THE QUEER, THE QUAINT AND THE QUIZZICAL A CABINET FOR THE CURIOUS "The company is mixed." Byron RRANK H. STAURKER PHILADELPHIA: DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER, 610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE. Copyright, 1882, by F. H. 8TAUFFER attfc tootrtrers- ImfquUfes ana tluntters. <$metts Ufre, mgstfc fire, Strange customs, cranfes anti (peats, eirfth phClosophg tit streams. 203SS45 Custom doth often reason overrule, And only serves for reason to the fool. Rochester. A moon dial, with Napier's bones, And sev'ral constellation stones. Butler. He shows, on holidays, a sacred pin, That touch'd the ruff that touch'd Queen Bess's chin. Wolcofs Peter Pindar. Stretching away on the one hand into the deep gloom of barbaric ignorance, and on the other hand into the full radiance of Christian intelli- gence, and, grounding itself strongly in the instinctive recognition by all men of the intimate relations between the seen and the unseen, the empire of SUPERSTITION possesses all ages of human history and all stages of human progress. Nimno. Matrons who toss the cup, and see The grounds of fate in grounds of tea. Churchill. I have known the shooting of a star to spoil a night's rest; I have seen a man in love grow pale upon the plucking of a merry-thought. There is nothing so inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled with omens and prognostics. Addison. (5) Books with Unpronounceable Names. In the seventeenth century there was a book published entitled: " Crononhotonthologos, the most tragical tragedy that ever was tragedized by any company of tragedians." The first two lines of this effusion read "Aldeborontiphoscophosnio ! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos ?" We might name another singular title of a work published in 1661 by Robert Lovell, entitled: "Panzoologicomineralogia; a complete history of animals and minerals, contain 'g the summs of all authors, Galenical and Chymicall, with the anatomic of man, &c." Salad for the Solitary, Most Curious Book in the World. The most singular bibliographic curiosity is that which belonged to the family of the Prince de Ligne, and is now in France. It is neither written nor printed. All of the letters of the text are cut out of each folio upon the finest vellum ; and, being interlaced with blue paper, it is read as easily as the best print. The labor and patience bestowed upon it must have been excessive, especially when the precision and minuteness of the letters are considered. The general execu- tion is admirable in every respect, and the vellum is of the most delicate and costly kind. Rodolphus IT., of Germany, offered for it, in 1640, eleven thousand ducats, which was probably equal to sixty thousand at this day. The most 8 remarkable circumstance connected with this literary treasure is that it bears the royal arms of England, but it cannot be shown that it was ever in that country. The book is entitled : Liber Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi cum Characteribus Nulla Materia Compositis. A Long Lost Book Recovered. The book called "The Ascension of Isaiah the Prophet" had been known to exist in former ages, but had disappeared after the fifth century. During the present century Dr. Richard Laurence, the professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop of Cassel, accidentally met with an ^Ethiopic MS. at the shop of a bookseller in Drury Lane, which proved to be this apocryphal book. There was some- thing remarkable in the discovery, in a small bookseller's shop, of a book which had been lost to the learned for more than a thousand years. The Bug Bible. Among the literary curiosities in the Southampton library, England, is an old Bible known as the "Bug Bible," printed by John Daye, 1551, with a prologue by Tyndall. It derives its name from the peculiar rendering of the fifth verse in the gist Psalm, which reads thus: "So that thou shall not need to be afraid for any bugs by night." Illuminated Manuscript Bible. Guido de Jars devoted half a century to the production of a manuscript copy of the Bible, with illuminated letters. He began it in his fortieth year, and did not finish it until his ninetieth (1294). It is of exceeding beauty. 9 The Mazarine Bible. This is so called from its having been found in the Cardi- nal's library. It was the first book printed with metal types, and cost $2,500. A Book without Words. A literary curiosity exists in England in the shape of "A Wordless Book,'' so called because, after the title page, it contains not 9. single word. It is a religious allegory devised by a religious enthusiast, and the thought is in the symbolic color of its leaves, of which two are black, two crimson, two pure white, two pure gold. The black symbolizes the unre- generate heart of man; the crimson, the blessed redemption; the white, the purity of the soul " washed in the blood of the Lamb;" the gold, the radiant joy of eternal felicity. Wierix's Bible. The edition of this Bible contains a plate by John Wierix, representing the feast of Dives, with Lazarus at his door. In the rich man's banqueting room there is a dwarf playing with a monkey, to contribute to the merriment of the company, according to the custom among people of rank in the sixteenth century. Gilt Beards. There was a French Bible printed in Paris in 1538, by Anthony Bonnemere, wherein is related "that the ashes of the golden calf which Moses caused to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by the Israelites, stuck to the beards of such as had fallen down before it, by which they appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark to distinguish 10 those who had worshipped the calf." This idle story is actually interwoven with the j2d chapter of Exodus. Printed in Gold Letters. Bede speaks of a magnificent copy of the Gospels in letters of the purest gold, upon leaves of purple parchment. Magnificent Latin Bible. Amongst the rare and costly relics in the library of the Vatican, is the magnificent Latin Bible of the Duke of Urbino. It consists of two large folios, embellished by numerous figures and landscapes, in the ancient arabesque. Interesting Manuscript Bibles. In the British Museum there are two copies of the Scrip- tures which are peculiarly calculated to interest the pious visitors, from the circumstances under which they were tran- scribed. The elder manuscript contains "The Old and New Testaments, in short hand, in 1686," which were copied, during many a wakeful night, by a zealous Protestant, in the reign of James II., who feared that the attempts of that monarch to re-establish Popery would terminate in the sup- pression of the sacred Scriptures. The other manuscript contains the book of Psalms and the New Testament, in 15 volumes, folio, written in characters an inch long, with white ink, on black paper manufactured for the purpose. This perfectly unique copy was written in 1745, at the cost of a Mr. Harries, a London tradesman. His sight having failed with age so as to prevent his reading the Scriptures, though printed in the largest type, he incurred 11 the expense of this transcription that he might enjoy those sources of comfort which "are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold." The British Museum paid $3750 for the manuscript Bible made by Alcuin, in the eighth century, for the Emperor Char- lemagne, whose instructor and friend he was. The Vinegar Bible. This Bible derives its title from an edition which contained an error in the heading to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke, in which '''Parable of the Vineyard" is printed "Parable of the Vinegar." The edition was issued in the year 1717, by the University of Oxford, at their Clarendon Press. Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Booke." This book is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the work of Queen Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold. It hung by a gold chain at her side, and was the fre- quent companion of the "Virgin Queen." In her own hand- writing, at the beginning of the volume, the following quaint lines appear " I walke many times into the pleasaunt fieldes of the Holie Scriptures, where I plucke up the gooclliesome herbes of sentences by pruning; eate them by readinge; chawe them by musing; and laye them up at length in ye state of memorie by gathering them together; that so, having tasted their sweetness, I may the lesse perceave the bitterness of this miserable life." This was penned by the Queen, probably while she was in captivity at Woodstock, as the spirit it breathed affords a singular contrast to the towering haughtiness of her ordinary deportment. 12 Eliot's Indian Bible. At the age of 42, John Eliot, pastor of a church at Roxbury, Mass., began the study of the Natick Indian dialect, with a view of translating the Bible into that language. He com- pleted the translation in 1658, after a labor of eight years, and the book was issued in 1663. Upwards of one thousand copies were printed, of which twenty copies were dedicated to King Charles. The latter copies are so rare that one of them was sold in the U. S., in 1862, for $1000, and six years later for $i 150. Among the many points of interest which Eliot's Indian Bible possesses, not the least is the fact that it is the language of a nation no longer in existence, and is almost the only monument of the race ; another, that it is the first edi- tion of the Bible published in this country. Silver Book. In the library of Upsal, in Sweden, there is preserved a translation of the four Gospels, printed with metal type upon violet-colored vellum. The letters are silver, and hence it has received the name of Codex Argenteus. The initial letters are in gold. It is supposed that the whole was printed in the same manner as book-binders letter the titles of books on the back. It was a very near approach to the art of printing, but it is not known how old it is. Huge Copy of the Koran. D'lsraeli mentions a huge copy of the Koran probably without a parallel, as to its size, in the annals of letters. The characters are described as three inches long; the book itself is a foot in thickness, and its other dimensions five feet by three. 13 A Lost Book. Celsus wrote a book against the Magi, which was not pre- served. He was an Epicurian philosopher, and lived in the second century. Much regret has been expressed over the loss of the work. He is mentioned with respect by Lucian, who derived from him the account which he gives of Alex- ander the imposter. Even Origen treated him with con- sideration. Book of Riddles. The Book of Riddles, alluded to by Shakespeare in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act ist, scene ist), is mentioned by Laneham, 1575, and in the English Courtier, 1586. The earliest edition now preserved is dated 1629. It is entitled "The Booke of Merry Riddles, together with proper Ques- tions and with Proverbs to make pleasant pastime; no less usefull and behovefull for any young man or child, to know if he be quick-witted or no." Unique Library. A singular library existed in 1535, at Warsenstein, near Cassel. The books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, were made of wood, and every one of them is a speci- men of a different tree. The back is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished pieces of the same stock. When put together, the whole forms a box, and inside of it are stored the fruit, seed and leaves, together with the moss which grows on its trunk and the insects which feed upon the tree. Every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether has an excellent effect. 14 The New England Primer. After the horn-book, the children of the incipient United States were furnished with primers, among the most noted of which was "The New England Primer for the more easy attaining the reading of English, to which is added the Assembly of Divines and Mr. Cotton's Catechisms." This primer had in it the alphabet, syllables of two letters, and many a pious distich, such as Young Timothy Learn'd sin to fly. Whales in the sea God's voice obey. In Adam's fall We sinned all. Vashti for pride Was set aside. These puritanic verses were accompanied with illustrations fully as bad as the rhymes, which were occasionally stretched to a triplet, as Young Obadias, David, Josias, All were pious. The Bedford Missal. One of the most celebrated books in the annals of biblio- graphy is the richly illuminated Missal executed by John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France under Henry VI., and presented by him to the king in 1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and two and a half inches thick. It contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in circles of about an inch and a half in diameter, 15 displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage, with varie- gated flowers, etc. At the bottom of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the subject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various hands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collec- tion was sold by auction in 1786. Among its many attrac- tions was the Bedford Missal. A knowledge of the sale com- ing to the ears of George III., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. The book- seller ventured to submit to his Majesty the probable high price it would bring. "How high?" asked the king. "Probably two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hun- dred guineas for a missal!" exclaimed the Queen, who was present, and lifted her hands in astonishment. "Well, well, I'll have it still," said his majesty; "but since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a missal, I'll go no higher." The bidding for the royal library actually stopped at that point, and a celebrated collector, Mr. Edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. The same missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in 1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough for the enormous sum of 637 i$s. sterling. Lord Kingsborough's Mexico. The most costly undertaking of a literary character ever undertaken by a single individual is the magnificent work on "Mexico," by Lord Kingsborough. This stupendous work is said to have been produced at an enormtous cost to the author. It is comprised in seven immense folio volumes, embellished by about one thousand colored illustrations. He spent more than $300,000 in its production, his enthusiasm carrying him so far that he ultimately died in debt. 16 Imperishable Prison Literature. Bcethius composed his excellent "Consolations of Philoso- phy" in prison. Grotius wrote his "Commentary" while in prison. Cervantes, it is said, wrote that masterpiece of Spanish romance, "Don Quixote," on board one of the gal- leys, in Barbara. Sir Walter Raleigh compiled his "History of the World" in his prison-chamber in the Tower. Bunyan composed his immortal allegory in Bedford jail. Luther gave the Bible to Germany, having translated it in Wartburg castle. Puffing their own Books. Authors of the olden time used to puff their own works by affixing "taking titles" to them; such as "A right merrie and wittie interlude, verie pleasant to reade, &c.;" "A marvellous wittie treatise, &c.;" "A Delectable, Pithie and Righte Profit- able Worke, &c." Sibylline Books. The Sibylline prophecies were of early Trojan descent, and the most celebrated of the Sibyls, or priestesses, plays an important part in the tales of ./Eneas. Her prophecies were supposed to be heard in dark caverns and apertures in rocks. They are thought by Varro to have been written upon palm leaves in Greek hexameters. They were largely circulated in he time of Croesus, and the promises which they made of future empire to ^Eneas escaping from the flames of Troy into Italy, were remarkably realized by Rome. Of the nine books offered for sale by a Sibyl to Tarquinius Superbus, six were burnt, after which he purchased the remaining three for the price originally demanded for the nine. They were kept in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 17 in the custody of certain officers, who only consulted the books at the special command of the Senate. Some Sibylline books appear to have been consulted until the tenth century. Prophetic Almanacs. The fame of the celebrated astrologer, Nostradamus, who prophesied minutely the death of Henry II. of France, the execution of Charles I. of England, the great fire of London, the Restoration, &c., gave such an impulse to predictions that, in 1579, Henry III. of France prohibited the insertion of any political prophecies in almanacs, a prohibition which was renewed by Louis XIII., in 1628. In the reign of Charles IX. a royal edict required every almanac to be stamped with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Prophetic almanacs still circulate to an incredible extent in the rural districts of France, and among the uneducated. The most popular of all these is the "Almanac Liegeois," a venerable remnant of superstition, first issued in 1636. It is a most convenient almanac for those who are unable to read, for by certain sym- bols attached to certain dates the most unlettered persons can follow its instructions. A rude representation of a phial announces the proper phase of the moon under which a draught of medicine should be taken ; a pair of scissors points out the proper period for cutting hair; a lancet, for letting blood, &c. Diaries. Marcus Antonius' celebrated work, entitled "Of the Things which Concern Himself," would be a good definition of the use and purpose of a diary. Shaftesbury calls a diary "A Fault-book," intended for self-correction; and a Colonel Hardwood, in the reign of Charles I., kept a diary which, in 18 the spirit of the times, he entitled "Slips, Infirmities and Passages of Providence. " One old writer quaintly observes that "the ancients used to take their stomach-pill of self- examination every night. Some used little books or tablets, tied at their girdles, in which they kept a memorial of what they did, against their night-reckoning." We know that Titus, the delight of mankind, as he has been called, kept a diary of all his actions, and when at night he found that he had performed nothing memorable, he would exclaim: "Friends, we have lost a day." Edward VI. kept a diary, while that left by James II., so full of facts and reflections, furnished excellent material for history. Richard Baxter, author of one hundred and forty-five distinct works, left a diary extending from 1615 to 1648, which, when published, formed a folio of seven hundred closely-printed pages. Valu- able diaries were also left by Whitelock and Henry Earl of Clarendon. Literary Ingenuity. Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet anna. The above line is said, in an old book, to have "cost the inventor much foolish labor, for it is perfect verse, and every word is the very same both backward and forward." Supposed to be a Genuine Island. When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned quite a complimentary blunder. This political romance represents a perfect but visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered in America. As this was the age of discovery (says Granger), the learned Budseus, and others, took it for a genuine history, and con- sidered it as highly expedient that missionaries should be sent thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity. 19 King of India's Library. Dabshelim, King of India, had so numerous a library, that a hundred brachmans were scarcely sufficient to keep it in order, and it required a thousand dromedaries to transport it from one place to another. As he was not able to read all these books, he proposed to the brachmans to make extracts from them of the best and most useful of their contents. These learned personages went so heartily to work, that in less than twenty years they had compiled of all these extracts a little encyclopaedia of twelve thousand volumes, which thirty camels could carry with ease. They presented them to the king, but what was their amazement to hear him say that it was impossible for him to read thirty camel-loads of books. They therefore reduced their extracts to fifteen, afterwards to ten, then to four, then to two dromedaries, and at last there remained only enough to load a mule of ordinary size. Unfortunately, Dabshelim, during this process of melting down his library, grew old, and saw no probability of living long enough to exhaust its quintessence to the last volume. "Illustrious Sultan," said his vizier, "though I have but a very imperfect knowledge of your royal library, yet I will undertake to deliver you a very brief and satisfactory abstract of it. You shall read it through in one minute, and yet you will find matter in it to reflect upon throughout the rest of your life." Having said this, Pilpay took a palm leaf, and wrote upon it with a golden style the four following paragraphs: 1. The greater part of the sciences comprise but one single word Perhaps, and the whole history of mankind contains no more than three they are born, suffer, die. 2. Love nothing but what is good, and do all that thou lovest to do; think nothing but what is true, and speak not all that thou thinkest. 3. O kings ! tame your passions, govern yourselves, and it will be only child's play to govern the world. 20 4. O kings! O people! it can never be often enough repeated to you, what the half-witted venture to doubt, that there is no happiness without virtue, and no virtue without God. Palindromes. One of the most remarkable palindromes is the following SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS. Its distinguishing peculiarity is that the first letter of each successive word writes to spell the first word; the second letter of each the second word, and so on throughout; and the same will be found as precisely true upon reversal. But the neatest and prettiest that has yet appeared comes from a highly cultivated lady who was attached to the court of Queen Eliza- beth. Having been banished from the court on suspicion of too great familiarity with a nobleman in high favor, the lady adopted this device a moon covered by a cloud and the fol- lowing palindrome for a motto ABLATA AT ALBA. (Secluded but Pure.) The rnqrit of this kind of composition was never in any example so heightened by appropriateness and delicacy of sentiment. Chronogram. Such was the name given to a whimsical device of the later Romans, resuscitated during the renaissance period, by which a date is given by selecting certain letters amongst those which form an inscription, and printing them larger than the others. The principle will be understood from the following chronogram made from the name of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham 21 GEORG IVs. DVX. The date MDCXVVVIII (1628), is that of the year in the Duke was murdered by Felton, at Portsmouth. Instance of Remarkable Perseverance. The Rev. Wm. Davy, a Devonshire curate, in the year 1795, begun a most desperate undertaking, viz: that of him- self printing twenty-six volumes of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page, for fourteen copies, and con- tinued the almost hopeless task for twelve years, in the midst of poverty. Such wonderful perseverance almost amounts to a ruling passion. Alliterative Whims. Mrs. Crawford says she wrote one line in her song, "Kathleen Mavourneen," for the express purpose of con- founding the cockney wablers, who sing it thus " The 'om of the 'unter is 'card on the 'ill." Moore has laid the same trap in the Woodpecker "A 'eart that is 'umble might 'ope for it "ere." And the elephant confounds them the other way "A helephant heasily heats at his hease, Hunder humbrageous humbrella trees." Alliterations carried to Absurd Excess. In the early part of the seventeenth century the fashion of hunting after alliterations was carried to an absurd excess. Even from the pulpit the chosen people were addressed as "the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and 22 the jweet jwallows of salvation." "Ane New-Year Gift," or address, presented to Mary Queen of Scots by the poet Alex- ander Scot, concludes with a stanza running thus "Fresh, fulgent, flourist, fragrant flower formose, Lantern to love, of ladies lamp and lot, Cherry maist chaste, chief, carbuncle and chose, &c." Vacillating Newspapers. The newspapers of Paris, under censorship of the press, in 1815, announced in the following manner Bonaparte's depart- ure from the Isle of Elba, his march across France and his entrance into the French Capital : "pth March. The Cannibal has escaped from his den. loth. The Corsican Ogre has just landed at Cape Juan, nth. The Tiger has arrived at Gap. i2th. The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. I3th. The Tyrant has crossed Lyons. i4th The Usurper is directing his course toward Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a body and they surround him on all sides. i8th. Bona- parte is sixty leagues from the Capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the hands of his pursuers, ipth Bonaparte advances rapidly, but he will never enter Paris 2oth. To-morrow Napoleon will be under our ramparts. 2ist. The Emperor is at Fontainebleau. 22d. His Imperial and Royal Majesty last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the Tuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faithful people" Dr. Johnson's Blunders. Considering that Doctor Johnson was himself a severe verbal critic, it might be expected that his own writings would be correct. But he wrote: "Every monumental inscription 23 should be in Latin; for that being a dead language it will always //#re, and from no other motive I think it my duty to advertise you that you are most particularly desired, to have especial attention to all he docs, to show him all the respect imaginable, nor venture to say any thing before him, that may either offend or displease him in any sort; for I may truly say, there is no man I love so much as M. Ccrnpigne, none whom I should more regret to see negiccted, as no one can be more wonhy to be received and trusted in decent society. B.ISC, therefore, would it be to injure him. Ar.J 1 well know, that as soon as you are made sensible of his virtues, and shall become acquainted with him you will love him as I do; and then you will thank me for this my advice. The assurance I entertain of your Courtesy obliges me to desist from urgiiig this matter to you firther, or Mying any thing more on this subject. Believe me, Sir, &c., RICHELIEU. 52 Passage through the Isthmus of Panama, Suggested Three Hundred Years Ago. In the Town Library (Stadt BibliotheK) of Nuremberg is preserved an interesting globe, made by John Schoner, pro- fessor of mathematics in the gymnasium there, A. D. 1520. It is very remarkable that the passage through the Isthmus of Panama, so much sought after in later times, is, on this old globe, carefully delineated. A False Conclusion. Amongst the deliramenta of the learned, which have amused mankind, the following deserves a place: In 1815 a noted London professor occupied a window which overlooked the college garden. Amid the trees in the latter a number of rooks had taken up their abode. A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic opposite, frequently amused himself by shooting the rooks with a cross-bow. The pro- fessor noticed that the birds frequently dropped senseless from their perches, no sound being heard, no person being visible. It was a strange phenomenon, and he set his wits to work to account for the cause of it. At length he became fully satis- fied that he had made a great ornithological discovery which would add vastly to his fame. He actually wrote a learned treatise, stating what he had seen, and declaring that it was a settled conviction in his mind that rooks were subject to falling sickness. Posies from Wedding Rings. Hamlet. Is this a prologue, or a posy of a ring? The following posies were transcribed by an indefatigable collector, from old wedding rings, chiefly of the seventeenth 53 and eighteenth centuries. altered : Death never parts Such loving hearts. In thee, my choice, I do rejoice. 1677. A heart content Need ne'er repent. All I refuse, And thee I choose. In thee, dear wife, I find new life. This ring doth bind Body and mind. The orthography is, in most cases, Joy day and night Be our delight. Endless as this, Shall be our bliss. 1719. God alone Made us two one. I change the life Of maid to wife. No gift can show The love I owe. In love abide, Till death divide. Private Expenses of Charles II. Malone, the well-known editor of Shakespeare, possessed a curious volume an account of the privy expenses of Charles II., kept by Baptist May. A few extracts from Malone's transcripts are here subjoined : My Lord St. Alban's bill, Lady Castlemaine's debts, For grinding cocoanuts, Paid Lady C., play-money, For a band of music, For a receipt for chocolate Lady C., play-money, Mr. Knight, for bleeding the king, Mr. Price, for milking the asses, s. d. 1,746 18 ii i,n6 i o 5 8 o 300 o 5 o 227 o o 300 o 10 o o 10 o 54 Lady C., play-money, . . . . 300 o o To one that showed tumbler's tricks, . 5 7 6 For weighing the King, . , . .-..-, i o o The Queen's allowance, . . . 1,250 o o Lost by the King at play on twelfth-night . 220 o o Nell Gwyn, . . . . . too o o For 3,685 ribbons for healing, . . . 107 10 4 Lord Landerdale, for ballads, . . . 500 Paid what was borrowed for the Countess of Castlemaine, 1,650 o o First Brick House in Philadelphia. The following editorial announcement is taken from the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury of November 3oth, 1752, because it is a novelty in its way, and also affords an insight into the degree of communication which existed at the time between large towrjs and the provinces : "On Monday next the Northern Post sets out from New York, in order to perform his stage but once a fortnight, during the winter quarter ; the Southern Post changes also, which will cause this paper to come out on Tuesdays during that time. The colds which have infested the Northern Colonies have also been troublesome here ; few families have escaped the same, several have been carry'd off by the cold, among whom was David Brintnall, in the 77th year of his age ; he was the first man that had a brick house in the city of Philadelphia, and was much esteem'd for his just and upright dealing. There goes a report here that the Lord Baltimore and his lady are arrived in Maryland, but the Southern Post being not yet come in, the said report wants confirmation." The Pillory in Philadelphia. Among the local items of news in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 55 published in Philadelphia, and bearing date of November 4th, 1772, is recorded the following : "At the Mayor's Court, held in this city last week, John Underwood, for counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money, of this province, was ordered to be whipt, stand in the pillory, and have both his ears cut off and nailed to the post; others were ordered to be whipt and stand in the pillory for divers felonies, and five more to receive the discipline of the post, which was put in execution on Saturday last." One Hundred Years too Soon. The following appears in Baker's Chronicle, sub anno 1524: " In this yeere, through bookes of prognostications, fore- showing much hurt by waters and floods, many persons with- drew themselves to high grounds for feare of drowning; spe- cially one Bolton, prior of St. Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, builded him an house upon Harrow on the hill, and thither went and made provision for two moneths. These great waters should have fallen in February, but, no such thing happening, the astronomers excused themselves by saying, that, in the computation, they had miscounted in their number an hundred yeeres." The Manner of Watchmen Imitating the Clock at Herrnhuth, in Germany. VIII. Past eight o'clock ! O, Herrnhuth, do thou ponder; Eight souls in Noah's Ark were living yonder. IX. "Tis nine o'clock ! ye brethren, hear it striking ; Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking. X. Now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing ; None rest but such as wait for Christ's embracing. 56 XL Eleven is past ! Still at this hour eleven The Lord is calling us from earth to heaven. XII. Ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming; At midnight our great Bridegroom will be coming. I. p^t one o'clock ! The day breaks out of darkness ; Great Morning Star appear, and break our hardness. II. ' Tis two ! On Jesus wait this silent season, Ye two so near related, Will and Reason. III. The clock is three ! The blessed three doth merit The best of praise, from body, soul and spirit. IV. ' Tis four o'clock! When three make supplication, The Lord will be the fourth on that occasion. V. Five is the clock ! Five virgins were discarded, While five with wedding garments were rewarded. VI. The clock is six, and I go off my station. Now, brethren, watch yourselves for your salvation. Household, Rules in the Sixteenth Century. From Sir J. Harrington's (the translator of Ariosto) rules for servants, we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government of a country gentleman's house in 1566 A servant who is absent from prayers to be fined. For uttering an oath, \d.\ and the same sum for leaving a door open. A fine of id. from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed after seven, or out after nine. A fine of \d. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned, after eight. A fine of 4 s. a. To soldering and repairing St. Joseph, . .08 To cleaning and ornamenting the Holy Ghost, . o 6 To repairing the Virgin Mary and cleaning the child, 4 8 To screwing a nose on the Devil, and putting in the hair on his head, and placing a new joint in his tail, 5 6 Antiquity of Riddles. Riddles are of the highest antiquity. The oldest one on record is in the book of Judges, xiv. 14-18. We are told by Plutarch that the girls of his time worked at netting or sew- ing, and the most ingenius made riddles. The following riddle is attributed to Cleobolus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, who lived about 570 years before the birth of Christ: "There is a father with twice six sons; these sons have thirty daughters apiece, parti-colored, having one cheek white and the other black, who never see each other's faces, nor live more than twenty-four hours." Cashing Lottery Prizes. In the State Lottery of 1739, tickets, chances and shares were "bought and sold by Richard Shergold, printer, at his 64 office at the Union Coffee-house over and against the Royal Exchange, Cornhill." He advertised that he kept numerical books during the drawing, and a book wherein buyers might register their numbers at sixpence each; \ha.i fifteen per cent, was to be deducted out of the prizes, which were to be paid at the bank in fifty days after the drawing. The heavy percent- age demanded occasioned the following epigram : "This lottery can never thrive," Was broker heard to say, " For who but fools will ever give Fifteen per cent, to play?" A sage, with his accustomed grin, Replied, "I'll stake my doom, That if but half the fools come in The wise will find no room I" Lottery for Women in India. Advertisement. BE IT KNOWN, that Six FAIR PRETTY YOUNG LADIES, with two sweet and engaging young children, lately imported from Europe, having roses of health blooming on their cheeks and joy sparkling in their eyes, possessing amiable manners and highly accomplished, whom the most indifferent cannot behold without expressions of rapture, are to be RAFFLED FOR next door to the British gallery. SCHEME: Twelve tickets at twelve rupees each; the highest of the three throws takes the most fascinating, &c v &c. Cat- , cutta Newspaper of September yd, 1818. Ancient Lottery. In 1612, King James I , "in special favour for the planta- tion of English colonies in Virginia, granted a Lottery to be held at the west end of St. Paul's; whereof one Thomas 65 Sharplys, a taylor of London, had the chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate." Baker 's Chronicles. Child Played For. In October, 1735, a child of James and Elizabeth Leesh, of Chester-le-street, in the county of Durham, was played for at cards, at the sign of the Salmon, one game, four shillings against the child, by Henry and John Trotter, Robert Thom- son and Thomas Ellison, which was won by the latter two and delivered to them accordingly. Syke* s Local Records, page 79. Lotteries. The change in public opinion respecting lotteries is strik- ingly illustrated by the following entry in the day-book kept by the Rev. Samuel Seabury, father of the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the United States: "June, 1768. The ticket number 5866, by the blessing of God, in the Lighthouse and Public Lottery of New York, appointed by law, Anno Domini, 1763, drew in my favor 500 os. od., of which I received 425, os. od., which, with the deduction of fifteen per cent., makes 500, for which I now record to my Posterity my thanks and praise to Almighty God the giver of all good gifts. Amen!" Babes in the Wood. This popular legend was a disguised recital of the reported murder of his young nephews by Richard III. Throughout the tale there is a marked resemblance to several leading facts connected with the king and his brother's children, as well as a correspondence with historical details. In an old black- letter copy of the ballad there is a rude representation of a stag, which is significant, because a stag was the badge of the unfortunate Edward V. A Little Bird Told Me. This expression comes from Ecclesiastes x. 20: "For a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." Dead Drunlc for Twopence. From the "Gentleman's Magazine" (1736), we learn that at some of the taverns where the poorer classes drank to excess, the signs bore the following inscription: " Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, clean straw for nothing. ' ' This record gives reality to the inscription in Hogarth's print of "Gin-lane." How the Prophecy of the Destruction of Bath came About. On the 3oth of March, 1809, the destruction of the city oi Bath was to have been effected by a convulsion of the earth, which should cause "Beaconhill to meet Beechen Cliff." This inauspicious juncture was said to have been foretold by an old woman who had derived her information from an angel. This reported prophecy rendered many of the inhabit- ants uneasy, and instigated crowds of visitors to quit the city. The portentous hour twelve o'clock passed, and the believers were ashamed of their credulity. The alarm is said to have originated with two noted cock-feeders, who lived near the before-mentioned hills; they had been at a public 67 house, and, after much boasting on both sides, made a match to fight their favorite cocks on Good Friday; but fearing the magistrates might interfere, if it became public, they named the cocks after their respective walks, and in the agreement it was specified that "Mount Beacon would meet Beechen Cliff, precisely at 12 o'clock on Good Friday." The match was mentioned with cautions of secresy to their sporting friends, who repeated it in the same terms, and with the same caution, until it came to the ears of some credulous beings, who took the words in their plain sense; and, as stories seldom lose by being repeated, each added what fear or fancy framed, until the report became a marvellous prophecy, which in its intended sense was fulfilled; for the cocks of Mount Beacon irul Beechen Cliff met and fought, and left their hills behind '"lem on their ancient sites, to the comfort and joy of multi- tudes who had been disturbed by the epidemical prediction. Hone. Drop-Letter Retort. An old gentleman by the name of Page, having found a young lady's glove at a watering place, presented it to her with the following couplet : " If you from your glove take the letter G, Your glove leaves love, which I devote to thee." To which the lady returned the following answer: " If from your page you take the letter P, Your page is age, and that won't do for me." Dean Swift's Marriage Ceremony. Dean Swift was applied to, at a late hour on a stormy night, after he had gone to bed, by a run-away couple, to be married. 68 He answered the call from his upper chamber window. He told them that as he was undressed, the weather very threaten- ing, and they, he presumed, in a hurry, he would marry them as they stood. After asking the necessary questions, he said " Under this window, in stormy weather, I marry this man and woman together ; Let none but Him who rules the thunder Put this man and woman asunder." Pious Guide-Posts. In olden times the guide-posts not only pointed out the road, but furnished texts and maxims upon which to meditate. The following inscriptions were upon guide-posts in Devon- shire, England: V&" To Woodbury, Topsham, Exeter. Her ways are wa; of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. t&~To Brixton, Ottery, Honiton. O hold up our goings in thy paths, that our footsteps slip not. t&~To Otter ton, Sidmouth, A. D. 1743. O that our ways were made to direct, that we might keep thy statutes. S&T To Budleigh. Make us to go in the paths of thy com- mandments, for therein is our desire. A Bogus Dragon. A curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden of Oxford, England, occurs in one of Grey's notes tc Hudibras: "He made a dead rat resemble the common picture of a dragon, by altering its head and tail, and thrust- ing in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as pos- sible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. 69 Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; several fine copies of verses were written on so rare a subject. At last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat ; however, it was looked upon as a master-piece of art, and, as such, was deposited in the museum." Donation to a Fair. On one occasion Oliver Wendell Holmes sent a letter to the post-office of a ladies' fair at Pittsfield. On the first page he wrote " Fair lady, whoso' er thou art, Turn this poor leaf with tenderest care, And hush, Oh hush, thy breathing heart The one thou lovest will be there." On turning the "poor leaf" there was found a one dollar bill with the subjoined verse " Fair lady, lift thine eyes and tell If this is not a truthful letter ? This is the one (i) thou lovest well, And nought (o) can make thee love it better." Confectionery Decorations. Probably the ancients exceeded us in the art of decorating confectionery. After each course in solemn feasts there was a "subtilty." Subtilties were representations of castles, giants, saints, knights, ladies and beasts, all raised in pastry, upon which legends and coat-armor were painted in their proper colors. At the festival, on the coronation of Henry VI., in 1429, there was a "subtilty" of St. Edward and St. Louis, "armed, and upon either his coat-armor, holding between them a figure of King Henry, standing also in his coat-armor, and an inscription passing from both, saying, 70 'Beholde twoe perfecte kynges vnder one coate-armoure. ' " Fabyan-Dallaway* s Heraldic Inq. Superscription to a Letter. A letter upon which the following was written, passed through the Atlanta (Ga.) post-office: " Steal not this for fear of shame There is no money in the same; True, it does a check contain, But 'tis for baggage on a tram." In Search of a Looking- Glass. "When I was last in Lisbon, a nun made her escape from the nunnery. The first thing for which she inquired, when she reached the house in which she was to be secreted, was a looking-glass. She had entered the convent when only five years old, and from that time had never seen her own face." Southey, Bleeding for Nothing. "Whereas, the majority of Apothecaries in Boston have agreed to pull down the price of Bleeding to sixpence, let these certifie that Mr. Richard Clarke, Apothecary, will bleed anybody at his shop, gratis." Stamford Mercury, March 28th, 1716. An Astonished Lawyer. A curious instance occurred of a witness confounding a counsel, at Gloucester, England, some years ago. The wit- ness, on being asked his name, gave it as Ottiwell Woodd. u The learned counsel did not seem to catch it, though it was several times pronounced. "Spell it, sir, if you please," he said, somewhat angrily. The witness complied as follows: "O-double t-i-double you-e-double 1-double you-double o- doubled." The spelling confounded the lawyer more than ever, and in his confusion, amid the laughter of the court, he took the witness aside to help him to spell it after him. Duels Fought by Clergymen. In England, in 1764, the Rev. Mr. Hill was killed in a duel by Cornet Gardener, of the carbineers. The Rev. Mr. Bates fought two duels, and was subsequently created a baronet, and preferred to a deanery after he had fought another duel. The Rev. Mr. Allen killed a Mr. Delany in a duel in Hyde Park, without incurring ecclesiastical censure, though the judge, on account of his extremely bad conduct, strongly charged his guilt upon the jury. A Singular Coincidence. On the 1 3th of February, 1746, as the records of the French criminal jurisprudence inform us, one Jean Marie Dunbarry was brought to the scaffold for murdering his father; and, strangely enough, on the I3th of February, 1846, precisely one hundred years later, another Jean Marie Dunbarry, a great-grandson of the first-mentioned criminal, paid the same penalty for the same crime. Tavern Screens. Centuries ago, the doors of taverns had an interior screen, similar to those in use at the present day. Lounging was just 72 as much in vogue. In Clare's "Shepherd's Calender," we read " Now, musing o'er the changing scene, Farmers behind the tavern screen Collect; with elbow idly press'd On hob, reclines the corner's guest, Reading the news, to mark again The bankrupt Hits, or price of grain, Puffing the while his red-tipt pipe, He dreams o'er troubles nearly ripe; Yet, winter's leisure to regale, Hopes better times, and sips his ale." Ancient Antipathy to lied Hair. Ages before the time of Judas, red hair was thought a mark of reprobation, both in the case of Typhon, who deprived his brother of the sceptre in Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, who acquired it in expiation of his atrocities. Even the donkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened visitation, according to the proverb of "wicked as a red ass." Asses of that color were held in such detestation r mong the Copths, that every year they sacrificed one by hurling it from a high wall. Lightning- Prints. Lightning-prints are appearances sometimes found on the skin of men or animals that are struck by lightning, and are currently believed to be photographic representations of sur- rounding objects or scenery. At Candclaria, in Cuba, in 1828, a young man was struck dead by lightning near a house, on one of the windows of which was nailed a horse-shoe; and the image of the horse- shoe was said to be distinctly printed upon the neck of the young man. On the i4th of November, 1830, lightning 73 struck the Chateau Benatcniere, in Lavendee. At the time a lady happened to be seated on a chair in the salon, and on the back of her dress were printed minutely the ornaments on the back of the chair. In September, 1857, a peasant-girl, while herring a cow in the department of Seine-et-Marne, was overtaken by a thunder-storm. She took refuge under a tree, and the tree, the cow and herself were struck with light- ning. The cow was killed, but she recovered, and on loosen- ing her dress for the sake of respiring freely, she saw a picture of the cow upon her breast. JVo Buttons but Brass Buttons. There is a curious law extant in England in regard to brass buttons. It is, by Acts of Parliament passed in three reigns, (William III., Anne and George I.), illegal for a tailor to make, or mortal to wear, clothes with any other buttons appended thereto but buttons of brass. The law was put in force for the benefit of the button-makers of Birmingham; and it further enacts, not only that he who makes or sells gar- ments with any but brass buttons thereto affixed, shall pay a penalty of forty shillings for every dozen, but that he shall not be able to recover the price he claims, if the wearer thinks proper to resist payment. The Act is not a dead letter. Not more than thirty years ago a Mr. Shirley sued a Mr. King for nine pounds sterling due for a suit of clothes. King pleaded non-liability on the ground of an illegal transaction, the buttons on the garments supplied being made of cloth, or bone covered with cloth, instead of glittering brass, -as -the law directs. The judge allowed the plea; and the defendant having thus gained a double suit without cost, immediately proceeded against the plaintiff to recover his share of the forty shillings for every dozen buttons which the poor tailor had unwittingly supplied. A remarkable feature in the case was, that the judge who admitted the plea, the barrister who set it up, and the client who profited by it, were themselves all buttoned contrary to law ! Curious Signs in New York. One may see in the shop-windows of a Fourth avenue con- fectioner, "Pies Open All Night." An undertaker in the same thoroughfare advertises, ''Everything Requisite for a First-class Funeral." A Bowery placard reads, "Home- made Dining Rooms, Family Oysters." A West Broadway restaurateur sells "Home-made Pies, Pastry and Oysters." A Third avenue "dive" offers for sale "Coffee and Cakes off the Griddle," and an East Broadway caterer retails "Fresh Salt Oysters" and "Larger Beer." A Fulton street tobacconist calls himself a "Speculator in Smoke," and a purveyor of summer drinks has invented a new draught, which he calls by the colicky name of "^Eolian Spray." A Sixth avenue barber hangs out a sign reading "Boots Polished Inside," and on Varick street, near Carmine, there are "Les- sons Given on the Piano, with use for Practice " "Cloth Cutt and Bastd" is the cabalistic legend on the front of a millinery shop on Spring street; on another street the follow- ing catches the eye : "Washin Ironin and Goin Out by the Day Done Here." Recipes from Mbertus Magnus. "If thou wylt see that other men cannot see: Take the gall of a male cat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint thy eyes, and thou shall see it that others cannot see. "If the hart, eye or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged upon a man's neck, it is profitable agaynste forget- 75 fulnesse, and sharpeth man's understanding." Black letter copy very old, Infamous Nankeen. The wearing of nankeen at one time was so popular among gentlemen in England, that it also became the fashion in France. English nankeen threatened to drive all French manufactured articles of summer wear out of the market. Louis XVI., however, was equal to the emergency. He ordered all the executioners and their assistants to perform their terrible office in no other dress but one made out of nankeen, which rendered the material so "infamous" that its use was discarded. The Military Salute. The military salute, which consists of the hand being brought to a horizontal position over the eyebrows, has a very old origin, dating, in fact, from the very commencement of the history of the English army. Its origin is founded on the tournaments of the Middle Ages, and was as follows : After the queen of beauty was enthroned, the knights who were to take part in the sports of the day, marched past the dais on which she sat, and as they passed they shielded their eyes from the rays of her beauty. Book-keeping in Norway. The process of keeping accounts among the Norway lumber- men is unique in style. The time-keeper, after comparing accounts with the workman, sends him to the cashier for his wages, with the amount due to him chalked on his back; and when the cashier has paid it, he takes his receipt by brushing off the chalk-marks. 76 Carious Post- Office. The smallest post-office in the world is kept in a barrel, which swings from the outermost rock of the mountains over- hanging the Straits of Magellan, opposite Terra del Fuego. Every passing ship opens it to place letters in or take them out. Every ship undertakes to forward all letters in it that it is possible for them to transmit. The barrel hangs by its iron chain, beaten and battered by the winds and storms, but no locked and barred office on land is more secure. Inordinate Self-Esteem. Some Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Guinea, found a negro prince seated under a tree on a block of wood for his throne, and three or four negroes, armed with wooden spears, for his guards. His sable majesty anxiously inquired : "Do they talk much of me in France?" He's a Brick. If this is slang, it is classical slang. Of the thousands who use the expression, very few know its origin or its primi- tive significance. Truly, it is a heroic thing to say of a man to call him a brick. The word so used, if not twisted from its original intent, implies all that is brave, patriotic and loyal. Plutarch, in his life of Agesilaus, King of Sparta, gives us the original of the quaint and familiar expression. On a certain occasion an ambassador from Espirus, on a diplomatic mission, was shown by the king over his capital. The ambassador knew of the monarch's fame knew that though only nominally king of Sparta, he was ruler of Greece and he had looked to see massive walls rearing aloft their embattled towtrs for the defence of tVe town; but he found 77 nothing of the kind. He marvelled much at this, and spoke of it to the king. "Sire," he said, "I have visited most of the principal towns, and I find no walls reared for defence. Why is this?" " Indeed, Sir Ambassador," replied Agesilaus; "thou canst not have looked carefully. Come with me to-morrow morn- ing, and I will show you the walls of Sparta." Accordingly, on the following morning, the king led his guest out upon the plain where his army was drawn up in full array, and pointing proudly to the serried hosts, he said "There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta ten thousand men, and EVERY MAN A BRICK!" Punch and Judy in 1669. Although Punch was not originally French, he has always been greatly esteemed in France. The following entries are found in the registers of the royal treasury: "Paid to Brioche, the puppet-player, for sojourning at St. Germain-en-Laye, during September, October and November. 1669, to divert the royal children, 1365 livres." "Paid to Francois Daitelin, puppet-player, for the fifty-six days he remained at St. Germain, to amuse Monseigneur le Dauphin (July and August, 1669), 820 livres." Five successive months must almost have been enough of such amusement for the royal children of France. Offending Barbers. On the 2oth of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of Parliament. 18 Primitive Tavern Signs, In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey can be obtained, the traveler i-s informed of the fact by a piece of turf unobtrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale houses in England were indi- cated by a stake projecting from the front of the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt originated from this custom. Watch-Papers. Years ago it was the custom for watch-makers to put their business cards inside of the case. These cards were sometimes enlivened with a couplet or a verse, of each of which we subjoin a sample He that wears a watch, two things must do ; Pocket his watch and watch his pocket too. I labor here with all my might, To tell the hours of day and night ; Therefore, example take by me, And serve the Lord as I serve thee. Echo Verse. It was a sharp bit of echo verse that the Sunday Times of London threw off in 1831, when tickets to hear the great violinist were very high What are they who pay three guineas To hear a tune of Paganini's ? Echo Pack o' ninnies. 79 Signature of the Cross. The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make instead of their signatures, is in the form of a cross ; and this practice having formerly been followed by kings and nobles, is constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of ancient times. This signature is not, however, ir variably a proof of ignorance. Anciently, the use of the mark was not confined to illiterate persons; for among the Saxons the mark of the cross, as an attestation of the good faith of the persons signing, was required to be attached to the signature of those who could write, as well as to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. Simply on Account of her Name. Herrera, the Spanish historian, records an anecdote in which the choice of a queen entirely arose from her name. When two French ambassadors negotiated a marriage between one of the Spanish princesses and Louis VIII., the names of the royal females were Urraca and Blanche. The former was the elder and the more beautiful, and intended by the Spanish court for the French monarch ; but they resolutely preferred Blanche, observing that the name of Urraca would never do! And for the sake of a more mellifluous sound, they carried off the happier-named but less beautiful princess. Richelieu's Boast. Richelieu one day boasted among his courtiers that out of any four indifferent words he could extract matter to send any one to a dungeon. One of his attendants immediately wrote upon a card: "One and two make three" "Three make 80 only One!" exclaimed the cardinal. "To the Bastile with him. It is a blasphemy against our Holy Trinity." Curious Parallel. The story of Alnaschar, which is in the "Arabian Nights," tells how one Alnaschar had invested all his money in a basket of glassware, which he calculated to sell at a profit, and got into a day-dream of a splendid future. Out of the profits of his glass he was to rise into the position of a merchant-prince, with the Grand Vizier's daughter for his wife. Offended, in this day-dream, with the lady, he fancied that he would spurn her before forgiving her, and kicked out his foot, which broke all his glass and left him beggared. Rabelais makes Echepron, an old soldier, tell the advisers of King Picrochole, who wanted him to go to war, that a shoemaker bought a ha'p'orth of milk. This he intended to make into butter, and buy a cow with the money thus obtained. In due time the cow would have a calf; this calf would be sold, and so on money would pile up, until, having become a nabob, he should wed a princess. Only, just at this crisis, the jug fell, the milk was lost, and the dreamer sneaked, sup- perless, to bed. Earliest Clocks. The first clock which appeared in Europe was probably that which Eginhard (Secretary to Charlemagne) describes as sent to his royal master by Abdallah, King of Persia. ' 'A horologe of brass, wonderfully constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, while as many little brazen balls dropped upon bells underneath, and sounded each other." The Venetians had clocks in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Con- stantinople. 81 Famous Astronomical Clock. This clock, in the Strasburg Cathedral, was invented by Isaac Habrecht, a Jewish astrologer, in 1439. He called it the "Clock of the Three Sages," because once in every hour the figures of the Three Kings of Orient came out from a niche in its side, and made a reverential bow before an image of the Virgin Mary, seated just above the dial-plate, on the front of the clock. It is built of dark wood, gilded and carved, and is sixty feet high. In shape it is somewhat similar to a church, with a tower on either side of the entrance; and these towers of the clock are encircled by spiral staircases, which are used when repairs are necessary. When Isaac Habrecht invented this wonderful clock, he meant it to run forever, always displaying to the good people of Strasburg the days of the month, phases of the sun and moon, and other celestial phenomena; and while he lived it worked admirably, but when he had been dead awhile, the clock stopped; and as nobody else understood its machinery, it had quite a vacation, which lasted until 1681, when it was repaired and improved. It will now not only give the time of Strasburg, but every principal city in the world ; also the day of the week and month, the course of the sun and planets, and all the eclipses of the sun and moon, in their regular order. In an alcove above the dial is an image of the Saviour, and every day, at noon, figures of the twelve apostles march around it and bow, while the holy image, with uplifted hands, administers a silent blessing. A cock, on the highest point of the right-hand tower, flaps his wings and crows three times; and when he stops, a beautiful chime of bells rings out familiar and very musical tunes. A figure of Time, in a niche on one side, strikes the quarter hours from twelve to one, and four figures Childhood, Youth, Manhood and Old Age pass slowly before him. In a niche on the other side is an angel turning an hour-glass. Clock that Strikes Thirteen. The Duke of Bridgewater was very fond of watching his men at work, especially when any enterprise was on foot. When they were boring for coal at Worsley, the duke came every morning, and looked on for a long time. The men did not like to leave off work while he remained there, and they became so dissatisfied at having to work so long beyond the hour at which the bell rang, that Brindley had difficulty in getting a sufficient number of hands to continue the boring. On inquiry, he found out the cause and communicated it to the duke, who from that time made a point of immediately walking off when the bell rang returning when the men had resumed work, and remaining with them usually until six o'clock. He observed, however, that though the men dropped work promptly as the bell rang, when he was not by, they were not nearly so punctual in resuming work some straggling in many minutes after time. He asked to know the reason, and the men's excuse was, that though they could always hear the clock when it struck twelve, they could not so readily hear it when it struck only one. On hearing this, the duke had the mechanism of the clock altered so as to make it strike thirteen at one o'clock, which it continues to do to this day. Westminster Clock. The winding up of the going part of the great clock at Westminster, London, takes ten minutes, the weight of the pendulum being six hundred and eighty pounds; but the winding up of the striking parts the quarter part and the hour part takes five hours each, and this has to be done 83 twice a week. The contract cost of winding up the clock is $500 a year. The error of the clock amounts to only about one second for eighty-three days in the year, and there is probably no other clock in the world of which the same can be said. Wonderful Clock. Toward the end of the last century a clock was constructed by a Geneva mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of surprising movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro, a shepherd and a dog. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six tunes on his flute and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This clock was exhibited to the King of Spain, who was highly delighted with the ingenuity of the artist. The king, at the request of Droz, took an apple from the shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked so loud that the king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark also. We are, moreover, informed that the negro, on being asked what hour it was, answered the question in French, so that he could be under- stood by those present. Vocal Clock. The subjoined description of a curious clock is given in the journal of the Rev. J. Wesley: "On Monday, April 27, 1762, being at Lurgan, in Ireland, I embraced the opportunity, which I had long desired, of talking to Mr. Miller, the con- triver of that statue which was in Lurgan when I was there before. It was the figure of an old man standing in a case, with a curtain drawn before him, over against a clock which stood on the opposite side of the room. Every time the clock struck he opened the door with one hand, drew back the curtain 84 with the other, turned his head, as if looking round on the company, and then said, with a clear, loud, articulate voice: 'Past i,' or 2 or 3, and so on. But so many came to see this (the like of which all allowed was not to be seen in Europe), that Mr. Miller was in danger of being ruined, not having time to attend to his own business. So, as none offered to purchase it, or reward him for his pains, he took the whole machine to pieces." Harrison's Clock. In 1735, J onn Harrison, a rural clock-maker, invented a time-piece which scarcely ever lost five seconds in six months. To him, in 1767, was paid $100,000, as the first prize for all but an infallible time-keeper. A Cat- Clock. The following curious incident is to be found in Hue's " Chinese Empire:" "One day when we went to pay a visit to some families of Chinese Christian peasants, we met, near a farm, a young lad who was taking a buffalo to graze along our path. We asked him carelessly, as we passed, whether it was yet noon. The child raised his head to look at the sun, but it was hidden behind thick clouds, and he could read no answer there. 'The sky is so cloudy,' said he; 'but wait a moment;' and with these words he ran toward the farm, and came back a few minutes afterward with a cat in his arms. 'Look here,' said he, 'it is not noon yet;' and he showed us the cat's eyes, by pushing up the lids with his hands. We looked at the child with surprise, but he was evidently in earnest. 'Very well,' said we; 'thank you;' and we continued on our way. 85 " To say the truth, we had not at all understood the pro- ceeding, but we did not wish to question the little pagan, lest he should find out that we were Europeans by our ignorance. As soon as we reached the farm, however, we made haste to ask our Christian friends whether they could tell the clock by looking into a cat's eyes. They seemed surprised at the ques- tion; but as there was no danger in confessing to them our ignorance of the properties of a cat's eyes, we related what had just taken place. That was all that was necessary ; our complaisant neophytes immediately gave chase to all the cats in the neighborhood. They brought us three or four, and explained in what manner they might be made use of for watches. They pointed out that the pupils of their eyes went on constantly growing narrower until twelve o'clock, when they became like a fine line, as thin as a hair, drawn perpen- dicularly across the eye, and that after twelve the dilation recommenced." Curious Time-Piece. About 1679 Nicholas Grallier de Servierre, an old soldier who had served in the Italian army, constructed a whimsical clock. A figure of a tortoise, dropped into a plate of water, having the hours marked on the rim, would float around and stop at the proper time, telling what o'clock it was. A lizard ascended a pillar, on which the hours were marked, and pointed to the time as it advanced. A mouse did the same thing by creeping along an hour-marked cornice. Clock Presented to Charlemagne. The French historians describe a clock sent to Charlemagne in the year 807, by the famous eastern caliph, Haroun-al- Raschid, which was evidently furnished with some kind of 86 wheel-work, although the moving power appears to have been produced by the fall of water. In the dial of it were twelve small doors forming the divisions for -the hours, each door opened at the hour marked by the index, and let out small brass balls which, falling on a bell, struck the hours a great novelty at that time. The doors continued open until the hour of twelve, when twelve figures, representing knights on horseback, came out and paraded around the dial-plate. Delicate Machinery. Machines in a watch factory will cut screws with 589 threads to an inch. These threads are invisible to the naked eye, and it takes 144,000 of the screws to make a pound. A pound of them is worth six pounds of pure gold. Lay one of them upon a piece of white paper, and it looks like a tiny steel filing. Ancient Dials. The dial in use among the ancient Jews differed from that in use among us. Theirs was a kind of stairs; the time of the day was distinguished, not by lines, but by steps or degrees ; the shade of the sun every hour moved forward to a new degree. On the dial of Ahaz, the sun went back degrees or steps, not lines. Skull Watches. Diana of Poictiers, the mistress of Henry II., being a widow, the courtiers of the period, to ingratiate themselves in her favor, used to present her with watches in such shapes as cof- fins, skulls, etc., and it became the fashion to have them made in this lugubrious style. Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to 87 have had several, and she gave one to Mary Letown, in 1587, which is still in existence. It was made by Moyse, of Blois, France, and has been thus described : "The watch has a silver casing in the form of a skull, which separates at the jaws so as to expose the dial, which is also of silver, occupying about the position of the palate, and is fixed in a golden circle, with the hours in Roman letters. The movement appropriately occupies the place of the brains, but is enclosed in a bell, filling the hollow of the skull, which bell is struck by the hammer to sound the hours. The case is highly ornamented with fine engravings, showing on the front of the skull Death standing between a cottage and a palace j in the rear is Time devouring all things; on one side of the upper part of the skull are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with the serpent tempting Eve; on the opposite side is the Crucifixion. Inside, on the plate or lid, is the Holy Family in the stable, with the infant Saviour in the manger, and angels ministering to him. In the distance are the Shepherds with their flocks, etc." The works are said to be in good order and to perform astonishingly well. Book-Shaped Watch. One of the choicest rarities of the Bernal collection is a book-shaped watch. It was made for Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an engraved inscription of the duke and his titles, with the date 1627, and the engraving of his armorial bearings ; on the back of the case there are engraved two male portraits, buildings, &c. The watch has apparently two separate movements, and a large bell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is ornamentally pierced in a circle, with a dragon and other devices. It bears the maker's name, "Dionistus Hessichti." 88 Cruciform Watch In the family of Lady Fitzgerald, of England, there is a cruciform watch made in 1770, and covered with elaborate drawings of a delicate character. The centre of the dial- plate has a representation of Christ's agony in the garden, the outer compartments being occupied by the emblems of the passion, and the lowermost by a figure of Faith. Miniature Time-Piece. The time-piece carried by Louis XIV. of France was so small that it was set in one of that luxurious monarch's finger- rings. Resurrection Watch. During the reign of Catherine II. of Russia, Kalutin, a peasant, made a musical repeating watch about the size of an egg, which had within it a representation of Christ's tomb, with sentinels on guard. On pressing a spring the stone would be rolled from the tomb, the angels appear, the holy women enter the sepulchre, and the same chant which is sung in the Greek Church on Easter eve accurately performed. The watch is now in the Academy of Sciences at St. Peters- burg. Borrowing Watches. Watches were so rarely in use in the early time of James I. that it was deemed a cause of suspicion that one was found, in 1605, upon Guy Vaux. Jonson, in his "Alchemist," tells of the loan of one to wear on a particular occasion And I had lent my watch last night to one That dines to-day at the sheriff's. 89 Striking Watches. Hon. Mr. Barrington mentions that a thief was detected bj watches called "strikers," which he says were introduced in the reign of Charles II.; but repeating watches were worn in the time of Ben Jonson. In his " Staple of News," we read It strikes ! one, two, Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch, Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now stop and rest ; Would thou couldst make the time to do so too ; I '11 wind thee up no more. Too Many Watches. Watches were very common in 1638. It is complained in the "Antipodes," a comedy of that year, that Every clerk can carry The time of day in his pocket. On which account a projector in the same play proposes to diminish the grievance by a Project against The multiplicity of pocket watches. Wearing Two Watches. About 1770 it became the fashion to wear two watches. In a rhyming recipe of that date, " To Make a Modern Fop," appear the lines "A lofty cane, a sword with silver hilt, A ring, two watches and a snuff-box gilt." The ladies soon adopted the fashion, but as watches were still very expensive, mock watches were often substituted. 90 Minute Mechanisms. There is a cherry stone at the Salem (Mass. ) Museum which contains one dozen silver spoons. The stone itself is of the ordinary size, but the spoons are so small that their shape and finish can only be distinguished by the microscope. Dr. Oliver gives an account of a cherry stone on which were carved one hundred and twenty-four heads, so distinctly that the naked eye could distinguish those belonging to popes and kings by their mitres and crowns. It was bought in Prussia for fifteen thousand dollars, and thence conveyed to England, where it was considered an object of so much value that its possession was disputed, and it became the subject of a suit in chancery. One of the Nuremberg toy-makers enclosed in a cherry stone, which was exhibited at the French Crystal Palace, a plan of Sevastopol, a railway station, and the "Messiah" of Klopstock. In more remote times, an ac- count is given of an ivory chariot, constructed by Mermecides, which was so small that a fly could cover it with its wing; also a ship of the same material, which could be hidden under the wing of a bee. Pliny