the caravans, which came\nfrom China across Central Asia, until it reached the shores of the\nBlack Sea; thence it was conveyed by ships to Constantinople, the\ncentre of commercial intercourse between Asia, Europe, and Africa. In\n1347 it reached Sicily and some of the maritime cities of Italy and\nMarseilles. During the following year it spread over the northern part\nof Italy, France, Germany, and England. The northern kingdoms of Europe\nwere invaded by it in 1349, and finally Russia in 1351--four years\nafter it had appeared in Constantinople.\n\nThe following estimate of deaths was considered far below the actual\nnumber of victims:--\n\n Florence lost 60,000 inhabitants\n Venice \" 10,000 \"\n Marseilles \" in one month 56,000 \"\n Paris \" \" 50,000 \"\n Avignon \" \" 60,000 \"\n Strasburg \" \" 16,000 \"\n Basle \" \" 14,000 \"\n Erfurth \" \" 16,000 \"\n London \" \" 100,000 \"\n Norwich \" \" 50,000 \"\n\nHecker states that this pestilence was preceded by great commotion\nin the interior of the globe. About 1333, several earthquakes and\nvolcanic eruptions did considerable injury in upper Asia, while in the\nsame year, Greece, Italy, France, and Germany suffered under similar\ndisasters. The harvests were swept away by inundations, and clouds of\nlocusts destroyed all that floods had spared, while dense masses of\noffensive insects strewed the land.\n\nAs in the recent invasion of cholera, the populace attributed this\nscourge to poison and to the Jews, and these hapless beings were\npersecuted and destroyed wherever they could be found. In Mayence,\nafter vainly attempting to defend themselves, they shut themselves up\nin their quarters, where 1,200 of them burnt to death. The only asylum\nfound by them was Lithuania, where Casimir afforded them protection;\nand it is, perhaps, owing to this circumstance that so many Jewish\nfamilies are still to be found in Poland.\n\n\nTHE DUCHESS OF LAUDERDALE.\n\nFew mansions are more pleasantly situated than Ham House, the dwelling\nof the Tollemaches, Earls of Dysart. It stands on the south bank of\nthe Thames, distant about twelve miles from London, and immediately\nopposite to the pretty village of Twickenham. It was erected early in\nthe seventeenth century; the date 1610 still stands on the door of\nthe principal entrance. Its builder was Sir Thomas Vavasour, and it\nsubsequently came into the possession of Katherine, daughter of the\nEarl of Dysart, who married first Sir Lionel Tollemache, and for her\nsecond husband Earl, afterwards Duke, of Lauderdale.\n\nThe Duchess of Lauderdale was one of the \"busiest\" women of the busy\nage in which she lived. Burnet insinuates that, during the life time\nof her first husband, \"she had been in a correspondence with Lord\nLauderdale that had given occasion for censure.\" She succeeded in\npersuading him that he was indebted for his escape after \"Worcester\nfight\" to \"her intrigues with Cromwell. She was a woman,\" continues\nthe historian, \"of great beauty, but of far greater parts. She had\na wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in\nconversation. She had studied, not only divinity and history, but\nmathematics and philosophy. She was violent in everything she set\nabout,--a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. She had\na restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously\ncovetous, and would have stuck at nothing by which she might compass\nher ends.\" Upon the accession of her husband to political power after\nthe Restoration, \"all applications were made to her. She took upon her\nto determine everything; she sold all places; and was wanting in no\nmethod that could bring her money, which she lavished out in a most\nprofuse vanity.\"\n\nThis Duchess of Lauderdale--famous during the reigns of four\nmonarchs--the First and Second James, and the First and Second Charles,\nand through the Protectorship of Cromwell--refurnished the house at\nHam, where she continued to reside until her death at a very advanced\nage.\n\nAmong other untouched relics of gone-by days, is a small ante-chamber,\nwhere, it is said, she not only condescended to receive the second\nCharles, but, if tradition is to be credited, where she \"cajoled\"\nOliver Cromwell. There still remains the chair in which she used to\nsit, her small walking cane, and a variety of objects she was wont to\nvalue and cherish as memorials of her active life, and the successful\nissue of a hundred political intrigues.\n\n[Illustration [++] Chair of the Duchess of Lauderdale.]\n\n\nMODERN EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.\n\n[Illustration: Sa'ga't (1), Ta'r (2), and Dar'abook'keh (3).]\n\nThe durwee'shes, who constitute a sort of religious mendicant order in\nEgypt, often make use of, in their processions and in begging, a little\ntubl, or kettle-drum, called _ba'z_; six or seven inches in diameter;\nwhich is held in the left hand, by a little projection in the centre\nof the back, and beaten by the right hand, with a short leather strap,\nor a stick. They also use cymbals, which are called _ka's_, on similar\noccasions. The ba'z is used by the Moosahh'hhir, to attract attention\nto his cry in the nights of Rum'ada'n. Castanets of brass, called\n_sa'ga't_ are used by the public female and male dancers. Each dancer\nhas two pairs of these instruments. They are attached, each by a loop\nof string, to the thumb and second finger, and have a more pleasing\nsound than castanets of wood or ivory. There are two instruments which\nare generally found in the hharee'm of a person of moderate wealth,\nand which the women often use for their diversion. One of these is\na tambourine, called _ta'r_, of which we insert an engraving. It is\neleven inches in diameter. The hoop is overlaid with mother-of-pearl,\ntortoise-shell, and white bone, or ivory, both without and within, and\nhas ten circular plates of brass attached to it, each two pairs having\na wire passing through their centres. The ta'r is held by the left or\nright hand, and beaten with the fingers of that hand and by the other\nhand. The fingers of the hand which holds the instrument, striking only\nnear the hoop, produce higher sounds than the other hand, which strikes\nin the centre. A tambourine of a larger and more simple kind than that\nhere described, without the metal plates, is often used by the lower\norders. The other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this\nparagraph is a kind of drum, called _dar'abook'keh_. The best kind is\nmade of wood, covered with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, &c. One\nof this description is here represented with the ta'r. It is fifteen\ninches in length, covered with a piece of fishes' skin at the larger\nextremity, and open at the smaller. It is placed under the left arm;\ngenerally suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder; and\nis beaten with both hands.\n\n\nREMARKABLE OAKS.\n\nThe oaks most remarkable for their horizontal expansion, are, according\nto Loudon, the following:--\"The Three-shire Oak, near Worksop, was\nso situated, that it covered part of the three counties of York,\nNottingham, and Derby, and dripped over seven hundred and seventy-seven\nsquare yards. An oak between Newnham Courtney and Clifton shaded a\ncircumference of five hundred and sixty yards of ground, under which\ntwo thousand four hundred and twenty men might have commodiously\ntaken shelter. The immense Spread Oak in Worksop Park, near the white\ngate, gave an extent, between the ends of its opposite branches, of\nan hundred and eighty feet. It dripped over an area of nearly three\nthousand square yards, which is above half an acre, and would have\nafforded shelter to a regiment of nearly a thousand horse. The Oakley\nOak, now growing on an estate of the Duke of Bedford, has a head of an\nhundred and ten feet in diameter. The oak called _Robur Britannicum_,\nin the Park, at Rycote, is said to have been extensive enough to cover\nfive thousand men; and at Ellerslie, in Renfrewshire, the native\nvillage of the hero Wallace, there is still standing 'the old oak\ntree,' among the branches of which, it is said, that he and three\nhundred of his men hid themselves from the English.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nA few years ago the following actually appeared in one of the London\npapers: certainly a most economical speculation for the use of soul and\nbody:--\n\n\"Wanted, for a family who have bad health, a sober, steady person,\nin the capacity of doctor, surgeon, apothecary, and man-midwife. He\nmust occasionally act as butler, and dress hair and wigs. He will\nbe required sometimes to read prayers, and to preach a sermon every\nSunday. A good salary will be given.\"\n\n\nCHANGES OF MOUNT ETNA.\n\nSignor Maria Gemmellario has given, from a meteorological journal kept\nat Catania, a very interesting view of the successive changes of Mount\nEtna, at a period in which it was in the phase of moderate activity;\nand no description could convey so accurate a conception of the\never-changing phenomena.\n\nOn the 9th of February, 1804, there was a sensible earthquake. Etna\nsmoked ninety-seven days, but there was no eruption nor any thunder.\n\nOn the 3rd of July, 1805, there was an earthquake. Etna smoked\nforty-seven days, and emitted flame twenty-eight days. There was an\neruption in June, but no thunder.\n\nThere were earthquakes on the 27th of May and 10th of October, 1806.\nThe mountain smoked forty-seven days, flamed seven, and detonated\ntwenty-eight: little thunder.\n\nOn the 24th of February and 25th of November, 1807, there were\nearthquakes. Etna smoked fifty-nine days: little thunder.\n\nIn August, September, and December, 1808, earthquakes were frequent.\nEtna smoked twelve days, flamed one hundred and two, and often\ndetonated. Thunder storms were frequent.\n\nFrom January to May, and during September and December, 1809, there\nwere thirty-seven earthquakes. The most sensible shock was on the 27th\nof March, when the mountain ejected lava on the western side. This\neruption lasted thirteen days, and part of the Bosco di Castiglione was\ninjured. The mountain smoked one hundred and fifty-two days, flamed\nthree, and detonated eleven. Little thunder.\n\nOn the 16th and 17th of February, 1810, there were four earthquakes.\nOn the 27th of October, Etna was in a state of eruption on the eastern\nside, and the lava flowed into the Valle del Bue. There were about\ntwenty thunder storms.\n\n1811, no earthquakes, but the mountain continued until the 24th of\nApril to eject lava from the east. At this time the Mount St. Simon was\nformed. No thunder.\n\nEarthquake on the 3rd and 13th of March, 1813. The mountain smoked\ntwenty-eight days. On the 30th of June, and on the 5th of August, St.\nSimon smoked. There were twenty-one thunder storms.\n\nOn the 3rd of November, 1814, there was an earthquake, preceded by a\ndischarge of sand from that part of the mountain called Zoccolaro.\nThere were twelve thunder storms.\n\nOn the 6th of September, 1815, there was an earthquake. The mountain\nsmoked forty-two days, and there were eleven thunder storms. On the\n6th, 7th, and 11th of January the lightning was tremendous.\n\n1816, no earthquakes. On the 13th of August a part of the interior side\nof the crater fell in. Ten thunder storms.\n\nThere was an earthquake on the 18th of October, 1817. The mountain\nsmoked twenty-two days. There were eight thunder storms.\n\nDuring 1818 there were twenty-five earthquakes. The most violent was\nin the neighbourhood of Catania, on the 20th of February. The mountain\nsmoked twenty-four days. No thunder.\n\n\nCHARITY INSTEAD OF POMP.\n\nAccording to the \"Annual Register\" for August, 1760, there were\nexpended at the funeral of Farmer Keld, of Whitby, in that year, one\nhundred and ten dozen of penny loaves, eight large hams, eight legs\nof veal, twenty stone of beef (fourteen pounds to the stone), sixteen\nstone of mutton, fifteen stone of Cheshire cheese, and thirty ankers of\nale, besides what was distributed to about one thousand poor people,\nwho had sixpence each in money given them.\n\n\nTHE BEDFORD MISSAL.\n\nOne of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography, is the\nrichly illuminated Missal, executed for John, Duke of Bedford, Regent\nof France, under Henry VI.; by him it was presented to that king, in\n1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a-half wide,\nand two and a-half thick; contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which\nnearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in\ncircles of about an inch and a-half diameter, displayed in brilliant\nborders of golden foliage, with variegated flowers, etc.; at the bottom\nof every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the\nsubject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various\nhands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collection\nwas sold by auction, in 1786. Among its many attractions was the\nBedford Missal. A knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of George\nIII., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become\nthe purchaser. The bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty the\nprobable high price it would fetch. \"How high?\" exclaimed the king.\n\"Probably, two hundred guineas,\" replied the bookseller. \"Two hundred\nguineas for a Missal!\" exclaimed the queen, who was present, and\nlifted her hands up with astonishment. \"Well, well,\" said his majesty,\n\"I'll have it still; but since the queen thinks two hundred guineas\nso enormous a price for a Missal, I'll go no further.\" The biddings\nfor the Royal Library did actually stop at that point; a celebrated\ncollector, Mr. Edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds\nmore. The same Missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in\n1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough, for the enormous sum of\nL637 l5s. sterling.\n\n\nCALICINATED RINGS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Calicinated Ring.]\n\nThere is a particular class of antique gold ornaments, belonging to\nthe Bronze Period, which is deserving of especial attention, from\nthe circumstance that the British Isles is the only locality in\nwhich it has yet been discovered. These ornaments consist of a solid\ncylindrical gold bar, beat into a semicircle or segmental arc, most\nfrequently tapering from the centre, and terminated at both ends with\nhollow cups, resembling the mouth of a trumpet, or the expanded calix\nof a flower. A remarkable example of these curious native relics is\nengraved in the \"Archaeological Journal.\" The cups are formed merely by\nhollows in the slightly dilated ends; but it is further interesting\nfrom being decorated with the style of incised ornaments of most\nfrequent occurrence on the primitive British pottery. It was dug up at\nBrahalish, near Bantry, county Cork, and weighs 3 oz. 5 dwts. 6 grs.\nIn contrast to this, another is engraved in the same journal, found\nnear the entrance lodge at Swinton Park, Yorkshire, scarcely two feet\nbelow the surface. In this beautiful specimen the terminal cups are\nso unusually large, that the solid bar of gold dwindles into a mere\nconnecting-link between them. The annexed figure of a very fine example\nfound by a labourer while cutting peats in the parish of Cromdale,\nInverness-shire, somewhat resembles that of Swinton Park in the size of\nits cups. It is from a drawing by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, and\nrepresents it about one-half the size of the original. Similar relics\nof more ordinary proportions have been brought to light, at different\ntimes, in various Scottish districts.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY CRICKET MATCHES.\n\nEvery day in summer wagers are made at Lord's cricket ground, upon\nmatches there to be played; but there have been more extraordinary\nmatches elsewhere relative to this exercising game; for a cricket match\nwas played on Blackheath, in the year 1766, between eleven Greenwich\npensioners who had lost each an arm, and eleven others who had lost\neach a leg. The former won with ease. And again, on the 9th of August,\n1796, a cricket match was played by eleven Greenwich pensioners with\none leg, against eleven with one arm, for one thousand guineas, at the\nnew cricket ground, Montpelier gardens, Walworth. At nine o'clock\nthe men arrived in three Greenwich stages; about twelve the wickets\nwere pitched, and they commenced. Those with but one leg had the first\ninnings, and got 93 runs; those with but one arm got but 42 runs\nduring their innings. The one-leg commenced their second innings, and\nsix were bowled out after they had got 60 runs; so that they left off\none hundred and eleven more than those with one arm. Next morning the\nmatch was played out; and the men with one leg beat the one-arms by\none hundred and three runs. After the match was finished the eleven\none-legged men ran a sweep-stakes of one hundred yards distance for\ntwenty guineas, and the three first had prizes.\n\n\nMUMMY CASES.\n\n[Illustration [++] Mummy Cases.]\n\nThe annexed engraving represents a set of Egyptian mummy cases, several\nof which were used for the interment of one body, the smaller one being\nenclosed within the larger. On the death of a king in Egypt, \"three\nscore and ten days\" was the period that intervened from his departure\nto the termination of the embalming operations; the earlier and more\nimportant of which, exclusive of the soaking in natron, occupied forty\ndays. The coffin, or wooden case, in which the embalmed body of Joseph\nwas preserved, till at the exodus it was carried from Egypt, was,\ndoubtless, of such a form and appearance as those with which we are\nfamiliar at our museums. An account of some specimens of these, and\nof the internal shells which were considered requisite for persons of\nrank, will be read with interest.\n\nBefore the better kind of mummies were put into their wooden cases,\nthey were placed in a shell in the following manner:--Nine thick layers\nof hempen or linen cloth were well gummed together, so as to make a\nstrong flexible kind of board, something like a piece of papier mache.\nThis was formed into the shape of the swathed mummy, which was inserted\nin it by means of a longitudinal aperture on the under side, reaching\nfrom the feet to the head. The two sides of this long aperture were\nthen drawn together by a coarse kind of stitching, done with a large\nneedle and thin hempen cord. The inside of this hempen case was covered\nwith a thin coating of plaster, and the outside was also covered with\na similar sort of plaster, on which were painted rude figures of\nbeetles, ibides, &c., &c., apparently with ochrous earths tempered\nwith water; they could be easily rubbed off with the finger, except\nwhere they were fixed by an outer coating of gum. On the upper part of\nthis case a human face was represented, and for the purpose of giving\nadditional strength and firmness to that part of the hempen covering, a\nconsiderable quantity of earth and plaster was stuck on the inside, so\nthat it would be more easy to mould the material on the outside, while\nstill flexible, into a resemblance of the human form. The face was\ncovered with a strong varnish, to keep the colour fixed. The outer case\nwas generally made of the Egyptian fig-sycamore wood, and the parts of\nit were fastened together with wooden pegs. This wood was used by the\nEgyptians for a variety of purposes, as we find even common domestic\nutensils made of it. The pegs of the sycamore cases were not always of\nthe sycamore wood, which, when cut thin, would hardly be so suitable as\nsome more closely-grained wood; the pegs, therefore, of the inner cases\nwere of a different wood, generally of cedar. Bodies embalmed in the\nhighest style of fashion, had, in addition to the inner coffin which we\nhave described, an outer wooden box, such as Herodotus mentions, with\na human face, male or female, painted on it. Some of these cases were\nplain, and others highly ornamented with figures of sacred animals, or\nwith paintings representing mythological subjects.\n\nThe wooden case which contained the body was sometimes cut out of\none piece of wood, and the inside was made smooth, and fit for the\nreception of the painted figures, by laying on it a thin coat of fine\nplaster. This plaster was also used as a lining for the wooden cases\nwhich were not made of a single piece. There was often a second wooden\ncase, still more highly ornamented and covered with paintings secured\nby a strong varnish. These paintings were intended to embody the ideas\nof the Egyptians as to the state of death, the judgment or trial which\npreceded the admission into the regions below, and other matters\nconnected with the ritual of the dead and the process of embalming.\n\nThe upper part of each of the wooden cases was made to represent a\nhuman figure, and the sex was clearly denoted by the character of\nthe head-dress, and the presence or absence of the beard. Both the\nhead-dress and the ornaments about the neck, as far as the bosom, were\nexactly of the same character as those which we see on the sculptures\nand paintings. The brief remark of Herodotus, that the friends put the\nswathed mummy \"into a wooden figure made to resemble the human form,\"\nis amply borne out.\n\n\nINSTINCT OF ANIMALS.\n\nGall and various observers of animals have fully ascertained that the\nattention of dogs is awakened by our conversation. He brought one\nof these intelligent creatures with him from Vienna to Paris, which\nperfectly understood French and German, of which he satisfied himself\nby repeating before it whole sentences in both languages. A recent\nanecdote has been related of an old ship-dog, that leaped overboard\nand swam to shore on hearing the captain exclaim, \"Poor old Neptune! I\nfear we shall have to drown him!\" and such was the horror which that\nthreat inspired, that he never afterwards would approach the captain\nor any of the ship's company, to whom he had previously been fondly\nattached. It must, however, be observed that in the brute creation, as\nin ours (sometimes more brutal species), peculiar attributes, that do\nnot belong to the race, distinguish individuals gifted with what in\nman we might call a superior intellect, but which in these animals\nshows a superiority of what we term instinct. Spurzheim relates an\ninstance of a cow belonging to Mr. Dupont de Nemours, which, amongst\nthe whole kindred herd, was the only one that could open the gate\nleading to their pastures; and her anxious comrades, when arriving\nat the wished-for spot, invariably lowed for their conductor. It is\nalso related of a hound, who, unable to obtain a seat near the fire\nwithout the risk of quarrelling with the dozing occupants that crowded\nthe hearth, was wont to run out into the court-yard barking an alarm\nthat brought away his rivals in comfort, when he quietly re-entered\nthe parlour, and selected an eligible stretching-place. This animal\ndisplayed as much ingenuity as the traveller who, according to the\nwell-known story, ordered oysters for his horse for the purpose of\nclearing the fireside.\n\n\nBELL OF ST. MURA.\n\n[Illustration [++] Bell of St. Mura.]\n\nThis curious relic, engraved over leaf, two-thirds the size of the\noriginal, is remarkable as a work of art, as well as a genuine\nrelic of the most venerable antiquity; it was formerly regarded\nwith superstitious reverence in Ireland, and any liquid drunk from\nit was believed to have peculiar properties in alleviating human\nsuffering; hence, the peasant women of the district in which it was\nlong preserved, particularly used it in cases of child-birth, and a\nserious disturbance was excited on a former attempt to sell it by its\nowner. Its legendary history relates that it descended from the sky\nringing loudly; but as it approached the concourse of people who had\nassembled at the miraculous warning, the tongue detached itself and\nreturned towards the skies; hence it was concluded that the bell was\nnever to be profaned by sounding on earth, but was to be kept for\npurposes more holy and beneficent. This is said to have happened on\nthe spot where once stood the famous Abbey of Fahan, near Innishowen\n(County Donegal), founded in the seventh century by St. Mura, or\nMuranus, during the reign of Abodh Slaine. For centuries this abbey\nwas noted as the depository of various valuable objects, which were\nheld in especial veneration by the people. Amongst these were several\ncurious manuscripts written by St. Mura, his crozier, and this bell;\nwhich ultimately came into the possession of a poor peasant residing\nat Innishowen, who parted with it to Mr. Brown, of Beaumaris, at whose\nsale in 1855 it was purchased by Lord Londesborough. The material of\nthe bell is bronze, and its form quadrangular, resembling other ancient\nIrish bells, and leading to the conclusion that it is the genuine\nwork of the seventh century. The extreme feeling of veneration shown\ntowards it in various ages is proved by the ornament with which it is\nencased. By the accidental removal of one portion of the outer casing,\na series of earlier enrichments were discovered beneath, which were\nmost probably placed there in the ninth century. The portion disclosed\n(the lower right hand corner) consists of a tracery of Runic knots\nwrought in brass, and firmly attached to the bell by a thin plate of\ngold;--whether the remainder of these early decorations, now concealed,\nbe similar, cannot be determined without removing the outer plates.\nThese exterior ornaments consist of a series of detached silver plates\nof various sizes diversely embossed in the style known to have\nprevailed in the eleventh century. The centre is adorned with a large\ncrystal, and smaller gems have once been set in other vacant sockets\naround it, only one of amber remaining. The two large spaces in front\nof the arched top were also most probably filled with precious stones,\nas the gold setting still remains entire. The best workmanship has been\ndevoted to these decorations; the hook for suspending the bell is of\nbrass, and has been covered with early bronze ornament which has been\nfilled in with niello, the intervening space being occupied by silver\nplates ornamented like the rest of the later decorations which cover\nits surface. From the absence of any traces of rivets on the back\nor sides of the bell, the decoration it has received may have been\nrestricted to the casing of the handle and the enrichment of the front\nof this venerated relic.\n\n\nCURIOUSLY-SHAPED DRINKING CUP.\n\nDrinking cups of a fantastic shape were very much in vogue in the\nsixteenth century. Sometimes they assumed the shape of birds, sometimes\nof animals. In general it is the head that takes off, and serves as\na lid or cover; but sometimes the orifice is in another part of the\nbody, as, for example, on the back. The specimen now before us is from\nLord Londesborough's collection.\n\n[Illustration [++] Drinking Cup in the Shape of a Stag.]\n\nThe stag is of silver, gilt all over; the collar set with a garnet.\nSilver bands encircle this curious figure, to which are appended\nmany small silver escutcheons engraved with the arms and names of\ndistinguished officers of the Court of Saxe Gotha, the latest being\n\"Her Von Maagenheim, Camer Juncker und Regierung Assessor in Gotha,\nd. 15 Augusti, A{o} 1722.\" It has probably been a prize for shooting,\nsuccessively won by those persons whose arms decorate it.\n\n\nBANQUETS TO QUEEN ELIZABETH.\n\nFew English sovereigns were so well acquainted with their dominions\nas was Queen Elizabeth: she may be said to have visited every corner\nof her empire, and in these royal journeys or \"progresses,\" as they\nare called, her loyal subjects strove to outvie each other in the\nsplendour of their receptions. Nothing could surpass the magnificence\nof the entertainments thus planned for the queen's gratification,\neither as respects the splendour of show, or the costliness of the\nmore substantial banquet. These occasions are too numerous to mention;\nand we can only notice one of the queen's visits to the palace at\nGreenwich, as described by a German, who travelled in England in 1598.\nIt was Sunday, and after attending service in the chapel, the queen\nprepared for dinner. A gentleman entered the room bearing a rod, and\nwith him another bearing a table-cloth, which, after they had both\nkneeled three times, he spread upon the table, and after kneeling\nagain, they both retired: then came two others, one with the rod\nagain, the other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread, which, after\nkneeling, they also placed on the table: then came an unmarried and a\nmarried lady, bearing a tasting-knife, and having stooped three times\ngracefully, they rubbed the table with bread and salt. Then came the\nyeomen of the guard, bringing in, at each time, a course of dishes,\nserved in plate, most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a\ngentleman, and placed upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to\neach guard a mouthful to eat of the particular dish he had brought, for\nfear of any poison. During the time that this guard (which consisted\nof the tallest and stoutest men that could be found in all England,\nbeing carefully selected for this service) were bringing dinner, twelve\ntrumpets and two kettle-drums made the hall ring for half an hour\ntogether. After this a number of unmarried ladies appeared, who lifted\nthe meat from the table, and conveyed it to the queen's inner and more\nprivate chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest was\nsent to the ladies of the court. The queen dined and supped alone, with\nvery few attendants.\n\n\nTHE GREAT FOG OF 1783.\n\nIt prevailed over the adjoining continent, and produced much fear that\nthe end of all things was at hand. It appeared first at Copenhagen on\nthe 29th of May, reached Dijon on the 14th June, and was perceived\nin Italy on the 16th. It was noticed at Spydberg, in Norway, on the\n22nd, and at Stockholm two days later; the following day it reached\nMoscow. On the 23rd it was felt on the St. Gothard, and at Buda. By\nthe close of that month it entered Syria; and on the 18th of July,\nreached the Altai Mountains. Before its appearance at these places the\ncondition of the atmosphere was not similar; for in this country it\nfollowed continued rains; in Denmark it succeeded fine weather of some\ncontinuance; and in other places it was preceded by high winds. The sun\nat noon looked rusty-red, reminding one of the lines of Milton. The\nheat was intense during its continuance, and the atmosphere was highly\nelectric. Lightnings were awfully vivid and destructive. In England\nmany deaths arose from this cause, and a great amount of property was\nlost. In Germany public edifices were thrown down or consumed by it;\nand in Hungary one of the chief northern towns was destroyed by fires,\ncaused by the electric fluid, which struck it in nine different places.\nIn France there were hailstones and violent winds. In Silesia there\nwere great inundations. The dry fogs of 1782-83 were accompanied by\ninfluenza; at St. Petersburgh 40,000 persons were immediately attacked\nby it, after the thermometer had suddenly risen 30 degrees. Calabria\nand Sicily were convulsed by earthquakes; in Iceland a volcano was\nactive, and about the same time one sprung out of the sea off Norway.\nThe co-existence of dry fogs with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions\nhad been previously observed--_e.g._, in the years 526, 1348, 1721; and\nsince then, in 1822 and 1834.\n\nA somewhat similar fog overspread London before the cholera of 1831,\nand the influenza of 1847. Hecker (\"Epidemics of the Middle Ages\")\nhas collected notices of various phenomena of this kind, which\nhave preceded the great continental plagues, and have often been\ncharacterised by offensive odours.\n\n\nMONKEYS DEMANDING THEIR DEAD.\n\nMr. Forbes tells a story of a female monkey (the Semnopithecus\nEntellus) who was shot by a friend of his, and carried to his tent.\nForty or fifty of her tribe advanced with menacing gestures, but stood\nstill when the gentleman presented his gun at them. One, however, who\nappeared to be the chief of the tribe, came forward, chattering and\nthreatening in a furious manner. Nothing short of firing at him seemed\nlikely to drive him away; but at length he approached the tent door\nwith every sign of grief and supplication, as if he were begging for\nthe body. It was given to him, he took it in his arms, carried it away,\nwith actions expressive of affection, to his companions, and with them\ndisappeared. It was not to be wondered at that the sportsman vowed\nnever to shoot another monkey.\n\n\nBARA.\n\nMr. Howel, in his descriptive travels through Sicily, gives a\nparticular account of the magnificent manner in which the festival of\nthe Assumption of the Virgin is kept by the Sicilians under the title\nof Bara, which, although expressive of the machine he describes, is\nalso, it appears, generally applied as a name of the feast itself.\nAn immense machine of about 50 feet high is constructed, designing\nto represent Heaven; and in the midst is placed a young female\npersonating the Virgin, with an image of Jesus on her right hand;\nround the Virgin 12 little children turn vertically, representing so\nmany Seraphim, and below them 12 more children turn horizontally,\nas Cherubim; lower down in the machine a sun turns vertically, with\na child at the extremity of each of the four principal radii of his\ncircle, who ascend and descend with his rotation, yet always in an\nerect posture; and still lower, reaching within about 7 feet of the\nground, are placed 12 boys, who turn horizontally without intermission\naround the principal figure, designing thereby to exhibit the 12\napostles, who were collected from all corners of the earth, to be\npresent at the decease of the Virgin, and witness her miraculous\nassumption. This huge machine is drawn about the principal streets by\nsturdy monks; and it is regarded as a particular favour to any family\nto admit their children in this divine exhibition.\n\n\nCRADLE OF HENRY V.\n\nMost of our readers have probably seen, in the illustrated newspapers\nof the day, sketches of the magnificently artistic cradles which\nhave been made for the children of our good Queen, or for the Prince\nImperial of France. It will be not a little curious to contrast with\nthose elaborately beautiful articles the cradle of a Prince of Wales in\nthe fourteenth century. We here give a sketch of it.\n\n[Illustration [++] Cradle of Henry V.]\n\nIt was made for the use of Henry Prince of Wales, afterwards King\nHenry V, generally called Henry of Monmouth, because he was born in\nthe castle there in the year 1388. He was the son of Henry IV of\nBolingbroke, by his first wife Mary de Bohun. He was educated at\nQueen's College, Oxford, under the superintendence of his half uncle,\nthe great Cardinal Henry Beaufort. On the accession of his father to\nthe throne, he was created Prince of Wales, and, at the early age\nof sixteen, was present at the battle of Shrewsbury, where he was\nbadly wounded in the face. After having greatly distinguished himself\nin the war against Owen Glendour, he spent some years idleness and\ndissipation, but on his coming to the throne, by the death of his\nfather, April 20, 1413, he threw off his former habits and associates,\nchose his ministers from among those of tried integrity and wisdom in\nhis father's cause, and seemed everywhere intent on justice, on victory\nover himself, and on the good of his subjects. After a short but\nglorious reign of ten years, in which the victory of Agincourt was the\nprincipal event, he expired at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on\nthe last day of August, 1422, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. He\nwas engaged at the time in a war with the Dauphin of France. His heart\nwas warm as his head was cool, and his courage equal to his wisdom,\nwhich emboldened him to encounter the greatest dangers, and surmount\nthe greatest difficulties His virtues were not inferior to his\nabilities, being a dutiful son, a fond parent, an affectionate brother,\na steady and generous friend, and an indulgent master. In a word,\nHenry V., though not without his failings, merits the character of an\namiable and accomplished man, and a great and good king. Such was the\nsovereign, for whose infant years the plain, but still not tasteless,\ncradle was made, which we have here engraved, as it is preserved in the\ncastle of Monmouth, his birthplace.\n\n\nTHE FONT AT KILCARN.\n\nThe venerable old church at Kilcarn, near Navan, in the county of\nMeath, contains a font of great rarity, and we have selected it as a\nfitting object for our work, inasmuch as it is a striking instance of\nthe union of the beautiful with the curious.\n\n[Illustration [++] Font at Kilcarn.]\n\nPlaced upon its shaft, as represented in the cut, it measures in height\nabout three feet six inches; the basin is two feet ten inches in\ndiameter, and thirteen inches deep. The heads of the niches, twelve in\nnumber, with which its sides are carved, are enriched with foliage of\na graceful but uniform character, and the miniature buttresses which\nseparate the niches are decorated with crockets, the bases resting upon\nheads, grotesque animals, or human figures, carved as brackets. The\nfigures within the niches are executed with a wonderful degree of care,\nthe drapery being represented with each minute crease or fold well\nexpressed. They are evidently intended to represent Christ, the Virgin\nMary, and the twelve apostles. All the figures are seated. Our Saviour,\ncrowned as a King, and holding in his hand the globe and cross, is in\nthe act of blessing the Virgin, who also is crowned, the \"Queen of\nHeaven.\" The figures of most of the apostles can easily be identified:\nSaint Peter by his key; Saint Andrew by his cross of peculiar shape;\nand so on. They are represented barefooted, and each holds a book in\none hand.\n\n\nTHE BLOOD-SUCKING VAMPIRE.\n\nCaptain Stedman, who travelled in Guiana, from 1772 to 1777, published\nan account of his adventures, and for several years afterwards it\nwas the fashion to doubt the truth of his statements. In fact, it\nwas a general feeling, up to a much later period than the above,\nthat travellers were not to be believed. As our knowledge, however,\nhas increased, and the works of God have been made more manifest,\nthe reputation of many a calumniated traveller has been restored,\nand, among others, that of Captain Stedman. We shall, therefore,\nunhesitatingly quote his account of the bite of the vampire:--\"On\nwaking, about four o'clock this morning, in my hammock, I was\nextremely alarmed at finding myself weltering in congealed blood,\nand without feeling any pain whatever. Having started up and run to\nthe surgeon, with a firebrand in one hand, and all over besmeared\nwith gore, the mystery was found to be, that I had been bitten by the\nvampire or spectre of Guiana, which is also called the flying dog\nof New Spain. This is no other than a bat of monstrous size, that\nsucks the blood from men and cattle, sometimes even till they die;\nknowing, by instinct, that the person they intend to attack is in a\nsound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while the\ncreature continues fanning with his enormous wings, which keeps one\ncool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small\nindeed, that the head, of a pin could scarcely be received into the\nwound, which is consequently not painful; yet, through this orifice he\ncontrives to suck the blood until he is obliged to disgorge. He then\nbegins again, and thus continues mucking and disgorging till he is\nscarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known to sleep\nfrom time into eternity. Cattle they generally bite in the ear, but\nalways in those places where the blood flows spontaneously. Having\napplied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from\nmyself and my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed\nblood all around the place where I had lain upon the ground; upon\nexamining which, the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or\nfourteen ounces during the night. Having measured this creature (one of\nthe bats), I found it to be, between the tips of the wings, thirty-two\ninches and a-half; the colour was a dark brown, nearly black, but\nlighter underneath.\"\n\n\nLUXURY IN 1562.\n\nThe luxury of the present times does not equal, in one article at\nleast, that of the sixteenth century. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, the\nQueen's ambassador at Paris, in a letter to Sir Thomas Chaloner, the\nambassador at Madrid, in June, 1562, says,\n\n\"I pray you good my Lord Ambassador sende me two paire of parfumed\ngloves, parfumed with orrange flowers and jacemin, th'one for my\nwives hand, the other for mine owne; and wherin soever I can pleasure\nyou with any thing in this countrey, you shall have it in recompence\nthereof, or els so moche money as they shall coste you; provided\nalwaies that they be of the best choise, wherein your judgment is\ninferior to none.\"\n\n\nSINGULAR PHENOMENON--PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA.\n\nThe sea has sometimes a luminous appearance, a phenomenon that has\nbeen observed by all sailors, who consider it the forerunner of windy\nweather. It is said to occur most frequently in the summer and autumn\nmonths, and varies so much in its character, as to induce a doubt\nwhether it can always be attributed to the same cause. Sometimes the\nluminous appearance is seen over the whole surface of the water, and\nthe vessel seems as though floating upon an ocean of light. At other\ntimes, the phosphorescence is only seen immediately around the ship.\nA portion of water taken from the sea does not necessarily retain its\nluminous appearance, but its brilliance will generally continue as long\nas the water is kept in a state of agitation. Some naturalists imagine\nthe phosphorescence of the sea to arise from the diffusion of an\nimmense number of animalculae through the medium, and others attribute\nit to electricity. Dr. Buchanan has given an account of a very\nremarkable appearance of the sea, observed by him during a voyage from\nJohanna to Bombay. About eight o'clock in the evening of the 31st of\nJuly, 1785, the sea had a milk-white colour, and upon it were floating\na multitude of luminous bodies greatly resembling that combination of\nstars known as the milky way, the brightest of them representing the\nlarger stars of a constellation. The whiteness, he says, was such as\nto prevent those on board from seeing either the break or swell of\nthe sea, although, from the motion of the ship and the noise, they\nknew them to be violent, and the light was sufficiently intense to\nilluminate the ropes and rigging. This singular phenomenon continued\ntill daylight appeared. Several buckets of water were drawn, and in\nthem were found a great number of luminous bodies, from a quarter of an\ninch to an inch and a half in length, and these were seen to move about\nas worms in the water. There might be, he said to Dr. Buchanan, four\nhundred of these animals in a gallon of water. A similar appearance had\nbeen observed before in the same sea by several of the officers, and\nthe gunner had seen it off Java Head, in a voyage to China.\n\n\nMARRIAGE VOW.\n\nThe matrimonial ceremony, like many others, has undergone some\nvariation in the progress of time. Upwards of three centuries ago,\nthe husband, on taking his wife, as now, by the right hand, thus\naddressed her:--\"I. N. _undersygne_ the N. for my wedded wyfe, for\nbetter, for worse, for richer, for porer, yn sickness, and in helthe,\ntyl dethe us departe, (not \"do part,\" as we have erroneously rendered\nit, the ancient meaning of \"departe,\" even in Wickliffe's time, being\n\"separate\") as holy churche hath ordeyned, and thereto I plygth the my\ntrowthe.\" The wife replies in the same form, with an additional clause,\n\"to be buxom to the, tyl dethe us departe.\" So it appears in the first\nedition of the \"Missals for the use of the famous and celebrated Church\nof Hereford, 1502,\" fol. In what is called the \"Salisbury Missal,\" the\nlady pronounced a more general obedience: \"to be bonere and buxom in\nbedde and at the borde.\"\n\n\nLOVE OF GARDENS.\n\nLouis XVIII., on his restoration to France, made, in the park in\nVersailles, the _facsimile_ of the garden at Hartwell; and there\nwas no more amiable trait in the life of that accomplished prince.\nNapoleon used to say that he should know his father's garden in Corsica\nblindfolded, by the smell of the earth! And the hanging-gardens\nof Babylon are said to have been raised by the Median Queen of\nNebuchadnezzar on the flat and naked plains of her adopted country,\nto remind her of the hills and woods of her childhood. We need not\nspeak of the plane-trees of Plato--Shakspeare's mulberry-tree--Pope's\nwillow--Byron's elm? Why describe Cicero at his Tusculum--Evelyn at\nWotton--Pitt at Ham Common--Walpole at Houghton--Grenville at Dropmere?\nWhy dwell on Bacon's \"little tufts of thyme,\" or Fox's geraniums? There\nis a spirit in the garden as well as in the wood, and the \"lilies of\nthe field\" supply food for the imagination as well as materials for\nsermons.\n\n\nANCIENT DANISH SHIELD.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ancient Danish Shield.]\n\nIn Asia, from whence the greater number, probably all, of the European\nnations have migrated, numerous implements and weapons of copper\nhave been discovered in a particular class of graves; nay, in some\nof the old and long-abandoned mines in that country workmen's tools\nhave been discovered, made of copper, and of very remote antiquity.\nWe see, moreover, how at a later period attempts were made to harden\ncopper, and to make it better suited for cutting implements by a slight\nintermixture, and principally of tin. Hence arose that mixed metal\nto which the name of \"bronze\" has been given. Of this metal, then,\nthe Northmen of \"the bronze period\" formed their armour, and among\nnumerous other articles, three shields have been discovered which\nare made wholly of bronze; and we here give a sketch of the smallest\nof them, which is about nineteen inches in diameter, the other two\nbeing twenty-four. These shields are formed of somewhat thin plates\nof bronze, the edge being turned over a thick wire metal to prevent\nthe sword penetrating too deeply. The handle is formed of a cross-bar,\nplaced at the reverse side of the centre boss, which is hollowed out\nfor the purpose of admitting the hand.\n\n\nSACRED GARDENS.\n\nThe origin of sacred gardens among the heathen nations may be traced\nup to the garden of Eden. The gardens of the Hesperides, of Adonis, of\nFlora, were famous among the Greeks and Romans. \"The garden of Flora,\"\nsays Mr. Spence (Polymetis, p. 251), \"I take to have been the Paradise\nin the Roman mythology. The traditions and traces of Paradise among the\nancients must be expected to have grown fainter and fainter in every\ntransfusion from one people to another. The Romans probably derived\ntheir notions of it from the Greeks, among whom this idea seems to have\nbeen shadowed out under the stories of the gardens of Alcinous. In\nAfrica they had the gardens of the Hesperides, and in the East those of\nAdonis, or the _Horti Adonis_, as Pliny calls them. The term _Horti\nAdonides_ was used by the ancients to signify gardens of pleasure,\nwhich answers to the very name of Paradise, or the garden of Eden, as\n_Horti Adonis_ does to the garden of the Lord.\"\n\n\nANCIENT CHAIR OF DAGOBERT.\n\n[Illustration [++] Chair of Dagobert.]\n\nThe chair which we here engrave claims to be regarded as a great\ncuriosity, on two separate grounds: it is the work of an artist who\nwas afterwards canonized, and it was used by Napoleon I. on a most\nimportant occasion. Towards the close of the sixth century the artists\nof France were highly successful in goldsmith's work, and Limoges\nappears to have been the principal centre of this industry. It was at\nthis time that Abbon flourished--a goldsmith and mint-master, with whom\nwas placed the young Eloy, who rose from a simple artizan to be the\nmost remarkable man of his century, and whose virtues were rewarded by\ncanonization. The apprentice soon excelled his master, and his fame\ncaused him to be summoned to the throne of Clotaire II., for whom\nhe made two thrones of gold, enriched with precious stones, from a\nmodel made by the king himself, who had not been able to find workmen\nsufficiently skilful to execute it. The talents and probity of St.\nEloy also gained him the affection of Dagobert I., who entrusted him\nwith many important works, and among them, with the construction of\nthe throne, or chair of state which is the subject of this article. It\nis made of bronze, carved and gilded, and is a beautiful specimen of\nworkmanship. The occupant of the chair would sit upon a cloth of gold\nsuspended from the two side bars. For a long time it was preserved in\nthe sacristy of the royal church of St. Denis, at Paris; but it was\nsubsequently removed to the Great Library, where it now is. It was upon\nthis chair that Napoleon I., in August, 1804, distributed the crosses\nof the Legion of Honour to the soldiers of the army assembled at\nBoulogne for the invasion of England. Napoleon caused the chair to be\nbrought from Paris for the express purpose.\n\n\nST GEORGE'S CAVERN.\n\nNear the town of Moldavia, on the Danube, is shown the cavern where St.\nGeorge slew the Dragon, from which, at certain periods, issue myriads\nof small flies, which tradition reports to proceed from the carcass of\nthe dragon. They respect neither man nor beast, and are so destructive\nthat oxen and horses have been killed by them. They are called the\nGolubacz's fly. It is thought when the Danube rises, as it does in\nthe early part of the summer, the caverns are flooded, and the water\nremaining in them, and becoming putrid, produces this noxious fly. But\nthis supposition appears to be worthless, because, some years ago, the\nnatives closed up the caverns, and still they were annoyed with the\nflies. They nearly resemble mosquitoes. In summer they appear in such\nswarms as to look like a volume of smoke; and they sometimes cover a\nspace of six or seven miles. Covered with these insects, horses not\nunfrequently gallop about until death puts an end to their sufferings.\nShepherds anoint their hands with a decoction of wormwood, and keep\nlarge fires burning to protect themselves from them. Upon any material\nchange in the weather the whole swarm is destroyed thereby.\n\n\nENGLISH LETTER BY VOLTAIRE.\n\nThe subjoined letter is copied literally from the autograph of\nVoltaire, formerly in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Sim, the editor of\nMickle's Poems:--\n\n \"Sir,\n\n\"j wish you good health, a quick sale of y{r} burgundy, much latin, and\ngreeke to one of y{r} Children, much Law, much of cooke, and littleton,\nto the other. quiet and joy to mistress brinsden, money to all. when\nyou'll drink y{r} burgundy with m{r} furneze pray tell him j'll never\nforget his favours.\n\nBut dear john be so kind as to let me know how does my lady\nBollingbroke. as to my lord j left him so well j dont doubt he is so\nstill. but j am very uneasie about my lady. if she might have as much\nhealth as she has Spirit and witt, sure She would be the strongest body\nin england. pray dear s{r} write me Something of her, of my lord, and\nof you. direct y{r} letter by the penny post at m{r} Cavalier, Belitery\nSquare by the R. exchange. j am sincerely and heartily y{r} most humble\nmost obedient rambling friend\n\n \"VOLTAIRE.\n\n \"to\n \"john Brinsden, esq.\n \"durham's yard\n \"by charing cross.\"\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN CHALICE OF IONA.\n\nA chalice, as used in sacred ceremonies, is figured on various early\nScottish ecclesiastical seals, as well as on sepulchral slabs and other\nmedieval sculptures. But an original Scottish chalice, a relic of\nthe venerable abbey of St. Columba, presented, till a very few years\nsince, an older example of the sacred vessels of the altar than is\nindicated in any existing memorial of the medieval Church. The later\nhistory of this venerable relic is replete with interest. It was of\nfine gold, of a very simple form, and ornamented in a style that gave\nevidence of its belonging to a very early period. It was transferred\nfrom the possession of Sir Lauchlan MacLean to the Glengarry family,\nin the time of AEneas, afterwards created by Charles II. Lord Macdonell\nand Arross, under the circumstances narrated in the following letter\nfrom a cousin of the celebrated Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum,\nand communicated by a clergyman (Rev. AEneas M'Donell Dawson), who\nobtained it from the family of the gentleman to whom it was originally\naddressed:--\n\n\"The following anecdote I heard from the late bishop, John Chisholm,\nand from Mr. John M'Eachan, uncle to the Duke of Tarentum, who died at\nmy house at Irin Moidart, aged upwards of one hundred years:--\n\n\"Maclean of Duart, expecting an invasion of his lands in Mull, by\nhis powerful neighbour the Earl of Argyll, applied to Glengarry for\nassistance. AEneas of Glengarry marched at the head of five hundred men\nto Ardtornish, nearly opposite to Duart Castle, and crossing with a few\nof his officers to arrange the passage of the men across the Sound of\nMull, Maclean, rejoicing at the arrival of such a friend, offered some\nchoice wine in a golden chalice, part of the plunder of Iona. Glengarry\nwas struck with horror, and said, folding his handkerchief about the\nchalice, 'Maclean, I came here to defend you against mortal enemies,\nbut since, by sacrilege and profanation, you have made God your enemy,\nno human means can serve you.' Glengarry returned to his men, and\nMaclean sent the chalice and some other pieces of plate belonging\nto the service of the altar, with a deputation of his friends, to\npersuade him to join him; but he marched home. His example was followed\nby several other chiefs, and poor Maclean was left to compete,\nsingle-handed, with his powerful enemy.\"\n\nSuch was the last historical incident connected with the golden\nchalice of Iona, perhaps, without exception, the most interesting\necclesiastical relic which Scotland possessed. Unfortunately its\nlater history only finds a parallel in that of the celebrated Danish\ngolden horns. It was preserved in the charter-chest of Glengarry,\nuntil it was presented by the late Chief to Bishop Ronald M'Donald, on\nwhose demise it came into the possession of his successor, Dr. Scott,\nBishop of Glasgow. Only a few years since the sacristy of St. Mary's\nRoman Catholic Church in that city, where it was preserved was broken\ninto, and before the police could obtain a clue to the depredators,\nthe golden relic of Iona was no longer a chalice. Thus perished, by\nthe hands of a common felon, a memorial of the spot consecrated by\nthe labours of some of the earliest Christian missionaries to the\nPagan Caledonians, and which had probably survived the vicissitudes\nof upwards of ten centuries. In reply to inquiries made as to the\nexistence of any drawing of the chalice, or even the possibility of a\ntrustworthy sketch being executed from memory, a gentleman in Glasgow\nwrites:--\"I have no means of getting even a sketch from which to make a\ndrawing. Were I a good hand myself, I could easily furnish one, having\noften examined it. It was a chalice that no one could look on without\nbeing convinced of its very great antiquity. The workmanship was rude,\nthe ornamental drawings or engravings even more hard than medieval ones\nin their outlines, and the cup bore marks of the original hammering\nwhich had beaten it into shape.\"\n\n\nNEW MODE OF REVENGE.\n\nMonkeys in India are more or less objects of superstitious reverence,\nand are, consequently, seldom or ever destroyed. In some places they\nare even fed, encouraged, and allowed to live on the roofs of the\nhouses. If a man wish to revenge himself for any injury committed\nupon him, he has only to sprinkle some rice or corn upon the top of\nhis enemy's house, or granary, just before the rains set in, and the\nmonkeys will assemble upon it, eat all they can find outside, and then\npull off the tiles to get at that which falls through the crevices.\nThis, of course, gives access to the torrents which fall in such\ncountries, and house, furniture, and stores are all ruined.\n\n\nCURIOUS SUPERSTITION.\n\nThe ring of which we here give a sketch has been selected by us as\na subject for engraving and comment, because it embodies a curious\nsuperstition which was very prevalent in England in the fifteenth and\nsixteenth centuries.\n\n[Illustration [++] Fifteenth Century Ring.]\n\nThe setting is of silver, and the jewel which it carries is called\na toadstone. This stone was popularly believed to be formed in the\nheads of very old toads, and it was eagerly coveted by sovereigns,\nand by all persons in high office, because it was supposed to have\nthe power of indicating to the person who wore it the proximity of\npoison, by perspiring and changing colour. Fenton, who wrote in 1569,\nsays--\"There is to be found in the heads of old and great toads a\nstone they call borax or stelon;\" and he adds--\"They, being used as\nrings, give forewarning against venom.\" Their composition is not\nactually known; by some they are thought to be a stone--by others,\na shell; but of whatever they may be formed, there is to be seen in\nthem, as may be noticed in the engraving, a figure resembling that of\na toad, but whether produced accidentally or by artificial means is\nnot known, though, according to Albertus Magnus, the stone always bore\nthe figure on its surface, at the time it was taken out of the toad's\nhead. Lupton, in his \"1000 Notable Things,\" says--\"A toadstone, called\ncrepaudina, touching any part envenomed, hurt, or stung with rat,\nspider, wasp, or any other venomous beast, ceases the pain or swelling\nthereof.\" The well known lines in Shakespeare are doubtless in allusion\nto the virtue which Lupton says it possesses:--\n\n \"Sweet are the uses of adversity;\n Which like a toad, ugly and venomous,\n Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.\"\n\nBen Jonson also in the _Fox_, has,--\n\n \"Were you enamoured on his copper rings,\n His saffron jewel, with the loadstone in't?\"\n\nAnd Lyly, in his _Euphues_--\n\n \"The foule toad hath a faire stone in his head.\"\n\nThe ring we have engraved is a work of the fifteenth century; it forms\none of the many rare curiosities of the Londesborough Collection, and\nis considered to be a very perfect specimen.\n\n\nANCIENT ARMLET.\n\nIn May, 1840, some workmen were employed at Everdale, near Preston,\nin carrying earth to replace the soil which had been washed away from\nbehind a wall formerly built to protect the banks of the river Ribble.\nIn digging for this purpose, they discovered, at a distance of about\nforty yards from the banks, a great number of articles, consisting\nof ingots of silver, a few ornaments, some silver armlets, and a\nlarge quantity of coins. An attentive examination of all these, and\nespecially of the coins, leads to the conclusion that this mass of\ntreasure was deposited about the year 910, and the articles must be\nconsidered such as were worn at the time of King Alfred, or perhaps\nsomewhat earlier.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ancient Armlet.]\n\nThe armlets, which were all of silver, vary in breadth from a quarter\nof an inch to an inch and a quarter, and perhaps more. They are\ngenerally ornamented, and almost all the ornaments are produced by\npunching with tools of various forms. The patterns are numerous, but\nthe forms of the punches are very few, the variations being produced by\ncombining the forms of more punches than one, or by placing the same\nor differently-formed punches at a greater or less distance from each\nother, or by varying their direction. In the specimen which we have\nhere engraved the punch has had a small square end, and the ornament is\nformed by a series of blows in transverse or oblique lines. Patterns of\nthe period and localities to which these ornaments belong are scarcely\never found finished by casting or chasing. It would appear, also that\nthe use of solder to unite the various parts of objects was either\nlittle known or little practised; for the ends of these ornaments are\ntied together, and, upon other occasions where union is necessary,\nrivets are employed.\n\n\nCHINESE MIRRORS.\n\nThere is a puzzling property in many of the Chinese mirrors which\ndeserves particular notice, and we may give it, together with the\nsolution furnished by Sir David Brewster:--\"The mirror has a knob in\nthe centre of the back, by which it can be held, and on the rest of\nthe back are stamped in relief certain circles with a kind of Grecian\nborder. Its polished surface has that degree of convexity which gives\nan image of the face half its natural size; and its remarkable property\nis, that, when you reflect the rays of the sun from the polished\nsurface, the image of the ornamental border and circles stamped upon\nthe back, is seen distinctly reflected on the wall,\" or on a sheet of\npaper. The metal of which the mirror is made appears to be what is\ncalled Chinese silver, a composition of tin and copper, like the metal\nfor the specula of reflecting telescopes. The metal is very sonorous.\nThe mirror has a rim (at the back) of about 1-4th or 1-6th of an inch\nbroad, and the inner part, upon which the figures are stamped, is\nconsiderably thinner.\n\n\"Like all other conjurors (says Sir David Brewster), the artist has\ncontrived to make the observer deceive himself. The stamped figures on\nthe back are used for this purpose. The spectrum in the luminous area\n_is not an image of the figures on the back_. The figures are a copy\nof the picture which the artist has _drawn on the face of the mirror_,\nand so concealed by polishing, that it is invisible in ordinary lights,\nand can be brought out only in the sun's rays. Let it be required,\nfor example, to produce the dragon as exhibited by one of the Chinese\nmirrors. When the surface of the mirror is ready for polishing, the\nfigure of the dragon may be delineated upon it in extremely shallow\nlines, or it may be eaten out by an acid much diluted, so as to remove\nthe smallest possible portion of the metal. The surface must then be\nhighly polished, not upon pitch, like glass and specula, because this\nwould polish away the figure, but upon cloth, in the way that lenses\nare sometimes polished. In this way the sunk part of the shallow lines\nwill be as highly polished as the rest, and the figure will only be\nvisible in very strong lights, by reflecting the sun's rays from the\nmetallic surface.\"\n\n\nTHE CADENHAM OAK.\n\nAmongst the many remarkable trees in the New Forest in Hampshire, is\none called the Cadenham Oak, which buds every year in the depth of\nwinter. Gilpin says, \"Having often heard of this oak, I took a ride to\nsee it on the 29th of December, 1781. It was pointed out to me among\nseveral other oaks, surrounded by a little forest stream, winding round\na knoll on which they stood. It is a tall straight plant, of no great\nage, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has been injured,\nfrom which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. It\nwas entirely bare of leaves, as far as I could discern, when I saw it,\nand undistinguishable from the other oaks in its neighbourhood, except\nthat its bark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, I apprehended, only\nby frequent climbing. Having had the account of its early budding\nconfirmed on the spot, I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the\nWhite Hart, a small alehouse in the neighbourhood, to send me some of\nthe leaves to Vicar's Hill, as soon as they should appear. The man,\nwho had not the least doubt about the matter, kept his word, and sent\nme several twigs on the morning of the 5th of January, 1782, a few\nhours after they had been gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded,\nand about an inch in length. From some of the buds two leaves had\nunsheathed themselves, but in general only one. One of its progeny,\nwhich grew in the gardens at Bulstrode, had its flower buds perfectly\nformed so early as the 21st of December, 1781.\n\n\"This early spring, however, of the Cadenham oak, is of very short\nduration. The buds, after unfolding themselves, make no further\nprogress, but immediately shrink from the season and die. The tree\ncontinues torpid, like other deciduous trees, during the remainder of\nthe winter, and vegetates again in the spring, at the usual season.\nI have seen it in full leaf in the middle of the summer, when it\nappeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other oaks.\"\n\nDean Wren, speaking of this tree, says, \"King James could not be\ninduced to believe the [Greek: to toi] (_reason_) of this, till\nBishop Andrewes, in whose diocese the tree grew, caused one of his\nown chaplaines, a man of known integritye, to give a true information\nof itt, which he did; for upon the eve of the Nativitye he gathered\nabout a hundred slips, with the leaves newly opened, which he stuck in\nclaye in the bottom of long white boxes, and soe sent them post to the\ncourte, where they deservedly raised not only admiration, but stopt the\nmouth of infidelitye and contradiction for ever. Of this I was both\nan eye-witness, and did distribute many of them to the great persons\nof both sexes in court and others, ecclesiastical persons. But in\nthese last troublesome times a divelish fellow (of Herostratus humour)\nhaving hewen itt round at the roote, made his last stroke on his own\nlegg, whereof he died, together with the old wondrous tree; which now\nsproutes up againe, and may renew his oakye age againe, iff some such\nenvious chance doe not hinder or prevent itt; from which the example of\nthe former villaine may perchance deterr the attempt. This I thought\nto testifie to all future times, and therefore subscribe with the same\nhand through which those little oakye slips past.\"\n\n\nSCHOOL EXPENSES IN THE OLDEN TIME.\n\nOf the expenses incurred for schoolboys at Eton early in the reign of\nElizabeth, we find some curious particulars in a manuscript of the\ntime: the boys were sons of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, and\nthe entries are worth notice, as showing the manners of those days.\nAmong the items, a breast of roast mutton is charged ten-pence; a\nsmall chicken, fourpence; a week's board, five shillings each; besides\nthe wood burned in their chamber; to an old woman for sweeping and\ncleaning the chamber, twopence; mending a shoe, one penny; three\ncandles, nine-pence; a book, Esop's Fables, fourpence; two pair of\nshoes, sixteen-pence; two bunches of wax lights, one penny; the sum\ntotal of the payments, including board paid to the bursars of Eton\nCollege, living expenses for the two boys and their man, clothes,\nbooks, washing, &c., amounts to twelve pounds twelve shillings and\nseven-pence. The expense of a scholar at the university in 1514 was but\nfive pounds annually, affording as much accommodation as would cost\nsixty pounds, though the accommodation would be far short of that now\ncustomary at Eton.\n\n\nAN EVENTFUL LIFE.\n\nIt is much to be feared that on the field of battle and naval actions\nmany individuals, apparently dead, are buried or thrown overboard. The\nhistory of Francois de Civille, a French captain, who was missing at\nthe siege of Rouen, is rather curious. At the storming of the town he\nwas supposed to have been killed, and was thrown, with other bodies, in\nthe ditch, where he remained from eleven in the morning to half-past\nsix in the evening; when his servant, observing some latent heat,\ncarried the body into the house. For five days and five nights his\nmaster did not exhibit the slightest sign of life, although the body\ngradually recovered its warmth. At the expiration of this time, the\ntown was carried by assault, and the servants of an officer belonging\nto the besiegers, having found the supposed corpse of Civille, threw it\nout of the window, with no other covering than his shirt. Fortunately\nfor the captain, he had fallen upon a dunghill, where he remained\nsenseless for three days longer, when his body was taken up by his\nrelatives for sepulture, and ultimately brought to life. What was still\nmore strange, Civille, like Macduff, had \"been from his mother's womb\nuntimely ripp'd,\" having been brought into the world by a Caesarean\noperation, which his mother did not survive; and after his last\nwonderful escape he used to sign his name with the addition of \"three\ntimes born, three times buried, and three times risen from the dead by\nthe grace of God.\"\n\n\nFIRST BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES.\n\n[Illustration [++] First Bridge over the Thames.]\n\nThe humble village bridge which we here engrave is well deserving\nof a place in our pages as being the first of that grand series of\nbridges whose last member is London-bridge. What a contrast between\nthe first bridge over the Thames and the last! Thames Head, where\nthe river rises, is in the county of Gloucester, but so near to its\nsouthern border, that the stream, after meandering a mile or two,\nenters Wiltshire, near the village of Kemble. On leaving this village,\nand proceeding on the main road towards the rustic hamlet of Ewen,\nthe traveller passes over the bridge which forms the subject of our\nwoodcut. It has no parapet, and is level with the road, the water\nrunning through three narrow arches. Such is the first bridge over the\nmighty Thames.\n\n\nTHE VENETIANS.\n\nThe Venetians were the first people in Italy who had printed books.\nThey originated a Gazette in the year 1600, and the example was\nfollowed at Oxford in 1667, and at Vienna in 1700. They also undertook\nthe discovery of America, and the passage to India by the Cape of Good\nHope.\n\n\nMEDMENHAM ABBEY.\n\nOn descending the river Thames, from Henley, after passing Culham Court\nand Hambledon Lock, the adjacent country become exceedingly beautiful,\nvaried by alternate mills, islands, meadows, and hills, with every\nnow and then ornamental forest trees hanging over the stream, and\ngiving pleasant shade to the current on its downward flow. The wood\nof Medmenham soon comes in sight; the ruined Abbey is seen among the\ntrees, and close beside it is a pretty ferry, with the pleasant wayside\ninn of Mrs. Bitmead--a domicile well known to artists, her frequent\nguests, one of whom, who has since become famous, painted a sign-board\nwhich hangs over the door, and is of so good a quality that it might\ngrace the exhibition of the Royal Academy. The Abbey has been pictured\na hundred times, and is a capital subject seen from any point of view;\nthe river runs close beside it; there is a hill adjacent--Dane's Hill;\ndark woods and green meadows are at hand; gay boats and traffic barges\nare continually passing; the ferry is always picturesque, and the\nartist is constantly supplied on the spot with themes for pictures;\nespecially he has before him the venerable ruin--\"venerable,\" at least,\nas far as the eye is concerned. Time has touched it leniently; some of\nits best \"bits\" are as they were a century ago, except that the lichens\nhave given to them that rich clothing of grey and gold which the\npainter ever loves, and added to it, here and there, a green drapery of\nivy.\n\n[Illustration [++] Manor of Medmenham.]\n\nThe manor of Medmenham was, in the reign of King Stephen, given by\nits lord, Walter de Bolebec, to the Abbey of Cistercian Monks he had\nfounded at Woburn in Bedfordshire; and in 1204 the monks placed some\nof their society here, on this pleasant bank of the Thames. Here arose\na small monastery, being rather--as the writers of the order express\nthemselves--\"a daughter than a cell to Woburn.\" In 1536 it was annexed\nto Bisham. At the Dissolution, according to returns made by the\ncommissioners, \"the clear value of this religious house was 20_l._ 6s.;\nit had two monks designing to go to houses of religion; servants, none;\nwoods, none; debts, none; its bells worth 2_l._ 1s. 8d.; the value of\nits moveable goods 1_l._ 3s. 8d.; and the house wholly in ruin.\" It\nmust have undergone considerable repair early in the sixteenth century,\nand probably very little of the original structure now exists, although\nrelics of antiquity may be traced in many of its remains. That portion\nwhich fronts the Thames is kept in proper repair, and a large room is\nused for the convenience of pleasure parties. The property belongs to\nthe Scots of Danesfield, a mansion that crowns a neighbouring hill.\nMedmenham derives notoriety from events of more recent date than the\noccupation of its monks, without goods and without debt. Here, about\nthe middle of the last century, was established, a society of men of\nwit and fashion, who assumed the title of the Monks of St. Francis,\nand wore the habit of the Franciscan order. Although it is said\nthat the statements contained in a now forgotten but once popular\nnovel--\"Chrysal; or the Adventures of a Guinea,\"--were exaggerated,\nthe character which the assumed monks bore in the open world was\nsufficiently notorious to justify the worst suspicions of their acts\nin this comparative solitude. Their principal members were Sir Francis\nDashwood (afterwards Lord Le Despencer), the Earl of Sandwich, John\nWilks, Bubb Doddington, Churchill, and Paul Whitehead, the poet. The\nmotto--\"Fay ce que voudras,\" indicative of the principle on which the\nsociety was founded--still remains over the doorway of the Abbey House.\nTradition yet preserves some anecdotes illustrative of the habits of\nthe \"order,\" and there can be little doubt that this now lonely and\nquiet spot was the scene of orgies that were infamous.\n\n\nPERSECUTION.\n\nGrotius, an historian celebrated for moderation and caution, has\ncomputed that in the several persecutions promoted by Charles V., no\nless than a hundred thousand persons perished by the hands of the\nexecutioner. In the Netherlands alone, from the time that his edict\nagainst the reformers was promulgated, he states that there had been\nfifty thousand persons hanged, beheaded, buried alive, or burned, on\naccount of their religion. Indeed, during the reign of Philip the\nSecond, the Duke of Alva boasted that in the space of nine years he\nhad destroyed, in the Low Countries, 36,000 persons by the hands of\nthe executioner alone. At the massacre of Paris, on the feast of St.\nBartholomew, King Charles the Ninth of France assisted in person, and\nboasted that he had sacrificed in one night 10,000 of his subjects;\nfor that massacre the Pope had \"Te Deum\" sung in the chapel of the\nVatican and issued a bull for a jubilee to be celebrated throughout\nFrance on the 7th December, 1512, in commemoration of what he termed\nthe _happy success of the king against his heretic subjects_, and\nconcluded by writing with his own hand a letter to Charles the Ninth,\nexhorting him to pursue this salutary and blessed enterprise. In the\nshort reign of Queen Mary, there were in this realm burned at the stake\none archbishop, four bishops, twenty-one ministers, and nearly three\nhundred persons of all classes, of whom fifty-five were women, and four\nwere children, one of whom sprang from its mother's womb while she was\nconsuming, and was flung into the flames by the spectators. In 1640\nthe same spirit of papal bigotry occasioned in Ireland the butchery of\n40,000 Protestants, under circumstances of aggravated atrocity which a\nChristian will shudder to peruse. Lewis XIV., the most Christian king\nand eldest son of the church, starved a million Huguenots at home, and\nsent another million grazing in foreign countries.\n\n\nINNKEEPER'S BILL IN 1762.\n\nThe following innkeeper's bill was sent in to the Duke de Nivernois,\nwho supped and breakfasted at an inn in Canterbury, in 1762; and\nconsidering the value of money at that time, must be deemed extremely\nmoderate:--\n\n L s. d.\n\n Tea, coffee, and chocolate 1 4 0\n Supper for self and servant 15 10 0\n Bread and beer 3 0 0\n Fruit 2 15 0\n Wine and punch 10 8 8\n Wax candles and charcoal 3 0 0\n Broken glass and china 2 10 0\n Lodging 1 7 0\n Tea, coffee, and chocolate 2 0 0\n Chaise and horse, for next stage 2 16 0\n\nThere were only twelve persons in the whole company.\n\n\nSPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.\n\nJoseph Battaglia, a surgeon of Ponte Bosio, relates the following case:\nDon. G. Maria Bertholi, a priest of Mount Valerius, went to the fair of\nFiletto, and afterwards visited a relation in Fenilo, where he intended\nto pass the night. Before retiring to rest, he was left reading his\nbreviary; when, shortly afterwards, the family were alarmed by his\nloud cries and a strange noise in his chamber. On opening the door, he\nwas lying prostrate on the floor, and surrounded by flickering flames.\nBattaglia was immediately sent for, and on his arrival the unfortunate\nman was found in a most deplorable state. The integuments of the arms\nand the back were either consumed or detached in hanging flaps. The\nsufferer was sufficiently sensible to give an account of himself.\nHe said that he felt, all of a sudden, as if his arm had received a\nviolent blow from a club, and at the same time he saw scintillations\nof fire rising from his shirt-sleeves, which were consumed without\nhaving burned the wrists; a handkerchief, which he had tied round his\nshoulders, between the shirt and the skin, was intact. His drawers were\nalso sound; but, strange to say, his silk skull-cap was burnt while his\nhair bore no marks of combustion. The unfortunate man only survived\nthe event four days. The circumstances which attended this case would\nseem to warrant the conclusion that the electric fluid was the chief\nagent in the combustion.\n\n\nSHOOTING FISH.\n\n[Illustration: Horned Chaetodon.]\n\nOur shores have produced a few specimens of a richly-coloured fish\ncalled Ray's Sea Bream (_Brama Rayi_), interesting because it\nrepresents a family, almost confined to the tropical seas, of very\nsingular forms and habits. The family is named _Chaetodontidae_, from\nthe principal genus in it. They are very high perpendicularly, but\nthin and flattened sidewise; the mouth in some projects into a sort\nof snout, the fins are frequently much elevated, and send off long\nfilaments. They are generally adorned with highly-contrasted colours,\nwhich run in perpendicular bands. They are often called scaly-finned\nfishes, because the dorsal and anal are clothed, at least in part, with\nscales, so as not to be distinguished from the body. The tubular snout\nof some, as of a little species which we here represent, is applied to\nan extraordinary use, that of shooting flies! The fish approaches under\na fly which it has discovered, resting on a leaf or twig, a few feet\nabove the water, taking care not to alarm it by too sudden a motion;\nthen, projecting the tip of its beak from the surface, it shoots a\nsingle drop at the insect with so clever an aim, as very rarely to\nmiss it, when it falls into the water and is devoured. Being common\nin the Indian seas, it is often kept by the Chinese in vases, as we\nkeep golden-fish, for the amusement of witnessing this feat. A fly is\nfastened at some distance, at which the fish shoots, but, disappointed\nof course, and wondering that its prey does not fall, it goes on to\nrepeat the discharge for many times in succession, without seeming to\ntake in a fresh stock of ammunition, and scarcely ever missing the\nmark, though at a distance of three or four feet.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY EARTHQUAKES.\n\nAround the Papandayang, one of the loftiest mountains in Java, no less\nthan forty villages were reposing in peace. But in August 1772, a\nremarkable luminous cloud enveloping its top aroused them from their\nsecurity. But it was too late; for at once the mountain began to sink\ninto the earth, and soon it had disappeared, with the forty villages\nand most of the inhabitants, over a space fifteen miles long and six\nbroad. Still more extraordinary, the most remarkable on record was an\neruption in Sumbawa, one of the Molucca islands, in 1815. It began on\nthe fifth day of April, and did not cease till July. The explosions\nwere heard in one direction nine hundred and seventy miles, and in\nanother seven hundred and twenty miles. So heavy was the fall of ashes\nat the distance of forty miles that houses were crushed and destroyed.\nThe floating cinders in the ocean, hundreds of miles distant, were\ntwo feet thick, and vessels were forced through with difficulty. The\ndarkness in Java, three hundred miles distant, was deeper than the\nblackest night; and, finally, out of the twelve thousand inhabitants of\nthe island, only twenty-six survived the catastrophe.\n\n\nBEAUTIFUL ARCH.\n\nOne of the rarities of architecture is the beautiful arch in the choir\nof Cannistown Church, not far from Bective, near Trim, in Ireland. Down\nto the very latest period of Gothic architecture, the original plan of\na simple nave, or nave and chancel, was followed, and the chief or only\ndifference observable in churches of very late date, from those of the\nsixth and seventh centuries, consists in the form of the arch-heads,\nthe position of the doorway, the style of the masonry, which is usually\nmuch better in the more ancient examples, and the use of bell-turrets,\nthe cloigeteach, or detached round tower, having answered this purpose\nduring the earlier ages. A beautiful and highly characteristic example\nof an early pointed church is that at Cannistown. As usual, it consists\nof a nave and chancel, and there are the remains of a bell-turret upon\nthe west gable, the usual position. The choir arch is represented in\nthe annexed cut.\n\n[Illustration [++] Arch in the Choir of Cannistown Church.]\n\nThere are numerous examples of churches of this style scattered\nover Ireland, but they are usually plain, and the choir arch is\ngenerally the plainest feature in the building. As example, we can\nrefer our readers to the churches of Kilbarrack, Dalkey, Kinsale, and\nRathmichael, all in the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin.\n\n\nTHOMAS CONECTE.\n\nThere was a Carmelite friar, Thomas Conecte, who, previous to his\nbeing burnt as a heretic at Rome, in 1434, excited the admiration of\nall Flanders by his vehement sermons against the luxury of the women.\nHis satire was chiefly levelled against their head-dresses, which rose\nto so enormous a height, that the most exalted head-dresses of a late\nday were but dwarfs to them. Juvenal des Ursins, who lived at that\nperiod, declares that, notwithstanding the troubles of the times, the\nmaidens and married ladies rose to prodigious excess in their attire,\nand wore hair of a surprising height and breadth, having on each side\ntwo ears of so unaccountable a size, that it was impossible for them\nto pass through a door. Their dresses were the hennins of Flanders,\nwhich the worthy Carmelite was so inveterate against. He made them\ndress themselves in a more modest manner. But, alas no sooner had Friar\nThomas left the country than the head-dresses shot up to a greater\nheight than ever. They had only bowed their heads like bullrushes\nduring the storm. Poor Thomas attacked the infallible church itself,\nand they, in default of better arguments, burnt him.\n\n\nCURIOUS COINCIDENCES.\n\nOn the 21st of April, 1770, Lewis XVI. was married.\n\n21st of June, 1770, fifteen hundred people were trampled to death at\nthe _fete_.\n\n21st of January, 1782, _fete_ for the birth of the Dauphin.\n\n21st of June, 1791, the flight to Varennes.\n\n21st of September, 1792, the abolition of royalty.\n\n21st of January, 1793, the unfortunate monarch's decapitation.\n\n\nAMPHITHEATRES.\n\nThe deficiency of theatres erected by the Romans is far more than\ncompensated by the number and splendour of their amphitheatres, which,\nwith their baths, may be considered as the true types of Roman art. It\nseems almost certain that they derived this class of public buildings\nfrom the Etruscans. At Sutri there is a very noble one cut out of\nthe tufa rock, which was no doubt used by that people for festal\nrepresentations long before Rome attempted anything of the kind. It is\nuncertain whether gladiatorial fights or combats of wild beasts formed\nany part of the amusements of the arena in those days, though boxing,\nwrestling, and contests of that description certainly did; but whether\nthe Etruscans actually proceeded to the shedding of blood and slaughter\nis more than doubtful.\n\nEven in the remotest parts of Britain, in Germany, and Gaul, wherever\nwe find a Roman settlement, we find the traces of their amphitheatres.\nTheir soldiery, it seems, could not exist without the enjoyment of\nseeing men engage in doubtful and mortal combats--either killing one\nanother, or torn to pieces by wild beasts. It is not to be wondered at\nthat a people who delighted so much in the bloody scenes of the arena\nshould feel but very little pleasure in the mimic sorrows and tame\nhumour of the stage. It fitted them, it is true, to be a nation of\nconquerors, and gave them the empire of the world, but it brought with\nit feelings singularly inimical to all the softer arts, and was perhaps\nthe great cause of their debasement.\n\nAs might be expected, the largest and most splendid of these buildings\nis that which adorns the capital; and of all the ruins which Rome\ncontains, none have excited such universal admiration as the Flavian\namphitheatre. Poets, painters, rhapsodists, have exhausted all the\nresources of their arts in the attempt to convey to others the\noverpowering impression this building produces on their own minds.\nWith the single exception, perhaps, of the Hall at Karnac, no ruin has\nmet with such universal admiration as this. Its association with the\nancient mistress of the world, its destruction, and the half-prophetic\ndestiny ascribed to it, all contribute to this. Still it must be\nconfessed that\n\n \"The gladiator's bloody circus stands\n A noble wreck in ruinous perfection,\"\n\nand worthy of all or nearly all the admiration of which it has been the\nobject. Its interior is almost wholly devoid of ornament, or anything\nthat can be called architecture--a vast inverted pyramid. The exterior\ndoes not possess one detail which is not open to criticism, and indeed\nto positive blame. Notwithstanding all this, its mass, its form, and\nits associations, all combine to produce an effect against which the\ncritic struggles in vain.\n\nThe length of the building, measured along its greatest diameter, is\n620 ft., its breadth 513, or nearly in the ratio of 6 to 5, which may\nbe taken as the general proportion of these buildings, the variations\nfrom it being slight, and apparently either mistakes in setting out\nthe work in ancient times, or in measuring it in modern days, rather\nthan an intentional deviation. The height of the 3 lower stories is\n120 ft.; the total height as it now stands, 157 ft. The arena itself\nmeasures 287 ft. in length by 180 in breadth, and it is calculated that\nthe building would contain 80,000 spectators; 50,000 or 60,000 would be\nmuch nearer the truth, at least according to the data by which space is\ncalculated in our theatres and public places.\n\n\nHUNDRED FAMILIES' LOCK.\n\nA common Chinese talisman is the \"hundred families' lock,\" to procure\nwhich a father goes round among his friends, and, having obtained from\na hundred different parties a few of the copper coins of the country,\nhe himself adds the balance, to purchase an ornament or appendage\nfashioned like a lock, which he hangs on his child's neck, for the\npurpose of locking him figuratively to life, and making the hundred\npersons concerned in his attaining old age.\n\n\nTHE DUKE DE REICHSTADT.\n\nAt the Imperial Palace of Schoenbrun, about five English miles from\nVienna, is shown the window fractured by the bullet of the enthusiastic\nstudent who shot at Napoleon while he was reviewing the Imperial Guard,\nand also the apartment he occupied when he made this his head-quarters,\ninstead of entering the city. An additional interest is imparted to the\nplace, by the circumstance of the Duke de Reichstadt having, when taken\nill, chosen the identical chamber and spot in which his father Napoleon\nhad slept, to close his mortal career: and by a singular coincidence,\nthe remains of the young prince were subjected to a post-mortem\nexamination upon the same table at which the Emperor had held his\ncouncils. In imitation of the military hardihood of his sire, the young\nduke was in the habit of exposing himself to all weathers, and keeping\nguard during successive nights, a practice which often called forth\nfrom his surgeon, Dr. Malfati, the expressive words, '_Rappelez vous,\nmon Prince, que vouz avez un Coeur de Fer dans un Corp de Verre_.'\n\n\nMARY QUEEN OF SCOTS' CANDLESTICK.\n\nAlmost every article, however trifling its intrinsic value, and however\nhomely its appearance, which once belonged to a celebrated individual,\nis always regarded as an object of interest, and we have, therefore,\nno hesitation in presenting our readers with the annexed engraving\nof one of a pair of candlesticks which were once the property of the\nunfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots.\n\n[Illustration [++] Mary Queen of Scots' Candlestick.]\n\nThey are made of brass, each of them of eleven and a-half inches in\nheight. They are of French manufacture; the sunk parts are filled\nup with an inlay of blue, green, and white enamel, very similar to\nthat done at Limoge. These extremely elegant and curious articles are\nthe property of Lord Holland, and are preserved at Holland House,\nKensington.\n\nHolland House is associated \"with the costly magnificence of Rich,\nwith the loves of Ormond, the councils of Cromwell, and the death\nof Addison.\" It has been for nearly two centuries and a-half the\nfavourite resort of wits and beauties, of painters and poets, of\nscholars, philosophers, and statesmen. In the lifetime of the late Lord\nHolland, it was the meeting-place of \"the Whig Party;\" and his liberal\nhospitality made it \"the resort, not only of the most interesting\npersons composing English society--literary, philosophical, and\npolitical, but also to all belonging to those classes who ever visited\nthis country from abroad.\"\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES OF INHUMANITY.\n\nIn 1534, in the wars of Edward III. with France, Fordun relates that a\nFrenchman purchased from the Scots several English prisoners, and that\nhe beheaded them to avenge the death of his father. This sentimental\ncruelty can perhaps be paralleled by that of Coccinas, who, at the\nmassacre of Paris, bought many Huguenots, that he might torture them\nto death for his private satisfaction. Philip Galeas Visconti, Duke of\nMilan, was a man of a nature so timid, that thunder threw him into\nagonies; yet was he so inhuman, that he could _enjoy the shrieks of\na female stretched upon a rack_. Wenceslaus, the German Emperor, say\nMezeray, Voltaire, and others, _roasted his cook alive_, for dressing\nhis dinner amiss; and never had so intimate a friend in Prague as the\ncommon executioner; and even _him_ he put to death at last, for not\ntaking him at his word, when he once had bid him cut his head off, and\nactually knelt down to receive the stroke.\n\n\nANCIENT ROMAN LAMPS.\n\nThe earliest lamps fabricated by the potters of ancient Rome have an\nopen circular body, with a curved projecting rim to prevent the oil\nfrom spilling, and occur both in terra-cotta, and also in the black\nglazed ware found in the sepulchres of Nola. Many have a projecting\nhollow pipe in the centre, in order to fix them to a stick on the top\nof a candelabrum. These lamps have no handles. They may have been\nplaced in the sacella or lararia, and were turned on the potter's wheel.\n\nThe shoe-shaped is the most usual, with a round body, a projecting\nspout or nozzle having a hole for the wick, and a small annular handle,\nwhich is more or less raised.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ancient Roman Lamp.]\n\nA singular variety of lamp, well adapted for a table, was fitted\ninto a kind of small altar, the sides of which were ornamented with\nreliefs. Several however, from their unusual shape, maybe considered\nas fancy ware, the upper part, or the whole lamp, being moulded into\nthe resemblance of some object. Such are lamps in the British Museum in\nthe shape of a female head surmounted by a flower, or of the head of a\nnegro or Nubian with open jaws, through which the wick was inserted.\n\nMost of these lamps appear to have been made between the age of\nAugustus and that of Constantine. The style, of course best at the\nearlier period of the empire, degenerates under the later emperors,\nsuch as Philip and Maximus, and becomes at last Byzantine and bad.\n\nMost lamps had only one wick, but the light they afforded must have\nbeen feeble, and consequently some have two wicks, the nozzle for\nwhich project beyond the body of the lamp. In the same manner were\nfabricated lamps of three, five, and seven wicks. If more were required\nthe nozzles did not project far beyond the body of the lamp, which\nwas then moulded in a shape adapted for the purpose, and especially\nthe favourite one of a galley. Sometimes a conglomeration of small\nlamps was manufactured in a row, or in a serrated shape, which enabled\nthe purchaser to obtain what light he required; still the amount of\nillumination must have been feeble. As many as twenty wicks have been\nfound in some lamps.\n\nThe greater number average from three to four inches long, and one\ninch high; the walls are about one-eighth of an inch thick, and the\ncircular handles not more than one inch in diameter. Some of the larger\nlamps, however, are about nine inches or a foot long, with handles\neight or nine inches high.\n\n\nAN ECCENTRIC ENGLISHMAN.\n\nMr. Henry Hastings, a most singular character, and genuine sportsman\nlived in the time of James and Charles I. Mr. Hastings was second son\nto the Earl of Huntingdon; and inherited a good estate in Dorsetshire\nfrom his mother. He was one of the keepers of New Forest, Hampshire;\nand resided in the lodge there during a part of every summer season.\nBut his principal residence was at Woodlands, in Dorsetshire, where\nhe had a capital mansion. One of his nearest neighbours, was the\nLord Chancellor Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury. Two men could not\nbe more opposite in their disposition and pursuits. They had little\ncommunication therefore; and their occasional meetings were rendered\nmore disagreeable to both from their opposite sentiments in politics.\nLord Shaftesbury, who was the younger man, was the survivor; and the\nfollowing account of Mr. Hastings is said to have been the production\nof his pen. \"Mr. Hastings was low of stature, but very strong, and\nvery active; of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. His clothes were\nalways of green cloth. His house was of the old fashion; in the midst\nof a large park, well stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He\nhad a long narrow bowling-green in it; and used to play with round\nsand-bowls. Here, too, he had a banqueting-room built, like a stand\nin a large tree. He kept all sorts of hounds, that ran buck, fox,\nhare, otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and\nshort-winged. His great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones;\nand full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. The upper\nend of it was hung with fox-skins of this and the last year's killing.\nHere and there a pole-cat was intermixed; and hunter's poles in great\nabundance. The parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the\nsame style. On a broad hearth, paved with bricks, lay some of the\nchoicest terriers, hounds, and spaniels. One or two of the great chairs\nhad litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. Of these,\nthree or four always attended him at dinner; and a little white wand\nlay by his trencher, to defend it, if they were too troublesome. In\nthe windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and\nother accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his best\nhunting and hawking poles. His oyster-table stood at the lower end of\nthe room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round;\nfor he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper; with\nwhich the neighbouring town of Poole supplied him. At the upper end of\nthe room stood a small table with a double desk; one side of which held\na church Bible; the other, the Book of Martyrs. On different tables of\nthe room lay hawks' hoods; bells, old hats with their crowns thrust in,\nfull of pheasants' eggs, tables, dice, cards, and a store of tobacco\npipes. At one end of this room was a door, which opened into a closet,\nwhere stood bottles of strong beer and wine, which never came out\nbut in single glasses, which was the rule of the house; for he never\nexceeded himself, nor permitted others to exceed. Answering to this\ncloset was a door into an old chapel, which had been long disused for\ndevotion; but, in the pulpit, as the safest place, was always to be\nfound a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a\ngreat apple-pie with thick crust, well baked. His table cost him not\nmuch, though it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef\nand mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the best of fish. He never\nwanted a London pudding; and he always sang it in with, \"_My part lies\ntherein-a._\" He drank a glass or two of wine at meals; put syrup of\ngilly-flowers into his sack; and had always a tun-glass of small-beer\nstanding by him, which he often stirred about with rosemary. He lived\nto be an hundred; and never lost his eyesight, nor used spectacles. He\ngot on horseback without help; and rode to the death of the stag, till\nhe was past fourscore.\"\n\n\nPERFUMED BANQUETS OF THE ANCIENTS.\n\nA very remarkable peculiarity in the banquets of the ancients was,\ntheir not confining the resources of the table to the gratification of\none sense alone. Having exhausted their invention in the confection\nof stimulants for the palate, they broke new ground, and called in\nanother sense to their aid; and by the delicate application of odours\nand richly-distilled perfumes, these refined voluptuaries aroused the\nfainting appetite, and added a more exquisite and ethereal enjoyment\nto the grosser pleasures of the board. The gratification of the sense\nof smelling (a sense held by us in very undeserved neglect, probably\non account of its delicacy) was a subject of no little importance\nto the Romans. However this may be, it is certain that the Romans\nconsidered flowers as forming a very essential article in their festal\npreparations; and it is the opinion of Bassius, that at their desserts\nthe number of flowers far exceeded that of fruits. When Nero supped\nin his Golden House, a mingled shower of flowers and odorous essences\nfell upon him; and one of Heliogabalus' recreations was to smother\nhis courtiers with flowers, of whom it may be said, they \"died of a\nrose in aromatic pain.\" Nor was it entirely as an object of luxury\nthat the ancients made use of flowers; they were considered to possess\nsanative and medicinal qualities. According to Pliny, Athenaeus, and\nPlutarch, certain herbs and flowers were of sovereign power to prevent\nthe approaches of ebriety, or, as Bassius less clearly expresses it,\nclarify the functions of the brain.\n\n\nCHINESE BRIDGES.\n\nOf Chinese bridges, some have been very much exaggerated in the\naccounts by Du Halde and the missionaries, as it appears from the\nlater reports concerning the bridge at Foo-chow-foo, visited during\nthe unsuccessful commercial voyage of the ship \"Amherst,\" in 1832, and\nsince the war become familiar to our countrymen. This same bridge,\nwhich proved a very poor structure after all, had been extolled by\nthe Jesuits as something quite extraordinary. A bridge of ninety-one\narches, being in fact a very long causeway, was passed by Lord\nMacartney between Soo-chow and Hang-chow, and near the Lake called\nTae-hoo. The highest arch, however, was supposed to be between twenty\nand thirty feet in height, and the whole length of the causeway half\na mile. It was thrown across an arm of the lake, on the eastern side\nof the canal. The late Sir George Staunton observed a bridge between\nPeking and Tartary, built across a river which was subject to being\nswelled by mountain floods. This was erected upon caissons of wattles\nfilled with stones. It appeared to have been built with expedition,\nand at small cost, where the most solid bridge would be endangered by\ninundations. The caissons were fixed by large perpendicular spars, and\nover the whole were laid planks, hurdles, and gravel. It was only in\nKeang-nan that solid bridges were observed to be thrown over the canal,\nbeing constructed of coarse grey marble, or of a reddish granite. Some\nof the arches were semicircular, others the transverse section of an\nellipse, and others again approached the shape of a horseshoe, or\nGreek [Greek: capital Omega], the space being widest at top. In the\nornamental bridges that adorn gardens and pleasure-grounds, the arch is\noften of height sufficient to admit a boat under sail, and the bridge\nis ascended by steps.\n\n[Illustration [++] Chinese Bridge.]\n\nAll the stones of a Chinese arch are commonly wedge-shaped, their\nsides forming radii which converge towards the centre of the curve.\nIt is observable that, according to the opinion of Captain Parish,\nwho surveyed and made plans of the Great Wall, no masonry could be\nsuperior to it. The arched and vaulted work was considered by him as\nexceedingly well turned. The Chinese, therefore, must have understood\nthe construction and properties of the arch long before the Greeks and\nRomans, whose original and most ancient edifices consisted of columns,\nconnected by straight architraves, of bulk sufficient to support the\nincumbent pressure of solid masonry.\n\n\nSOCIABLE WEAVER-BIRD.\n\nThere are some birds whose social instinct impels them to live in\ncompany, and to unite their powers in the construction of a common\nedifice: in this respect resembling the Beaver among quadrupeds, and\nthe Bee among insects. Among these we may mention the Ani (_Crotophaga\nani_) of the West Indies; the Pensile Grosbeak (_Loxia pensilis_)\nof West Africa; and the Bottle-nested Sparrow of India: but more\nremarkable than any of these is the Sociable Grosbeak (_Loxia\nsocialis_) of South Africa, whose habits are described by Le Vaillant.\n\n\"Figure to yourself,\" says this enterprising traveller, \"a huge,\nirregular, sloping roof, with all the eaves completely covered with\nnests, crowded close together, and you will have a tolerably correct\nidea of these singular edifices.\" The birds commence this structure by\nforming the immense canopy of a mass of grass, so compact and firmly\nbasketed together as to be impenetrable to the rain. This sometimes\nsurrounds a large tree, giving it, but for the upper branches, somewhat\nthe form of a mushroom. Beneath the eaves of this canopy the nests\nare formed; the upper surface is not used for this purpose, but as it\nis sloping, with a projecting rim, it serves to let the rain-water\nrun off, and preserves each little dwelling from the wet. Le Vaillant\nprocured one of these great shelters, and cut it in pieces with a\nhatchet: the chief portion consisted of Boshman's grass, so compact\nas to be impenetrable by rain. Each nest is three or four inches in\ndiameter, which is sufficient for the bird; but, as they are all close\ntogether around the eaves, they appear to the eye to form but one\nbuilding, and, in fact, are distinguishable from each other only by a\nlittle external aperture, which serves as an entrance to the nest. This\nlarge nest contained 320 inhabited cells.\n\n[Illustration: Nest of Sociable Weaver Bird.]\n\n\nWOLVES IN ENGLAND.\n\nKing Edward the First commissioned Peter Corbet to destroy the wolves\nin the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and\nStafford; and ordered John Gifford to hunt them in all the forests of\nEngland.\n\nThe forest of Chiltern was infested by wolves and wild bulls in the\ntime of Edward the Confessor. William the Conqueror granted the\nlordship of Riddesdale, in Northumberland, to Robert de Umfraville,\non condition of defending that part of the country against enemies and\nwolves. King John gave a premium of ten shillings for catching two\nwolves.\n\nIn the reign of King Henry the Third Vitalis de Engaine held the manors\nof Laxton and Pitchley, in the county of Northampton, by the service\nof hunting the wolf, whenever the king should command him. In the\nreign of Edward the First, it was found by inquisition that John de\nEngaine held the manor of Great Gidding, in the county of Huntingdon,\nby the service of hunting the hare, fox, wild cat, and wolf, within the\ncounties of Huntingdon, Northampton, Buckingham, Oxford, and Rutland.\nIn the reign of Edward the Third, Thomas de Engaine held certain manors\nby the service of finding, at his own proper cost, certain dogs for the\ndestruction of wolves, foxes, martins, and wild cats in the counties of\nNorthampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and Buckingham.\n\n\nTEMPLES OF BRAMBANAM.\n\nIn the island of Java, and not far from the ruins of Boro Buddor,\nare situated the Buddhist temples of Brambanam; certainly one of the\nmost extraordinary groups of buildings of its class, and very unlike\nanything we now find in India; though there can scarcely be a doubt but\nthat the whole is derived from an Indian original now lost.\n\nThe great temple is a square building above 45 ft. square, and 75 ft.\nhigh, terminating upwards in an octagonal straight-lined pyramid. On\neach face of this is a smaller temple of similar design joined to the\ngreat one by corridors; the whole five thus constituting a cruciform\nbuilding. It is raised upon a richly ornamented square base. One of\nthe smaller temples serves as an entrance-porch. The building itself\nis very curiously and richly ornamented with sculpture; but the most\nremarkable feature of the whole group is the multitude of smaller\ntemples which surround the central one, 239 in number. Immediately\nbeyond the square terrace which supports the central temple stand 28\nof these, forming a square of 8 on each side, counting the angular\nones both ways. Beyond these, at a distance of 35 ft., is the second\nsquare, 44 in number; between this and the next row is a wide space of\nabove 80 ft., in which only 6 temples are situated, two in the centre\nof the north and south faces, and one on each of the others. The two\nouter rows of temples are situated close to one another, back to back,\nand are 160 in number, each face of the square they form being about\n525 ft. All these 239 temples are similar to one another, about 12 ft.\nsquare at the base, and 22 ft. high, all richly carved and ornamented,\nand in every one is a small square cell, in which was originally placed\na cross-legged figure, probably of one of the Jaina saints, though\nthe drawings which have been hitherto published do not enable us to\ndetermine whom they represent--the persons who made them not being\naware of the distinction between Buddhist and Jaina images.\n\nThe date given to these monuments by the natives is about the 9th or\n10th century, at which time the Jains were making great progress at\nGuzerat and the western parts of India; and if the traditions are to\nbe relied upon, which bring the Hindu colonists of Java from that\nquarter, it is almost certain that they would have brought that\nreligion with them. If the age, however, that is assigned to them be\ncorrect, they are specimens of an earlier date and form than anything\nwe now find in India, and less removed from the old Buddhist type than\nanything that now remains there.\n\n\nGRAHAM ISLAND.\n\nThe most recent instance of subaqueous eruption, with which we are\nacquainted is that which produced Hotham or Graham Island, in the year\n1831. This island was thrown up in the Mediterranean, between the\nsouth-west coast of Sicily and the African coast, in latitude 37 deg. 8'\n30\" north, and longitude 12 deg. 42' 15\" east. The eruption seems to have\nbeen first observed by John Corrao, the captain of a Sicilian vessel,\nwho passing near to the spot on the 10th of July, observed an immense\ncolumn of water ejected from the sea to the height of sixty feet, and\nabout eight hundred yards in circumference.\n\nOn the 16th of July, Corrao again passed the same spot, and he found\nthat a small island had been formed, twelve feet high, with a crater in\nthe centre, from which immense columns of vapour and masses of volcanic\nmatter were ejected.\n\nThe island was afterwards visited by several scientific gentlemen,\nand is said to have been two hundred feet high, and three miles in\ncircumference, on the 4th of August. But from this time the island\ndecreased in size; for being composed of loose scoriae and pumice, it\nwas rapidly acted upon by the water; and on the 3rd of September, when\ncarefully measured by Captain Wodehouse, was only three-fifths of a\nmile in circumference, and one hundred and seven feet high. At the end\nof October the island had entirely disappeared, except one small point\ncomposed of sand and scoriae. Captain Swinburne examined the spot in the\nbeginning of the year 1832, and found an extensive shoal to occupy the\nplace where the island had once been. In 1833 there was a dangerous\nreef, of an oval form, three-fifths of a mile in circumference.\n\n\nA ROYAL SPORTSMAN.\n\nWhen the King of Naples (the greatest sportsman in Europe) was in\nGermany, about the year 1792, it was said in the German papers, that\nin the different times he had been shooting in Austria, Bohemia, and\nMoravia, he had killed 5 bears, 1,820 wild boars, 1,968 stags, 13\nwolves, 354 foxes, 15,350 pheasants, 1,121 rabbits, 16,354 hares, 1,625\nshe-goats, 1,625 roebucks, and 12,435 partridges.\n\n\nLIFE IN DEATH.\n\nThe wife of the consul of Cologne, Retchmuth, apparently died of the\nplague, in 1571; a ring of great value, with which she was buried,\ntempted the cupidity of the grave-digger, and was the cause of many\nfuture years of happiness. At night the purloiner marched to his\nplunder, and she revived. She lived to be the mother of three children,\nand, when deceased in reality, was re-buried in the same church,\nwhere a monument was erected, reciting the particulars above stated\nin German verse. A woman of Poictiers, being buried with four rings,\ntempted the resurrection-man, who _awoke_ the woman in the attempt, as\nhe was rather rude in his mode of possessing them. She called out; he,\nbeing frightened, fled. The lady walked home, recovered, and had many\nchildren afterwards.\n\n\nROCK-CUT MONUMENTS OF ASIA MINOR.\n\nThe engraving below represents an example of rock-cut monuments which\nare found at Doganlu, in Asia Minor. They are placed on the rocky side\nof a narrow valley, and unconnected apparently with any great city or\ncentre of population. Generally they are called tombs, but there are\nno chambers nor anything about them to indicate a funereal purpose,\nand the inscriptions which accompany them are not on the monuments\nthemselves, nor do they refer to such a purpose. Altogether, they are\ncertainly among the most mysterious remains of antiquity, and, beyond\na certain similarity to the rock-cut tombs around Persepolis, it is\nnot easy to point out any monuments that afford even a remote analogy\nto guide us in our conjectures. They are of a style of art clearly\nindicating a wooden origin, and consist of a square frontispiece,\neither carved into certain geometric shapes, or prepared apparently\nfor painting; at each side is a flat pilaster, and above a pediment\nterminating in two scrolls. Some, apparently the more modern, have\npillars of a rude Doric order, and all indeed are much more curious\nthan beautiful. When more of the same class are discovered, they may\nhelp us to some historic data: all that we can now say of them is,\nthat, judging from their inscriptions and the traditions in Herodotus,\nthey seem to belong to some Indo-Germanic race from Thessaly, or\nthereabouts, who had crossed the Hellespont and settled in their\nneighbourhood; and their date is possibly as far back as 1000, and most\nprobably before 700 B.C.\n\n[Illustration [++] Rock-Cut Monument.]\n\n\nARCH OF TRAJAN AT BENEVENTUM.\n\nTriumphal arches were among the most peculiar forms of art which the\nRomans borrowed from those around them, and used with that strange\nmixture of splendour and bad taste which characterises all their works.\n\n[Illustration [++] Arch of Trajan at Beneventum.]\n\nThese were in the first instance no doubt borrowed from the Etruscans,\nas was also the ceremony of the triumph with which they were ultimately\nassociated. At first they seem rather to have been used as festal\nentrances to the great public roads, whose construction was considered\nas one of the most important benefits a ruler could confer on his\ncountry. There was one erected at Rimini in honour of an important\nrestoration of the Flaminian Way by Augustus; another at Susa in\nPiedmont, to commemorate a similar act of the same Emperor. Trajan\nbuilt one on the pier at Ancona, when he restored that harbour, and\nanother at Beneventum, when he repaired the Via Appia, represented in\nthe woodcut here given. It is one of the best preserved as well as\nmost graceful of its class in Italy. The arch of the Sergii at Pola\nin Istria seems also to have been erected for a like purpose. That of\nHadrian at Athens, and another built by him at Antinoe in Egypt, were\nmonuments merely commemorative of the benefits which he had conferred\non those cities by the architectural works he had erected within their\nwalls. By far the most important application of these gateways, in Rome\nat least, was to commemorate a triumph which may have passed along the\nroad over which the arch was erected beforehand, for the triumphal\nprocession to pass through, of which it would remain a memorial.\n\n\nJUDGES' SALARIES.\n\nIn the reign of Henry III. the King's Justices enjoyed a salary of ten\nmarks per annum, which, in the twenty-third year of that King, was\naugmented to twenty pounds, and soon after to more. Under Henry IV. the\nChief Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas had forty pounds,\nand one of the judges of Common Pleas had fifty-five marks. In 1466,\nthe salary of Thomas Littleton, judge of the King's Bench, amounted to\nL136 13s. 4d. modern money; besides about L17 7s. for his fur-gown,\nrobes, &c.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY OAK.\n\nGilpin, in his \"Forest Scenery,\" says, \"Close by the gate of the\nwater-walk at Magdalen College, in Oxford, grew an oak, which perhaps\nstood there a sapling when Alfred the Great founded the university.\nThis period only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no\ngreat age for an oak. It is a difficult matter indeed to ascertain the\nage of a tree. The age of a castle or abbey is the object of history;\neven a common house is recorded by the families that built it. All\nthese objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if I may so speak.\nBut the tree, gradually completing its growth, is not worth recording\nin the early part of its existence. It is then only a common tree;\nand afterwards, when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of\nits youth is lost. This tree, however, can almost produce historical\nevidence for the age assigned to it. About five hundred years after the\ntime of Alfred, William of Wainfleet, Dr. Stukely tells us, expressly\nordered his college to be founded near the Great Oak; and an oak could\nnot, I think, be less than five hundred years of age to merit that\ntitle, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. When\nthe magnificence of Cardinal Wolsey erected that handsome tower which\nis so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be\nin the meridian of its glory, or rather, perhaps, it had attained a\ngreen old age. But it must have been manifestly in its decline at that\nmemorable era when the tyranny of James gave the fellows of Magdalen so\nnoble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry and superstition. It was\nafterwards much injured in Charles the Second's time, when the present\nwalks were laid out. Its roots were disturbed, and from that period it\ndeclined fast, and became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere\ntrunk. The oldest members of the university can scarcely recollect it\nin better plight. But the faithful records of history have handed down\nits ancient dimensions. Through a space of sixteen yards on every side\nfrom its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and under its magnificent\npavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men, though in\nits decayed state it could for many years do little more than shelter\nsome luckless individual whom the driving shower had overtaken in his\nevening walk. In the summer of 1788, this magnificent ruin fell to the\nground, alarming the college with its rushing sound. It then appeared\nhow precariously it had stood for many years. Its grand tap-root was\ndecayed, and it had hold of the earth only by two or three roots, of\nwhich none was more than a couple of inches in diameter. From a part of\nits ruins a chair has been made for the President of the College, which\nwill long continue its memory.\"\n\n\nECCENTRIC ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following strange advertisement is copied from the Harleian MSS.:\n\"_In Nova fert Animus_. These are to give notice, (for the benefit of\nthe public,) that there is newly arrived from his travels, a gentleman,\nwho, after above forty years' study, hath, by a wonderful blessing on\nhis endeavours, discovered, as well the nature as the infallible cure\nof several strange diseases, which (though as yet not known to the\nworld) he will plainly demonstrate to any ingenious artist, to be the\ngreatest causes of the most common distempers incident to the body of\nman. The names of which take as follow:\n\n The strong fives\n The marthambles\n The moon-pall\n The hockogrocle.\n\n\"Now, though the names, natures, symptoms, and several cures of these\ndiseases, are altogether unknown to our greatest physicians, and the\nparticular knowledge of them would (if concealed) be a vast advantage\nto the aforesaid person; yet, he well knowing that his country's\ngood is to be preferred to his private interest, doth hereby promise\nall sorts of people, a faithful cure of all or any of the diseases\naforesaid, at as reasonable rates as our modern doctors have for that\nof any common distemper.\n\n\"He is spoken with at the ordinary hours of business, at the Three\nCompasses, in Maiden-lane.\"\n\n\nMODERN EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ckoo'r.]\n\nAmong the many ornaments which the women of Egypt in modern times\nare so fond of wearing, none is more curious or more generally worn\nthan the _Ckoo'r_. It is a round convex ornament, commonly about five\ninches in diameter, of which there are two kinds. The first that we\nshall describe, and which is the only kind worn by ladies, or by the\nwives of tradesmen of moderate property, is the _ckoor's alma's_, or\ndiamond ckoor's. This is composed of diamonds set generally in gold;\nand is open work, representing roses, leaves, &c. The diamonds are\ncommonly of a very poor and shallow kind; and the gold of this and all\nother diamond ornaments worn in Egypt is much alloyed with copper. The\nvalue of a moderately handsome diamond ckoor's is about a hundred and\ntwenty-five, or a hundred and fifty pounds sterling. It is very seldom\nmade of silver; and I think that those of gold, when attached to the\ndeep red turboo'sh, have a richer effect, though not in accordance\nwith our general taste. The wives even of petty tradesmen sometimes\nwear the diamond ckoor's: they are extremely fond of diamonds, and\ngenerally endeavour to get some, however bad. The ckoor's, being of\nconsiderable weight, is at first painful to wear; and women who are in\nthe habit of wearing it complain of headache when they take it off:\nhence they retain it day and night; but some have an inferior one\nfor the bed. Some ladies have one for ordinary wearing, another for\nparticular occasions, a little larger and handsomer; and a third merely\nto wear in bed. The other kind of ckoor's, _ckoor's dah'ab_ (or, of\ngold), is a convex plate of very thin embossed gold, and almost always\na false emerald (a piece of green glass), not cut with facets, set in\nthe centre. Neither the emerald nor the ruby are here cut with facets:\nif so cut, they would generally be considered false. The simple gold\nckoor's is lined with a thick coat of wax, which is covered with a\npiece of paper. It is worn by many women who cannot afford to purchase\ndiamonds; and even by some servants.\n\n\nANTIQUE ROMAN MEDICINE STAMP.\n\n[Illustration [++] Roman Medicine Stamp.]\n\nBy far the most remarkable of the recently discovered remains of\nthe Roman occupants of Scotland is a medicine stamp, acquired by\nthe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, along with a very valuable\ncollection of antiquities, bequeathed to them by E. W. A. Drummond\nHay, Esq., formerly one of the secretaries of the society. From his\nnotes it appears that it was found in the immediate vicinity of Trenent\nChurch, East Lothian, in a quantity of _debris_, broken tiles, and\nbrick-dust, which may not improbably have once formed the residence\nand laboratory of Lucius Vallatinus, the Roman oculist, whose name\nthis curious relic supplies. It consists of a small cube of pale\ngreen stone, two and three-fifth inches in length, and engraved on\ntwo sides as in the annexed woodcut; the letters being reversed for\nthe purpose of stamping the unguents or other medicaments retailed by\nits original possessor. The inscriptions admit of being extended thus\non the one side: L. VALLATINI EVODES AD CICATRICES ET ASPRITUDINES,\nwhich may be rendered--The evodes of Lucius Vallatinus for cicatrices\nand granulations. The reverse, though in part somewhat more obscure,\nreads: L. VALLATINI A PAL{O} CR{O}CODES AD DIATHESES--The crocodes, or\npreparation of saffron, of L. Vallatinus, of the Palatine School,\n(?) for affections of the eyes. Both the Euodes and the Crocodes are\nprescriptions given by Galen, and occur on other medicine stamps.\nSeveral examples have been found in England, and many in France and\nGermany, supplying the names of their owners and the terms of their\npreparations. Many of the latter indicate their chief use for diseases\nof the eye, and hence they have most commonly received the name of\nRoman oculists' stamps. No example, however, except the one figured\nhere, has ever occurred in Scotland; and amid legionary inscriptions,\nmilitary votive altars, and sepulchral tablets, it is peculiarly\ninteresting to stumble on this intelligent memento, restoring to us the\nname of the old Roman physician who ministered to the colonists of the\nLothians the skill, and perchance also the charlatanry, of the healing\nart.\n\n\nCANDLES IN THE CHURCH.\n\nIn the formulae of Marculphus, edited by Jerome Bignon, he tells us,\nwith respect to lights, that the use of them was of great antiquity\nin the church; that the primitive Christians made use of them in the\nassemblies which they held before day out of necessity; and that\nafterwards they were retained even in daylight, as tokens of joy, and\nin honour of the Deity. Lactantius says, speaking of the absurdities\nof the wax lights in Romish churches, \"They light up candles to God,\nas if he lived in the dark; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen\nwho offer lamps and candles to the author and giver of light?\" It is\nreally astounding to our ideas that wax candles as long as serjeants'\npikes should be held as necessary in the worship of God. That it is so\nheld, and that by a large class of Christians, every one must allow,\nfor they may have occular demonstration of the singular fact. The show\nis however extremely imposing. Thirty-five thousand seven hundred and\nfifty pounds of wax lights were burned every year, for nine hundred\nmasses said in the castle of Wittemburgh! Philip Melancthon speaks of a\nJesuit who said that \"he would not extinguish one taper, though it were\nto convert all the Huguenots\" (Protestants).\n\n\nA RICH AND CRUEL CRIMINAL.\n\nJohn Ward, Esq. of Hackney, Member of Parliament, being prosecuted by\nthe Duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first expelled\nfrom the House, and then stood on the pillory on the 17th of March,\n1727. He was suspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blount,\nto secrete L50,000 of that director's estate, forfeited to the South\nSea Company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the L50,000\nagainst Ward; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his\nbrother and son, and concealed all his personal, which was computed\nto be L150,000. These conveyances being also set aside by a bill in\nchancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life,\nby not giving in his effects till the last day, which was that of his\nexamination. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison\nto dogs and cats, and see them expire by slower or quicker torments. To\nsum up the _worth_ of this man, at the several eras of his life; at his\nstanding in the pillory, he was worth above L200,000; at his commitment\nto prison, he was worth L150,000.\n\n\nFOOD OF THE ANCIENTS.\n\nThe diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles\nof food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science\nof cookery prepares them. The notions of the ancients on this most\nimportant subject are worthy of remark. Their taste regarding meat\nwas various. Beef they considered the most substantial food: hence\nit constituted the chief nourishment of their athletae. Camels' and\ndromedaries' flesh was much esteemed, their heels most especially.\nDonkey-flesh was in high repute: Maecenas, according to Pliny, delighted\nin it; and the wild ass, brought from Africa, was compared to venison.\nIn more modern times we find Chancellor Dupret having asses fattened\nfor his table. The hog and the wild boar appear to have been held in\ngreat estimation; and a hog was called \"animal propter convivia natum;\"\nbut the classical portion of the sow was somewhat singular--\"vulva\nnil dulcius ampla.\" Their mode of killing swine was as refined in\nbarbarity as in epicurism. Plutarch tells us that the gravid sow was\nactually trampled to death, to form a delicious mass fit for the gods.\nAt other times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot spits, that the\nblood might not be lost. Stuffing a pig with assafoetida and various\nsmall animals, was a luxury called \"porcus Trojanus;\" alluding, no\ndoubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the Trojan horse. Young\nbears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed upon\ngrapes,) were also much admired by the Romans; who were also so fond of\nvarious birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those\nthey most esteemed. Catius tells us how to drown fowls in Falernian\nwine, to render them more luscious and tender. Pheasants were brought\nover from Colchis, and deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of\nthe Ptolemies bitterly lamented his never having tasted any. Peacocks\nwere carefully reared in the island of Samos, and sold at such a high\nprice, that Varro informs us they fetched yearly upwards of L2,000 of\nour money.\n\n\nTHE EARLIEST ENGLISH BIBLE.\n\nThe first translation of any part of the Holy Scriptures into English\nthat was committed to the press was the New Testament, translated from\nthe Greek, by William Tyndale, with the assistance of John Foye and\nWilliam Roye, and printed first in 1526, in octavo.\n\nTyndale published afterwards, in 1530, a translation of the Five Books\nof Moses, and of Jonah, in 1531, in octavo. An English translation of\nthe Psalter, done from the Latin of Martin Bucer, was also published\nat Strasburgh in 1530, by Francis Foye, in octavo. And the same book,\ntogether with Jeremiah and the Song of Moses, were likewise published\nin 1534, in duodecimo, by George Joye, sometime Fellow of Peter-House\nin Cambridge.\n\nThe first time the whole Bible appeared in English was in the year\n1535, in folio. The translator and publisher was Miles Coverdale,\nafterwards Bishop of Exeter, who revised Tyndale's version, compared\nit with the original, and supplied what had been left untranslated\nby Tyndale. It was printed at Zurich, and dedicated to King Henry\nthe Eighth. This was the Bible, which by Cromwell's injunction of\nSeptember, 1536, was ordered to be laid in churches.\n\n\nGREAT ERUPTION OF MOUNT ETNA.\n\nOne of the most remarkable eruptions of this mountain was that which\noccurred in the year 1669, which was so violent that fifteen towns\nand villages were destroyed, and the stream was so deep that the lava\nflowed over the walls of Catania, sixty feet in height, and destroyed\na part of the city. But the most singular circumstance connected with\nthis eruption was the formation of a number of extensive fissures,\nwhich appeared as though filled with intumescent rock. At the very\ncommencement of the volcanic excitement, one was formed in the plain\nof St. Lio, twelve miles in length and six feet broad, which ejected\na vivid flame, and shortly after five others were opened. The town of\nNicolosi, situated twenty miles from the summit of Etna, was destroyed\nby earthquake; and near the place where it stood two gulfs were formed,\nfrom which so large a quantity of sand and scoriae was thrown, that\na cone, called Mount Rossi, four hundred and fifty feet high, was\nproduced in about three months.\n\n\nAMULETS WORN BY MODERN EGYPTIAN FEMALES.\n\n[Illustration [++] Amulet.]\n\nOne of the most remarkable traits in modern Egyptian superstition is\nthe belief in written charms. The composition of most of these amulets\nis founded upon magic, and occasionally employs the pen of almost\nevery village schoolmaster in Egypt. A person of this description,\nhowever, seldom pursues the study of magic further than to acquire\nthe formulae of a few charms, commonly consisting, for the greater\npart, of certain passages of the Koran, and names of God, together\nwith those of spirits, genii, prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed\nwith combinations of numerals, and with diagrams, all of which are\nsupposed to have great secret virtues. The amulet thus composed, or\n_hhega'b_, as it is called, is covered with waxed cloth, to preserve\nit from accidental pollution, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed\ngold or silver, which is attached to a silk string, or a chain, hung\non the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed\nover the left shoulder. Sometimes these cases bear Arabic inscriptions,\nsuch as \"Ma'sha-lla'h\" (\"God's will\") and \"Ya'cha'dee el-hhaga't\" (\"O\ndecreer of the things that are needful!\") We here insert an engraving\nof three hhega'bs of gold, attached to a string, to be worn together.\nThe central one is a thin, flat case, containing a folded paper: it is\nabout a third of an inch thick; the others are cylindrical cases, with\nhemispherical ends, and contain scrolls: each has a row of burck along\nthe bottom. Hhega'bs such as these, or of a triangular form, are worn\nby many children, as well as women; and those of the latter form are\nattached to a child's head-dress.\n\n\nPERSONAL ORNAMENTS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.\n\nThe passion of the Egyptians for decorative jewellery was indeed\nexcessive. Men as well as women delighted thus to adorn themselves;\nand the desire was not confined to the higher ranks, for though the\nsubordinate classes could not afford the sparkling gems and precious\nmetals which glowed upon the persons of their superiors, their vanity\nwas gratified by humbler imitations, of bronze, glass, and porcelain.\n\n\"Costly and elegant ornaments,\" observes Professor Rosselini, \"abounded\nin proportion as clothing in general was simple and scarce among the\nEgyptians. Girdles, necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, and amulets of\nvarious kinds suspended from the neck, are found represented in the\npainting, and in fact still exist on the mummies. Figures of noble\nyouths are found entirely devoid of clothing, but richly ornamented\nwith necklaces and other jewels.\"\n\nAn immense number of these \"jewels of silver and jewels of gold\"\nhave been found in the tombs, and on the persons of mummies, and are\ndeposited in profusion in every museum. The accompanying engravings\nwill give an idea of the style and form of some of them.\n\n[Illustration [++] Personal Ornaments.]\n\nThe ear-rings generally worn by the ladies were large, round, single\nhoops (as _a_) from 1-1/2 inches to 2-1/3 inches in diameter; and\nfrequently of a still greater size; or made of six rings soldered\ntogether (as _b_); sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold, set with\nprecious stones, was worn by persons of rank as a fashionable caprice.\nFigures _c_, _d_, of gold bear the heads of fanciful animals; _e_,\nalso of gold, is remarkable for its singularity of form, and for the\ndelicacy of its workmanship; and _f_ for its carrying two pearls and\nbeing double in its construction.\n\n[Illustration [++] Ear-Rings.]\n\nBracelets, armlets, and anklets were worn by men as well as by women;\nthey were usually of gold, frequently set with precious stones, or\ninlaid with enamel. The one marked _a_ in the annexed cut is now in the\nLeyden Museum: it is of gold, 3 inches in diameter, and 1-1/2 inches in\nheight, and is interesting, because it belonged to the Pharaoh whom we\nconclude to have been the patron and friend of Joseph, Thothmes III.,\nwhose name it bears. The armlet _b_ is of gold, and represents a snake;\nthe other, _c_, is of bronze. Rings were worn in profusion, gold being\nthe material chiefly selected. Some resemble watch seals of the present\nday--sometimes the stone having four flat sides, all engraved, turned\non a pivot, like some seals seen at present. One of this character,\nwhich Sir J. G. Wilkinson estimates to contain 20_l._ worth of gold,\nis represented at _d_ in the above engraving. It consists of a massive\nring of gold, bearing an oblong plinth of the same metal, an inch in\nlength, and more than half an inch in its greatest width. On one side\nis engraved the hieroglyphic name of Storus, the successor of Amunoph\nIII.; the three others contain respectively a scorpion, a crocodile,\nand a lion.\n\n\nGREAT PEAR TREE.\n\nThe most remarkable pear tree in England stands on the glebe of the\nparish of Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire. When the branches of this\ntree, in its original state, became long and heavy, their extremities\ndrooped till they reached the ground. They then took root; each branch\nbecame a new tree, and in its turn produced others in the same way.\nEventually it extended itself until it covered more than an acre of\nground, and would probably have reached much further if it had been\nsuffered to do so. It is stated in the church register, that \"the great\nnatural curiosity, the great pear tree upon the glebe, adjoining to the\nvicarage-house, produced this year (1776) fourteen hogsheads of perry,\neach hogshead containing one hundred gallons.\" Though now much reduced\nin size, it is still healthy and vigorous, and generally produces from\ntwo to five hogsheads. The liquor is not of a good quality, being very\nstrong and heating. An idea of the superior size of this tree, when in\nits prime, over others of the same kind, may be formed from the fact,\nthat in the same county, an acre of ground is usually planted with\nthirty trees, which, in a good soil, produce annually, when full grown,\ntwenty gallons of perry each. So large a quantity as a hogshead from\none tree is very unusual. The sorts principally used for perry are such\nas have an austere juice.\n\n\nLAW OF THE MOZCAS.\n\nA very remarkable law prevailed among the Mozcas, one of the tribes\nof the Nuevo Reyno de Granada. There, as among more advanced nations,\nthe king could do no wrong; but the subordinate chiefs could. These\nchiefs were men, the people reasoned, like themselves; they could not\nbe punished by their vassals, for there would be a natural unfitness\nin that; the king, it seems, was not expected to interfere, except\nin cases of state offences; the power of punishment, therefore, was\nvested in their wives; and a power it was, says Piedrahita, which they\nexercised famously whenever it fell to them to be judges of their poor\nhusbands. The conqueror Quesada calling one morning upon the chief of a\nplace called Suesca, found him under the hands of his nine wives, who\nwere tying him, and having done so, proceeded, in spite of Quesada's\nintercession, to flog him one after the other. His offence was, that\nsome Spaniards the night before had lodged in his house, and he had\npartaken too freely of their Spanish wine. Drunkenness was one of the\nsins which fell under the cognizance of his wives: they carried him\nto bed that he might sleep himself sober, and then awoke him in the\nmorning to receive the rigour of the law.\n\n\nLARGEST METAL STATUE IN THE WORLD.\n\nArona is an island on the Lago Maggiore, and has a strong castle. Upon\nan eminence is a statue of bronze to St. Charles Borromeo, from whom\nthe hill is called, Monte di S. Carlo. The statue was erected by the\nPope in 1624, in memory of the Saint, who was Archbishop of Milan.\nThe pedestal of the statue is thirty-six feet high. It is the largest\nmetal statue in existence; and the height of the statue itself is\nseventy-two feet, making a total of 108 feet. Fifteen persons may get\ninto the saint's head, which will also accommodate four persons and a\ntable on which they can dine. The cost is said to have been one million\none hundred Milanaise livres.\n\n\nTHE OAK OF MAMRE.\n\nIn one remarkable instance the Jews, the Christians, and the pagan\nArabs united in religious feelings. This was in their reverence for\nthe Oak of Mamre, where the angels appeared to Abraham: for Abraham's\nsake the Jews held the place holy; the Arabs for the angels'; the\nChristians, because, in their ignorance of their Scriptures, they\naffirmed that the Son of God had accompanied those angels to destroy\nSodom and Gomorrah. An annual fair was held there, and every man\nsacrificed after the manner of his country; nor was the meeting ever\ndisgraced by any act of intemperance or indecency. Nothing had been\ndone to injure the venerable antiquity of the place. There was nothing\nbut the well which Abraham had dug, and the buildings which he had\ninhabited, beside the oak. These remains were destroyed by order of\nConstantine, in abhorrence of the _impious_ toleration exhibited\nthere! A church was built upon the spot, and Mamre, so interesting to\nthe poet, the philosopher, and the pious man, became a mere den of\nsuperstition.\n\n\nSTRANGE ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following appeared in the _Evening Post_, May 23rd, 1730:--\n\n\"I, Elizabeth, duchess dowager of Hamilton, acknowledge I have for\nseveral months been ill in my health, but never speechless, as certain\npenny authors have printed; and so, to confute these said authors\nand their intelligence, it is thought by my most intimate friends,\n_it is the very last thing that will happen to me_. I am so good an\nEnglishwoman, that I would not have my countrymen imposed upon by\npurchasing false authors; therefore, have ordered this to be printed\nthat they may know what papers to buy and believe, that are not to be\nbribed by those who may have private ends for false reports. The copy\nof this is left in the hands of Mr. Berington, to be shown to any body\nwho has a curiosity to see it signed with my own hand.\n\n \"E. HAMILTON.\"\n\n\nINTERMITTENT SPRINGS.\n\nOne of the most remarkable of these is at Bolder-Born in Westphalia.\nAfter flowing for twenty-four hours, it entirely ceases for the\nspace of six hours. It then returns with a loud noise, in a stream\nsufficiently powerful to turn three mills very near its source. Another\nspring of the same nature occurs at Bihar in Hungary, which issues many\ntimes a day, from the foot of a mountain, in such a quantity as in a\nfew minutes to fill the channel of a considerable stream.\n\nThe Lay Well near Torbay, ebbs and flows sixteen times in an hour: and\nin Giggleswick Well in Yorkshire, the water sometimes rises and falls\nin ten or fifteen minutes.\n\nSt. Anthony's Well, on Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, has a similar\nmovement, but on a smaller scale.\n\nIn Savoy, near the lake of Bourget, is another spring of this kind, but\nit differs from those which have been already mentioned in being very\nuncertain in its intervals.\n\n\nCURIOUS JEWEL WHICH BELONGED TO JAMES I.\n\nIn former times it was a common practice with princes and nobles to\nhave elaborate articles of jewellery constructed in such forms as had\na religious and emblematical signification. An inventory of the Dukes\nof Burgundy, made in 1396, speaks of a _fleur-de-lys_ which opened,\nand contained inside a picture of the Crucifixion. In 1416, the Duke\nof Berri had \"a fair apple,\" which opened, and contained within on one\nside the figure of Christ, and on the other that of the Virgin. Among\nthe jewels of the Dukes of Burgundy in 1392 there were two pears of\ngold, enamelled, each containing an image of Our Lady. We find similar\nentries in the other different inventories of the Dukes of Burgundy:\nAn apple of silver, enamelled, containing in the inside a picture of\nSt. Catherine, in 1400; a pine-apple of gold, which contained figures\nof the birth of Christ, and of the three kings, in 1467; and, in the\nsame year, two apples of gold, one containing, on the opposite halves,\nOur Lady and St. Paul, the other, St. Peter and St. Paul--the latter\nsuspended by three small chains. These kinds of devices continued in\nfashion till a much later period, and a very curious example, from the\ncollection of Lord Londesborough, which appears to have belonged to\nKing James I., is here engraved.\n\n[Illustration [++] Small Skull.]\n\n[Illustration [++] Apple.]\n\nThe whole is of silver, and the leaves appear to have been painted\ngreen. On opening it we find in the inside the small skull here\nrepresented above the apple. The top of the skull opens like a lid,\nand inside are two small paintings, representing the Creation and the\nResurrection, with the inscription, \"_Post Mortem, vita eternitas_.\"\nThe external inscription is not gallant. To give the apple externally\na more natural appearance, there are marks of two bites on the side\nopposite that here represented, showing a large and small set of teeth.\n\n\nSTRANGE CURIOSITIES.\n\nIn the Anatomy Hall of Leyden is a drinking cup of the skull of a Moor,\nkilled in the beleaguring of Haerlem. Also a cup made of a double brain\npan. We observe also that No. 51 is the skin of a woman, and No. 52 the\nskin of a woman, prepared like leather; No. 53 the skin of a Malacca\nwoman, above 150 years old, presented by Richard Snolk, who probably\nhad her flayed.\n\n\nTHE CROSS OF CONG.\n\nThe cross, of which the following is a correct representation,\npossesses eminent claims to a place among our curiosities, since it\nconstitutes the gem of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.\n\n[Illustration [++] Cross of Kong.]\n\nThis cross was made at Roscommon, by native Irishmen, about the year\n1123, in the reign of Turlogh O'Connor, father of Roderick, the last\nmonarch of Ireland, and contains what was supposed to be a piece of the\ntrue cross, as inscriptions in Irish, and Latin in the Irish character,\nupon two of its sides record. The engraving affords a correct idea of\nthe original, as the extremely minute and elaborate ornaments with\nwhich it is completely covered, and a portion of which is worked in\npure gold, could not possibly be expressed on so reduced a scale. The\nornaments generally consist of tracery and grotesque animals fancifully\ncombined, and similar in character to the decorations found upon\ncrosses of stone of about the same period. A large crystal, through\nwhich a portion of the wood which the cross was formed to enshrine is\nvisible, is set in the centre.\n\n\nFOOT-RACING IN 1699.\n\nA remarkable foot-race was run about the year 1699, which is thus\ndescribed in the manuscript journal of a lady who was one of the\nspectators:--\"I drove through the forest of Windsor to see a race run\nby two footmen, an English and a Scotch, the former a taller bigger man\nthan the other. The ground measured and cut even in a round was about\nfour miles; they were to run it round so often as to make up twenty-two\nmiles, which was the distance between Charing Cross and Windsor Cross,\nthat is, five times quite round, and so far as to make up the odd\nmiles and measure. They ran a round in twenty-five minutes. I saw them\nrun the first three rounds and half another in an hour and seventeen\nminutes, and they finished it in two hours and a half. The Englishman\ngained the start the second round, and kept it at the same distance the\nfive rounds, and then the Scotchman came up to him and got before him\nto the post. The Englishman fell down within a few yards of the post.\nMany hundred pounds were won and lost about it. They ran both very\nneatly, but my judgment gave it to the Scotchman, because he seemed to\nsave himself to the last push.\"\n\n\nTHE CHERRY TREE.\n\nThe Cherry Tree was introduced into Great Britain before A.D. 53. The\nearliest mention of the fruit being exposed to sale by hawkers in\nLondon is in Henry the Fifth's reign, 1415. New sorts were introduced\nfrom Flanders, by Richard Haines, Henry the Eighth's fruiterer, and\nbeing planted in Kent were called \"Flanders,\" or \"Kentish Cherries,\" of\nwhich Gerard (1597) says, \"They have a better juice, but watery, cold,\nand moist.\" Philips says, \"There is an account of a cherry-orchard of\nthirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the year 1540, produced fruit that\nsold in those early days, for 1,000_l._; which seems an enormous sum,\nas at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per\nacre.\" Evelyn tells us, that in his time (1662) an acre planted with\ncherries, one hundred miles from London, had been let at 10_l._ During\nthe Commonwealth (1649), the manor and mansion of Henrietta Maria,\nQueen of Charles I., at Wimbledon, in Surrey, were surveyed previously\nto being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred\ncherry trees in the gardens. Since that time the cherry tree has found\nuniversal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards.\n\n\nINSTRUCTIONS TO A CHAPLAIN.\n\nThe following, and we believe they are unique, are Sir John Wynne of\nGwedir's instructions to his chaplain, the Rev. John Pryce. \"First, you\nshall have the chamber I showed you in my gate, private to yourself,\nwith lock and key, and all necessaries. In the morning, I expect you\nshould rise, and say prayers in my hall, to my household below, before\nthey go to work, and when they come in at night, that you call before\nyou all the workmen, specially the youth, and take account of them\nof their belief, and of what Sir Meredith taught them. I beg you to\ncontinue for the most part in the lower house: you are to have onlye\nwhat is done there, that you may inform me of any disorder there. There\nis a bayliff of husbandry and a porter, who will be commanded by you.\nThe morning after you be up, and have said prayers, as afore, I would\nyou to bestow in study on any commendable exercise of your body. Before\ndinner you are to come up and attend grace or prayers, if there be any\npublicke; and to sit up if there be not greater strangers above the\nchyldren, who you are to teach in your own chamber. When the table\nfrom half downwards is taken up, then you are to rise and to walk in\nthe alleys near at hand until grace time, and to come in then for that\npurpose. After dinner, if I be busy, you may go to bowles, shuffel\nbord, or any other honest, decent recreation, until I go abroad. If\nyou see me void of business, and go to ride abroad, you shall command\na gelding to be made ready by the grooms of the stable, and to go with\nme. If I go to bowles or shuffel bord, I shall lyke of your company,\nif the place be not made up with strangers. I would have you to go\nevery Sunday in the year to some church hereabouts, to preache, giving\nwarnynge to the parish, to bring the yowths at after noon to the church\nto be catechysed; in which poynt is my greatest care that you should\nbe paynfull and dylygent. Avoyd the alehouse, to sytte and keepe\ndrunkard's company ther, being the greatest discredit your function can\nhave.\"\n\n\nTWO MISERS.\n\nIn the year 1778 died, at a village near Reading, John Jackson,\naged ninety-three, and James Jackson, aged eighty-seven. These two\nbrothers were old bachelors, and afforded a striking instance of the\ninsufficiency of wealth to create happiness. Though these old men had\nbeen blest with great riches ever since they were twenty years of age,\nthey absolutely denied themselves the common necessaries of life;\nand lived in the village for fifty years past as poor men, and often\naccepted of charity from rich persons who resided near them. They never\nsuffered any woman or man to come into their apartment (which was only\none shabby room), and were both taken ill, and languishing a short\ntime, they expired on the same day, within one hour of each other. It\nis computed, by the writings left behind them, that they died worth\nL150,000.\n\n\nANECDOTE OF THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK.\n\nThe following anecdote relating to the august House of Brunswick\nis taken from the \"Annual Register\" of 1765:--\"The late Duchess of\nBlakenburgh, great grandmother to the hereditary prince, who died\nsome years since in a very advanced age, had the singular happiness\nto reckon amongst her posterity, sixty-two princes and princesses;\n(fifty-three of whom she saw at one time alive;) and amongst them three\nemperors, two empresses, two kings, and two queens; a circumstance\nthat, probably, no sovereign house but that of Brunswick ever produced\nanything like it.\"\n\n\nAMUSEMENTS OF SOME LEARNED AUTHORS.\n\nTycho Brahe polished glass for spectacles, and made mathematical\ninstruments. D'Andilly delighted, like our Evelyn, in forest-trees;\nBalzac, with the manufacturing of crayons; Pieresc, with his medals and\nantiques; the Abbe de Marolles, with engravings; Rohault's greatest\nrecreation was in seeing different mechanics at their labour; Arnauld\nread the most trashy novels for relaxation; as did our Warburton, the\nlate Lords Loughborough and Camden; Montaigne fondled his cat; Cardinal\nRichelieu, in jumping and leaping. Grumm informs us that the Chevalier\nde Boufflers would crow like a cock, and bray like an ass; in both of\nwhich he excelled, not metaphorically but literally.\n\n\nEARLY GERMAN DRINKING CUP.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Early German Drinking Cup.]\n\nThe above, taken from the Londesborough collection, is a good example\nof the German drinking cups of fanciful shape, which were so much in\nfashion in that country in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The\nspecimen before us is of silver, and dated 1619. The mill and scroll\nornament on the cup are gilt. It was held in the hand to be filled, and\ncould not be set down until emptied; the drinker, blowing through the\ntube into the mill, set the sails in motion, and reversed the cup on\nthe table.\n\n\nTHE KING'S STONE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The King's Stone.]\n\nKingston-on-Thames is among the oldest of English towns; and is said\nto have been \"the metropolis of the Anglo-Saxon kings:\" certainly it\nwas a famous place when the Romans found and conquered the Britons in\nthis locality: there are indeed arguments for believing that the \"ford\"\nwhich Caesar crossed was here, and not at Walton; and indications of\nbarrows, fosses, and ramparts of Roman origin, are to be found in many\nplaces in the neighbourhood. It is more than probable that a bridge was\nconstructed by the Romans here, and that a fortress was erected for its\nprotection. The Saxons followed in due course, and here they had many\ncontests with their enemies the Danes; but A.D. 838, Egbert convened at\nKingston an assembly of ecclesiastics and nobles in council, and here,\nundoubtedly, many of the Saxon kings were crowned: \"The townish men,\"\nsays Leland, \"have certen knowledge that a few kinges were crounid\nafore the Conqueste.\" Its first charter was from King John, and many\nsucceeding sovereigns accorded to it various grants and immunities.\nDuring the war between Charles I. and the Parliament, Kingston was the\nscene of several \"fights,\" being always on the side of the king. The\ntown is now populous and flourishing, although without manufactures of\nany kind. Since the establishment of a railway, villa residences have\nlargely increased in the neighbourhood; and the two suburbs, Surbiton\nand Norbiton, are pretty and densely-crowded villages of good houses.\nThe church has suffered much from mutilation and restoration; it is a\nspacious structure, and was erected about the middle of the fourteenth\ncentury, on the site of an earlier edifice. Amongst the monuments is a\nfine brass, to a civilian and his wife, of the year 1437. Of existing\nantiquities there are but few: county historians, however, point out\nthe sites of the ancient Saxon palace, \"the castle,\" the Jews' quarter,\nand the Roman town, Tamesa; and the game of \"foot-ball,\" it is said, is\nstill practised by the inhabitants on Shrove Tuesday, in commemoration\nof the feats of their ancestors, by whom the head of a king-assassin\nwas \"kicked\" about the town. But perhaps the most interesting object\nnow to be found in Kingston is \"THE KING'S STONE.\" It had long\nremained neglected, though not unknown, among disregarded heaps of\n_debris_ in \"the new court-yard,\" when it occurred to some zealous and\nintelligent antiquaries that so venerable a relic of remote ages was\nentitled to some show of respect. It was consequently removed from its\ndegraded position, planted in the centre of the town, and enclosed by\na \"suitable\" iron railing. It is now, therefore, duly and properly\nhonoured, as may be seen by the preceding engraving.\n\n\nTRANCE AT WILL.\n\nColonel Townsend possessed the remarkable faculty of throwing himself\ninto a trance at pleasure. The heart ceased apparently to throb at\nhis bidding, respiration seemed at an end, his whole frame assumed\nthe icy chill and rigidity of death; while his face became colourless\nand shrunk, and his eye fixed, glazed, and ghastly. His mind itself\nceased to manifest itself, for during the trance it was as utterly\ndevoid of consciousness as his body of animation. In this state he\nwould remain for hours, when these singular phenomena wore away, and\nhe returned to his usual condition. Medical annals furnish no parallel\nto this extraordinary case. Considered whether in a physiological or\nmetaphysical point of view, it is equally astonishing and inexplicable.\n\n\nDESTRUCTIVE FORCE OF RATS.\n\nThe amount of destructive force possessed by rats cannot be better\nexemplified than in the report given to the French Government, relating\nto the removal of the horse slaughter-houses, situated at Montfaucon,\nto a greater distance from Paris; one great objection being the\ndisastrous consequences which might accrue to the inhabitants of the\nneighbourhood, if these voracious creatures were suddenly deprived of\ntheir usual sustenance. It is well known that the mischief which they\noccasion is not confined to what they eat; but they undermine houses,\nburrow through dams, destroy drains, and commit incalculable havoc in\nevery place and in everything.\n\nThe report states, that the carcases of horses killed one day, and\namounting to thirty-five, would be found the next morning with the\nbones picked clean. A person of the name of Dusaussois, belonging\nto the establishment, made this experiment. A part of his yard was\nenclosed by solid walls, at the foot of which, several holes were made\nfor the entrance and exit of the rats. Into this enclosure he put the\nbodies of three horses, and in the middle of the night he stopped up\nall the holes as quietly as he could; he then summoned several of his\nworkmen, and each, armed with a torch and a stick, entered the yard,\nand carefully closed the door. They then commenced a general massacre;\nin doing which, it was not necessary to take aim, for wherever the blow\nfell it was sure to knock over a rat, none being allowed to escape by\nclimbing over the walls. This experiment was repeated at intervals of\na few days, and at the end of a month, 16,050 rats had been destroyed.\nIn one night they killed 2,650; and yet this cannot give an entirely\nadequate idea of their number, for the yard in question did not cover\nmore than a twentieth part of the space allotted to killing horses. The\nrats in this place have made burrows for themselves, like catacombs;\nand so great is their number, that they have not found room close by\nthe slaughter-houses. They have gone farther; and the paths to and from\ntheir dwellings may be traced across the neighbouring fields.\n\n\nORDEAL OF THE CROSS.\n\nWhen a person accused of any crime had declared his innocence upon\noath, and appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favour, he\nwas brought into the church before the altar. The priest previously\nprepared two sticks exactly like one another, upon one of which was\ncarved a figure of the cross. They were both wrapped up, with great\ncare and many ceremonies, in a quantity of fine wool, and laid upon the\naltar, or on the relics of the saints. A solemn prayer was then offered\nup to God, that he would be pleased to discover, by the judgment of\nhis holy cross, whether the accused person were innocent or guilty.\nA priest then approached the altar, and took up one of the sticks,\nand the assistants unswathed it reverently. If it was marked with the\ncross, the accused person was innocent; if unmarked, he was guilty.\nIt would be unjust to assert, that the judgments just delivered were\nin all cases erroneous; and it would be absurd to believe that they\nwere left altogether to chance. Many true judgments were doubtless\ngiven, and, in all probability, most conscientiously; for we cannot but\nbelieve that the priests endeavoured beforehand to convince themselves\nby strict inquiry and a strict examination of the circumstances,\nwhether the appellant were innocent or guilty, and that they took up\nthe crossed or uncrossed stick accordingly. Although, to all other\nobservers, the sticks, as enfolded in the wool, might appear exactly\nsimilar, those who enwrapped them could, without any difficulty,\ndistinguish the one from the other.\n\n\nKING JOHN AND POPE INNOCENT.\n\nWhen Cardinal Langton was made Archbishop of Canterbury, by the\nintrigues of the Pope, whose creature he was, in despite of King John,\nto appease the latter, his Holiness presented him with four gold rings,\nset with precious stones, and enhanced the value of the gift (mark\nthat, jewellers!) by informing him of the many mysteries implied in it.\nHe begged of him (John) to consider seriously the _form_ of the rings,\ntheir _number_, their _matter_, and their _colour_. Their _form_, he\nsaid, being round, shadowed out eternity, which had neither beginning\nnor end, and he ought thence to learn the duty of aspiring from\nearthly objects to heavenly, from things temporal to things eternal.\nThe _numbers_ four, being a square, denoted steadiness of mind, not\nto be subverted either by prosperity or adversity, fixed for ever in\nthe basis of the four cardinal virtues. _Gold_, which is the matter,\nbeing the most precious of metals, signified wisdom, which is the\nmost precious of all accomplishments, and justly preferred by Solomon\nto riches, power, and all exterior attainments. The blue _colour_ of\nthe sapphire represented faith; the verdure of the emerald hope; the\nrichness of the ruby charity; and the splendour of the topaz good works.\n\n\nDRUID'S SEAT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Druid's Judgment Seat.]\n\nThe singular pile of stones which we have sketched here is popularly\ncalled the \"Druid's Judgment Seat,\" and stands near the village of\nKilliney, not far from Drogheda, near the Martello Tower. It was\nformerly enclosed within a circle of great stones and a ditch. The\nformer has been destroyed, and the latter so altered that little\nof its ancient character remains. The \"Seat\" is composed of large,\nrough, granite blocks, and if really of the period to which tradition\nrefers it, an unusual degree of care must have been exercised for its\npreservation. The following are its measurements: Breadth, at the\nbase, eleven feet and a half; depth of the seat, one foot nine inches;\nextreme height, seven feet.\n\n\nBOOTS AN OBJECT OF HONOUR.\n\nAmong the Chinese no relics are more valuable than the _boots_ which\nhave been worn by an upright magistrate. In Davis's interesting\ndescription of the empire of China, we are informed, that whenever\na judge of unusual integrity resigns his situation, the people all\ncongregate to do him honour. If he leaves the city where he has\npresided, the crowd accompany him from his residence to the gates,\nwhere his boots are drawn off with great ceremony, to be preserved\nin the hall of justice. Their place is immediately supplied by a new\npair, which, in their turn, are drawn off to make room for others\nbefore he has worn them five minutes, it being considered sufficient to\nconsecrate them that he should have merely drawn them on.\n\n\nSAINT LAWRENCE.\n\nIn the south aisle of the church at Tuxford, beneath a flowery arch is\na very rude relief of St. Lawrence placed on the gridiron. By him is a\nfellow with a pair of bellows, blowing the fire, and the executioner\ngoing to turn him. The zealous Fox, in his \"Martyrology,\" has this very\nthought, and makes the martyr say, in the midst of his sufferings,\n\"This side is now roasted; turn me, O tyrant dear.\"\n\n\nPARIS GARDEN AT BLACKFRIARS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Paris Garden.]\n\nThe Blackfriar's Road now passes over the site of Paris Garden where,\nin the sixteenth century, bear and bull-baiting rejoiced the citizens,\nthe gala days being usually Sundays. Our cut is copied from the rare\nwoodcut map in the time of Henry VIII., in the library at Guildhall,\nand exhibits in the foreground the kennels for the dogs, and the tanks\nin which they were washed. A graphic description of the place has\nbeen left by Paul Hentzner, a German, who visited it in 1598. He says\nit was \"built in the form of a theatre, for the baiting of bulls and\nbears: they are fastened behind, and then worried by great English\nbull-dogs; but not without great risk to the dogs, from the horns of\nthe one and the teeth of the other; and it sometimes happens they are\nkilled upon the spot: fresh ones are immediately supplied in the place\nof those that are wounded or tired. To this entertainment there often\nfollows that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five or\nsix men, standing circularly with whips, which they exercise upon him\nwithout any mercy, as he cannot escape from them because of his chain.\nHe defends himself with all his force and skill, throwing down all who\ncome within his reach, and are not active enough to get out of it,\nand tearing the whips out of their hands, and breaking them. At these\nspectacles, and everywhere else, the English are constantly smoking\ntobacco. Fruits, such as apples, pears, and nuts, according to the\nseason, are carried about to be sold, as well as ale and wine.\"\n\n\nCANVASS OF AN INSURANCE AGENT.\n\nThe Manchester agent of an Insurance Company, gives the following\ncurious results of a personal canvass at 1,349 houses, in seventy\nstreets in the district of Hulme and Charlton, chiefly rentals from\nL12 to L24 per annum. The inquiry showed that there were 29 insured; 8\npersons too old; 11 who never heard of life assurances, and who were\nanxious to have it explained to them; 471 who had heard of it, but did\nnot understand it; 419 who were disinclined to assure; 19 favourable,\nif their surplus incomes were not otherwise invested; 89 persons who\nhad it under consideration, with a view to assure, as soon as their\narrangements were completed, and who appointed times for the agent to\ncall again; 21 refused the circulars, or to allow an explanation; 175\ndoors not answered; 102 houses empty; 3 had sufficient property not to\nrequire it; 1 favourable, but afraid of litigation; 1 preferred the\nsaving's bank; 1 used abusive language; 2 would trust their families to\nprovide for themselves; and 1 had been rejected by an office, although\nhe never was unwell, and was consequently afraid to try again, although\nvery anxious.\n\n\nTERRA-COTTA WRITINGS.\n\nThe Assyrians, unlike any other nation of antiquity, employed pottery\nfor the same objects, and to the same extent as papyrus was used in\nEgypt. Thus bulletins recording the king's victories, and even the\nannals of his reign, were published on terra-cotta cylinders, shaped\nlike a rolling-pin, and usually hollow, and on hollow hexagonal\nprisms. These are of a remarkably fine material, sometimes unpolished\nor unglazed, and at others covered with a vitreous siliceous glaze,\nor white coating. On the cylinders the inscriptions are engraved\nlengthwise; on the prisms they are in compartments on each face.\nEach wedge is about one-eighth of an inch long, and the complicity\nwith which the characters (a cuneiform writing-hand) are arranged is\nwonderful, and renders them extremely difficult for a tyro to read.\nThose hitherto published or known, contain the annals of the reign of\nSennacherib, and the precis of the reign of another king.\n\nThere are the Shergat cylinder, containing the History of Tiglath\nPileser; a cylinder of Sargon; Sennacherib's cylinders; Esarhaddon's\ncylinder.\n\nSales of land and other title-deeds were also incised on pieces of this\npolished terra-cotta, and, in order to prevent any enlargement of the\ndocument, a cylinder was run round the edges, leaving its impression\nin relief; or if the names of witnesses were affixed, each impressed\nhis oval seal on the wet terra-cotta, which was then carefully baked\nin the kiln. The celebrated cylinders of carnelian, chalcedony, and\nother substances, were in fact the official or private seals by which\nthe integrity of these documents was attested. These title-deeds are\nportable documents of four or five inches square, convex on each side,\nand occasionally also at the edges. Their colour varies, being a bright\npolished brown, a pale yellow, and a very dark tint, almost black. The\npaste of which they are made is remarkably fine and compact. The manner\nin which the characters were impressed on the terra-cotta barrels and\ncylinders is not known; those on the bricks used for building were\napparently stamped from a mould, but those on the deeds and books\nwere separately incised, perhaps with a prismatic stick, or rod, or,\nas others have conjectured, with the edge of a square rod of metal.\nIn some instances, where this substance was used for taking accounts,\nit seems just possible that the moist clay, rolled up like paste, may\nhave been unrolled and incised with rods. The characters are often so\nbeautifully and delicately made, that it must have required a finely\nconstructed tool to produce them.\n\nSome small fragments of a fine reddish-grey terra-cotta which have been\nfound among the ruins, appear to contain calculations or inventories,\nwhilst others are perhaps syllabaries or vocabularies, to guide the\nAssyrian readers of these difficult inscriptions. A large chamber, or\nlibrary, of these archives, comprising histories, deeds, almanacks, and\nspelling-books, was found in the palace of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik.\nIt is supposed that altogether about 20,000 of these clay tablets\nor ancient books of the Assyrians, containing the literature of\nthe country, have been discovered. Some of the finer specimens are\ncovered with a pale straw-covered engobe, over which has been thrown a\nglaze. Some horoscopes have been already found on stone, and careful\nexamination has now detected the records of some astronomer royal of\nBabylon or Nineveh inscribed on a brick. Thus, while the paper and\nparchment learning of the Byzantine and Alexandrian schools has almost\ndisappeared after a few centuries, the granite pages of Egypt, and the\nclay leaves of Assyria, have escaped the ravages of time and the fury\nof barbarism.\n\nIn Egypt some receipts and letters have been discovered written on\nfragments of tile, and on the fine porcelain of the Chinese are\noften found extracts of biographical works, snatches of poetry, and\neven whole poems; but the idea of issuing journals, title-deeds,\ninventories, histories, prayers, and poems, not from the press, but\nfrom the kiln, is startling in the nineteenth century.\n\n\nWONDERFUL FORMATION OF THE EYE IN INSECTS.\n\nThe perfection which is bestowed on the organs of sense in insects,\nespecially when we consider their minuteness, is calculated to fill us\nwith adoring admiration of the skill of \"the Great Workmaster.\" Take an\nexample from the _eyes_, which are of several kinds, evidently designed\nfor distinct modes of vision, of which we, who have but one sort of\neyes, can form no adequate notion. The bee and many other insects have\non the crown of the head a number, usually three, of simple glassy\neyes, set like \"bull's-eyes\" in a ship's deck; and besides these a\ngreat compound eye on each side, consisting of a multitude of lenses\naggregated together upon the same optic nerve. The microscope reveals\nto us that the compound eye of an ant contains fifty lenses; that of\na fly, four thousand; that of a dragon-fly, twelve thousand; that of\na butterfly, seventeen thousand; and that of a species of _Mordella_\n(a kind of beetle), the amazing number of twenty-five thousand. Every\none of these regular, polished, and many-sided lenses; is the external\nsurface of a distinct eye, furnished with its own iris and pupil, and\na perfect nervous apparatus. It will thus be seen that each hexagonal\nfacet forms a transparent horny lens, immediately behind which is a\nlayer of pigment diminishing to a point in the centre, where it forms\na pupil; that behind this a long six-sided prism, answering to the\ncrystalline and vitreous humours in the human eye, extends, diminishing\nto its lower extremity, where it rests upon the retina, or network\nexpansion of the optic nerve. Some of the minuter details of this\nexquisite organisation are still matters of conflicting opinion; but\nthese we omit, as our purpose is rather to convey to our readers a\ngeneral idea of the structure of this complex organ of vision. \"This\nalso cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel\nand excellent in working.\"\n\n\nFIRST COIN WITH BRITANNIA ON IT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Roman Coins.]\n\nIn process of clearing away the foundations of Old London Bridge many\nantiquities were discovered; it had been the great highway over the\nThames from the Roman era, and numerous relics were obtained, varying\nin date from that period to our own. We here engrave such specimens\nof Roman coins that were found as belong to the Britannic series. The\nlarge central coin is one struck by Hadrian, and remarkable for the\nfigure of Britannia, the first time impersonated as an armed female\nseated on a rock. It is the prototype of the more modern Britannia,\nreintroduced by Charles II., and which still appears on our copper\nmoney. The smaller coins are such as were struck, during the reign of\nConstantine the Great, in the City of London, and are marked with the\nletters P. LON., for \"Pecunia Londinensis,\" money of London.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY FORMATION OF THE TWIN-WORM.\n\nAn extraordinary creature was discovered by Dr. Nordman, infesting the\ngills of one of our commonest river fishes--_Cyprinus Brama_--and to\nwhich he gave the appropriate appellation of the Twin-worm (_Diplozoon\nparadoxum_). It is not more than one-fourth of an inch in length, but\nconsists of two bodies, precisely resembling each other, united by\na central band, exactly in the manner of the Siamese youths, whose\nexhibition excited so much attention in England and America a few\nyears ago. We might have supposed that, like the human monstrosity\nin question, the Twin-worm was formed by the accidental union of two\nindividuals, if abundant observation had not proved that this is the\ncommon mode of life belonging to the species.\n\nEach portion of the animal is complete in all its organs and economy;\npossessing its own sets of suckers, its own mouth, its own digestive\ncanal, with its tree-like ramifications, its own perfect generative\nsystem, and its own elaborate series of vascular canals,--every organ\nor set of organs in the one-half finding its exact counterpart in the\nother.\n\nIt scarcely detracts from the marvellous character assumed by this\n\"Twin-worm,\" that, according to recent observations, the two halves\nhave already enjoyed a phase of existence as distinct individuals. The\norganic union, or \"fusion\" of two such individuals, is necessary to\nthe development of the generative system, which, up to that event, is\nwanting in each constituent half.\n\n\nMILL AT LISSOY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Mill at Lissoy.]\n\nThe above picturesque sketch represents the \"busy mill\" at Lissoy,\nbetter known as \"Sweet Auburn--loveliest village of the plain\"--the\nscene of Goldsmith's beautiful poem of the \"Deserted Village.\" Lissoy,\nabout six miles from Athlone, stands on the summit of a hill at the\nbase of which is the mill that forms the subject of our sketch. The\nwheel is still turned by the water of a small rivulet, converted,\nnow and then, by rains, into a sufficient stream. The mill is a mere\ncountry cottage, used for grinding the corn of the neighbouring\npeasantry, and retains many tokens of age. Parts of the machinery are,\nno doubt, above a century old, and are probably the very same that left\ntheir impress on the poet's memory.\n\n\nA CASTLE BUILT FOR A GROAT.\n\nThe castle of Monkstown, near Cork, is reported by popular tradition to\nhave been built in 1636, at the cost of only a groat. To explain the\nenigma, the following story is told:--Anastatia Goold, who had become\nthe wife of John Archdeken, determined, while her husband was abroad,\nserving in the army of Philip of Spain, to give him evidence of her\nthrift on his return, by surprising him with a noble residence which he\nmight call his own. Her plan was to supply the workmen with provisions\nand other articles they required, for which she charged the ordinary\nprice; but, as she had made her purchases wholesale, upon balancing her\naccounts, it appeared that the retail profit had paid all the expenses\nof the structure except fourpence! The Archdekens were an Anglo-Irish\nfamily, who \"degenerating\" became \"Hibernices quam Hiberniores\"--more\nIrish than the Irish themselves--and assumed the name of Mac Odo, or\nCody. They \"forfeited,\" in 1688, having followed the fortunes of James\nII.\n\n\nBATTLE OF WATER-SNAKES.\n\nThe following story is narrated by Mr. St. John, in his \"Letters of\nan American Farmer.\" After describing the size and strength of some\nhemp-plants, around which a wild vine had formed natural arbours,\nhe thus proceeds:--\"As I was one day sitting, solitary and pensive,\nin this primitive arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange\nsort of rustling noise at some paces distance. I looked all around\nwithout distinguishing anything, until I climbed up one of my great\nhemp-stalks; when, to my astonishment, I beheld two snakes of a\nconsiderable length, the one pursuing the other with great celerity\nthrough a hemp-stubble field. The aggressor was of the black kind, six\nfeet long; the fugitive was a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions.\nThey soon met, and in the fury of their first encounter, appeared in an\ninstant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the\nground, they mutually tried, with open jaws, to lacerate each other.\nWhat a fell aspect did they present! Their heads were compressed to a\nvery small size; their eyes flashed fire; but, after this conflict had\nlasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage itself\nfrom the first, and hurried towards the ditch. Its antagonist instantly\nassumed a new posture, and, half-creeping, half-erect, with a majestic\nmien, overtook and attacked the other again, which placed itself in\na similar attitude, and prepared to resist. The scene was uncommon\nand beautiful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their jaws, biting\neach other with the utmost rage; but, notwithstanding this appearance\nof mutual courage and fury, the water snake still seemed desirous of\nretreating towards the ditch, its natural element. This was no sooner\nperceived by the keen-eyed black one, than, twisting its tail twice\nround a stalk of hemp, and seizing its adversary by the throat, not by\nmeans of its jaws, but by twisting its own neck twice round that of the\nwater snake, he pulled it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat,\nthe latter took hold likewise of a stalk on the bank, and, by the\nacquisition of that point of resistance, became a match for his fierce\nantagonist. Strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly\nadhering to the ground, mutually fastened together by means of the\nwrithings which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full\nlength; they pulled, but pulled in vain; and in the moments of greatest\nexertion, that part of their bodies which was entwined seemed extremely\nsmall, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then convulsed\nwith strong undulations rapidly following each other. Their eyes\nappeared on fire, and ready to start out of their heads. At one time\nthe conflict seemed decided; the water snake bent itself into great\nfolds, and by that operation rendered the other more than commonly\noutstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the black one gained\nan unexpected superiority; it acquired two great folds likewise, which\nnecessarily extended the body of its adversary in proportion as it\nhad contracted its own. These efforts were alternate; victory seemed\ndoubtful, inclining sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other,\nuntil at last the stalk to which the black snake was fastened suddenly\ngave way, and, in consequence of this accident, they both plunged into\nthe ditch. The water did not extinguish their vindictive rage, for by\ntheir agitations I could still trace, though I could not distinguish,\ntheir attacks. They soon reappeared on the surface, twisted together,\nas in their first onset; but the black snake seemed to retain its\nwonted superiority, for its head was exactly fixed above that of the\nother, which it incessantly pressed down under the water, until its\nopponent was stifled, and sank. The victor no sooner perceived its\nenemy incapable of further resistance, than, abandoning it to the\ncurrent, it returned to the shore and disappeared.\"\n\n\nFATES OF THE FAMILIES OF ENGLISH POETS.\n\nIt is impossible to contemplate the early death of Byron's only child\nwithout reflecting sadly on the fates of other females of our greatest\npoets. Shakspeare and Milton, each died without a son, but both left\ndaughters, and both names are now extinct. Shakspeare's was soon so.\nAddison had an only child--a daughter, a girl of some five or six\nyears at her father's death. She died, unmarried, at the age of eighty\nor more. Farquhar left two girls, dependant on the friendship of his\nfriend Wilkes, the actor, who stood nobly by them while he lived. They\nhad a small pension from the Government, and having long outlived\ntheir father, and seen his reputation unalterably established, both\ndied unmarried. The son and daughter of Coleridge both died childless.\nThe two sons of Sir Walter Scott died without children--one of two\ndaughters died unmarried, and the Scotts of Abbotsford and Waverley\nare now represented by the children of a daughter. How little could\nScott foresee the sudden failure of male issue? The poet of the \"Fairie\nQueen\" lost a child when very young by fire, when the rebels burned his\nhouse in Ireland. Some of the poets had sons and no daughters. Thus we\nread of Chaucer's son,--of Dryden's sons,--of the sons of Burns,--of\nAllan Ramsey's son,--of Dr. Young's son,--of Campbell's son,--of\nMoore's son,--and of Shelley's son. Ben Johnson survived all his\nchildren. Some, and those amongst the greatest, died unmarried--Butler,\nCowley, Congreve, Otway, Prior, Pope, Gay, Thompson, Cowper, Akenside,\nShenstone, Collins, Gray, Goldsmith, and Rogers, who lately died. Some\nwere unfortunate in their sons in a sadder way than death could make\nthem. Lady Lovelace has left three children--two sons and a daughter.\nHer mother is still alive to see, perhaps, with a softened spirit, the\nshade of the father beside the early grave of his only child. Ada's\nlooks, in her later years--years of suffering, borne with gentle and\nwomanly fortitude--have been happily caught by Mr. Henry Phillips,\nwhose father's pencil has preserved to us the best likeness of Ada's\nfather.\n\n\nJEFFERY HUDSON, THE DWARF OF THE COURT OF CHARLES I.\n\nThe celebrated dwarf of whom we here give a sketch, was born at Oakham\nin Rutlandshire in 1619, and about the age of seven or eight, being\nthen but eighteen inches high, was retained in the service of the\nDuke of Buckingham, who resided at Burleigh-on-the-Hill. Soon after\nthe marriage of Charles I., the king and queen being entertained at\nBurleigh, little Jeffery was served up at table in a cold pie, and\npresented by the duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf.\nFrom seven years of age till thirty he shot up to three feet nine\ninches, and there fixed. Jeffery became a considerable part of the\nentertainment of the court. Sir William Davenant wrote a poem on a\nbattle between Jeffery and a turkey cock, and in 1638 was published\na very small book, called a \"New Year's Gift,\" presented at court by\nthe Lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus (commonly called Little Jeffery)\nher Majesty's servant, &c. &c., written by Microphilas, with a little\nprint of Jeffery prefixed. Before this period Jeffery was employed on\na negotiation of great importance; he was sent to France to fetch a\nmidwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman and her\nmajesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her\nmother, Mary de Medicis, he was taken by the Dunkirkers. This was in\n1630. Besides the presents he was bringing for the queen, he lost to\nthe value of L2,500 that he had received in France on his own account\nfrom the queen-mother and ladies of that court.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Jeffery Hudson.]\n\nJeffery thus made of consequence, grew to think himself really so.\nHe had borne with little temper the teasing of the courtiers and\ndomestics, and had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter.\nAt last, being provoked by Mr. Crofts, a young gentleman of family,\na challenge ensued; and Mr. Crofts coming to the rendezvous armed\nonly with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged that a real\nduel ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols,\nto put them more on a level, Jeffery, with the first fire, shot his\nantagonist dead on the spot. This happened in France, whither he had\nattended his royal mistress in the troubles.\n\nHe was again taken prisoner by a Turkish rover, and sold into Barbary.\nHe probably did not long remain in slavery; for at the beginning of\nthe civil war, he was made a captain in the royal army, and in 1644\nattended the queen to France, where he remained till the restoration.\n\nAt last, upon suspicion of his being privy to the Popish Plot, he was\ntaken up in 1682 and confined in the Gate-house, Westminster, where he\nended his life in the sixty-third year of his age.\n\n\nCHURCH AT NEWTON, IRELAND.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Doorway of the Church at Newton, Ireland.]\n\nThe ancient doorway, of which, on account of its singular beauty, we\ngive a sketch, belongs to the church which was built by the first of\nthe Montgomeries at Newtown in Ireland. Though the church is a fine\nand beautiful example of architecture, no attempt whatever has been\nmade to preserve it from sinking into ruin. The Montgomeries, ancient\nlords of this district, were the descendants of that Montgomery who\naccidentally killed Henry II., of France, at a tournament. Some years\nafter the sad event, which was confessedly a mischance, he was taken\nby Catherine of Medicis, put to the torture and beheaded; with the\nadditional penalty of having his children degraded to villeinnage; on\nhis way to execution, he pronounced this noble and memorable sentence,\nin reference to the punishment inflicted on his children, \"If they\nhave not the virtue to raise themselves again, I consent to their\ndegradation.\"\n\n\nINTERESTING CALCULATION.\n\nSome years ago, an eminent zoologist gave the following table as\nhis estimate of the probable number of existing species of animals,\ndeduced from facts and principles then known. Later discoveries tend to\nincrease rather than to diminish the estimate.\n\n Quadrupeds 1,200\n Birds 6,800\n Reptiles 1,500\n Fishes 8,000\n Insects 550,000\n Worms 2,500\n Radiata 1,000\n Polypes, &c. 1,530\n Testacea 4,500\n Naked Testacea 600\n\nmaking an aggregate of 577,600 species.\n\n\nVITALITY OF SUPERSTITION.\n\nIn the \"Annual Register\" for 1760, an instance of the belief in\nwitchcraft is related, which shows how superstition lingers. A dispute\narose in the little village of Glen, in Leicestershire, between two\nold women, each of whom vehemently accused the other of witchcraft.\nThe quarrel at last ran so high that a challenge ensued, and they both\nagreed to be tried by the ordeal of swimming. They accordingly stripped\nto their shifts--procured some men, who tied their thumbs and great\ntoes together, cross-wise, and then, with a cart-rope about their\nmiddle, suffered themselves to be thrown into a pool of water. One of\nthem sank immediately, but the other continued struggling a short time\nupon the surface of the water, which the mob deeming an infallible sign\nof her guilt, pulled her out, and insisted that she should immediately\nimpeach all her accomplices in the craft. She accordingly told them\nthat, in the neighbouring village of Burton, there were several old\nwomen \"as much witches as she was.\" Happily for her, this negative\ninformation was deemed sufficient, and a student in astrology, or\n\"white-witch,\" coming up at the time, the mob, by his direction,\nproceeded forthwith to Burton in search of all the delinquents. After\na little consultation on their arrival, they went to the old woman's\nhouse on whom they had fixed the strongest suspicion. The poor old\ncreature on their approach locked the outer door, and from the window\nof an upstairs room asked what they wanted. They informed her that\nshe was charged with being guilty of witchcraft, and that they were\ncome to duck her; remonstrating with her at the same time upon the\nnecessity of submission to the ordeal, that, if she were innocent, all\nthe world might know it. Upon her persisting in a positive refusal to\ncome down, they broke open the door and carried her out by force, to a\ndeep gravel-pit full of water. They tied her thumbs and toes together\nand threw her into the water, where they kept her for several minutes,\ndrawing her out and in two or three times by the rope round her middle.\nNot being able to satisfy themselves whether she were a witch or no,\nthey at last let her go or more properly speaking, they left her on\nthe bank to walk home by herself, if she ever recovered. Next day they\ntried the same experiment upon another woman, and afterwards upon a\nthird; but fortunately, neither of the victims lost her life from this\nbrutality. Many of the ringleaders in the outrage were apprehended\nduring the week, and tried before the justices at quarter-sessions. Two\nof them were sentenced to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for\na month; and as many as twenty more were fined in small sums for the\nassault, and bound over to keep the peace for a twelvemonth.\n\n\nSMALL FEET OF THE CHINESE LADIES.\n\nThe compression of ladies' feet to less than half their natural size is\nnot to be regarded as a mark, or as a consequence, of the inferiority\nof the sex; it is merely a mark of gentility. Various accounts are\ngiven of the origin of this custom. One is, that an emperor was jealous\nof his wife, and to prevent her from gadding abroad, put her feet in\niron stocks. Another is, that a certain empress, Tan-ke (B.C. 1100),\nwas born with club-feet, and that she caused the emperor to issue an\nedict, adopting her foot as the model of beauty, and requiring the\ncompressing of female infants' feet so as to conform to the imperial\nstandard. While a third account is, that the Emperor Le-yuh (A.D. 961)\nwas amusing himself one day in his palace, when the thought occurred\nto him that he might improve the appearance of the feet of a favourite\nconcubine. He caused her feet to be so bent as to raise the instep\ninto an arch, to resemble the new moon. The figure was much admired\nby the courtiers, who soon began to introduce it into their families.\nIt is said that another emperor, two hundred years later, placed a\nstamp of the lotus-flower (water-lily) on the sole of the small shoe\nof his favorite concubine, so that at every step she took she left on\nthe ground the print of the flower; hence girls with small feet are\ncomplimented at the present day as \"the golden lilies.\" The operation\nof bandaging and compressing the feet is very painful; children cry\nvery much under it. Mortification of the feet has been known to result\nfrom the cruel practice. Custom, however, imposes it as a necessary\nattraction in a woman. An old gentleman at Canton, being asked the\nreason why he had bandaged his daughter's feet, replied, that if she\nhad large feet she could not make a good marriage.\n\n\nWONDERFUL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SEA-URCHIN.\n\nProfessor Forbes informs us that in a moderate-sized Urchin there are\nsixty-two rows of pores in each of the ten avenues, and as there are\nthree pairs of pores in each row, the total number of pores is 3,720;\nbut as each sucker occupies a pair of pores, the number of suckers is\n1,860. He says, also, that there are above three hundred plates of one\nkind, and nearly as many of another, all dovetailing together with the\ngreatest nicety and regularity, bearing on their surfaces above 4,000\nspines, each spine perfect in itself, and of a complicated structure,\nand having a free movement in its socket. \"Truly,\" he adds, \"the\nskill of the Great Architect of Nature is not less displayed in the\nconstruction of a Sea-urchin than in the building up of a world!\"\n\n\nIVORY SCEPTRE OF LOUIS XII.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ivory Sceptre.]\n\nThe above engraving represents an ivory sceptre, or Main de Justice,\nwhich was made at the early part of the sixteenth century for Louis\nXII., King of France. The three parts 1, 2, 3, screw together and form\nthe sceptre. Fig. 4 is the hand on the top of the sceptre, given on\na larger scale, showing the ring set with a small pearl, worn on the\nthird finger. Fig. 5 is the inscription on the sceptre; it is engraved\nin relievo upon three of the convex decorations, and commences on the\nlowest one.\n\n\nTOMB OF CAECILIA METELLA.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Tomb of Caecilia Metella.]\n\nOf the tombs of Consular Rome nothing remains except perhaps the\nsarcophagus of Scipio; and it is only on the eve of the Empire that we\nmeet with the well-known one of Caecilia Metella, the wife of Crassus,\nwhich is not only the best specimen of a Roman tomb now remaining to\nus, but the oldest building of the imperial city of which we have\nan authentic date. It consists of a bold square basement about 100\nft. square, which was originally ornamented in some manner not now\nintelligible. From this rose a circular tower about 94 ft. in diameter,\nof very bold masonry, surmounted by a brace of ox-skulls with wreaths\njoining them, and a well-profiled cornice: 2 or 3 courses of masonry\nabove this seem to have belonged to the original work; and above this,\nalmost certainly, in the original design rose a conical roof, which has\nperished. The tower having been used as a fortress in the middle ages,\nbattlements have been added to supply the place of the roof, and it\nhas been otherwise disfigured, so as to detract much from its beauty\nas now seen. Still we have no tomb of the same importance so perfect,\nnor one which enables us to connect the Roman tombs so nearly with the\nEtruscan. The only addition in this instance is that of the square\nbasement or podium, though even this was not unknown at a much earlier\nperiod, as for instance in the tomb of Aruns. The exaggerated height\nof the circular base is also remarkable. Here it rises to be a tower\ninstead of a mere circular base of stones for the earthen cone of the\noriginal sepulchre. The stone roof which probably surmounted the tower\nwas a mere reproduction of the original earthen cone.\n\n\nPOGONIAS.\n\nThese vocal fish differ from the umbrinas in having their jaws tagged\nlaterally with many, in place of carrying but one barbel at the\nsymphysis. Schoeff reports of them that they will assemble round the\nkeel of a vessel at anchor, and serenade the crew; and Mr. John White,\nlieutenant in the navy of the United States, in his voyage to the\nseas of China, relates to the same purpose, that being at the mouth\nof the river of Cambodia, the ship's company were \"astonished by some\nextraordinary sounds which were heard around the bottom of the vessel.\nThey resembled,\" he says, \"a mixture of the bass of the organ, the\nsound of bells, the guttural cries of a large frog, and the tones which\nimagination might attribute to an enormous harp; one might have said\nthe vessel trembled with it. The noises increased, and finally formed\na universal chorus over the entire length of the vessel and the two\nsides. In proportion as we went up the river the sounds diminished, and\nfinally ceased altogether.\" As the interpreter told Captain White, the\nship had been followed by a \"troop of fish of an oval and flattened\nform,\" they were most probably pogonias. Humboldt met with a similar\nadventure in the South Sea, but without suspecting its cause. \"On\nFebruary 20th, 1803, at seven P.M., the whole crew was astounded by a\nvery extraordinary noise, resembling drums beaten in the air; we at\nfirst attributed it to the breakers; speedily it was heard all over\nthe vessel, especially towards the poop, and was like the noise which\nescapes from fluid in a state of ebullition; we began to fear there\nmight be some leak in the bottom. It was heard synchronously in all\nparts of the vessel, but finally, about nine P.M., ceased altogether.\"\nHow these fish manage to _purr_ in the deep, and by means of what organ\nthey communicate the sound to the external air, is wholly unknown. Some\nsuppose it to proceed from the swim-bladder; but if that be the drum,\nwhat is the drumstick that beats upon it? And cushioned as it is in an\nobese envelope and without issue, the swim-bladder cannot be a bagpipe\nor wind instrument.\n\n\nCURIOUS ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following appeared in the public papers of January 24th,\n1737:--\"Whereas Frances, wife of the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount\nVane, has, for some months past, absented herself from her husband,\nand the rest of her friends:--I do hereby promise to any person or\npersons who shall discover where the said lady Vane is concealed, to\nme, or to Francis Hawes, esq. her father, so that either of us may\ncome to the speech of her, the sum of L100, as a reward, to be paid by\nme on demand at my lodgings in Piccadilly. I do also promise the name\nof the person, who shall make such discovery, shall be concealed, if\ndesired. Any person concealing or lodging her after this advertisement,\nwill be prosecuted with the utmost rigour; or, if her ladyship will\nreturn to me, she may depend upon being kindly received. She is about\ntwenty-two years of age, tall, well-shaped, has light-brown hair, is\nfair-complexioned, and has her upper teeth placed in an irregular\nmanner. She had on, when she absented, a red damask French sacque, and\nwas attended by a French woman, who speaks very bad English.\n\n \"VANE.\"\n\n\nTHE EYE OF THE CHAMELEON.\n\nA most extraordinary aspect is communicated to chameleons by the\nstructure and movements of their eyes. In the first place, the head is\nenormous, and, being three-sided, with projecting points and angles,\nmakes a sufficiently uncouth visage; but the eyes which illuminate\nthis notable head-piece must, indeed, to borrow for the nonce the\nphraseology of Barnum, \"be seen to be appreciated.\" There is on\neach side an immense eye-ball, full and prominent, but covered with\nthe common shagreened skin of the head, except at the very entre,\nwhere there is a minute aperture, corresponding to the pupil. These\ngreat punctured eye-balls roll about hither and thither, but with\nno symmetry. You cannot tell whether the creature is looking at you\nor not; he seems to be taking what may be called a general view of\nthings--looking at nothing in particular, or rather, to save time,\nlooking at several things at once. Perhaps both eyes are gazing\nupwards at your face; a leaf quivers behind his head, and in a moment\n_one eye_ turns round towards the object, while the other retains its\nupward gaze: presently a fly appears; one eye rapidly and interestedly\nfollows all its movements, while the other leisurely glances hither and\nthither, or remains steady. Accustomed as we are to see in almost all\nanimals the two eyes move in unison, this want of sympathy produces an\neffect most singular and ludicrous.\n\n\nDIVING FOR A WIFE.\n\nIn many of the Greek islands, the diving for Sponge forms a\nconsiderable part of the occupation of the inhabitants, as it has\ndone from the most remote antiquity. Hasselquist says:--\"Himia is a\nlittle, and almost unknown island directly opposite Rhodes. It is worth\nnotice, on account of the singular method the Greeks, inhabitants of\nthe island, have to get their living. In the bottom of the sea the\ncommon Sponge is found in abundance, and more than in any other place\nin the Mediterranean. The inhabitants make it a trade to fish up this\nSponge, by which they get a living far from contemptible, as their\ngoods are always wanted by the Turks, who use an incredible number of\nSponges at their bathings and washings. A girl in this island is not\npermitted by her relations to marry before she has brought up a certain\nquantity of Sponges, and before she can give proof of her agility by\ntaking them from a certain depth.\" In other islands the same custom\nprevails, but with reversed application, as in Nicarus, where the\nfather of a marriageable daughter bestows her on the best diver among\nher suitors,--\"He that can stay longest in the water, and gather the\nmost Sponges, marries the maid.\"\n\n\nKNIGHT'S COSTUME OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe engraving represents a knight's costume of the year 1272,\ntaken from the library of MSS. at Paris. It is that of a Count\nHohenschwangen, of the family of Welf, and depicts the wearer in a\nlong sleeveless, dark blue surcoat, with his armorial device; a white\nswan on a red field with a light red border. Under his coat he wears\na _cap-a-pie_ suit of mail. The helmet is original, very like the\nGreek, with the furred mantle as we see it in the seal of Richard King\nof England, of the date of 1498. This helmet does not appear to be a\ntilting helmet, which usually rests upon the shoulders; but this kind\nof helmet would be fastened, like the vizor with the mailed hood, by\nan iron throat-brace, and a leather thong. Upon the covered helmet he\nwears the swan as a crest. The sword-hilt is of gold, the sheath black,\nthe girdle white, the furred mantle is red, lined with white.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Knight's Costume of 1272.]\n\nChivalry began in Europe about A.D. 912. From the twelfth to the\nfifteenth century it had considerable influence in refining the manners\nof most of the nations of Europe. The knight swore to accomplish the\nduties of his profession as the champion of God and the ladies. He\ndevoted himself to speak the truth, to maintain the right, to protect\nthe distressed, to practise courtesy, to fulfil obligations, and\nto vindicate in every perilous adventure his honour and character.\nChivalry, which owed its origin to the feudal system, expired with it.\nThe origin of the title of knight, as a military honour, is said to be\nderived from the siege of Troy, but this solely depends on a passage or\ntwo in Homer, and the point is disputed by several learned commentators.\n\n\nCURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE.\n\nButton, in his Life, tells us of one of his ancestors, a trooper, who,\nseeing a young girl at the river-side, lading water into her pail,\ncast a large stone with design to splash her; but not being versed\nin directing a stone so well as a bullet, he missed the water, and\nbroke her head; he ran off. Twelve years afterwards, he settled at\nDerby, courted a young woman, and married her. In the course of their\nconversations he proved to be the very man who had cast the stone, and\nshe the girl with the broken head.\n\n\nFUNEREAL JAR.\n\nThe term \"funereal\" has been erroneously applied to all pottery\nfound in tombs, even where the utensils have no relation to funereal\npurposes, but were probably in common use. There have been found,\nhowever, in Corsica vessels of earthenware, which may strictly be\ncalled \"funereal.\"\n\nThough the precise period of the fabrication of the funereal vessels\nfound in Corsica is not ascertained, they must be considered of very\nancient date. These vessels, when found entire, at first appear\ncompletely closed up, and no trace of joining can be discovered. But\nit has been ascertained that they are composed of two equal parts, the\nend of one fitting exactly into the other, and so well closed that\nthe body, or at least the bones which they contain, appear to have\nbeen placed within them before they were baked upon the kiln. Diodorus\nSiculus, in speaking of the usages of the Balearic Isles, states that\nthese people were in the habit of beating, with clubs, the bodies of\nthe dead which, when thus rendered flexible, were deposited in vessels\nof earthenware. This practice of the Corsicans coincides singularly\nwith that of the Coroados Indians, who inhabit a village on the Paraiba\nriver, near Campos, in the Brazils. They use large earthen vessels,\ncalled _camucis_, as funereal urns. The bodies of their chiefs, reduced\nto mummies, are placed in them in a bent posture, decked with their\nornaments and arms, and are then deposited at the foot of the large\ntrees of the forest.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Funereal Jar.]\n\nThe cut which we here give speaks for itself. It represents the\nfunereal jar containing the chief as described; the animal at his feet\nappears to be a panther or tiger cat.\n\n\nWRITING MATERIALS.\n\nThe materials used for writing on have varied in different ages and\nnations. Among the Egyptians slices of limestone, leather, linen, and\npapyrus, especially the last, were universally employed. The Greeks\nused bronze and stone for public monuments, wax for memorandums and\npapyrus for the ordinary transactions of life. The kings of Pergamus\nadopted parchment, and the other nations of the ancient world chiefly\ndepended on a supply of the paper of Egypt. But the Assyrians and\nBabylonians employed for their public archives, their astronomical\ncomputations, their religious dedications, their historical annals,\nand even for title-deeds and bills of exchange, tablets, cylinders,\nand hexagonal prisms of terra-cotta. Two of these cylinders, still\nextant, contain the history of the campaign of Sennacherib against\nthe kingdom of Judah; and two others, exhumed from the Birs Nimroud,\ngive a detailed account of the dedication of the great temple by\nNebuchadnezzar to the seven planets. To this indestructible material,\nand to the happy idea of employing it in this manner, the present age\nis indebted for a detailed history of the Assyrian monarchy; whilst\nthe decades of Livy, the plays of Menander and the lays of Anacreon,\nconfided to a more perishable material, have either wholly or partly\ndisappeared amidst the wreck of empires.\n\n\nCURIOUS DISPUTE AND APPROPRIATE DECISION.\n\nFuller, in his 'Holy State,' p. 170, gives a very _apposite_ story; a\npoor man in Paris, being very hungry, went into a cook shop, and staid\nthere so long, (for the master was dishing-up meat,) that his appetite\nbeing lessened by the steam, he proposed to go without his meal; the\ncook insisted upon payment all the same. At length, the altercation was\nagreed to be referred to the first person that passed the door; that\nperson happened to be a notorious idiot. Having heard the complaint, he\ndecreed that the poor man's money should be placed between two empty\ndishes, and that the cook should be recompensed with the jingling of\nhis cash, as the other was with the fumes of the meat; and this little\nanecdote is literally matter of fact.\n\n\nTHE TEA-POT.\n\nNo specimen of the ceramic art possesses greater variety of form than\nthe tea-pot. On none has the ingenuity of the potter been more fully\nexercised, and it is worthy of remark, that the first successful\nproduction of Boettcher in hard porcelain was a tea-pot. The so-called\nElizabethan tea-pots must be of a later date, for tea was not known in\nEngland until the time of Charles II; but it is interesting to trace\nthe gradual increase in the size of the tea-pot, from the diminutive\nproductions of the Elers, in the time of Queen Anne and George I., when\ntea was sold in apothecaries' shops, to the capacious vessel which\nsupplied Dr. Johnson with \"the cup that cheers but not inebriates.\"\n\nMr. Croker, in his edition of Boswell's Life, mentions a tea-pot that\nbelonged to Dr. Johnson which held two quarts; but this sinks into\ninsignificance compared with the superior magnitude of that in the\npossession of Mrs. Marryat, of Wimbledon, who purchased it at the sale\nof Mrs. Piozzi's effects at Streatham. This tea-pot, which was the one\ngenerally used by Dr. Johnson, holds more than three quarts. It is\nof old Oriental porcelain, painted and gilded, and from its capacity\nwas well suited to the taste of one \"whose tea-kettle had no time to\ncool, who with tea solaced the midnight hour, and with tea welcomed\nthe morn.\" George IV. had a large assemblage of tea-pots, piled in\npyramids, in the Pavilion at Brighton. Mrs. Elizabeth Carter was also\na collector of tea-pots, each of which possessed some traditionary\ninterest, independently of its intrinsic merit; but the most diligent\ncollector of tea-pots was the late Mrs. Hawes. She bequeathed no less\nthan three hundred specimens to her daughter, Mrs. Donkin, who has\narranged them in a room appropriated for the purpose. Among them are\nseveral formerly belonging to Queen Charlotte. Many are of the old\nJapan; one with two divisions, and two spouts for holding both black\nand green tea; and another of a curious device, with a small aperture\nat the bottom to admit the water, there being no opening at the top,\natmospheric pressure preventing the water from running out. This\nsingular Chinese toy has been copied in the Rockingham ware.\n\n\nPROTRACTED SLEEP.\n\nOne of the most extraordinary instances of excessive sleep is that\nof the lady at Nismes, published in 1777, in the \"Memoirs of the\nRoyal Academy of Sciences at Berlin.\" Her attacks of sleep took place\nperiodically, at sunrise and about noon. The first continued till\nwithin a short time of the accession of the second, and the second\ncontinued till between seven and eight in the evening--when she awoke,\nand continued so till the next sunrise. The most extraordinary fact\nconnected with this case is, that the first attack commenced always\nat daybreak, whatever might be the season of the year, and the other\nalways immediately after twelve o'clock. During the brief interval of\nwakefulness which ensued shortly before noon, she took a little broth,\nwhich she had only time to do when the second attack returned upon\nher, and kept her asleep till the evening. Her sleep was remarkably\nprofound, and had all the character of complete insensibility, with\nthe exception of a feeble respiration, and a weak but regular movement\nof the pulse. The most singular fact connected with her remains to be\nmentioned. When the disorder had lasted six months, and then ceased,\nthe patient had an interval of perfect health for the same length of\ntime. When it lasted one year, the subsequent interval was of equal\nduration. The affection at last wore gradually away; and she lived,\nentirely free of it, for many years after. She died in the eighty-first\nyear of her age, of dropsy, a complaint which had no connexion with her\npreceding disorder.\n\n\nANCIENT SUIT OF MAIL.\n\nThe two figures depicted on next page represent Henry of Metz receiving\nthe oriflamme from the hands of St. Denis, derived from a painted\nwindow in the church of Notre Dame de Chartres. The oriflamme was a\nred banner attached to a staff, and cut in the manner shown in our\nengraving. Henry of Metz was Marshal of France, and is here represented\nin a complete suit of mail, his hood being thrown back upon his\nshoulders. This suit is perfect, even to the extremities; and it is to\nbe remarked that the defence for the hands is divided in the manner of\na common glove. Over the mail is worn a loose surcoat, on which is\nemblazoned the cross, traversed by a red baton--the type of his high\noffice.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Suit of Mail.]\n\n\nTHE POISON CUP.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Poison Cup.]\n\nIn the time of James I. poison was too frequently resorted to,\nespecially on the Continent, as a means of getting rid of individuals\nwho had rendered themselves obnoxious to certain parties who were\nprosecuting their own private ends; and so extensively did this\ninfamous practice prevail that there was a class of persons who\nwere known to have studied the art of secret poisoning, and whose\nservices could be engaged for a high reward. In order to counteract the\noperations of the poisoners, various devices were employed, and among\nthem was the art which the pretended magicians of those days professed\nto have discovered, of making a kind of glass which would fly in pieces\nif poison was poured into any vessel that was formed of it. The cut at\nthe head of our article represents a tankard of this sort, in which\nthe glass is mounted in silver gilt arabesque and silver filagree. It\nwas believed that the large crystal which is seen standing out at the\ncentre of the lid would become discoloured at the approach of poison.\nThe tankard is a work of the sixteenth century, and was presented to\nClare Hall, Cambridge--where it is still preserved--by Dr. William\nButler, an eminent physician in the time of James I.\n\n\nPORCELAIN FINGER-RINGS.\n\nThe porcelain finger-rings of ancient Egypt are extremely beautiful;\nthe band of the ring being seldom above one-eighth of an inch in\nthickness. Some have a plate on which, in bas-relief, is the god _Set_,\nor _Baal_, full face, or playing on the tambourine, as the inventor of\nMusic; others have their plates in the shape of the right symbolical\neye, the emblem of the Sun; of a fish, of the perch species; or of\na scarabaeus, which is said to have been worn by the military order.\nSome few represent flowers. Those which have elliptical plates with\nhieroglyphical inscriptions, bear the names of Amen-Ra, and of other\ngods and monarchs, as Amenophis III., Amenophis IV., and Amenanchut,\nof the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties. One of these rings has\na little bugle on each side, as if it had been strung on the beaded\nwork of a mummy, instead of being placed on the finger. Blue is the\nprevalent colour, but a few white and yellow rings, and some even\nornamented with red and purple colours are found. It is not credible\nthat these rings, of a substance finer and more fragile than glass,\nwere worn during life. Neither is it likely that they were worn by the\npoorer classes, for the use of the king's name on sepulchral objects\nseems to have been restricted to functionaries of state. Some larger\nrings of porcelain of about an inch diameter, seven-eighths of an inch\nbroad, and one-sixteenth of an inch thick, made in open work, represent\nthe constantly repeated lotus flowers, and the god Ra, or the Sun,\nseated, and floating through the heaven in his boat. Common as these\nobjects were in Egypt, where they were employed as substitutes for\nthe hard and precious stones, to the Greeks, Etruscans, and Italian\nGreeks they were articles of luxury, just as the porcelain of China\nwas to Europeans some centuries ago. The Etruscans set these bugles,\nbeads, and amulets in settings of their exquisite gold filigree work,\nintermixed with gold beads and precious stones. Strung as pendants they\nhung round the necks of the fair ones of Etruria. In one of the tombs\nalready alluded to at the Polledrara, near Vulci, in Italy, was found\na heap of annular and curious Egyptian bugles, which had apparently\nformed a covering to some bronze objects, but the strings having given\nway, the beads had dropped to pieces. These, as well as the former,\nhad been obtained from some of the Egyptian markets, like that at\nNaucratis: or from the Phoenician merchants, in the same manner as the\nflasks. One of the most remarkable of these personal ornaments is a\nbracelet, composed of small fish strung together and secured by a clasp.\n\n\nPIGEON CATCHING NEAR NAPLES.\n\nBetween La Cava and Naples, about half a mile from the town, are\ncertain Bluebeard-looking towers, several centuries old, erected for\nthe purpose of snaring wood-pigeons; with which view the gentlemen of\nthe neighbourhood, who are generally expert and practised slingers,\nassemble and man the towers in May. A long line of nets, some quarter\nof a mile in circuit, held up in a slanting position by men concealed\nin stone sentry-boxes placed here and there along the _enceinte_, is\nspread in front. As the pigeons are seen advancing (the time of their\napproach is generally looked for at early dawn, when they are making\nfor the woods), the nearest slingers commence projecting a succession\nof white stones in the direction of the nets. These the birds no sooner\nbehold, then attracted, or alarmed (for the motive does not certainly\nappear), they swoop down upon them, and when sufficiently near to fall\nwithin reach of the nets, the persons holding let go, rush from their\nambush, and secure the covey. Thousands of wood-pigeons are thus, we\nhave been told by a proprietor, annually taken, and transmitted for\npresents to distant friends; as we used to send out game, before the\nsale of it was legalised. Thus birds, as well as fish, and fish as well\nas man, often get entangled and caught in their headlong pursuit of a\npleasure that still eludes them.\n\n\nFRAME REQUISITE TO SUPPORT THE DRESS.\n\nJames I., and his subjects who wished to clothe themselves loyally,\nwore stupendous breeches. Of course the \"honourable gentleman\" of\nthe House of Commons were necessarily followers of the fashion. But\nit led to inconveniences in the course of their senatorial duties.\nIt was an old mode revived; and at an earlier day, when these nether\ngarments were ample enough to have covered the lower man of Boanerges,\nthe comfort of the popular representative was thus cared for:--\"Over\nthe seats in the parliament-house, there were certain holes, some two\ninches square, in the walls, in which were placed posts to uphold a\nscaffold round about the house within, for them to sit upon who used\nthe wearing of great breeches stuffed with hair like wool-sacks, which\nfashion being left the eighth year of Elizabeth, the scaffolds were\ntaken down, and never since put up.\" So says Strutt; but doubtless the\ncomforts of the members were not less cared for when the old fashion\nagain prevailed.\n\n\nPRICES OF SEVRES PORCELAIN.\n\nAs one of the curiosities of luxury and taste it is worth while to note\nthe high prices for which some portions of the very choice collection\nof Sevres porcelain at Stowe were sold:--A small coffee cup, which\nweighed scarcely three ounces, realised 46 guineas; and another,\nsimilar, but somewhat inferior, sold for 35 guineas. A chocolate cup\nand saucer, Bleu de Roi, with beautiful miniatures of two ladies of\nthe Court of Louis XV., and four paintings of Cupids, though slightly\ninjured during the view, realised 45 guineas. The prices obtained for\nmost of the cups and saucers were from 10 to 12 guineas. A beautiful\nspecimen of a Bleu de Roi cup, saucer and cover, jewelled in festoons,\ncameos, and imitation of pearls, sold for L35 10s.; and another,\nsomewhat inferior, for 21 guineas. A salver, mounted in a table with\normolu ornaments, sold for 81 guineas; the companion piece for L100.\n\n\nHENRY THE EIGHTH'S CHAIR.\n\nIn the earlier half of the sixteenth century a large proportion of\nthe furniture used in this country, as well as of the earthenware and\nother household implements during the greater part of that century, was\nimported from Flanders and the Netherlands. Hence, in the absence of\nengravings at home, we are led to look at the works of the Flemish and\nGerman artists for illustrations of domestic manners at this period.\nThe seats of that day were termed joint (or joined) stools and chairs.\nA rather fine example of a chair of this work, which was, as was often\nthe case, three-cornered, is preserved in the Ashmolean museum, at\nOxford, where it is reported to have been the chair of Henry VIII. We\nhere annex a sketch of it.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Henry the Eighth's Chair.]\n\n\nMULLET AND TURBOT WITH THE ROMANS.\n\nThe Romans were enthusiastic for the mullet. It was for them _the_\nfish, _par excellence_. It was sometimes served up six pounds in\nweight, and such a fish was worth L60 sterling. It was cooked on the\ntable, for the benefit and pleasure of the guests. In a glass vessel\nfilled with brine made from water, the blood of the mackerel, and salt,\nthe live mullet, stripped of all its scales, was enclosed; and as its\nfine pink colour passed through its dying gradations, until paleness\nand death ensued, the _convives_ looked on admiringly, and lauded the\nspectacle.\n\nThe turbot was next in estimation, but as, occasionally, offending\nslaves were flung into the turbot preserves for the fish to feed upon,\nsome gastronomists have affected to be horror-stricken at the idea\nof eating a _turbot a la Romaine_; quite forgetting that so many of\nour sea-fish, in their domain, feed largely on the human bodies which\naccident, or what men call by that name, casts into the deep.\n\n\n\"TOO LATE,\" QUOTH BOICE.\n\nThe history of the ancient castle of Maynooth is one of much interest;\nabounding in incidents akin to romance. In the reign of Henry the\nEighth, during the rebellion of \"Silken Thomas,\" one of the bravest\nand most heroic of the Geraldines, it was taken by treachery. In the\nabsence of its lord, the governorship was entrusted to \"Christopher\nParese,\" his foster-brother. This \"white-livered traitor resolved to\npurchase his own security with his lord's ruin;\" and therefore sent\na letter to the lord-deputy, signifying that he would betray the\ncastle, on conditions; \"and here the devil betrayed the betrayer,\nfor in making terms for his purse's profit, he forgot to include his\nperson's safety.\" The lord-deputy readily accepted his offer, and,\naccordingly, the garrison having gained some success in a sally, and\nbeing encouraged by the governor in a deep joyous carouse, the ward\nof the tower was neglected--the traitorous signal given, and the\nEnglish scaled the walls. They obtained possession of the strong-hold,\nand put the garrison to the sword--\"all except two singing men, who,\nprostrating themselves before the deputy, warbled a sweet sonnet called\n_dulcis amica_, and their melody saved their lives.\" Parese, expecting\nsome great reward, with impudent familiarity presented himself before\nthe deputy, who addressed him as follows:--\"Master Parese, thou\nhast certainly saved our lord the king much charge, and many of his\nsubjects' lives, but that I may better know to advise his highness\nhow to reward thee, I would ascertain what the Lord Thomas Fitzgerald\nhath done for thee?\" Parese, highly elevated at this discourse,\nrecounted, even to the most minute circumstance, all the favours that\nthe Geraldine, even from his youth up, had conferred on him, to which\nthe deputy replied, \"And how, Parese, couldst thou find it in thy heart\nto betray the castle of so kind a lord? Here, Mr. Treasurer, pay down\nthe money that he has covenanted for; and here, also, executioner,\nwithout delay, as soon as the money is counted out, cut off his head!\"\n\"Oh,\" quoth Parese, \"had I known this, your lordship should not have\nhad the castle so easily.\" Whereupon Mr. Boice, a secret friend of\nthe Fitzgerald, a bystander, cried out \"Auntraugh,\" _i. e._ \"too\nlate,\" which occasioned a proverbial saying, long afterwards used in\nIreland--\"Too late, quoth Boice.\" The castle is said by Archdall to\nhave been erected by John, the sixth Earl of Kildare, early in the\nfifteenth century; but in that case it must have been preceded by some\nother defensive structure; for it is certain that the Kildare branch of\nthe Geraldines resided at Maynooth at a much earlier period. The first\nEarl of Kildare, John Fitz Thomas, was created by patent, dated 14th\nMay, 1316.\n\n\nSUPPRESSED BIBLES.\n\n1538.--An English Bible, in folio, printed at Paris, unfinished.\n\n1542.--Dutch Bible by Jacob Van Leisvelt. The sixth and best edition\ngiven by Leisvelt, and famous as being the cause of this printer being\nbeheaded.\n\n1566.--French Bible by Rene Benoist, Paris, 1566, folio, 3 vols.\ncompleted.\n\n1622.--Swedish Bible, printed at Lubeck, in 4to., very defective.\n\n1666.--A German Bible, printed at Helmstedt, in part only, 4to.\n\n1671.--A French Bible, by Marolles, in folio, containing only the books\nof Genesis, Exodus, and the first twenty-three chapters of Leviticus.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY REPRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE HYDRA.\n\nOne of the fresh-water Polypes, from its power of perpetual\nreproduction, has received the name of _Hydra_, by which it is known\namong naturalists: as if it realised the ancient monster of fabulous\nstory, whose heads sprouted anew as fast as they were cut off by\nHercules.\n\nMost curious monstrosities were produced by the experiments of\nphilosophers on these animals, especially by partial separations. If a\npolype be slit from the summit to the middle, one will be formed having\ntwo heads, each of which will capture and swallow food. If these again\nbe slit half-a-dozen times, as many heads will be formed surmounting\nthe same body. If now all these be cut off, as many new ones will\nspring up in their place, while each of the severed heads becomes a\nnew polype, capable of being, in its turn, varied and multiplied _ad\ninfinitum_;--so that in every respect our little reality exceeds its\nfabulous namesake.\n\nThe polypes may be grafted together. If cut-off pieces be placed in\ncontact, and pushed together with a gentle force, they will unite and\nform a single one. The head of one may be thus planted on the trunk of\nanother.\n\nAnother method of uniting them, perhaps still more wonderful, is by\nintroducing one within the other; the operator forced the body of the\none into the mouth of the other, pushing it down so that the heads\nwere brought together. After forcibly keeping it for some time in this\nstate, the two individuals at length united, and a polype was formed,\ndistinguishable only by having twice the usual number of tentacles.\n\nThere is one species which can actually be turned inside out like a\nglove, and yet perform all the functions of life as before, though\nthat which was the coat of the stomach is now the skin of the body and\n_vice versa_. If it should chance that a polype so turned had young\nin the act of budding, these are, of course, now within the stomach.\nIf they have arrived at a certain degree of maturity, they extend\nthemselves towards the mouth of the parent, that they may thus escape\nwhen separated. But those which are less advanced turn themselves\nspontaneously inside out, and thus place themselves again on the\nexterior of the parent.\n\nA multitude of other variations, combinations, and monstrosities, have\nbeen, as it were, created by the ingenuity of philosophers; but these\nare sufficient to give a notion of the extraordinary nature of these\nanimals; and to account for the wonder with which they were regarded.\n\n\nEGYPT.\n\nEgypt was the land visited by Abraham in search of food, when there\nwas a famine in his own country;--the land to which Joseph was carried\nas a slave, and which he governed as prime minister. From Egypt, Moses\nled the Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea. Here Jeremiah\nwrote his Lamentations. Here Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, and many other\nGreek philosophers, came to study. Here Alexander the Great came as\nconqueror; and here the Infant Saviour was brought by his parents to\navoid the persecution of Herod. Egyptian hieroglyphics, in which the\ncharacters are taken from visible objects, are the earliest form of\nwriting; and the Hebrew and Greek alphabets were both borrowed from\nthem. Egypt taught the world the use of paper--made from its rush,\nthe papyrus. In Egypt was made the first public library, and first\ncollege of learned men, namely, the Alexandrian Museum. There Euclid\nwrote his Elements of Geometry, and Theocritus his Poems, and Lucian\nhis Dialogues. The beauty of Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Queen, held\nJulius Caesar, and then Marc Antony, captive. In Egypt were built the\nfirst monasteries; the Christian fathers, Origen and Athanasius, lived\nthere. The Arien and Athanasian controversy began there.\n\nThe buildings which now remain are the oldest buildings in the world,\nand the largest in the world. On the banks of its great river may be\nseen the oldest arch, and the oldest column. Up this noble river sailed\nHerodotus, the most entertaining of travellers, and Strabo, the most\njudicious. Indeed, as the country is little more than the narrow strip\nthat is watered by the Nile's overflow, from the river may be seen\nalmost all its great cities and temples.\n\n\nABYSSINIAN LADIES.\n\nThe women of Abyssinia are dressed quite as decently as any women in\nthe world, without having a particle of the trouble of the ladies of\nmore civilised nations. There is a distinguishing costume for young\ngirls, and for those who, from being married or otherwise, are no\nlonger considered as such. The dress of the former is indeed rather\nslight, though far more picturesque than that of the latter. In one\npart of the country (about Shire) the girls merely wear a piece of\ncotton stuff wrapped round the waist and hanging down almost to the\nknee, and another (or the end of the former, if it be long enough)\nthrown over the left shoulder, so as to leave the right arm and breast\nexposed. In other parts of Tigre, a black goat-skin, ornamented with\ncowries, is often substituted for this latter. An ordinary woman\nwears a large loose shirt down to the feet, with sleeves made tight\ntowards the wrist. This, with a \"quarry\" similar to those of the\nmen, but worn rather differently, and a parasol when out of doors,\nis a complete suit. A fine lady, however, as in our engraving, has a\nsplendid \"mergeff quarry,\" and her shirt is made probably of calico\nfrom Manchester, instead of the country fabric, and richly embroidered\nin silk of divers colours and various patterns round the neck, down the\nfront, and on the cuffs. She will also, of course, own a mule; and then\nmay choose to wear (alas, that it should be so, even in Abyssinia!) the\ninexpressibles. These are made of calico, and rather loose, but getting\ngradually tighter at the ankle, where they are embroidered like the\nshirt.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Abyssinian Ladies.]\n\nThe fair sex all over the world are fond of ornaments. In Abyssinia\nthey wear a profusion of silver, in the shape of chains, bracelets,\n&c., or, to be more explicit, a well-dressed lady will hang three or\nfour sets of amulets about her neck, as well as her blue cord, and a\nlarge flat silver case (purporting to contain a talisman, but more\noften some scented cotton) ornamented with a lot of silver bells\nhanging to the bottom edge of it, and the whole suspended by four\nchains of the same metal. Three pairs of massive silver and gilt\nbracelets are on her wrists, and a similar number of \"bangles\" on her\nankles; while over her insteps and to her heels are a quantity of\nlittle silver ornaments, strung like beads on a silk cord. Her fingers\n(even the upper joints) are covered with plain rings, often alternately\nof silver and silver-gilt, and a silver hair-pin, something similar\nto those now worn by English ladies, completes her decoration. Women\nof the poorer class, and ladies on ordinary occasions, wear ivory\nor wooden pins neatly carved in various patterns, and stained red\nwith henna-leaves. The Abyssinian ladies, like those of most Eastern\nnations, stain their hands and feet with henna, and darken their\neyelids with antimony.\n\n[Illustration: 1, 2. Hair-pins made of hard wood, and stained with\nhenna. 3. Ditto, of silver and fil-et-grain work. (About one-half usual\nsize.)]\n\n\nTREATMENT OF LEPERS IN ENGLAND.\n\nAccording to the tenor of various old civil codes and local enactments,\nwhen a person became affected with leprosy, he was looked upon as\nlegally and politically dead, and lost the privileges belonging to\nhis right of citizenship. By the laws of England, lepers were classed\nwith idiots, madmen, outlaws, &c., as incapable of being heirs. But it\nwas not by the eye of the law alone that the affected was looked upon\nas defunct, for the church also took the same view, and performed the\nsolemn ceremonials of the burial of the dead over him, on the day on\nwhich he was separated from his fellow creatures, and confined to a\nlazar house. The various forms and ceremonies which were gone through\non this occasion are described by French authors; but it is highly\nprobable that the same observances were common in our own country.\n\nA priest, robed with surplice and stole, went with the cross to the\nhouse of the doomed leper. The minister of the church began the\nnecessary ceremonies, by exhorting him to suffer, with a patient and\npenitent spirit, the incurable plague with which God had stricken him.\nHe then sprinkled the unfortunate leper with holy water, and afterwards\nconducted him to the church, the usual burial services being sung\nduring their march thither. In the church, the ordinary habiliments of\nthe leper were removed; he was clothed in a funeral pall, and, while\nplaced before the altar, between _trestles_, the libera was sung,\nand the mass for the dead celebrated over him. After this service he\nwas again sprinkled with holy water, and led from the church to the\nhouse or hospital destined for his future abode. A pair of clappers, a\nbarrel, a stick, cowl, and dress, &c., were given him. Before leaving\nthe leper, the priest solemnly interdicted him from appearing in\npublic without his leper's garb,--from entering inns, churches, mills,\nand bakehouses,--from touching children, or giving them ought he had\ntouched,--from washing his hands, or any thing pertaining to him, in\nthe common fountains and streams,--from touching, in the markets, the\ngoods he wished to buy, with any thing except his stick,--from eating\nand drinking with any others than lepers,--and he specially forbade\nhim from walking in narrow paths, or from answering those who spoke to\nhim in roads and streets, unless in a whisper, that they might not be\nannoyed with his pestilent breath, and with the infectious odour that\nexhaled from his body,--and last of all, before taking his departure,\nand leaving the leper for ever to the seclusion of the lazar house,\nthe official of the church terminated the ceremony of his separation\nfrom his living fellow-creatures, by throwing upon the body of the poor\noutcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closure of the grave.\n\nAccording to the then customary usage, Leper Hospitals were always\nprovided with a cemetery for the reception of the bodies of those who\nhad died of the malady.\n\n\nLUMINOUS APPEARANCE OF THE RED SEA.\n\nAll who have frequented the Red Sea, have observed the luminous\nappearance or phosphorescence of its waters. \"It was beautiful,\" says\na picturesque writer, who sailed from Mocha to Cosseir, \"to look down\ninto this brightly transparent sea, and mark the coral, here in large\nmasses of honeycomb-rock, there in light branches of a pale red hue,\nand the beds of green seaweed, and the golden sand, and the shells, and\nthe fish sporting round the vessel, and making colours of a beauty to\nthe eye which is not their own. Twice or thrice we ran on after dark\nfor an hour or two; and though we were all familiar with the sparkling\nof the sea round the boat at night, never have I seen it in other\nwaters so superlatively splendid. A rope dipped in it and drawn forth\ncame up as a string of gems; but with a life, and light, and motion,\nthe diamond does not know.\" Those sea-lights have been explained by\na diversity of causes; but the singular brilliancy of the Red Sea\nseems owing to fish spawn and animalculae, a conjecture which receives\nsome corroboration from the circumstance that travellers who mention\nit visited the gulf during the spawning period--that is, between the\nlatter end of December and the end of February. The coral-banks are\nless numerous in the southern parts. It deserves notice, that Dr. Shaw\nand Mr. Bruce have stated--what could only be true, so far as their own\nexperience went--that they observed no species of weed or flag; and the\nlatter proposes to translate Yam Zuph \"the Sea of Coral\"--a name as\nappropriate as that of Edom.\n\n\nRECENT PRICES OF SLAVES.\n\nPrices of course vary at Constantinople according to the vigilance\nof Russian cruisers, and the incorruptibility of Russian agents at\nTrebizond, Samsoon, and Sinope. The following is the average price in\nCircassia:--\n\n A man of 30 years of age, L10\n \" 20 \" 10 to L30\n \" 15 \" 30 \" 70\n \" 10 \" 20 \" 50\n \" 5 \" 10 \" 30\n A woman of 50 years of age, L10 to L30\n \" 40 \" 30 \" 40\n \" 30 \" 40 \" 70\n \" 20 to 25 \" 50 \" 100\n \" 14 \" 18 \" 50 \" 150\n \" 8 \" 12 \" 30 \" 80\n \" 5 \" 20 \" 40\n\n\nTATTOOED ABYSSINIAN LADY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Tattooed Abyssinian Lady.]\n\nThe annexed cut is a sketch of an Abyssinian lady, tattooed in the\nheight of the fashion. The following extract from that interesting\nwork \"Parkyns's Abyssinia\" gives a good account of the custom as it\nprevails in the larger cities there, and of the manner in which the\noperation is performed. \"The men seldom tattoo more than one ornament\non the upper part of the arm, near the shoulder, while the women cover\nnearly the whole of their bodies with stars, lines, and crosses, often\nrather tastefully arranged. I may well say nearly the whole of their\npersons, for they mark the neck, shoulders, breasts, and arms, down to\nthe fingers, which are enriched with lines to imitate rings, nearly\nto the nails. The feet, ankles, and calves of the legs, are similarly\nadorned, and even the gums are by some pricked entirely blue, while\nothers have them striped alternately blue and the natural pink. To see\nsome of their designs, one would give them credit for some skill in\nthe handling of their pencil; but, in fact, their system of drawing\nthe pattern is purely mechanical. I had one arm adorned; a rather\nblind old woman was the artist; her implements consisted of a little\npot of some sort of blacking, made, she told me, of charred herbs; a\nlarge home-made iron pin, about one-fourth of an inch at the end of\nwhich was ground fine; a bit or two of hollow cane, and a piece of\nstraw; the two last-named items were her substitutes for pencils.\nHer circles were made by dipping the end of a piece of a cane of the\nrequired size into the blacking, and making its impression on the skin;\nwhile an end of the straw, bent to the proper length, and likewise\nblackened, marked all the lines, squares, diamonds, &c., which were to\nbe of equal length. Her design being thus completed, she worked away\non it with her pin, which she dug in as far as the thin part would\nenter, keeping the supply of blacking sufficient, and going over the\nsame ground repeatedly to ensure regularity and unity in the lines.\nWith some persons, the first effect of this tattooing is to produce\na considerable amount of fever, from the irritation caused by the\npunctures; especially so with the ladies, from the extent of surface\nthus rendered sore. To allay this irritation, they are generally\nobliged to remain for a few days in a case of vegetable matter, which\nis plastered all over them in the form of a sort of green poultice.\nA scab forms over the tattooing, which should not be picked off, but\nallowed to fall off of itself. When this disappears, the operation\nis complete, and the marks are indelible; nay more, the Abyssinians\ndeclare that they may be traced on the person's bones even after death\nhas bared them of their fleshy covering.\"\n\n\nBULGARIAN FISHERMEN.\n\nThe following interesting account of the Bulgarian fishermen on the\nshores of the Black Sea is taken from the translation of a narrative of\na boat excursion made in 1846 by M. Xavier Hommaire, along part of the\nnorthern coast of the Black Sea:--\n\n[Illustration: [++] Bulgarian Fishermen.]\n\n\"The fishermen are, almost without exception, Bulgarians--a population\nat once maritime and agricultural, very closely resembling, in race\nand costume, the Bretons of France--and they enjoy a monopoly of all\nthe fisheries in the Bosphorus and the adjacent parts of the Black\nSea. Their elegant barks appeared on stated days and hours, shooting\nalong with extraordinary rapidity through the waters of the Gulf of\nBuyuk Dereh, which appears to be their head-quarters, and sustaining\nthe test of comparison even with the famous caiques of Constantinople.\nThe most important object of their fishery is a delicious kind of\nsmall thunny, called palamede. They are Bulgarians, also, who own\nthe singular fisheries which form such admirable subjects for the\nartist's sketch-book. They are found throughout the Bosphorus, from\nBechiktusch and Scutari to the lighthouses of Europe and Asia. They\nmight be called dog-kennels, but rickety and worm-eaten with antiquity,\nand are suspended by means of cords, pegs, and tatters to the top\nof an indescribable framework of props. There on high, petrified in\nmotionless and uninterrupted silence, in company with some old pots of\nmignionette (where will not the love of flowers find a home!), a man,\nwith the appearance of a wild beast or savage, leans over the sea, at\nthe bottom of which he watches the passage of its smallest inhabitants,\nand the capricious variations of the current. At a certain distance\nis arranged, in the form of a square, a system of nets, which, at\nthe least signal from the watcher, fall on the entire shoal of fish.\nA contrivance yet more primitive than these airy cells, if not so\npicturesque, was that of simple posts, which we encountered some time\nbefore in the channel of the Bosphorus, rising about fifteen feet above\nthe surface of the water. Half-way up is perched, crouching (one cannot\nsee how), something having the human form, and which is found to be a\nBulgarian. For a long time I watched them without being able to make\nthem out, either pole or its tenant; and often have I seen them in the\nmorning, and observed them again in the evening, not having undergone\nthe least change of posture.\n\n\"On returning to our encampment, the commandant of the fort, to whom\nwe paid a visit, gave us a very different report of the fishermen of\nthe morning, whom he described as an assemblage of all the vagabonds of\nthe neighbourhood. Convinced even that the fact of their having fallen\nin with us must have inspired them with the project of coming to prowl\nby night round our camp, he wished us to accept some of the men in his\ngarrison as a guard.\"\n\n\nHORSES OF THE ARABS.\n\nArabs make intimate friends of their horses, and so docile are these\ncreatures that they are ridden without a bit, and never struck or\nspurred. They share their owner's diet, and are as well cared for as a\nchild. They divide their horses, however, into two kinds: The one they\ncall kadischi, that is, horses of an unknown birth; the other, they\ncall kochlani, that is, horses whose genealogy is known for thousands\nof years. They are direct descendants, so they say, of the stud of\nSolomon. The pedigree of an Arabian horse is hung round his neck soon\nafter his birth, which is always properly witnessed and attested.\n\nThe following is the pedigree of a horse purchased by a French officer\nin Arabia:--\"In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate, and of\nSaed Mahomed, agent of the high God, and of the companions of Mahommed,\nand of Jerusalem. Praised be the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator. This\nis a high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about\nhis neck, with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no\ninfidel can refuse to believe. He is the son of Rabbamy, out of the dam\nLabadah, and equal in power to his sire of the tribe of Zazhalah; he is\nfinely moulded, and made for running like an ostrich. In the honours\nof relationship, he reckons Zuluah, sire of Mahat, sire of Kallac, and\nthe unique Alket sire of Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, father of the race\ndown to the famous horse, the sire of Lahalala; and to him be ever\nabundance of green meat, and corn, and water of life, as a reward from\nthe tribe of Zazhalah; and may a thousand branches shade his carcass\nfrom the hyaena of the tomb, from the howling wolf of the desert;\nand let the tribe of Zazhalah present him with a festival within an\nenclosure of walls; and let thousands assemble at the rising of the\nsun in troops hastily, where the tribe holds up under a canopy of\ncelestial signs within the walls, the saddle with the name and family\nof the possessor. Then let them strike the bands with a loud noise\nincessantly, and pray to God for immunity for the tribe of Zoab, the\ninspired tribe.\"\n\n\nDILEMMA.\n\nProtagoras, an Athenian rhetorician, had agreed to instruct Evalthus\nin rhetoric, on condition that the latter should pay him a certain sum\nof money if he gained his first cause. Evalthus when instructed in all\nthe precepts of the art, refused to pay Protagoras, who consequently\nbrought him before the Areopagus, and said to the Judges--\"Any verdict\nthat you may give is in my favour: if it is on my side, it carries\nthe condemnation of Evalthus; if against me, he must pay me, because\nhe gains his first cause.\" \"I confess,\" replied Evalthus, \"that the\nverdict will be pronounced either for or against me; in either case I\nshall be equally acquitted: if the Judges pronounce in my favour, you\nare condemned; if they pronounce for you, according to our agreement,\nI owe you nothing, for I lose my first cause.\" The Judges being unable\nto reconcile the pleaders, ordered them to reappear before the Court a\nhundred years afterwards.\n\n\nORIENTAL EXTRAVAGANCE.\n\nMr. Forbes has given a curious picture of the kind of magnificence\naffected by Asuf ul Dowlah, who succeeded his father on the throne\nof Oude. This nabob was fond of lavishing his treasures on gardens,\npalaces, horses, elephants, European guns, lustres, and mirrors. He\nexpended annually about L200,000 in English manufactures. He had more\nthan one hundred gardens, twenty palaces, one thousand two hundred\nelephants, three thousand fine saddle horses, one thousand five hundred\ndouble-barrel guns, seventeen hundred superb lustres, thirty thousand\nshades of various forms and colours; seven hundred large mirrors,\ngirandoles and clocks. Some of the latter were very curious, richly set\nwith jewels, having figures in continual movement, and playing tunes\nevery hour; two of these clocks only, cost him thirty thousand pounds.\nWithout taste or judgment, he was extremely solicitous to possess all\nthat was elegant and rare; he had instruments and machines of every\nart and science, but he knew none; and his museum was so ridiculously\narranged that a wooden cuckoo-clock was placed close to a superb\ntimepiece which cost the price of a diadem; and a valuable landscape of\nClaude Lorraine suspended near a board painted with ducks and drakes.\nHe sometimes gave a dinner to ten or twelve persons, sitting at their\nease in a carriage drawn by elephants. His jewels amounted to about\neight millions sterling. Amidst this precious treasure, he might be\nseen for several hours every day handling them as a child does his toys.\n\n\nANCIENT SCOTTISH CHIEFTAIN.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Scottish Costume.]\n\nAnnexed is a Scottish costume of the eighth or ninth century, after\na drawing on parchment, extracted from an old book, which, according\nto the characters on the back, appears to have been written in\nGaelic or Erse. According to the assertion of the possessor, this\nCaledonian document was brought to Germany in the year 1596, during the\ndevastating Reformation in Scotland, when all cloisters and religious\nendowments were destroyed, and a perfect victory obtained over the\nepiscopacy, so that many persons took refuge with their treasures,\non the Continent, where the Scottish monks possessed many religious\nhouses; some being at Nuremberg. Our figure represents a Highland\nchief, whose dress is picturesque and extremely beautiful. The Scottish\ntunic or blouse, checkered or striped in light and dark green, with\nviolet intermixed, and bordered with violet stripes, is covered with a\nsteel breastplate, accompanied by a back-piece, judging from the iron\nbrassarts--positively a bequest of the Romans, by whom the Scots were\nonce subjugated; this, indeed, is also attested by the offensive weapon\nthe javelin; the sword, however, must be excepted, for it is national\nand like that of the present time. The strong shield may also have\ndescended from the Romans, as well as the helmet, which is decorated\nwith an eagle's wing; these, together with the hunting-horn, give to\nthe figure a very imposing appearance. The national plaid is wanting,\nthis was borne by attendants or squires. We are involuntarily reminded\nof the heroes of Fingal and Ossian, and we might almost think that\nthis figure belonged to the time of the Scottish king, Kenneth the\nSecond, grandson of King Achaias, and the sister of the Pictish king,\nHang.\n\n\nGREEK VASES.\n\nVases of various shapes have been found in the sepulchres of Greece,\nsuch as the _oenochoe_, or jug; the _askos_, or wine-skin; the _phiale\nomphalotos_, or saucer having a boss in the centre; _rhyta_, or jugs,\nimitated from the _keras_, or horn, as well as some moulded in the\nshape of the human bust. Vases of this class, however, occur more\nfrequently in Italy than in Greece. Some are of remarkable shape. One\nin the Durand collection has its interior receded, and in the centre\na medallion of the Gorgon's head; at the edge is the head of a dog or\nfox, and to it is attached a long handle terminating in the head of an\nanimal. Similar handles are often found. Another vase from Sicily, also\nin the same collection, with a conical cover, is ornamented externally\nwith moulded subjects of wreaths, heads of Medusa, &c., painted and\ngilded.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Greek Vase.]\n\nMany of the vases intended for ornamental purposes are covered with a\nwhite coating, and painted with colours of the same kind as those used\non the figures before described, but with few and simple ornaments,\nplain bands, maeanders, chequered bands and wreaths. A vase found at\nMelos affords a curious example. We here annex a sketch of it. It\nconsists of a number of small vases united together and arranged in a\ndouble circle round a central stand. This kind of vase is supposed to\nbe the _kernos_, used in the mystic ceremonies to hold small quantities\nof viands. By some persons, however, it is thought to have been\nintended for eggs or flowers. It is covered with a white coating of\nclay, and the zigzag stripes are of a maroon colour. Such vases might\nhave been used for flower-pots, and have formed small temporary gardens\nlike those of Adonis, or have been employed as lamps.\n\n\nQUEEN ELIZABETH'S DRESSES.\n\nThe list of the Queen's wardrobe, in 1600, shows us that she had then\nonly 99 robes, 126 kirtles, 269 gowns (round, loose, and French), 136\nforeparts, 125 petticoats, and 27 fans, not to mention 96 cloaks, 83\nsave guards, 85 doublets, and 18 lap mantles.\n\nHer gowns were of the richest materials--purple, gold tissue, crimson\nsatin, cloth of gold, cloth of silver, white velvet, munsy cloth,\ntawney satin, horse-flesh coloured satin, Isabella coloured satin dove\ncoloured velvet, lady blush satin, drake coloured satin, and [...]\ncoloured satin.\n\nThe cloaks are of perfumed leather, black taffety; the petticoats of\nblue satin; the jupes of orange coloured satin; the doublets of straw\ncoloured satin; the mantles of white blush, striped with red swan's\ndown.\n\nThe most characteristic dresses are the following:--\n\nA frock of cloth of silver, checquered with red silk, like bird's eyes,\nwith demi sleeves, a cut of crimson velvet twisted on with silver,\nlined with crimson velvet.\n\nA mantle of white lawn, cut and turned in, embroidered all over with\nworks of silver, like pomegranates, roses, honeysuckles, and acorns.\n\nOne French kirtle of white satin, cut all over, embroidered with loops,\nflowers, and clouds of Venice gold, silver, and silk.\n\nOne round kirtle of white satin, embroidered all over with the work\nlike flames, peascods, and pillars, with a border likewise embroidered\nwith roses.\n\nThe stomacher (fore part) of white satin, embroidered very fair with\nborders of the sun, moon, and other signs and planets of Venice gold,\nsilver, and silk of sundry colours, with a border of beasts beneath,\nlikewise embroidered.\n\nOther gowns we find adorned with bees, spiders, flies, worms, trunks of\ntrees, pansies, oak leaves, and mulberries; so that \"Bess\" must have\nlooked like an illustrated edition of _AEsop's Fables_.\n\nIn one case she shines in rainbows, clouds, flames of fire, and suns;\nin another, with fountains and trees, snakes, and grasshoppers; the\nbuttons themselves, in one instance, assume the shape of butterflies,\nin another of birds of Paradise.\n\nThe fans were of white and coloured feathers, with gold handles set\nwith precious stones, or of crystal and heliotrope; one of them\ncontained a looking-glass, another Leicester's badge of the bear and\nragged staff. Her swords had gilt handles and blood-stone studs; her\nponiards were gold and ivory, ornamented with tassels of blue silk; her\nslippers of cloth of silver, and of orange-coloured velvet, embroidered\nwith seed pearls; her parasol was of crimson velvet damask, striped\nwith Venetian gold and silver lace, the handle mother-of-pearl.\n\nHer jewels were both numerous and curious: the head ornaments\nresembling a white lion with a fly on his side, a golden fern-branch\nwith a lizard, ladybird, and a snail upon it, an Irish dart of gold set\nwith diamonds, a golden rose with a fly and spider upon it, a golden\nfrog set with jewels, a golden daisy, and emerald buttons, gown studs\nof rubies and pearls, and a chain of golden scallop shells, with chains\nof agate and jet. A sumptuous magnificence was the characteristic of\nthe costume of this reign. When Elizabeth visited the Earl of Hertford,\nat Elvetham, that nobleman met her with 3,000 followers, with black and\nyellow feathers in their hats, and most of them wearing gold chains.\nWhen she visited Suffolk, 200 bachelors in white velvet, with as many\nburghers in black velvet coats and gold chains, and 1800 serving-men\nreceived on horseback. For the French ambassador's amusement, in 1559,\n1400 men-at-arms, clad in velvet, with chains of gold, mustered in\narms in Greenwich Park; and on another occasion there was a tournament\non Midsummer (Sunday) Night at the palace of Westminster, between ten\nknights in white, led by the Earl of Essex, and ten knights in blue,\nled by the Earl of Rutland.\n\n\nCARE OF THE BEARD.\n\nThe Mahometans are very superstitious touching the beard. They bury\nthe hairs which come off in combing it, and break them first, because\nthey believe that angels have charge of every hair, and that they gain\nthem their dismissal by breaking it. Selim I. was the first Sultan who\nshaved his beard, contrary to the law of the Koran. \"I do it,\" said\nhe apologetically to the scandalized and orthodox mufti, \"to prevent\nmy vizier leading me by it.\" He cared less for it than some of our\nancestors, two centuries ago, did for their own. They used to wear\npasteboard covers over them in the night, lest they should turn upon\nthem and rumple them in their sleep!\n\nThe famous Raskolniki schismatics had a similar superstition to the\nMahometan one mentioned above. They considered the divine image in man\nto reside in the beard.\n\n\nDOLE IN CONSEQUENCE OF A DREAM.\n\nAt Newark-upon-Trent, a curious custom, founded upon the preservation\nof Alderman Clay and his family by a dream has prevailed since the days\nof Cromwell. On 11th March every year, penny-loaves are given away to\nevery one who chooses to appear at the Town Hall and apply for them,\nin commemoration of the Alderman's deliverance, during the siege of\nNewark by the Parliamentary forces. This gentleman, by will, dated 11th\nDecember, 1694, gave to the Mayor and Aldermen, one hundred pounds, the\ninterest of which was to be given to the Vicar yearly, on condition\nof his preaching an annual sermon. Another hundred pounds were also\nappropriated for the behoof of the poor, in the way above-mentioned.\nThe origin of this bequest is singular. During the bombardment of\nNewark by Oliver Cromwell's forces, the Alderman dreamed three nights\nsuccessively that his house had taken fire, which produced such a vivid\nimpression upon his mind, that he and his family left it, and in a few\ndays the circumstances of his vision actually took place, by the house\nbeing burned down by the besiegers.\n\n\nGLOVE MONEY.\n\nGloves were popular new-year's gifts, or sometimes \"glove-money\" in\nplace of them; occasionally, these gloves carried gold pieces in them.\nWhen Sir Thomas More was Chancellor, he decided a case in favour\nof Mrs. Croaker against Lord Arundel; the former, on the following\nnew-year's day, gratefully presented the judge with a pair of gloves\nwith forty angels in them. \"It would be against good manners,\" said\nthe Chancellor, \"to forsake a gentlewoman's new-year's gift, and I\naccept the gloves. The _lining_ you will elsewhere bestow.\"\n\n\nGLAIVES.\n\nThe glaive was derived from the Celtic custom of placing a sword with\na hollow handle at the end of a pole, called by the natives of Wales\n\"llavnawr\"--_the blade weapon_, and takes its name from the Cleddyv,\nor Gleddyv, of the Welsh. In an abstract of the grants of the 1st\nof Richard III., among the Harleian MSS., No. 443, is a warrant to\nNicholas Spicer, authorising him to impress smiths for making 2,000\nWelsh glaives; and 20s. 6d. are charged for 30 glaives, with their\nstaves, made at Abergavenny and Llanllolved. In the romaunt of Guy,\nEarl of Warwick, by Walter of Exeter, written in the time of Edward\nII., also in the Harleian Library of the British Museum, they are\ncalled gleves; thus--\n\n \"Grant coupes de gleves trenchant\n Les escurs ne lur vailut gans.\"\n\n \"Such powerful strokes from cutting gleves,\n That the shields were not worth a glove.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Glaive.]\n\nThey were also in frequent use on the Continent, and the \"Chronicle of\nFlanders\" mentions an instance of the cavalry having armed themselves\nwith glaives, which they ornamented with pennoncels. The specimen which\nwe have here engraved is one which was made for the Doge of Venice,\nduring the time that the Emperor Charles V. had the command there, in\ncompliment to whom the centre ornament is the Austrian eagle. Upon this\nthe arms of the succeeding Doge, Francisco Veneri, who held the office\nfrom 1554 to 1556, have been deeply incised, no doubt to commemorate\nthe expulsion of the Germans. The pole, at the top of which the weapon\nwas fixed, is omitted in our engraving.\n\n\nCRUELTY OF FRANCIS CARRARA.\n\nFrancis Carrara, the last Lord of Padua, was famous for his cruelties.\nThey shew (at Venice) a little box for a toilette, in which are six\nlittle guns, which are so ordered with springs, and adjusted in such a\nmanner, that upon the opening of the trunk, the guns fired and killed\nthe lady to whom Carrara sent it for a present. They show also with\nthis, some little pocket cross-bows and arrows of steel, with which he\ntook pleasure to kill those he met, so secretly, that they could hardly\neither perceive the blow, or him that gave it.\n\n\nIRISH PIPES.\n\nThe accompanying figures represent the Irish bagpipes in their\nprimitive and improved forms. We have here the earliest pipes,\noriginally the same as the Scotch, as appears from a drawing made in\nthe sixteenth century, and given in Mr. Bunting's work; but they now\ndiffer, in having the mouthpiece supplied by the bellows A, which,\nbeing filled by the motion of the piper's arm, to which it is fastened,\nfills the bag B; whence, by the pressure of the other arm, the wind is\nis conveyed into the chanter C, which is played on with the fingers,\nmuch like a common pipe. By means of a tube, the wind is conveyed into\ndrones _a_, _a_, _a_, which, tuned at octaves to each other, produce\na kind of cronan, or bass, to the chanter. The second cut represents\nthe improved, or union pipes, the drones of which, tuned at thirds and\nfifths by the regulator, have keys attached to them, which not only\nproduce the most delightful accords, but enable the player to perform\nparts of tunes, and sometimes whole tunes, without using the chanter\nat all. Both drones and chanter can be rendered quiescent by means of\nstops.\n\n[Illustration: Common Bagpipes.]\n\n[Illustration: Union Pipes.]\n\nThe pipers were at one period the \"great originals\" of Ireland. The\nrace is gradually departing, or at least \"sobering\" down into the ranks\nof ordinary mortals; but there was a time when the pipers stood out\nvery prominently upon any canvas that pictured Irish life. Anecdotes\nof their eccentricities might be recorded that would fill volumes. For\nmany years past their power has been on the wane; temperance committed\nsad havoc on their prospects; and at length the introduction of \"brass\nbands\" effectually destroyed the small balance that remained to them of\nhope.\n\n\nNOVEL WAY OF CURING VICIOUS HORSES.\n\nBurckhardt tells us of a strange mode of curing a vicious horse. He has\nseen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting by\npresenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just\ntaken from the fire. The pain which the horse feels in biting through\nthe hot meat causes it to abandon the practice.\n\n\nGROUND ICE.\n\nEvery one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other\ncollection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to\nform on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance\nof the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water\nis affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid\nmass of ice. This is universally the case in stagnant water, but\nit has been repeatedly proved that in rapid and rugged streams the\nprocess of freezing is often very different. In direct opposition,\nas it would seem, to the laws of the propagation of heat, the ice in\nrunning water frequently begins to form at the bottom of the stream\ninstead of the top; and this fact, while it is received with doubt by\nsome, even among the scientific, is frequently attested by those whose\nbusiness leads them to observe the phenomenon connected with rivers.\nMillers, fishermen, and watermen find that the masses of ice with which\nmany rivers are crowded in the winter season rise from the bottom or\nbed of the stream. They say that they have seen them come up to the\nsurface, and have also borne them up with their hooks. The under part\nof these masses of ice they have found covered with mud or encrusted\nwith gravel, thus bearing plain marks of the ground on which the ice\nhad rested. The testimony of people of this class in our country agrees\nwith that of a similar class in Germany, where there is a peculiar term\nmade use of to designate floating ice, i. e. _grundeis_ (ground-ice).\n\nA striking example of the formation of ground-ice is mentioned by the\nCommander Steenk, of Pillau. On the 9th of February, 1806, during a\nstrong south-east wind, and a temperature a little exceeding 34 deg. Fahr.,\na long iron chain, to which the buoys of the fair-way are fastened,\nand which had been lost sight of at Schappeiswrack in a depth of from\nfifteen to eighteen feet, suddenly made its appearance at the surface\nof the water and swam there; it was, however, completely encrusted with\nice to the thickness of several feet. Stones, also, of from three to\nsix pounds' weight, rose to the surface; they were surrounded with a\nthick coat of ice. A cable, also, three and a half inches thick, and\nabout thirty fathoms long, which had been lost the preceding summer in\na depth of thirty feet, again made its appearance by swimming to the\nsurface; but it was enveloped in ice to the thickness of two feet. On\nthe same day it was necessary to _warp_ the ship into harbour in face\nof an east wind; the anchor used for that purpose, after it had rested\nan hour at the bottom, became so encrusted with ice, that it required\nnot more than half the usual power to heave it up.\n\nM. Hugi, president of the Society of Natural History at Soleure,\nobserved, in February, 1827, a multitude of large icy tables on the\nriver Aar. These were continually rising from the bottom, over a\nsurface of four hundred and fifty square feet, and the phenomenon\nlasted for a couple of hours. Two years afterwards he witnessed a\nsimilar occurrence. On the 12th of February, 1829, at sunrise, and\nafter a sudden fall in the temperature, the river began to exhibit\nnumerous pieces of floating ice, although there was no sign of freezing\non the surface, either along the banks, or in shady places where the\nwater was calm. Therefore it could not be said that the floating masses\nwere detached from the banks. Nor could they have proceeded from any\nlarge sheet of ice farther up the river, because, higher up, the river\nexhibited hardly any ice. Besides, flakes of ice commenced soon to rise\nup above the bridge; towards mid-day, islands of ice were seen forming\nin the centre of the river; and by the next day these were twenty-three\nin number, the largest being upwards of two hundred feet in diameter.\nThey were surrounded with open water, resisting a current which flowed\nat the rate of nearly two hundred feet in a minute, and extending over\na space of one-eighth of a league. M. Hugi visited them in a small\nboat. He landed, examined them in every direction, and discovered that\nthere was a layer of compact ice on their surface a few inches in\nthickness, resting on a mass having the shape of an inverted cone, of a\nvertical height of twelve or thirteen feet, and fixed to the bed of the\nriver. These cones consisted of half-melted ice, gelatinous, and much\nlike the spawn of a frog. It was softer at the bottom than at the top,\nand was easily pierced in all directions with poles. Exposed to the\nopen air, the substance of the cones became quickly granulated, like\nthe ice that is formed at the bottom of rivers.\n\nIn the same year the pebbles in a creek of shallow water, near a\nvery rapid current of the Rhine, were observed to be covered with a\nsort of transparent mass, an inch or two in thickness, and which, on\nexamination, was found to consist of icy spicula, crossing each other\nin every direction. Large masses of spongy ice were also seen in\nthe bed of the stream, at a depth of between six or seven feet. The\nwatermen's poles entered these with ease, and often bore them to the\nsurface. This kind of ice forms most quickly in rivers whose bed is\nimpeded with stones and other foreign bodies.\n\n\nHINDOO COMPUTATION.\n\nThe Hindoos call the whole of their four ages a _divine age_; a\nthousand divine ages form a _calpa_, or one of Brahma's days, who,\nduring that period, successively invested fourteen _menus_, or holy\nspirits, with the sovereignty of the earth. The _menu_ transmits his\nempire to his posterity for seventy-one divine ages, and this period\nis called _manawantara_, and as fourteen _manawantara_ make but nine\nhundred and ninety-four divine ages, there remain six, which are the\ntwilight of Brahma's day. Thirty of these days form his month; twelve\nof these months one of his years; and one hundred of these years the\nduration of his existence. The Hindoos assert that fifty of these years\nhave already elapsed, so that we are in the first day of the first\nmonth of the fifty-first year of Brama's age, and in the twenty-eighth\ndivine age of the seventh _manawantara_. The first three human ages of\nthis age, and five thousand years of the fourth are past. The Hindoos\ntherefore calculate that it is 131,400,007,205,000 years since the\nbirth of Brahma, or the beginning of the world.\n\n\nCHINESE TOMB.\n\nLike all people of Tartar origin, one of the most remarkable\ncharacteristics of the Chinese is their reverence for the dead, or, as\nit is usually called, their ancestral worship. In consequence of this,\ntheir tombs are not only objects of care, but have frequently more\nornament bestowed upon them than graces the dwellings of the living.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Chinese Tomb.]\n\nTheir tombs are of different kinds; but the most common arrangement is\nthat of a horseshoe-shaped platform, cut out of the side of a hill,\nas represented in our engraving. It consequently has a high back,\nin which is the entrance to the tomb, and slopes off to nothing at\nthe entrance to the horseshoe, where the wall generally terminates\nwith two lions or dragons, or some fantastic ornament common to\nChinese architecture. When the tomb is situated, as is generally the\ncase, on a hillside, this arrangement is not only appropriate, but\nelegant. When the same thing is imitated on a plain, it is singular,\nmisplaced, and unintelligible. Many of the tombs are built of granite,\nfinely polished, and carved with a profusion of labour that makes us\nregret that the people who can do such things should have so great a\npredilection for ephemeral wooden structures, when capable of employing\nthe most durable materials with such facility.\n\n\nABYSSINIAN ARMS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Abyssinian Arms.]\n\nThe above engraving represents a group of Abyssinian arms. The sword,\nspear, and shield are essentially the weapons of the Abyssinians,\nfirearms being only of comparatively recent introduction, and not\ngenerally used. The shields are round, and nearly a yard in diameter;\nthey are very neatly made of buffalo's hide, and of the form most\ncalculated to throw off a lance-point; namely, falling back gradually\nfrom the boss or centre (which protrudes) to the edges. At the centre,\nin the inside, is fixed a solid leather handle, by which the shield is\nheld in the hand when fighting, or through which the arm is passed\nto the elbow, for convenience of carrying on a journey. The edge is\nperforated with a number of holes, through which leather loops are\npassed, and by these it is hung up in the houses. The face of the\nshield is often ornamented in various ways, according to the wealth\nor fancy of the owner. Some have simply a narrow strip of lion's skin\non each side of the boss, but crossing each other above and below\nit, the lower ends being allowed to hang at some length; others have\na large broad strip of the mane down the centre of the shield, and\nhanging several inches below it. This is, of course, usually made of\ntwo or three pieces stitched together, as it would be difficult to get\na single piece of sufficient length and beauty of fur. Others to this\nadd a lion's paw or tail, fastened on the left side of the mane, and\noften highly adorned with silver. The beautiful long black and white\nfur of a sort of monkey, called \"goreza,\" occasionally supplies the\nplace of that of the nobler yet scarcely so beautiful animal. A shield\nalmost completely covered with plates and bosses of silver, is usually\nthe mark of the chief of some district. Those similarly plated in\nbrass were likewise formerly used only by chiefs, though now they are\ncarried by every soldier who can afford to buy them. The plated shield\nis called \"tebbora.\" Those in brass are not much approved of, as they\nusually cover a bad skin; for a man possessed of a good handsome shield\nwould never think of thus hiding its intrinsic beauties.\n\nIn former times a beautiful crooked knife was used in Tigre, the sheath\nand handle of which were profusely enriched with silver and gilt.\nThese, however, are never worn now, the long \"shotel\" in Tigre, and the\nEuropean-shaped sword among the Amhara and most of the soldiers, have\nentirely superseded them.\n\nThe \"shotel\" is an awkward-looking weapon. Some, if straight, would be\nnearly four feet long: they are two-edged, and curved to a semicircle,\nlike a reaper's sickle. They are principally used to strike the point\ndownwards over the guard of an adversary, and for this the long curved\nshape is admirably adapted. It is, however, a very clumsy weapon to\nmanage. The sheath is of red morocco leather, its point being often\nornamented with a hollow silver ball, called \"lomita,\" as large as\na small apple. Many of the swords used are made in Europe, and are\nsuch as would be carried by the light cavalry, though lighter than\nours. Being, however, cheap, showy articles, they are apt to break,\nand therefore the Abyssinians are getting tired of them, preferring\nthose made of soft iron in their own country. These they make also\nwith the faible considerably broader than the forte, to give force to\nthe blow. Of course, they bend on the least stress; but, in defence\nof this failing, their owners say that, if a sword breaks, who is\nto mend it?--while, if it bends, you have only to sit on it, and it\ngets straight again. The handles of both this and the \"shotel\" are\nmade of the horn of the rhinoceros. They are cut out of the horn at\ngreat loss of material, and hence they fetch a good price. It should\nbe remembered that the heart of the horn is black, outside of which\nthere is a coating, not quite an inch thick, of a semi-transparent\nwhite colour. To make a sword-handle, a piece of horn of the requisite\nlength is first sawn off. This is then re-sawn longitudinally into\nthree pieces, of which the inner one only is eligible for handles. This\npiece is about an inch and a half thick, four or five inches broad at\nthe broader extremity, and three at the narrower. As it lies sawn flat\nbefore us we can distinctly see the black stripe in the centre, with\nthe white on each side. Next, a nearly semicircular piece is cut out\nat each side, leaving only four points of the white as four corners,\nand the grasp black. The handle is then finished, bored for the shank\nof the blade, and polished. The shank is usually clinched over a\nhalf-dollar beaten convex; a _fil-et-grain_ boss, called \"timbora,\" is,\nhowever, sometimes substituted. A sword-hilt thus made is obviously a\nvery clumsy one to handle, as the points are parallel to the edge, and\nthose farthest from the blade are longest.\n\n\nGEORGIANS AS TOPERS.\n\nIt is as unsurpassable topers, as well as for their military qualities,\nwhich have always been acknowledged, that the Georgians have acquired\nnotoriety. At their frequent drinking parties it is said they will pass\nseveral days and nights, almost without intermission, in quaffing the\nproductions of the vineyards of Kakheti, a district in the mountains\neast of Tiflis. This wine is by no means of bad quality; it is of a\ndeep red colour, so deep that one fancies it has been tinged with some\ndye to produce so intense a hue. They are said to consume incredible\nquantities of wine on these occasions, and in a fashion that would\nput to shame the drinking triumphs of Ireland, recorded by Sir Jonah\nBarrington, in days of old, when intoxication was the standard of\nspirit. The drinking vessel is a cow's horn, of considerable length,\nand the point of honour is to drain it at a draught. The brethren and\nconvivial rivals of the Georgians in the neighbouring provinces of\nImeretia and Mingrelia, instead of a horn, use a delicately-hollowed\nglobe of walnut tree, with a long narrow tube at the orifice. It holds\nfully a pint, and like its companion, the horn, the contents are\nconsumed at a single gulp. How these globes are hollowed is as great\na marvel as the construction of the ingenious Chinese puzzle of ball\nwithin ball.\n\n\nSTAG-HUNT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe following vivid picture of a stag-hunt is taken from the page of\nan old author, and refers to the days of the unfortunate Mary Queen\nof Scots:--\"In the year 1567, the Earl of Athol, a prince of the\nblood royal, had, with much trouble and vast expense, a hunting-match\nfor the entertainment of our most illustrious and gracious queen.\nOur people called this a royal hunting. I was then a young man, and\npresent on that occasion. Two thousand Highlanders, or wild Scotch,\nas you call them, were employed to drive to the hunting-ground all\nthe deer from the woods and hills of Athol, Badenoch, Marr, Murray,\nand the counties about. As these Highlanders use a light dress, and\nare very swift of foot, they went up and down so nimbly, that in less\nthan two months' time, they brought together two thousand red deer,\nbesides roes and fallow deer. The queen, the great men, and a number\nof others, were in a glen when these deer were brought before them.\nBelieve me, the whole body moved forward in something like battle\norder. The sight delighted the queen very much; but she soon had cause\nfor fear. Upon the earl--(who had been accustomed from his early days\nto such sights)--addressing her thus:--'Do you observe that stag who\nis foremost of the herd? There is danger from that stag; for if either\nfear or rage should force him from the ridge of that hill, let every\none look to himself, for none of us will be out of the way of harm;\nfor the rest will follow this one, and having thrown us under foot,\nthey will open a passage to this hill behind us.' What happened a\nmoment after confirmed this opinion; for the queen ordered one of the\nbest dogs to be let loose on one of the deer: this the dog pursues;\nthe leading stag was frighted; he flies by the same way he had come\nthere; the rest rush after him, and break out where the thickest body\nof Highlanders are; they had nothing for it but to throw themselves\nflat on the heath, and allow the deer to pass over them. It was told\nthe queen that several of the Highlanders had been wounded, and that\ntwo or three had been killed outright; and the whole body had got off,\nhad not the Highlanders, by their skill in hunting, fallen upon a\nstratagem to cut off the rear from the main body. It was of those that\nhad been separated that the queen's dogs and those of the nobility made\nslaughter. There were killed that day three hundred and sixty deer,\nbesides some roes.\"\n\n\nTIME WASTED IN TAKING SNUFF.\n\nA vast quantity of valuable time is wasted by the votaries of tobacco,\nespecially by the smokers; and that the devotees of snuff are not\ngreatly behind in this respect, will be shown by the following singular\ncalculation of Lord Stanhope:--\n\n\"Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker,\" says his\nlordship, \"at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes.\nEvery pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose\nand other incidental circumstances, consumes one minute and a half.\nOne minute and a half out of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a\nsnuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and twenty-four minutes out of\nevery natural day, or one day out of ten. One day out of every ten,\namounts to thirty-six days and a half in a year. Hence, if we suppose\nthe practice to be persisted in forty years, two entire years of the\nsnuff-taker's life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more\nto blowing it. The expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and handkerchiefs,\nwill be the subject of a second essay, in which it will appear that\nthis luxury encroaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it\ndoes on his time; and that by proper application of the time and money\nthus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the discharge\nof the national debt.\"\n\n\nVALUE OF A LONG PSALM.\n\nFormerly a psalm was allowed to be sung at the gallows by the culprit,\nin case of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to\nthe famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die, for\nattending his master in some of his glorious exploits, and being\nupon the ladder, ordered to set out a psalm, he expecting a reprieve,\nnamed the 119th Psalm (with which the officer attending the execution\ncomplied, the Scotch Presbyterians being great psalm-singers): and it\nwas well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before\nthe reprieve came: any other psalm would have hanged him.\n\n\nANCIENT INCENSE CHARIOT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Incense Chariot.]\n\nThe implement which we have engraved was found in a tomb at Cervetri\nin Etruria, and unquestionably belongs to a very remote date of the\narchaic period. It was used in the ritual services of the ancients,\nand seems to have been destined for burning incense. The perfume was,\nno doubt, placed in the concave part, and the fact of the whole being\nmounted upon four wheels proves that it was intended to be moved about,\nwhich, in religious services, may have been a great convenience. The\nborders are adorned by a row of flower-shaped ornaments, the graceful\nforms of which will be appreciated in the side-view we have given of\nit. It must be confessed, indeed, that this monument, which is marked\nby the stamp of an antiquity so exceedingly remote, displays within the\nlimits of its archaic character much elegance, conveying the idea of a\nhighly refined taste, suitable to a person of dignified position, as\nthe priest or king may be supposed to have been, to whom the article\nbelonged.\n\n\nTOO MUCH PARENTAL AUTHORITY.\n\nAll the world over, the current of natural affection flows strongly\ndownwards to posterity. Love for children, in most nations, seems to\nbe stronger than the love for parents. But in China, the current of\nnatural affection is thrown back towards parents with undue strength.\nThe love of posterity is in danger of being checked and weakened by\ntheir excessive veneration for parents. The father has absolute power,\neven the power of life and death, over his children. A few years ago,\na Chinese father said to his wife, \"What shall we do with our young\nson? He is undutiful and rebellious, and will bring disgrace on our\nfamily name; let us put him to death.\" Accordingly, having tied a cord\nround the boy's neck, the father pulled one end of it, and the mother\nthe other, and thus they strangled their son. The magistrates took no\nnotice of the occurrence. A wealthy Chinese gentleman at Ningpo shut\nup one of his orphan grandchildren and starved her to death. He could\nnot be troubled rearing her up. Another man at the same place, having\ncommanded two of his sons one day to follow him, entered a boat, and\nrowed out to the middle of the stream. He then deliberately tied a\nstone to the neck of one of his sons, and threw him into the river. The\nother lad was compelled to assist his father in the cruel proceeding.\nThese facts are well known to the missionaries at that place. They\nheard the cries of the poor girl, and rescued her sister from a similar\nfate, and they saw the youth drowned by his father. But the authorities\nnever thought of interfering.\n\n\nPOPULAR PASTIMES.\n\nThe popular pastimes of the time of James the First are enumerated in\nthe following lines, in a little work entitled \"The Letting of Humour's\nBlood in the Head-vaine; with a New Morisco daunced by seven Satyres\nupon the bottome of Diogenes' tubbe:\" 8vo, Lond. 1611.\n\n \"Man, I dare challenge thee to THROW THE SLEDGE,\n To jump or LEAPE over ditch or hedge,\n To WRASTLE, play at STOOLEBALL, or to RUNNE:\n To PITCH THE BARRE, or to SHOOTE OFF A GUNNE:\n To play at LOGGETS, NINE HOLES, or TEN PINNES:\n To try it out at FOOT-BALL by the shinnes:\n At TICKTACKE, IRISH NODDIE, MAW, and RUFFE,\n At HOT-COCKLES, LEAP-FROG, or BLINDMAN-BUFFE;\n To drinke halfe-pots, or deale at the whole can:\n To play at BASE, or PEN-AND-YNKHORNE SIR JUAN;\n To daunce the MORRIS, play at BARLEY-BREAKE,\n At all exploytes a man can thinke or speake;\n At SHOVE-GROATE, VENTER-POYNT, or CROSSE & PILE,\n At BESHROW HIM THAT'S LAST AT YONDER STYLE;\n At LEAPING O'ER A MIDSOMMER-BON-FIER,\n Or at the DRAWING DUN OUT OF THE MYER:\n At any of those, or all these presently,\n Wagge but your finger, I am for you, I!\"\n\n\nVACILLATING NEWSPAPERS.\n\nThe newspapers of Paris, submitted to the censorship of the press, in\n1815, announced in the following terms, Bonaparte's departure from the\nIsle of Elba, his march across France, and his entry into the French\nCapital:--9th March--The Cannibal has escaped from his den. 10th--The\nCorsican ogre has just landed at Cape Juan. 11th--The Tiger has arrived\nat Gap. 12th--The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. 13th--The\nTyrant has crossed Lyons. 14th--The Usurper is directing his course\ntowards Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a\nbody, and they surround him on all sides. 18th--Bonaparte is sixty\nleagues from the Capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the\nhands of his pursuers. 19th--Bonaparte advances rapidly, but he\nwill never enter Paris. 20th--To-morrow, Napoleon will be under our\nramparts. 21st--The Emperor is at Fontainebleau. 22nd--His Imperial and\nRoyal Majesty last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the\nTuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faithful\npeople.\n\n\nPRESSING TO DEATH, AND PRAYING AND FASTING.\n\nIn a number of Oliver Cromwell's Newspaper, \"The Perfect Account of\nthe Daily Intelligence,\" dated April 16th, 1651, we find this horrid\ninstance of torture:--\n\n\"Mond. April 14th.--This session, at the Old Bailey, were four men\npressed to death that were all in one robbery, and, out of obstinacy\nand contempt of the court, stood mute and refused to plead; from whence\nwe may perceive the exceeding great hardness some men are grown unto,\nwho do not only swerve from instructions, exhortations, and goodnesse,\nbut become so lewd and insolent that they render themselves the proper\nsubjects for whom severe laws were first invented and enacted.\"\n\nThe very next paragraph in the paper is to the following effect:--\n\n\"Those of the congregate churches, and many other godly people in\nLondon and parts adjacent, have appointed Friday, the 25th instant, as\na day of solemn fasting and prayer, for a blessing upon the armies at\nland, the fleet at sea, and negociations abroad.\"\n\n\nTHE FIRST WATCHES IN ENGLAND.\n\nIn 1584 watches began to come from Germany, and the watchmaker soon\nbecame a trader of importance. The watches were often of immense size,\nand hung in a rich case from the neck, and by fops wound up with great\ngravity and ceremony in Paul's or at the ordinary dinner. Catgut\nmainsprings must have been slightly affected by changes of weather, and\nsometimes a little out of time in wet Novembers; but, Sessa, let the\nworld live! An early specimen of the watch that we have seen engraved\nwas, however, not larger than a walnut, richly chased, and enclosed\nin a pear-shaped case. It had no minute hand, but was of beautiful\nworkmanship. Country people, like Touchstone, sometimes carried pocket\ndials, in the shape of brass rings, with a slide and aperture, to be\nregulated to the season.\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.\n\nJesse, in his interesting \"Gleanings in Natural History,\" gives\nthe following remarkable instance of an extraneous substance being\nfound imbedded in the solid timber of an ash:--\"A person on whose\naccuracy and veracity I can place every reliance, informed me that\nhearing from some of his brother workmen, that in sawing up the butt\nof a large ash-tree, they had found a bird's nest in the middle of\nit; he immediately went to the spot, and found an ash cut in two\nlongitudinally on the saw-pit, and the bird's nest nearly in the centre\nof the tree. The nest was about two-thirds of a hollow globe, and\ncomposed of moss, hair, and feathers, all seemingly in a fresh state.\nThere were three eggs in it, nearly white and somewhat speckled. On\nexamining the tree most minutely with several other workmen, no mark\nor protuberance was found to indicate the least injury. The bark was\nperfectly smooth and the tree quite sound.\" In endeavouring to account\nfor this curious fact, we can only suppose that some accidental hole\nwas made in the tree before it arrived at any great size, in which a\nbird had built its nest, and forsaken it after she had laid three eggs.\nAs the tree grew larger, the bark would grow over the hole, and in\nprocess of time the nest would become embedded in the tree.\n\n\nPORT COON CAVE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Port Coon Cave.]\n\nThe above is a sketch of a cave which well deserves a place among our\ncollection of Wonders. It is called Port Coon Cave, and is in the\nline of rocks near the Giants' Causeway. It may be visited either by\nsea or by land. Boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred\nyards or more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous; and although\nthe land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of\nclimbing is necessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of\nthe excavation, its length, and the formation of the interior, would\nrepay greater exertion; the stones of which the roof and sides are\ncomposed, and which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were,\nin a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the\ncoats of an onion; the innermost recess has been compared to the side\naisle of a Gothic cathedral; the walls are most painfully slimy to the\ntouch; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amid the rolling of\nthe billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a\nbugle, we are told, produced delicious echoes.\n\n\nANECDOTE IN PORCELAIN.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Count Bruehl's Tailor and His Wife.]\n\nThe finest specimens of Dresden porcelain were undoubtedly made\npreviously to the Seven Years' War, when no expense was spared, and\nwhen any price might be obtained. Count Bruehl, the profligate minister\nof Augustus III., whose splendid palace and terrace is the great\nornament of Dresden, was importuned by his tailor to be allowed to\nsee the manufactory, admission to which was strictly prohibited. At\nlength he consented, and the tailor upon his entrance was presented\nwith the two last new pieces made, which were--one a grotesque figure,\na portrait of himself mounted upon a he-goat, with the shears, and all\nhis other implements of trade; and the other, his wife upon a she-goat,\nwith a baby in swaddling clothes. The poor tailor was so annoyed with\nthese caricatures, that he turned back without desiring to see more.\nThese pieces, known as Count Bruehl's Tailor and his Wife, are now much\nsought after, from their historical interest. They were made in 1760,\nby Kaendler.\n\n\nANGLO-SAXON FEASTS.\n\nIt is a mark of Anglo-Saxon delicacy, that table-cloths were features\nat Anglo-Saxon feasts; but, as the long ends were used in place of\nnapkins, the delicacy would be of a somewhat dirty hue, if the cloth\nwere made to serve at a second feast. There was a rude sort of display\nupon the board; but the order of service was of a quality that would\nstrike the \"Jeameses\" of the age of Victoria with inexpressible\ndisgust. The meat was never \"dished,\" and \"covers\" were as yet unknown.\nThe attendants brought the viands into the dining-hall on the spits,\nknelt to each guest, presented the spit to his consideration; and,\nthe guest having helped himself, the attendant went through the same\nceremony with the next guest. Hard drinking followed upon these same\nceremonies; and even the monasteries were not exempt from the sins\nof gluttony and drunkenness. Notwithstanding these bad habits, the\nAnglo-Saxons were a cleanly people; the warm bath was in general use.\nWater, for hands and feet, was brought to every stranger on entering a\nhouse wherein he was about to tarry and feed; and, it is said that one\nof the severest penances of the church was the temporary denial of the\nbath, and of cutting the hair and nails.\n\n\nHOUSEHOLD RULES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nFrom Sir J. Harrington's (the translator of Ariosto) rules for\nservants, we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government\nof a country gentleman's house in 1566.\n\nA servant who is absent from prayers to be fined. For uttering an oath,\n1d.; and the same sum for leaving a door open.\n\nA fine of 2d., from Lady Day to Michaelmas, for all who are in bed\nafter six, or out after ten.\n\nThe same fine, from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed\nafter seven, or out after nine.\n\nA fine of 1d. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned\nafter eight.\n\nA fine of 4d. for any man detected teaching the children obscene words.\n\nA fine of 1d. for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent\nat a meal.\n\nFor any one breaking any of the butler's glass, 12d.\n\nA fine of 2d. for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by\nhalf-past ten, or the supper by six.\n\nA fine of 4d. for any one absent a day without leave.\n\nFor any man striking another, a fine of 1d.\n\nFor any follower visiting the cook, 1d.\n\nA fine of 1d. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, broken hose,\nuntied shoes, or torn doublet.\n\nA fine of 1d, for any stranger's room left for four hours after he be\ndressed.\n\nA fine of 1d. if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven\nin summer.\n\nThe porter to be fined 1d. if the court-gate be not shut during meals.\n\nA fine of 3d. if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after dinner.\n\nAll these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly payment\nof the men's wages. If these laws were observed, the domestic\ndiscipline must have been almost military in it.\n\n\nTHE QUEEN OF SHEBA.\n\nBelkis, according to the Arabs, was the famous Queen of Sheba or Saba,\nwho visited, and afterwards married, Solomon, in the twenty-first\nyear of her reign. Tabari has introduced her story with such gorgeous\nembellishments as to resemble a fairy tale rather than episode in\nserious narrative. She is said to have been subdued by the Jewish\nmonarch, who discovered her retreat among the mountains, between Hejaz\nand Yemen by means of a lapwing, which he had despatched in search\nof water during his progress through Arabia. This princess is called\nNicolaa by some writers. The Abyssinians claim the same distinction for\none of their queens; and have preserved the names of a dynasty alleged\nto have been descended from her union with Solomon.\n\n\nSUPERSTITION IN FRANCE.\n\nIn France, superstition at this day is even more prevalent than it\nis in England. Garinet, in his history of Magic and Sorcery in that\ncountry, cites upwards of twenty instances which occurred between the\nyears 1805 and 1818. In the latter year no less than three tribunals\nwere occupied with trials originating in this humiliating belief: we\nshall cite only one of them. Julian Desbourdes, aged fifty-three, a\nmason, and inhabitant of the village of Thilouze, near Bourdeaux,\nwas taken suddenly ill, in the month of January 1818. As he did not\nknow how to account for his malady, he suspected at last that he was\nbewitched. He communicated this suspicion to his son-in-law Bridier,\nand they both went to consult a sort of idiot, named Boudouin, who\npassed for a conjuror or _white-witch_. This man told them that\nDesbourdes was certainly bewitched, and offered to accompany them to\nthe house of an old man named Renard, who, he said, was undoubtedly\nthe criminal. On the night of the 23rd of January all three proceeded\nstealthily to the dwelling of Renard, and accused him of afflicting\npersons with diseases by the aid of the devil. Desbourdes fell on his\nknees and earnestly entreated to be restored to his former health,\npromising that he would take no measures against him for the evil he\nhad done. The old man denied in the strongest terms that he was a\nwizard; and when Desbourdes still pressed him to remove the spell from\nhim, he said he knew nothing about the spell, and refused to remove\nit. The idiot Boudouin, the _white-witch_, now interfered, and told\nhis companions that no relief for the malady could ever be procured\nuntil the old man confessed his guilt. To force him to confession they\nlighted some sticks of sulphur which they had brought with them for the\npurpose, and placed them under the old man's nose. In a few moments he\nfell down suffocated and apparently lifeless. They were all greatly\nalarmed; and thinking that they had killed the man, they carried him\nout and threw him into a neighbouring pond, hoping to make it appear\nthat he had fallen in accidentally. The pond, however, was not very\ndeep, and the coolness of the water reviving the old man, he opened his\neyes and sat up. Desbourdes and Bridier, who were still waiting on the\nbank, were now more alarmed than before, lest he should recover and\ninform against them. They therefore waded into the pond, seized their\nvictim by the hair of the head, beat him severely, and then held him\nunder water till he was drowned.\n\nThey were all three apprehended on the charge of murder a few days\nafterwards. Desbourdes and Bridier were found guilty of aggravated\nmanslaughter only, and sentenced to be burnt on the back, and to work\nin the galleys for life. The _white-witch_ Boudouin was acquitted on\nthe ground of insanity.\n\n\nHELMET OF SIR JOHN CROSBY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Helmet of Sir John Crosby.]\n\nWe here present our readers with a sketch of the helmet of Sir John\nCrosby, as it originally appeared when suspended over his tomb in St.\nHelen's Church, Bishopsgate. He was an eminent merchant of London; but\nis represented upon his tomb in a full suit of armour. He died in 1475.\nThe extreme height of the crown of the helmet resembles that on the\ntomb of the Earl of Warwick, in the Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick; and\nwas intended to support the crest of the wearer, the holes for affixing\nit being still visible.\n\n\nEARTHQUAKE PANIC.\n\nA panic terror of the end of the world seized the good people of Leeds\nand its neighbourhood in the year 1806. It arose from the following\ncircumstances. A hen, in a village close by, laid eggs, on which were\ninscribed the words, \"_Christ is coming_.\" Great numbers visited the\nspot, and examined these wondrous eggs, convinced that the day of\njudgment was near at hand. Like sailors in a storm, expecting every\ninstant to go to the bottom, the believers suddenly became religious,\nprayed violently, and flattered themselves that they repented them of\ntheir evil courses. But a plain tale soon put them down, and quenched\ntheir religion entirely. Some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went\none fine morning and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of\nher miraculous eggs. They soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg\nhad been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up\nagain, into the bird's body. At this explanation, those who had prayed,\nnow laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore.\n\n\nOLD ENGLISH SACK-POT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Sack-Pot.]\n\nSack was such a national beverage of the jolly old England of the\nseventeenth century, that we are sure our readers will thank us for\ngiving them an idea of the vessel in which it was commonly used. The\nbottle here engraved, and inscribed \"Sack,\" was found in Old Tabley\nHall, Cheshire, and is a veritable specimen of the sort of vessel from\nwhich the topers of the \"good old times\" poured into their cups the\ndrink with which they so loved to warm their heart-strings. It is of a\ndull-white, with blue letters, and it is in the possession of the Hon.\nRobert Curzon, jun., author of the interesting work on the Monasteries\nof the Levant. Two old English bottles of similar character, one\nlettered Sack, the other Claret, dated 1646, were sold at Strawberry\nHill.\n\n\nAGE OF TREES.\n\nMr. Twining was engaged, in the year 1827, in measuring and inspecting\na large lot of hemlock timber cut from the north-eastern slope of East\nRock, New Haven (America), and destined for the foundation of a wharf.\nWhile thus employed he took particular notice of the successive layers,\neach of which constitutes a year's growth of the tree, and which in\nthat kind of wood are very distinct. These layers were of various\nbreadths, and plainly showed that in some seasons the trees made a\nmuch greater advance than in others, some of the layers being five or\nsix times broader than others. Every tree had thus preserved a _record\nof the seasons_ for the period of its growth, whether thirty years or\ntwo hundred--and what was worthy of notice, _every tree told the same\nstory_. Thus, by beginning at the outer layer of two trees, the one\nyoung the other old, and counting back twenty years, if the young tree\nindicated, by a full layer, a _growing season_ for that kind of timber,\nthe other tree indicated the same.\n\n\"I had then before me,\" (says this intelligent observer) \"two or three\nhundred _meteorological tables_, all of them as unerring as nature; and\nby selecting one tree from the oldest, and sawing out a thin section\nfrom its trunk, I might have preserved one of the number to be referred\nto afterwards. It might have been smoothed on the one side by the\nplane, so as to exhibit its record to the eye with all the neatness and\ndistinctness of a drawing. On the opposite side might have been minuted\nin indelible writing the locality of the tree, the kind of timber, the\nyear and month when cut, the soil where it grew, the side and point\nwhich faced the north, and every other circumstance which can possibly\nbe supposed ever to have the most remote relation to the value of the\ntable in hand. The lover of science will not be backward to incur such\ntrouble, for he knows how often, in the progress of human knowledge,\nan observation or an experiment has lost its value by the disregard of\nsome circumstance connected with it, which at the time was not thought\nworthy of notice. Lastly, there might be attached to the same section\na written meteorological table compiled from the observations of some\nscientific person, if such observations had been made in the vicinity.\nThis being done, why, in the eye of science, might not this _natural_,\n_unerring_, _graphical_ record of seasons past deserve as careful\npreservation as a curious mineral, or a new form of crystals?\"\n\n\nTHE CAMEL AS A SCAPE-GOAT.\n\nA very singular account of the use to which a camel is sometimes put,\nis given by the traveller Bruce. He tells us that he saw one employed\nto appease a quarrel between two parties, something in the same way as\nthe scape-goat was used in the religious services of the Jewish people.\nThe camel being brought out was accused by both parties of all the\ninjuries, real or supposed, which belonged to each. All the mischief\nthat had been done, they accused this camel of doing. They upbraided\nit with being the cause of all the trouble that had separated friends,\ncalled it by every opprobious epithet, and finally killed it, and\ndeclared themselves reconciled over its body.\n\n\nSUSPENDED VOLITION.\n\nA young lady, an attendant of the Princess ----, after having been\nconfined to her bed for a great length of time with a violent nervous\ndisorder, was at last, to all appearance, deprived of life. Her lips\nwere quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead person,\nand the body grew cold.\n\nShe was removed from the room in which she lay, was put in a coffin,\nand the day of her funeral fixed on. The day arrived, and, according to\nthe custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were sung before the\ndoor. Just as the people were about to nail on the lid of the coffin, a\nkind of perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of her body.\nIt grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion\nwas observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A few minutes after,\nduring which time fresh signs of returning life appeared, she at once\nopened her eyes and uttered a most pitiable shriek. Physicians were\nquickly procured, and in the course of a few days she was considerably\nrestored.\n\nThe description which she gave of her situation is extremely\nremarkable, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology.\n\nShe said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really dead;\nyet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in\nthis dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends speaking, and\nlamenting her death, at the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on\nthe dead-clothes, and lay her in them. This feeling produced a mental\nanxiety which is indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was\nwithout power, and could not act on her body. She had the contradictory\nfeeling as if she were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the\nsame time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arm or\nto open her eyes, or to cry, although she continually endeavoured to do\nso. The internal anguish of her mind was, however, at its utmost height\nwhen the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought that\nshe was to be buried alive was the one that gave activity to her soul,\nand caused it to operate on her corporeal frame.\n\n\nFASHIONS FOR THE DEAD.\n\nThe following advertisement appeared in a Glasgow paper about the\nmiddle of the last century. \"James Hodge, who lives in the first close\nabove the Cross, on the west side of the street, Glasgow, continues to\nsell burying Crapes ready made; and his wife's niece, who lives with\nhim, dresses dead Corpses at as cheap a rate as was formerly done by\nher aunt, having been educated by her, and perfected at Edinburgh, from\nwhence she is lately arrived, and has all the newest and best fashions.\"\n\n\nCOMMON USE OF PLATE IN THE TIME OF HENRY VIII.\n\nA writer in the early part of the sixteenth century tells us that in\nhis time, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the luxury of the table\nhad descended even to citizens, and that there were few whose tables\nwere not daily provided with spoons, cups, and a salt-cellar of silver.\nThose of a higher sphere affected a greater profusion of plate; but the\nquantity accumulated by Cardinal Wolsey, though the precious metals\nare now so copious, still continues to excite our surprise. At Hampton\nCourt, where he feasted the French ambassadors and their splendid\nretinue in 1528, two cupboards, extending across the banquet chambers,\nwere piled to the top with plate and illuminated; yet, without\nencroaching on these ostentatious repositories, a profuse service\nremained for the table. Two hundred and eighty beds were provided for\nthe guests; every chamber had a bason and ewer of silver, beside other\nutensils.\n\n\nDIOGENES IN A PITHOS, NOT TUB.\n\nA pithos is a description of earthen vessel or jar, distinguished from\nthe amphora by its large mouth, and comparatively flattened base. Its\nshape was more that of a gourd, or pot; its size large enough to have\nrendered it applicable to the purposes of a cistern, or water butt.\nSuch, indeed, appear in some instances to have been its dimensions,\nthat it has long been a matter of dispute amongst the learned whether,\nif Diogenes dwelt in a tub at all (a point by no means settled), his\nhumble habitation were of wood or earthenware. Brougniart adopts the\nlatter opinion, and has illustrated it by a partial copy from a print\nin Winckelmann. In the original, the philosopher is shown holding his\nwell-known chat with Alexander the Great, at the gate of the Metroum,\nor Temple of the Mother of the Gods at Athens; but his tub has there\nthe addition of a dog lying on the outside, above his master's head,\nevidently on the watch to defend him, if necessary, against any\nattack from the royal warrior. Winckelmann's engraving, which we here\npresent, is taken from a bas-relief discovered in the Villa Albani;\nin which the cynic's tub is clearly of earthenware, having a large\nfracture on one side, which has been repaired with some other material\ndovetailed across the crack. This, Winckelmann concludes to have been\nlead (commesso col piombo), simply, however, upon the authority of the\nfollowing lines in Juvenal:--\n\n \"Si Fregeris, altera fiet\n Cras domus, aut eadem plumbo commissa manebit.\"\n\n _Sat._ xiv 310.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Diogenes in a Pithos.]\n\nBe all this, however, as it may, the controversy is not without its\nvalue in connexion with the ceramic productions of the period. If\nthe \"dolia\" and \"[Greek: pithakne].\" of the ancients had not been of\nsufficient capacity, however kennel-like, to have served as a dwelling,\nor shelter, for the philosopher, the tale would hardly have existed.\nNor does it seem probable that Juvenal, in allusion to the story,\nwould have used the term _testa_ (testa cum vidit in illa magnum\nhabitatorem), or have dwelt upon their fragility, or have said that\nthey would not burn (dolia nudi non ardent Cynici), if vessels of the\nsort had not been commonly of earthenware. These vessels, both ancient\nand modern, have a thickness and strength which enables them to be\nrolled on a ladder to and from the top of the kiln, where they are\nbaked, without injury.\n\n\nCHINESE SCHOOL.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Native Chinese School.]\n\nThe annexed engraving is a curiosity both in itself and in what it\nrepresents. It is taken from a sketch by a native Chinese artist, and\ndepicts the internal arrangements of a native Chinese school. The\nextraordinary nature of the Chinese language renders it impossible\nfor a schoolmaster to instruct more than a very few scholars at\na time, since the meaning of the words actually depends on their\ncorrect intonation. Every vocable in the language is capable of being\npronounced in six different tones of voice, and of conveying six\nmeanings, totally different from each other, according to the tone\ngiven to it. Pronounced in one tone, it conveys one meaning, and is\nrepresented by one written character; pronounced in another tone, it\nconveys an entirely distinct meaning, and is represented in writing\nby another character altogether different. The correct and distinct\nenunciation of these tones is the chief difficulty in learning to\nspeak the language. These tones are stereotyped and fixed, and must\nbe learned, as part of the word, at the same time that its form and\nsignification are mastered. Moreover, they are all arranged upon\nsystem, like the notes in a gamut, and when thoroughly mastered, the\ntheory of the tones is really beautiful. If a wrong tone, then, is\ngiven to a word in reading or in conversation, it grates upon a Chinese\near like a false note in playing the fiddle. Further, if the voice be\nnot correctly modulated, and the words correctly intoned, not only is\na jarring note pronounced, but actually a wrong word is uttered, and a\ndifferent meaning conveyed from what was intended. A missionary to the\nChinese, therefore, should be possessed of a musical ear. Without this,\nthe acquisition of the spoken language will be attended by very arduous\nlabour; and, perhaps, after years of toil, he will find that he still\nfrequently fails in correctly conveying his meaning.\n\n\nLONDON LOCALITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nAt Ludgate was a gaol, where the prisoners clamoured for alms at the\nbarred grate; and it was here that Sir Thomas Wyatt had been repulsed.\nThe city wall that joined this gate to its other fellow gates ran\nfrom the Tower through the Minories to Aldgate, Houndsditch, and\nBishopsgate, through Cripplegate to Aldersgate, and so past Christ's\nHospital by Newgate and Ludgate to the Thames.\n\nPimlico was a country place where citizens used to repair to eat\n\"pudding pies\" on a Sunday, as they did to Islington or Hogsden to take\ntobacco and drink new milk; as Islington was famous for its dairy,\nwhere Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have lived in an old house still\nstanding, so Holloway was famous for its cheese cakes; and it is these\npeculiarities that, after all, confer immortality upon a place. Chelsea\nwas the mere village of Chelsea, known from Sir Thomas More's house,\nwhere Henry VIII. had walked with his arm round that great statesman's\ndoomed neck; as Holborn was then a country road leading to the pleasant\nvillage of St. Giles, and trending on to the way that led to Oxford and\nto fatal Tyburn, so called from its burn or brook, then well known to\npatient city anglers. The triple tree or gallows stood at the corner\nof the present Edgware Road. The same Oxford Street led also, if you\nturned up one side of the Hampstead Road, to the Tottenham Court,\nwhich stood there alone far in the country, and Primrose Hill was an\nuntrodden hillock, surrounded by wide paths and ditches between this\ncourt and Hampstead.\n\nA cheerful little stream, known by the pleasant name of the Fleet, rose\nnear Hampstead Hill, and joined by the Old Bourne and recruited by\nsparkling Clerken Well, emptied itself in the Thames. Though even then\nmerely a sewer, it was open, and had four bridges of its own, while the\nThames had but one; and these were known as Holborn Bridge, Fleet-lane\nBridge, Fleet Bridge, and Bridewell Bridge.\n\nSpitalfields was a grassy open space, with artillery grounds and a\npulpit and cross, where fairs were held and sermons preached. There\nwere also Tothill Fields, and Finsbury Fields, and Moor Fields, just\noutside the city walls, laid out in walks, and planted, as far as\nHoxton. Round these squares there were windmills and everything equally\nrural. As for Piccadilly, it was everywhere known as a road to Reading,\nand by many herbalists, as harbouring the small wild foxglove in its\ndry ditches.\n\nOutside Temple Bar, before the wooden gatehouse was built, lay the\nStrand, the road leading from the city to the houses of Court. This\nriver bank was the chosen residence of the nobility, whose gardens\nstretched to the edge of the then undefiled river. The sky then was\npure and bright, for our ancestors burnt wood fires, and the water was\ngay with thousands of boats. Each house had its terrace, its water\nstairs, and garden. The street houses were so scattered that the river\ncould be seen between them, and there were three water courses there\ntraversed by bridges, besides two churches and a maypole. Here stood\nYork House, where Bacon was born, and Durham Place, where Raleigh\nlived, with his study in a turret overlooking the river; there also\nwere Arundel House and Essex House, where great men pined and plotted.\n\nAt Whitehall stood Wolsey's Palace, enlarged by Henry VIII., and\nElizabeth's favourite residence when not at Nonsuch in Surrey, Windsor,\nGreenwich, or Richmond. The tilt-yard stood where the Horse Guards\nnow stands. St. James's Palace, also built by Henry VIII., where the\nQueen's melancholy-bigot sister had died, was seldom inhabited by the\nCourt; but the park was even then existing. As for the old palace of\nRichard III. (Baynard's Castle), that had been let to the Earl of\nPembroke, and the same king's dwelling of Crosby Hall had fallen into\nthe hands of an alderman.\n\n\nWARWICK THE KING-MAKER.\n\nOn the right-hand side of Newgate-street are various streets and\ncourts leading into Paternoster-row. Of these, Warwick and Ivy lanes,\nPanyer-alley, and Lovel's-court, merit the attention of the lover of\nliterary and historical antiquities. Warwick-lane, now the abode of\nbutchers and tallow-chandlers, took its name from the inn or house of\nthe celebrated Warwick, the king-maker.\n\nStow mentions his coming to London in the famous convention of 1458,\nwith 600 men, all in red jackets, embroidered, with ragged staves,\nbefore and behind, and was lodged in Warwick-lane; \"in whose house\nthere was often six oxen eaten at a breakfast, and every taverne was\nfull of his meate, for hee that had any acquaintance in that house,\nmight have there so much of sodden and roaste meate, as he could pricke\nand carry upon a long dagger.\"\n\nThe memory of the earl was long preserved by a small stone statue,\nplaced in the side front of a tobacconist's, at the corner of this\nlane; and there is a public-house which has the earl's head for its\nsign.\n\n\nTHANKSGIVING DAY IN 1697.\n\nThe following is an extract from the \"Post Boy\" of the above date:--\n\n\"Thursday, December 2, 1697. Thursday being appointed for the day of\nThanksgiving, the same was ushered in with ringing of bells; the king\nwent to the Chapel Royal, where, &c., and at night we had bonfires and\nilluminations. The fine fireworks in St. James's Square were lighted\nafter this manner:--About twelve o'clock, the Foot Guards lined the\navenues; the rockets and all things being fixed on the rails the day\nbefore: a little after six, the king, attended by his guards, came to\nthe Earl of Romney's house, from whence soon after a signal was given,\nby firing a rocket, for the fireworks to go off, which were immediately\nlighted; the performance was extraordinary fine, and much applauded;\nthe same continued somewhat better than half an hour, and there were\ndivers sorts of fireworks; some had the king's name, others the arms\nof England; in a word, they were very curious. There was a man and a\nwoman unfortunately killed, and divers others hurt by the falling down\nof sticks. About half an hour after, His Majesty went to St. James's\nthere being a fine ball.\"\n\n\nTHE GREY MAN'S PATH.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Grey Man's Path.]\n\nThe annexed sketch depicts a scene in the coast rocks at Fairhead,\nnear Ballycastle in Ireland. Fhir Leith, or \"The Grey Man's Path,\" (a\nfissure in the precipice,) viewed either from land or sea, is never to\nbe forgotten: it seems as though some supernatural power, determined to\nhew for itself a pathway through the wonderful formations that tower\nalong the coast--so that it might visit or summon the spirits of the\ndeep, without treading a road made by mortal hands--had willed the\nfearful chasm that divides the rocky promontory in two. The singular\npassage, in its narrow part, is barred across by the fragment of a\npillar, hurled, as it were, over the fissure, and supported on both\nsides at a considerable elevation. If you descend, you perceive the\npassage widens, and becomes more important; its dark sides assume\ngreater height, and a more wild and sombre magnificence; and at last\nthey extend upwards, above 220 feet, through which the tourist arrives\nat the massive _debris_ which crowd the base of the mighty promontory,\nwhere the northern ocean rolls his threatening billows. From the\ncragsmen and boatmen of this wild coast you hear no tales of Faery, no\nhints of the gentle legends and superstitions collected in the south,\nor in the inland districts of the north; not that they are a whit less\nsuperstitious, but their superstition is, as the superstition of the\nsea kings, of a bold and peculiar character; their ghosts come from out\nthe deep, before or after the rising of the moon, and climb, or rather\nstalk up the rocks, and, seated upon those mysterious pillars, converse\ntogether; so that, in the fisherman's huts, they say, \"it thunders.\"\nEven mermaids are deemed too trifling in their habits and manners\nfor this stupendous scenery, where spirits of the gigantic world\ncongregate, and where the \"Grey Man\" of the North Sea stalks forth,\nsilently and alone, up his appropriate path, to witness some mighty\nconvulsion of nature.\n\n\nANCIENT JET NECKLACE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Jet Necklace.]\n\nVarious interesting ornaments, belonging to the Archaic, or Bronze\nperiod in Scotland, are preserved in the Museum of Scottish\nAntiquaries, and one set in particular, found enclosed in an urn within\na rude stone cist, on the demolition of a tumulus near the Old House of\nAssynt, Rossshire, in 1824, we here engrave. They include a necklace\nof irregular oval jet beads, which appear to have been strung together\nlike a common modern string of beads, and are sufficiently rude to\ncorrespond with the works of a very primitive era. The other ornaments\nwhich are represented here about one-fourth the size of the original,\nare curiously studded with gold spots, arranged in patterns similar\nto those with which the rude pottery of the British tumuli are most\nfrequently decorated, and the whole are perforated with holes passing\nobliquely from the back through the edge, evidently designed for\nattaching them to each other by means of threads.\n\n\nJUGGLERS IN JAPAN.\n\nThe perfection of jugglery in Japan entitles it to be ranked amongst\nthe fine arts. An eye-witness thus describes the performance of a\nJapanese juggler. \"Here are some of his feats:--No. 1. He took an\nordinary boy's top, spun it in the air, caught it on his hand, and then\nplaced it (still spinning) upon the edge of a sword, near the hilt.\nThen he dropped the sword point a little, and the top moved slowly\ntowards it. Arrived at the very end, the hilt was lowered in turn, and\nthe top brought back. As usual, the sword was dangerously sharp. No. 2\nwas also performed with the top. He spun it in the air, and then threw\nthe end of the string back towards it with such accuracy that it was\ncaught up and wound itself all ready for a second cast. By the time it\nhad done this it had reached his hand, and was ready for another spin.\nNo. 3 was still performed with the top. There was an upright pole, upon\nthe top of which was perched a little house, with a very large front\ndoor. The top was spun, made to climb the pole, knock open the said\nfront door, and disappear. As well as I remember, the hand end of the\nstring was fastened near the door, so that this was almost a repetition\nof the self-winding feat. But feat No. 4 was something even more\nastonishing than all this. He took two paper butterflies, armed himself\nwith the usual paper fan, threw them into the air, and, fanning gently,\nkept them flying about him as if they had been alive. 'He can make\nthem alight wherever you wish! Try him!' remarked the Kami (Prince),\nthrough the interpreter. Mr. H---- requested that one might alight\nupon each ear of the juggler. No sooner expressed than complied with.\nGentle undulations of the fan waved them slowly to the required points,\nand there left them comfortably seated. Now, whether this command over\npieces of paper was obtained simply by currents of air, or by the power\nof a concealed magnet, Mr. H---- could not tell or ascertain. One\nthing, however, was certain, the power was there.\"\n\n MAY-FAIR PLAY BILL IN THE TIME OF WILLIAM III.\n WILLIAM REX.\n MAY-FAIR.\n MILLER'S,\n OR THE LOYAL ASSOCIATION BOOTH,\n AT THE UPPER END OF\n BROOK-FIELD MARKET,\n NEAR HYDE PARK CORNER.\n DURING THE TIME OF MAY-FAIR, WILL BE PRESENTED\n AN EXCELLENT DROLL, CALLED\n KING WILLIAM'S HAPPY DELIVERANCE\n AND GLORIOUS TRIUMPH OVER HIS ENEMIES,\n OR THE CONSULTATION OF THE\n POPE, DEVIL, FRENCH KING, AND THE GRAND TURK,\n WITH THE WHOLE FORM OF THE SIEGE OF NAMUR,\n AND THE HUMOURS OF A RENEGADE FRENCH MAN\n AND BRANDY JEAN,\n WITH THE CONCEITS OF SCARAMOUCH AND HARLEQUIN,\n TOGETHER WITH THE BEST SINGING AND DANCING THAT WAS\n EVER SEEN IN A FAIR, ALSO A DIALOGUE SONG.\n VIVAT REX.\n\n\nBELLS.\n\nBells were formerly a prolific source of superstition. There is a\nvalley in Nottinghamshire, where a village is said to have been\nswallowed up by an earthquake, and it was the custom on Christmas Day\nmorning for the people to assemble in this valley and listen to the\nfancied ringing of the church bells underground. At Abbot's Morton\nthere is a tradition that the silver bells belonging to the abbot are\nburied in the site of his old residence there. At Ledbury, a legend\nrelates that St. Katharine had a revelation that she was to travel\nabout, and not rest at any place, till she heard the bells ringing of\ntheir own accord. This was done by the Ledbury bells on her approaching\nthat town. When the church at Inkberrow was rebuilt on a new site in\nancient days, it was believed that the fairies took umbrage at the\nchange, as they were supposed to be averse to bells; they accordingly\nendeavoured to obstruct the building, but, as they did not succeed, the\nfollowing lamentation was occasionally heard by the startled rustics:\n\n \"Neither sleep, neither lie,\n For Inkbro's ting-tangs hang so nigh.\"\n\nMany years ago the twelve parish churches in Jersey each possessed a\nbeautiful and valuable peal of bells; but during a long civil war, the\nstates determined on selling these bells to defray the heavy expenses\nof their army. The bells were accordingly collected, and sent to\nFrance for that purpose; but, on the passage, the ship foundered, and\neverything was lost, to show the wrath of Heaven at the sacrilege.\nSince then, before a storm, these bells ring up from the deep; and,\nto this day, the fishermen of St. Ouen's Bay always go to the edge of\nthe water before embarking, to listen if they can hear \"the bells upon\nthe wind;\" and, if those warning notes are heard, nothing will induce\nthem to leave the shore; if all is quiet they fearlessly set sail. As a\ngentleman, who has versified the legend, says:\n\n \"'Tis an omen of death to the mariner,\n Who wearily fights with the sea;\n For the foaming surge is his winding sheet,\n And his funeral knell are we:\n His funeral knell our passing bells beat,\n And his winding sheet the sea.\"\n\n\nBRIBING THE DEMONS.\n\nThe rich inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, it is almost needless\nto say, make an exorbitant display at funerals. They invite as many\nrelations and friends as they can, in order to muster an imposing\nprocession, and the mourning dresses worn by the whole party are at\nthe cost of the family of the deceased, who are also bound to provide\nthem for several days together with splendid repasts. A great number\nof musicians are hired for the occasion, and also of _weepers_, for\nthough most people in China are pretty well skilled in the art of\nshedding tears, there exist mourners by profession, who have carried it\nto still greater perfection, and are absolutely inimitable at sobs and\ngroans. They follow the coffin in long white robes, hempen girdles, and\ndishevelled hair; and their lamentations are accompanied by the beating\nof gongs, by the sharp and discordant sounds of rude instruments of\nmusic, and the discharge of fireworks. The sudden explosion and the\nsmell of the powder are supposed to be efficacious in frightening away\nthe demons, and hindering them from seizing on the soul of the defunct,\nwhich never fails to follow the coffin; and as these malevolent spirits\nhave also the reputation of being extremely covetous and fond of money,\npeople endeavour to get on their weak side. They let fall, for this\npurpose, all along the road, sapecks and bank-notes, that the wind\ncarries away in all directions; and as the demons in China are by no\nmeans so cunning as the men, they are taken in by this device, and\nfall into the trap with charming simplicity, though, the supposed\nbank-notes are in fact only bits of white paper. Whilst they are\nengaged in pursuing these deceitful appearances of riches, the soul of\nthe defunct proceeds quietly and comfortably after its coffin without\nany danger of its being stopped by the way.\n\n\nHOLY-WATER SPRINKLER.\n\nTo sprinkle the holy water was, in ancient times, the cant phrase for\nfetching blood, which will account for the appellation of a certain\nclass of weapons, as there is no resemblance whatever between them and\nthe aspergillum used by Roman Catholics. The specimen we have here\nsketched is a demi holy-water-sprinkler--to speak in the language of\nthe time--\"with gonnes at the ende.\" This awkward weapon, prior, in\npoint of date, to the invention of the matchlock, and, therefore, not\nlater than the time of Edward IV., was made to hang at the saddle-bow\ninstead of a mace. The iron cap at the end is furnished with a\nspear-like blade, and opens on an hinge, or is held in its place by\na hook. It contains four short barrels, each of which is fired by a\nmatch, and its touch-hole is protected by a sliding piece of wood.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Holy Water Sprinkler.]\n\nIn using this weapon the intention was first to fire at the enemy with\nthe \"gonnes at the ende,\" and then to club him on coming to close\nquarters. To effect all this, however, in a satisfactory manner, much\ntime must have been lost, and many accidents, no doubt, were liable to\nhappen to the person who used such a weapon as this, which was almost\nas dangerous to the man who possessed it, as to the enemy against whom\nhe directed it. The lid at the top must first have been opened, and\nnot only so, but must have been kept open all the time the weapon was\nused as a gun, and then, previously to closing with the foe, it must\nhave been necessary to secure it, lest, in brandishing the instrument\nas a club, the open lid should strike against the head of the man who\nwielded it. No wonder that this dangerous compound of club and gun soon\nwent out of fashion, and survived its invention only a very few years.\n\n\nFIRST TEA-DRINKERS PUZZLED.\n\nThe first brewers of tea were often sorely perplexed with the\npreparation of the new mystery. \"Mrs. Hutchinson's great grandmother\nwas one of a party who sat down to the first pound of tea that ever\ncame into Penrith. It was sent as a present, and without directions how\nto use it. They boiled the whole at once in a bottle, and sat down to\neat the leaves with butter and salt, and they wondered how any person\ncould like such a diet.\"\n\n\nCOLUMN AT CUSSI.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Column at Cussi.]\n\nThe great object of the erection of pillars of victory was to serve\nas vehicles for sculpture; though, as we now see them, or as they are\ncaricatured at Paris and elsewhere, they are little more than instances\nof immense labour bestowed to very little purpose. In the original\nuse of these pillars, they were placed in small courts surrounded by\nopen porticos, whence the spectator could at two, or perhaps at three\ndifferent levels examine the sculpture at his leisure at a convenient\ndistance, while the absurdity of a pillar supporting nothing was not\napparent, from its not being seen from the outside. A good specimen of\nthis class is that at Cussi, near Beaune, in France. It is represented\nin the annexed cut. It probably belongs to the time of Aurelian, and\nno doubt was first erected within a court; but it is not known either\nby whom it was erected, or what victory it was designed to celebrate.\nStill that it is a pillar of victory is certain, and its resemblance\nto pillars raised with the same object in India is quite striking.\nThe arrangement of the base, serving as a pedestal for eight statues,\nis not only elegant, but appropriate. The ornament which covers the\nshaft takes off from the idea of its being a mere pillar, and, at the\nsame time, is so subdued as not to break the outline or interfere with\nconstructive propriety. The capital of the Corinthian order is found\nin the neighbourhood, used as the mouth of a well. In its original\nposition it no doubt had a hole through it, which being enlarged\nsuggested its application to its present comparatively ignoble purpose,\nthe hole being no doubt intended either to receive or support the\nstatue or emblem that originally crowned the monument, but of that no\ntrace now remains.\n\n\nSTYLE OF LIVING AMONG THE NOBILITY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe ordinary meals were now increased to four a day--breakfast at\nseven in the morning, dinner at ten, supper at four in the afternoon,\nand \"liveries,\" which were taken in bed, between eight and nine at\nnight. These latter, as well as the breakfast, were of no light or\nunsubstantial character, consisting of good beef and mutton (or salt\nfish in Lent), with beer and wine in the morning; and of a loaf or\ntwo, with a few quarts of mulled wine and beer, at nights. At dinner\nthe huge oaken table, extending the whole length of the great hall,\nwas profusely covered with joints of fresh and salt meat, followed by\ncourses of fowl, fish, and curious made-dishes. The Lord took his seat\non the dais or raised floor at the head; his friends and retainers were\nranged above or below the salt, according to their rank. As forks were\nnot yet in use, the fingers were actively employed, whilst wine and\nbeer in wooden or pewter goblets were handed round by the attendants.\nOver head the favourite hawks stood upon their perches, and below the\nhounds reposed upon the pavement.\n\nThe dinner generally lasted for three hours, and all pauses were filled\nup by the minstrels, jesters, or jugglers, or by the recitation of\nsome romance of chivalry. At the end of each course they sometimes\nintroduced a dish called _subtlety_, composed of curious figure in\njellies or confectionery, with a riddling label attached for the\nexercise of social wit. The monasteries were especially noted for\ntheir good dinners, and the secular clergy, not to be outdone in their\nhospitality invented _glutton-masses_ in honour of the Virgin. These\nwere held five times a year in the open churches, whither the people\nbrought food and liquor, and vied with each other in this religious\ngormandizing. The general diet of the common people continued, however,\nto be coarse and poor, and severe famines not unfrequently occurred.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE TITLE \"SFORZA.\"\n\nJames Sforza, the father of Francis the first duke, was the founder of\nthe house of Sforza, which gave six dukes to Milan, and was allied with\nalmost every sovereign in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth\ncenturies. He was born in 1369, at Catignuola, near Faenza; his\nfather, according to tradition, was a day labourer, and to others, a\nshoemaker, but probably wrought as both. Perceiving some soldiers pass,\nhe was struck with the desire of bearing arms. \"I will go,\" said he to\nhimself, \"and dart my hatchet against that tree, and if it stick fast\nin the wood I will immediately become a soldier.\" The hatchet stuck\nfast, and because, says the Abbot of Choisi, he threw the axe with all\nhis force, he assumed the supposed fortunate name of Sforza, as his\nreal name was Giacomuzzo, or James Attendulo.\n\n\nMAY-POLE IN THE STRAND.\n\nDuring the austere reign of the Puritans, when theatres were closed,\nand every sort of popular amusement was considered sinful, the\nMay-poles fell into disrepute, and were pulled down in various parts\nof London. Among the rest, the famous May-pole in the Strand came to\nthe ground. With the restoration of the monarchy, the people saw the\nrestoration of their ancient sports; and on the very first May-day\nafter the return of Charles II., the May-pole in the Strand was set\nup again, amid great popular rejoicing. The following account of the\nceremony is taken from a rare tract of the times, entitled \"The Citie's\nLoyaltie displayed. London, 4to., 1641,\" and quoted in the first volume\nof Hone's \"Every-Day Book,\" page 557:--\n\n\"Let me declare to you the manner in general,\" says the loyal author,\n\"of that stately cedar erected in the Strand, 134 feet high, commonly\ncalled the May-pole, upon the cost of the parishioners there adjacent,\nand the gracious consent of His Sacred Majesty, with the illustrious\nPrince the Duke of York. This tree was a most choice and remarkable\npiece, 'twas made below bridge, and brought in two parts up to Scotland\nYard, near the King's Palace, and from thence it was conveyed, April\n14th, to the Strand, to be erected. It was brought with a streamer\nflourishing before it, drums beating all the way, and other sort of\nmusic. It was supposed to be so long that landsmen, as carpenters,\ncould not possibly raise it. Prince James, the Duke of York, Lord High\nAdmiral of England, therefore commanded twelve seamen to come and\nofficiate the business; whereupon they came, and brought their cables,\npulleys, and other tackling, with six great anchors. After these were\nbrought three crowns, borne by three men bareheaded, and a streamer\ndisplaying all the way before them, drums beating, and other music\nplaying, numerous multitudes of people thronging the streets, with\ngreat shouts and acclamations all day long.\n\n\"The May-pole then being joined together, and hooped about with bands\nof iron, the crown and vane, with the King's arms, richly gilded, was\nplaced on the head of it: a large top, like a balcony, was about the\nmiddle of it. This being done, the trumpets did sound, and in four\nhours' space it was advanced upright; after which being established\nfast in the ground, again great shouts and acclamations did the\npeople give, that rang throughout all the Strand. After that came a\nmorris-dance, finely decked with purple scarfs, in their half shirts,\nwith a tabor and pipe, the ancient music, and danced round about the\nMay-pole, and after that danced the rounds of their liberty. Upon\nthe top of this famous standard is likewise set up a royal purple\nstreamer, about the middle of it are placed four crowns more, with the\nKing's arms likewise. There is also a garland set upon it, of various\ncolours, of delicate rich favours, under which are to be placed three\ngreat lanthorns, to remain for three honours, that is, one for Prince\nJames, Duke of York, Lord High Admiral of England; the other for the\nVice-Admiral; the third for the Rear-Admiral. These are to give light\non dark nights, and to continue so as long as the pole stands, which\nwill be a perpetual honour for seamen. It is placed as near hand as\nthey could guess in the very same pit where the former stood, but far\nmore glorious, higher, and bigger, than ever any one that stood before\nit; and the seamen themselves do confess that it could not be built\nhigher, and there is not such an one in Europe besides, which doth\nhighly please His Majesty and the illustrious Prince, Duke of York.\nLittle children did much rejoice, and ancient people did clap their\nhands, saying that golden days began to appear. I question not but it\nwill ring like melodious music throughout every county in England when\nthey read this story exactly penned. Let this story satisfy for the\nglories of London, that other loyal subjects may read what we here do\nsee.\"\n\n\nCOSTUME OF A GERMAN NOBLE.\n\nThe annexed cut represents the dress of a young noble of the year 1443,\nfrom the extremely interesting genealogical history of the baronial\nfamily of Haller von Halleostein. The figure is that of Franz Haller\nvon Halleostein, who died unmarried in the above year. He wore an open\njerkin of a greenish colour, and very finely plaited chemisette. The\njerkin has a white silk trimming with a black border throughout, and\nis held together by fine white silk ribbons, beneath which appears the\nwhite shirt. The sword-couple and sheath, are black, hilt and mountings\nare of the colour of steel. The stockings are vermilion, and on the\nright leg is a white and yellow stripe. The shoes are black, turned\nwith white. The hair is long, and over it is worn a neat cap with\nlappets and a golden agraffe and love-knot, to support the hair.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Dress of a Young Noble in 1443.]\n\nAt the period of this costume very great attention was bestowed by\nthe German nobility to their dress. The sums they expended on it\nwere enormous, and in many instances families were reduced to ruin\nby the extravagant decorations of their person. Jewellery, furs,\nsilks, and laces, all of which were far more expensive and difficult\nto be obtained than they are now, were used in reckless profusion,\nand one nobleman vied with another in the magnificence, novelty, and\nexpensiveness of their attire. The illustrated books of that period\nabound in sketches of the most beautiful costumes, and are a fund of\ninterest to those who are curious in such matters.\n\n\nABSURDITIES OF THE TOILET.\n\nThe ladies of Japan are said to gild their teeth, and those of the\nIndies to paint them red, while in Guzerat the test of beauty is to\nrender them sable. In Greenland, the women used to colour their faces\nwith blue and yellow. The Chinese must torture their feet into the\nsmallest possible dimensions--a proof positive of their contracted\nunderstandings. The ancient Peruvians, and some other Indian tribes,\nused to flatten their heads: and among other nations, the mothers, in a\nsimilar way, maltreat the noses of their offspring.\n\n\nAN EGYPTIAN DINNER.\n\nThe complicated, and, at first sight, somewhat incomprehensible sketch\nwhich we here lay before our readers, was taken from an interior wall\nof a palace in Egypt. It is, of course, by Egyptian artists, and the\nsubject of it is no other than an Egyptian dinner-table set out and\nadorned for a banquet.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Egyptian Dinner-Table.]\n\nAt a dinner in ancient Egypt, small and low circular tables were used,\nstanding on a single pillar, with a dilated base; sometimes one of\nthese was apportioned to every guest, the viands being brought round\nby the servants successively, from a larger pillar-table which had\nbeen brought in readily set out by two men. The accompanying engraving\nshows a table thus laid out, requiring, however, a little allowance for\nthe lack of perspective. Round and oblong cakes of bread flattened and\npricked in patterns, a goose, a leg of a kid or antelope, baskets of\nfigs and other fruit, are crowned by a huge bunch of the lotus-lily.\nUnder the table are bottles of wine placed on stands in a series, and\ncrowned with a lotus-garland, upon which is thrown a long withe of what\nseems from the tendrils a vine, loaded with clusters of grapes, as well\nas thickly set with foliage.\n\n\nELEPHANT-GOD OF BURMAH.\n\nA white elephant is a great rarity, and whenever one is caught, the\nBurmese treat it as a god and pay worship to it. Captain Yule thus\ndescribes the white elephant of 1855, and his palace at Amarapoora, the\ncapital of Burmah:--\n\n\"In the area which stretches before the Hall of Audience are several\ndetached buildings. A little to the north is the \"Palace,\" or state\napartment, of the Lord White Elephant, with his highness's humbler\nevery-day residence in rear. To the south are sheds for the vulgar\nherd of the same species, and brick godowns in which the state\ncarriages and golden litters (the latter massive and gorgeous in great\nvariety of design) are stowed away. Temporary buildings, used as\nbarracks and gunsheds, run along the wall. The present white elephant\nhas occupied his post for at least fifty years. I have no doubt he\nis the same as Padre San-germano mentions as having been caught in\n1806, to the great joy of the King, who had just lost the preceding\nincumbent, a female, which died after a year's captivity. He is a very\nlarge elephant, close upon ten feet high, with as noble a head and pair\nof tusks as I have ever seen. But he is long-bodied and lanky, and not\notherwise well made as an elephant. He is sickly and out of condition,\nand is, in fact, distempered during five months of the year, from April\nto August. His eye, the iris of which is yellow with a reddish outer\nannulus, and a small clear black pupil, has an uneasy glare, and his\nkeepers evidently mistrust his temper. We were always warned against\ngoing near his head. The annulus round the iris of the eye is pointed\nout as resembling a circle of the nine gems. His colour is almost\nuniform all over; nearly the ground-tint of the mottled or freckled\npart of the trunk and ears of common elephants, perhaps a little\ndarker. He also has pale freckles in the same parts. On the whole, he\nis well entitled to his appellation of white. His royal paraphernalia,\nwhich are set out when visitors are expected, are sufficiently\nsplendid. Among them was a driving-hook about three feet long, the stem\nof which was a mass of small pearls, girt at frequent intervals with\nbands of rubies, and the hook and handle of crystal tipped with gold.\nHis headstall was of fine red cloth, plentifully studded with fine\nrubies, and near the extremity having some valuable diamonds. To fit\nover the two bumps of the forehead were circles of the nine gems, which\nare supposed to be charms against evil influences. When caparisoned he\nalso wore on the forehead, like other Burmese dignitaries, including\nthe King himself, a golden plate inscribed with his titles, and a\ngold crescent set with circles of large gems between the eyes. Large\nsilver tassels hung in front of his ears, and he was harnessed with\nbands of gold and crimson set with large bosses of pure gold. He is a\nregular \"estate of the realm,\" having a woon or minister of his own,\nfour gold umbrellas, the white umbrellas which are peculiar to royalty,\nwith a suite of attendants said to be thirty in number. The Burmese\nwho attended us removed their shoes before entering his 'Palace.' The\nelephant has an appanage or territory assigned to him 'to eat,' like\nany other dignitary of the empire. I do not know where his estate is at\npresent, but in Burney's time it was the rich cotton district of Taroup\nMyo.\"\n\n\nSUPERSTITION IN 1856.\n\nIn April, 1856, a poor woman, residing in a village about three miles\nfrom Pershore, acting upon the advice of her neighbours, brought her\nchild, who was suffering from whooping cough, to that town, for the\npurpose of finding out a married couple answering to the names of\nJoseph and Mary, and soliciting their interference on behalf of her\nafflicted child, as she had been informed that if two married persons\nhaving those names could but be induced to lay their hands on her\nchild's head, the whooping cough would be immediately cured. After\nscouring the town for a considerable time in search of \"Joseph and\nhis fair lady,\" they were at length discovered in the persons of a\nrespectable tradesman and his wife residing in Bridge Street, to whom\nthe poor silly woman made known her foolish request, which at first\nexcited a smile from the good woman of the house, but was quickly\nfollowed, not by \"the laying on of hands,\" but by good advice, such as\nmothers only know how to give in these matters. The poor mother then\nthankfully departed a wiser woman.\n\n\nPRAYING BY WHEEL AND AXLE.\n\nThe Japanese, like the inhabitants of Thibet, are not content with\ndevout prayers, pilgrimages, prostrations, offerings to the gods\nin order to secure blessings here and hereafter; they also pray by\nmachine, by _wheel and axle_. There is a square post, nearly eight feet\nin length, and near the centre, at a convenient height to be reached\nby the hand, is fixed vertically a wheel, which moves readily on an\naxle passed through the post. Two small rings are strung upon each of\nthree spokes of the wheel. Every person who twists this instrument in\npassing is supposed to obtain credit in heaven for one or more prayers\ninscribed on the post, the number being graduated according to the\nvigour of the performer's devotion, and the number of revolutions\neffected. The jingle of the small iron rings is believed to secure\nthe attention of the deity to the invocation of the devout, and the\ngreater the noise, the more certain of its being listened to. Some of\nthe inscriptions on this post are worth remembering:--\"The great round\nmirror of knowledge says, 'wise men and fools are embarked in the same\nboat;' whether prospered or afflicted, both are rowing over the deep\nlake; the gay sails lightly hang to catch the autumnal breeze; then\naway they straight enter the lustrous clouds, and become partakers of\nheaven's knowledge.\"\n\n\"He whose prescience detects knowledge says:--'As the floating grass is\nblown by the gentle breeze, or the glancing ripples of autumn disappear\nwhen the sun goes down, or as the ship returns home to her old shore,\nso is life: it is a smoke, a morning tide.'\"\n\n\"Others are more to the point--as to the machine--'Buddha himself\nearnestly desires to hear the name of this person (who is buried), and\nwishes he may go to life.'\"\n\n\nNOVEL WAY OF DESIGNATING A HOUSE.\n\nIn the \"New View of London,\" published in 1708, it is mentioned as a\nremarkable circumstance attaching to the history of Prescott Street,\nnear the Strand, that instead of signs, the houses were distinguished\nby numbers, as the stair-cases in the Inns of Court, and Chancery. The\nfollowing advertisement, taken from newspapers a century and a half\nold, is interesting at this distance of time, as it shows the shifts\nto which advertisers were reduced, to point out their houses to their\ncustomers:--\n\n\"Doctor James Tilborgh, a German doctor, states that he liveth at\npresent over against the New Exchange, in Bedford Street, at the sign\nof the 'Peacock,' where you shall see at night two candles burning\nwithin one of the chambers before the balcony; and a lanthorn with a\ncandle in it upon the balcony: where he may be spoke with all alone,\nfrom 8 in the morning till 10 at night.\"\n\n\nDYAK WAR-BOAT IN BORNEO.\n\nThe Malay war-boat, or _prahu_, is built of timber at the lower part;\nthe upper is of bamboo, rattan, and kedgang (the dried leaf of the Nepa\npalm). Outside the bends, about a foot from the water line, runs a\nstrong gallery, in which the rowers sit cross-legged. At the after-part\nof the boat is a cabin for the chief who commands, and the whole of\nthe vessel is surmounted by a strong flat roof, upon which they fight,\ntheir principal weapons being the kris and spear, both of which, to be\nused with effect, require elbow-room.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Dyak War-Boat.]\n\nThe Dyak war-boat, as represented in the annexed sketch, is a\nlong-built canoe, more substantially constructed than the prahu of the\nMalays, and sufficiently capacious to hold from seventy to eighty men.\nThis also has a roof to fight from. They are generally painted, and the\nstern ornamented with feathers.\n\nBoth descriptions of war-boats are remarkably swift, notwithstanding\nsuch apparent top-weight.\n\n\nWAR-DANCE OF THE DYAKS OF BORNEO.\n\nAlmost every savage nation has its peculiar war-dance, and the\ndifferent steps, movements, and cries, in each depict different stages\nin the supposed fight. An account of the various kinds of dances\nwould form an interesting work, and as a contribution to it we here\ncall attention to the following description of a war-dance which was\npractised for the entertainment of the officers of the Semarang, on\nthe occasion of their visiting a Dyak Chief. It is taken from Captain\nMarryat's \"Borneo:\"--\n\n[Illustration: [++] Dyak War-Dance.]\n\n\"A space was cleared in the centre, and two of the oldest warriors\nstepped into it. They were dressed in turbans, long loose jackets,\nsashes round their waists descending to their feet, and small bells\nwere attached to their ankles. They commenced by first shaking hands\nwith the rajah, and then with all the Europeans present, thereby giving\nus to understand, as was explained to us, that the dance was to be\nconsidered only as a spectacle, and not to be taken in its literal\nsense, as preparatory to an attack upon us, a view of the case in which\nwe fully coincided with them.\n\n\"This ceremony being over, they rushed into the centre, and gave a\nmost unearthly scream; then poising themselves on one foot, they\ndescribed a circle with the other, at the same time extending their\narms like the wings of a bird, and then meeting their hands, clapping\nthem and keeping time with the music. After a little while the music\nbecame louder, and suddenly our ears were pierced with the whole of\nthe natives present joining in the hideous war-cry. Then the motions\nand screams of the dancers became more violent, and every thing was\nworked up to a state of excitement, by which even we were influenced.\nSuddenly, a very unpleasant odour pervaded the room, already too\nwarm, from the numbers it contained. Involuntarily we held our noses,\nwondering what might be the cause, when we perceived that one of the\nwarriors had stepped into the centre, and suspended round the shoulders\nof each dancer a human head in a wide-meshed basket of rattan. These\nheads had been taken in the late Sakarron business, and were therefore\nbut a fortnight old. They were encased in a wide network of rattan, and\nwere ornamented with beads. Their stench was intolerable, although,\nas we discovered upon after examination, when they were suspended\nagainst the wall, they had been partially baked and were quite black.\nThe teeth and hair were quite perfect, the features somewhat shrunk,\nand they were altogether very fair specimens of pickled heads; but our\nworthy friends required a lesson from the New Zealanders in the art of\npreserving. The appearance of the heads was the signal for the music\nto play louder, for the war-cry of the natives to be more energetic,\nand for the screams of the dancers to be more piercing. Their motions\nnow became more rapid, and the excitement in proportion. Their eyes\nglistened with unwonted brightness. The perspiration dropped down\ntheir faces, and thus did yelling, dancing, gongs, and tom-toms become\nmore rapid and more violent every minute, till the dancing warriors\nwere ready to drop. A farewell yell, with emphasis, was given by\nthe surrounding warriors; immediately the music ceased, the dancers\ndisappeared, and the tumultuous excitement and noise was succeeded by\na dead silence. Such was the excitement communicated, that when it was\nall over we ourselves for some time remained panting to recover our\nbreath. Again we lighted our cheroots, and smoked for a while the pipe\nof peace.\"\n\n\nWONDERFUL FISH.\n\nThe Greek Church of Baloukli contains an extraordinary instance of the\ncredulity of superstition. Some wonderful fish are there preserved,\nwhich are thus described by Mr. Curzon in his admirable book on the\n\"Monasteries of the Levant:\"--\n\n\"The unfortunate Emperor Constantine Paleologus rode out of the city\nalone to reconnoitre the outposts of the Turkish army, which was\nencamped in the immediate vicinity. In passing through a wood he found\nan old man seated by the side of a spring, cooking some fish on a\ngridiron for his dinner; the emperor dismounted from his white horse,\nand entered into conversation with the other; the old man looked up at\nthe stranger in silence, when the emperor inquired whether he had heard\nanything of the movement of the Turkish forces: 'Yes,' said he, 'they\nhave this moment entered the city of Constantinople.' 'I would believe\nwhat you say,' replied the emperor, 'if the fish which you are broiling\nwould jump off the gridiron into the spring.' This, to his amazement,\nthe fish immediately did, and, on his turning round, the figure of the\nold man had disappeared. The emperor mounted his horse and rode towards\nthe gate of Silivria, where he was encountered by a band of the enemy,\nand slain, after a brave resistance, by the hand of an Arab or a Negro.\n\n\"The broiled fishes still swim about in the water of the spring, the\nsides of which have been lined with white marble, in which are certain\nrecesses in which they can retire when they do not wish to receive\ncompany. The only way of turning the attention of these holy fish to\nthe respectful presence of their adorers is accomplished by throwing\nsomething glittering into the water, such as a handful of gold or\nsilver coin: gold is the best; copper produces no effect; he that sees\none fish is lucky, he that sees two or three goes home a happy man;\nbut the custom of throwing coins into the spring has become, from its\nconstant practice, very troublesome to the good monks, who kindly\ndepute one of their community to rake out the money six or seven times\na day with a scraper at the end of a long pole. The emperor of Russia\nhas sent presents to the shrine of Baloukli, so called from the Turkish\nword Balouk, a fish. Some wicked heretics have said that these fishes\nare common perch: either they or the monks must be mistaken; but of\nwhatever kind they are, they are looked upon with reverence by the\nGreeks, and have been continually held in the highest honour from the\ntime of the siege of Constantinople to the present day.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS MARRIAGE CUSTOM.\n\nAt Petze, in the department of Finisterre, in France, the following\nsingular marriage custom still prevails:--\"On an appointed day, the\n_paysannes_, or female pretenders to the holy state of matrimony,\nassemble on the bridge of the village, and, seating themselves upon the\nparapet, there patiently await the arrival of the intended bridegrooms.\nAll the neighbouring cantons contribute their belles to ornament this\nrenowned bridge. There may be seen the peasant of _Saint Poliare_, her\nruddy countenance surrounded by her large muslin sleeves, which rise\nup and form a kind of framework to her full face; by her may be seated\nthe heavy _Touloisienne_, in her cloth _caline_, or gown; the peasant\nof _la Leonarde_, in a Swiss boddice, bordered with different coloured\nworsted braid, and a scarlet petticoat, may next appear, presenting\na gaudy contrast to her neighbour from _Saint Thegonnec_, in her\nnun-like costume. On one side extends _la coulie de Penhoat_, bordered\nwith willows, honeysuckles, and the wild hop; on the other, the sea,\nconfined here like a lake, between numerous jets of land covered with\nheath and sweet broom; and below the bridge, the thatched town, poor\nand joyous as the beggar of _Carnouailles_. The bay is here so calm,\nthat the whole of this gay scene is reflected in its still waters; and\na few scenes of rural festivity present a more animated or diverting\npicture.\n\n\"The arrival of the young men, with their parents, is the signal for\nsilence among the candidates for a husband. The gentlemen advance, and\ngravely parade up and down the bridge, looking first on this side,\nand then on that, until the face of some one of the lasses strike\ntheir fancy. The fortunate lady receives intimation of her success\nby the advance of the cavalier, who, presenting his hand, assists\nher in descending from her seat, making at the same time a tender\nspeech; compliments are exchanged, the young man offers fruit to his\nintended bride, who remains motionless before him, playing with her\napron strings. In the mean while the parents of the parties approach\neach other, talk over the matter of their children's marriage, and if\nboth parties are agreeable they shake hands, and this act of friendly\ngratulation is considered a ratification of the treaty between them,\nand the marriage is shortly afterwards celebrated.\"\n\n\nFOREIGN COSTUME IN 1492.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Count Eberhard the Elder.]\n\nThe nobleman portrayed here is Count Eberhard the elder, first Duke\nof Wurtemberg, in a festival habit at Stuttgardt, in the year 1492,\non the occasion of his receiving the order of the Golden Fleece, the\nfirst which Austria instituted for herself (King Maximilian inherited\nit from Burgundy) and which he received together with King Henry VIII.\nof England. His costume is taken from an old illumination which, in\nthe year 1847, was copied for King William of Wurtemberg, and which is\nnow preserved in his private library at Stuttgardt. This exemplifies\nthe quilled doublet, made of a kind of damasked black velvet, which\nappears to have been worn over the defensive armour improved by King\nMaximilian. Upon the black surcoat appear the orders of the Golden\nFleece and the Holy Sepulchre. According to contemporary statues and\nmonuments, Georg von Ekingen and Heinrich von Waellwerth, officers of\nthe court of Eberhard, wore this kind of doublet. The former, according\nto a portrait, of a red colour; the latter authority is in the\nWaellwerth Chapel, in the cloister of Lorch near Schw. Gmuend.\n\n\nPETER THE GREAT AT ZAANDAM.\n\nWe learn from authentic records that Peter the Great, Czar of Russia,\nentered himself, in the year 1697, on the list of ship's carpenters at\nthe Admiralty Office of Amsterdam, in Holland. This is true; but before\nPeter so enrolled himself, he had made an attempt to fix his abode, for\nthe purpose of study, at Saardam, or Zaandam, a little town situated\non the river Zaan, about half an hour's voyage, by steam, from the\npopulous and wealthy city of Amsterdam.\n\nZaandam, though then, as now, one of the most primitive, original\nlittle towns in Europe, had for some time held important commercial\nintercourse with Russia; and Peter had long seen the advantage to be\nderived from studying at its head-quarters the art which he felt sure\nwould elevate his country in an extraordinary way. He therefore opened\na private correspondence with some trusty friends in Holland, and set\nforth, with his hand of intelligent companions, early in the summer of\n1697; in the autumn of the same year he disembarked at Zaandam, and,\nalone and unattended, sought an humble lodging from a man of the name\nof Gerrit Kist, who had formerly been a blacksmith in Russia, and who,\nas may well be imagined, was astonished at the \"imperial apparition;\"\nindeed he could not believe that Peter really wished to hire so humble\nan abode. But the Czar persevered, and obtained permission to occupy\nthe back part of Kist's premises, consisting of a room and a little\nshed adjoining, Kist being bound to secresy as to the rank of his\nlodger: Peter's rent amounted to seven florins (about eleven shillings)\na week.\n\n[Illustration: [++] The Maisonnette of Peter the Great.]\n\nThe _maisonnette_, or hut, of Peter the Great now stands alone, and has\nbeen encased in a strong wooden frame in order to preserve it. It is in\nmuch the same state as when occupied by the Czar. The chief apartment\nis entered by the door you see open, the projecting roof covers the\nroom probably occupied by Peter's servant, and on the left of the\nlarger room is the recess or cupboard in which Peter slept. Formerly\nthe rear of this abode was crowded with inferior buildings; it is now\nan airy space, with trees waving over the wooden tenement, and a garden\nfull of sweet-scented flowers embalms the atmosphere around it. A civil\nold Dutchwoman is the guardian of the property, which is kept up with\nsome taste, and exquisite attention to cleanliness.\n\nThe _maisonnette_ has but one door. In Zaandam the old Dutch custom of\nclosing one entrance to the house, except on state occasions, is still\nkept up; the purpose of the other, the _porte mortuaire_, or _mortuary\nportal_, is sufficiently explained by its name.\n\nAfter Peter's departure, his dwelling passed from hand to hand, and\nwould have fallen into oblivion had not Paul the First of Russia\naccompanied Joseph the Second of Austria and the King of Sweden to\nZaandam, on purpose to visit the Czar's old abode. After this it became\na sort of fashion to make pilgrimages to the once imperial residence;\nand it acquired a still greater celebrity when the Emperor Alexander\nvisited it in 1814, and made a great stir in the waters of the Zaan\nwith a fleet of three hundred yachts and innumerable barges, gaily\ndecked with flying pennons. In 1818, William the First of Holland\npurchased the property, and gave it to his daughter-in-law, the\nPrincess of Orange and a royal Russian by birth: it is to her care the\nbuilding owes its present state of preservation. Her royal highness\nappointed a Waterloo invalid as first guardian of the place.\n\nBonaparte brought Josephine here in 1812. Poor Josephine had no idea of\nold associations; she jumped from the sublime to the ridiculous at once\non entering the \"mean habitation,\" and startled the then proprietor by\na burst of untimely laughter.\n\nMany royal and illustrious names may be read on the walls of the\nprincipal chamber, and in the book in which the traveller is\nrequested to write his name. Verses and pictures challenge, somewhat\nimpertinently, the attention of the wayfarer; but as we sat down in\nthe triangular arm-chairs, and turned from the dark recess in which\nPeter slept, to the ingle-nook of the deep chimney, and from the ingle\nto the dark recess again, we could realize nothing but Peter in his\nworking dress of the labours of the day. There he was in the heat of an\nautumnal evening still at work, with books and slates, and instruments\nconnected with navigation, before him on the rude deal table, and he\nplodding on, as diligently as a common mechanic, in pursuit of that\nknowledge by which nations are made great.\n\n\nSUPPLY OF WATER FOR LONDON IN OLDEN TIMES.\n\nIn 1682 the private houses of the metropolis were only supplied with\nfresh water twice a-week. Mr. Cunningham, in his \"Handbook of London,\"\ninforms us that the old sources of supply were the Wells, or Fleet\nRiver, Wallbrook and Langbourne Waters, Clement's, Clerk's, and Holy\nWell, Tyburn, and the River Lea. Tyburn first supplied the city in the\nyear 1285, the Thames not being pressed into the service of the city\nconduits till 1568, when it supplied the conduit at Dowgate. There were\npeople who stole water from the pipes then, as there are who steal gas\nnow. \"This yere\" (1479), writes an old chronicler of London, quoted\nby Mr. Cunningham, \"a wax charndler in Flete-stre had bi craft perced\na pipe of the condite withynne the ground, and so conveied the water\ninto his celar; wherefore he was judged to ride through the citee with\na condite upon his hedde.\" The first engine which conveyed water into\nprivate houses, by leaden pipes, was erected at London-bridge in 1582.\nThe pipes were laid over the steeple of St. Magnus; and the engineer\nwas Maurice, a Dutchman. Bulmer, an Englishman, erected a second engine\nat Broken Wharf. Previous to 1656, the Strand and Covent Garden, though\nso near to the river, were only supplied by water-tankards, which were\ncarried by those who sold the water, or by the apprentice, if there\nwere one in the house, whose duty it was to fill the house-tankard at\nthe conduit, or in the river. In the middle of the seventeenth century,\nFord erected water-works on the Thames, in front of Somerset House; but\nthe Queen of Charles II.--like the Princess Borghese, who pulled down\na church next to her palace, because the incense turned her sick, and\norgan made her head ache--ordered the works to be demolished, because\nthey obstructed a clear view on the river. The inhabitants of the\ndistrict depended upon their tankards and water-carriers, until the\nreign of William III., when the York-buildings Waterworks were erected.\nThe frequently-occurring name of Conduit-street, or Conduit-court,\nindicates the whereabout of many of the old sources whence our\nforefathers drew their scanty supplies.\n\n\nDRINKING BOUTS IN PERSIA.\n\nIn their drinking parties the Persians are reported, among even the\nhighest classes, to exceed all bounds of discretion. Half a dozen\nboon companions meet at night. The floor is covered with a variety\nof stimulating dishes to provoke drinking, for which no provocation\nwhatever is required; among these are pickles of every possible\nvariety, and salted prawns or cray-fish from the Persian Gulf--a\nfood which ought to be an abomination to a true Sheeah. Singers and\ndancing-boys enliven the scene. A Persian despises a wine-glass; a\ntumbler is his measure. He has an aversion to \"heeltaps,\" and he\ndrains his glass to the dregs, with his left hand under his chin to\ncatch the drops of wine, lest he should be detected next morning\nin respectable society by the marks on his dress. They begin with\npleasant conversation, scandal, and gossip; then they become personal,\nquarrelsome, abusive, and indecent, after the unimaginable Persian\nfashion. As the orgies advance, as the mirth waxes fast and furious,\nall restraint is thrown aside. They strip themselves stark naked,\ndance, and play all sorts of antics and childish tricks. One dips his\nhead and face into a bowl of curds, and dances a solo to the admiring\ntopers; while another places a large deeg, or cooking-pot, on his head,\nand display his graces and attitudes on the light fantastic toe, or\nrather heel.\n\n\nGERMAN COSTUMES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe costume-sketch which we give on next page, is taken from an\noriginal drawing, having the following superscription:--\n\n \"Varium et mutabile semper foemina\n Faec suo quem amat scripsit.\n Georgius Wolfgang Von Kaltenthal. 1579.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] German Costumes of the Sixteenth Century.]\n\nThe group represents the above-named young knight, with his youthful\nwife, taking a ride. She wears a blue silken dress, with a boddice of\ngold brocade, trimmed with fur, and a rose-coloured silk scarf; the\nhead-dress is quite plain, the hair being fastened with a golden dagger\nset in jewels. The knight's dress consists of a light green doublet,\nwith dark green stripes; slashed hose, edged with white; yellowish\nleather surcoat without sleeves, riding boots of untanned leather,\nand grey felt hat with red and white plume, dagger, and sword. The\naccoutrements of the horse are simply black, with some metal ornaments.\nThe young lady is the beautiful Leonora Caimingen, who was at that time\na great favourite of the Court at Wurtemberg. In travelling thus (which\nwas at that time the only mode), females of the higher rank only were\naccustomed to make use of masks, or veils, for the preservation of\ntheir complexions, that custom being generally unusual. The ancestral\ncastle of the knights of Kaltenthal was situated between Stuttgardt and\nBoeblingen, on the summit of a rock overhanging the valley of Hesslach.\nIt exists no longer.\n\n\nANCIENT TRIPOD.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Tripod.]\n\nTripods are, next to vases, the most ancient furniture in the world;\nthe imagination of the ancients invested them with fanciful forms,\nand we meet with designs which, although very simple, show already\nthe power exercised by the re-productive faculties of the mind upon\nthe objects surrounding these ancient nations. Representations of\nthe kind were, however, exceedingly rare till the last forty years,\nand it must be considered an especial piece of good fortune that the\nexcavations made in several parts of Etruria, have afforded more than\none example of this description. The specimen engraved was found in\nthe Gailassi Regulini tomb of Cervetri, in Etruria, and in it we see a\nlarge vessel placed on the tripod, from the edge of which five lions'\nheads start forth with hideous expression. These monsters lend to\nthe whole that fanciful aspect distinguishing objects of the archaic\nperiod. When we imagine to ourselves this kettle boiling, and these\ncruel animals wreathed and enveloped in smoke, we can understand how\nthe fancy of superstitious worshippers, who were wont to make use of\nthese implements in their religious ceremonies, may have found in\nthem an allusion to the spirits of the victims whose remains were\nexposed to the destructive fire glowing underneath. To us, at least,\nthis representation may illustrate the terrific but grand passage of\nHomer, where the bodies of the slaughtered sun bulls become once more\ninstinct with life, demanding vengeance with fearful cries: Odyssey,\nBook xii, verse 395.\n\n \"The skins began to creep, and the flesh around the spits bellowed,\n The roasted as well as the raw. And thus grew the voice of\n the oxen.\"\n\nThe careful construction of the three-legged mechanism which lends\na firm support to this fire-stand, has been restored according to\nthe indication of some fragments found on the spot. It presents a\ngraceful aspect, and forms, in some respects, a remarkable contrast\nto the heavy character of the vessel occupying so lofty a position,\nas the proportions of the legs are exceedingly slender, and the feet\nthemselves, instead of being broad and shapeless, are all composed of a\ngreat many fine articulations.\n\n\nFONDNESS OF THE ROMANS FOR PEARLS.\n\nOf all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the Romans,\npearls seem to have been the most esteemed. They were worn on all parts\nof the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and\nvalue, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate\nto those of the most colossal fortune. The famous pearl ear-rings of\nCleopatra are said to have been worth about L160,000, and Julius Caesar\nis said to have presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl\nfor which he had paid above L48,000; and though no reasonable doubt\ncan be ascertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these\nand similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls\nbrought immense prices is beyond all question. It has been said that\nthe wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to\nabound, was one of the motives which induced Julius Caesar to invade\nBritain. But, though a good many were met with in various parts of the\ncountry, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured.\nAfter pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the\nestimation of the Romans.\n\n\nTHE BLACK STONE AT MECCA.\n\nNear the entrance of the Kaaba at Mecca, at the north-eastern corner,\nis the famous Black Stone, called by the Moslems _Hajra el Assouad_,\nor Heavenly Stone. It forms a part of the sharp angle of the building,\nand is inserted four or five feet above the ground. The shape is an\nirregular oval, about seven inches in diameter. Its colour is now a\ndeep reddish brown, approaching to black; and it is surrounded by a\nborder of nearly the same colour, resembling a cement of pitch and\ngravel, and from two to three inches in breadth. Both the border\nand the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, swelling to a\nconsiderable breadth below, where it is studded with nails of the same\nmetal. The surface is undulated, and seems composed of about a dozen\nsmaller stones, of different sizes and shapes, but perfectly smooth,\nand well joined with a small quantity of cement. It looks as if the\nwhole had been dashed into many pieces by a severe concussion, and then\nre-united--an appearance that may perhaps be explained by the various\ndisasters to which it has been exposed. During the fire that occurred\nin the time of Yezzid I. (A.D. 682), the violent heat split it into\nthree pieces; and when the fragments were replaced, it was necessary\nto surround them with a rim of silver, which is said to have been\nrenewed by Haroun el Raschid. It was in two pieces when the Karmathians\ncarried it away, having been broken by a blow from a soldier during the\nplunder of Mecca. Hakem, a mad sultan of Egypt, in the 11th century,\nendeavoured, while on the pilgrimage, to destroy it with an iron club\nwhich he had concealed under his clothes; but was prevented and slain\nby the populace. Since that accident it remained unmolested until 1674,\nwhen it was found one morning besmeared with dirt, so that every one\nwho kissed it returned with a sullied face. Though suspicion fell on\ncertain Persians, the authors of this sacrilegious joke were never\ndiscovered. As for the quality of the stone, it does not seem to be\naccurately determined. Burckhardt says it appeared to him like a\nlava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and\nyellowish substance. Ali Bey calls it a fragment of volcanic basalt,\nsprinkled with small-pointed coloured crystals, and varied with\nred feldspar upon a dark black ground like coal, except one of its\nprotuberances, which is a little reddish. The millions of kisses and\ntouches impressed by the faithful have worn the surface uneven, and to\na considerable depth. This miraculous block all orthodox Mussulmans\nbelieve to have been originally a transparent hyacinth, brought from\nheaven to Abraham by the angel Gabriel; but its substance, as well\nas its colour, have long been changed by coming in contact with the\nimpurities of the human race.\n\n\nPARAGRAPH FROM THE \"POSTMAN\" IN 1697.\n\n\"Yesterday being the day of thanksgiving appointed by the\nStates-General for the peace, His Excellency, the Dutch ambassador,\nmade a very noble bonfire before his house in St. James's Square,\nconsisting of about 140 pitch barrels placed perpendicularly on seven\nscaffolds, during which the trumpets sounded, and two hogsheads of wine\nwere kept continually running amongst the common people.\"\n\n\nLORD MAYOR'S FEAST IN 1663.\n\nPepys gives a curious account of a Lord Mayor's dinner in 1663. It was\nserved in the Guildhall, at one o'clock in the day. A bill of fare\nwas placed with every salt-cellar, and at the end of each table was a\nlist of the persons proper there to be seated. Here is a mixture of\nabundance and barbarism. \"Many were the tables, but none in the hall,\nbut the Mayor's and the Lords' of the Privy Council, _that had napkins\nor knives_, which was very strange. I sat at the merchant-stranger's\ntable, where ten good dishes to a mess, with plenty of wine of all\nsorts; but it was very unpleasing that we had no napkins, nor change\nof trenchers, and drank out of earthen pitchers and wooden dishes. The\ndinner, it seems, is made by the Mayor and two Sheriffs for the time\nbeing, and the whole is reckoned to come to L700 or L800 at most.\"\nPepys took his spoon and fork with him, as was the custom of those days\nwith guests invited to great entertainments. \"Forks\" came in with Tom\nCoryat, in the reign of James I.; but they were not \"familiar\" till\nafter the Restoration. The \"laying of napkins,\" as it was called, was\na profession of itself. Pepys mentions, the _day before_ one of his\ndinner-parties, that he went home, and \"there found one laying of my\nnapkins against to-morrow, in figures of all sorts, which is mighty\npretty, and, it seems, is his trade, and he gets much money by it.\"\n\n\nTHE CUPID OF THE HINDOOS.\n\nAmong the Hindoo deities _Camdeo_, or Manmadin differs but little from\nthe Cupid of the ancients. He is also called _Ununga_, or, without\nbody; and is the son of Vishnu and Lacshmi. Besides his bow and\narrows, he carries a banner, on which is delineated a fish: his bow\nis a sugar-cane; the cord is formed of bees; the arrows are of all\nsorts of flowers; one only is headed, but the point is covered with\na honeycomb--an allegory equally just and ingenious, and which so\ncorrectly expresses the pleasures and the pangs produced at one and the\nsame time by the wounds of love. Manmadin is represented, as in the\nannexed plate, riding on a parrot.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Manmadin Riding on a Parrot.]\n\nOne day, when Vishnu, to deceive Sheeva, had assumed the figure of a\nbeautiful young female, Manmadin discharged an arrow, which pierced\nthe heart of the formidable deity, and inflamed it with love of the\nnymph. The latter fled, and at the moment when Sheeva had overtaken\nher, Vishnu resumed his proper form. Sheeva, enraged at the trick\nplayed upon him, with one flash of his eyes burned and consumed the\nimprudent Manmadin, who hence received the name of _Ununga_. He was\nrestored to life by a shower of nectar, which the gods in pity poured\nupon him: but he remained without body and is the only Indian deity who\nis accounted incorporeal. Camdeo is particularly worshipped by females\ndesirous of obtaining faithful lovers and good husbands.\n\n\nOLD DIAL AND FOUNTAIN IN LEADENHALL-STREET.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Old Dial and Fountain.]\n\nThe above sketch is taken from an old work on astronomy and geography\nby Joseph Moxon, and printed by him, and sold \"at his Shop on\n_Cornhill_, at the signe of _Atlas_, 1659.\" We cannot do better than\ngive Moxon's own words with reference to the dial:--\"To make a dyal\nupon a solid ball or globe, that shall show the hour of the day without\na gnomon. The equinoctial of this globe, or (which is all one) the\nmiddle line must be divided into 24 equal parts, and marked with 1,\n2, 3, 4, &c., and then beginning again with 1, 2, 3, &c. to 12. Then\nif you elevate one of the poles so many degrees above an horizontal\nline as the pole of the world is elevated above the horizon in your\nhabitation, and place one of the twelves directly to behold the north,\nand the other to behold the south, when the sun shines on it, the globe\nwill be divided into two halfs, the one enlightened with the sunshine,\nand the other shadowed; and where the enlightened half is parted from\nthe shadowed half, there you will find in the equinoctial the hour of\nthe day, and that on two places on the ball, because the equinoctial\nis cut in two opposite points by the light of the sun. A dyal of this\nsort was made by Mr. John Leak and set up on a composite columne at\nLeadenhall Corner, in London, in the majoralty of Sir John Dethick,\nknight. The figure whereof I have inserted because it is a pretty peece\nof ingenuity, and may, perhaps, stand some lover of the art in stead\neither for imitation or help of invention.\"\n\n\nMAGNIFICENCE OF MADYN, THE CAPITAL OF PERSIA, WHEN INVADED BY THE\nSARACENS, A.D. 626.\n\nThe invaders could not express their mingled sensations of surprise\nand delight, while surveying in this splendid capital the miracles\nof architecture and art, the gilded palaces, the strong and stately\nporticoes, the abundance of victuals in the most exquisite variety and\nprofusion, which feasted their senses, and courted their observation\non every side. Every street added to their astonishment, every chamber\nrevealed a new treasure; and the greedy spoilers were enriched beyond\nthe measure of their hopes or their knowledge. To a people emerging\nfrom barbarism, the various wonders which rose before them in all\ndirections, like the effect of magic, must have been a striking\nspectacle. We may therefore believe them when they affirm, what is\nnot improbable, that the different articles of merchandise--the\nrich and beautiful pieces of manufacture which fell a prey on this\noccasion--were in such incalculable abundance, that the thirtieth part\nof their estimate was more than the imagination could embrace. The gold\nand silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed,\nsays Abul-feda, the calculation of fancy or numbers; and the historian\nElmacin ventured to compute these untold and almost infinite stores at\nthe value of 3,000,000,000 pieces of gold.\n\nOne article in this prodigious booty, before which all others seemed\nto recede in comparison, was the superb and celebrated carpet of\nsilk and gold cloth, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth,\nwhich decorated one of the apartments of the palace. It was wrought\ninto a paradise or garden, with jewels of the most curious and costly\nspecies; the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the beryl, topaz, and\npearl, being arranged with such consummate skill, as to represent, in\nbeautiful mosaic, trees, fruits, and flowers, rivulets and fountains;\nroses and shrubs of every description seemed to combine their fragrance\nand their foliage to charm the sense of the beholders. This piece of\nexquisite luxury and illusion, to which the Persians gave the name\nof _Baharistan_ or the mansion of perpetual spring, was an invention\nemployed by their monarchs as an artificial substitute for that\nloveliest of seasons. During the gloom of winter they were accustomed\nto regale the nobles of their court on this magnificent embroidery,\nwhere art had supplied the absence of nature, and wherein the guests\nmight trace a brilliant imitation of her faded beauties in the\nvariegated colours of the jewelled and pictured floor. In the hope that\nthe eyes of the Caliph might he delighted with this superb display of\nwealth and workmanship, Saad persuaded the soldiers to relinquish their\nclaims. It was therefore added to the fifth of the spoil, which was\nconveyed to Medina on the backs of camels. But Omar, with that rigid\nimpartiality from which he never deviated, ordered the gaudy trophy to\nbe cut up into small pieces, and distributed among the chief members\nof the Mohammedan commonwealth. Such was the intrinsic value of the\nmaterials, that the share of Ali alone, not larger than the palm of\na man's hand, was afterwards sold for 20,000 drachms (L458 6s. 8d.),\nor, according to others, for as many dinars (L9,250). Out of this vast\nstore the Caliph granted pensions to every member of his court in\nregular gradation, from the individuals of the Prophet's family to the\nlowest of his companions, varying from L275 to L4 11s. per annum.\n\nThe military part of the booty was divided into 60,000 shares, and\nevery horseman had 12,000 dinars (L5,550); hence, if the army consisted\nof 60,000 cavalry, their united shares would amount to the incredible\nsum of L333,000,000 sterling.\n\n\nCOURTSHIP OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.\n\nThe following extract from the life of the wife of the Conqueror,\nis exceedingly curious, as characteristic of the manners of a\nsemi-civilized age and nation:--\"After some years' delay, William\nappears to have become desperate; and, if we may trust to the evidence\nof the 'Chronicle of Ingerbe,' in the year 1047 way-laid Matilda in\nthe streets of Bruges, as she was returning from mass, seized her,\nrolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array, and, not content with\nthese outrages, struck her repeatedly, and rode off at full speed.\nThis Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author, brought\nthe affair to a crisis; for Matilda, either convinced of the strength\nof William's passion, by the violence of his behaviour, or afraid of\nencountering a second beating, consented to become his wife. How he\never presumed to enter her presence again, after such a series of\nenormities, the chronicler sayeth not, and we are at a loss to imagine.\"\n\n\nBRAMA, THE HINDOO DEITY.\n\n_Brama_, _Birmah_, or _Brouma_, is one of the three persons of the\nIndian Trinity, or rather the Supreme Being under the attribute of\n_Creator_. Brama, the progenitor of all rational beings, sprung from a\ngolden egg, sparkling like a thousand suns, which was hatched by the\nmotion imparted to the waters by the Supreme Being. Brama separated\nthe heavens from the earth, and placed amid the subtle ether the eight\npoints of the universe and the receptacle of the waters. He had five\nheads before Vairevert, one of Sheeva's sons, cut off one of them.\nHe is delineated floating on a leaf of the lotus, a plant revered in\nIndia. The Bramins relate, that the fifteen worlds which compose the\nuniverse were each produced by a part of Brama's body. At the moment\nof our birth he imprints in our heads, in characters which cannot be\neffaced, all that we shall do, and all that is to happen to us in life.\nIt is not in our power, nor in that of Brama himself, to prevent what\nis written from being fulfilled.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Brama.]\n\nBrama, according to the vulgar mythology, takes but little notice of\nhuman affairs. Identified with the sun, he is adored by the Bramins\nin the _gayatri_, the most sacred passage of the _vedas_ (or sacred\nbooks), which is itself ranked among the gods, and to which offerings\nare made. One of the most important attributes of Brama is that of\nfather of legislators; for it was his ten sons who diffused laws and\nthe sciences over the world. He is considered as the original author of\nthe _vedas_, which are said to have issued from his four mouths; though\nit was not till a later period, that is, about fourteen hundred years\nbefore Christ, that they were collected and arranged by Vyasa, the\nphilosopher and poet. The laws which bear the name of Menu, the son of\nBrama, and the works of the other _richeys_, or holy persons, were also\nre-copied, or perhaps collected from tradition, long after the period\nwhen they are said to have been published by the sons of Brama.\n\nBrama, the father of the legislators of India, has a considerable\nresemblance to the Jupiter of the Greek poets, the father of Minos,\nwhose celebrated laws were published in the very same century that\nVyasa collected the _vedas_. Jupiter was worshipped as the sun, by\nthe name of _Anxur_ or _Axur_, and Brama is identified with that\nluminary. The most common form in which Brama is represented, is that\nof a man with four heads and four hands; and it is remarkable that the\nLacedaemonians gave four heads to their Jupiter. Lastly, the title of\nFather of Gods and Men is equally applicable to Brama and to Jupiter.\n\nBrama is delineated, as in the engraving, holding in one hand a ring,\nthe emblem of immortality; in another, fire, to represent force; and\nwith the other two writing on _olles_, or palm-leaves, the emblem of\nlegislative power.\n\n\nJAMES II. AND THE CHURCH OF DONORE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Church of Donore.]\n\nThe annexed engraving represents a celebrated locality. It is the ruin\nof the little church on the hill at Donore, in the county of Meath,\nthe spot where James II. was stationed when he beheld the overthrow\nof his army and the ruin of his cause at the battle of the Boyne,\nTuesday, July 1st, 1690. The Boyne is a very beautiful and picturesque\nriver; it winds through the fertile valleys of Meath, and from its\nrichly-wooded banks the hills rise gradually; there are no lofty\nmountains in the immediate neighbourhood. The depth, in nearly all\nparts, is considerable, and the current, consequently, not rapid; its\nwidth, near the field of battle, varies little, and is seldom less\nthan fifty or sixty yards. James had the choice of ground, and it was\njudiciously selected. On the south side of the river, in the county of\nMeath, his army was posted with considerable skill: on the right was\nDrogheda; in front were the fords of the Boyne, deep and dangerous,\nand difficult to pass at all times; the banks were rugged, lined by a\nmorass, defended by some breastworks, with \"huts and hedges convenient\nfor infantry;\" and behind them was an acclivity stretching along the\nwhole of \"the field.\" James fixed his own tent upon the summit of a\nhill close to the little church of Donore, now a ruin; it commanded\nan extensive view of the adjacent country, and the opposite or south\nside of the river--the whole range, indeed, from Drogheda to Oldbridge\nvillage--and looked directly down upon the valley, in which the battle\nwas to be fought, and the fords of the Boyne, where there could be no\ndoubt the troops of William would attempt a passage. From this spot,\nJames beheld his prospering rival mingling in the thick of the _melee_,\ngiving and taking blows; watched every turn of fortune, as it veered\ntowards or against him; saw his enemies pushing their way in triumph,\nand his brave allies falling before the swords of foreigners--a safe\nand inglorious spectator of a battle upon the issue of which his throne\ndepended. The preceeding night he had spent at Carntown Castle, from\nwhence he had marched, not as the leader, but as the overseer, of the\nIrish army; having previously given unequivocal indications of his\nprospects, his hopes, and his designs, by despatching a commissioner to\nWaterford, \"to prepare a ship for conveying him to France, in case of\nany misfortune.\"\n\n\nHANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.\n\nWhen Babylon the Great was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the\ngrand palace, and within the general enclosure, the Hanging Gardens\nwere constructed by the king to gratify his wife Amytis, who being a\nnative of Media (she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of Media),\ndesired to have some imitation of her native hills and forests.\n\n \"Within the walls was raised a lofty mound,\n Where flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd\n The pensile garden. For Nebassar's queen,\n Fatigued with Babylonia's level plains,\n Sigh'd for her Median home, where nature's hand\n Had scooped the vale, and clothed the mountain's side\n With many a verdant wood: nor long she pined\n Till that uxorious monarch called on Art\n To rival Nature's sweet variety.\n Forthwith two hundred thousand slaves uprear'd\n This hill--egregious work; rich fruits o'erhang\n The sloping vales, and odorous shrubs entwine\n Their undulating branches.\"\n\nThese gardens, as far as we learn from ancient accounts, contained\na square of above 400 feet on each side, and were carried up in the\nmanner of several large terraces, one above the other, till the height\nequalled that of the walls of the city. The ascent from terrace to\nterrace was by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained\nby vast arches, raised on other arches one above another, and was\ndefended and condensed by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of\ntwenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid\nlarge flat stones, sixteen feet long and four broad; over these was a\nlayer of weeds mixed and cemented with a large quantity of bitumen, on\nwhich were two rows of bricks closely cemented together with the same\nmaterial. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, on which lay\nthe mould of the garden. And all this floorage was so contrived as to\nkeep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches.\nThe earth laid thereon was so deep that large trees might take root\nin it: and with such the terraces were covered, as well as with the\n[...] plants and flowers proper to adorn an eastern pleasure-garden.\nThe trees planted there are represented to have been of various kinds.\nHere grew the larch, that, curving, flings its arms like a falling\nwave; and by it was seen the grey livery of the aspen; the mournful\nsolemnity of the cypress and stately grandeur of the cedar intermingled\nwith the elegant mimosa; besides the light and airy foliage of the\nsilk-tasselled acacia, with its vast clusters of beauteous lilac\nflowers streaming in the wind and glittering in the sun; the umbrageous\nfoliage of the chesnut, and ever-varying verdure of the poplar; the\nbirch, with its feathered branches light as a lady's plumes--all\ncombined with the freshness of the running stream, over which the\nwillow waved its tresses.--\n\n \"And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose,\n The sweetest flower for scent that blows;\n And all rare blossoms from every clime\n Grew in that garden in perfect prime.\"\n\nAll these varied delights of nature were ranged in rows on the\nside of the ascent as well as on the top, so that at a distance it\nappeared to be an immense pyramid covered with wood. The situation of\nthis extraordinary effort of human skill, aided by human wealth and\nperseverance, adjoining the river Euphrates, we must suppose that in\nthe upper terrace was an hydraulic engine, or kind of pump, by which\nthe water was forced up out of the river, and from thence the whole\ngardens were watered, and a supply of the pure element furnished to the\nfountains and reservoirs for cooling the air. In the spaces between\nthe several arches, on which the whole structure rested, were large\nand magnificent apartments, very lightsome, and commanding the most\nbeautiful prospects that even the glowing conceptions of an eastern\nimagination could dream to exist.\n\n\nTHE GREAT BELL OF BURMAH.\n\nAt a temple in the environs of Amarapoora, the capital of Burmah, there\nis an enormous bell, which is thus described by Captain Yule:--\"North\nof the temple, on a low circular terrace, stands the biggest bell in\nBurmah--the biggest in the world, probably, Russia apart. It is slung\non a triple beam of great size, cased and hooped with metal; this beam\nresting on two piers of brickwork, enclosing massive frames of teak.\nThe bell does not swing free. The supports were so much shaken by the\nearthquake, that it was found necessary to put props under the bell,\nconsisting of blocks of wood carved into grotesque figures. Of course\nno tone can now be got out of it. But at any time it must have required\na battering-ram to elicit its music. Small ingots of silver (and some\nsay pieces of gold) may still be traced, unmelted, in the mass, and\nfrom the inside one sees the curious way in which the makers tried to\nstrengthen the parts which suspend it by dropping into the upper part\nof the mould iron chains, round which the metal was run. The Burmese\nreport the bell to contain 555,555 viss of metal (about 900 tons). Its\nprincipal dimensions are as follow:--External diameter at the lip,\n16 feet 3 inches; external diameter 4 feet 8 inches above the lip,\n10 feet; interior height, 11 feet 6 inches; exterior ditto, 12 feet;\ninterior diameter at top, 8 feet 6 inches. The thickness of metal\nvaries from six inches to twelve, and the actual weight of the bell\nis, by a rough calculation, about eighty tons, or one-eleventh of the\npopular estimate. According to Mr. Howard Malcolm, whose authority was\nprobably Colonel Burney, the weight is stated in the Royal Chronicle\nat 55,500 viss, or about ninety tons. This statement is probably,\ntherefore, genuine, and the popular fable merely a multiplication of it\nby ten.\"\n\nThis monster Burmese bell is, therefore, fourteen times as heavy as\nthe great bell of St. Paul's, but only one-third of that given by the\nEmpress Anne to the Cathedral of Moscow.\n\n\nBANDOLIERS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Bandoliers.]\n\nWe here engrave a set of bandoliers, a species of weapon much in vogue\nabout the close of the sixteenth century. The specimen before us\nconsists of nine tin cases covered with leather, with caps to them,\neach containing a charge of powder, and suspended by rings from a cord\nmade to pass through other rings. The caps are retained in their places\nby being contrived so as to slip up and down their own cords. Two\nflaps of leather, on each side, are intended to protect the bandoliers\nfrom rain, and attached to one of these may be perceived a circular\nbullet-purse, made to draw with little strings. This specimen was\nbuckled round the waist by means of a strap; others were worn round the\nbody and over the shoulder. The noise they made, agitated by the wind,\nbut more especially the danger of all taking fire from the match-cord,\noccasioned their disuse, as Sir James Turner tells us, about the year\n1640.\n\n\nTOMB OF DARIUS.\n\nAmong the most remarkable tombs of the ancients, may be noticed the\nsepulchre carved out of the living rock, by order of Darius, the\nwarrior and conqueror king of Persia, for the reception of his own\nremains; and which is existing to this day at Persepolis, after a\nduration of twenty-three centuries.\n\nThe portico is supported by four columns twenty feet in height, and\nin the centre is the form of a doorway, seemingly the entrance to the\ninterior, but it is solid; the entablature is of chaste design. Above\nthe portico there is what may be termed an ark, supported by two rows\nof figures, about the size of life, bearing it on their uplifted hands,\nand at each angle a griffin--an ornament which is very frequent at\nPersepolis. On this stage stands the king, with a bent bow in his hand,\nworshipping the sun, whose image is seen above the altar that stands\nbefore him, while above his head hovers his ferouher, or disembodied\nspirit. This is the good genius that in Persian and Ninevite sculpture\naccompanies the king when performing any important act. On each side\nthe ark are nine niches, each containing a statue in bas-relief. No\nother portion of the tomb was intended to be seen, excepting the\nsculptured front; and we must, therefore, conclude that the entrance\nwas kept secret, and that the avenues were by subterranean passages, so\nconstructed that none but the privileged could find their way. We are\ntold by Theophrastus, that Darius was buried in a coffer of Egyptian\nalabaster; and also that the early Persians buried their dead entire,\npreserving their bodies with honey or wax.\n\n\nTHE GATE ON OLD LONDON BRIDGE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Gate on Old London Bridge.]\n\nIn the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a strongly embattled gate protected\nthe entrance from Southwark to Old London Bridge, and it was usually\ngarnished with traitors' heads in \"rich abundance,\" as may be seen\nin the accompanying cut, which is copied from Visscher's view, in\n1579. The bridge was at that period covered with houses, a narrow\nroad passing through arcades beneath them, and they abutted on props\nover the river on either side. The bridge was proudly spoken of by\nour ancestors. Thus, in the translation of Ortelius, published by J.\nShaw, in 1603, he says of the Thames:--\"It is beautified with statelye\npallaces, built on the side thereof; moreover, a sumptuous bridge\nsustayned on nineteen arches, with excellent and beauteous housen built\nthereon.\" Camden, in his great work, the \"Britannica,\" says, \"It may\nworthily carry away the prize from all the bridges in Europe,\" being\n\"furnished on both sides with passing faire houses, joining one to\nanother in the manner of a street.\"\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY PONDS AND FISH.\n\nThe ponds in the department of Ain in France are 1667 in number. The\nindustry and ingenuity of man have converted the marshes into fertile\nplains and productive ponds, by constructing dykes from one hill to\nthe other, for the plateaux are covered with small hills. When the\nproprietor of one of these ponds wishes to cultivate it, he draws off\nthe water into the dyke attached to it. Wheat, barley, and oats are\nthen sown, and the seed thus fertilised by the slime produces a crop\ndouble that produced by the land in the vicinity. After the harvest\nis collected, the water is permitted to return to its former bed, and\ncarp, tench, and roach are then thrown into it. Some of these ponds\nwill support 100,000 of carp, and 100 pounds of little tench and roach.\nIn the course of two years these carp, which weighed only one ounce\nand a-half, will have attained the size of two pounds and a half. The\nfishing begins in April, and is continued until November. The increase\nof the fish is as one to five.\n\n\nTHE CEREMONIAL OF MAKING THE KING'S BED.\n\nThe following account of the old ceremony of making the King's bed in\nthe time of Henry the Eighth, was sent to the Society of Antiquaries,\nin 1776, by Mr. J. C. Brooke, of the Heralds' College, F.S.A. &c. In a\nletter to the president, he says,--\n\n\"It is extracted from an original manuscript, elegantly written,\nbeautifully illuminated, and richly bound, which was some time in the\nlibrary of Henry, Duke of Norfolk, earl marshal of England, to whom it\ncame by descent from Thomas, the great Duke of Norfolk, beheaded in\nthe reign of Queen Elizabeth; who married Mary, daughter and coheir\nof Henry Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, lord chamberlain to King Henry\nthe Eighth. It contains the whole duty of the lord chamberlain, and\nof the officers in his department; is the original copy kept for the\ninformation of that earl; and had been compiled by order of, and\napproved by, the King himself in council.\"\n\n\"_The oolde ordre of Makynge the Kynges Bedd not to used nor done, but\nas Hys Grace woll comaund and apoynte from tyme to tyme herafter._\n\n\"_Furste_, a groome or a page to take a torche, and to goo to the\nwarderobe of the kynges bedd, and bryng theym of the warderobe with\nthe kynges stuff unto the chambr for makyng of the same bedde. Where\nas aught to be a gentylman-usher, iiii yomen of the chambr for to make\nthe same bedde. The groome to stande at the bedds feete with his torch.\nThey of the warderobe openyng the kinges stuff of hys bedde upon a\nfayre sheete, bytwen the sayde groome and the bedds fote, iii yeomen,\nor two at the leste, in every syde of the bedde; the gentylman-usher\nand parte commaundyng theym what they shall doo. A yoman with a dagger\nto searche the strawe of the kynges bedde that there be none untreuth\ntherein. And this yoman to caste up the bedde of downe upon that,\nand oon of theym to tomble over yt for the serche thereof. Then they\nto bete and tufle the sayde bedde, and to laye oon then the bolster\nwithout touchyng of the bedd where as it aught to lye. Then they of\nthe warderobe to delyver theym a fustyan takyng the saye therof. All\ntheys yomen to laye theyr hands theroon at oones, that they touch not\nthe bedd, tyll yt be layed as it sholde be by the comaundement of the\nussher. And so the furste sheet in lyke wyse, and then to trusse in\nboth sheete and fustyan rownde about the bedde of downe. The warderoper\nto delyver the second sheete unto two yomen, they to crosse it over\ntheyr arme, and to stryke the bedde as the ussher shall more playnly\nshewe unto theym. Then every yoman layeing hande upon the sheete, to\nlaye the same sheete upon the bedde. And so the other fustyan upon or\nii with such covervnge as shall content the kynge. Thus doon, the ii\nyomen next to the bedde to laye down agene the overmore fustyan, the\nyomen of the warderobe delyverynge theym a pane sheete, the sayde yoman\ntherewythall to cover the sayde bedde. And so then to laye down the\novermost sheete from the beddes heed. And then the sayd ii yomen to lay\nall the overmost clothes of a quarter of the bedde. Then the warderoper\nto delyver unto them such pyllowes as shall please the kynge. The sayd\nyoman to laye theym upon the bolster and the heed sheete with whych the\nsayde yoman shall cover the sayde pyllowes. And so to trusse the endes\nof the sayde sheete under every ende of the bolster. And then the sayd\nwarderoper to delyver unto them ii lyttle small pyllowes, werwythall\nthe squyres for the bodye or gentylman-ussher shall give the saye to\nthe warderoper, and to the yoman whych have layde on hande upon the\nsayd bedde. And then the sayd ii yomen to lay upon the sayde bedde\ntoward the bolster as yt was bifore. They makyng a crosse and kissynge\nyt where there handes were. Then ii yomen next to the feete to make the\nfeers as the ussher shall teche theym. And so then every of them sticke\nup the aungel about the bedde, and to lette down the corteyns of the\nsayd bedde, or sparver.\n\n\"Item, a squyer for the bodye or gentylman-ussher aught to sett the\nkynges sword at hys beddes heed.\n\n\"Item, a squyer for the bodye aught to charge a secret groome or page,\nto have the kepynge of the sayde bedde with a lyght unto the time the\nkynge be disposed to goo to yt.\n\n\"Item, a groome or page aught to take a torche, whyle the bedde ys yn\nmakyng, to feche a loof of brede, a pott wyth ale, a pott wyth wine,\nfor them that maketh the bedde, and every man.\n\n\"Item, the gentylman-ussher aught to forbede that no manner of man\ndo sett eny dysshe upon the kynge's bedde, for fere of hurtying of\nthe kynge's ryche counterpoynt that lyeth therupon. And that the sayd\nussher take goode heede, that noo man wipe or rubbe their handes uppon\nnone arras of the kynges, wherby they myght bee hurted, in the chambr\nwhere the kynge ys specially, and in all other.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF SANDWICHES.\n\nTo the memory of \"Lord Sandwich\" belongs the name of that edible.\nBeing, during his administration (as was very usual with him), at a\ngambling-house, he had, in the fascination of play, for more than five\nand twenty hours forgotten fatigue and hunger, when suddenly, feeling\ndisposed to break his fast, though still riveted to the table, he\ncalled to bid some one bring anything that was to be had to eat, which\nhappened to prove a slice of beef, and two pieces of bread. Placing\nthem together for the sake of expedition, he devoured them with the\ngreatest relish. The most ecstatic encomiums published his discovery,\nand giving it his name, bequeathed it as a memento to his country, as\none of the most important acts of his administration.\n\n\nTHE TREATY-STONE AT LIMERICK.\n\nThe city of Limerick is very famous in history. Before it, in 1651,\nIreton \"sate down;\" there he continued to \"sit\" for six months; and\nunderneath its walls the fierce republican died of plague. Greater\ncelebrity, and higher honour, were, however, obtained by Limerick in\n1690. Early in August, William summoned it to surrender; the French\ngeneral, Boileau, who commanded the garrison--\"rather for the King\nof France than the King of England\"--returned for answer, that \"he\nwas surprised at the summons, and thought the best way to gain the\ngood opinion of the Prince of Orange was to defend the place for his\nmaster King James.\" The siege was at once commenced. The flower of the\nIrish army were within its walls, or in its immediate neighbourhood;\nthe counties of Clare and Galway were open to them, from which to\ndraw supplies; and a French fleet rode triumphantly in the Shannon.\nThe garrison, however, were little disposed to act in concert: the\njealousy of the commanders of the French and Irish had spread to their\ntroops; and they cherished feelings of contempt or hatred towards each\nother, that argued ill for their success in opposing the steady and\ndisciplined forces of William.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Treaty-Stone at Limerick.]\n\nYet the Irish succeeded; the siege was raised on the 30th of August.\nBut, in the autumn of 1691, it endured a second, which occupied about\nsix months; when the garrison, wearied of a struggle from which they\ncould derive nothing but glory, on the 23rd of September, a cessation\nof hostilities took place; an amicable intercourse was opened between\nthe two armies; and articles of capitulation were, after a few brief\ndelays, agreed upon. The \"violated treaty\" was signed on the 3rd of\nOctober, 1691; it consisted of two parts, civil and military. It is\nsaid to have been signed by the several contracting parties on a large\nstone, near to Thomond Bridge, on the county of Clare side of the\nriver. The stone remains in the position it occupied at the period, and\nis an object of curiosity to strangers, as well as of interest to the\ncitizens of Limerick. We, therefore, thought it desirable to procure a\ndrawing of the relic, which retains its name of \"the Treaty Stone.\"\n\n\nTHE TEMPLARS' BANNER CALLED BEAUSEANT.\n\nWhen Constantine the Great was on the eve of a battle with Maxentius,\nwe are told that a luminous standard appeared to him in the sky with a\ncross upon it, and this inscription:--\"_In hoc signo vinces_--By this\nsign you shall conquer;\" and that this sign so encouraged Constantine\nand his soldiers that they gained the next day a great victory.\n\nWhen Waldemar II. of Denmark was engaged in a great battle with the\nLivonians in the year 1219, it is said that a sacred banner fell from\nheaven into the midst of his army, and so revived the courage of his\ntroops, that they gained a complete victory over the Livonians; and\nin memory of the event, Waldemar instituted an order of knighthood,\ncalled \"St. Danebrog,\" or the strength of the Danes, and which is\nstill the principal order of knighthood in Denmark. Now, taking these\nlegends for as much as they are worth, and no more; what do they prove?\nNot that this miraculous standard and cross came to the assistance\nof Constantine; not that this miraculous banner came to the aid of\nWaldemar; but they prove that such was the paramount importance\nattached to the sacred banner among the forces, that wherever it was\npresent, it was a great means of inspiriting the men with increased\nconfidence and courage, and so contributed to the victory.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Beauseant.]\n\nThe great importance attached to the banner in the middle ages is not\nto be wondered at, when we consider that it was a kind of connecting\nlink between the military and the clergy; it was a religious symbol\napplied to a military purpose, and this was the feeling which animated\nthe Crusaders and the Templars in their great struggle against the\nenemies of Christianity. The contest then was between the crescent and\nthe cross--between Christ and Mahomet. The Knights Templars had a very\nremarkable banner, being simply divided into black and white, the white\nportion symbolising peace to their friends, the black portion evil to\ntheir enemies, and their dreaded war cry, \"BEAUSEANT.\"\n\n\nSWORD-FISH _v._ WHALES.\n\nSo boundless is the sword-fish's rage and fury against whales in\nparticular, that many observers imagine his sallies against rocks and\ntimber to originate in an error of judgment, that all these lunges are\nintended to punish leviathan, and are only misdirected in consequence\nof the imperfect vision which prevents this scomber, like many of\nhis family, from accurately distinguishing forms. Whenever a supposed\nwhale is descried, our savage _sabreur_ rushes forward to intercept\nhis progress, and suddenly flashing before his victim, either alone\nor in conjunction with some other unfriendly fish, instantly proceeds\nto the attack. Relations of such sea-fights, attested by credible\neye-witnesses, are not uncommon; we content ourselves with the citation\nof one of unimpeachable accuracy. Captain Crow, cited by Mr. Yarrell,\nrelates that in a voyage to Memel, on a calm night, just off the\nHebrides, all hands were called up to witness a strange combat between\nsome thrashers (carcharias vulpes) and a sword-fish leagued together\nagainst a whale; as soon as the back of the ill-starred monster was\nseen rising a little above the water, the thrashers sprang several\nyards into the air, and struck him with their descending tails, the\nreiterated percussions of which sounded, we are told, like a distant\nvolley of musketry. The sword-fish meanwhile attacked the whale from\nbelow, getting close under his belly, and with such energy and effect\nthat there could be little doubt of the issue of a fray, which the\nnecessity of prosecuting their voyage prevented the crew from watching\nto its close. The sword-fish is not less remarkable for strength than\npugnacity, the depot of its great physical powers being, as in most\nscombers, in the tail.\n\n\nWEALTH OF SPAIN UNDER THE MOORS.\n\nThe Moors, whose conquest and expulsion were attended with such\natrocities, and such triumphs to the Catholic church, were by far the\nmost industrious and skilful part of the Spanish population, and their\nloss was a blow to the greatness and prosperity of that kingdom from\nwhich it has never recovered. The literary activity and commercial\nenterprise of the Arabs, which the wise policy of their Caliphs\nencouraged, contributed both to enrich and adorn their adopted country.\nCordova, the seat of the Ommiades, was scarcely inferior, in point of\nwealth and magnitude, to its proud rival on the banks of the Tigris.\nA space of twenty-four miles in length, and six in breadth, along the\nbanks of the Guadalquiver, was occupied with palaces, streets, gardens,\nand public edifices; and for ten miles the citizens could travel by\nthe light of lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings. In the\nreign of Almansor it could boast of 270,000 houses, 80,455 shops,\n911 baths, 3,877 mosques, from the minarets of which a population of\n800,000 were daily summoned to prayers. The seraglio of the Caliph, his\nwives, concubines, and black eunuchs, amounted to 6,300 persons; and he\nwas attended to the field by a guard of 12,000 horsemen, whose belts\nand scimitars were studded with gold. Granada was equally celebrated\nfor its luxury and its learning. The royal demesnes extended to the\ndistance of twenty miles, the revenues of which were set apart to\nmaintain the fortifications of the city. Of the duty on grain, the\nking's exchequer received about L15,000 yearly, an immense sum at that\ntime, when wheat sold at the rate of sixpence a bushel. The consumption\nof 250,000 inhabitants kept 130 water-mills constantly at work in the\nsuburbs. The population of this small kingdom under the Moors is\nsaid to have amounted to 3,000,000, which is now diminished perhaps\nto one-fifth of that number. Its temples and palaces have shared the\nsame decay. The Alhambra stands solitary, dismantled, and neglected.\nThe interior remains of the palace are in tolerable preservation, and\npresent a melancholy picture of the romantic magnificence of its former\nkings. Seville, which had continued nearly 200 years the seat of a\npetty kingdom, enjoyed considerable reputation as a place of wealth\nand commerce. The population in 1247 was computed at 300,000 persons,\nwhich, in the sixteenth century, had decreased one-third. It was one\nof the principal marts for olives in the Moorish dominions; and so\nextensive was the trade in this article alone that the _axarafe_, or\nplantations round the suburbs, employed farm-houses and olive-presses\nto the amount of 100,000, being more than is now to be found in the\nwhole province of Andalusia.\n\n\nTHE FIRST OPERA.\n\nThe first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera to music was\nFrancisco Bamirino, an Italian artist; and the piece to which he lent\nthe charm of a melodious accompaniment, was the \"Conversion of St.\nPaul,\" which was brought out at Rome in 1460.\n\n\nRUINS OF EUROPA.\n\nLady Sheil, in her \"Life in Persia,\" thus describes some wonderful\nruins which she saw about thirty miles from Tehran:--\n\n\"From near Verameen a most remarkable antiquity still survives the\nlapse of twenty centuries, that is, if what we hear be true. It\nconsists of an immense rampart, twenty or thirty feet in height, and\nof proportional thickness, including a space of about half a mile in\nlength and nearly the same in breadth. It is in the form of a square;\nthe rampart is continuous, and at short intervals is strengthened by\nbastions of prodigious size. The whole is constructed of unbaked bricks\nof large dimensions, and is in a state of extraordinary preservation.\nThe traces of a ditch of great size, though nearly filled up, are\nevident in front of the rampart. No buildings are found inside, where\nnothing is visible excepting a few mounds,--not a single habitation or\nhuman being. The solitude of this striking vestige of antiquity adds\nto its solemnity. It stood alone; Elboorz, distant only a few miles,\ngazing down on its hoary walls, with Demawend, in its garments of\nsnow, to complete the scene. From no place have I had a finer view of\nthis grand mountain, which seemed to lie exactly to the north. I am\ninformed that these magnificent ruins represent Europa, a city built\nby Seleucus, which, if true, would make it upwards of two thousand\nyears old. On seeing the perfect state of the ruins, and the materials\nof which they are composed, one feels no hesitation in crediting so\nvenerable an antiquity. Seleucus chose the spot well. The district of\nVerameen is renowned for its fertility, though not at this period for\nthe salubrity of its climate. The surrounding country is covered with\nearthen mounds, denoting former edifices, which, if explored, might\nreveal objects worthy of the erudition and intellect of even Sir Henry\nRawlinson.\"\n\n\nCELEBRATED GUN.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Gun of Charles IX. of France.]\n\nThe gun, of which the annexed is a sketch, is one of the many\ncuriosities of the Londesborough Museum. It once formed part of the\ncollection of Prince Potemkin, and was originally the property of\nCharles IX. of France; it is traditionally reported to have been the\ngun he used in firing on his Huguenot subjects, from one of the windows\nof the Louvre, during the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The barrel is\nrichly chased in high relief, with a stag-hunt amid foliage. The stock\nis inlaid with ivory, sculptured into a series of hunting scenes,\nknights on horseback.\n\nThe dreadful massacre of Saint Bartholomew commenced at Paris on the\nnight of the festival of that saint, August 24th, 1572. Above 500\npersons of rank, and 10,000 of inferior condition, perished in Paris\nalone, besides those slaughtered in the provinces. The king, who had\nbeen persuaded that the destruction of the Huguenots to the last man\nwas necessary to the safety of his throne, beheld the slaughter from a\nwindow, and being carried away by the example of those whose murderous\ndoings he witnessed, ordered some long arquebusses to be brought,\nand on their being loaded, and handed to him one after another, he\nfor some time continued to fire on the unfortunate fugitives as they\npassed, crying at the same time with a loud voice, \"Kill, kill.\" He\nafterwards went and inspected the bodies of the slain, and expressed\nhis satisfaction at the effective manner in which his orders had been\nexecuted.\n\n\nTOMB OF RAFFAELLE.\n\nThe great painter Raffaelle died at Rome, April 7th 1520, at the early\nage of thirty-seven. He was buried in the Pantheon, in a chapel which\nwas afterwards called Raffaelle's Chapel. For more than a century and\na half his tomb had only a plain epitaph, but Carlo Maratti desired to\nplace a more striking memorial of Raffaelle's resting-place than the\nsimple inscription, and accordingly, in the year 1764, a marble bust\nof the painter, executed by Paolo Nardini, was placed in one of the\noval niches on each side of the chapel. The epitaph to Maria Bibiena\n(Raffaelle's betrothed) was removed to make way for Maratti's new\ninscription; and it was currently believed that the skull of Raffaelle\nwas removed; at least such was the history given of a skull shown\nas the painter's, religiously preserved by the Academy of St. Luke,\nand descanted on by phrenologists as indicative of all the qualities\nwhich \"the divine painter\" possessed. But scepticism played its part;\ndoubts of the truth of this story led to doubts of Vasari's statement\nrespecting the exact locality of Raffaelle's tomb. Matters were brought\nto a final issue by the discovery of a document proving this skull to\nbe that of Don Desiderio de Adjutorio, founder of the society called\nthe Virtuosi, in 1542. Thereupon, this society demanded the head of its\nfounder from the Academy of St. Luke; but they would neither abandon\nthat, nor the illusion that they possessed the veritable skull of the\ngreat artist. Arguments ran high, and it was at length determined to\nsettle the question by an examination of the spot, which took place on\nthe 13th of September 1833, in the presence of the Academies of St.\nLuke and of Archaeology, the Commission of the Fine Arts (including\nOverback and others), the members of the Virtuosi, the governor of Rome\n(Monsignor Grimaldi), and the Cardinal Zurla, the representative of the\npope.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Tomb of Raffaelle.]\n\nThe result will be best given in the words of an eye-witness, Signor\nNibby (one of the Commission of Antiquities and Fine Arts), who thus\ndescribed the whole to M. Quatremere de Quincy, the biographer of\nRaffaelle:--\"The operations were conducted on such a principle of exact\nmethod as to be chargeable with over nicety. After various ineffectual\nattempts in other directions, we at length began to dig under the altar\nof the Virgin itself, and taking as a guide the indications furnished\nby Vasari, we at length came to some masonry of the length of a man's\nbody. The labourers raised the stone with the utmost care, and having\ndug within for about a foot and a half, came to a void space. You can\nhardly conceive the enthusiasm of us all, when, by a final effort, the\nworkmen exhibited to our view the remains of a coffin, with an entire\nskeleton in it, lying thus as originally placed, and thinly covered\nwith damp dust. We saw at once quite clearly that the tomb had never\nbeen opened, and it thus became manifest that the skull possessed by\nthe Academy of St. Luke was not that of Raffaelle. Our first care was,\nby gentle degrees, to remove from the body the dust which covered it,\nand which we religiously collected, with the purpose of placing it in\na new sarcophagus. Amongst it we found, in tolerable preservation,\npieces of the coffin, which was made of deal, fragments of a painting\nwhich had ornamented the lid, several bits of Tiber clay, formations\nfrom the water of the river, which had penetrated into the coffin by\ninfiltration, an iron stelletta, a sort of spur, with which Raffaelle\nhad been decorated by Leo X, several _fibulae_, and a number of metal\n_anelli_, portions of his dress.\" These small rings had fastened the\nshroud; several were retained by the sculptor Fibris, who also took\ncasts of the head and hand, and Camuccini took views of the tomb and\nits precious contents; from one of these our cut is copied.\n\nOn the following day the body was further examined by professional\nmen: the skeleton was found to measure five feet seven inches, the\nnarrowness of the coffin indicated a slender and delicate frame. This\naccords with the contemporary accounts, which say he was of a refined\nand delicate constitution; his frame was all spirit; his physical\nstrength so limited that it was a wonder he existed so long as he did.\nThe investigation completed, the body was exhibited to the public from\nthe 20th to the 24th, and then was again placed in a new coffin of\nlead, and that in a marble sarcophagus presented by the pope, and taken\nfrom the antiquities in the Museum of the Vatican. A solemn mass was\nthen announced for the evening of the 18th of October. The Pantheon was\nthen illuminated, as for a funeral; the sarcophagus, with its contents,\nwas placed in exactly the same spot whence the remains had been taken.\nThe presidents of the various academies were present, with the Cavalier\nFabris at their head. Each bore a brick, which he inserted in the\nbrickwork with which the sepulchre was walled in. And so the painter\nawaits \"the resurrection of the just,\" and the fellowship of saints\nand angels, of which his inspired pencil has given us the highest\nrealisation on earth.\n\n\nANTIMONY.\n\nThe origin of the use of _anti-moine_, or antimony, is a remarkable\ncircumstance. Basil Valentin, superior of a college of religionists,\nhaving observed that this mineral fattened the pigs, imagined that it\nwould produce the same effect on the holy brotherhood. But the case was\nseriously different; the unfortunate fathers, who greedily made use of\nit, died in a short time, and this is the origin of its name, according\nto the pure French word. In spite of this unfortunate beginning,\nParacelsus resolved to bring this mineral into practice; and by mixing\nit with other preparations make it useful. The Faculty at Paris were\non this occasion divided into two parties, the one maintaining that\nantimony was a poison; the other affirmed that it was an excellent\nremedy. The dispute became more general, and the Parliament and\nthe College of the Sorbonne interfered in the matter; but sometime\nafterwards people began to judge rightly concerning this excellent\nmineral; and its wonderful and salutary effects have occasioned the\nFaculty to place it among their best medicines.\n\n\nPERSONAL APPEARANCE OF MAHOMET.\n\nFor the personal appearance and private life of Mahomet, we must rely\non the Arabian writers, who dwell with fond and proud satisfaction on\nthe graces and intellectual gifts with which nature had endowed him. He\nwas of a middle stature, of a clear, fair skin, and ruddy complexion.\nHis head and features, though large, were well proportioned; he had\na prominent forehead, large dark-brown eyes, an aquiline nose, and\na thick bushy beard. His mouth, though rather wide, was handsomely\nformed, and adorned with teeth white as pearls, the upper row not\nclosely set, but in regular order--which appeared when he smiled, and\ngave an agreeable expression to his countenance. He had a quick ear,\nand a fine sonorous voice. His dark eyebrows approached each other\nwithout meeting. His hair fell partly in ringlets about his temples,\nand partly hung down between his shoulders. To prevent whiteness, the\nsupposed effect of Satanic influence, he stained it, as the Arabs\noften do still, of a shining reddish colour. His frame was muscular\nand compact--robust rather than corpulent. When he walked, he carried\na staff, in imitation of the other prophets, and had a singular\naffectation of being thought to resemble Abraham. The assertion of\nthe Greeks and Christians, that he was subject to epilepsy, must be\nascribed to ignorance or malice.\n\n\nSTIRRUPS.\n\nFrom every information we have been able to collect, we believe that\nthe appendage of stirrups were not added to saddles before the sixth\ncentury. It is said, that previous to the introduction of stirrups,\nthe young and agile used to mount their horses by vaulting upon them,\nwhich many did in an expert and graceful manner; of course, practice\nwas essential to this perfection. That this should be afforded, wooden\nhorses were placed in the Campus Martius, where this exercise was\nperformed of mounting or dismounting on either side; first, without,\nand next with arms. Cavalry had also occasionally a strap of leather,\nor a metallic projection affixed to their spears, in or upon which the\nfoot being placed, the ascent became more practicable. Respecting the\nperiod of this invention, Montfaucon has presumed that the invention\nmust have been subsequent to the use of saddles; however, opposed to\nthis opinion, an ingenious argument has been offered, that it is\npossible they might have been anterior to that invention; because, it\nis said, they might have been appended to a girth round the body of the\nhorse. Both Hippocrates and Galen speak of a disease to which the feet\nand ancles were subject, from long riding, occasioned by suspension\nof the feet without a resting-place. Suetonius, the Roman, informs us\nthat Germanicus, the father of Caligula, was wont to ride after dinner,\nto strengthen his ancles, by the action of riding affording the blood\nfreer circulation in the part.\n\n\nTHE GREAT SHOEMADOO PAGODA.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Great Shoemadoo Pagoda.]\n\nThe Buddhist temple of which we here give an engraving is the great\nShoemadoo Pagoda at Pegu. Among other things it is interesting as\nbeing one of the earliest attempts at that class of decoration, which\nconsists in having at the base of the building a double range of small\npagodas, a mode of ornamentation that subsequently became typical in\nHindu architecture; their temples and spires being covered, and indeed\ncomposed of innumerable models of themselves, clustered together so as\nto make up a whole.\n\nThe building stands on two terraces, the lower one about 10 ft. high,\nand 1391 ft. square: the upper one, 20 ft. in height, is 684 ft.\nsquare; from the centre of it rises the pagoda, the diameter of whose\nbase is 395 ft. The small pagodas are 27 ft. high, and 108 or 110 in\nnumber; while the great pagoda itself rises to the height of 331 ft.\nabove its terrace, or 361 ft. above the country, thus reaching a height\nnearly equal to St. Paul's Cathedral; while the side of the upper\nterrace is only 83 ft. less than that of the great Pyramid.\n\nTradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to\nthe height of 12 cubits at an age slightly subsequent to that of Buddha\nhimself. Successive kings of Pegu added to this from time to time, till\nat last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four\ncenturies ago.\n\n\nPEST HOUSE DURING THE PLAGUE IN TOTHILL FIELDS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Pest House in Tothill Fields.]\n\nTothill Fields, a locality between Pimlico and the Thames, was\nanciently the manor of Tothill, belonging to John Maunsel, chancellor,\nwho in 1256, entertained here Henry III. and his court at a vast feast\nin tents and pavilions. Here were decided wagers of battle and appeals\nby combat. Necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft were punished here; and\n\"royal solemnities and goodly jousts were held here.\" In Culpeper's\ntime the fields were famous for parsley. In 1642 a battery and\nbreastwork were erected here. Here also were built the \"Five Houses,\"\nor \"Seven Chimneys,\" as pest-houses for victims of the plague. One of\nthese pest-houses is given in the above engraving, taken from an old\nprint. In the plague time of 1665, the dead were buried \"in the open\nTuttle Fields.\" In Queen Anne's reign here was William Well's head\ngarden on the site of Vincent-square. The Train Bands were drawn out\nhere in 1651. In the last century the fields were a noted duel-ground,\nand here, in 1711, Sir Cholmeley Deering, M.P., was killed by the first\nshot of Mr. Richard Thornhill, who was tried for murder and acquitted,\nbut found guilty of manslaughter and burnt in the hand.\n\n\nTHE THUGS.\n\nThe following account of these horribly extraordinary men is taken from\nDr. Hooker's Himalayan Journals; writing at Mirzapore, he says:--\"Here\nI had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Ward, one of the suppressors\nof Thuggee (_Thuggee_, in Hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud,\nnot open force, being employed). This gentlemen kindly showed me the\napprovers, or king's evidence of his establishment, belonging to those\nthree classes of human scourges, the Thug, Dakoit, and Poisoner. Of\nthese the first was the Thug, a mild-looking man, who had been born and\nbred to the profession: he had committed many murders, saw no harm in\nthem, and felt neither shame nor remorse. His organs of observation and\ndestructiveness were large, and the cerebellum small. He explained to\nme how the gang waylay the unwary traveller, enter into conversation\nwith him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior throws his\nown girdle round the victim's neck and strangles him, pressing the\nknuckles against the spine. Taking off his own girdle, he passed it\nround my arm, and showed me the turn as coolly as a sailor once taught\nme the hangman's knot. The Thug is of any caste, and from any part of\nIndia. The profession have particular stations, which they generally\nselect for murder, throwing the body of their victim into a well.\n\n\"Their origin is uncertain, but supposed to be very ancient, soon\nafter the Mahommedan conquest. They now claim a divine original, and\nare supposed to have supernatural powers, and to be the emissaries\nof the divinity, like the wolf, the tiger, and the bear. It is only\nlately that they have swarmed so prodigiously--seven original gangs\nhaving migrated from Delhi to the Gangetic provinces about 200 years\nago, from whence all the rest have sprung. Many belong to the most\namiable, intelligent, and respectable classes of the lower and even\nmiddle ranks: they love their profession, regard murder as sport, and\nare never haunted with dreams, nor troubled with pangs of conscience\nduring hours of solitude, or in the last moments of life. The victim\nis an acceptable sacrifice to the goddess Davee, who by some classes\nis supposed to eat the lifeless body, and thus save her votaries the\nnecessity of concealing it.\n\n\"They are extremely superstitious, always consulting omens, such as\nthe direction in which a hare or a jackal crosses the road; and even\nfar more trivial circumstances will determine the fate of a dozen of\npeople, and perhaps of an immense treasure. All worship the pickaxe,\nwhich is symbolical of their profession, and an oath sworn on it binds\ncloser than on the Koran. The consecration of this weapon is a most\nelaborate ceremony, and takes place only under certain trees. The\nThugs rise through various grades: the lowest are scouts; the second,\nsextors; the third, are holders of the victim's hands; the highest,\nstranglers.\n\n\"Though all agree in never practising cruelty, or robbing previous\nto murder--never allowing any but infants to escape (and these are\ntrained to Thuggee), and never leaving a trace of such goods as may be\nidentified--there are several variations in their mode of conducting\noperations: some tribes spare certain castes, others none; murder of\nwoman is against all rules; but the practice crept into certain gangs,\nand this it is which led to their discountenance by the goddess Davee,\nand the consequent downfall of the system. Davee, they say, allowed the\nBritish to punish them, because a certain gang had murdered the mothers\nto obtain their daughters to be sold to prostitution.\n\n\"Major Sleeman has constructed a map demonstrating the number of\n'bails,' or regular stations for committing murder, in the kingdom of\nOude alone, which is 170 miles long by 100 broad, and in which are 274,\nwhich are regarded by the Thug with as much satisfaction and interest\nas a game preserve is in England; nor are these 'bails' less numerous\nthan in other parts of India. Of twenty assassins who were examined,\none frankly confessed to having been engaged in 931 murders, and the\nleast guilty of the number in 24. Sometimes 150 persons collected into\none gang, and their profits have often been immense, the murder of six\npersons on one occasion yielding 82,000 rupees, upwards of L8,000.\"\n\n\nENGLISH EARTHENWARE AND SHAKSPEARE'S JUG.\n\nMuch uncertainty exists regarding the period when the manufacture\nof fine earthenware was first introduced into England. Among the\ndocuments in the Foedera, occur various lists of articles, ordered to\nbe purchased in England for several foreign potentates, and permitted\nto be exported for their use without paying the Custom duties. One of\nthese lists, dated in 1428, enumerates many objects as then shipped\nfor the use of the King of Portugal and the Countess of Holland, among\nwhich are \"six silver cups, each of the weight of six marks (or four\npounds), a large quantity of woollen stuffs, and 2000 plates, dishes,\nsaucers, and other vessels of _electrum_.\"\n\nAs these articles were, no doubt, the produce of the country, it\nwould appear that utensils for domestic use were then made of metal,\nand not of pottery; and it was not till some time afterwards that\nthe latter was introduced by the Dutch, whose manufactory at Delft\nprobably existed as early as the fifteenth century, and who sent large\nquantities of their ware to England. The skill and excellence of the\nEnglish artizans consisted in the manufacture of silver and other\nmetals. Of this, instances are recorded in the correspondence of La\nMothe Fenelon, the French ambassador at the Court of Queen Elizabeth;\nand in the travels of Hentzner, who visited England in 1598. Both\ndescribe in glowing colours the silver plate which adorned the buffets,\nas well as the magnificent furniture and decorations of the palaces of\nthat sumptuous queen.\n\nStill Elizabeth, who so highly prided herself upon the state and\nsplendour of her establishment, and who was in constant intercourse\nwith the Court of France and the Low Countries, was not likely to\nhave remained altogether satisfied without possessing, among the\nmanufactures of her own kingdom, something similar to the fine Fayence\nthen in use in every foreign court. Though it is probable that Delft\nware procured from Holland was first used, it may reasonably be\npresumed that the ware called by her name was afterwards manufactured,\nunder her immediate patronage, for the use of the court and the\nnobility; and although there is no record of the fact, it is supposed\nthat Stratford-le-Bow was the site of the manufactory.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Shakspeare's Jug.]\n\nShakspeare's Jug, of which we here give an engraving, which has been\ncarefully preserved by the descendants of the immortal bard since the\nyear 1616, is, perhaps, the most remarkable example of the Elizabethan\npottery now existing. The shape partakes very much of the form of the\nold German or Dutch ewer, without, however, the usual top or cover;\nthe one now attached to the jug being a modern addition of silver,\nwith a medallion bust of the poet in the centre, beautifully executed\nand inscribed \"WM. SHAKSPEARE, AT THE AGE OF FORTY.\" It is about ten\ninches high, and sixteen inches round at the largest part, and is\ndivided lengthwise into eight compartments, having each a mythological\nsubject in high relief. All of these, although executed in the quaint\nstyle of the period, possess considerable merit. Some of them, indeed,\nmanifest much masterly grouping of both human figures and animals; and\nsuch is the admirable state of preservation of this very interesting\nold English relic, that as correct a judgment may be formed of its\nworkmanship, as in the days of its first possessor; at all events, as\nregards the degree of perfection to which English Pottery had attained\nin the Elizabethan age; an inspection of this jug will justify the\npresumption, that her Court was not less tastefully provided in that\nrespect than those of the Continent, notwithstanding the obscurity\nin which the precise locality and extent of the manufactory is\nunfortunately involved.\n\n\nPRICE OF MACKAREL.\n\nThe price of mackarel, in May, 1807, in the Billingsgate market, was\nas follows:--Forty guineas for every hundred of the first cargo, which\nmade the fish come to seven shillings apiece! The next supplies were\nalso exorbitant, though much less so than the first, fetching thirteen\npounds per hundred, or two shillings apiece. The very next year the\nformer deficiencies were more than made up, for it appears that during\nthe season 1808, mackarel were hawked about the streets of Dover, at\nsixty for a shilling, or five for a penny; whilst they so blockaded\nthe Brighton coast that on one night it became impossible to land the\nmultitudes taken, and at last both fish and nets went to the bottom\ntogether.\n\n\nPOPE'S CHAIR.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Alexander Pope's Chair.]\n\nIn one of the rooms at that stately and picturesque baronial hall,\nAudley End, the seat of Lord Braybrooke, there is preserved the\ninteresting relic which forms the subject of the annexed engraving.\nIts history is thus told on a brass plate inserted in the back--\"This\nchair, once the property of Alexander Pope, was given as a keep-sake\nto the nurse who attended him in his illness; from her descendants\nit was obtained by the Rev. Thomas Ashley, curate of the parish of\nBinfield, and kindly presented by him to Lord Braybrooke, in 1844,\nnearly a century after the poet's decease.\" It is apparently of Flemish\nworkmanship, and of rather singular design; in the centre medallion is\na figure of Venus holding a dart in her right hand, and a burning heart\nin her left. The narrow back and wide-circling arms give a peculiarly\nquaint appearance to this curious relic of one of our greatest poets.\n\n\nFIRST WIND-MILLS.\n\nMabillon mentions a diploma of the year 1105, in which a convent in\nFrance is allowed to erect water and windmills, _molendina ad ventum_.\n\nBartolomeo Verde proposed to the Venetians in 1332, to build a\nwind-mill. When his plan had been examined, he had a piece of ground\nassigned him, which he was to retain if his undertaking succeeded\nwithin a specified time. In 1373, the city of Spires caused a wind-mill\nto be erected, and sent to the Netherlands for a person acquainted\nwith the method of grinding by it. A wind-mill was also constructed at\nFrankfort, in 1442; but it does not appear to have been ascertained\nwhether there were any there before.\n\nAbout the twelfth century, in the pontificate of Gregory, when both\nwind and water-mills became more general, a dispute arose whether mills\nwere titheable or not. The dispute existed for some time between the\npersons possessed of mills and the clergy; when neither would yield. At\nlength, upon the matter being referred to the pope and sacred college,\nthe question was (as might have been expected when interested persons\nwere made the arbitrators) determined in favour of the claims of the\nchurch.\n\n\nTHE \"HAPPY DISPATCH\" IN JAPAN.\n\nThe _Hari-kari_, or \"Happy Dispatch,\" consists in ripping open their\nown bowels with two cuts in the form of a cross--after the artistic\ndissector's fashion. Officials resort to it under the fear of the\npunishment which they may expect; for it is a leading principle that\nit is more honourable to die by one's own hand than by another's.\nPrinces and the high classes receive permission to rip themselves up\nas a special favour, when under sentence of death: their entire family\nmust die with the guilty. Sometimes, by favour, the nearest relative\nof the condemned is permitted to perform the function of executioner\nin his own house. Such a death is considered less dishonourable than\nby the public executioners, aided by the servants of those who keep\ndisreputable houses.\n\nBut the Japanese, for the most part, always ask permission to rip\nthemselves; and they set about it with astonishing ease, and not\nwithout evident ostentation. The criminal who obtains this favour\nassembles all his family and his friends, puts on his richest apparel,\nmakes an eloquent speech on his situation, and then, with a most\ncontented look, he bares his belly, and in the form of a cross rips\nopen the viscera. The most odious crimes are effaced by such a death.\nThe criminal thenceforward ranks as a brave in the memory of men. His\nfamily contracts no stain, and his property is not confiscated.\n\nIt is curious that the Romans and the Japanese should hit upon\ncrucifixion as a mode of punishment. These coincidences often startle\nus in reviewing the manners and customs of men. Vainly we strive to\nconjecture how such a mode of punishment could have suggested itself\nto the mind of man. The _in terrorem_ object scarcely accounts for it.\nConstantine abolished it amongst the Romans, in honour of Him who was\npleased to make that mode of dying honourable in the estimation of men.\n\nThe Hari-kari, or happy dispatch, is still more incomprehensible.\nWe shudder at the bare idea of it. To commit suicide by hanging, by\ndrowning, by poison, by firearms, by a train in rapid motion--all these\nmodes are reasonable in their madness; but to rip open our bowels!--and\nwith _two_ cuts! We are totally at a loss to imagine how such a mode\nof self-murder could have been adopted; we cannot but wonder at the\nstrength of nerve which enables it to be accomplished: but we feel no\ndoubt of the everlasting force of national custom--especially amongst\nthe Orientals--in the continuance of this practice. Montesquieu said,\n\"If the punishments of the Orientals horrify humanity, the reason is,\nthat the despot who ordains them feels that he is above all laws. It\nis not so in Republics, wherein the laws are always mild, because he\nwho makes them is himself a subject.\" This fine sentiment, thoroughly\nFrench, is evidently contradicted by the institutions of Japan, where\nthe Emperor himself, the despot, is a subject: besides, Montesquieu\nwould have altered his antithesis had he lived to see the horrors of\nthe Reign of Terror in the glorious French Republic.\n\n\nPURITAN ZEAL.\n\nThe following is a copy of the order issued by Government for the\ndestruction of Glasgow Cathedral:--\"To our traist friendis,--Traist\nfriendis, after most hearty commendacion, we pray you fail not to pass\nincontinent to the kirk, (of Glasgow, or elsewhere, as it might be) and\ntak down the hail images thereof, and bring furth to the kirk-zyard,\nand burn them openly. And sicklyke cast down the altaris, and purge the\nkirk of all kynd of monuments of idolatrye. And this ze fail not to do,\nas ze will do us singular emplesure; and so commitis you to protection\nof God.\n\n (Signed)\n\n AR. ARGYLE.\n\n JAMES STEWART.\n\n RUTHVEN.\n\n_From Edinburgh the XII. of Aug. 1560._\n\n\"Fail not, but ze tak guid heyd that neither the dasks, windows,\nnor duris, be ony ways hurt or broken, uthe glassin wark, or iron\nwark.\"\n\n\nFREDERICK THE GREAT AT TABLE.\n\nThe table of the great Frederic of Prussia was regulated by himself.\nThere were always from nine to a dozen dishes, and these were brought\nin one at a time. The King carved the solitary dish, and helped the\ncompany. One singular circumstance connected with this table was,\nthat each dish was cooked by a different cook, who had a kitchen to\nhimself! There was much consequent expense, with little magnificence.\nFrederic ate and drank, too, like a boon companion. His last work,\nbefore retiring to bed, was to receive from the chief cook the bill\nof fare for the next day; the price of each dish, and of its separate\ningredients, was marked in the margin. The monarch looked it cautiously\nthrough, generally made out an improved edition, cursed all cooks\nas common thieves, and then flung down the money for the next day's\nexpenses.\n\n\nARTIFICIAL SWEETS.\n\nProfessor Playfair, in an able lecture delivered in the Great\nExhibition, and since published, has raised a curtain, which\ndisplays a rather repulsive scene. He says, the perfume of flowers\nfrequently consists of oils and ethers, which the chemist can compound\nartificially in his laboratory. Singularly enough these are generally\nderived from substances of an intensely disgusting odour. A peculiarly\nfetid oil, termed the \"fusel\" oil, is formed in making brandy. This\nfusel oil distilled with sulphuric acid and acetate of potass, gives\nthe oil of pears (?). The oil of apples is made from the same fusel,\nby distillation with the same acid and chromate of potass. The oil\nof pineapples is obtained from the product of the action of putrid\ncheese on sugar! or by making a soap with butter. The artificial\noil of bitter almonds is now largely employed in perfuming soap\nconfectionary; extracted by nitric acid and the fetid oil of gas tar.\nMany a fair forehead is damped with _eau de mille fleurs_ without the\nknowledge that its essential ingredient is derived from the drainage of\ncow-houses!\n\n\nTEUTONIC HUT-SHAPED VASES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Teutonic Hut-Shaped Vases.]\n\nSome remarkable sepulchral urns, of which we give a sketch, resembling\nthose of the early inhabitants of Alba Longa, in Italy, have been\nfound in Germany, and are distinctly Teutonic. They occur in the\nsepulchres of the period when bronze weapons were used, and before the\npredominance of Roman art. One found at Mount Chemnitz, in Thuringen,\nhad a cylindrical body and conical top, imitating a roof. In this was\na square orifice, representing the door or window, by which the ashes\nof the dead were introduced, and the whole then secured by a small\ndoor fastened with a metal pin. A second vase was found at Roenne; a\nthird in the island of Bornholm. A similar urn exhumed at Parchim had a\nshorter body, taller roof, and door at the side. Still more remarkable\nwas another found at Aschersleben, which has its cover modelled in\nshape of a tall conical thatched roof, and the door with its ring still\nremaining. Another, with a taller body and flatter roof, with a door\nat the side, was found at Klus, near Halberstadt. The larger vases\nwere used to hold the ashes of the dead, and are sometimes protected\nby a cover, or stone, or placed in another vase of coarser fabric. The\nothers are the household vessels, which were offered to the dead filled\nwith different viands. Some of the smaller vases appear to have been\ntoys.\n\nExtraordinary popular superstitions have prevailed amongst the German\npeasantry as to the origin and nature of these vases, which in some\ndistricts are considered to be the work of the elves,--in others, to\ngrow spontaneously from the ground like mushrooms--or to be endued\nwith remarkable properties for the preservation of milk and other\narticles of food. Weights to sink nets, balls, discs, and little rods\nof terra-cotta, are also found in the graves.\n\n\nLYNCH'S CASTLE, GALWAY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Lynch's Castle.]\n\nThe house in the town of Galway, still known as \"Lynch's Castle,\"\nalthough the most perfect example now remaining, was at one period by\nno means a solitary instance of the decorated habitations of the Galway\nmerchants. The name of Lynch, as either provost, portreve, sovereign,\nor mayor of Galway, occurs no fewer than ninety-four times between the\nyears 1274 and 1654; after that year it does not appear once. The house\nhere pictured was the residence of the family for many generations.\nIt had, however, several branches, whose habitations are frequently\npointed out by their armorial bearings, or their crest, a lynx, over\nthe gateway. One of its members is famous in history as the Irish\nJunius Brutus. The mere fact is sufficiently wonderful without the aid\nof invention; but it has, as may be supposed, supplied materials to a\nhost of romancers. The story is briefly this:--\n\nJames Lynch Fitzstephen was mayor or warden of Galway in 1493; he\ntraded largely with Spain, and sent his son on a voyage thither to\npurchase and bring back a cargo of wine. Young Lynch, however, spent\nthe money entrusted to him, and obtained credit from the Spaniard,\nwhose nephew accompanied the youth back to Ireland to be paid the debt\nand establish further intercourse. The ship proceeded on her homeward\nvoyage, and as she drew near the Irish shore, young Lynch conceived the\nidea of concealing his crime by committing another. Having seduced,\nor frightened, the crew into becoming participators, the youth was\nseized and thrown overboard. The father and friends of Lynch received\nthe voyager with joy; and the murderer in a short time became himself\na prosperous merchant. Security had lulled every sense of danger,\nand he proposed for a very beautiful girl, the daughter of a wealthy\nneighbour, in marriage. The proposal was accepted; but previous to the\nappointed day, one of the seamen became suddenly ill, and in a fit of\nremorse summoned old Lynch to the dying-bed, and communicated to him a\nfull relation of the villany of his only and beloved son. Young Lynch\nwas tried, found guilty, and sentenced to execution--the father being\nhis judge. The wretched prisoner, however, had many friends among the\npeople, and his relatives resolved with them that he should not die a\nshameful death. They determined upon his rescue. We copy the last act\nof the tragedy from \"Hardiman's History of Galway.\" \"Day had scarcely\nbroken when the signal of preparation was heard among the guards\nwithout. The father rose, and assisted the executioner to remove the\nfetters which bound his unfortunate son. Then unlocking the door, he\nplaced him between the priest and himself, leaning upon an arm of each.\nIn this manner they ascended a flight of steps lined with soldiers,\nand were passing on to gain the street, when a new trial assailed\nthe magistrate for which he appears not to have been unprepared. His\nwretched wife, whose name was Blake, failing in her personal exertions\nto save the life of her son, had gone in distraction to the heads of\nher own family, and prevailed on them, for the honour of their house,\nto rescue him from ignominy. They flew to arms, and a prodigious\nconcourse soon assembled to support them, whose outcries for mercy to\nthe culprit would have shaken any nerves less firm than those of the\nmayor of Galway. He exhorted them to yield submission to the laws of\ntheir country; but finding all his efforts fruitless to accomplish the\nends of justice at the accustomed place, and by the usual hands, he, by\na desperate victory over parental feeling, resolved himself to perform\nthe sacrifice which he had vowed to pay on its altar. Still retaining\na hold of his unfortunate son, he mounted with him by a winding stair\nwithin the building, that led to an arched window overlooking the\nstreet, which he saw filled with the populace. Here he secured the end\nof the rope--which had been previously fixed round the neck of his\nson--to an iron staple, which projected from the wall, and after taking\nfrom him a last embrace, he launched him into eternity. The intrepid\nmagistrate expected instant death from the fury of the populace; but\nthe people seemed so much overawed or confounded by the magnanimous\nact, that they retired slowly and peaceably to their several dwellings.\nThe innocent cause of this sad tragedy is said to have died soon after\nof grief, and the unhappy father of Walter Lynch to have secluded\nhimself during the remainder of his life from all society except that\nof his mourning family. His house still exists in Lombard Street,\nGalway, which is yet known by the name of 'Dead Man's Lane;' and over\nthe front doorway are to be seen a skull and cross-bones executed in\nblack marble, with the motto, 'Remember Deathe--vaniti of vaniti, and\nall is but vaniti.'\"\n\nThe house in which the tragedy is said to have occurred was taken down\nonly so recently as 1849; but the tablet which contains the \"skull\nand cross-bones\" bears the date 1624--upwards of a century after the\nalleged date of the occurrence.\n\n\nWASHINGTON.\n\nIt is something singular, that Washington drew his _last_ breath, in\nthe _last_ hour, of the _last_ day, of the _last_ week, of the _last_\nmonth, of the _last_ year, of the _last_ century. He died on Saturday\nnight, twelve o'clock, December 31st, 1799.\n\n\nANCIENT BANNERS AND STANDARDS.\n\nBanners have been in use from the earliest ages. Xenophon gives us the\nPersian standard as a golden eagle, mounted on a pole or spear. We\nfind banners very early in use among the nations of Europe. In this\ncountry the introduction of banners was clearly of a religious origin.\nVenerable Bede says, that when St. Augustin and his companions came to\npreach Christianity in Britain in the latter part of the sixth century,\nand having converted Ethelbert, the Bretwalda of the Anglo-Saxons (his\nQueen Bertha had already embraced the Christian faith) the monk and\nhis followers entered Canterbury in procession, chanting, \"We beseech\nthee O Lord, of thy mercy, let thy wrath and anger be turned away from\nthis city, and from thy Holy Place, for we have sinned. Hallelujah.\"\nAnd they carried in their hands little banners on which were depicted\ncrosses. The missionaries were allowed to settle in the Isle of Thanet,\nand Canterbury became the first Christian church.\n\nThe raven has been regarded from very early ages as an emblem of God's\nprovidence, no doubt from the record in Holy Writ of its being employed\nto feed Elijah the Prophet, in his seclusion by the brook Cherith;\nand it was the well-known ensign of the Danes, at the time of their\ndominion in this country. In the year 742, a great battle was fought\nat Burford, in Oxfordshire, and the Golden Dragon, the standard of\nWessex, was victorious over Ethelbald, the King of Mercia. The banners\nof several of the Saxon kings were held in great veneration, especially\nthose of Edmund the Martyr, and of Edward the Confessor. The latter\nking displayed as an ensign a cross flory between five martlets gold,\non a blue field, and which may still be seen on a very ancient shield\nin the south aisle of Westminster Abbey. When William the Norman set\nout to invade England he had his own ensign, the two lions of Normandy,\ndepicted on the sails of his ships; but on the vessel in which he\nhimself sailed, besides some choice relics, he had a banner at the\nmast-head with a cross upon it, consecrated by the Pope, to give\nsanctity to the expedition. Indeed it has been the practice in every\nage for the Pope to give consecrated banners wherever he wished success\nto any enterprise, numerous instances of which might be cited in very\nrecent times. And in our own army down to the present day, whenever any\nregiment receives new banners (or colours, as the modern term is), the\nregiment is drawn out in parade, the colours are then blessed by the\nprayers of several clergymen of the Church of England, and afterwards\npresented to the regiment by the fair hand of a lady of rank.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Banner.]\n\nCaesar has recorded a fine example of patriotism, to the credit of one\nof his own officers, when he attempted to land his Roman forces on our\nshores, and meeting with a warmer reception than they anticipated from\nthe Britons, considerable hesitation arose among his troops; but the\nstandard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, with the Roman eagle in his hand,\ninvoking the gods, plunged into the waves, and called on his comrades\nto follow him, and do their duty to their general and to the republic;\nand so the whole army made good their landing.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Caesar's Banner.]\n\nWe have in the Nineveh sculptures some highly interesting specimens\nof the ancient Assyrian standards, consisting principally of two\nvarieties, which are here given. The principal archer appears to be\ndrawing his bow, while the standard-bearer elevates the standard in\nfront of the chariot.\n\n\nANCIENT MANNERS OF THE ITALIANS.\n\nAbout the year 1238, the food of the Italians was very moderate, or,\nrather scanty. The common people had meat only three days a week.\nTheir dinner consisted of pot-herbs, boiled with meat; their supper,\nthe cold meat left from dinner. The husband and wife eat out of the\nsame dish; and they had but one or two cups in the house. They had\nno candles made of wax or tallow; but, a torch, held by one of the\nchildren, or a servant, gave them light at supper. The men, whose chief\npride was in their arms and horses, wore caps made with iron scales,\nand cloaks of leather, without any other covering. The women wore\njackets of stuff, with gowns of linen, and their head-dresses were very\nsimple. Those who possessed a very small sum of money, were thought\nrich; and the homely dress of the women required only small marriage\nportions. The nobles were proud of living in towers; and thence the\ncities were filled with those fortified dwellings.\n\n\nAMUSEMENTS OF THE LOWER ORDERS IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe most popular amusements of the lower orders were wrestling,\nbowling, quoit and ninepin playing, and games at ball. In wrestling the\nCornwall and Devonshire men excelled, and a ram, or sometimes a cock,\nwas the prize of the victor. Bowling alleys were commonly attached\nto the houses of the wealthy, and to places of public resort. Among\nthe games at ball we find tennis, trap-ball, bat and ball, and the\nballoon-ball, in which a large ball filled with air was struck from one\nside to the other by two players with their hands and wrists guarded by\nbandages. Archery was now on the decline, owing to the introduction of\nfirearms; nor could all the legislative enactments of the day revive\nits constant use. The quarter-staff was also a favourite weapon of\nsportive fence, which was a staff about five or six feet long, grasped\nin the middle with one hand, while the other slid up and down as it was\nrequired to strike or to ward a blow.\n\nThe citizens of London enjoyed themselves in winter by skating on\nthe Thames, (the old shankbones of sheep having now been superseded\nby regular skates, probably introduced from the Netherlands,) and\nin summer with sailing and rowing. Dice and cards, prisoner's base,\nblind man's buff, battledoor and shuttlecock, bull-baiting, and\ncock-fighting, a rude species of mumming, the dancing of fools at\nChristmas, and other games, completed the gratifications of the\npopulace.\n\n\nNOVEL MODE OF TAKING VENGEANCE.\n\nThe Chinese have a book entitled _Si-yuen_, that is to say, \"The\nWashing of the Pit,\" a work on medical jurisprudence, very celebrated\nall over the empire, and which should be in the hands of all Chinese\nmagistrates. It is impossible to read the Si-yuen without being\nconvinced that the number of attempts against life in this country\nis very considerable, and especially that suicide is very common.\nThe extreme readiness with which the Chinese are induced to kill\nthemselves, is almost inconceivable; some mere trifle, a word almost,\nis sufficient to cause them to hang themselves, or throw themselves\nto the bottom of a well; the two favourite modes of suicide. In other\ncountries, if a man wishes to wreak his vengeance on an enemy, he tries\nto kill him; in China, on the contrary, he kills himself. This anomaly\ndepends upon various causes, of which these are the principal:--In\nthe first place, Chinese law throws the responsibility of a suicide\non those who may be supposed to be the cause or occasion of it. It\nfollows, therefore, that if you wish to be revenged on an enemy, you\nhave only to kill yourself to be sure of getting him into horrible\ntrouble; for he falls immediately into the hands of _justice_, and will\ncertainly be tortured and ruined, if not deprived of life. The family\nof the suicide also usually obtains, in these cases, considerable\ndamages; so that it is by no means a rare case for an unfortunate man\nto commit suicide in the house of a rich one, from a morbid idea of\nfamily affection. In killing his enemy, on the contrary, the murderer\nexposes his own relatives and friends to injury, disgraces them,\nreduces them to poverty, and deprives himself of funeral honours,\na great point for a Chinese, and concerning which he is extremely\nanxious. It is to be remarked also, that public opinion, so far from\ndisapproving of suicide, honours and glorifies it. The conduct of a man\nwho destroys his own life, to avenge himself on an enemy whom he has no\nother way of reaching, is regarded as heroic and magnanimous.\n\n\nPERSECUTION IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.\n\nThe total number of persons who perished in the flames for their\nreligion during this reign has been variously reckoned at 277 and 288,\namongst whom were 5 bishops, 21 divines, 8 gentlemen, 84 artificers,\n100 husbandmen, servants, and labourers, 26 wives, 20 widows, 9\nunmarried women, 2 boys, and 2 infants, of which last one was whipped\nto death by the savage Bonner, and the other, springing out of its\nmother's womb, at the stake, was mercilessly thrown back into the\nfire. The number of those that died in prison was also very great. Yet\nEngland may be considered as comparatively free from persecution during\nthis period, for all over the continent the victims of bigotry were\nreckoned, not by hundreds, but by thousands, and in the Netherlands\nalone 50,000 persons are said to have lost their lives in the religious\nwars of the Spaniards.\n\n\nWAYSIDE MONUMENTS.\n\nThe sketch on next page represents a curious custom which still\nprevails in the neighbourhood of Cong, near Oughterard in Ireland.\nIt is well described in the following account of their tour by Mr.\nand Mrs. S. C. Hall:--\"On the way to Joyce's Country we saw heaps of\npiled-up stones on either side of the road; these heaps continuing\nfor above a mile, after their commencement a short distance from the\nwestern entrance to the town. The artist may convey a better notion\nof their peculiar character than any written description can do. We\nleft our car to examine them minutely; and learned they were monuments\nto the memory of \"deceased\" persons, \"erected\" by their surviving\nfriends. Upon death occurring, the primitive tumulus is built,--if\nthat may be called building which consists in placing a few large\nstones upon a spot previously unoccupied. Each relative of the dead\nadds to the heap; and in time it becomes a \"mountain\" of tolerable\nsize. Each family knows its own particular monument; and a member of,\nor a descendant from it, prays and leaves his offering only at that\nespecial one. The custom has endured for many generations: some of the\nheaps bore tokens of great age; and one was pointed out to us of which\nthere were records, in the transferred memories of the people, for at\nleast 500 years. The bodies are in no instance buried here--it is not\nconsecrated earth; the monuments are merely memorials, and no doubt\noriginated at a period when a Roman Catholic was, according to the\nprovisions of a law equally foolish and cruel, interred, without form\nor ceremony, in church ground--the ground that had been the property\nof their ancestors. None of these stone cairns have any masonwork, and\nthey are generally of the rudest forms, or rather without any form,\nthe stones having been carelessly cast one upon another. Upon one of\nthem only could we discover any inscription--this one is introduced\ninto the print; it is built with far more than the usual care; it\ncontained an inscription; \"Pray for y{e} soule of John Joyce, & Mary\nJoyce, his wife, died 1712;\" some of them, however, seem to have been\nconstructed with greater care than others, and many of them were topped\nwith a small wooden cross. We estimated that there were at least 500\nof these primitive monuments--of all shapes and sizes--along the road.\nIn each of them we observed a small hollow, which the peasants call\na \"window;\" most of these were full of pebbles, and upon inquiry we\nlearned that when one of the race to whom the deceased belonged kneels\nby the side of this record to his memory and offers up a prayer for\nthe repose of his soul, it is customary to fling a little stone into\nthis \"cupboard;\" the belief being that gradually as it fills, so,\ngradually, the soul is relieved from punishment in purgatory; when\ncompletely full the soul has entered paradise. We have prolonged our\ndescription of this singular and interesting scene, because it seems to\nhave been altogether overlooked by travellers, and because we believe\nthat nothing like it is to be met with in any other part of Ireland;\nalthough similar objects are to be found in several other places about\nConnemara, none of them, however, are so extensive as this which\nadjoins Cong.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Primitive Monuments.]\n\n\nHINDOO ADORATION OF THE SALAGRAM.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Hindoo Adoration of the Salagram.]\n\nAmong the many forms which Vishnu is believed by his Hindoo worshippers\nto have assumed is that of the Salagram--an ammonite-stone, found in\nthe river Gandaka and other streams flowing from the Himalayas. The\nreason for the worship of this is stated in one of the sacred books.\n\"Vishnu created the nine planets to preside over the fates of men.\nSani (Saturn) proposed commencing his reign by taking Brahma under his\ninfluence for twelve years. The matter was referred to Vishnu, who\nbeing equally averse to be placed under the inauspicious influence of\nthis planet, requested him to call the next day. The next day Saturn\ncould nowhere discover Vishnu, but perceived that he had united himself\nto the mountain Gandaka; he entered the mountain in the form of a\nworm called Vajrakita (the thunderbolt worm). He continued to afflict\nthe mountain-formed Vishnu for twelve years, when Vishnu assumed his\nproper shape, and commanded that the stones of this mountain should be\nworshipped, and become proper representatives of himself; adding that\neach should have twenty marks in it, similar to those on his body, and\nthat its name should be Salagram.\"\n\nThe Salagram is usually placed under a tulasi-tree, which is planted\non the top of a pillar in the vicinity of a temple of Vishnu, or near\na house. Tulasi, a female, desired to become Vishnu's wife, but was\nmetamorphosed by Lakshmi into a tree, a small shrub, called therefore\n_Tulasi_, or holy basil (Ocymum Sanctum). Vishnu, however, promised\nto assume the form of a Salagram, and always continue with her. The\nVaishnaya priests, therefore, keep one leaf of the shrub under and\nanother over the Salagram, and thus pay their adorations to the stone\nand the tree. In the evening a lamp is placed near it. In the month\nof May it is watered from a pot suspended over it, as appears in the\nengraving, which represents a person engaged in the worship at this\nsingular shrine.\n\n\nTOMB OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN AT INSPRUCK.\n\nThis majestic tomb is placed in the centre of the middle aisle of the\nchurch, upon a platform approached by steps of red marble. The sides\nof the tomb are divided into twenty-four compartments, of the finest\nCarrara marble, on which are represented, in bas-relief, the most\ninteresting events of the emperor's warlike and prosperous career. The\nworkmanship of the tablets is exquisite; and, taken in connexion with\nthe lofty deeds they record, they form the most princely decorations\never seen. Each of the tablets contributing to this splendid\nlithobiography is in size 2 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 8 inches; and every\nobject contained therein is in the most perfect proportion, while the\nexquisite finish of the heads and draperies requires a magnifying glass\nto do it justice. The tomb is surmounted by a colossal figure in bronze\nof the emperor, kneeling in the act of prayer; and around it are four\nallegorical figures, of smaller size, also in bronze.\n\nBut, marvellous as is the elaborate beauty of this work, it is far from\nbeing the most remarkable feature of this imperial mausoleum. Ranged in\ntwo long lines, as if to guard it, stand twenty-eight colossal statues\nin bronze, of whom twenty are kings and princes, alliances of the house\nof Hapsburg, and eight their stately dames. Anything more impressive\nthan the appearance of these tall dark guardians of the tomb, some clad\nin regal robes, some cased in armour, and all seeming animated by the\nmighty power of the artist, it would be difficult to imagine.\n\nIn the death-like stillness of the church, the visitor who, for the\nfirst time, contemplates this tomb and its gloomy guard, is struck by\na feeling of awe, approaching to terror. The statues, with life-like\nindividuality of attitude and expression--each solemn, mournful,\ndignified, and graceful; and all seeming to dilate before the eye into\nenormous dimensions, and, as if framed to scare intruders, endowed by\na power more than mortal, to keep watch and ward round the mighty dead.\nThey appear like an eternal procession of mourners, who, while earth\nendures, will cease not to gaze on, mourn over, and protect the relics\nof him who was the glory of their noble, long since fallen race.\n\n\nTHE FAYENCE OF HENRY II. OF FRANCE.\n\nThe earliest known fabric of this earthenware is that mysterious and\nunique manufacture of the \"Renaissance,\" the fine Fayence of Henry\nII. The manufacture of this ware, which was at once carried to a high\ndegree of perfection, seems to have been suddenly and unaccountably\nlost, without leaving any record of where or by whom it was produced.\nBy many it is supposed to be of Florentine manufacture, and to have\nbeen sent by some of the relations of Catherine de Medicis as a present\nto Henry II.; but it differs too essentially from Italian Majolica,\nboth in the paste of which it is composed, and in the style in which\nit is decorated, to warrant such a conjecture. Italy does not possess\nin her museums a single specimen of this ware, and of the thirty-seven\npieces extant, twenty-seven have been traced as coming from Touraine\nand La Vendee. Many antiquaries, therefore, infer that the manufacture\nwas at Thouars, in Touraine, although the Fayence may have been the\nwork of an Italian artist.\n\nBut if the place of its manufacture is unknown, the pieces extant\nclearly attest the period of its fabrication. The Salamander, and\nother insignia of Francis I., are met with on the earlier specimens of\nthis pottery; but upon the majority of pieces, upon those more pure\nin design and more beautiful in execution than the preceding, we find\nthe arms of Henry II., with his device, the three crescents, or his\ninitial H, interlaced with the two D's of the Duchesse de Valentinois.\nIndeed, so constantly do her emblems appear upon the pieces, that the\nware, though usually designated as \"Faience de Henri II.,\" is sometimes\nstyled \"Faience de Diane de Poitiers.\" Even her widow's colours, black\nand white, are the two which are employed in some of the finest pieces.\nThey were the fashionable colours of the court, Henry wore no others\nduring his life, and was attired in them in the fatal tournament in\nwhich he fell. Her _impresa_, the crescent of Diana, is conspicuous on\nhis palaces, and he even caused it to be engraved upon his coins. From\nthese circumstances we must, therefore, conclude that the manufacture\nof this ware began at the end of the reign of Francis I., was continued\nunder that of Henry II., and, as we find upon it the emblems of these\ntwo princes only, we may naturally infer that it is of French origin.\n\nThe paste of which this Fayence is composed is equally distinct from\nMajolica and Palissy ware. The two latter are both soft, whereas this,\non the contrary, is hard. It is a true pipeclay, very fine, and very\nwhite, so as not to require, like the Italian Fayence, to be concealed\nby a thick enamel, and the ornaments with which it is enriched are\nsimply covered with a thin, transparent, yellowish varnish.\n\nThe style of decoration in this ware is unique. Patterns or arabesques,\nare engraved on the paste, and the indentures filled with coloured\npastes, so as to present an uniform, smooth surface, of the finest\ninlaying, or resembling, rather, a model of Cellini's silver work,\nchiselled and worked in niello. Hence it is sometimes styled \"Faience\na niellure.\" These patterns are sometimes disposed in zones of yellow\nochre, with borders of dark brown, sometimes of a pink, green, violet,\nblack, or blue; but the dark yellow ochre is the predominant colour.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Fayence Candlestick.]\n\nThe collection of the late M. Preaux was the richest in the world in\nthe most beautiful examples of Fayence; it was disposed of by auction\nabout twelve years ago, in consequence of the death of the proprietor,\nand the choicest specimen in it was the candlestick, of which we give\na figure, and which was purchased by Sir Anthony de Rothschild for\nabout L220, duty included. The surface is exquisitely enriched with\narabesque patterns, either in black upon a white ground, or in white\nupon a black. The form is monumental, and in the finest style; three\nfigures of genii support escutcheons, bearing the arms of France,\nand the double D. These genii stand upon masks, which are united by\ngarlands enamelled in green. The top of the candlestick terminates\nin the form of a vase, and bears inscribed the fleurs-de-lys and the\nmonogram of our Saviour. This piece, for delicacy of detail and beauty\nof execution, is unequalled by any specimen known of this exquisite\nFayence. Sir Anthony de Rothschild also purchased at M. Preaux's sale a\nsmall cup, decorated in the same style, with the descents interlaced,\nfor which he gave 1300 francs. He, therefore, now is fortunate in\nhaving the finest collection known of this ware, as, in addition to\nthe specimens already mentioned, he possesses two exquisite ewers of\nthe Henry II. Fayence. One he purchased at the sale of the Comte de\nMonville for 2300 francs; the other, with a curious handle of elaborate\nworkmanship, he bought for nineteen guineas at Strawberry Hill, where\nhe also purchased a tripod salt-cellar, supported with scroll ornaments\nfor L21.\n\n\nREFRESHMENTS FOR THE PULPIT.\n\nIn the books of Darlington parish church, the following items appear,\nshowing that, in the olden time, provision was made for comforting the\ninner man: \"Six quarts of sack to the minister who preached when he had\nno minister to assist, 9s. For a quart of sack bestowed on Jillett,\nwhen he preached, 2s. 6d. For a pint of brandy when Mr. George Bill\npreached here, 1s. 4d. For a stranger who preached, a dozen of ale.\nWhen the Dean of Durham preached here, spent in a treat in the house,\n3s. 6d.\" This would hardly be considered orthodox at the present day.\n\n\nBEDESMEN IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Bedesmen.]\n\nMost of the monasteries in former times had hospitals of poor men and\nwomen attached to them; generally either within the precincts or near\nadjoining. Thus, at St. Edmund's Bury, there was St. John's Hospital,\nor God's House, without the South Gate, and St. Nicholas' Hospital\nwithout the East Gate, and St. Peter's Hospital without the Risby Gate,\nand St. Saviour's Hospital without the North Gate,--all founded by\nabbots of St. Edmund's. At Reading there was the Hospital of St. Mary\nMagdalene for twelve leprous persons and chaplains, and the Hospital\nof St. Lawrence for twenty-six poor people, and for the entertainment\nof strangers and pilgrims, both founded by abbots of Reading. One at\nthe gate of Fountains' Abbey for poor persons and travellers; one\nat Glastonbury, under the care of the almoner, for poor and infirm\npersons. Thirteen was a favourite number for the inmates of a hospital.\nFrom the initial letter of a deed in the British Museum (Harl. 1498),\nby which King Henry VII. founded a fraternity of thirteen poor men in\nWestminster Abbey, who were to be under the governance of the monks,\nwe take the accompanying illustration, which represents the abbot and\nmonks before the king, with a group of the king's bedesmen, each of\nwhom has the royal badge, a rose surmounted by a crown, on the shoulder\nof his habit.\n\n\nCHINESE GAMBLERS PLAYING FOR FINGERS.\n\nThe following strange account is taken from Hue's \"Chinese Empire:--\n\n\"The Chinese are industrious and economical, but their cupidity, their\nimmoderate love of lucre, and their decided taste for stockjobbing\nand speculation, easily tempts them to gambling, when they are not\nengaged in traffic. They seek eagerly for strong excitements, and when\nonce they have got into the habit of gambling they seldom or never\nrecover from it. They cast aside every obligation of station, duty,\nand family, to live only for cards and dice; and this fatal passion\ngains such an empire over them, that they proceed even to the most\nrevolting extremities. When they have lost all their money they will\nplay for their houses, their land, and their wives even, whose destiny\noften depends on a cast of the dice. Nay, the Chinese gambler does not\nstop here, for he will stake the very clothes he has on for one game\nmore, and this horrible custom gives rise to scenes that would not be\ncredible, did we not know that the passions always tend to make men\ncruel and inhuman.\n\n\"In the northern provinces, especially in the environs of the Great\nWall, you may sometimes meet, during the most intense cold of winter,\nmen running about in a state of complete nudity, having been driven\npitilessly from the gaming-houses when they had lost their all. They\nrush about in all directions like madmen to try and save themselves\nfrom being frozen, or crouch down against the chimneys, which in those\ncountries are carried along the walls of the houses, on a level with\nthe ground. They turn first one side towards the warmth, then the\nother, while their gambling companions, far from trying to help them,\nlook on with ferocious and malignant hilarity. The horrible spectacle\nseldom lasts long, for the cold soon seizes the unfortunate creatures,\nand they fall down and die. The gamblers then return to their table,\nand begin to play again with the most perfect composure. Such facts\nas these will appear fabulous to many persons, but having resided\nseveral years in the north of China, we can testify to their perfect\nauthenticity.\n\n\"These excesses seem surprising enough, but the truth is, that Chinese\ngamblers have invented still more extraordinary methods of satisfying\ntheir passion, which is really carried to absolute madness. Those who\nhave nothing more to lose will collect round a table and actually\nplay for _their fingers_, which they will cut off reciprocally with\nfrightful stoicism. We had thought to pass over these revolting\nparticulars, for we do not like to put the confidence of our readers\nto too great a trial. We have a strong objection to relating things\nthat, although we know them to be strictly true, have an improbable\nappearance. But these facts concerning Chinese gamblers were known, and\ncommented upon, by the Arab travellers in the ninth century. Here is a\npassage on the subject from the 'Chain of Chronicles,' from which we\nhave already quoted more than once:--\n\n\"'Amongst men of a volatile and boastful character, those who belong\nto the lower classes, and who have no money, will sometimes play for\nthe fingers of their hands. During the game, they keep by them a vase\ncontaining nut, or sesame oil, for olive oil is not known in this\ncountry. A fire is kept burning under it, and between the two players\nis placed a small but very sharp hatchet. The one who wins then takes\nthe hand of the loser, places it on a stone and cuts off one of his\nfingers with the hatchet; the piece falls, and the vanquished party\nimmediately dips his hand into the hot oil, which cauterises the wound.\nThis operation does not prevent the players from beginning again. Some\nwill take a match, dip it in oil, place it on their arms, and set fire\nto it; the match burns, and you can smell the odour of the consuming\nflesh, but the man goes on with his game, and exhibits no sign of\npain.'\"\n\n\nENTRY OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR INTO LONDON, IN 1698.\n\nThe following is an extract from the \"Flying Post,\" of May 17, 1698:--\n\n\"Yesterday, (Monday, May 16,) in the afternoon, Count Tallard, the\nFrench Ambassador, made his public entry. The Earl Marshal's men came\nfirst, then followed the Earl of Macclesfield's footmen, after them\ntwenty of the Ambassador's footmen, in red liveries with gold lace;\nthen came two of the Ambassador's gentlemen and six pages on horseback;\nnext came two heralds before His Majesty's coach, in which His\nExcellency the Ambassador, the Earl of Macclesfield, and some others\nof quality: after them came three of His Royal Highness the Prince of\nDenmark's coaches, and next, three of the Ambassador's coaches, the\nfirst of them very rich, and drawn by eight horses; then followed His\nGrace the Duke of Norfolk's coach, with about forty-seven more, drawn\nby six horses each. There was a splendid entertainment prepared for His\nExcellency at Ossulston House, in St. James's Square.\"\n\n\nEXPENSES AT CORONATIONS.\n\nThe quantity of provisions consumed at the feasts given by some of our\nearly Kings, was extraordinarily great. For that of King Edward I.\nFebruary 10th, 1274, the different Sheriffs were ordered to furnish\nbutcher meat at Windsor, in the following proportions:--\n\n Oxen. Swine. Sheep. Fowls.\n Sheriff of Gloucester, 60 101 60 3,000\n \" Bucks and Bedford 40 66 40 2,100\n \" Oxford 40 67 40 2,100\n \" Kent 40 67 40 2,100\n \" Surrey and Sussex 40 67 40 2,100\n \" Warwick and Leicester 60 98 40 3,000\n \" Somerset and Dorset 100 176 110 5,000\n \" Essex 60 101 60 3,160\n ---- ---- ---- ------\n Total, twelve counties 440 743 430 22,560\n\nIn the year 1307, King Edward II. issued an order to the seneschal\nof Gascony, and constable of Bordeaux, to provide a thousand pipes\nof good wine, and send them to London, to be used at the approaching\ncoronation. The purchase and freight were to be paid by a company\nof Florentine merchants, who farmed the revenues of Gascony. The\ncoronation oath was first taken by Ethelred II., A.D. 979; that now\nused in 1377. It was amended in 1689. The first coronation sermon was\npreached in 1041. The following statement of the prices given for\nseats, to obtain a view of passing objects during the coronations of\nformer times, may, perhaps, prove interesting:--\n\nThe price of a good place at the coronation of William the Conqueror,\nwas a _blank_; at that of his son, William Rufus, the same. At Henry\nI's., it was a _crocard_; at Stephen's and Henry II.'s, it was a\n_pollard_. At Richard's, and King John's, it was a _fuskin_. It rose\nat the 3d. Henry's, to a _dodkin_. In the reign of Edward, the coin\nbegins to be more intelligible; and we find that, for a seat, to view\nhis coronation, a _Q_ was given, or the half of a ferling, or farthing,\nthe fourth part of a sterling, or penny. At the 2d. Edward's, it was a\nfarthing; and at his son's, Edward III. a halfpenny. At Richard II.'s\nit was a penny, and continued the same to that of Henry IV. inclusive.\nAt the 5th Henry's, it was _two pennies_; and similar prices were\npaid at the coronations of Henry VI., Edward IV., Edward V., Richard\nIII., and Henry VII. At that of Henry VIII. it was a _grossus_, or\ngroat; and the same was paid at that of Edward VI. and Queen Mary's.\nAt Queen Elizabeth's, it rose to _a testoon_, or _tester_. At those of\nJames I. and Charles I. _a shilling_ was given; which was advanced to\n_half-a-crown_, at those of Charles II. and James II. At King William's\nand Queen Anne's it was _a crown_, and the same at that of George I.\nAt George II.'s _half-a-guinea_, and, afterwards, at George III.'s _a\nguinea_ was the common charge. But, at that of George IV, as high as\n_forty guineas_ were given for a single seat.\n\n\nCURIOUS ANTIQUE SWORD.\n\nThe engraving which accompanies this article is a sketch of the upper\npart of an antique Danish sword, which was found, together with several\nother weapons, by the labourers who were engaged in the construction of\nthe railway from Dublin to Cashel.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Antique Danish Sword.]\n\nThe discovery of the weapons was made at a locality called Island\nBridge, and many of them were fortunately secured for the Museum of the\nRoyal Irish Academy, where they may now be seen. The swords are long\nand straight, formed for cutting as well as thrusting, and terminate in\npoints formed by rounding off the edge towards the back of the blade.\nThe hilts are very remarkable in form, and in one or two instances,\nlike the example we have engraved, are highly ornamented. The mountings\nare generally of a kind of brass, but several richly plated with silver\nwere found, and it is said that one of them had a hilt of solid gold.\nThe spears are long and slender, and similar in form to the lance-heads\nused in some of the cavalry corps.\n\nAll these weapons, with one exception, are composed of a soft kind of\niron. Many of the swords were found doubled up, a circumstance for\nwhich it is difficult to assign a reason, as they had evidently been\npurposely bent. The sword we have represented in our engraving, is\nremarkable for the unusual degree of ornament which appears upon its\nhilt, and also for its material, steel.\n\n\nDINNER IN CHINA.\n\nIt is certain that a real Chinese dinner would be a very odd thing in\nthe eyes of a stranger, especially if he were one of those who think,\nas some people do, that there is only one way of living. To begin\ndinner with the dessert, and end it with the soup; to drink the wine\nsmoking hot, out of little china cups, and have your food brought to\nyou ready cut up into small pieces, and to be presented with a couple\nof sticks, instead of a knife and fork, to eat it with; to have,\ninstead of napkins, a provision of little bits of silk paper by the\nside of your plate, which, as you use, the attendants carry off; to\nleave your place between the courses, to smoke or amuse yourself;\nand to raise your chop-sticks to your forehead, and then place them\nhorizontally upon your cup, to signify that you have finished your\ndinner;--all these things would doubtless seem very odd, and create the\ncuriosity of Europeans. The Chinese, on the other hand, can never get\nover their surprise at our way of dining. They ask how we can like to\ndrink cold fluids, and what can have put it into our heads to make use\nof a trident to carry food to our mouths, at the risk of pricking our\nlips or poking our eyes out. They think it very droll to see nuts put\non the table in their shell, and ask why our servants cannot take the\ntrouble to peel the fruit, and take the bones out of the meat. They are\nthemselves certainly not very difficult in the nature of their food,\nand like such things as fried silkworms and preserved larvae, but they\ncannot understand the predilection of our epicures for _high_ game, nor\nfor cheese that appears to belong to the class of animated beings.\n\n\nCISTERN OF MAJOLICA WARE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Cistern of Majolica Ware.]\n\nWe have engraved the annexed, as it affords at once both a beautiful\nspecimen of the potter's art, and also an example of the taste and\nluxury of the present day in articles of expensive ornament. It is a\ncistern made of Majolica, or the enamelled pottery of Italy, the most\nbeautiful specimens of which were made in the sixteenth century. The\none before us came to England from the collection of the Borghese\nPalace; and at the great sale at Stowe, the seat of the Duke of\nBuckingham, was disposed of by auction for sixty-four guineas, and this\nalthough it was much broken.\n\n\nTHEATRES IN THE TIME OF SHAKSPEARE.\n\nIn Blackfriars was a theatre, the memory of which with the one or the\nother shore of the river at Bankside, enjoys the honour of having been\nused for the first representations of many of Shakspeare's plays, and\nwhere the bard himself performed in them. The whole district becomes\nclassic, from the remembrance. The following interesting description\nof the theatres in London at that time, and which applies to the\nBlackfriars' theatre as we well as the rest, is taken from a short\nmemoir of Shakspeare, by the Rev. Alexader Dyce, prefixed to the Aldine\nedition of Shakspeare's poems: \"Nearly all these buildings, it is\nprobable, were constructed of wood. Those which, for some undiscovered\nreason, were termed private theatres, were entirely roofed in from\nthe weather, while the public theatres were open to the sky, except\nover the stage and galleries. On the outside of each was exhibited\na sign indicative of its name; and on the roof, during the time of\nperformance, was hoisted a flag. The interior arrangements resemble\nthose of the present day. There were tiers of galleries or _scaffolds_;\nbeneath these the boxes or _rooms_, intended for persons of the higher\nclass, and which at the private theatres were secured with locks,\nthe keys being given to the individuals who engaged them; and there\nwas the centre area, (separated, it seems, from the stage by pales),\nat the private theatres, termed the _pit_, and furnished with seats;\nbut at the public theatres, called the _yard_, and affording no such\naccommodation. Cressets, or large open lanterns, served to illuminate\nthe body of the house; and two ample branches, of a form similar to\nthose now hung in churches, gave light to the stage. The band of\nmusicians, which was far from numerous, sat, it is supposed, in an\nupper balcony, over what is now called the stage box: the instruments\nchiefly used were trumpets, cornets, hautboys, lutes, recorders, viols,\nand organs. The amusements of the audience previous to the commencement\nof the play, were reading, playing at cards, smoking tobacco, drinking\nale, and eating nuts and apples. Even during the performance it was\ncustomary for wits, critics, and young gallants, who were desirous of\nattracting attention, to station themselves on the stage, either lying\non the rushes or seated on hired stools, while their pages furnished\nthem with pipes and tobacco. At the third sounding, or flourish of\ntrumpets, the exhibition began. The curtain, which concealed the\nstage from the audience, was then drawn, opening in the middle, and\nrunning upon iron rods. Other curtains, called _traverses_, were used\nas a substitute for scenes. At the back of the stage was a balcony,\nthe platform of which was raised about eight or nine feet from the\nground; it served as a window, gallery, or upper chamber. From it\na portion of the dialogue was sometimes spoken, and in front of it\ncurtains were suspended to conceal, if necessary, those who occupied\nit, from the audience. The internal roof of the stage, either painted\nblue or adorned with drapery of that colour, was termed the _heavens_.\nThe stage was generally strewed with rushes, but on extraordinary\noccasions was matted. There is reason to believe that, when tragedies\nwere performed, it was hung with black. Moveable painted scenery there\nwas assuredly none. A board, containing the name of the place of\naction in large letters, was displayed in some conspicuous situation.\nOccasionally, when some change of scene was necessary, the audience\nwas required to suppose that the performers, who had not quitted the\nboards, had retired to a different spot. A bed thrust forth showed that\nthe stage was a bed-chamber; and a table, with pen and ink, indicated\nthat it was a counting-house. Rude contrivances were employed to\nimitate towers, walls of towns, hell-mouths, tombs, trees, dragons, &c.\nTrap-doors had been early in use; but to make a celestial personage\nascend to the roof of the stage was more than the machinists of the\ntheatre could always accomplish. The price of admission appears to have\nvaried according to the rank and estimation of the theatres. A shilling\nwas charged for a place in the best boxes; the entrance-money to the\npit and galleries was the same--sixpence, twopence, and a penny. The\nperformance commenced at three in the afternoon.\"\n\n\nOLD CUSTOM RELATING TO CRIMINALS.\n\nThe custom of offering doomed criminals a last earthly draught of\nrefreshment is undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity. The right\nof offering wine to criminals, on their passage to the scaffold, was\noften a privilege granted to religious communities. In Paris, the\nprivilege was held by the convent of Filles-Dieu, the nuns of which\nkept wine prepared for those who were condemned to suffer on the gibbet\nof Montfaucon. The gloomy procession halted before the gate of the\nmonastery, the criminal descended from the cart, and the nuns, headed\nby the Lady Abbess, received him on the steps with as much, perhaps\nmore, heartfelt ceremony than if he had been a king. The poor wretch\nwas led to a crucifix near the church door, the feet whereof he humbly\nkissed. He then received, from the hands of the Superior, three pieces\nof bread (to remind him of the Trinity), and _one_ glass of wine\n(emblem of Unity). The procession then resumed its dread way to the\nscaffold.\n\n\nALE TOO STRONG.\n\nA memorial signed by nineteen inhabitants of Bayton, in Worcestershire,\nwas sent to the Sessions in the year 1612, setting forth \"that John\nKempster and John Byrd do not sell their ale according to the law,\nbut doe sell a pynte for a penny, and doe make ytt soe extraordynarye\nstrong that itt draweth dyvers ydle p'sons into the said alehouses,\nby reason whereof sondrye assaults, affrayes, blodshedds, and other\nmisdeameanors, are there daylie comytted by idle and dronken companie\nwhich doe thither resort and there contineue in their dronckenes three\ndays and three nights together, and also divers men's sonnes and\nservants do often resort and contineue drinking in the said houses day\nand night, whereupon divers disorders and abuses are offered to the\ninhabitants of Bayton aforesaid, as in pulling down styles, in carrying\naway of yertes, in throwing men's waynes, plowes, and such like things,\ninto pooles, wells, and other bye places, and in putting their yokes\nfor their oxen into lakes and myery places, &c.\" A nice picture of\nyoung England in the seventeenth century.\n\n\nA CHAPTER-HOUSE IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII.\n\nIn abbey-churches of the olden time the Chapter-house was always on the\neast side of the court. In establishments of secular canons it seems\nto have been always multisided, with a central pillar to support its\ngroining, and a lofty, conical, lead-covered roof. In these instances\nit is placed in the open space eastward of the cloister, and is usually\napproached by a passage from the east side of the cloister court. In\nthe houses of all the other orders the chapter-house is rectangular,\neven where the church is a cathedral. Usually, then, the chapter-house\nis a rectangular building on the east side of the cloister, and\nfrequently its longest apsis is east and west--at Durham it has an\neastern apsis. It was a large and handsome room, with a good deal of\narchitectural ornament; often the western end of it is divided off as a\nvestibule or ante-room; and generally it is so large as to be divided\ninto two or three aisles by rows of pillars. Internally, rows of stalls\nor benches were arranged round the walls for the convent; there was a\nhigher seat at the east end for the abbot or prior, and a desk in the\nmiddle from which certain things were read. Every day after the service\ncalled Tierce, the convent walked in procession from the choir to the\nchapter-house, and took their proper places. When the abbot had taken\nhis place, the monks descended one step and bowed; he returned their\nsalutation, and all took their seats. A sentence of the rule of the\norder was read by one of the novices from the desk, and the abbot, or\nin his absence, the prior, delivered an explanatory or hortatory sermon\nupon it; then, from another portion of the book was read the names\nof brethren, and benefactors, and persons who had been received into\nfraternity, whose decease had happened on that day of the year; and the\nconvent prayed a _requiescat in pace_ for their souls, and the souls\nof all the faithful departed this life. Then members of the convent\nwho had been guilty of slight breaches of discipline confessed them,\nkneeling upon a low stool in the middle, and on a bow from the abbot,\nintimating his remission of the breach, they resumed their seats. If\nany had a complaint to make against any brother, it was here made and\nadjudged. Convent business was also transacted. The woodcut gives an\nexample of the kind. Henry VII. had made grants to Westminster Abbey,\non condition that the convent performed certain religious services on\nhis behalf; and in order that the services should not fall into disuse,\nhe directed that yearly, at a certain period, the chief justice, or\nthe king's attorney, or the recorder of London, should attend in\nchapter, and the abstract of the grant and agreement between the king\nand the convent should be read. The grant which was thus to be read\nstill exists in the British Museum; it is written in a volume superbly\nbound, with the royal seals attached in silver cases; it is from the\nilluminated letter at the head of one of the deeds that our woodcut is\ntaken. It rudely represents the chapter-house, with the chief-justice\nand a group of lawyers on one side, the abbot and convent on the other,\nand a monk reading the grant from the desk in the midst.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Chapter-House in the time of Henry VII.]\n\n\nANNE BOLEYN's GLOVES.\n\nAnne Boleyn was marvellously dainty about her gloves. She had a nail\nwhich turned up at the side, and it was the delight of Queen Catharine\nto make her play at cards, without her gloves, in order that the\ndeformity might disgust King Hal. The good Queen Bess was extravagant,\nfastidious, and capricious in the extreme, about her gloves. She used\nto display them to advantage in playing the virginal, and gloves at\nthat time were expensive articles.\n\n\nDELLA ROBBIA WARE.\n\nLuca della Robbia, born in 1388, was an eminent sculptor in marble and\nbronze, and worked both at Florence and at Rimini. Having abandoned his\noriginal employment for that of modelling in terra cotta, he succeeded,\nafter many experiments, in making a white enamel, with which he coated\nhis works, and thus rendered them durable. Vasari writes of him, \"che\nfaceva l'opere di terra quasi eterne.\" His chief productions are\nMadonnas, Scripture subjects, figures, and architectural ornaments:\nthey are by far the finest works ever executed in pottery. He adorned\nthe Italian churches with tiles, as well as with altar-pieces, in terra\ncotta enamelled; and he is the founder of a school which produced works\nnot much inferior to his own. The \"Petit Chateau de Madrid,\" in the\nBois de Boulogne, near Paris, received the appellation of \"Chateau de\nFayence,\" from having been ornamented with enamelled tiles, the work\nof an Italian artist, named Girolamo della Robbia, a grand nephew of\nLuca, whom Francis I. brought from Italy. This chateau is now wholly\ndestroyed. The tiles seem to have been introduced into portions of the\narchitectural composition, rather as accessory ornaments than as a\n\"lining\" or revetement of the walls. Analogous ornaments, the work of\nLuca de Maiano, 1521, were to be seen in the old gate, Whitehall, and\nat Hampton Court.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Della Robbia Ware.]\n\nLuca della Robbia sometimes, though rarely, used a coloured instead\nof white enamel in his compositions. The above cut represents the\naltar-piece of San Miniato, near Florence, by him. The ground is blue,\nthe figures white, the fruits, &c., gold colour, and the garlands green.\n\n\nVOLCANIC ERUPTION IN JAPAN.\n\nThe peninsula of Wountsendake, and the greater part of Kewsew,\nbristle with volcanic mountains, some extinct, others still acting as\nsafety-valves to the incomprehensible excitements of mother Earth; but\nof all the manifestations of her internal throes and torment, and their\nconsequent desolation inflicted on the habitations of her children,\nthat of 1792 was the most terrible for ages before.\n\n\"On the eighteenth day of the first month of that year,\" says the\n_Annals of Japan_, \"the summit of the mountain was seen to crumble\nsuddenly, and a thick smoke rose in the air. On the sixth of the\nfollowing month there was an eruption in a spur on the eastern slope\nof the mountain. On the second of the third month an earthquake shook\nthe whole island. At Simabara, the nearest town to the mountain, all\nthe houses were thrown down, amidst a general terror and consternation,\nthe shocks following each other with frightful rapidity. Wountsendake\nincessantly sent forth a hail-storm of stones, showers of ashes, and\nstreams of lava, which devastated the country for many leagues round.\nAt length, on the first day of the fourth month, there was a new\ncommotion, which increased in intensity from moment to moment.\n\n\"Simabara was now a vast heap of ruins. Enormous blocks of rock,\ntumbling from the top of the mountain, crushed and ground to atoms all\nbeneath them. Thunder rolled overhead, and dreadful sounds rumbled\nbeneath the feet at one and the same time. All of a sudden, after an\ninterval of calm, when men thought the scourge had passed over, the\nnorthern spur of Wountsendake, the Moikenyamma, burst forth with a\ntremendous detonation. A vast portion of that mountain was blown into\nthe air. Colossal masses fell into the sea. A stream of boiling water\nrushed forth foaming from the cracks of this new volcano, and sped to\nthe ocean, which at the same time advanced and flooded the land.\"\n\nThen was seen a sight never seen before, intensifying the terror of\nthe innumerable witnesses of that terrible day, which might well seem\na Day of Judgment come. From the conflict of the boiling waters of\nthe volcano with the cold waters of the tempestuous ocean, suddenly\nmingled, there arose waterspouts which ravaged the land in their\ndevouring gyrations.\n\nThe disasters caused by this accumulation of catastrophes, earthquakes,\nvolcanic eruptions, waterspouts, inundations, united together, exceed\nbelief. Not a single house of Simabara and its environs was spared:\nonly the citadel remained, whose Cyclopean walls were formed of\ngigantic blocks of stone. The convulsions of nature on that day so\nchanged the coast-line, that the most experienced mariners could not\nrecognise its once familiar shape and bendings.\n\nFifty-three thousand persons perished on that fatal day.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE HOUSE OF MULGRAVE.\n\nThe first diving bell was nothing but a very large kettle, suspended\nby ropes, with the mouth downwards, and planks to sit on fixed in\nthe middle of its concavity. The Greeks at Toledo, in 1588, made an\nexperiment before the Emperor Charles V. with it, when they descended\nwith a lighted candle to a considerable depth. In 1683 William Phipps,\nthe son of a blacksmith, formed a project for unloading a rich Spanish\nship, sunk at Hispaniola; Charles II. gave him a ship, with every\nnecessary for the undertaking; but being unsuccessful, Phipps returned\nin great poverty. He then endeavoured to procure another vessel,\nbut failing, he got a subscription, to which the Duke of Albemarle\ncontributed. In 1687, Phipps set sail in a ship of 200 tons, having\npreviously engaged to divide the profits according to the twenty\nshares of which the subscription consisted. At first all his labours\nproved fruitless, but at length, when he seemed almost to despair, he\nwas fortunate enough to bring up so much treasure that he returned to\nEngland with L200,000 sterling. Of this sum he got about L20,000, and\nthe Duke of Albemarle L90,000. Phipps was knighted by the king, and\nlaid the foundation of the present house of Mulgrave.\n\n\nSHRINE OF ST. SEBALD AT NUREMBURG.\n\nThe city of Nuremberg--the birthplace of Albert Durer--is enriched with\nmany works of high art. The most remarkable is the bronze shrine of St.\nSebald, the work of Peter Vischer and his five sons, which still stands\nin all its beauty in the elegant church dedicated to the saint. The\nsketch on next page is a correct representation of it.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Shrine of St. Sebald.]\n\nThe shrine encloses, amid the most florid Gothic architecture, the\noaken chest encased with silver plates, containing the body of the\nvenerated saint: this rests on an altar decorated with basso-relievos,\ndepicting his miracles. The architectural portion of this exquisite\nshrine partakes of the characteristics of the _Rennaissance_ forms\nengrafted on the mediaeval, by the influence of Italian art. Indeed,\nthe latter school is visible as the leading agent throughout the\nentire composition. The figures of the Twelve Apostles and others\nplaced around it, scarcely seem to belong to German art; they are\nquite worthy of the best _Transalpine_ master. The grandeur, breadth,\nand repose of these wonderful statues, cannot be excelled. Vischer\nseems to have completely freed his mind from the conventionalities of\nhis native schools: we have here none of the constrained, \"crumpled\ndraperies,\" the home studies for face and form so strikingly present in\nnearly all the works of art of this era, but noble figures of the men\nelevated above the earthly standard by companionship with the Saviour,\nexhibiting their high destiny by a noble bearing, worthy of the solemn\nand glorious duties they were devoted to fulfil. We gaze on these\nfigures as we do on the works of Giotto and Fra Angelico, until we feel\nhuman nature may lose nearly all of its debasements before the \"mortal\ncoil\" is \"shuffled off,\" and that mental goodness may shine through and\nglorify its earthly tabernacle, and give an assurance in time present\nof the superiorities of an hereafter. Dead, indeed, must be the soul\nthat can gaze on such works unmoved, appealing, as they do, to our\nnoblest aspirations, and vindicating humanity from its fallen position,\nby asserting its innate, latent glories. Here we feel the truth of the\nscriptural phrase--\"In his own image made he them.\"\n\nThe memory of Peter Vischer is deservedly honoured by his townsmen.\nThe street in which his house is situated, like that in which Durer's\nstands, has lost its original name, and is now only known as Peter\nVischer's Strasse; but these two artists are the only ones thus\ndistinguished. Vischer was born in 1460, and died in 1529. He was\nemployed by the warden of St. Sebald's, and magistrate of Nuremberg,\nSebald Schreyer, to construct this work in honour of his patron saint;\nhe began it in 1506, and finished it in 1519. Thirteen years of labour\nwere thus devoted to its completion, for which he received seven\nhundred and seventy florins. \"According to this tradition, Vischer\nwas miserably paid for this great work of labour and art; and he\nhas himself recorded, in an inscription upon the monument, that 'he\ncompleted it for the praise of God Almighty alone, and the honour of\nSt. Sebald, Prince of Heaven, by the aid of pious persons, paid by\ntheir voluntary contributions.'\" The elaboration of the entire work is\nmarvellous; it abounds with fanciful figures, seventy-two in number,\ndisposed among the ornaments, or acting as supporters to the general\ncomposition. Syrens hold candelabra at the angles; and the centre has\nan air of singular lightness and grace. It is supported at the base\nby huge snails. At the western end there is a small bronze statue of\nVischer; he holds his chisel in his hand, and in his workman's dress,\nwith capacious leather apron, stands unaffectedly forth as a true,\nhonest labourer, appealing only to such sympathies as are justly due to\none who laboured so lovingly and so well.\n\n\nA GREAT RESULT FROM TRIVIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.\n\nThat magnificent institution of active benevolence, Guy's Hospital,\nis one among a numerous list of instances where trifling events have\nproduced most disproportionate consequences.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Thomas Guy.]\n\nThomas Guy, of whom the above is a sketch, taken from an old print, was\nthe son of Thomas Guy an Anabaptist, lighterman and coal-dealer, in\nHorsleydown, Southwark. He was put apprentice in 1660 to a bookseller\nin the porch of Mercer's Chapel, and set up trade with a stock of about\ntwo hundred pounds, in the house that forms the angle between Cornhill\nand Lombard-street. The English Bibles being at that time very badly\nprinted, Mr. Guy engaged with others in a scheme for printing them in\nHolland and importing them; but this being put a stop to, he contracted\nwith the University of Oxford for their privilege of printing them,\nand carried on a great Bible trade for many years to considerable\nadvantage. He thus began to accumulate money, and his gains rested in\nhis hands, for being a single man, and very penurious, his expenses\nwere very trifling. His custom was to dine on his shop counter, with\nno other table-cloth than an old newspaper; he was also as little nice\nin regard to his dress. The bulk of his fortune, however, was acquired\nby the less reputable purchase of seamen's tickets during Queen Anne's\nwars, and by the South Sea stock in the memorable year 1720.\n\nIn proof of what we said at the outset, it is a fact that the public\nare indebted to a most trifling incident for the greatest part of\nhis immense fortunes being applied to charitable uses. Guy had a\nmaid-servant whom he agreed to marry; and preparatory to his nuptials\nhe had ordered the pavement before his door to be mended as far as a\nparticular stone which he marked. The maid, while her master was out,\ninnocently looking on the paviours at work, saw a broken place they had\nnot repaired, and mentioned it to them; but they told her that Mr. Guy\nhad desired them not to go so far. \"Well,\" says she, \"do you mend it;\ntell him I bade you, and I know he will not be angry.\" It happened,\nhowever, that the poor girl presumed too much on her influence over\nher wary lover, with whom the charge of a few shillings extraordinary\nturned the scale against her, for Guy, enraged to find his orders\nexceeded, renounced the matrimonial scheme, and built hospitals in\nhis old age. In 1707 he built and furnished three wards on the north\nside of the outer court of St. Thomas's Hospital, and gave one hundred\npounds to it annually for eleven years preceding the erection of his\nown hospital.\n\nSometime before his death he erected the stately gate with the large\nhouses on each side, at the expense of about three thousand pounds.\nHe was seventy-six years of age when he formed the design of building\nthe hospital near St. Thomas's, which bears his name. The charge of\nerecting this vast pile amounted to L18,793, besides L219,499 which he\nleft to endow it, and he just lived to see it roofed in.\n\nHe erected and endowed an almshouse and library at Tamworth, the place\nof his mother's nativity, and which he represented in Parliament. It\ncontains fourteen poor men and women, and the fund provides also for\nthe apprenticing of poor children. He also bequeathed four hundred\npounds a-year to Christ's Hospital.\n\nMr. Guy died December 17th, 1724 in the eighty-first year of his age,\nand his will bears date September 4th, in the same year.\n\n\nPHAROS AT ALEXANDRIA.\n\nTo render the harbour safe of approach at all times, Ptolemy Soter,\nwho, on the death of Alexander, obtained the government of Egypt,\ndetermined on erecting a lighthouse on the eastern extremity of the\nisle of Pharos, the celebrity of which has given the same name to all\nother lighthouses.\n\nThis \"pharos\" was in height 450 feet, and could be seen at a distance\nof 100 miles. It was built of several stories, decreasing in dimension\ntowards the top, where fires were lighted in a species of lantern. The\nground-floor and the two next above it were hexagonal; the fourth was a\nsquare with a round tower at each angle; the fifth floor was circular,\ncontinued to the top, to which a winding staircase conducted. In the\nupper galleries some mirrors were arranged in such a manner as to show\nthe ships and objects at sea for some considerable distance. On the top\na fire was constantly kept, to direct sailors into the bay, which was\ndangerous and difficult of access.\n\nThe whole of this masterpiece of art was exquisitely wrought in stone,\nand adorned with columns, balustrades, and ornaments, worked in the\nfinest marble. To protect the structure from the ocean storms, it was\nsurrounded entirely by a sea wall. Ancient writers say the building of\nthis tower cost 800 talents, which is equivalent to L165,000, if Attic\ntalents; but if Alexandrian, double that sum.\n\nThe building was not completed during the reign of the first Ptolemy,\nbut was finished in the reign of his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, who put\nthis inscription upon it:--\n\n \"King Ptolemy, to the Gods the Saviours, for the benefit of\n sailors.\"\n\nSostratus the architect, wishing to claim all the glory of the\nbuilding, engraved his own name on the solid marble, and afterwards\ncoated it with cement. Thus, when time had decayed the mortar Ptolemy's\nname disappeared, and the following inscription became visible:--\n\n \"Sostratus the Cnidian, to the Gods the Saviours, for the benefit\n of sailors.\"\n\nOf this remarkable tower not a vestige remains, and history gives us\nno further information than we have here: of its gradual decay or of\nits violent destruction we have no record; but that such a structure\nas described stood there, there can be not a shadow of doubt, from the\nfact that all buildings for like purposes among the Greeks and Romans\nderive their designation from this.\n\n\nSEPULCHRAL VASES OF ANCIENT EGYPT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Sepulchral Vase.]\n\nIn ancient Egypt terra-cotta pottery was extensively made use of for\nvases or jars to hold the entrails of the dead. In order to preserve\nthe body effectually, it was necessary to remove the softer portions,\nsuch as the thoracic and abdominal viscera, and these were embalmed\nseparately. In some instances they were returned into the stomach,\nwith wax models of four deities, commonly called the four genii of\nthe Ament or Hades. It was, however, usual in the embalmment of the\nwealthier classes to soak them carefully in the requisite preparations,\ntie them up in neat cylindrical packets, and deposit them in vases\nhaving the shape of the four genii. The bodies of these deities, which\nwere usually represented as mummied, formed the bodies of the vases,\nand were cylindrical below and rounded above. The mouths of the jars\nwere sometimes countersunk to receive the lower part of the covers\nwhich fitted into them like a plug. The jar of the first genius, whose\nname was _Am-set_, \"the devourer of filth,\" held the stomach and large\nintestines, and was formed at the top like a human head. This genius\ntypified, or presided over the southern quarter of the compass. He\nwas the son of Osiris or of Phtha Socharis Osiris, the pygmean god\nof Memphis. The second vase of the series was in the shape of the\ngenius Hapi, the \"concealed.\" Its cover was shaped like the head of a\ncynocephalus, and it held the smaller viscera. This genius presided\nover the north, and was also the son of Osiris. The third vase was that\nof the genius Trautmutf, \"the adorer of his mother.\" We here annex an\nengraving of it. It had a cover in shape of the head of a jackal, and\nheld the lungs and heart. This genius presided over the East, and was\nbrother of the preceding. The last was that of the genius Kebhsnuf,\nthe refresher of his brethren. It had a cover shaped like the head\nof a sparrow-hawk, and held the liver and gall-bladder. This genius\npresided over the west, and was also brother of the preceding. Three\nvases of a set, in the British Museum, have all human-shaped heads, and\nare provided with handles at the sides of the bodies. Specimens of a\nvery unusual kind are also to be found in the same collection, having\nthe whole body formed without a cover, in the shape of a dome above,\nand surmounted by a rudely modelled figure of a jackal, couchant upon\na gateway, formed of a detached piece. The entrails were introduced by\nthe rectangular orifice in the upper part. In some other instances the\ncovers appear to have been secured by cords passing through them to\nthe body of the vase. When secured, the vases were placed in a wooden\nbox, which was laid on a sledge and carried to the sepulchre, where\nthey were often taken out and placed, two on each side of the coffin.\nIt was only the poorer classes that used pottery for these purposes.\nThe viscera of high officers of state were embalmed in jars of fine\nwhite limestone, and the still more valuable oriental alabasters or\narragonite, obtained from the quarries of Tel El Amarna, or the ancient\nAlabastron.\n\n\nTHE SACRO CATINO.\n\nThe celebrated \"Sacro Catino,\" part of the spoil taken by the Genoese\nat the storming of Cesarea, which was believed to be cut from a single\nemerald, and had, according to tradition, been presented by the Queen\nof Sheba to Solomon, was for ages the pride and glory of Genoa, and an\nobject of the greatest devotional reverence at the yearly exhibitions,\nwhich were attended with great pomp and ceremony. Such was the opinion\nof its intrinsic value, that on many occasions the republic borrowed\nhalf a million of ducats upon the security of this precious relic.\nWhen the French armies, during the first Revolution, plundered Italy\nof its treasures, it was sent with other spoils to Paris. Upon\nexamination, it was, instead of emerald, proved to be composed of\nglass, similar to that found in the Egyptian tombs, of which country it\nwas, no doubt, the manufacture. At the Restoration the Sacro Catino was\nreturned in a broken state, and now lies shorn of all its honours, a\nmere broken glass vessel, in the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo.\n\n\nDINNER PARTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Dinner Party in the Seventeenth Century.]\n\nThe cut which we here present to our readers is taken from the English\nedition of the Janua Linguarum of Comenius, and represents the forms of\ndining in England under the Protectorate. It will be best described by\nthe text which accompanies it in the book, and in which each particular\nobject is mentioned. \"When a feast is made ready,\" we are told, \"the\ntable is covered with a carpet and a table-cloth by the waiters, who,\nbesides, lay the trenchers, spoons, knives, with little forks, table\nnapkins, bread, with a salt-cellar Messes are brought in platters, a\npie in a plate. The guests being brought in by the host, wash their\nhands out of a laver or ewer, over a hand-basin, or bowl, and wipe\nthem with a hand towel: they then sit at the table on chairs. The\ncarver breaketh up the good cheer, and divideth it. Sauces are set\namongst roste-meat in sawsers. The butler filleth strong wine out of a\ncruse, or wine-pot, or flagon, into cups or glasses, which stand on a\ncupboard, and he reacheth them to the master of the feast, who drinketh\nto his guests.\" It will be observed here that one salt-cellar is here\nplaced in the middle of the table. This was the usual custom; and, as\none long table had been substituted for the several tables formerly\nstanding in the hall, the salt-cellar was considered to divide the\ntable into distinct parts, guests of more distinction being placed\nabove the salt, while the places below the salt were assigned to\ninferiors and dependents. This usage is often alluded to in the old\ndramatists. Thus, in Ben Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his\ninferiors with scorn, \"he never drinks _below the salt_, _i. e._ he\nnever exchanges civilities with those who sit at the lower end of the\ntable.\" And in a contemporary writer, it is described as a mark of\npresumption in an inferior member of the household \"to sit above the\nsalt.\"\n\n\nSAND-COLUMNS IN AFRICA.\n\nOf this remarkable phenomenon, we extract the following interesting\naccount from the Rev. N. Davis's \"Evenings in my Tent\";--\n\n\"The heat, during the last day or two, has been intense. The\nthermometer in my tent, during day and night, has been almost\nstationary at 100 degrees. My men have done, and still do, everything\nin their power to keep the tent cool, by erecting a high palm-branch\nfence around it, and by a constant immersion of the ground, but all\nthis to very little effect. The wind, during this day, has been as\nhot as the flames issuing from a furnace; and the clouds of sand it\nraised, and carried along in its furious march, have been immense.\nIn the distance could be seen numbers of sand columns; but these did\nnot retain their form any considerable length of time. A contrary\nblast brought them in collision with each other; and these, blending\ntheir contents, raised a complete and dense barrier between us and the\ncountry beyond. I am no lover of danger; but, I must confess, I had\nan inward desire to see this phenomenon--one of the horrors of the\ndesert--in greater perfection. I believe Bruce witnessed one of the\nmost stupendous exhibitions of sand columns or sand spouts, caused by\ncircular or whirl-winds, on record. In his journey through the desert\nof Senaar, his attention was attracted to a number of prodigious\npillars of sand, at different distances, moving at times with great\ncelerity, at others, stalking on with majestic slowness: at intervals,\nhe thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm him and\nhis companions. Again they would retreat, so as to be almost out of\nsight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often\nseparated, from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in\nthe air, and appeared no more. Sometimes they were broken near the\nmiddle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. About noon, they began\nto advance with considerable swiftness upon them, the wind being very\nstrong at north. Eleven of these awful visitors ranged alongside of\nthem, at about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of\nthe largest appeared to him, at that distance, as if it would measure\nten feet. They retired from them, with a wind at south-east, leaving an\nimpression upon the mind of our intrepid traveller to which he could\ngive no name, though he candidly admits that one ingredient in it was\nfear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. He declares\nit was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest\nsailing ship, could be of no use to carry them out of this danger,--and\nthe full persuasion of this riveted him to the spot where he stood.\nNext day they were gratified by a similar display of moving pillars,\nin form and disposition like those already described, only they seemed\nto be more in number, and less in size. They came several times in\na direction close upon them; that is, according to Mr. Bruce's\ncomputation, within two miles. They became, immediately after sunrise,\nlike a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun, his rays, shining\nthrough them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of\nfire. At another time they were terrified by an army of these sand\npillars, whose march was constantly south, a number of which seemed\nonce to be coming directly upon them, and, though they were little\nnearer than two miles, a considerable quantity of sand fell around\nthem. On the 21st of November, about eight in the morning, he had a\nview of the desert to the westward as before, and saw the sands had\nalready begun to rise in immense twisted pillars, which darkened the\nheavens, and moved over the desert with more magnificence than ever.\nThe sun shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and contained\nmore sand apparently than any of the preceding ones, seemed to give\nthose nearest them an appearance as if spotted with stars of gold. A\nlittle before twelve, the wind at north ceased, and a considerable\nquantity of fine sand rained upon them for an hour afterwards.\"\n\n\nANTIQUITY OF INTOXICATING DRINKS.\n\nIt is a common belief that wine was the only inebriating liquor known\nto antiquity, but this is a mistake. Tacitus mentions the use of ale\nor beer as common among the Germans of his time. By the Egyptians,\nlikewise, whose country was ill adapted to the cultivation of the\ngrape, it was employed as a substitute for wine. Ale was common in\nthe middle ages, and Mr. Park states that very good beer is made, by\nthe usual process of brewing and malting, in the interior of Africa.\nThe favourite drink of our Saxon ancestors was ale or mead. Those\nworshippers of Odin were so notoriously addicted to drunkenness,\nthat it was regarded as honourable rather than otherwise; and the\nman who could withstand the greatest quantity was looked upon with\nadmiration and respect: whence the drunken songs of the Scandinavian\nscalds: whence the glories of Valhalla, the fancied happiness of\nwhose inhabitants consisted of quaffing draughts from the skulls of\ntheir enemies slain in battle. Even ardent spirit, which is generally\nsupposed to be a modern discovery, probably existed from a very early\nperiod. It is said to have been first made by the Arabians in the\nmiddle ages, and in all likelihood may lay claim to a still remoter\norigin. The spirituous liquor called arrack has been manufactured in\nthe island of Java, as well as in the continent of Hindostan, from\ntime immemorial. Brandy was made in Sicily at the commencement of the\nfourteenth century. As to wine, it was so common in ancient times as\nto have a tutelar god appropriated to it; Bacchus and his companion\nSilenus are as household words in the mouths of all, and constituted\nmost important features of the heathen mythology. We have all heard\nof the Falernian and Campanian wines, and of the wines of Cyprus and\nShiraz. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the ancients were in\nno respect inferior to the moderns in the excellence of the vinous\nliquors, whatever they may have been in the variety. Wine was so common\nin the eastern nations that Mahomet, foreseeing the baleful effects\nof its propagation, forbade it to his followers, who, to compensate\nthemselves, had recourse to opium. The Gothic or dark ages seem to have\nbeen those in which it was the least common; in proof of this it may\nbe mentioned that, so late as 1298, it was vended as a cordial by the\nEnglish apothecaries. At the present day it is little drunk, except by\nthe upper classes, in those countries which do not naturally furnish\nthe grape. In those that do, it is so cheap as to come within the reach\nof even the lowest.\n\n\nRUINS OF CLONMACNOIS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ruins of Clonmacnois.]\n\nA few miles south of Athlone are the famous ruins of Clonmacnois, the\nschool where, according to Dr. O'Connor, \"the nobility of Connaught had\ntheir children educated, and which was therefore called Cluan-mac-nois,\n'the secluded recess of the sons of nobles.'\" It was also, in ancient\ntimes, a renowned cemetery of the Irish kings; and for many centuries\nit has continued a favourite burial-place, the popular belief enduring\nto this day, that all persons interred here pass immediately from\nearth to heaven. The abbey is said to have been founded by St. Kieran\nabout the middle of the sixth century, and soon became \"amazingly\nenriched,\" so that, writes Mr. Archdall, \"its landed property was so\ngreat, and the number of cells and monasteries subjected to it so\nnumerous, that almost half of Ireland was said to be within the bounds\nof Clonmacnois.\" The ruins retain marks of exceeding splendour. In the\nimmediate vicinity there are two \"Round Towers.\" The above engraving\nrepresents one of the many richly-carved stone crosses that are\nscattered in all directions among the ruins.\n\n\nTHE BRICKS OF BABYLON.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Brick of Babylon.]\n\nBesides sun-dried bricks, remains of kiln-baked or burnt bricks are\nfound in all the principal ruins of ancient Babylonia, and were used\nfor the purpose of revetting or casing the walls. Like the sun-dried\nbricks they are made of clay mixed with grass and straw, which have,\nof course, disappeared in the baking, leaving, however, traces of the\nstalks or stems in the clay. Generally they are slack-burnt, of a pale\nred colour, with a slight glaze or polish. The finest sort, according\nto Mr. Rich, are white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast,\nlike our Stourbridge, or fire-brick; the coarsest are red, like our\nordinary brick. Some have a blackish cast, and are very hard. The\nfinest are those which come from the ruins of the Akerkuf. The general\nmeasurement of the kiln-dried bricks, at the Birs Nimrud, is 1 ft. 1\nin. square, and 3 in. thick. Some are submultiples, or half of these\ndimensions. A few are of different shapes for particular purposes, such\nas rounding corners. Those at the Akerkuf measured a trifle less, or\n12-1/2 in. square, and 2-3/4 in. thick, and are placed at the base of\nthe monument. The bricks of Al Hymer, on the eastern bank, measure 14\nin. long, 12-3/4 in. broad, 2-1/2 in. thick, and are of fine fabric.\nThere are bricks of two dimensions at this ruin of the Birs Nimrud;\nthose on the northern brow, a little way down it, measure 12 in.\nsquare, and 3-1/4 in. thick; they are of a pale red colour, and used\nfor revetting the monument. Lower down to the east of this, they are\n4-3/4 in. broad, and 12-3/4 in. long. Similar bricks were found at the\nMujellibe, and in one place was an entire wall of them 60 feet thick.\nThe whole plain here is covered with masses of brick work, and on one\nof the mounds the bricks are so red, that it looks one bright gleaming\nmass. The bricks from the Mujellibe or Kasr are described as very hard,\nand of a pale yellow colour; and this edifice presents a remarkable\nappearance of freshness. We have seen only one fragment of a brick from\nNiffer; it is of a white, or rather yellowish white colour, and sandy,\ngritty texture. This spot, it will be remembered, is supposed to be the\nsite of old Babylon. All these bricks are made by the same process as\nthose of Assyria, namely, stamped out of a wooden or terra-cotta mould,\nand are also impressed with several lines of cuneiform character. This\nimpression is always sunk below the superficies, rectangular, and\noften placed obliquely on the brick, with that disregard to mechanical\nsymmetry which is so usual on works of ancient art. The stamp is\ngenerally about 6 inches long, by 4 inches wide, and the number of\nlines varies from three to seven: an arrangement quite different from\nthat observed on the bricks of Assyria, and rather resembling that\nadopted by the brick-makers of Egypt. The engraving on previous page\nis of a brick stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, which is now in\nthe possession of the Royal Society of Literature. The inscriptions\nsometimes commence with the figure of a lion, a bull, or what may be\nintended for an altar. These read, according to Sir H. Rawlinson,--\n\n [of] Nebuchadnezzar,\n the king of Babylon,\n founder of Beth Digla, or Saggalu,\n and of Beth Tzida\n son of Nebopalasar [I am].\n\n\nA TURKISH BAZAAR.\n\nA Turkish bazaar is one of the most wonderful sights in the world, and\nwell deserves a place in our record of curiosities. We cannot do better\nthan quote the description which Mr. Albert Smith gives of one of these\nextraordinary places in his \"Month at Constantinople:\"--\n\n\"Smyrna had, in some measure, prepared me for the general appearance\nof an oriental bazaar; but the vast extent of these markets at\nConstantinople created a still more vivid impression. To say that the\ncovered rows of shops must altogether be miles in length--that vista\nafter vista opens upon the gaze of the astonished stranger, lined with\nthe costliest productions of the world, each collected in its proper\ndistrict--that one may walk for an hour, without going over the same\nground twice, amidst diamonds, gold, and ivory; Cashmere shawls, and\nChinese silks; glittering arms, costly perfumes, embroidered slippers,\nand mirrors; rare brocades, ermines, Morocco leathers, Persian\nnick-nacks; amber mouthpieces, and jewelled pipes--that looking along\nthe shortest avenue, every known tint and colour meets the eye at once,\nin the wares and costumes, and that the noise, the motion, the novelty\nof this strange spectacle is at first perfectly bewildering--all\nthis, possibly, gives the reader the notion of some kind of splendid\nmart, fitted to supply the wants of the glittering personages who\nfigure in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments; yet it can convey but\na poor idea of the real interest which such a place calls forth,\nor the most extraordinary assemblage of treasures displayed there,\namidst so much apparent shabbiness. No spot in the world--neither the\nParisian Boulevards, nor our own Regent-street--can boast of such\nan accumulation of valuable wares from afar, as the great bazaar at\nConstantinople. Hundreds and thousands of miles of rocky road and sandy\ndesert have been traversed by the moaning camels who have carried\nthose silks and precious stones from Persia, with the caravan. From\nthe wild regions of the mysterious central Africa, that ivory, so\ncunningly worked, in the next row, has been brought--the coal-black\npeople only know how--until the Nile floated it down to Lower Egypt.\nThen those soft Cashmere shawls have made a long and treacherous\njourney to Trebizond, whence the fleet barks of the cold and stormy\nEuxine at last brought them up the fairy Bosphorus to the very water's\nedge of the city. From the remote active America; from sturdy England;\nfrom Cadiz, Marseilles, and all along the glowing shores of the\nMediterranean, safely carried over the dark and leaping sea, by brave\niron monsters that have fought the winds with their scalding breath,\nthese wares have come, to tempt the purchasers, in the pleasant, calm,\nsubdued light of the bazaars of Stamboul.\"\n\n\nVARNISH-TREE OF THE JAPANESE.\n\nThe _urusi_ or varnish-tree, of which they make so extensive a use, is\na noble tree when grown to its full size. On incision it yields a rich,\nmilky, glutinous juice, out of which the Japanese make the celebrated\nvarnish, known by the name of _Japan_. With this varnish they cover\nand coat all their household furniture, all their dishes and plates,\nand all their drinking-vessels, whether made of wood or of paper. The\nuse of plate, or porcelain, or glass appears to be very limited, and\nis probably interdicted by some rule of nationality or religion: from\nthe emperor down to the meanest peasant, all make use of the light\nvarnished or japanned cups and dishes, the inner substance of which is\nwood or paper, or what we term papier-mache.\n\nAnother tree, called _forasi_, renders a varnish of an inferior quality.\n\n\nTORTURE-CHAMBER AT NUREMBERG.\n\nNuremberg, being a \"free city,\" was governed by its own appointed\nmagistrates, having independent courts of law. The executive council\nof state consisted of eight members, chosen from the thirty patrician\nfamilies, who, by the privilege granted to them from the thirteenth\ncentury, ruled the city entirely. In process of time these privileges\nassumed the form of a civic tyranny, which was felt to be intolerable\nby the people, and occasionally opposed by them. The fierce religious\nwars of the sixteenth century assisted in destroying the monopoly of\npower still more; yet now that it is gone for ever, it has left fearful\ntraces of its irresponsible strength. All who sigh for \"the good old\ntimes,\" should not moralise over the fallen greatness of the city,\nand its almost deserted but noble town-hall; but descend below the\nbuilding into the dark vaults and corridors which form its basement;\nthe terrible substructure upon which the glorious municipal palace of\na free imperial self-ruled city was based in the middle ages, into\nwhose secrets none dared pry, and where friends, hope, life itself,\nwere lost to those who dared revolt against the rulers. There is no\nromance-writer who has imagined more horrors than we have evidences\nwere perpetrated under the name of justice in these frightful vaults,\nunknown to the busy citizens around them, within a few feet of the\nstreets down which a gay wedding procession might pass, while a true\npatriot was torn in every limb, and racked to death by the refined\ncruelty of his fellow-men. The heart sickens in these vaults, and an\ninstinctive desire to quit them takes possession of the mind, while\nremaining merely as a curious spectator within them. The narrow steps\nleading to them are reached through a decorated doorway, and the\npassage below receives light through a series of gratings. You shortly\nreach the labyrinthine ways, totally excluded from external light and\nair, and enter, one after another, confined dungeons, little more than\nsix feet square, cased with oak to deaden sounds, and to increase\nthe difficulty of attempted escape. To make these narrow places even\nmore horrible, strong wooden stocks are in some, and day and night\nprisoners were secured in total darkness, in an atmosphere which seems\neven now too oppressive to bear. In close proximity to these dungeons\nis a strong stone room, about twelve feet wide each way, into which\nyou descend by three steps. It is the torture-chamber, which we here\nengrave.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Torture-Chamber at Nuremberg.]\n\nThe massive bars before you are all that remain of the perpendicular\nrack, upon which unfortunates were hung with weights attached to their\nankles. Two such of stone, weighing each fifty pounds, were kept\nhere some years back, as well as many other implements of torture\nsince removed or sold for old iron. The raised stone bench around the\nroom was for the use of the executioner and attendants. The vaulted\nroof condensed the voice of the tortured man, and an aperture on one\nside gave it freedom to ascend into a room above, where the judicial\nlisteners waited for the faltering words which succeeded the agonising\nscreams of their victim.\n\n\nSEPULCHRAL VASES OF GREEK POTTERY.\n\nThe number of these vases deposited in the great public museums of\nEurope is very large, and from calculations derived from catalogues,\nor from observations made on the spot, may be stated in round numbers\nas follows:--The Museo Borbonico, at Naples, contains about 2,100;\nthe Gregorian Museum in the Vatican, about 1,000; Florence has about\n700; and at Turin there are 500. On the side of the Alps, the Imperial\nMuseum of Vienna possesses about 300; Berlin has 1,690; Munich about\n1,700; Dresden, 200; Carlsruhe, 200; the Louvre, at Paris, about\n1,500; while 500 more may be found in the Bibliotheque Imperiale.\nThe British Museum has about 2,600 vases of all kinds. Besides the\npublic collections, several choice and valuable specimens of ancient\nart belong to individuals. The most important of these private\ncollections are those of the Duc de Luynes, the Duc de Blacas, the\nCount de Pourtales-Gorgier, the Jatta collection, that belonging to\nM. St. Angela at Naples, and a fine and choice one belonging to the\nMarquis Campana at Rome. In England, the collections of Mr. Hope, of\nMr. Jekyll, of the Marquis of Northampton, and of Mr. Hertz, contain\nseveral interesting examples. In addition to these, several thousand\nmore vases are in the hands of the principal dealers, as S. Barone, of\nNaples; and the heirs of S. Basseggio, Capranesi and Messrs. Sotheby,\nin London. The total number of vases in public and private collections\nprobably amounts to 15,000 of all kinds.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Sepulchral Vases.]\n\nAll these were discovered in the sepulchres of the ancients, but the\ncircumstances under which they were found differ according to locality.\nIn Greece, the graves are generally small, being designed for single\ncorpses, which accounts for the comparatively small size of the vases\ndiscovered in that country. At Athens, the earlier graves are sunk\ndeepest in the soil, and those at Corinth, especially such as contain\nthe early Corinthian vases, are found by boring to a depth of several\nfeet beneath the surface. The early tombs of Civita Vecchia and Caere,\nor Cervetri, in Italy, are tunnelled in the earth; and those at Vulci\nand in the Etruscan territory, from which the finest and largest vases\nhave been extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. In Southern\nItaly, especially in Campania, they are large chambers, about 5-1/4\npalms under the surface.\n\nThe engraving on previous page will convey an idea of the manner in\nwhich the vases are arranged round the bodies of the dead in the tombs\nof Veii, Nola, and Cumae.\n\nThe tomb there represented is constructed of large blocks of stone,\narranged in squared masses, called the Etruscan style of wall, in\ncontradistinction to the Cyclopean. The walls are painted with\nsubjects, the body is laid upon the stone floor, and the larger vases,\nsuch as the _oxybapha_ and _craters_ are placed round it. The jugs are\nhung upon nails round the walls.\n\n\nGAMES WITH CARDS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nCards were used by every one. The game of Gleek was played by three\npersons. The dealer dealt twelve cards and left eight on the table for\nstock, seven were bought, and the ace turned up for the dealer; if it\nwas Tiddy (four of trumps) such player gave four to the dealer. The ace\nwas called Tib, the knave Tim, the fifth Towser, and the sixth Tumbler.\nThe players then begin bidding for the stock in hopes of bettering\ntheir game, the buyer taking in seven cards and putting out seven. If\nTib was turned up, it counted fifteen to the dealer. The players then\npicked for Ruff, the one having most of a suit winning it--unless any\none had four aces, which always carried it. The first then said, \"I'll\nvie the Ruff;\" the next, \"I'll see it:\" the third, \"I'll see it, and\nrevie it;\" the first again, \"I'll see your revie;\" and the middle,\n\"I'll not meddle with it.\" They then showed their cards, and he that\nhad most of a suit won six of him that held out longest, and forty of\nhim who said he could see it, and then refused to meddle with it.\n\nOmbre, Basset, Whist, Costly Colours, and Five Cards, were, we believe,\nof later introduction. Of our period, are Ruff, Bone, Ace, Pult. The\ngreat game in the West of England was Post and Pair, as All Fours was\nin Kent, and Five Cards in Ireland. In Post and Pair, the ace of trumps\nwas the best card; at Post the best cards were one and two, but a\npair of court cards one. The daring of the game consisted in the vye,\nor the adventuring upon the goodness of your hand to intimidate your\nantagonist.\n\n\nRESCUED RELICS.\n\nThe following is a list--translated from the original in the chartulary\nof the University of Glasgow; of the relics which were carried\naway from Glasgow Cathedral, by the Archbishop, before the work of\ndemolition began, in 1560:--\n\nThe image of Christ in gold, and those of the twelve apostles in\nsilver, with the whole vestments belonging to the church.\n\nA silver cross, gilt in the upper part, and adorned with precious\nstones in the lower part, with a small portion of the cross of our\nSaviour!\n\nAnother silver cross, adorned with precious stones, with several other\nportions of the cross of Christ!\n\nA silver casket, gilt, containing the hair of the blessed Virgin!\n\nA square silver coffer, containing several of the scourges of St.\nKentigern, and St. Thomas of Canterbury, and a portion of the hair\ngarment worn by the former saint!!\n\nAnother silver casket, gilt, containing part of the skin of\nBartholomew, the apostle!!\n\nA silver casket containing a bone of St. Ninian!\n\nA silver casket, containing part of the girdle of the Virgin Mary!!\n\nA crystal case, containing a bone of some saint and of St. Magdalene!!\n\nA small vial of crystal, containing the milk of the blessed Virgin, and\npart of the manger of Christ!!!\n\nA small phial of a saffron colour, containing the fluid which formerly\nflowed from the tomb of St. Mungo!\n\nA phial, containing several of the bones of St. Eugene, and of St.\nBlaze!\n\nA phial, containing a part of the tomb of St. Catherine the virgin!\n\nA small hide, with a portion of the cloak of St. Martin!\n\nA precious hide, with portions of the bodies of St. Kentigern and St.\nThomas of Canterbury!!\n\nSome other hides, with bones of saints and other relics!\n\nA wooden chest, containing many small relics!\n\nTwo linen bags, with the bones of St. Kentigern, St. Thanew, and other\ndeceased saints!!\n\n\nPAPER.\n\nWith respect to the paper now in use, Dr. Blair says, the first\npaper-mill (in England, we suppose) was erected at Dartford, in the\nyear 1588, by a German of the name of Speillman; from which period we\nmay, perhaps, date its manufacture in this country.\n\nIt appears, however, that it was known in the East much earlier; it\nbeing observed that most of the ancient manuscripts in Arabic and other\nOriental languages, were written upon cotton paper, and it is thought\nthe Saracens first introduced it into Spain.\n\nAnderson, in his \"History of Commerce,\" says that, till the year 1690,\nthere was scarcely any paper made in England but the coarse brown\nsort. Paper was previously imported from France, Genoa, and Holland.\nHowever, the improvement of this article in England, in consequence of\nthe French war, produced a saving to the country of L100,000 annually,\nwhich had been paid to France for paper alone.\n\n\nLOTTERIES.\n\nIf the antiquity of a practice could justify its existence, lotteries\nmight claim peculiar reverence. The Romans, we are told, used to\nenliven their Saturnalia with them, by distributing tickets, all of\nwhich gained some prize. Augustus instituted lotteries, that consisted,\nhowever, of things of little value. Nero also established lotteries,\nfor the people, in which 1,000 tickets were daily distributed, and\nseveral of those who were favoured by fortune got rich by them. The\nfirst lottery of which we find any record in our annals, was in the\nyear 1659, which, according to Stow, consisted of 40,000 lots, at 10s.\neach. The prizes were plated; and the profits were to be applied to\nthe purpose of repairing the havens of the kingdom. This lottery was\ndrawn at the west door of St. Paul's cathedral; and began on the 11th\nJuly, 1569, and continued incessantly, day and night, till the 6th May\nfollowing. The tickets were three years in being disposed of. In the\nyear 1612, King James granted a lottery to promote the plantation of\nEnglish colonies in Virginia, which was also drawn at St. Paul's.\n\n\nTEMPLE AT SIMONBONG.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Lepcha Temple at Simonbong.]\n\nThe above is a correct representation of the great Lepcha temple at\nSimonbong, in Sikkim, a district of India near Thibet. We take the\nfollowing account of it from the Journal of Dr. Hooker, who visited it\nin 1848:--\"Simonbong is one of the smallest and poorest goompas, or\ntemples, in Sikkim, being built of wood only. It consists of one large\nroom, raised on a stone foundation, with small sliding shutter windows,\nand roofed with shingles of wood; opposite the door a wooden altar was\nplaced, rudely chequered with black, white, and red; to the right and\nleft were shelves, with a few Tibetan books, wrapped in silk; a model\nof Symbonath temple in Nepal, a praying-cylinder, and some implements\nfor common purposes, bags of juniper, English wine-bottles and glasses,\nwith tufts of _Abies Webbina_, rhododendron flowers, and peacock's\nfeathers, besides various trifles, clay ornaments and offerings, and\nlittle Hindoo idols. On the altar were ranged seven little brass cups,\nfull of water; a large conch-shell, carved with the sacred lotus; a\nbrass jug from Lhassa, of beautiful design, and a human thigh-bone,\nhollow, and perforated through both condyles.\n\n\"Facing the altar was a bench and a chair, and on one side a huge\ntambourine, with two curved iron drumsticks. The bench was covered with\nbells, handsomely carved with idols, and censers with juniper-ashes;\nand on it lay the _dorge_, or double-headed thunderbolt. Of all these\narticles, the human thigh-bone is by much the most curious; it is very\noften that of a Lama, and is valuable in proportion to its length.\nAs, however, the Sikkim Lamas are burned, these relics are generally\nprocured from Tibet, where the corpses are cut in pieces and thrown to\nthe kites, or thrown into the water.\"\n\n\nIMPLEMENTS USED IN BUDDHIST TEMPLES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Implements Used in Buddhist Temples.]\n\nThe above sketch places before us the implements generally used in the\nBuddhist temples of India:--a praying cylinder in stand, another to be\ncarried in the hand, cymbals, bell, brass cup, three trumpets (one of\nthem made of a human thigh-bone), conch, and dorje, or double-headed\nthunderbolt, which the Lama, or high-priest, holds in his hand during\nservice. The praying cylinder is made to revolve by means of an axle\nand string, and a projecting piece of iron strikes a little bell at\neach revolution. Within such cylinders are deposited written prayers,\nand whoever pulls the string properly is considered to have said his\nprayers as often as the bell rings. The worshippers, on entering the\ntemple, walk up to the altar, and, before or after having deposited\ntheir gifts, they lift both hands to the forehead, fall on their\nknees, and touch the ground three times with head and hands. They then\nadvance to the head Lama, _kotow_ similarly to him, and he blesses\nthem, laying both hands on their heads, and repeating a short formula.\nSometimes the dorje is used in blessing, as the cross is in Europe,\nand when a number of people request a benediction, the Lama pronounces\nit from the door of the temple with outstretched arms, the people all\nbeing prostrate, with their foreheads touching the ground.\n\n\nPROCLAMATION FOR THE PERSON OF GEORGE II.\n\nOn the young Pretender landing in Scotland, Government issued a\nproclamation, offering a reward of L30,000 for his head, alive or dead.\nIn opposition to this, the following curious paper was issued by the\nPrince and his council, which, Mr. Beloe says, \"is so rare, that I\nnever heard of any other than that which accident lately deposited in\nthe British Museum.\"\n\n \"Charles, Prince of Wales, &c.\n\n Regent of the Kingdoms of Scotland, France, and Ireland, and the\n Dominions thereunto belonging,\n\nWhereas, we have seen a certain scandalous and malicious paper,\npublished in the style and form of a proclamation, bearing date the 1st\ninstant, wherein, under pretence of bringing us to justice, like our\nRoyal Ancestor, King Charles I. of blessed memory, there is a reward of\nL30,000 sterling promised to those who shall deliver us into the hands\nof our enemies, we could not but be moved with a just indignation at\nso insolent an attempt; and though, from our nature and principles,\nwe abhor and detest a practice so unusual among Christian Princes, we\ncannot but, out of just regard to the dignity of our person, promise a\nlike reward of L30,000 sterling to him, or those, who shall seize and\nsecure till our further orders, the person of the Elector of Hanover,\nwhether landed, or attempting to land, in any part of his Majesty's\ndominions. Should any fatal accident happen from hence, let the blame\nbe entirely at the door of those who first set the infamous example.\n\n \"CHARLES, P. R.\n\n \"Given at our Camp, at Kinlockeill, August 22, 1745.\n\n \"By his Highness's Command.\n\n \"JOHN MURRAY.\"\n\n\nDOGS IN JAPAN.\n\nDogs or common curs they have, and in superfluous numbers. These\ndogs are as much the pest of the towns of Japan as they are of\nConstantinople and the other foul cities and towns of the Ottoman\nEmpire. This vast increase of the canine species, and the encouragement\nand immunity accorded to it, arose (according to the popular account)\nout of a curious superstition and an extravagant imperial decree. An\nEmperor who reigned at the close of the eighteenth century chanced to\nbe born under the Sign of the Dog, the Dog being one of the twelve\ncelestial signs of the Japanese Zodiac. For this reason the Emperor had\nas great an esteem for dogs as the Roman Emperor Augustus is reported\nto have entertained for rams. When he ascended the throne, he willed\nand ordained that dogs should be held as sacred animals; and, from\nthat time, more puppies saw the light, and were permitted to live in\nJapan than in any other country on the face of the earth, Turkey,\nperhaps, excepted. These dogs have no masters, but lie and prowl\nabout the streets, to the exceeding great annoyance of passengers,\nespecially if they happen to be foreign travellers, or Christians in\nChristian dresses. If they come round you in packs, barking, snarling,\nand showing their teeth; nay, even if they fall upon you and bite you,\nyou must on no account take the law into your own hands, and beat them\noff or shoot them. To kill one of them is a capital crime, whatever\nmischief the brute may have done you. In every town there are Guardians\nof the Dogs, and to these officers notice must be given in case of any\ncanine misdemeanour, these guardians alone being empowered to punish\nthe dogs. Every street must keep a certain number of these animals,\nor at least provide them with victuals; huts, or dog-hospitals,\nstand in all parts of the town, and to these the animals, in case of\nsickness, must be carefully conveyed by the inhabitants. The dogs that\ndie must be brought up to the tops of mountains and hills, the usual\nburying-places of men and women, and there be very decently interred.\nOld Kaempfer says:--\"The natives tell a pleasant tale on this head. A\nJapanese, as he was carrying the carcase of a dead dog to the top of\na steep mountain, grew impatient, grumbled, and cursed the Emperor's\nbirthday and whimsical command. His companion bid him hold his tongue\nand be quiet, and, instead of swearing, return thanks to the gods that\nthe Emperor was not born under the Sign of the Horse, for, in that\ncase, the load would be heavier.\"\n\n\nLAGMI, AND THE USE MADE OF IT.\n\nMohammed, we are told, prohibited the use of wine, owing to a drunken\nquarrel among the chiefs of his army, which produced great disorder\nand confusion in his affairs, and almost caused the prophet's death in\none of his daring military engagements. He, therefore, addressed his\nfollowers in these words: \"The devil desires to sow dissensions among\nyou, through wine and games of chance, to divert you from remembering\nGod, and praying to him. Abandon wine and games of chance. Be obedient\nto God and the prophet, his apostle, and take heed unto yourselves.\"\nBut the prophet, who could so minutely delineate the furniture of\nheaven, and the instruments of torture of hell--who could describe the\nmysterious occurrences before the creation was formed into its present\nshape, and predict stupendous events to happen in thousands of years\nto come--could not forsee that man would stupify himself by any other\nbeverages besides \"wine.\" The believers in the Koran at Tozar, a city\nnear the Great Desert, in Africa, certainly abstain from wine, and thus\nobey the prophet's precept, but then they indulge freely in _lagmi_,\nor the juice of the palm-tree, which, when fermented, is as pernicious\nin its effect, when taken in excess, as the wine possibly can be. This\njuice is easily obtained, and more easily still prepared. An incision\nis made in the tree, just beneath the branches, and a jar so fastened\nthat it receives every drop of liquid flowing out. During a night they\nprocure from a tree \"in a producing condition\" (in which it is not\nalways) from a quart to three pints of _lagmi_. When drunk immediately\nit tastes like _genuine_ rich milk, and is perfectly harmless; but\nwhen allowed to stand one night, or, at most, twenty-four hours, it\npartakes (with the exception of the colour, which is whitish,) of the\nquality and flavour of champagne, and that of a far superior sort than\nis usually offered in the British markets. This date-tree wine, (for so\nit may be called,) procured at so little trouble and expense, is to be\nfound in every house, and has its victims reeling through the streets\nof Tozar, just as the stupifying porter has in the streets of English\ncities. But the curious part in connexion with this is, that \"the\nfaithful\" persist in their justification that they do not transgress\ntheir prophet's precept! \"_Lagmi_ is not wine,\" they say, \"and the\nprophet's prohibition refers to wine.\"\n\n\nANGLO-SAXON UMBRELLA.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Anglo-Saxon Umbrella.]\n\nIn Anglo-Saxon times the traveller always wore a covering for his\nhead, which, though in various shapes, in no instance resembled our\nhat, though it was characterised by the general term _haet_. He seems\nto have been further protected against the inclemency of the weather\nby a cloak or (_mentel_). One would be led to suppose that this outer\ngarment was more varied in form and material than any other part\nof the dress from the great number of names which we find applied\nto it, such as--_basing_, _haecce_, _haecla_, or _hacela_, _poell_,\n_pylca_, _scyccels_, _waefels_, &c. The writings which remain throw no\nlight upon the provisions made by travellers against rain; for the\ndictionary makers who give _scur-scead_ (shower-shade) as signifying\nan umbrella are certainly mistaken. Yet that umbrellas were known to\nthe Anglo-Saxons is proved beyond a doubt by a figure in the Harleian\nMSS. which we have engraved above. A servant or attendant is holding an\numbrella over the head of a man who appears to be covered at the same\ntime with the cloak or mantle.\n\n\nTHE HEJIRA.\n\nThe Hejira, Hegira, or Hejra. The flight of Mohammed from Mecca to\nMedina is the epoch of the Mohammedan nations. Omar, the second Caliph,\ninstituted the Hegira in imitation of the Christians, who counted their\nyears from their persecution by Diocletian, (A.D. 284,) and who called\nit the era of the martyrs. Thus the Mohammedans wished to commence\ntheir calculation of time from the period of the most memorable\npersecution they had suffered. The learned Mohammedan astronomers have\nbeen divided in opinion on the exact year of the Christians which\ncorresponds with the Hegira. But the generality of writers place\nthis epoch on Friday, the 16th of July, A.D. 622. The ancient Arabs\ncounted time by solar months; these months always returned in the same\nseason, and their names correspond with the employments which the\nseasons rendered necessary. Since the epoch of the Hegira was fixed the\nMohammedans count time by lunar months, the Arabian year consisting of\n354 days, eight hours, and forty-eight minutes. The intercalary days\nare adjusted by a cycle of thirty lunar years, of which nineteen are\nof 354 days, and eleven of 355 days. The years of excess are in the\nfollowing order:--2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29.\n\n\nCHINESE PAILOOS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Chinese Pailoos.]\n\nThe Pailoos, or, as they are commonly but erroneously called, triumphal\narches, form an object of Chinese architecture which, from its constant\nrecurrence in views of Chinese scenery, is almost as familiar to us\nas the pagoda. They are, in fact, monuments to deceased persons of\ndistinction, generally of widows who have not married a second time,\nor of virgins who have died unmarried. The smaller and less important\nones consist merely of two upright posts of wood or granite, supporting\na flat board with an inscription, like, both in purpose and design, to\nthe wooden rails which are used as substitutes for tombstones in some\ndistricts in England. The more important Pailoos have three openings,\nsupported by several boards, with more or less ornament and carving.\nSometimes they are wholly of wood; in others no material is used but\nstone, generally granite; and these two materials are combined in\nvarious proportions in other examples. Sometimes they are raised on\nplatforms as in the annexed example, from a peculiarly graceful one\nnear Canton.\n\nAt other times they are placed on the ground, and even across roads,\nso as to form arches, if they may be called, though certainly not\ntriumphal ones.\n\n\nREMARKABLE GROTTO, AND STORY CONNECTED WITH IT.\n\nNear Lunel, in France, on the eastern bank of the river Herault, is\nthe grotto, known in this part of the country as _la Baume de las\nDonmaisellas_, or _des Fees_. This grotto consists of many large, deep\napartments, some of which are indeed inaccessible; the second (and\nthey are all one below the other), presents to the eye of the beholder\nfour beautiful pillars, about thirty feet high, terminating at the top\nlike palm trees; they are detached from the roof, which is only to be\naccounted for by supposing that the _bottom_, or _floor_, has, in some\nconcussion of nature, sunk from its original level: the third chamber,\nstill descending, and like the former only to be reached by ropes and\nladders, presents, at the farther end, one vast curtain of crystal, to\nwhich the lights, carried on such occasions, give the appearance of all\nmanner of precious stones. Some of the stalactites of this apartment\nare solid and white as alabaster, some clear and transparent as glass;\nthey are of every fantastic form and description, as well as displaying\nperfect representations of cascades, trees, festoons, lances, pillars,\nfruits, flowers, and even the regular arrangement of architecture in\na cathedral. The fourth chamber is a long gallery covered with fine\nsand: beyond this three great pillars present themselves, and behind,\nthere is a lake of thick muddy water. All these grottoes have been\nlong known to the peasantry, but another was lately penetrated, in\nwhich every former variety of stalactite was seen, but, in addition\nto these was found an altar, white, like fine china, having regular\nsteps to it, of the same material: it is composed apparently of layers\nof the opaque stalactite, of a dazzling white and exquisite polish:\nfour twisted columns, of a yellow colour and transparent, whose height\nis lost in the vast roof; an obelisk, perfectly round, of a reddish\ncolour, of a great height, and a colossal figure of a woman, holding\ntwo children in her arms, and placed upon a pedestal, completed the\nastonishment of the daring explorers of this subterraneous cavern. But\nalas! this astonishment was changed into feelings of a more melancholy\ndescription, when they recalled the circumstance, still current in\nthe neighbourhood, that, during the religious wars, a family (whether\nProtestant or Catholic is not ascertained), consisting of a father and\nmother and one or two children, sought refuge in these subterraneous\ngrottoes from the persecution of their enemies, and there preserved a\nmiserable existence, far from the cruelty of\n\n Man, whom Nature formed of milder clay,\n With every kind emotion in his heart,\n And taught alone to weep.\n\nFor some years they supported themselves with berries, and now and\nthen they were seen endeavouring to secure a stray kid or goat for\nfood. The solitude and silence of their almost inaccessible dwelling,\nimbued them and their fate with an awful character; and from being\nobjects of _pity_, they became at length objects of _terror_, to the\nneighbouring peasantry, who told strange stories of the unfortunate\nbeings thus consigned to cold and hunger, and compelled to seek a\nwretched home within the bowels of the earth. Their spare forms, their\npale countenances, their tattered garments waving in the breeze, all\nthrew a mystic feeling over their appearance, and they were transformed\ninto fairies and spectres. The shepherds fled when they appeared, and\nthe children, as they clung affrighted to their parents, with strained\neyes and parted lips, followed the rapid movements of the mountaineers,\nas they in their turn, alarmed at the sight of their fellow-creatures,\nfled from height to height, until they gained their rocky asylum. Such\nan accumulation of suffering and misery was not, however, calculated\nto prolong existence: terror and fear destroyed the mind, as hunger\nand cold destroyed the body, and after the lapse of a few years, one\nby one, these _spectres_ disappeared: but still they figure in all the\nlocal stories and traditions peculiar to the neighbourhood, under the\nform of witches, fairies, and sorcerers. The question is, whether the\naltar and the figure are not the work of these unfortunate beings, who\nmight find in this employment a transitory solace for their misery.\n\n\nCRUELTY OF HINDOO RITES.\n\nWe extract the following account from \"The Land of the Veda,\" as\nit affords an extraordinary instance of the lengths to which the\nfanaticism of a gross superstition will induce men to proceed:--\n\n\"To satisfy ourselves of the sanguinary character of some of the Hindoo\ndeities, and of the influence they exert over the deluded victims of\nsuperstition, we must witness some of the cruel practices which the\npopular goddess, Kali, imposes on her worshippers. The most remarkable\nfestival is the one called _Charak Puja_.\n\n\"This festival derives its name from _chakra_, a wheel or discus; in\nallusion to the circle performed in the act of rotating, when suspended\nfrom the instrument of this horrible superstition. Being desirous of\nwitnessing the ceremony in all its parts, I went to the spot where one\nof these ceremonies was about to take place. An upright pole, twenty\nor thirty feet in height, was planted in the ground, across the top of\nwhich, moving on a pivot, a long pole was placed. From one end of this\ntransverse beam a long rope was suspended and left to hang loosely,\nwhilst a shorter rope was attached to the other end, bearing a couple\nof strong iron hooks. A good-looking man, perhaps thirty years of age,\ncame from the midst of the crowd, and doing obeisance beneath the\ninstrument of torture, presented himself as a candidate for the honour\nhe aspired to. The attendant, before whom he stood erect, struck a\nsmart blow on the small of the back, and fixed one of the hooks in the\nflesh, and then did the same on the other side. The man then laid hold\nof the rope just above the hooks and held it, whilst certain persons\nin the crowd, seizing the loose rope, pulled him up, by depressing the\nother end of the beam. As he rose he relinquished his hold of the rope\nby which he was suspended, and resigned himself to the rotary motion,\nby which he was whirled round and round in mid air, suspended by the\nflesh of his own body. Whilst he was thus enduring the torture incident\nto this horrid service, at once gratifying the cruel goddess Kali and\nthe crowd of admiring spectators, he drew from his girdle fruits and\nflowers, which he scattered among the attendants. These were picked\nup by the crowd, with the greatest eagerness, as precious relics that\nmight avail as charms in cases of personal or domestic extremity. This\nwretched dupe of a foul superstition remained in the air at least a\nquarter of an hour, and, of course, in his own estimation and in that\nof the spectators, gained by this brief infliction a large amount of\nmerit, and consequent title to certain rewards to be reaped in a future\nstate of being. No sooner had he descended, than another was ready for\nthe ceremony. These cruel practices are carried on in various parts of\nthe native town, from day to day, as long as the festival lasts. It\nnot unfrequently happens that the ligaments of the back give way, when\nthe man, tossed to an immense distance, is dashed to pieces. In such\ncases, the inference is, that the victim of such accident, by virtue\nof demerit in a former state of existence, was not merely unworthy of\nthe privileges attached to this privileged ceremonial, but destined to\nexpiate his evil deeds by this dreadful accident.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.\n\nThe musical instrument which we engrave below, is used in the Burman\nempire, and is thus described by Captain Yule, in his \"Mission to Ava,\"\nwriting from the town of Magwe, in Burmah. The Captain says;--\n\n[Illustration: [++] Drum-Harmonicon.]\n\n\"This evening the members of the mission made their first acquaintance\nwith the Burmese drama; an entertainment which from this time would\noccupy a very large place in the daily history of our proceedings if\nall were registered.\n\n\"The Governor had provided both a puppet play and a regular dramatic\nperformance for our benefit, and on this first occasion of the kind the\nEnvoy thought it right that we should visit both.\n\n\"Each performance was attended by a full Burmese orchestra. The\nprincipal instruments belonging to this are very remarkable, and, as\nfar as I know, peculiar to Burmah.\n\n\"The chief instrument in size and power is that called in\nBurmese _pattshaing_, and which I can only name in English as a\ndrum-harmonicon. It consists of a circular tub-like frame about thirty\ninches high and four feet six inches in diameter. This frame is formed\nof separate wooden staves fancifully carved, and fitting by tenon into\na hoop which keeps them in place. Round the interior of the frame\nare suspended vertically some eighteen or twenty drums, or tom-toms,\ngraduated in tone, and in size from about two and a-half inches\ndiameter up to ten. In tuning the instrument the tone of each drum is\nmodified as required by the application of a little moist clay with a\nsweep of the thumb, in the centre of the parchment. The whole system\nthen forms a sort of harmonicon, on which the performer, squatted in\nthe middle, plays with the natural plectra of his fingers and palms,\nand with great dexterity and musical effect.\"\n\n\nBURMESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Burmese Musical Instruments.]\n\nThe two Burmese musical instruments which we here engrave are thus\ndescribed by Captain Yule in his \"Mission to Ava:\"--\n\n\"The bamboo harmonicon or staccato is a curious example of the\nproduction of melody by simple and unexpected means. Its use, though\nunknown in India, extends throughout the Eastern Archipelago; and\nsomething similar is possessed, I believe, by the negro slaves in\nBrazil. Eighteen to twenty-four flat slips of bamboo, about an inch and\na half broad, and of graduated length, are strung upon a double string\nand suspended in a catenary over the mouth of a trough-like sounding\nbox. The roundish outside of the bamboo is uppermost, and whilst the\nextremities of the slips are left to their original thickness, the\nmiddle part of each is thinned and hollowed out below. The tuning is\naccomplished partly by the regulation of this thinning of the middle\npart. The scale so formed is played with one or two drumsticks, and\nthe instrument is one of very mellow and pleasing tone. Though the\nmaterials are of no value, a good old harmonicon is prized by the\nowner, like a good old Cremona, and he can rarely be induced to part\nwith it.\n\n\"There was one example at the capital, of a similar instrument formed\nof slips of iron or steel. It was said to have been made by the august\nhands of King Tharawadee himself, who, like Louis Seize, was abler as\na smith than as a king. The effect was not unpleasing, and strongly\nresembled that of a large Geneva musical box, but it was far inferior\nin sweetness to the bamboo instrument.\n\n\"Another instrument used in these concerts is a long cylindrical guitar\nof three strings, shaped like an alligator and so named. It is placed\non the ground before the performer.\"\n\n\nDRESS REGULATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.\n\nThe foreign knights and visitors who came to Windsor in Edward\nthe First's reign, and brought with them a continual succession\nof varying fashions, turned the heads of the young with delight,\nand of the old with disgust. Douglas, the monk of Glastonbury, is\nespecially denunciative and satirical on this point. He says that in\nthe horrible variety of costume,--\"now long, now large, now wide, now\nstraight,\"--the style of dress was \"destitute and devert from all\nhonesty of old arraye or good usage.\" It is all, he says, \"so nagged\nand knibbed on every side, and all so shattered and also buttoned, that\nI with truth shall say, they seem more like to tormentors or devils in\ntheir clothing, and also in their shoying and other array, than they\nseemed to be like men.\" And the old monk had good foundation for his\ncomplaint; and the Commons themselves having, what the Commons now have\nnot, a dread of becoming as extravagant as their betters in the article\nof dress, actually sought the aid of Parliament. That august assembly\nmet the complaint by restricting the use of furs and furls to the royal\nfamily and nobles worth one thousand _per annum_. Knights and ladies\nworth four hundred marks yearly, were permitted to deck themselves in\ncloths of gold and silver, and to wear certain jewellery. Poor knights,\nsquires, and damsels were prohibited from appearing in the costume of\nthose of higher degree. As for the Commons themselves, they could put\non nothing better than unadorned woollen cloth; and if an apprentice or\na milliner had been bold enough to wear a ring on the finger, it was in\nperil of a decree that it should be taken off,--not the finger, but the\nring,--with confiscation of the forbidden finery.\n\nThe consequence was that the Commons, being under prohibition to put\non finery, became smitten with a strong desire to assume it; and much\ndid they rejoice when they were ruled over by so consummate a fop as\nRichard of Bordeaux. All classes were content to do what many classes\njoyfully do in our own days,--dress beyond their means; and we find in\nold Harding's \"Cronicle\" that not only were\n\n \"Yemen and gromes in cloth of silk arrayed,\n Sattin and damask, in doublettes and in gownnes.\"\n\nbut that all this, as well as habits of \"cloth of greene and\nscarleteen,--cut work and brodwar, was all,\" as the Chronicler\nexpresses it, \"for unpayed;\" that is, was _not paid for_. So that\nvery many among us do not so much despise the wisdom afforded us by\nthe example of our ancestors as didactic poets and commonplace honest\nwriters falsely allege them to do. And those ancestors of Richard\nthe Second's time were especially given to glorify themselves in\nparti-coloured garments of white and red, such being the colours of the\nKing's livery (as blue and white were those of John of Gaunt); and they\nwho wore these garments, sometimes of half-a-dozen colours in each, why\nthey looked, says an old writer, \"as though the fire of St. Anthony, or\nsome such mischance,\" had cankered and eaten into half their bodies.\nThe long-toed shoes, held up to the knee by a chain and hook, were\ncalled _crackowes_, the fashion thereof coming from Cracrow in Poland.\nThe not less significant name of \"devil's receptacles\" were given to\nthe wide sleeves of this reign, for the reason, as the Monk of Evesham\ntells us, that whatever was stolen was thrust into them.\n\n\nA CAT-CLOCK.\n\nThe following curious incident is to be found in Huo's \"Chinese\nEmpire:--\n\n\"One day when we went to pay a visit to some families of Chinese\nChristian peasants, we met, near a farm, a young lad, who was taking\na buffalo to graze along our path. We asked him carelessly, as we\npassed, whether it was yet noon. The child raised his head to look at\nthe sun, but it was hidden behind thick clouds, and he could read no\nanswer there. \"The sky is so cloudy,\" said he; \"but wait a moment;\" and\nwith these words he ran towards the farm, and came back a few minutes\nafterwards with a cat in his arms. \"Look here,\" said he, \"it is not\nnoon yet;\" and he showed us the cat's eyes, by pushing up the lids with\nhis hands. We looked at the child with surprise, but he was evidently\nin earnest; and the cat, though astonished, and not much pleased at the\nexperiment made on her eyes, behaved with most exemplary complaisance.\n\"Very well,\" said we; \"thank you;\" and he then let go the cat, who made\nher escape pretty quickly, and we continued our route.\n\nTo say the truth, we had not at all understood the proceeding; but we\ndid not wish to question the little pagan, lest he should find out that\nwe were Europeans by our ignorance. As soon as ever we reached the\nfarm, however, we made haste to ask our Christians whether they could\ntell the clock by looking into the cat's eyes. They seemed surprised\nat the question; but as there was no danger in confessing to them our\nignorance of the properties of the cat's eyes, we related what had\njust taken place. That was all that was necessary; our complaisant\nneophytes immediately gave chase to all the cats in the neighbourhood.\nThey brought us three or four, and explained in what manner they might\nbe made use of for watches. They pointed out that the pupil of their\neyes went on constantly growing narrower until twelve o'clock, when\nthey became like a fine line, as thin as a hair, drawn perpendicularly\nacross the eye, and that after twelve the dilation recommenced.\n\nWhen we had attentively examined the eyes of all the cats at our\ndisposal, we concluded that it was past noon, as all the eyes perfectly\nagreed upon the point.\n\nWe have had some hesitation in speaking of this Chinese discovery, as\nit may, doubtless, tend to injure the interest of the clock-making\ntrade, and interfere with the sale of watches; but all considerations\nmust give way to the spirit of progress. All important discoveries\ntend in the first instance to injure private interests, and we hope,\nnevertheless, that watches will continue to be made, because, among\nthe number of persons who may wish to know the hour, there will, most\nlikely, be some who will not give themselves the trouble to run after\nthe cat, or who may fear some danger to their own eyes from too close\nan examination of hers.\"\n\n\nEARLY ENGLISH HELMET.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Twelfth Century English Helmet.]\n\nThe above is a correct representation of a helmet of the latter part\nof the twelfth century, resembling those seen on the great seals of\nRichard I. The _aventaille_, or moveable grating for covering the face,\nhas been lost, but the hinges, staples, and other means of fastening it\nstill remain. Its form may be seen on the great seals of Henry III. and\nEdward I.\n\n\nILLUSTRIOUS FARMERS.\n\nAdam was a farmer while yet in Paradise, and after his fall was\ncommanded to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Job, the honest,\nupright, and patient, was a farmer, and his firm endurance has passed\ninto a proverb. Socrates was a farmer, and yet wedded to the glory of\nhis immortal philosophy. Cincinnatus was a farmer, and the noblest\nRoman of them all. Burns was a farmer, and the Muse found him at his\nplough, and filled his soul with poetry. Washington was a farmer, and\nretired from the highest earthly station to enjoy the quiet of rural\nlife, and present to the world a spectacle of human greatness. To these\nnames may be added a host of others, who sought peace and repose in the\ncultivation of their earth. The enthusiastic Lafayette, the steadfast\nPickering, the scholastic Jefferson, the fiery Randolph, all found an\nEl Dorado of consolation from life's cares and troubles, in the green\nand verdant lawns that surrounded their homestead.\n\n\nANCIENT COUTEAU-DE-CHASSE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Couteau-de-Chasse.]\n\nAs the chase was regarded as the honourable and most instructive\noccupation of an age in which warlike prowess was deemed the principal\nobject of emulation and applause, every respectable mansion had, in\nformer times, its hall decorated with hunting implements. One of these\nwe here present to our readers. It is a couteau-de-chasse of the time\nof William III. The left-hand figure represents it in its sheath, which\nis highly ornamented; the other figures represent the blade drawn, and\nthe three knives, fork, and bodkin, which the sheath also contains. The\nform is precisely like those engraved in the \"Triumph of Maximilian,\"\nwhich shows that no variation had taken place since the commencement of\nthe sixteenth century. Erasmus, in his \"Praise of Folly,\" thus alludes\nto this weapon, Kennet translating it \"a slashing hanger.\" Speaking of\nthose engaged in the chase, he says, \"When they have run down their\ngame, what strange pleasure they take in cutting it up! Cows and sheep\nmay be slaughtered by common butchers, but what is killed in hunting\nmust be broke up by none under a gentleman, who shall throw down his\nhat, fall devoutly on his knees, and drawing a slashing hanger (for\na common knife is not good enough), after several ceremonies, shall\ndissect all the parts as artistically as the best skilled anatomist;\nwhile all that stand round shall look very intently and seem to be\nmightly surprised with the novelty, though they have seen the same an\nhundred times before; and he that can but dip his finger and taste of\nthe blood shall think his own bettered by it.\"\n\n\nDIVISION OF TIME IN PERSIA.\n\nTime is of no value in Persia, from which reason it must be that\nso complicated a system has been maintained as that of counting by\nsolar time, lunar time, and the Toork cycle. The first is observed by\nastronomers, and was in general use in Persia until it was superseded\nby Mahommed's lunar year. It consists of twelve months of thirty days\neach, with the required number of intercalary days. The second, which\nis now in general use, consisting of three hundred and fifty-four days,\nis therefore perpetually changing: an event commemorated in one year\nwill come round ten days earlier the succeeding year. The third is a\ncurious method of counting introduced by the Toorks into Persia, but\nwhich we are told has been forgotten in Turkey. They divide time into\ncycles of twelve years, each year having a separate name, but they\nhave no designation for the cycles. Thus, if they wanted to describe\nan event which happened sixty-five years ago, they could only mention\nthe name of the fifth year. These years are solar, and are thus\ndesignated:--\n\n Sichkan eel Year of the Mouse.\n Ood eel \" Bull.\n Bars eel \" Leopard.\n Tavishkan eel \" Hare.\n Looee eel \" Crocodile.\n Eelan eel \" Snake.\n Yoont eel \" Horse.\n Kooree eel \" Ram.\n Beechee eel \" Monkey.\n Tekhakoo eel \" Cock.\n Eet eel \" Dog.\n Tenkooz eel \" Hog.\n\nIt seems strange their number should be twelve, as if there were a\nzodiac of years, instead of months.\n\nThis method of marking time is preserved only in government documents,\nsuch as firmans, grants, &c. No one seems able to account for its\norigin, excepting that, according to tradition, the Toorks of old\nbrought it from Tartary.\n\n\nDIFFERENT SORTS OF HORSES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\nThe different sorts of horses in use among the nobility and others,\nmay be collected from the following entry in the Northumberland\nhousehold-book, first printed in the year 1768. It is entitled\nthe regulations and establishment of Algernon Percy the Earl of\nNorthumberland, 1512.\n\n\"This is the ordre of the chequir roule of the nombre of all the horsys\nof my lordis and my ladys, that are apoynted to be in the charge of the\nhous verely, as to say gentill hors, palfreys, hobys, naggis, clothsek\nhors.\n\n\"First, gentill hors, to stand in my lordis stable, six. Item, palfreys\nof my ladys, to wit, oone for my lady, and two for her gentill-women,\nand oone for her chamberer. Four hobys and naggis for my lordis oone\nsaddill, viz. oone for my lorde to ride, oone to led for my lorde,\nand oone to stay at home for my lorde. Item, chariot hors to stand in\nmy lordis stable yerely: Seven great trottynge hors to draw in the\nchariott, and a nagg for the chariott-man to ryde, eight. Again, hors\nfor my lorde Percy, his lordis sonne. A great doble trottynge hors to\ntravel on in winter. Item, double trottynge hors, called a curtal, for\nhis lordship to ryde on out of townes. Another trottynge gambaldyn\nhors, for his lordship to ryde upon when he comes into townes. An\namblynge hors, for his lordship to journey on daily. A proper amblyng\nlittle nag, for his lordship when he gaeth on hunting or hawkin. A gret\namblyng gelding to carry his male.\"\n\nThe _gentill_ horse was one of superior breed, so called in contrast to\nsuch as were of ordinary extraction.\n\n_Palfreys_, were an elegant and easy sort of horses, used upon common\noccasions by knights, and others, who reserved their great and managed\nhorses for battle and the tournament.\n\n_Hobys_, were strong, active horses, of rather a small size. They are\nsaid to be originally natives of Ireland.\n\n_Nags_ were of the same description.\n\n_Clothseck_, was a cloak-bag horse; as a _male horse_ was one that\ncarried the portmanteau. Horses to draw the _chariots_, were waggon\nhorses; from the French word _charrette_, whence, the English word\n_cart_.\n\n_A great double trottynge_ horse, was a tall, broad horse, whose best\npace was the trot, being too unwieldly to be able to gallop.\n\n_A curtail_, was a horse whose tail was cut, or shortened.\n\n_A gambaldynge_ horse, was one of shew and parade; a managed horse.\n\n_An amblynge_ horse, received this appellation, from the ease and\nsmoothness of its pace. In former times almost all saddle horses were\nbroke to perform it.\n\n\nTHE NAORA.\n\nThe Oasis of Tagius or Wodian, in the Desert of Sahara, in Africa,\ncomprehends these villages--D'kash, Krees, Wozorkan, Owlad, Majed,\nSedadah, Zowiat Elarab, and Sidy Bohlan.\n\nThese villages are situated at short distances from each other,\nnumbering together a population of between 25,000 and 30,000, whose\nchief employment consists in cultivating the palm, or date tree. At\nKreez they have an excellent spring, but which does not suffice to\nwater all their plantations, and hence they are forced to have recourse\nto the _naora_, so common on the coast. The naora is the name given\nto the rude, though ingenious contrivance, by means of which, through\nthe agency of either a camel, a mule, or a horse, water is raised\nfrom a deep well in earthen jars, which, as soon as they have emptied\ntheir contents into a wooden trough, descend for fresh supplies. The\nwater from the trough is then conducted by the planters into channels\nand trenches, as occasion requires. These are again easily diverted,\nand as soon as it is considered that the trees in one particular\ndirection have had a sufficient supply, fresh trenches are opened in\nanother direction, and in this manner the whole plantation receives the\nrequisite moisture and nourishment. We here engrave the naora.\n\nThe pain and labour which the inhabitants of such an oasis take with\ntheir vast date plantations are immense, but their toil is amply repaid\nby the \"lord of the vegetable world.\" Independent of its picturesque\nappearance, grateful shade, luscious fruit, and agreeable beverage, it\nsupplies them with fuel, and wood for the construction of their houses.\nFrom its leaves they manufacture baskets, ropes, mats, bags, couches,\nbrushes, brooms, fans, &c. From the branches they make fences, stools,\nand cages. The kernels, after being soaked in water for two or three\ndays, are eagerly eaten by camels.\n\nEvery palm-tree shoots forth a number of suckers, which are removed at\nthe proper season and transplanted. With care, these will produce fruit\nin about ten years, whereas those raised from kernels will only yield\ndates when they reach to the age of twenty. The tree reaches its vigour\nat thirty, and continues so till a hundred years old, when it begins\nto decline, and decays about the end of its second century. During its\nvigorous years, a good tree will produce between twenty and thirty\nclusters, each weighing about thirty pounds.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Naora.]\n\nMr. Morier relates an anecdote, which greatly illustrates how highly\nthe date-tree is appreciated by those who are from their infancy taught\nto value it. An Arab woman who had been in England, and who returned in\nthe suite of the English ambassador to Persia, on her reaching home,\ntold her countrywomen of the riches and beauty of the country she had\nvisited, and described the roads, the carriages, the scenery, the\nsplendour of the cities, and the fertility of the well-cultivated soil.\nHer audience were full of admiration, and had almost retired in envy,\nwhen she happened to mention that there was but one thing wanting to\nmake the whole almost a Paradise. \"And what is that?\" said they. \"Why,\nit has not a single date-tree. All the time that I was there, I never\nceased to look for one, but I looked in vain.\" The charm was instantly\nbroken; the Arabs turned away in pity for men, who, whatever might be\ntheir comforts, or their magnificence, were doomed to live in a country\nwhere there are no date-trees.\n\n\nPRIMITIVE PAIR OF BELLOWS.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Bellows.]\n\nAtmospheric denudation and weathering have produced remarkable effects\non the lower part of the Nonkreem valley, in the Khasia mountains,\nin India, which is blocked up by a pine-crested hill, 200 feet high,\nentirely formed of round blocks of granite, heaped up so as to resemble\nan old moraine; but, like the Nunklow boulders, these are not arranged\nas if by glacial action. The granite is very soft, decomposing into a\ncourse reddish sand, that colours the Boga-panee. To procure the iron\nsand, which is disseminated through it, the natives conduct water over\nthe beds, and as the lighter particles are washed away, the remainder\nis removed to troughs, where the separation of the ore is completed.\nThe smelting is very rudely carried on in charcoal fires, blown by\nenormous double-action bellows, worked by two persons, who stand on the\nmachine, raising the flaps with their hands, and expanding them with\ntheir feet, as shown in our cut. There is neither furnace nor flux used\nin the reduction. The fire is kindled on one side of an upright stone\n(like the head-stone of a grave), with a small arched hole close to the\nground: near this hole the bellows are suspended: and a bamboo tube\nfrom each of its compartments meets in a larger one, by which the draft\nis directed under the hole in the stone to the fire. The ore is run\ninto lumps as large as two fists, with a rugged surface: these lumps\nare afterwards cleft nearly in two to show their purity.\n\n\nPRESERVATION OF DEAD BODIES.\n\nAbout a mile distant from Palermo in Sicily, is a celebrated Monastery\nof Capuchins, in which there is a vault made use of as a receptacle for\nthe dead. It consists of four wide passages, each forty feet in length,\ninto which the light is admitted by windows, placed at the ends. Along\nthe sides of these subterraneous galleries are niches, in which the\nbodies are placed upright, and clothed in a coarse dress, with their\nheads, arms, and feet bare. They are prepared for this situation by\nbroiling them six or seven months upon a gridiron, over a slow fire,\ntill all the fat and moisture are consumed. The skin which looks\nlike pale-coloured leather, remains entire, and the character of the\ncountenance is, in some degree preserved.\n\n\nTHE CAGOTS.\n\nIn the Department of the Hautes Pyrenees in France is sometimes to be\nmet with a creature about four feet high, with an enormous head, stiff,\nlong hair, a pale countenance, a dead-looking eye, legs that have the\nappearance of being in the last stage of a dropsy, and an enormous\n_goitre_ on the neck, which sometimes hangs down below the stomach.\nThis unhappy being begs for charity by extending his hand, smiling\nvaguely, and by uttering inarticulate sounds or suppressed cries,\nwhich his desolate and degraded situation alone interprets. These\n_Cagots_, for so they are here called, live isolated from the rest of\nthe world; twenty years ago, if any one of these unfortunate beings\nleft his hut, and ventured into the towns or villages, the children\nwould exclaim--_Cagot! Cagot!_ and this cry would bring the smith from\nhis forge, the shopkeeper from his counter, the private individual\nfrom his fireside; and, if the poor being did not hasten his flight,\nand slow was his progress, he not unfrequently lost his life by the\nstones that were flung after him. There was, however, one day in the\nweek--Sunday, the Lord's day--and one asylum--the church, the Lord's\nhouse--that was free to them; yet man there made a distinction between\nhim and his fellow man. A narrow door, through which no one passed\nbut the _Cagots_, a chapel, which no one entered but these unhappy\n_Cagots_, was reserved for their sole use, where they offered up their\nimperfect prayers, without seeing or being seen by any one. Even in\nthese days, they are still considered an outcast race; and an alliance\nof a peasant girl of the plains with a _Cagot_, would excite as much\ncommotion among the inhabitants of the valleys of the Pyrenees, as\nthe famed one between Idamore and Neala, in M. Delavigne's celebrated\ntragedy of the Paria. Yet it is strange that these deformities do not\nshow themselves until a child has passed the age of six or seven: he\nis before this period like other healthy children; his complexion is\nfresh, his eye lively, and his limbs in proportion; but at twelve, his\nhead has increased prodigiously, his complexion has become sallow,\nhis teeth have lost their whiteness, his eye its fire. Three years\nlater his skin is shrivelled, his teeth open with difficulty, and he\npronounces all the consonants with a whistling indistinctness, that\nrenders his language unintelligible to strangers. His mind partakes of\nthe deformity and weakness of his body, for he is, at fifteen, little\nbetter than an idiot. Such are the _Cagots_ of the _Pyrenees_.\n\n\nDISCONTINUANCE OF TORTURE.\n\nTorture had been applied, down to the close of Elizabeth, to the\ninvestigation of all kinds of crime; but after that time it was chiefly\nconfined to state offences. Its favourite instrument was the dreadful\nrack, or break, traditionally said to have been introduced under\nHenry VI. by John, Duke of Exeter, constable of the Tower, whence it\nwas called the Duke of Exeter's daughter. A _milder_ punishment was\ninflicted by Skevington's gyves, which compressed the victim closely\ntogether, whilst the rack distended his whole frame in the most painful\nmanner. In 1588 the manacles were introduced, and soon became the\nmost usual mode of torture, but their precise character is not well\nunderstood. A variety of instruments of torture are still shown in\nthe Tower, taken, it is said, out of the Spanish Armada, but at all\nevents admirably suited to the gloomy dungeon wherein they appear, and\nin which half-starvation, and the horrid cells called Little Ease and\nRat's Dungeon (the latter placed below high water mark, and totally\ndark, so that the rats crowded in as the tide rose,) added to the\nsufferings of the poor victim when released for a brief space from\nthe fell grasp of the prison-ministers. Torture was not abolished\nin Scotland till 1708; in France till 1789; in Russia till 1801; in\nBavaria and Wurtemberg till 1806; in Hanover till 1822; nor in the\nGrand Duchy of Baden till 1831.\n\n\nTHE MODERN NAMES OF REGIMENTS.\n\nThe modern names of regiments were first given to them in the reign\nof Charles II., the Coldstreams or Foot Guards being formed in 1660,\nwhen two regiments were added to one raised about ten years before by\nGeneral Monk at Coldstream on the borders of Scotland; to these were\nadded the 1st Royal Scots, brought over from France at the Restoration.\nThe Life Guards were raised in 1661, with the Oxford Blues (so called\nfrom the first commander, Aubrey, Earl of Oxford); and also the 2nd\nor Queen's Foot. The 3rd or Old Buffs were raised in 1665, and the\n21st Foot or Scotch Fusileers (from their carrying the fusil, which\nwas lighter than the musket), in 1678. In that year the Grenadiers (so\nnamed from their original weapon, the hand grenade) were first brought\ninto our service, and in 1680 the 4th or King's Own were raised. James\nII. added to the cavalry the 1st or King's Regiment of Dragoon's\nGuards, and the 2nd or Queen's ditto in 1685; and to the infantry, in\nthe same year, the 5th and 7th, or Royal Fusileers; and in 1688 the\n23rd or Welsh Fusileers.\n\n\nWATCH PRESENTED BY LOUIS THE THIRTEENTH OF FRANCE TO CHARLES THE FIRST\nOF ENGLAND.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Watch Made for Charles I.]\n\nThe annexed engraving represents the watch which was made for Louis\nXIII. to present to King Charles I. It is of silver, richly gilt, the\nornaments covered with transparent enamel in white, red, green, blue,\nand yellow. The numbers are on a band of deep blue; the wheel-like\nornament in the centre on a ruby ground. The back is chased in high\nrelief with a figure of St. George conquering the Dragon; the horse is\ncovered with white enamel; the flesh tints on St. George are also of\nenamel; his tunic is red, and his scarf blue. On the side of the watch\nis the motto of the Order of the Garter; the _fleurs-de-lys_ above and\nbelow it on a ruby ground. The interior of the case is enriched by a\ndelicately executed arabesque filled with black enamel upon a dotted\nground. The entire works take out of the case, being secured thereto by\nsprings, and are all more or less decorated with engraving, the whole\ninterior being chased and gilt. The maker's name is S. Vallin.\n\n\nA WEDDING A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nOn the 7th June, 1750, was married at Rothbury, Mr. William Donkin, a\nconsiderable farmer, of Tosson, in the county of Northumberland, to\nMiss Eleanor Shotten, an agreeable young gentlewoman, of the same\nplace. The entertainments on this occasion were very grand, there\nbeing provided no less than one hundred and twenty quarters of lamb,\nforty quarters of veal, twenty quarters of mutton, a large quantity\nof beef, twelve hams, with a suitable number of chickens, which was\nconcluded with eight half ankers of brandy made into punch, twelve\ndozen of cider, and a great many gallons of wine. The company consisted\nof five hundred ladies and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music\nof twenty-five fiddlers and pipers; and the evening was spent with the\nutmost unanimity.\n\n\nGRACE KNIVES.\n\nThere is a curious class of knives, of the sixteenth century, the\nblade, of which have on one side the musical notes to the benediction\nof the table, or grace before meat, and on the other the grace after\nmeat. We here engrave a specimen.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Grace Knife.]\n\nThe set of these knives usually consisted of four. They were kept in\nan upright case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer\naccording to the adaptation of each part to the voice indicated upon\nthem.\n\n\nGARDEN AT KENILWORTH WHEN IN ITS PRIME.\n\nGossiping Laneham is very eloquent about the Kenilworth Garden, at\nwhich he took a timid and surreptitious peep. It was an acre or more in\nextent, and lay to the north of the stately castle: a pleasant terrace,\nten feet high, and twelve feet broad, even under foot and fresh with\ntrim grass, ran beside it along the castle wall. It was set with a\ngoodly show of obelisks and spheres, and white bears of stone, raised\nupon goodly bases. At each end was a fine arbour, redolent with sweet\ntrees and flowers. The garden-plot near had fair alleys of turf, and\nothers paved with smooth sand, pleasant to walk on as the sea-shore\nwhen the wave has just retired. The enclosure was divided into four\neven quarters: in the midst of each, upon a base of two feet square,\nrose a porphyry square pilaster, with a pyramidical pinnacle fifteen\nfeet high, pierced and hollowed, and crowned with an orb. All around\nwas covered with redolent herbs and flowers, varied in form, colour,\nand quantity, and mixed with fruit trees.\n\nIn the midst, opposite the terrace, stood a square aviary, joined to\nthe north wall, in height twenty feet, thirteen long, and fourteen\nbroad; it had four great windows, two in front and two at each end,\nand each five feet wide. These windows were arched, and separated by\nflat pilasters, which supported a cornice. The roof was of wire net,\nof meshes an inch wide; and the cornice was gilded and painted with\nrepresentations of precious stones. This great aviary had also eaves\nin the wall, for shelter from sun and heat, and for the purpose of\nbuilding. Fair holly trees stood at each end, on which the birds might\nperch and pounce. They had a keeper to attend to their seeds and water,\nand to clean out their enclosure. The birds were English, French, and\nSpanish. Some were from America; and Laneham is \"deceived\" if some were\nnot from the Canary Islands.\n\nIn the centre of this miniature Paradise stood a fountain with an\noctagonal basin rising four feet high; in the midst stood the figures\nof two Athletes, back to back, their hands upholding a fair marble\nbowl, from whence sundry pipes distilled continual streams into the\nreservoir. Carp, tench, bream, perch, and eel disported in the fresh\nfalling water; and on the top of all the ragged staff was displayed;\non one side Neptune guided his sea-horses with his trident, on another\nstood Thetis with her dolphins. Here Triton and his fishes, there\nProteus and his herds, Doris and her daughter, and half the Nereids,\ndisported in sea and sand, surrounded by whales, sturgeons, tunnies,\nand conch shells, all engraven with exquisite device and skill. By the\nsudden turn of a tap, the spectator could be drenched at the pleasure\nof any wit.\n\n\nEGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.\n\nIt appears from a paper recently read in the Academy of Archaeology, at\nRome, that Father Secchi has found a new interpretation of the Egyptian\nhieroglyphics, which enables him to declare, that most of them are not\nmere tombstone inscriptions, as is generally assumed, but poems. He\nhas given several of his readings, which display great ingenuity, and\nprofesses to be able to decipher the inscriptions on the Obelisk of\nLuxor, at Paris.\n\n\nTHE BAYEUX TAPESTRY.\n\nThe cathedral at Bayeux is a gothic building, dedicated to the Virgin.\nThe portal and three belfries, which belong to it, are objects of\ncuriosity. It is in this cathedral that the celebrated tapestry,\ndenominated _of Bayeux_, is kept. Its length is one hundred and\nthirty-two feet; its breadth, seven and a half. \"I had,\" says Dr.\nDucarel, \"the satisfaction of seeing that famous piece of furniture,\nwhich, with great exactness, though in _barbarous needlework_,\nrepresents the history of Harold, King of England; and of William,\nDuke of Normandy; from the embassy of the former to Duke William, at\nthe command of Edward the Confessor, to his overthrow and death, at\nthe battle fought near Hastings. The ground of this piece of work is a\nwhite linen cloth, or canvas. The figures of men, horses, &c. are in\ntheir proper colours, worked in the manner of the samplers, in worsted,\nand of a style not unlike what we see upon the China and Japan ware;\nthose of the men, particularly, being without the least symmetry or\nproportion. There is a small border, which runs at the top and the\nbottom of the tapestry; with several figures of men, beasts, flowers,\nand even fables, which have nothing to do with the history, but are\nmere ornaments. At the end of every particular scene there is a tree,\nby way of distinction; and over several of the principal figures there\nare inscriptions, but many of them obliterated. It is annually hung\nup on St. John's day, and goes round the nave of the church, where\nit continues eight days; and at all other times it is carefully kept\nlocked up in a strong wainscot press, in a chapel on the south side of\nthe cathedral, dedicated to Thomas a Becket. By tradition it is called,\n_Duke William's toilet_, and is said to be the work of Matilda, his\nqueen, and the ladies of her court, after he had obtained the crown of\nEngland.\" Mr. Strutt, in his \"Complete View of the Dresses and Habits\nof the People of England,\" affirms, that it is the work of half a\ncentury later than the time of the Conqueror.\n\n\nROMAN STAMP.\n\nThis curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very\nearliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any\nsimilar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the\nground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with\nwhich antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to\nthe elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions\nare, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a\nsmall ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As\nno person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman\nHistory, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some\nRoman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to\nsave himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar,\nin the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian\nSociety, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.\n\n\nTYRIAN PURPLE.\n\nThe shell-fish portrayed on next page is that from which the Tyrian\npurple dye is obtained. The ancients were very devoid of chemical\nknowledge; their list of adjective dye-stuffs was therefore restricted,\nand all the most celebrated dyes of antiquity belonged to the\nsubstantive division, of which Tyrian purple was undoubtedly the chief.\nThe purple dye of Tyre, which admits with great propriety of being\nincluded amongst the dyes of Greece and Rome, was discovered about\nfifteen centuries before the Christian era, and the art of using it\ndid not become lost until the eleventh century after Christ. It was\nobtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the smaller of\nwhich was denominated _buccinum_, the larger _purpura_, and to both the\ncommon name murex was applied. The dye-stuff was procured by puncturing\na vessel in the throat of the larger genus, and by pounding the smaller\nentire. Having been thus extracted, salt was added, also a certain\namount of water. The whole was then kept hot about eight or ten days in\na vessel of lead or tin, the impurities as they rose being assiduously\nskimmed off. The dye-stuff was now ready to receive the texture to\nbe dyed (wool, universally), and the operation of dyeing was simple\nenough; nothing further being required than the immersion of the whole\nfor a sufficient time, when, at the expiration of a certain period, the\nwhole of the colouring matter was found to have been removed, and to\nhave combined with the textile fabric.\n\nThe tints capable of being imparted by this material were\nvarious--representing numerous shades between purple and crimson.\nAmongst these a very dark violet shade was much esteemed, but the\nright imperial tint, we are informed, was that resembling coagulated\nblood. The discovery of Tyrian purple dye is referred to the fifteenth\ncentury before Christ. That it was known to the Egyptians, in the\ntime of Moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more\nthan one scriptural passage. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive\npolicy of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only\na few individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth\ncentury, when Byzantium was already suffering from attacks without,\nand dissensions within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of Tyre\nbecame lost.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Shell-Fish From Which Tyrian Purple Is Extracted.]\n\nThe re-discovery of Tyrian purple as it occurred in England was made\nby Mr. Cole of Bristol. About the latter end of the year 1683, this\ngentleman heard from two ladies residing at Minehead, that a person\nliving somewhere on the coast of Ireland, supported himself by marking\nwith a delicate crimson colour the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen\nsent him for that purpose, which colour was the product of some liquid\nsubstance taken out of a shell-fish. This recital at once brought\nto the recollection of Mr. Cole the tradition of Tyrian purple. He,\nwithout delay, went in quest of the shell-fish, and after trying\nvarious kinds without success, his efforts were at length successful.\nHe found considerable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast\nof Somersetshire, and the opposite coast of South Wales. The fish\nbeing found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye, which in its\nnatural state is not purple, but white, the purple tint being the\nresult of exposure to the air. At length our acute investigator found\nthe dye stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a little furrow or\ncleft next to the head of the fish.\n\n\nTHE INCARNATIONS OF VISHNU.\n\nThere is a part of the mythology of India which seems to be blended\nwith the history of that country. It relates to the different _avatars_\nof Vishnu, or his incarnations and appearances on earth.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Incarnation of Vishnu.]\n\nThe first of these _avatars_ has reference to that general deluge of\nwhich all nations have preserved some traditions. Vishnu, we are told,\nmetamorphosed himself into a fish.\n\nThe second incarnation is that of _Kourma_, or the tortoise. The gods\nand the giants, wishing to obtain immortality by eating _amourdon_,\ndelicious butter, formed in one of the seven seas of the universe,\nwhich the Indians call sea of milk, transported, by Vishnu's advice,\nthe mountain of Mandreguivi into that sea: they twisted round it the\nserpent Adissechen, and alternately pulling, some by his hundred heads,\nothers by the tail, they made the mountain turn round in such a manner,\nas to agitate the sea and to convert it into butter; but they pulled\nwith such rapidity, that Adissechen, overcome with weakness, could no\nlonger endure it. His body shuddered; his hundred trembling mouths made\nthe universe resound with hisses; a torrent of flames burst from his\neyes; his hundred black pendent tongues palpitated, and vomited forth a\ndeadly poison, which immediately spread all around. The gods and giants\nbetook themselves to flight. Vishnu, bolder than the rest, took the\npoison, and with it rubbed his body, which became quite blue. It is in\nmemory of this event, that this colour is given to his image in almost\nall the temples.\n\nThe gods and the giants, encouraged by Vishnu's example, fell to\nwork again. After they had laboured a thousand years, the mountain\nwas on the point of sinking in the sea, when Vishnu, in the form of\na tortoise, quickly placed himself beneath, and supported it. At\nlength they saw the cow Camadenu, the horse with seven heads, and the\nelephant with three trunks, coming out of the sea of milk; also the\ntree _calpaga vrutcham_; Lacshmi, goddess of riches, wife of Vishu;\nSaraswadi, goddess of the sciences and of harmony, married to Brama;\nMondevi, goddess of discord and misery, whom nobody would have, and who\nis represented riding on an ass, and holding in her hand a banner, on\nwhich a raven is delineated; and, lastly, Danouvandri, the physician,\ncarrying a vessel full of _amourdon_, which the gods instantly\nseized, and greedily devoured, without leaving a morsel. The giants,\ndisappointed in their expectations, dispersed over the earth, prevented\nmankind from paying worship to the gods, and strove to obtain adoration\nfor themselves. Their insolence occasioned the subsequent incarnations\nof Vishnu, who endeavoured to destroy this race, so inimical to the\ngods. He is adored in this second metamorphosis, by the name of\n_Kourma Avatara_. The followers of Vishnu believe that this god,\nthough omnipresent, resides more particularly in the _vaicondom_, his\nparadise, amidst the sea of milk, reclined, in contemplative slumber,\non the serpent Adissechen, which serves him for a throne: in this state\nhe is called _Siranguan_. In all the temples of Vishnu is to be seen\nthe figure of this god; but as the serpent on which he lies cannot be\nrepresented with his hundred heads, he is delineated with only five.\n\nThere are altogether ten incarnations of Vishnu; nine of these have\nalready been fulfilled, and one is yet to be manifested, it is\nexpected about ninety thousand years hence. The account of many of the\ntransformations is exceedingly extraordinary, but we have room for no\nmore than the one we have given.\n\n\nORIGIN OF LONG-TOED SHOES.\n\nLong-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou, to hide an\nexcrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so long as to be\nfastened to the knees with gold chains, and carved at the extreme point\nwith the representation of a church window, a bird, or some fantastic\ndevice.\n\n\nTHE HOUSE OF HEN'S FEATHERS.\n\nThere exists at Pekin a phalanstery which surpasses in eccentricity\nall that the fertile imagination of Fourier could have conceived. It\nis called Ki-mao-fan--that is, \"House of the Hen's Feathers.\" By dint\nof carrying out the laws of progress, the Chinese have found means\nto furnish to the poorest of the community a warm feather-bed, for\nthe small consideration of one-fifth of a farthing per night. This\nmarvellous establishment is simply composed of one great hall, and the\nfloor of this great hall is covered over its whole extent by one vast\nthick layer of feathers. Mendicants and vagabonds who have no other\ndomicile come to pass the night in this immense dormitory. Men, women,\nand children, old and young, all without exception, are admitted.\nCommunism prevails in the full force and rigour of the expression.\nEvery one settles himself and makes his nest as well as he can for\nthe night in this ocean of feathers; when day dawns he must quit the\npremises, and an officer of the company stands at the door to receive\nthe rent of one sapeck each for the night's lodging. In deference no\ndoubt to the principle of equality, half-places are not allowed, and a\nchild must pay the same as a grown person.\n\nOn the first establishment of this eminently philanthropic and moral\ninstitution, the managers of it used to furnish each of the guests\nwith a covering, but it was found necessary to modify this regulation,\nfor the communist company got into the habit of carrying off their\ncoverlets to sell them, or to supply an additional garment during the\nrigorous cold of winter. The shareholders saw that this would never do,\nand they should be ruined, yet to give no covering at all would have\nbeen too cruel, and scarcely decent. It was necessary therefore to find\nsome method of reconciling the interests of the establishment with the\ncomfort of the guests, and the way in which the problem was solved was\nthis. An immense felt coverlet, of such gigantic dimensions as to cover\nthe whole dormitory, was made, and in the day time suspended from the\nceiling like a great canopy. When everybody had gone to bed, that is to\nsay, had lain down upon the feathers, the counterpane was let down by\npulleys; the precaution having been previously taken to make a number\nof holes in it for the sleepers to put their heads through, in order\nto escape the danger of suffocation. As soon as it is daylight, the\nphalansterian coverlet is hoisted up again, after a signal has been\nmade on the tam-tam to awaken those who are asleep, and invite them to\ndraw their heads back into the feathers, in order not to be caught by\nthe neck and hoisted into the air with the coverlet. This immense swarm\nof beggars is then seen crawling about in the sea of dirty feathers,\nand inserting themselves again into their miserable rags, preparatory\nto gathering into groups, and dispersing about the various quarters of\nthe town to seek by lawful or unlawful means their scanty subsistence.\n\n\nTHE USEFUL AND THE BEAUTIFUL.\n\nThe tomb of Moses is unknown; but the traveller slakes his thirst at\nthe well of Jacob. The gorgeous palace of the wisest and wealthiest\nof monarchs, with cedar, and the gold, and ivory, and even the great\nTemple of Jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of the Deity\nhimself, are gone; but Solomon's reservoirs are as perfect as ever. Of\nthe ancient architecture of the Holy City, not one stone is left upon\nanother, but the Pool of Bethsaida commands the pilgrim's reverence, at\nthe present day. The columns of Persepolis are mouldering into dust;\nbut its cistern and aqueducts remain to challenge our admiration. The\ngolden house of Nero is a mass of ruins, but the Aqua Claudia still\npours into Rome its limpid stream. The Temple of the Sun, at Tadmore,\nin the wilderness, has fallen, but its fountain sparkles in its rays,\nas when thousands of worshippers thronged its lofty colonnades. It\nmay be that London will share the fate of Babylon, and nothing be\nleft, to mark it, save mounds of crumbling brickwork. The Thames will\ncontinue to flow as it does now. And if any work of art should rise\nover the deep ocean, time, we may well believe, that it will be\nneither a palace nor a temple, but some vast aqueduct or reservoir;\nand if any name should flash through the mist or antiquity, it would\nprobably be that of the man, who in his day, sought the happiness of\nhis fellow men, rather than glory, and linked his memory to some great\nwork of national utility or benevolence. This is the true glory which\noutlives all others, and shines with undying lustre from generation\nto generation, imparting to works some of its own immortality, and in\nsome degree rescuing them from the ruin which overtakes the ordinary\nmonument of historical tradition or mere magnificence.\n\n\nCROMWELL'S BRIDGE AT GLENGARIFF.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Cromwell's Bridge at Glengariff.]\n\nThe village of Glengariff, near Bantry Bay, consists of but a few\nhouses. The only \"antiquity\" in the immediate neighbourhood is the\nold bridge, now a picturesque ruin, which, in ancient times, was on\nthe high road to Berehaven; it is called \"Cromwell's Bridge.\" It is\naccurately represented in the above engraving. History being silent as\nto the origin of the name, we must have recourse to tradition. When\nOliver was passing through the glen, to \"visit\" the O'Sullivans, he had\nso much trouble in getting across the narrow but rushing river, that he\ntold the inhabitants, if they did not build him a bridge by the time he\nreturned, he would hang up a man for every hour's delay he met with.\n\"So the bridge was ready agin he come back,\" quoth our informant; \"for\nthey knew the ould villian to be a man of his word.\"\n\n\nTHE TURBAN IN ARABIA.\n\nA fashionable Arab will wear fifteen caps one above another, some of\nwhich are linen, but the greater part of thick cloth or cotton. That\nwhich covers the whole is richly embroidered with gold, and inwrought\nwith texts or passages from the Koran. Over all there is wrapped a sash\nor large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and ornamented\nwith silk or gold fringes. This useless encumbrance is considered a\nmark of respect towards superiors. It is also used, as the beard was\nformerly in Europe, to indicate literary merit; and those who affect\nto be thought men of learning, discover their pretensions by the size\nof their turbans. No part of Oriental costume is so variable as this\ncovering for the head. Niebuhr has given illustrations of forty-eight\ndifferent ways of wearing it.\n\n\nSTONEWARE.\n\nStoneware was made at a very early period in China, and is much used as\na basis on which a paste of porcelain is laid, to save the expenditure\nof the latter material, as well as to give strength and solidity to the\npiece. Most of the larger pieces of Oriental production are found to be\nthus formed. The red Japan ware is a very fine unglazed stoneware, and\nhas raised ornaments, which are sometimes gilt. A curious coffee-pot\nof this ware, imitating a bundle of bamboo canes, and not unlike the\nChinese musical instrument called a mouth-organ, from the collection of\nthe late Mr. Beckford, is here represented.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Stoneware Coffee-Pot.]\n\nStoneware is supposed to have been made at a very early period in\nEngland by Dutch and German workmen; and from this circumstance it\nis almost impossible to distinguish the earlier fabrics of these\nrespective countries. The discovery, in 1690, of an economical process\nof glazing this ware by means of common salt, which made it impermeable\nto liquids, soon brought it into general use, and displaced all the\nmanufactures of the Delft and soft paste fabrics. A mottled-brown\nstoneware, known to collectors, is stated to be the manufacture of the\nage of Edward VI., in consequence of some of the specimens having a\nsilver mounting of the make and fashion of the period of Elizabeth's\nreign. There is also a large flagon in the Museum of Economic Geology,\nornamented with the royal arms of Elizabeth in relief, with the date\n1594. These specimens cannot, however, be deemed conclusive of so early\na manufacture in England. The first-mentioned specimens, though the\nmounting is English, may have been of German manufacture, as pieces\nof similar description of ware are to be seen in various collections\nof German pottery abroad. The latter specimen may either have been\nmade at Cologne for the use of the Queen's household, or if of English\nmanufacture, it must, in the opinion of a very eminent manufacturer,\nhave been made at a much later period than the date upon it. In a\nletter received, he states \"that it is a common practice even now among\npotters to use moulds of all dates and styles, which have been got up\noriginally for very different kinds of ornamental work, and that he\nis strongly inclined to think that the mould from which the devices\non this vessel have been pressed, was modelled many years before the\nvessel was made, and that the vessel itself is comparatively modern.\"\nStoneware, ornamented with devices in white clay, was made in the\nseventeenth century at Fulham, also at Lambeth, and subsequently at\nStaffordshire; but there is no satisfactory evidence of any earlier\nmanufactory in England.\n\nTowards the end of the seventeenth century, some specimens of red Japan\nware were imported into Europe. Both Dutch and English manufacturers\nattempted to imitate them, but failed for want of the proper clay.\nAbout this period, two brothers of the name of Elers, from Nuremberg,\ndiscovered at Bradwell, only two miles distant from Burslem, a bed\nof fine compact red clay, which they worked in a small manufactory,\nestablished in a retired situation upon the bed itself. They took\nevery precaution to prevent any one seeing their process or learning\ntheir secret. They went so far as to employ none but the most ignorant\nand almost idiot workmen they could find. Astbury, the elder, had\nthe talent to counterfeit the idiot, and, moreover, the courage to\npersevere in this character for some years during which he continued\nin their employ. From memory he made notes of the processes, and\ndrawings of the machinery used. In consequence of the secret being\nthus discovered, numerous establishments arose in competition with\nthat of the Elers, and, owing to the general prejudice against them\nas foreigners, they were finally compelled, in 1720, to quit their\nestablishment. They retired to the neighbourhood of London, and, it is\nsupposed, contributed by their skill and industry to the establishment\nof the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory.\n\n\nGREAT BELL OF ROUEN.\n\nThe grand entrance to the cathedral of Rouen is flanked by two towers,\nthe one was erected by St. Romain; the expense for constructing the\nother, which bears the whimsical name of _Tour-de-beurre_, was raised\nby the product arising from permissions granted to the more wealthy\nand epicurean part of the inhabitants of the city, to eat butter in\nLent. It was in this tower that the celebrated bell, the largest in\nthe world, was erected; it weighed 40,000 lbs.; it was converted into\ncannon in the year 1793. The founder of this bell died of joy on seeing\nits completion. It went by his name, that of George D'Amboise, and\nround it was the following distich in gothic characters:--\n\n \"Je suis nomme George d'Amboise,\n Qui bien trente-six-mille poise,\n Et celui qui bien me pesera,\n Quarante mille trouvera.\"\n\n\nVARIATIONS IN THE COINAGE.\n\nHenry VIII. greatly debased both his gold and silver coins, which he\nalloyed with copper to a great extent. The proportions of the pound,\nindeed, in 1546, amounted to 8 oz. of alloy to 4 oz. of silver, which\nconstituted, a positively base coin, the old allowance having been\nbut 18 pennyweights of alloy to 11 oz. and 2 pennyweights of silver.\nHis depreciations were equally daring, for out of the pound of silver\nhe now coined 576 pennies or 48s. The gold coins of this monarch were\nsovereigns, half-sovereigns or rials, half and quarter rials, angels,\nhalf and quarter angels, George nobles, and forty-penny pieces. In\nthis reign the immemorial privileges of the sees of Canterbury, York,\nand Durham, for coining small money, was abandoned, the last Bishop\nthat used it being Wolsey's successor, Edward Lee.\n\nEdward VI. carried both depreciation and debasement still farther; but\ntowards the close of his reign he was obliged to restore the currency\nto something like the ancient standard. He was the first that issued\ncrowns, half-crowns, and sixpences. Little alterations were made by\nMary, beyond striking coins with her husband's head as well as her own;\nbut under Elizabeth the coinage was, at length, completely recovered\nfrom its debasement, the old proportion of 18 pennyweights of alloy\nbeing restored, which has continued to the present day. The number of\nshillings struck out of a pound of silver was not lessened, however,\nfor it continued to be sixty, as in the preceding reign, till 1601,\nwhen it was increased to sixty-two, at which rate it went on to 1816,\nwhen it was raised to sixty-six, at which it now remains. Her gold\ncoins are much the same as before, but are distinguished by having\nthe edges milled for the first time. Shortly before her death she had\nintended to coin farthings and other small pieces of copper, a metal\nwhich had not yet been made use of in this country.\n\n\nCHAFFINCH CONTEST.\n\nAt the town of Armentieres, in France, there is a _fete du pays_,\ncalled _hermesse_, or _ducasse d'Armentieres_, in which the chaffinch\nand its fellows are the chief actors and objects of attraction. Numbers\nof these birds are trained with the greatest care, and no small share\nof cruelty, for they are frequently blinded by their owners, that\ntheir song may not be interrupted by any external object. The point\nupon which the amusement, the honour, and the emolument rests, is, the\nnumber of times which a bird will repeat his song in a given time. A\nday being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed place, each with\nhis bird in a cage. The prize is then displayed, and the birds are\nplaced in a row. A bird-fancier notes how many times each bird sings,\nand another verifies his notes. In the year 1812, a chaffinch repeated\nhis song seven hundred times in one hour. Emulated by the songs of each\nother, they strain their little \"plumed throats,\" as if conscious that\nhonour was to result from their exertions.\n\n\nEXPENSIVENESS OF DRESS IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.\n\nDress, indeed, must have swallowed up almost every thing at a time when\nJames and his courtiers set the fashion of appearing in a new garb\nalmost every day. When the Duke of Buckingham was sent to France to\nbring over Henrietta Maria, he provided, amongst others, one suit of\nwhite uncut velvet, and a cloak set all over with diamonds, valued at\nL80,000; besides a feather made of great diamonds, and sword, girdle,\nhat-band, and spurs, thick set with the same. Another suit of purple\nsatin, embroidered all over with pearls, was valued at L20,000. At the\nmarriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palatine, Lady Wotton wore\na gown profusely ornamented with embroidery that cost L50 a yard; and\nLord Montague spent L1,500 on the dresses of his two daughters for that\noccasion. By this account it would seem that the ladies were, at all\nevents, not more expensive in their attire than gentlemen.\n\n\nINGENUITY OF THE TUNISIANS.\n\nA stranger visiting a city like Tunis, cannot but be struck with the\nvarious peculiarities, which present themselves to his view, wherever\nhe turns. In their government, mercantile pursuits, professions and\ntrades, the Tunisians are centuries behind. But, with all their\ndisadvantages, the traveller, in traversing their crowded _sooks_\n(market places) and serpentine streets, finds numerous illustrations of\nthe proverb, \"Necessity is the mother of invention.\" In every workshop\nsome tool, or implement, presents itself, which is as curious in its\nformation as it is strange to see the peculiar use for which it is\nintended, and the manner in which it is employed. We may illustrate\nthis by a sketch of a turner.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ingenuity of a Turner.]\n\nThe extraordinary ingenuity here exhibited by the remarkable use which\nthe artisan makes of his feet and toes, as well as of his hands, cannot\nfail to attract attention; and the display of his lathe and tools is\nequally curious.\n\n\nSHANAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.\n\nTwo acts seem essential to the demon worship of the Shanars of\nTin-nevelly (a portion of the aborigines of India)--dancing and bloody\nsacrifices. They have no priest. The person who conducts the ceremony,\nwhich is undertaken from choice, is called the rotator of the demon.\nThe head man of the village, or any other person, male or female, may\nofficiate. The dress is grotesque, consisting of a sort of coat of\nvarious colours, a cap, and other vestments, arranged so as to strike\nthe spectators with their comic appearance. In this service several\nmusical instruments are used, but the most notable among them is one\ncalled a _bow_. It consists of a bow strung and ornamented with bells.\nThis is placed on a brazen vessel of a globular form. The bow is struck\nwith a plectrum, and the bass is produced by the application of an\ninstrument to the brazen pot, another person keeping time by playing a\npair of cymbals, as seen in the annexed cut.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Shanar Musical Instrument.]\n\nThe jarring, discordant, uproarious and cacophonous character of this\nmusical accompaniment exceeds description, and when the parties are\nvieing with each other for pre-eminence, it is indeed the most horrid\ndin that can be produced. At first the movements of the dancer may\nbe slow, but as the music waxes louder and takes effect, he becomes\ngradually more excited, urging himself to phrenzy by striking himself\nviolently, and applying his mouth to the neck of the decapitated\nsacrificial victim, he drinks its blood, and possibly a potation\nof ardent spirits. The afflatus thus acquired, its effects become\nvisible in the frantic glare and the convulsive gesticulations of\nthe possessed. This is greeted by the spectators with the loudest\nacclamations. The dancer is now deified or demonized, and he is\nconsulted by the eager and delighted worshippers who do him homage.\nEach one puts his questions as his fancy or his needs may dictate.\nThe possessed or demonized dancer, being more like a maniac than\naught else, and subject to various contortions of body, utters his\noracles with much indistinctness, rendering it necessary that some\none initiated into these mysteries should interpret his wild and\nincoherent utterances. His ambiguous sayings and curious innuendos are\nso indefinite as to need interpretation.\n\n\nSINGULAR LOCAL CUSTOMS.\n\nIn the department of the Hautes Alpes of France, in the commune\nof _Guillaume-Perouse_, at the village of _Andrieux_, where the\ninhabitants are deprived during one hundred days of the bright beams\nof the sun, there is a fete, called _Le retour du soleil_, on the\n10th of February. At the dawn of day, four shepherds announce, to the\nsound of fifes and trumpets, the commencement of this joyous day.\nEvery cottager having prepared an omelette, the eldest inhabitant of\nthe village, to whom the title of _Venerable_ is given, leads the way\nto the square; here they form a chain and dance the _ferandola_ round\nhim: after the dance is concluded, he leads the way to a stone bridge\nat the entrance of the village, the shepherds playing upon their rural\ninstruments the while. Every one having deposited his omelette on the\nstone coping, they repair to a neighbouring meadow, where the dancing\nre-commences and continues until the first rays of the sun gleam\nathwart the velvet turf: the dance then instantly ceases, each one\nhastens for his pancake, and holding it up, presents it as an offering\nto the god of day; the _Venerable_ holds his up with both his hands.\nAs soon as the sun shines upon the village the procession returns to\nthe square, where the party separates, and every one repairs to his\nown home, to eat his pancake with his family. This ceremony cannot\nfail to recal the heathen mythology to the reader, who must see in it\nthe offerings made to Apollo; or, perhaps, it may be the remains of\nsome Druidical superstition, as the Druids paid particular devotion to\nthe sun; at any rate, it is a curious vestige of some religion long\nsince gone by. In some of the communes of this department the dead\nare wrapped in a winding-sheet, but are not inclosed in a coffin. In\nthe valleys of _Queyras_ and of _Grave_, the dead are suspended in a\nbarn during five months in the winter, until the earth be softened by\nthe sun's rays, when the corpse is consigned to its native element.\nAll funereal ceremonies are closed by eating and drinking. In some\ncommunes the people carry a flagon of wine to the churchyard; and on\nthe return of the guests to the home of the deceased, it becomes a\nscene of bacchanalian revels, in which the groans and sighs of the\nmourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebriated guests.\nAt _Argentiere_, after the burial, the tables are set out round the\nchurchyard; that of the curate and the mourning family over the grave\nitself. The dinner concluded, the nearest relation takes a glass; his\nexample is followed by the rest, repeating with him, _A la sante du\npauvre mort_.\n\n\nSEVERITY OF RUSSIAN PUNISHMENTS.\n\nThe Russians are remarkable for the severity and variety of their\npunishments, which are both inflicted and endured with a wonderful\ninsensibility. Peter the Great used to suspend the robbers upon the\nWolga, and other parts of his dominions by iron hooks fixed to their\nribs, on gibbets, where they writhed themselves to death, hundreds,\nnay thousands, at a time. The single and double knoute were lately\ninflicted upon ladies, as well as men of quality. Both of them are\nexcruciating, but in the double knoute, the hands are bound behind\nthe prisoner's back; and the cord being fixed to a pulley, lifts him\nfrom the ground, with the dislocation of both his shoulders, and then\nhis back is in a manner sacrificed by the executioner, with a hard\nthong, cut from a wild ass's akin. This punishment has been so often\nfatal, that a surgeon generally attends the patient to pronounce the\nmoment that it should cease. Another barbarous punishment practised in\nRussia is, first boring the tongue of the criminal through with an hot\niron, and then cutting it out: and even the late Empress Elizabeth,\nthough she prohibited capital punishments, was forced to give way to\nthe necessity of those tortures. From these particulars, many have\nconcluded that the feelings of the Russians are different from those of\nmankind in general.\n\n\nFIRST RHINOCEROS IN EUROPE.\n\nThe first rhinoceros ever seen in Europe was that of which Pliny speaks\nas having been presented by Pompey to the Roman people. According to\nDion Cassius, Augustus caused another to be killed in the Roman circus,\nwhen celebrating his triumph over Cleopatra. Strabo states that he saw\none at Alexandria, and he has left a description of it. All these were\nof the one-horned species. At a later period the two-horned species\nwere introduced, as appears from medals bearing their effigies struck\nin the reign of Domitian. During the time known as the dark ages,\ninvestigations in natural history and every other department of science\nand learning were utterly neglected, and the rhinoceros was as mythical\nto Europe as the phoenix or the salamander. On the revival of letters,\nhowever, and the extension of maritime discovery, a lively interest was\nmanifested in the productions of foreign countries. In 1513 the king\nof Portugal presented the Roman Pontiff with a rhinoceros captured in\nIndia; but, unfortunately, the ship was wrecked on its way to Italy:\nthe pope lost his present, and the rhinoceros his life. All that was\npreserved was a rough sketch, engraved by Albert Durer; and down to a\nvery recent date, nearly all our representations were taken from this\nrough draft.\n\nIn 1685 a rhinoceros was captured and brought to England. In 1739 and\n1741 two others were exhibited in various parts of Europe. In 1800 a\nyoung one was brought from India, intended for a menagerie at Vienna,\nbut died at London on the way, and was dissected by Mr. Thomas, who\npublished the results of his investigations, and thus gave the public a\nbetter idea of the animal than they ever had before.\n\n\nTURKISH CARRIAGE.\n\nThe curiously-shaped vehicle which we have engraved on the next page,\nis a Turkish _araba_, a carriage chiefly used by ladies. An account of\none of them is pleasantly introduced by Mr. Albert Smith in his \"Month\nat Constantinople\" when describing the visit of the Sultan to one of\nthe mosques:--\n\n\"Every Friday the Sultan goes to mosque publicly. It is not known until\nthe very morning which establishment he means to patronise; but your\ndragoman has secret channels of information, and he always informs you\nin time to 'assist' at the ceremony.\n\n\"The first time I went, Abdul Medjid had selected for his devotions the\nmosque of Beglerbeg, a village on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus,\nthe temple of which stands in the same relation and bearing to St.\nSophia--to use a very familiar simile--as Rotherhithe Church does to\nSt. Paul's. It was a perfect English morning--foggy and cold (Oct. 7)\nwith muddy streets and spitting rain. I crossed into Asia--one learns\nto speak of Asia, at Constantinople, as he would do of the borough--in\na two-oared caique, and on landing went up to the mosque, which is\nclose to the shore.\n\nA crowd of people, consisting principally of females, had collected\nbefore the mosque, and a square space was kept by the soldiers. Some\nlittle courtesy was shown to visitors, as the Franks were permitted to\ncross this enclosure to a corner close to the door, by which the Sultan\nwas to enter.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Turkish Carriage.]\n\nHe was not very punctual to his time, but there was enough to amuse\nthe visitors; more especially in the arrival of the women, who came up\nas near as they could to the building, in all sorts of odd vehicles.\nSeveral were like those I had seen on the bridge at Pera, but one\nwas very fine indeed. It was more like a waggon than a carriage, and\npainted bright blue, with red wheels and awning. In it were five ladies\nof the Sultan's harem, very gaily dressed, and laughing loudly as the\nvehicle shook them about over the rugged road. It was drawn by two\nbuffaloes, and they had a singular arrangement of worsted tufts over\ntheir heads, of various bright colours. This was the first waggon of\nthe kind I had seen, but I afterwards found them very common. Other\nwomen were on foot, and a number of these had collected upon a hillock\nunder a tree, where they talked and quarrelled incessantly. One very\npale and handsome girl arrived alone, in a car, preceded by two or\nthree attendants: and, whilst trying to pass a narrow thoroughfare\namongst the other vehicles, the wheel of her own got smashed to pieces.\nShe was then close to the Frank visitors, and, as she appeared likely\nto be overturned, two or three gentlemen from Misseri's hotel, ran\nforward to offer their assistance. In a minute they were put back by\nthe attendants, who could not think of allowing their mistress to be\ntouched, even from chance, by a Christian. The carriage was propped\nup, as well as it could be; and its inmate, who had remained perfectly\ntranquil during the accident, fixed her large eyes on the enclosure,\nand never moved them again, to the right or left.\"\n\n\nCURIOUS INDIAN COMB.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Indian Comb.]\n\nAt the foot of the Himalayas, and not far from the European station\nof Darjeeling, there is a tract of country which is still inhabited\nby a tribe of very ancient origin, called the Mechs; they are rapidly\ndegenerating, and indeed may be said to be even now almost worn out as\na distinct tribe. They are but rarely visited by Europeans; but Dr.\nHooker inspected their district in 1850, and gives the following brief\ndescription of its appearance:--\n\n\"We arrived on the third day at the Mechi river, to the west of which\nthe Nepal Morung begins, whose belt of Sal forest loomed on the\nhorizon, so raised by refraction as to be visible as a dark line, from\nthe distance of many miles. It is, however, very poor, all the large\ntrees having been removed. We rode for several miles into it, and\nfound the soil dry and hard, but supporting a prodigious undergrowth\nof gigantic harsh grasses that reached to our heads, though we were\nmounted on elephants. Tigers, wild elephants, and the rhinoceros are\nsaid to be found here; but we saw none.\n\n\"The old and new Mechi rivers are several miles apart, but flow in the\nsame depression, a low swamp many miles broad, which is grazed at this\nseason, and cultivated during the rains. The grass is very rich, partly\nowing to the moisture of the climate, and partly to the retiring\nwaters of the rivers; both circumstances being the effects of proximity\nto the Himalayas. Hence cattle (buffaloes and the common humped cow\nof India) are driven from the banks of the Ganges 300 miles to these\nfeeding grounds, for the use of which a trifling tax is levied on each\nanimal. The cattle are very carelessly herded, and many are carried off\nby tigers.\"\n\nWe give a sketch on previous page of a pocket-comb which Dr. Hooker\nobtained from one of the natives: it is, at all events, much more\ntasteful in its form and ornamentation than the usual run of English\npocket-combs.\n\n\nSINGULAR HINDOO VOW.\n\nThe following extraordinary vow is performed by some of the Hindoo\nat their festival of _Charak Puja_:--Stretching himself on the earth\non his back, the devotee takes a handful of moist earth, and placing\nthis on his under lip, he plants in it some mustard-seed, and exposes\nhimself to the dews of the night and the heat of the day till the seed\ngerminates. In this posture the man must lie in a fixed motionless\ncondition, without food or drink, till the vegetable process liberates\nhim, which will generally be about the fourth day.\n\n\nTHE ARRANGEMENT OF ABBEY BUILDINGS.\n\nAt the dissolution of the Abbeys in England, under King Henry VIII.,\n190 were dissolved, of from L200 to L35,000 a year; amounting to an\naggregate sum of L2,853,000 per annum. The principal buildings of\nan Abbey, were, first, the church, differing little from one of the\ncathedrals of the present day. Attached to one side of the nave,\ncommonly the southern, was, secondly, the great cloister, which had\ntwo entrances to the church, at the eastern and western ends of the\naisles of the nave, for the greater solemnity of processions. Over the\nwestern side of the cloister, was, thirdly, the dormitory of the monks;\na long room, divided into separate cells, each containing a bed, with\na mat, blanket, and rug, together with a desk and stool, and occupied\nby a monk. This apartment had a door, which opened immediately into\nthe church, on account of midnight offices. Attached to the side of\nthe cloister, opposite to the church, was fourthly, the refectory,\nwhere the monks dined; near to which, was the locutorium, or parlour,\nan apartment answering to the common room of a college, where in the\nintervals of prayer and study, the monks sat and conversed. Beyond,\nwas the kitchen and its offices; and, adjoining to it, the buttery,\n&c. On the eastern side of the cloisters was, in the centre, the\nchapter-house, where the business of the Abbey was transacted; and near\nit, the library, and scriptorium, where the monks employed themselves\nin copying books. On this side, also, was the treasury, where the\ncostly plate and church ornaments were kept. The abbot and principal\nofficers of the convent, had all separate houses, to the eastward of\nthe cloister; in which part of the building, were usually the hostelry\nand question hall--rooms for the entertainment of strangers; and, also,\nthe apartment of novices. Westward of the cloister was an outward\ncourt, round which was the monks' infirmary, and the almery. An\nembattled gatehouse led to this court, which was the principal entrance\nof the Abbey. The whole was surrounded with a high wall, including\nin its precincts, gardens, stables, granary, &c. Some of the great\nAbbeys--as Glastonbury, and Furness--covered sixty acres of ground. The\nsituation chosen for the site of an Abbey was as different from that of\nthe castle as the purpose to which it was applied. The one meant for\ndefence stands boldly on the hill; the other, intended for meditation,\nis hid in the sequestered valley. The abbots were originally laymen and\nsubject to the bishop.\n\n\nTAME FISH.\n\nIn sailing down the river Irawadi, in the neighbourhood of Amarapoora,\nthe capital of the empire of Burmah, Captain Yule met with some tame\nfish, which he thus describes:--\n\n\"Having gone over the little island, I returned to my boat, where a\nsight awaited me, that I confess astonished me more than anything I\nhave ever seen before.\n\n\"On nearing the island as we descended the river, the headman in the\nboat had commenced crying out _tet-tet! tet-tet!_ as hard as he could,\nand on my asking him what he was doing, he said he was calling the\nfish. My knowledge of Burmese did not allow me to ask him further\nparticulars, and my interpreter was in the other boat, unwell. But, on\nmy coming down to the boat again, I found it surrounded on both sides\nwith large fish, some three or four feet long; a kind of blunt-nosed,\nbroad-mouthed dog-fish. Of these there were, I suppose, some fifty.\nIn one group, which I studied more than the others, there were ten.\nThese were at one side of the boat, half their bodies, or nearly half,\nprotruded vertically from the water, their mouths all gaping wide. The\nmen had some of the rice prepared for their own dinners, and with this\nthey were feeding them, taking little pellets of rice, and throwing\nthese down the throats of the fish. Each fish, as he got something to\neat, sunk, and having swallowed his portion, came back to the boatside\nfor more. The men continued occasionally their cry of _tet-tet-tet!_\nand, putting their hands over the gunnel of the boat, stroked the fish\non the back, precisely as they would stroke a dog. This I kept up for\nnearly half an hour, moving the boat slightly about, and invariably the\nfish came at call, and were fed as before. The only effect which the\nstroking down or patting on the back of the fish seemed to have, was to\ncause them to gape still wider for their food. During March, I am told,\nthere is a great festival here, and it is a very common trick for the\npeople to get some of the fish into the boat, and even to gild their\nbacks by attaching some gold leaf, as they do in the ordinary way to\npagodas, &c. On one of these fish remains of the gilding were visible.\nI never was so amused or astonished. I wished to have one of the fish\nto take away as a specimen, but the people seemed to think it would be\na kind of sacrilege, so I said nothing more on the point. The Phoongyis\nare in the habit of feeding them daily, I was informed. Their place of\nabode is the deep pool formed at the back of the island, by the two\ncurrents meeting round its sides. And it is, it appears, quite a sight,\nwhich the people from great distances come to see, as well as to visit\nthe Pagoda, which is said to be very ancient and much venerated.\"\n\n\nANCIENT WEAPON.\n\nThe formidable weapon which we here engrave, is a concealed ranseur\nof the time of Henry VIII., from Genoa. It forms one long instrument,\nbut our limits have compelled us to divide into three parts. 1, is\nthe butt: 2, the middle; and 3, the point. The upper part is an iron\ncylinder, with a cap on the top. This is opened by touching the bolt\nseen a little below it in front, and then, by giving the weapon a jerk\nforwards, the blades fly out, and produce the form of the partisan.\nUpon those, on each side, is written, \"Al Segno Del Cor\"--\"To the mark\nof the heart.\" When in the state seen in the engraving, the blades are\nheld so firmly that they cannot be thrust back; and the only mode of\nreturning them into the cylinder is by striking the butt end against\nthe ground, when they instantly fall in.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Concealed Ranseur.]\n\nThis weapon, we apprehend, must have been more formidable in appearance\nthan useful in action. Once let a man get a fair thrust with it at his\nenemy, and, it is true, the effect of that one stroke would be fatal,\nbut in battle it would most probably prove fatal also to the man who\nwielded the weapon, for before he could have time to draw it back, a\ncomrade of the wounded man would have plenty of opportunity to rush in\nand cut the striker of the blow down. On seeing this and other clumsy\nweapons which were so much in vogue in former times, we cannot be\nsurprised that none of them have continued in use to the present day.\nWeapons such as the one we here engrave, have long been thrown aside,\nand short weapons are now only used for all hand to hand encounters.\n\n\nTHE BABES OF BETHLEHEM.\n\nIt is an ancient custom at Norton, near Evesham, Worcestershire, on the\n28th of December (Innocents' Day) to ring a muffled peal, in token\nof sorrow for the slaughter of the hapless \"babes of Bethlehem,\" and,\nimmediately afterwards, an unmuffled peal, in manifestation of joy for\nthe deliverance and escape of the infant Saviour.\n\n\nGAUNTLET OF HENRY PRINCE OF WALES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Gauntlet of Henry Prince of Wales.]\n\nThe highly interesting relic of which we here give a sketch is of a\nrusset colour, engraved and gilt, the ornamental parts being sunk\nlower than the surface. The initials of the owner, surmounted by a\ncoronet, occur in two places, as do also the rose and thistle. Henry\nwas born on the 19th of February, 1594 and was nine years of age when\nhis father ascended the throne of England. When seven, he commenced\nthe acquirement of martial exercises--as the use of the bow, pike,\nfirearms, and the art of riding; and at ten applied to Colonel Edmondes\nto send him a suit of armour from Holland. On the discovery of the\nGunpowder Plot, Lord Spencer made him a present of a sword and target;\nand, in 1607, Louis, the Dauphin, son of Henry IV. of France, sent him\na suit of armour, well gilt and enamelled, together with pistols and\na sword of the same kind, and the armour for a horse. His martial and\nromantic disposition displayed itself on the occasion of his being\ncreated Prince of Wales in 1610, when he caused a challenge to be given\nto all the knights in Great Britain, under the name of Maeliades, Lord\nof the Isles; and on the day appointed, the Prince, assisted only by\nthe Duke of Lenox, the Earls of Arundel and Southampton, Lord Hay, Sir\nThomas Somerset, and Sir Richard Preston, who instructed his Highness\nin arms, maintained the combat against fifty-six earls, barons,\nknights, and esquires. Henry himself gave and received thirty-two\npushes of the pike, and about three hundred and sixty strokes of\nthe sword, not being yet sixteen years of age. From the size of the\ngauntlet, the initials H. P., and a prince's coronet, if not made on\nthis occasion, it could not have been much anterior; and, from most\nof his armour being sent from abroad, the impression would be that it\nis of foreign manufacture. Yet there is in the State Paper Office an\noriginal warrant ordering the payment of L200, the balance of L340,\nfor a rich suit of armour made for Henry Prince of Wales, dated July\n11, 1614, he having died on the 6th of November, 1612. This document\nis directed by King James I. to the Commissioners for the exercise of\nthe office of High Treasurer of England, and states that, \"Whereas\nthere was made, in the office of our armory of Greenwich, by William\nPickeringe, our master workman there, one rich armour with all peeces\ncompleate, fayrely gilt and graven, by the commaundement of our late\ndeere sonne Prince Henry, which armour was worth (as we are informed)\nthe somme of three hundred and forty poundes, whereof the said William\nPickeringe hath receaved of our said late deere sonne the somme of one\nhundred and forty poundes only, soe as there remayneth due unto him the\nsomme of two hundred poundes\"--therefore they are ordered to discharge\nthe same forthwith.\n\n\nTHE SIMOOM.\n\nArabia is frequently visited by the terrible simoom, called by the\nnatives _shamiel_, or the wind of Syria, under whose pestilential\ninfluence all nature seems to languish and expire. This current\nprevails chiefly on the frontiers, and more rarely in the interior.\nIt is in the arid plains about Bussora, Bagdad, Aleppo, and in the\nenvirons of Mecca, that it is most dreaded, and only during the intense\nheats of summer. The Arabs, being accustomed to an atmosphere of great\npurity, are said to perceive its approach by its sulphureous odour,\nand by an unusual redness in the quarter whence it comes. The sky, at\nother times serene and cloudless, appears lurid and heavy; the sun\nloses his splendour, and appears of a violet colour. The air, saturated\nwith particles of the finest sand, becomes thick, fiery, and unfit for\nrespiration. The coldest substances change their natural qualities;\nmarble, iron, and water, are hot, and deceive the hand that touches\nthem. Every kind of moisture is absorbed; the skin is parched and\nshrivelled; paper cracks as if it were in the mouth of an oven. When\ninhaled by men or animals, the simoom produces a painful feeling as of\nsuffocation. The lungs are too rarefied for breathing, and the body is\nconsumed by an internal heat, which often terminates in convulsions\nand death. The carcases of the dead exhibit symptoms of immediate\nputrefaction, similar to what is observed to take place on bodies\ndeprived of life by thunder, or the effect of electricity.\n\nWhen this pestilence visits towns or villages, the inhabitants shut\nthemselves up, the streets are deserted, and the silence of night\neverywhere reigns. Travellers in the desert sometimes find a crevice\nin the rocks; but if remote from shelter, they must abide the dreadful\nconsequences. The only means of escaping from these destructive blasts,\nis to lie flat on the ground until they pass over, as they always move\nat a certain height in the atmosphere. Instinct teaches even animals to\nbow down their heads, and bury their nostrils in the sand. The danger\nis most imminent when they blow in squalls, which raise up clouds of\nsand in such quantities, that it becomes impossible to see to the\ndistance of a few yards. In these cases the traveller generally lies\ndown on the lee side of his camel; but as the desert is soon blown\nup to the level of its body, both are obliged frequently to rise and\nreplace themselves in a new position, in order to avoid being entirely\ncovered. In many instances, however, from weariness, faintness, or\nsleepiness, occasioned by the great heat, and often from a feeling\nof despair, both men and animals remain on the ground, and in twenty\nminutes they are buried under a load of sand. Caravans are sometimes\nswallowed up; and whole armies have perished miserably in these\ninhospitable deserts.\n\n\nBOILING TO DEATH.\n\nOne Rouse, who had attempted to poison Fisher, Bishop of Rochester,\nwho was afterwards murdered in his 77th year, (by Henry VIII.)--was\nactually boiled to death in Smithfield, for his offence. The law which\nthus punished him, was afterwards repealed.\n\n\nSIKKIM PRIESTS.\n\nThe Sikkim country is situated on the frontiers of Thibet and Nepal\nand on a portion of the Himalayas. Dr. Hooker, who visited it a few\nyears ago, gives the following account in his Journal of some of its\nscenery:--\"January 1st, 1849.--The morning of the new year was bright\nand beautiful, though much snow had fallen on the mountains; and we\nleft Sunnook for Pemiongchi, situated on the summit of a lofty spur on\nthe opposite side of the Ratong.\n\n\"The ascent to Pemiongchi was very steep, through woods of oaks,\nchesnuts, and magnolias, but no tree-fern, palms, pothos, or planntain,\nwhich abound at this elevation on the moister outer ranges of Sikkim.\nThe temple is large, eighty feet long, and in excellent order, built\nupon the lofty terminal point of the great east and west spur, that\ndivides the Kulhait from the Ratong and Rungbee rivers; and the great\nChangachelling temple and monastery stands on another eminence of the\nsame ridge, two miles further west.\n\n\"The view of the snowy range from this temple is one of the finest in\nSikkim; the eye surveying at once glance the vegetation of the tropics\nand the poles. Deep in the valleys the river beds are but 3,000 feet\nabove the sea, and are choked with fig-trees, plantains, and palms;\nto these succeed laurels and magnolias; and still higher up, oaks,\nchesnuts, birches, &c.; there is, however, no marked line between the\nlimits of these two last forests, which form the prevailing arboreous\nvegetation between 4,000 and 10,000 feet, and give a lurid hue to the\nmountains. Fir forests succeed for 2,000 feet higher, when they give\nplace to a skirting of rhododendron and barberry. Among these appear\nblack naked rocks, between which are gulleys, down which the snow now\ndescended to 12,000 feet. The mountain flanks are much more steep and\nrocky than those at similar heights on the outer ranges, and cataracts\nare very numerous, and of considerable height, though small in volume.\n\n\"Pemiongchi temple, the most ancient in Sikkim, is said to be 400 years\nold; it stands on a paved platform, and is of the same form and general\ncharacter as that of Tassisuding. Inside, it is most beautifully\ndecorated, especially the beams, columns, capitals, and architraves,\nbut the designs are coarser than those of Tassisuding. The square end\nof every beam in the roof is ornamented either with a lotus flower, or\nwith a Tibetan character, in endless diversity of colour and form, and\nthe walls are completely covered with allegorical paintings of Lamas\nand saints with glories round their heads, mitred, and holding the\ndorje and jewel.\n\n\"The principal image is a large and hideous figure of Sakya-thoba in a\nrecess under a blue silk canopy, contrasting with a calm figure of the\nlate Rajah, wearing a cap and coronet.\n\n\"Pemiongchi was once the capital of Sikkim, and called the Sikkim\nDurbar: the Rajah's residence was on a curious flat to the south of\nthe temple, and a few hundred feet below it, where are the remains of\n(for this country) extensive walls and buildings. During the Nepal\nwar, the Rajah was driven east across the Teesta, whilst the Ghorkas\nplundered Tassisuding, Pemiongchi, Changachelling, and all the other\ntemples and convents to the west of that river. It was then that the\nfamous history of Sikkim, compiled by the Lamas of Pemiongchi, and kept\nat this temple, was destroyed, with the exception of a few sheets,\nwith one of which Dr. Campbell and myself were each presented. We were\ntold that the monks of Changachelling and those of this establishment\nhad copied what remained, and were busy compiling the rest from oral\ninformation, &c.: whatever value the original may have possessed,\nhowever, is irretrievably lost. A magnificent copy of the Buddhist\nScriptures was destroyed at the same time; it consisted of 400 volumes,\neach containing several hundred sheets of Daphne paper.\"\n\n[Illustration: [++] Sikkim Priests.]\n\nOf the figures given in our article, the one on the extreme left is a\nLama, or Sikkim priest, having in his hand a _dorge_, or double-headed\nthunderbolt; next to him, a monk; next to the monk, a priest, with a\npraying cylinder; and at the extreme right, another monk.\n\n\nA HEAD-BREAKER.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Head-Breaker.]\n\nWith many savage nations it is a custom when prisoners have been\ncaptured in war, to keep them in confinement for some time, till the\npreparations for a grand festival have been completed, and then to put\nthem to death in the presence of the great men and chief priests of the\ncountry. They were slaughtered, sometimes as offerings to the gods,\nsometimes as sacrifices to the spirits of those slain in the war in\nwhich they were captured, and at other times as incentives to the young\nwarriors who were to be the future defenders of the nation. In all\nthese cases, appropriate and peculiar ceremonies were prescribed, and\nthe victims were generally despatched by a particular official, whose\nespecial duty it was to perform the bloody deed. A particular weapon\nwas also used, and one of these is sketched at the head of our article.\nIt was used by one of the tribes which inhabit the shores of Nootka\nSound. It is intended to represent the sacred bird of their nation, and\nis made of wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, with a blade of basalt.\nThe lower end is hollow for the insertion of a handle.\n\n\nANCIENT STONE COLLARS.\n\nPerhaps the most singular relics of that Pagan period in Scotland\nwhen the use of metals was in a great measure unknown, are two stone\ncollars, found near the celebrated parallel roads of Glenroy, and now\npreserved at the mansion of Tonley, Aberdeenshire. We here give an\nengraving of them.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Stone Collars.]\n\nThey are each of the full size of a collar adapted to a small Highland\nhorse; the one formed of trap or whin-stone, and the other of a\nfine-grained red granite. They are not, however, to be regarded as\nthe primitive substitutes for the more convenient materials of later\nintroduction; on the contrary, a close imitation of the details of a\nhorse collar of common materials is attempted, including the folds, the\nleather, nails, buckles, and holes for tying particular parts together.\nThey are finished with much care and a high degree of polish, and\nare described as obviously the workmanship of a skilful artist. Mr.\nSkene, who first drew attention to these remarkable relics, suggests\nthe peculiar natural features of Glenroy having led to the selection\nof this amphitheatre for the scene of ancient public games, and that\nthese stone collars might commemorate the victor in the chariot race,\nas the tripods, still existing, record the victor in the Choragic games\nof Athens. But no circumstances attending their discovery are known\nwhich could aid conjecture either as to the period or purpose of their\nconstruction.\n\n\nTHE OFFSPRING OF DRUNKENNESS.\n\nFrom an interesting lecture on drunkenness, and on popular investments,\nrecently delivered by the Rev. J. B. Owen, M.A., of Bilston, we\nselect this impressive enumeration of the crimes mainly springing\nfrom drunkenness. Drink was the desolating demon of Great Britain.\nThey had spent in intoxicating drinks during the present century as\nmuch as would pay the national debt twice over! There were 180,000\ngin drinkers in London alone, and in that city three millions a year\nare spent in gin! In thirteen years 249,006 males and 183,921 females\nwere taken into custody for being drunk and disorderly. In Manchester\nno less than a million a-year were spent in profligacy and crime. In\nEdinburgh there were 1,000 whisky shops--160 in one street--and yet\nthe city contained only 200 bread shops. Of 27,000 cases of pauperism,\n20,000 of them were traceable to drunkenness. In Glasgow the poor rates\nwere L100,000 a-year. \"Ten thousand,\" says Alison, \"get drunk every\nSaturday night--are drunk all day Sunday and Monday, and not able to\nreturn to work till Tuesday or Wednesday.\" Glasgow spends L1,200,000\nannually in drink, and 20,000 females are taken into custody for being\ndrunk. And what were some of the normal results of such appalling\nstatistics? insanity, pauperism, prostitution, and crime. As to the\ninsanity affiliated on drink, the Bishop of London stated, that of\n1,271 maniacs, whose previous histories were investigated, 649, or\nmore than half of them, wrecked their reason in drinking. As to its\npauperism, it is estimated that not less than two-thirds of our paupers\nwere the direct or indirect victims of the same fatal vice. As to\nits prostitution, its debauching influence was remotely traceable in\nthe 150,000 harlots of London, and in their awful swarms in all our\nlarge towns and cities. Its relation to crime was equally conclusive.\nIn Parkhurst prison, it was calculated, that 400 out of 500 juvenile\nprisoners, were immured there, as the incidental results of parental\ndebauchery. The Chaplain of the Northampton County Gaol, lately\ninformed the lecturer, that, \"of 302 prisoners in this gaol, during the\nlast six months, 176 attributed their ruin to drunkenness; 64 spent\nfrom 2s. 6d. to 10s. a week in drink; 15 spent from 10s. to 17s.; and\n10 spent all their savings. Is it not remarkable,\" he added, \"that\nout of 433 prisoners in this gaol, I have not had one that has had\none sixpence in a saving's bank, nor above six that ever had sixpence\nin one? On the contrary, I have many members of friendly societies,\nof course of unsound ones, which with two or three exceptions, all\nmet at public houses; and there they learned to drink, and became\nfamiliarised with crime.\" Judge Erskine declared at the Salisbury\nAssizes in 1844, that 96 cases out of every 100 were through strong\ndrink. Judge Coleridge added, at Oxford, that he never knew a case\nbrought before him, which was not directly or indirectly connected with\nintoxicating liquors; and Judge Patteson capped the climax, at Norwich,\nby stating to the grand jury, \"If it were not for this drinking, you\nand I should have nothing to do!\" Of the 7,018 charges entered at Bow\nStreet Police Office, in the year 1850, half of them were for being\ndrunk and incapable; and if they added to these the offences indirectly\ninstigated by intoxication, the proportion rose at least to 75 per cent.\n\n\nAN OLD PIKE.\n\nIn the year 1497 a giant \"Jack-killer\" was captured in the vicinity\nof Mannheim, with the following announcement in Greek appended to\nhis muzzle:--\"I am the first fish that was put into this pond by the\nhands of the Emperor Frederic the Second, on this 3rd day of October,\n1262.\" The age of the informant, therefore, if his lips spoke truth\n(and the unprecedented dimensions of the body left little doubt on that\npoint), was more than two hundred and thirty-five years. Already he\nhad been the survivor of many important changes in the political and\nsocial world around, and would have swam out perhaps as many more had\nthe captors been as solicitous to preserve his life as they were to\ntake his portrait. This, on the demise of the original, was hung up in\nthe castle of Lautern, and the enormous carcase (which, when entire,\nweighed three hundred and fifty pounds, and measured nineteen feet)\nwas sent to the museum at Mannheim, where, deprived of its flesh, and\ncaparisoned _de novo_, it hung, and haply yet hangs, a light desiccated\nskeleton, which a child might move.\n\n\nBURMESE BOAT.\n\nThe curious boat which is here depicted in full sail is one of those\nwhich is used by the Burmese on the river Irawadi. They are called\n_hnau_, and Captain Yule gives the following description of them in his\n\"Mission to Ava:\"--\n\n\"The model is nearly the same for all sizes, from the merest dinghy\nupwards. The keel-piece is a single tree hollowed out, and stretched\nby the aid of fire when green, a complete canoe, in fact. From this,\nribs and planking are carried up. The bow is low with beautiful hollow\nlines, strongly resembling those of our finest modern steamers. The\nstern rises high above the water, and below the run is drawn out fine\nto an edge. A high bench or platform for the steersman, elaborately\ncarved, is an indispensable appendage. The rudder is a large paddle\nlashed to the larboard quarter, and having a short tiller passing\nathwart the steerman's bench.\n\n\"The most peculiar part of the arrangement of these vessels is in the\nspars and rigging. The mast consists of two spars; it is, in fact,\na pair of shears, bolted and lashed to two posts rising out of the\nkeel-piece, so that it can be let down, or unshipped altogether, with\nlittle difficulty. Above the mainyard the two pieces run into one,\nforming the topmast. Wooden rounds run as ratlines from one spar of the\nmast to the other, forming a ladder for going aloft.\n\n\"The yard is a bamboo, or a line of sliced bamboos, of enormous length,\nand, being perfectly flexible, is suspended from the mast-head by\nnumerous guys or halyards, so as to curve upwards in an inverted bow.\nA rope runs along this, from which the huge mainsail is suspended,\nrunning on rings like a curtain outwards both ways from the mast. There\nis a small topsail of similar arrangement.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Burmese Boat.]\n\n\"The sail-cloth used is the common light cotton stuff for clothing.\nOf any heavier material it would be impossible to carry the enormous\nspread of sail which distinguishes these boats. At Menh'la one vessel\nwas lying so close to the shore that I was enabled to pace the length\nof the half-yard. I found it to be 65 feet, or for the length of the\nwhole spar, neglecting the curve, 130 feet. The area of the mainsail in\nthis case could not have been very much less than 4,000 square feet, or\none-eleventh of an acre.\n\n\"These boats can scarcely sail, of course, except before the wind. But\nin ascending the Irawadi, as on the Ganges during the rainy season,\nthe wind is almost always favourable. A fleet of them speeding before\nthe wind with the sunlight on their bellying sails has a splendid\nthough fantastic appearance. With their vast spreading wings and\nalmost invisible hulls, they look like a flight of colossal butterflies\nskimming the water.\"\n\n\nDANCING DERVISHES.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Dancing Dervishes.]\n\nThe Dancing Dervishes at Constantinople are a remarkable instance of\nthe lengths to which superstition and credulity will proceed. The\nsaltatory ceremony which they perform at their religious services\nis thus admirably described by Mr. Albert Smith in his \"Month at\nConstantinople:\"--\n\n\"I have said it was Friday; and so, on my return, I had an opportunity\nof seeing the Dancing Dervishes at Pera. They exhibit--for it is rather\na sight than a solemnity--on this day, as well as on Tuesday, in every\nweek. Their convent is facing the scrap of burying-ground on the road\nfrom Galata to Pera, and any one may witness their antics. Having put\noff our shoes, we entered an octagonal building, with galleries running\nround it, and standing places under them, surrounding the railed\nenclosure in which the Dervishes were to dance, or rather spin. One\ndivision of this part of the building was put aside for Christians, the\nothers were filled with common people and children. When I arrived, one\nold Dervish, in a green dress, was sitting at one point of the room,\nand twenty-four in white, were opposite to him. A flute and drum played\nsome very dreary music in the gallery. At a given signal they all fell\nflat on their faces, with a noise and precision that would have done\nhonour to a party of pantomimists; and then they all rose and walked\nslowly round, with their arms folded across their breasts, following\nthe old green Dervish, who marched at their head, and bowing twice\nvery gravely to the place where he had been sitting, and to the spot\nopposite to it. They performed this round two or three times. Then the\nold man sat down, and the others, pulling off their cloaks, appeared\nin a species of long petticoat, and one after the other began to spin.\nThey commenced revolving precisely as though they were waltzing by\nthemselves; first keeping their hands crossed on their breast, and then\nextending them, the palm of the right hand and the back of the left\nbeing upwards. At last they all got into play, and as they went round\nand round, they put me in mind of the grand party we have seen on the\ntop of an organ, where a _cavalier seul_ revolves by himself, and bows\nas he faces the spectators.\n\n\"They went on for a long time without stopping--a quarter of an hour,\nperhaps, or twenty minutes. There was something inexpressibly sly and\noffensive in the appearance of these men, and the desire one felt to\nhit them hard in the face became uncomfortably dominant. At the end of\ntheir revolutions they made another obeisance to the old man, and all\nthis time the players in the orchestra howled forth a kind of hymn.\nThis ceremony was repeated three or four times, and then they all sat\ndown again and put their cloaks on, whilst another Dervish, who had\nwalked round and round amongst the dancers, whilst they were spinning,\nsang a solo. During this time their faces were all close to the ground.\nThis done, they rose and marched before the old green Dervish once\nmore, kissing his hand as they passed, and the service concluded,\noccupying altogether about three-quarters of an hour.\"\n\n\nEXTRAORDINARY MALADY.\n\nDigne, the principal town in the department of the Basses Alpes\nin France might be passed by the traveller without exciting one\nobservation, its walks and its warm mineral waters being the only\nobjects worthy of notice. Its inhabitants do not now exceed 3,500;\nbut, in the year 1629, 10,000 industrious citizens followed their\nnumerous avocations within its precincts. At that period, however, an\nextraordinary plague broke out, in the month of June, which lasted till\nOctober, committing the most awful ravages, so that in that short space\nof time the wretched inhabitants were reduced to the number of 1,500,\namong whom six only had escaped this very singular malady, the effects\nof which are thus described by a French writer:--\"This malady strangely\naffected the invalids; some fancied they could fly; others, climb\nfrom one object to another like squirrels; some sunk into a profound\nlethargy, even for so long a time as six days; and one young woman who\nhad been hastily interred in a vineyard, rose three days afterwards,\nfor the grave-diggers were content just to cover the bodies. During\nthese four months the town was covered with a thick fog: the heat was\nsuffocating, accompanied by frequent and dreadful storms; and in order\nto complete the horrors of such a situation, the parliament forbade any\nof the inhabitants to quit the city, or the small territory belonging\nto it. Guards placed upon the _Bleonne_ fired upon those who attempted\nto escape. The magistrates abandoned their functions; the clocks no\nlonger sounded the hours; the neighbouring springs dried up, so that\nthe mills could not work; and famine began to add its fearful horrors\nto the miseries which already desolated the city, now become a living\nsepulchre, for the dead bodies lay in the streets unburied, and the\nfew remaining persons who still paraded the streets appeared more\nlike the spectres of those departed than living beings. Many persons\nnot only prepared but put on the habiliments of death, and quietly\nawaited the approach of the _king of terrors_. A new edict condemned\nthe pestilential city to the flames; but this inhuman decree was\ncountermanded, after the destruction of one country house, with all\nits inhabitants. The disease having somewhat abated in the surrounding\nvillages, humanity at length dictated the necessity of making some\nefforts to save the remaining few, who had escaped the contagion,\nfrom the no less frightful evil of famine. The scene that presented\nitself was appalling; several little children, whose parents were\ndead, were found sucking goats; in short, the desolation was so great\nthat, although two centuries have passed away since this fatal scourge\ndevastated the country, _Digne_ has never recovered its effects.\"\n\n\nQUACKERY IN THE OLDEN TIME.\n\nIn the reign of Henry VIII. many of the medical practitioners were\nmere horse-farriers. A distinguished patient, the great Lord Burghley,\nsecretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, was addressed by one Audelay, on\na certain occasion, in this wise, \"Be of goode comfort, and plucke up\na lustie, merrie hearte, and then shall you overcome all diseases: and\nbecause it pleased my good Lord Admiral lately to praise my physicke,\nI have written to you such medicines as I wrote unto him, which I have\nin my boke of my wyffe's hand, _proved upon herselfe and mee both_:\nand if I can get anything that may do you any goode, you may be well\nassured it shall be a joye unto me to get it for you.\" \"A good medicine\nfor weakness or consumption:--Take a pig of nine days olde, and slaye\nhim, and quarter him, and put him in a skillat, with a handfull of\nspearment, and a handfull of red fennell, a handfull of liverwort,\nhalf a handfull of red neap, a handfull of clarge, and nine dates,\ncleaned, picked, pared, and a handful of great raisins, and picke out\nthe stones, and a quarter of an ounce of mace, and two stickes of\ngoode cinnamon, bruised in a mortar, and distill it with a soft fire,\nand put it in a glass, and set it in the sun nine days, and drinke\nnine spoonfulls of it at once when you list!\" \"A compost:--item--take\na porpin, otherwise called an English hedgehog, and quarter him in\npieces, and put the said beast in a still, with these ingredients:\nitem--a quart of redde wyne, a pinte of rose-water, a quarter of a\npound of sugar--cinnamon and two great raisins.\" \"If thore be any\nmanner of disease that you be aggrieved withal, I pray you send me\nsome knowledge thereof, and I doubt not but to send you an approved\nremedie. Written in haste at Greenwiche, y{e} 9 of May, 1553, by your\ntrewe heartie friend, JOHN of AUDELAY.\"\n\n\nA POISON WEAPON.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Poison Weapon.]\n\nThe instrument sketched forms one of the curiosities in the splendid\nmuseum of the late Sir S. R. Meyrick, and is a singular instance of\nthat refinement of cruelty which is too prominent a characteristic of\nthe sixteenth century. It is a weapon for throwing poisoned needles\namong a crowd. Where the lid at the top is seen lifted up, is the\nchamber in which the needles are kept stuck into a cork at the bottom.\nOn the opposite side a needle is seen put through a hole in a strong\nspring, held in its place by a catch above, which, when pressed by the\nthumb disengages it and ejects the needle with considerable force. As\nthe fore-finger goes through the centre ring, and the thumb is at the\ntop, the weapon is almost entirely concealed by the hand. The spring\ncan be adjusted by a screw at the side. This cruel instrument was\nused by men on horseback, or from a window, and as the needles were\npoisoned, many painful injuries must have been inflicted without the\nsufferers being able to discover by whom their wounds were caused.\n\n\nANCIENT SWORD-BREAKER.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Sword-Breaker.]\n\nThe immense two-handed swords of former times were most fearful\nweapons, and far more easily used than the appearance of them would\nlead us to suppose. They were admirably poised, and the position in\nwhich they were held may be learned from various writers of their\ntimes. One hand was placed close to the cross-bar, while the other\nheld the pommel. De Grassi, in 1594, tells us that those who use them\ncontrive to \"amase with the furie of the sword, and deliver great\nedge blows down-right and reversed, fetching a full circle or compass\ntherein with exceeding great swiftness, staying themselves upon one\nfoote, sometimes on the other, utterlie neglecting to thrust, and\npersuading themselves that the thrust serveth to amaze one man onlie,\nbut those edge blows are of force to incounter many. The hand towards\nthe enemie must take hold fast of the handle neere the crosse and\nunderneath, the other hand above and near the pomell.\"\n\nSilver, in his \"Paradox\" gives the following as the proportions of a\ntwo-handed sword in his day: \"The perfect length of your two-handed\nsword is the blade to the length and hilt of your single sword.\"\n\nThe instrument which we have sketched on previous page, was used in\nthe time of Henry VIII., for the purpose, not only of defence against\none of those \"great edge-blows down-right\" but of catching the blade\nbetween the teeth, and then breaking it by a sharp turn of the wrist.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE BALLOT.\n\nThe origin of electing members by balls may be traced to the Grecians.\nWhen a member was to be elected, every one threw a little pellet of\nbran, or crumb of bread into a basket, carried by a servant on his head\nround the table, and whoever dissented flattened their pellet at one\nside.\n\n\nANCIENT DAGGER.\n\nThe weapon which forms the subject of the woodcut is a dagger of the\ntime of Philip and Mary, ornamented with engraving. After being thrust\ninto a person, by pulling a little catch, it is made to open within\nhim, and the prolongation of the blade allows means for a second blow.\nThe two small hooks at the inner side of the two blades would admit of\nthe dagger being thrust deeper in, but would prevent its being drawn\nout.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Dagger.]\n\nAt the period these daggers were most in vogue, personal combats were\nvery sanguinary and determined, seldom terminating without the death of\none, and in some cases of both, of the parties engaged. They first used\nthe long sword, and when that weapon was broken, they closed with one\nanother, and used their daggers by stabbing at the most mortal part of\ntheir foe they could manage to reach.\n\n\nTHE TEMPLE OF POU-TOU.\n\nPou-tou is an island of the great archipelago of Chusan, on the coasts\nof the province of Tche-kiang. More than 100 monasteries, more or less\nimportant, and two of which were founded by Emperors, are scattered\nover the sides of the mountains and valleys of this picturesque and\nenchanting island, which nature and art have combined to adorn with\ntheir utmost magnificence. All over it you find delightful gardens,\nfull of beautiful flowers,--grottoes cut in the living rock, amidst\ngroves of bamboo and other trees, with aromatic banks. The habitations\nof the Bonzes are sheltered from the scorching rays of the sun by\numbrageous foliage, and scattered about in the prettiest situations\nimaginable. Thousands of winding paths cross the valleys in various\ndirections, and the brooks and rivulets, by means of pretty bridges of\nstone or painted wood, and for the communications between the scattered\ndwellings. In the centre of the island rise two vast and brilliant\nedifices--Buddhist temples--the yellow bricks of which announce that\ntheir construction is due to imperial munificence. The religious\narchitecture of the Chinese does not at all resemble ours. They have no\nidea of the majestic, solemn, and perhaps somewhat melancholy style,\nthat harmonizes so well with the feelings which ought to be inspired\nby a place devoted to meditation and prayer. When they wish to build a\npagoda, they look out for the most gay and smiling site they can find\non the declivity of a mountain or in a valley; they plant it with great\ntrees of the evergreen species; they trace about it a number of paths,\non the sides of which they place flowering shrubs, creeping plants, and\nbushes. It is through these cool and fragrant avenues you reach the\nbuilding, which is surrounded by galleries, and has less the air of a\ntemple than of a rural abode charmingly situated in the midst of a park\nor garden.\n\nThe principal temple of Pou-tou is reached by a long avenue of grand\nsecular trees, whose thick foliage is filled with troops of crows\nwith white heads; and their cawings and flapping of wings keep up a\ncontinual clamour. At the end of the avenue is a magnificent lake,\nsurrounded with shrubs that lean over its waters like weeping willows.\nTurtle and gold-fish gleam through them; and mandarin-ducks, in their\ngaily-coloured plumage, play over their surface, amidst the splendid\nwater-lilies whose rich corollas rise majestically upon tender green\nstalks spotted with black. Several bridges of red and green wood are\nthrown over this lake, and lead to flights of steps, by which you\nascend to the first of the temple buildings--a kind of porch, supported\nupon eight enormous granite columns. On the right and left are\nstationed, like sentinels, four statues of colossal size, and two side\ngates lead to the vestibule of the principal nave, where is enthroned a\nBuddhist Trinity, representing the Past, the Present, and the Future.\nThese three statues are entirely gilt, and, although in a crouching\nposture, of gigantic dimensions--at least twelve feet high. Buddha is\nin the midst, his hands interlaced, and gravely placed on his majestic\nabdomen. He represents the Past, and the unalterable and eternal quiet\nto which it has attained; the two others, which have the arm and the\nright hand raised, in sign of their activity, the Present and Future.\nBefore each idol is an altar covered with little vases for offerings,\nand cassolets of chiselled bronze, where perfumes are constantly\nburning.\n\nA crowd of secondary divinities are ranged round the hall, the\nornaments of which are composed of enormous lanterns of painted paper\nor horn--square, round, oval--indeed, of all forms and colours; and the\nwalls are hung with broad strips of satin, with sentences and maxims.\n\nThe third hall is consecrated to _Kouang-yu_, whom the greater number\nof accounts of China persist in regarding as a goddess of porcelain,\nand sometimes also of fecundity. According to the Buddhist mythology,\nKouang-yu is a person of the Indian Trimourti, or Triune God,\nrepresenting the creative power.\n\nFinally, the fourth hall is a pantheon, or pandemonium, containing\na complete assortment of hideous idols, with ogres' and reptiles'\nfaces. Here you see, huddled together pell-mell, the gods of heaven and\nearth; fabulous monsters, patrons of war, of the silk manufacture, of\nagriculture, and of medicine; the images of the saints of antiquity,\nphilosophers, statesmen, warriors, literary men--in a word, the most\nheterogeneous and grotesque assembly conceivable.\n\n\nORACLES OF APOLLO IN FRANCE.\n\nTowards the frontiers of Auvergne and Velay, upon the high rock of\nPolignac, there was formerly a temple of Apollo, famous for its\noracles. The time of its foundation ascends to the first years of the\nChristian era, since, in the year 47, the Emperor Claudius came hither\nin great pomp, to acknowledge the power of the god; and he left proofs\nof his piety and munificence. The debris and mysterious issues that\nare found even now upon the rock, in the heart of its environs, reveal\nthe secret means employed by the priests to make their divinities\nspeak, and to impose upon the people. At the bottom of the rock was\nan aedicula: it was on this spot that the pilgrims took up their\nfirst station, and deposited their offerings and made their vows. A\nsubterranean passage communicated from this aedicula to the bottom of\na great excavation, pierced, in the form of a tunnel, from the base\nto the summit of the rock. It was by this enormous opening that the\nvows, the prayers and questions, pronounced in the very lowest voice\nby the pilgrims, reached instantly the top of the rock, and were there\nheard and collected by the college of priests; the answers were then\nprepared, while the believers, by a sinuous and long path, slowly\narrived at the end of their pilgrimage. The answers being ready, the\npriests commissioned to transmit them repaired to profound and deep\napartments, contiguous to a well, the orifice of which terminated in\nthe temple. This well, crowned by an altar, being enclosed by a little\nhemispherical roof, supported in its external parts the colossal figure\nof Apollo; the mouth of this statue being half open, in the middle of\na large and majestic beard, appeared always ready to pronounce the\nsupreme decrees. It was also through this opening, by the means of a\nlong speaking-trumpet, that the priests at the bottom of this den of\nmystery and superstition made known those famous oracles so imposing\nand so powerful in their effects upon the human soul as to impede for\ncenturies the substitution of the more pure and holy precepts of the\ngospel.\n\n\nBEST POSITION FOR SMOKING OPIUM.\n\nOpium is not smoked in the same manner as tobacco. The pipe is a tube\nof nearly the length and thickness of an ordinary flute. Towards one\nend of it is fitted a bowl of baked clay or some other material, more\nor less precious, which is pierced with a hole communicating with the\ninterior of the tube. The opium, which before smoking is in the form\nof a blackish viscous paste, is prepared in the following manner:--A\nportion, of the size of a pea, is put on a needle, and heated over a\nlamp until it swells and acquires the requisite consistence. It is\nthen placed over the hole in the bowl of the pipe, in the form of a\nlittle cone that has been previously pierced with a needle so as to\ncommunicate with the interior of the tube. The opium is then brought\nto the flame of the lamp, and after three or four inspirations the\nlittle cone is entirely burnt, and all the smoke passes into the\nmouth of the smoker, who then rejects it again through his nostrils.\nAfterwards the same operation is repeated, so that this mode of smoking\nis extremely tedious. The Chinese prepare and smoke their opium lying\ndown, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, saying that this\nis the most favourable position; and the smokers of distinction do not\ngive themselves all the trouble of the operation, but have their pipes\nprepared for them.\n\n\nEXECUTIONER'S SWORD.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Executioner's Sword.]\n\nThe weapon engraved below forms one of the curiosities in the superb\ncollection of ancient armour belonging to the late Sir Samuel R.\nMeyrick, at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. It is the sword of an\nexecutioner, having on it the date 1674. The blade is thin, and\nexceeding sharp at both edges; and engraved on it is a man impaled,\nabove which are the words, in German, of which the following is a\ntranslation:--\n\n \"Let every one that has eyes\n Look here, and see that\n To erect power on wickedness\n Cannot last long:\"\n\na man holding a crucifix, his eyes bandaged, and on his knees; the\nexecutioner, with his right hand on the hilt, and his left on the\npommel, is about to strike off his head; above is written--\n\n \"He who ambitiously exalts himself,\n And thinks only of evil,\n Has his neck already encompassed\n By punishment.\"\n\nOn the other side, a man broken on the wheel; over which is--\n\n \"I live, I know not how long;\n I die, but I know not when:\"\n\nand a man suspended by the ribs from a gibbet, with the inscription--\n\n \"I move, without knowing whither;\n I wonder I am so tranquil.\"\n\n\nORIGIN OF EXCHEQUER BILLS.\n\nIn the year 1696 and 1697, the silver currency of the kingdom being by\nclipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c., reduced to about half its\nnominal value, Acts of Parliament were passed for its being called in\nand recoined, and whilst the recoinage was going on, Exchequer bills\nwere first issued to supply the demands of trade.\n\n\nANCIENT ETRURIAN BUST.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Ancient Etrurian Bust.]\n\nIf we look backwards to the most remote times of Greek industry, we\nfind that long before fire-casting became customary, almost every kind\nof work was carried out by the simple means of the hammer and tongs,\nwielded by skilful hands. Even products of art were created in this\nmanner; and as statues, vases, and the like could not be put together\nby the process of soldering, nails were used for the purpose, as we\nlearn not only from ancient writers, but even from monuments which have\nlately been discovered in Etruria, and the most important specimens\nof which are now possessed by the British Museum. In one of the tombs\nbelonging to the vast necropolis of Vulci were discovered, about twenty\nyears ago, a great many bronzes of this very ancient workmanship; one\nof them represents a bust placed on a basement covered with thin copper\nplates, and adorned by a row of figures, which are likewise chased;\nlong curls fall down over the neck and shoulders, and these parts\nespecially are formed in the most simple manner: one would be tempted\nto call it child-like, did not the whole composition show a certain\ncharacter which enables the experienced eye of the art-philosopher\nto distinguish in these rude attempts at plastic metal work the very\ngerm of those wonderfully-styled productions of a later period. The\nengraving here annexed, giving a side view of this remarkable, and as\nyet unique monument, is intended to show the arrangement of the hair,\nwhich, in spite of its simple treatment, presents as a whole some\ntrace of grace, and principles of fine proportions. We perceive that\nthe curls are formed by rolling and twining together small strips of\nbronze plate, connected with the head itself by the mechanical means\nwe have alluded to. There is no trace of soldering; and we may be sure\nthat we possess in this figure a good specimen of those hammer-wrought\nsculptures of old which were spoken of by the Greeks themselves as\nbelonging to a fabulous period.\n\n\nTHE HAIRY WOMAN OF BURMAH.\n\nThe following account of this remarkable freak of nature is taken from\nCaptain Yule's \"Mission to Ava.\" Writing from the city of Amarapoora,\nthe capital of Burmah, the Captain says:--\n\n\"To-day we had a singular visitor at the residency. This was Maphoon,\nthe daughter of Shwe-maong, the \"Homo hirsutus\" described and depicted\nin Crawfurd's narrative, where a portrait of her, as a young child,\nalso appears. Not expecting such a visitor, one started and exclaimed\ninvoluntarily as there entered what at first-sight seemed an absolute\nrealization of the dog-headed Anubis.\n\n\"The whole of the Maphoon's face was more or less covered with hair.\nOn a part of the cheek, and between the nose and mouth, this was\nconfined to a short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick\nsilky hair of a brown colour, paling about the nose and chin, four or\nfive inches long. At the alea of the nose, under the eye, and on the\ncheek-bone, this was very fully developed, but it was in and on the\near that it was most extraordinary. Except the extreme upper tip, no\npart of the ear was visible: all the rest was filled and veiled by a\nlarge mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of the\nexternal organ, and hanging in a dependent lock to a length of eight\nor ten inches. The hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend\nwith the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with\nher countrywomen) _a la Chinoise_. It was not so thick as to conceal\naltogether the forehead.\n\n\"The nose, densely covered with hair so as no animal's is that I know\nof, and with long fine locks curving out and pendent like the wisps of\na fine Skye terrier's coat, had a most strange appearance. The beard\nwas pale in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very\nsoft and silky.\n\n\"Poor Maphoon's manners were good and modest, her voice soft and\nfeminine, and her expression mild and not unpleasing, after the first\ninstinctive repulsion was overcome. Her appearance rather suggested the\nidea of a pleasant-looking woman masquerading than that of anything\nbrutal. This discrimination, however, was very difficult to preserve\nin sketching her likeness, a task which devolved on me to-day in Mr.\nGrant's absence. On an after-visit, however, Mr. Grant made a portrait\nof her, which was generally acknowledged to be most successful. Her\nneck, bosom, and arms appeared to be covered with fine pale down,\nscarcely visible in some lights. She made a move, as if to take off\nher upper clothing, but reluctantly, and we prevented it. Her husband\nand two boys accompanied her. The elder boy, about four or five years\nold, had nothing abnormal about him. The youngest, who was fourteen\nmonths old and still at the breast, was evidently taking after his\nmother. There was little hair on the head, but the child's ear was\nfull of long silky floss, and it could boast a moustache and beard of\npale silky down that would have cheered the heart of many a cornet. In\nfact, the appearance of the child agrees almost exactly with what Mr.\nCrawford says of Maphoon herself as an infant. This child is thus the\nthird in descent exhibiting this strange peculiarity; and in this third\ngeneration, as in the two preceding, this peculiarity has appeared only\nin one individual. Maphoon has the same dental peculiarity also that\nher father had--the absence of the canine teeth and grinders, the back\npart of the gums presenting merely a hard ridge. Still she chews pawn\nlike her neighbours.\n\nMr. Camaretta tells some story of an Italian wishing to marry her and\ntake her to Europe, which was not allowed. Should the great Barnum hear\nof her, he would not be so easily thwarted.\n\nAccording to the Woundouk, the King offered a reward to any man who\nwould marry her, but it was long before any one was found bold enough\nor avaricious enough to venture. Her father, Shwe-maong, was murdered\nby robbers many years ago.\"\n\n\nA TRAVELLER'S PASSPORT.\n\nThe following document, included among the rolls, is dated 1680, from\nWhitehall:--\n\n\"Dame Mary Yate, having asked his majesty's permission to pass beyond\nthe seas, for the recovery of her health, his majesty was most\ngraciously pleased to grant her request, under the usual clauses\nand provisoes, according to which ye said Dame Mary Yate having\ngiven security not to enter into any plott or conspiracy against his\nmajesty or his realms, or behave herself in any such manner as may\nbe prejudicial to his majesty's government, or the religion here by\nlaw established, and that she will not repaire to the city of Roome,\nor return unto this kingdome without first acquainting one of his\nmajesty's principal secretaries of state, and obtaining leave for the\nsame, in pursuance of his majesty's commands in council hereby will and\nrequire you to permit and suffer the said Dame Mary Yate to imbarque\nwith her trunkes of apparel and other necessaries not prohibited at\nany port of this kingdom, and from thence to pass beyond the seas,\nprovided that shee departe this kingdom within 14 days after the date\nhereof.\"--April 14.\n\nIf the above refers to the celebrated Lady Mary Yate (a daughter of the\nhouse of Pakington) who is commemorated on a monument in Chaddesley\nChurch, Worcestershire, as having died in 1696, at the age of 86, she\nmust have been 70 years old when these precautions were taken by the\nGovernment against the poor old lady attempting to invade the country,\nor to comfort the Pope with her presence and support. Dame Mary Yate\nwas no doubt a Roman Catholic, and the permission above referred to was\ngranted under the seventh section of the statute 3rd James I, chap. 5,\nwhich was virtually repealed by the statute 33rd George III, chap. 30,\nwhich exempted Roman Catholics from all the penalties and restrictions\nmentioned and enjoined in the older acts, if in one of the Courts at\nWestminster or at the Quarter Sessions they made a declaration which to\nthem was unobjectionable.\n\n\nCURIOUS PROVINCIAL DANCE IN FRANCE.\n\nThe inhabitants of Roussillon are passionately fond of dancing; they\nhave some dances peculiar to themselves. The men generally commence\nthe country dance by a _contre-pas_, the air of which is said to be of\nGreek origin; the women then mingle in the dance, when they jointly\nperform several figures, passing one among the other, and occasionally\nturning each other round. At a particular change in the air, the male\ndancer must dexterously raise his partner and place her on his hand in\na sitting posture. Accidents sometimes happen upon these occasions,\nand the lady falls to the ground amidst the jokes and laughter of her\ncompanions. One of these dances, called _lo salt_, is performed by four\nmen and four women. At the given signal, the cavaliers simultaneously\nraise the four ladies, forming a pyramid, the caps of the ladies\nmaking the apex. The music which accompanies these dances consists of\na _lo flaviol_, a sort of flageolet, a drum, two hautboys, prima and\ntenor, and the _cornemuse_, called in the country _lo gratla_: this\ninstrument, by its description, must somewhat resemble the bagpipes.\nThe dance called _Segadilles_ is performed with the greatest rapidity:\nat the end of every couplet, for the airs are short and numerous, the\nfemale dancers are raised, and seated on the hands of their partners.\n\n\nANCIENT INSTRUMENT OF PUNISHMENT.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Whip of Steel.]\n\nThe instrument which we here engrave is a whip of steel that was made\nand used as an engine of punishment and torture about the middle of\nthe sixteenth century. It is composed of several truncated cones,\ngrooved with sharp edges, and held in opposite directions, so as to\ngive sufficient oscillation without rising so far as to strike the hand\nof the executioner. It seems to have been held by a strap; but its\nbarbarity is evident.\n\n\nPUNISHING BY WHOLESALE.\n\nHenry VIII. is recorded, in the course of his reign, to have hanged no\nfewer than 72,000 robbers, thieves, and vagabonds. In the latter days\nof Elizabeth scarcely a year passed without 300 or 400 criminals going\nto the gallows. In 1596, in the county of Somerset alone, 40 persons\nwere executed, 35 burnt in the hand, and 37 severely whipped.\n\n\nMONKS AND FRIARS.\n\nThere was a distinction between the Monks and Friars, which caused the\nlatter to become the object of hatred and envy. Both the monastic, or\nregular, and parochial clergy, encouraged the attacks made upon them.\nThe Monks were, by most of their rules, absolutely forbidden to go out\nof their monasteries, and, therefore, could receive only such donations\nas were left to them. On the contrary, the Friars, who were professed\nmendicants, on receiving notice of the sickness of any rich person,\nconstantly detached some of their members, to persuade the sick man\nto bequeath alms to their convent; thus often, not only anticipating\nthe Monks, but, likewise the parochial clergy. Besides, as most of\nthem were professed preachers, their sermons were frequently compared\nwith those of the clergy, and in general, not to the advantage of the\nlatter. In these sermons, the poverty and distress of their order,\nwere topics that, of course, were neither omitted, nor slightly passed\nover. Considering the power of the Church, before the Reformation, it\nis not to be supposed that any of the Poets, as Chaucer, &c., would\nhave ventured to tell those rediculous stories of the Friars, with\nwhich their works abound, had they not been privately protected by the\nsuperior clergy.\n\n\nCURIOUS TURKISH CONTRIVANCE.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Curious Turkish Contrivance.]\n\nWonderful are the appliances by which ingenuity contrives to supply the\nevasions of idleness. We give one of them, as described by Mr. Albert\nSmith, in his \"Month at Constantinople.\"\n\n\"Passing some cemeteries and public fountains, we came to the outskirts\nof the city, which consist chiefly of gardens producing olives,\noranges, raisins and figs, irrigated by creaking water-wheels worked\nby donkeys. To one of these the droll contrivances which attracted our\nnotice was affixed. The donkey who went round and round was blinded,\nand in front of him was a pole, one end of which was fixed to the axle\nand the other slightly drawn towards his head-gear and there tied: so\nthat, from the spring he always thought somebody was pulling him on.\nThe guide told us that idle fellows would contrive some rude mechanism\nso that a stick should fall upon the animal's hind quarters at every\nround, and so keep him at work whilst they went to sleep under the\ntrees.\"\n\n\nFIGURES OF DOGS ON ANCIENT TOMBS.\n\nIn attempting to assign a reason for the frequent occurrence of dogs\nat the feet of tombs, we shall most probably be right if we simply\nattribute the circumstance to the affection borne by the deceased for\nsome animal of that faithful class. That these sculptured animals were\nsometimes intended for likenesses of particular dogs is evident. Sir\nBryan Stapleton, on his brass at Ingham, Norfolk, rests one foot on\na lion, the other on a dog; the name of the latter is recorded on a\nlabel, _Jakke_. Round the collar of a dog at the feet of an old stone\nfigure of a knight, in Tolleshunt Knight's Church, Essex, letters were\nformerly traced which were supposed to form the word _Howgo_.\n\nIn a dictionary of old French terms, we find that the word _Gocet_\nmeans a small wooden dog, which it was customary to place at the foot\nof the bed. Now it has been thought that something of this kind was\nintended in the representation of dogs on tombs, and that this support\nof the feet merely indicates the old custom of having that sort of\nwooden resting-place for the feet when in a recumbent position. But\nour first supposition appears the more natural, and is supported by\nthe fact that a large proportion of these sculptured dogs, instead of\nbeing placed beneath the feet, are seated on the robe or train, looking\nupwards with the confidence of favourite animals. Judith, daughter of\nthe Emperor Conrad, is represented on her tomb (1191) with a little dog\nin her right hand.\n\nOn the tomb of Sir Ralph de Rochford, in Walpole Church, Norfolk, his\nlady is by his side, dressed in a reticulated head-dress and veil,\na standing cape to her robe, long sleeves buttoned to her wrists, a\nquatrefoil fastens her girdle, and a double necklace of beads hangs\nfrom her neck. At her feet is a dog looking up, and another couchant.\nIn the chancel at Shernborne, Norfolk, the figure of Sir Thomas\nShernborne's lady (1458) has at the right foot a small dog sitting,\nwith a collar of bells.\n\nOn a large antique marble in the chancel at Great Harrowden,\nNorthamptonshire, are the portraits of a man in armour, and his wife in\na winding sheet. The man stands on a greyhound, and the woman has at\nher feet two little dogs looking upwards, with bells on their collars.\nThis monument is that of William Harwedon and Margery, daughter of Sir\nGiles St. John of Plumpton. She died in the twentieth year of Henry VI.\n\n\nTHE FATE OF THE LAST MAY-POLE IN THE STRAND.\n\nThe May-pole, which had been set up in 1641, having long been in a\nstate of decay, was pulled down in 1713, and a new one, with two\ngilt balls and a vane on the top of it, was erected in its stead.\nThis did not continue long in existence; for, being in 1718 judged\nan obstruction, to the view of the church then building, orders were\ngiven by the parochial authorities for its removal. Sir Isaac Newton\nbegged it of the parish, and it was conveyed to Wanstead Park, where it\nlong supported the largest telescope in Europe, belonging to Sir Isaac\nNewton's friend, Mr. Pound, the rector of Wanstead. It was 125 feet\nlong; and presented to Mr. Pound by Mr. Huson, a French member of the\nRoyal Society.\n\n\nMEANS OF ATTRACTING CUSTOM.\n\nBefore houses were numbered, it was a common practice with tradesmen\nnot much known, when they advertised, to mention the colour of their\nnext neighbour's door, balcony, or lamp, of which custom the following\ncopy of a handbill will present a curious instance:--\n\n\"Next to the GOLDEN DOOR, opposite Great Suffolk Street, near Pall\nMall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person, Robert Barker, who\nhaving found out an excellent method for sweating or fluxing of wiggs;\nhis prices are 2s. 6d. for each _bob_, and 3s. for every _tye wigg_ and\n_pigtail_, _ready money_.\"\n\n\nMUSIC OF THE HINDOOS.\n\nAmong the fine arts of India, music holds a distinguished place; and\nalthough its cultivation has declined, and but few are now found\nwho have attained to eminence either in the science or art of this\nunequalled source of recreation, refinement, and pleasure, yet no\npeople are more susceptible of its charms than the Hindoos. Reading is\nwith them invariably, as with the Arabians and other Eastern nations, a\nspecies of _recitativo_, a sort of speaking music, delivered in dulcet\nthough not measured tones. The recitation of lessons in a school or\nacademy always takes this form. The man at the oar, women beating lime,\nthe labourer engaged in irrigation, alike accompany their toil with\nsong.\n\nThe word _sangita_, symphony, as applied to music by the Hindoos,\nconveys the idea of the union of _voices_, _instruments_, and _action_.\nMusical treatises accordingly treat of _gana_, _vadya_, _uritya_, or\n_song_, _percussion_, and _dancing_; the first comprising the measures\nof poetry; the second, instrumental sounds; and the third, theatrical\nrepresentation. The ancient dramas of the Hindoo exhibited the union of\nthese in their unequalled poetry, modulated with the accompaniments of\nvoice, and instruments, and the attractions of appropriate scenery.\n\nThe music of the Hindoos includes eighty-four modes, each supposed\nto have a peculiar expression, capable of moving some particular\nsentiment or affection. The modes take their denomination from the\nseasons, or from the hours of day or night. Musical composition is\nsupposed capable of adaptation to the different periods of the day,\nand therefore its provisions are regulated by the hours. The ideas of\nthe Hindoos on music, as promoting the pleasures of imagination, may\nbe inferred from the names applied by ancient authors to their musical\ntreatises. One is called _Ragarnava_, the Sea of the Passions; another,\n_Ragaderpana_, the Mirror of Modes; and a third, _Sobhavinoda_, the\nDelight of Assemblies; a fourth, _Sangitaderpana_, the Mirror of Song;\nand another, _Ragavibodha_, the Doctrine of Musical Modes. Some of\nthese works explain the law of musical sounds, their divisions and\nsuccession, variations of scales by temperament, and the enunciation\nof modes; besides a minute description of the different _vinas_ (lute),\nand the rules for playing them. This is a fretted instrument of the\nguitar kind, usually having seven wires or strings, and a large gourd\nat each end of the finger-board. Its extent is two octaves, and its\ninvention is attributed to Nareda, the son of Brahma. There are many\nvarieties, named according to the number of their strings. Of one of\nthem we give an engraving below.\n\nMusic, like everything else connected with India, is invested with\ndivine attributes. From the sacred Veda was derived the Upaveda, or\nsubsidiary Veda of the Gandharbas, the heavenly choristers. The art\nwas communicated to mortals by Sarasvati, the consort of Brahma. She,\nas before stated, is the patroness of the fine arts, the goddess of\nspeech. Their son, an ancient lawgiver and astronomer, invented the\nVina. The first inspired man, Bherat, invented the Drama.\n\n[Illustration: [++] Hindoo Guitar.]\n\n PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND DECCLES.\n\n\n\n\nROUTLEDGE'S\n\n=BOOKS FOR THE PEOPLE\n\n70 VOLUMES.=\n\n_Crown 8vo, Cloth, 2/- each. Crown 8vo, Paper Covers, 1/6 each._\n\n\n =Macaulay's Essays and Lays of Ancient Rome.= Complete Edition.\n 924 pages.\n =The Spectator.= Complete Edition, reproducing the original\n text. Edited by Prof. H. 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HOLMES.\n =AEsop's Fables.= Illustrated by HARRISON WEIR.\n =Milman's History of the Jews.=\n =Lord Lytton's Pamphlets and Sketches.=\n =The Waverley Anecdotes.=\n =Lord Lytton's England and the English.=\n =Rabelais' Works.= Edited by HENRY MORLEY.\n =Prescott's History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.= 3 vols.\n =---- History of the Conquest of Mexico.= 3 vols.\n =---- History of the Conquest of Peru.= 3 vols.\n =---- History of the Reign of Philip II.= 3 vols.\n =---- History of the Reign of Charles V.= 2 vols.\n =---- Critical and Historical Essays.=\n =The Pickwick Papers.= By CHARLES DICKENS.\n =Principles of Political Economy.= By JOHN STUART MILL.\n =Popular Astronomy.= By O. M. 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SCOTT.\n =Shakspere Gems=: Extracts, specially designed for Youth.\n =Cowper's Poetical Works.=\n =Milton's Poetical Works.= From the Text of Dr. NEWTON.\n =Sacred Poems: Devotional and Moral.=\n =Choice Poems and Lyrics.= Beautiful pieces from 130 Poets.\n =Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.=\n =Book of British Ballads.= Edited by S. C. HALL.\n =Holmes's Poetical Works.=\n =Lowell's Poetical Works.=\n =Willis's Poetical Works.=\n =Marlowe's Faustus and Goethe's Faust.= Complete.\n =Poems.= By ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.\n =Doubtful Plays of Shakspeare.= Edited by HAZLITT.\n =Byron's Don Juan.=\n =Lord Lytton's King Arthur.=\n =---- ---- The New Timon.=\n =Dante's Divine Comedy.= LONGFELLOW'S Translation with Notes.\n =Whittier's Poetical Works.=\n =Bryant's Poetical Works.=\n =Campbell's Poetical Works.=\n =Coleridge's Poetical Works.=\n =Dodd's Beauties of Shakspeare.=\n =Herbert's Poetical Works.=\n =Keats' Poetical Works.=\n =Poe's Poetical Works.=\n =Pope's Poetical Works.=\n =Wordsworth's Poetical Works.=\n =Schiller and Horace.= Translated by LORD LYTTON.\n =Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.=\n =Keble's The Christian Year.=\n =Virgil's AEneid.= Translated by DRYDEN.\n =Butler's Hudibras.=\n =Herrick's Poems.=\n =Comic Poets of the Nineteenth Century.=\n =Spenser's Faerie Queene.=\n =Dryden's Poetical Works.=\n =Southey's Poetical Works.=\n =The Book of Familiar Quotations.=\n =Poets' Corner=: A Manual for Students in English Poetry.=\n =Sheridan Knowles' Dramatic Works.=\n\n\n\n\nFIFTY VOLUMES HAVE NOW BEEN ISSUED OF =SIR JOHN LUBBOCK'S HUNDRED\nBOOKS.=\n\nPublished on the 10th and 25th of each Month.\n\nCrown 8vo, Red Cloth, uncut edges; or Blue Cloth, cut edges.\n\n\n_ORDER OF PUBLICATION._\n\n 1. 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DIALOGUES OF PLATO: The Apology of Socrates, Crito, Phaedo,\n Protagoras. HENRY CARY, M.A. 2s.\n\n 35. DON QUIXOTE. By Miguel de Cervantes. With Illustrations by SIR\n JOHN GILBERT, R.A. 3s. 6d.\n\n 36. SHERIDAN'S PLAYS. 2s.\n\n 37. ROBINSON CRUSOE. Illustrated by J. D. WATSON. 3s. 6d.\n\n 38. DRYDEN'S POETICAL WORKS. 3s. 6d.\n\n 39. PLUTARCH'S LIVES. Translated by JOHN LANGHORNE, M.D., and\n WILLIAM LANGHORNE, A.M. 3s. 6d.\n\n 40. THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII. 3s. 6d.\n\n 41. BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 3s. 6d.\n\n 42. CARLYLE'S PAST AND PRESENT. 2s.\n\n 43. ARISTOTLE'S ETHICS. 3s. 6d.\n\n 44. WAKE'S APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 3s. 6d.\n\n 45. BACON'S NOVUM ORGANUM. 2s. 6d.\n\n 46. DEMOSTHENES ON THE CROWN. 2s. 6d.\n\n 47. PASCAL'S THOUGHTS ON RELIGION. 3/6\n\n 48. BERKELEY'S HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. 2/6\n\n 49. MALORY'S MORT D'ARTHURE. 5s.\n\n 50. EMERSON'S ESSAYS. 3s. 6d.\n\n=London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited.=\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:\n\n Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.\n\n Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant\n preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.\n\n Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.\n\n Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs and\n some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that\n references them. The Index to Engravings paginations were not\n corrected.\n\n Superscripts are enclosed in brackets.\n\n [++] indicates a caption added by the transcriber.\n\n\n VARIANTS UNCHANGED:\n\n -- Pages xiii and 201: Colebrook and Colebroke.\n\n -- Page 51: Tchang-tchin and Tchang-tching.\n\n -- Pages 108, 390 and others: Southwark and Southwarke.\n\n -- Pages 498 and 571: Mahomed, Mahommed and Mahomet.\n\n -- Pages 298, 306 and others: Hindostan and Hindoostan.\n\n -- Pages 322 and 452: Rossellina, Rosselini and Rossellini.\n\n -- Pages 370 and 371: ivil and ivel.\n\n -- Pages 432, 537 and others: Brama and Brahma.\n\n -- Pages 416 and 422: Bolinbroke and Bollinbroke.\n\n -- Pages 634 and 635: Clothseck and clothsek; Gambaldyn and gambaldynge.\n\n -- Page 635: Krees and Kreez.\n\n -- Multiple pages: Shakespere/Shakspeare/Shakspere.\n\n\n OTHER NOTES:\n\n -- Pages v and xi: Removed entry \"Architecture for Earthquakes\"\n as no such engraving or description could be found.\n\n -- Page 85: beneficiare changed to beneficiaire.\n\n -- Page 128: Hatherly changed to Hatherley.\n\n -- Page 246: Sackvile changed to Sackville.\n\n -- Page 250: Clarencieux changed to Clarenceux.\n\n -- Page 330: Shaftsbury to Shaftesbury.\n\n -- Page 339: Hasselquiet changed to Hasselquist.\n\n -- Page 346: + IONA + IHOAT + IONA + HELOI + YSSARAY + 11 +\n MEPHENOLPHETON + AGLA + ACHEDION + YANA +\n BACHIONODONAVALI M ILIOR + 11 BACHIONODONAVLI M ACH +\n\n changed to\n\n + IONA + IHOAT + LONA + HELOI + YSSARAY + || +\n MEPHENOLPHETON + AGLA + ACHEDION + YANA +\n BACHIONODONAVALI [M*] ILIOR + || BACHIONODONAVALI [M**] ACH +\n\n [M*] denotes counter-clockwise rotated M and [M**] clockwise\n rotated M. Also rendered in other texts as the letter Z or the\n number 3. Sources: Thomas R. Forbes, \"Verbal Charms in British\n Folk Medicine.\" Proceedings of the American Philosophical\n Society, Vo. 115, August 20, 1971, p. 308. And Frederick W.\n Fairholt, Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Remains in the\n Possession of Lord Londesborough. Drawn, Engraved and Described\n by Frederick W. Fairholt. London: Chapman and Hall, 1857, p. 83.\n\n -- Page 451: Strasburgh changed to Strasburg.\n\n -- Page 502: \"drake coloured satin, and [illegible word] coloured\n satin.\" Changed to \"drake coloured satin, and [...] coloured\n satin.\"\n\n -- Page 546: \"into his elar;\" changed to \"into his celar.\n\n -- Pages 549-550: \"the slaughtered sun hulls become....\" \"hulls\"\n changed to \"bulls.\"\n\n -- Page 550: \"according the the indication\" changed to \"according\n to the indication.\"\n\n -- Page 558: \"as with the [illegible word]\" changed to \"as with\n the [...].\"\n\n -- Page 630: \"It said to have been made....\" changed to \"It was said\n to have been made....\"","title":"Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":300161}