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 //#<?." Another Johnsonian lapsus is palpable in the
lines
" Nor yet perceived the vital spirit fled,
But still fought on, nor knew that he was dead."
It would puzzle the reader to understand how a warrior
could continue fighting after he was dead.
Blunders of Painters.
Tintoret, an Italian painter, in a picture of the Children of
Israel gathering manna, represents them armed with guns. In
Cigoli's painting of the circumcision of the infant Saviour,
the aged Simeon has a pair of spectacles on his nose. In a
picture by Verrio of Christ healing the sick, the by-standers
have periwigs on their heads. A Dutch painter, in a picture
of the Wise Men worshipping the Holy Child, has drawn one
of them in a white surplice, and in boots and spurs, and he is
in the act of presenting to the children a model of a Dutch
man-of-war. In a Dutch picture of Abraham offering up his
son, instead of the patriarch "stretching forth and taking the
knife," he is represented as holding a blunderbuss to Isaac's
head. Berlin represents in a picture the Virgin and Child
listening to a violin. A French artist, in a painting of the
Lord's Supper, has the table ornamented with tumblers filled
with cigar lighters. Another French painting exhibits Adam
and Eve in all their primeval simplicity, while near them, in
full costume, is seen a hunter with a gun, shooting ducks.
Thackeray's Geographical Blunders.
The novelist, in "The Virginians," makes Madam Esmond,
of Castlewood, in Westmoreland county, a neighbor of Wash-
24
ington at Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac, fifty miles distant,
and a regular attendant at public worship at Williamsburg,
half-way between the York and James rivers, fully one hun-
dred and twenty-five miles from Mt. Vernon; and so
"immensely affected" are the colored hearers of a young
preacher at Williamsburg "that there was such a negro
chorus about the house as might be heard across the Potomac,"
the nearest bank of which is fifty-seven miles away.
He makes General Braddock ride out from Williamsburg
(he never was there) in "his own coach, a ponderous,
emblazoned vehicle," with Dr. Franklin, "the little post-
master of Philadelphia" (Franklin's average weight was 160
pounds), over a muddy road, in March, through a half-wilder-
ness country of more than one hundred miles, to dine with
Madam Esmond, in Westmoreland county, near Mt. Vernon.
A Stupid Critic.
Commentators are sometimes stupid, and their criticisms
so absurd as to be amusing. A German critic, in explaining
the text of Shakespeare's comedy "As You Like It," came to
the following passage
" Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."
He made this comment upon it: "The lines as they now
stand are manifestly wrong. No one ever found books in the
running brooks, or sermons in stones. But a slight trans-
position of words reduces the passage to sense. Shakespeare's
meaning is clear, and what he meant he must have written.
The passage should read thus
" Stones in the running brooks,
Sermons in books, and good in every thing."
25
Crooked Coincidences.
A pamphlet published in the year 1 703, has the following
strange title
"The Deformity of Sin Cured, a sermon preached at
St. Michael's, Crooked "Lane., before the Prince of Orange, by
the Rev. James Cra^shanks. Sold by Matthew Dowton, at
the Crooked Billet, near Crifplegate, and by all other Book-
sellers." The words of the text are, " Every crooked path
shall be made straight," and the Prince before whom it was
preached was crooked, i.e., deformed.
The Bride of Abydos.
In this poem of Byron's there is no bride, for the heroine
dies heart-broken and unwedded.
Grandiloquent Outbursts.
There is a volume printed at Amsterdam, 1657, entitled:
"Jesus, Maria, Joseph; or the Devout Pilgrim of the Ever-
lasting Blessed Virgin Mary, in his Holy Exercises, Affections
and Elevations, upon the sacred Mysteries of Jesus, Maria and
Joseph." We append a few extracts from this curious book,
as a specimen of the language employed at that time in
addressing the Virgin
"You, O Mother of God, are the Spiritual Paradise of the
second Adam; the bright cloud carrying him who hath the
cherubims for his chariot; the fleece of wool filled with the
sweet dew of heaven, whereof was made that admirable robe
of our royal shepherd, in which he vouchsafed to look after his
sheep; you are pleasing and comely as Jerusalem, and the
aromatical odours issuing from your garments outvie all the
delights of Mount Lebanon ; you are the sacred pix of celestial
26
perfumes, whose sweet exhalations shall never be exhausted ;
you are the holy oil, the unextinguishable lamp, the unfading
flower, the divinely-woven purple, the royal vestment, the
imperial diadem, the throne of the divinity, the gate of Para-
dise, the queen of the universe, the cabinet of life, the foun-
tain ever flowing with celestial illustrations."
"All hail! the divine lantern encompassing that crystal
lamp whose light outshines the sun in its midday splendour;
the spiritual sea whence the world's richest pearl was
extracted; the radiant sphere, the well-fenced orchard, the
fruitful border, the fair and delicate garden, the nuptial bed
of the eternal world, the odoriferous and happy City of God,
etc., etc."
Dialect Rhyme.
The subjoined is a specimen of the dialect spoken in the
county of Lancashire, England. The verse is a description of
a lost baby, by the town-crier, or bell-man, who still plies his
trade in out-of-the-way parts of England
Law-st oather [either] to-day or else some toime to morn,
As pratty a babby as ever wur born ;
It has cheeks like red roses, two bonny blue een,
Had it meauth daubed wi' traycle th' last toime it were seen;
It's just cuttin' it teeth, an' has very sore gums,
An" it's gettin' a habit o' suckin' it thumbs;
Thoose at foind it may keep it, there 's nob'dy '11 care,
For thoose at hav lost it, hav lots moor to spare !
In Search of a Rhyme.
Luttrell made this couplet on the wife of "Anastatius '
Hope, famous for his wealth and her own jewels
" Of diamond, emerald and topaz,
Such as the charming Mrs. Hope has!"
27
Noted Anachronisms.
Shakespeare makes Lear, an early Anglo-Saxon King, speak
of not wanting spectacles, which were not known until the
fourteenth century. Cannon were first used in the year 1346,
but in relating Macbeth's death, in 1054, and King John's
reign in 1200, he mentions cannon. In his Julius Caesar, he
makes the "clock" strike three.
Schiller, in his "Piccolomini," speaks of a "lightning-
conductor" as existing about 150 years before its invention.
Diogenes and his Tub.
Modern scepticism about the practical stoicism of the
ancients is surely brought to a climax by a living writer,
M. Fournier, who maintains that the so-called tub of Diogenes
was in reality a commodious little dwelling neat but not
gorgeous. It must be supposed, then, that he spoke of his
tub much as an English country gentleman does of his "box."
The Book Hunter, by Burton.
Slave Advertisements.
The following announcements are curious, showing the
merchandise light in which the negro was regarded in America
while yet a colony of Great Britain :
FRANCIS LEWIS, HAS FOR SALE,
A Choice Parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars, Tierces
and Barrels; Ravens, Ducks and a Negro Woman and Negro
Boy. The Coach-House and Stables, with or without the
Garden Spot, formerly the property of Joseph Murray, Esq.;
in the Broadway, to be let separately or together: Inquire of
said Francis Lewis. New York Gazette, April 25th, 1765.
This Day Run away from JOHN McCoMB, Junier, an Indian
Woman, about 17 Years of Age, Pitted in the Face, of a mid-
dle Stature and Indifferent fatt, having on her a Drugat, Wast-
coat, and Kersey Petticoat, of a Light Collour. If any Person
or Persons shall bring the said Girle to her said Master, shall
be Rewarded for their Trouble to their Content. American
Weekly Mercury, May 24th. 1726.
A Female Negro Child (of an extraordinary good Breed) to
be given away. Inquire of Edes and Gill. Boston Gazette,
Feb. 25th, 1765.
To BE SOLD, FOR WANT OF EMPLOY,
A Likely Negro Fellow, about 25 Years of Age. He is an
extraordinary good Cook, and understands setting or tending
a table very well, likewise all kind of House Work, such as
washing, scouring, scrubbing, &c. Also, a Negro Wench, his
Wife, about 17 Years old, born in this City, and understands
all Sorts of House Work. For farther Particulars, inquire of
the Printer. New York Gazette, March 2ist, 1765.
Sir John Moore not Buried cut Night.
It has been generally supposed that the burial of Sir John
Moore, who fell at the battle of Corunna, in 1809, took place
during the night, an error which doubtless arose from the
statement to that effect in Wolf's celebrated lines. Rev. Mr.
Symons, who was the clergyman on the occasion, states, how-
ever, in Notes and Queries, that the burial took place in the
morning, in broad day-light.
Cleopatra a Myth.
Commentators of no mean standing insist that Cleopatra
" Star-eyed Egyptian,
Glorious sorceress of the Nile,"
is merely a creature of the imagination ; in plain words, that
the Cleopatra of history never existed, though there were two
or three women who bore the name.
and Heloise.
Though they may have lived about the same time, the
romance of their love is now gravely denied by scholars and
antiquarians.
Odd Titles of Old Books.
In "Gleanings for the Curious " we find the following list
of odd titles to books, most of which were published in the
time of Cromwell :
A Shot aimed at the Devil's Head-Quarters through the
Tube of the Cannon of the Covenant.
Crumbs of Comfort for the Chickens of the Covenant.
Eggs of Charity, layed by the Chickens of the Covenant,
and boiled with the Water of Divine Love. Take Ye and eat.
High-heeled Shoes for Dwarfs in Holiness.
Hooks and Eyes for Believers' Breeches.
Matches lighted by the Divine Fire.
Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin; or, the Seven Peni-
tential Psalms of the Princely Prophet David ; whereunto are
also added William Humius' Handful of Honeysuckles, and
Divers Godly and Pithy Ditties, now newly augmented.
Spiritual Milk for Babes, drawn out of the Breasts of both
Testaments for their Souls' Nourishment : a catechism.
The Bank of Faith.
The Christian Sodality; or, Catholic Hive of Bees, sucking
the Honey of the Churches' Prayer from the Blossoms of the
30
Word of God, blowne out of the Epistles and Gospels of the
Divine Service throughout the yeare. Collected by the Puny
Bee of all the Hive not worthy to be named otherwise than
by these elements of his Name, F. P.
The Gun of Penitence.
The Innocent Love; or, the Holy Knight: a description
of the ardors of a saint for the Virgin.
The Shop of the Spiritual Apothecary; or, a collection of
passages from the fathers.
The Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit.
The Snuffers of Divine Love.
The Sound of the Trumpet : a work on the day of judgment.
The Spiritual Mustard Pot, to make the Soul Sneeze with
Devotion.
The Three Daughters of Job : a treatise on patience, forti-
tude and pain.
Tobacco battered, and the Pipes shattered about their Ears
that idly idolize so loathsome a Vanity, by a Volley of holy
shot thundered from Mount Helicon : a poem against the use
of tobacco, by Joshua Sylvester.
A Fan to drive away Flies : a theological treatise on Purga-
tory.
A most Delectable Sweet Perfumed Nosegay for God's
Saints to Smell at.
A Pair of Bellows to blow off the Dust cast upon John Fry.
A Proper Project to Startle Fools : Printed in a Land where
Self's cry'd up and Zeal's cry'd down.
A Reaping-Hook, well tempered, for the Stubborn Ears of
the coming Crop ; or, Biscuit baked in the Oven of Charity,
carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Spar-
rows of the Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation.
A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners of Zion, breathed out of
a Hole in the Wall of an Earthly Vessel, known among Men
by the Name of Samuel Fish (a Quaker who had been
imprisoned).
31
Title-Pages which Mislead.
The title-page is not always a distinct intimation of what
is to follow. "The Diversions of Purley" is one of the
toughest books in existence. "Apes Urbanse " (Urban bees),
by the great scholar, Leo Allatius, is not about bees, but is
devoted to the great men who flourished during the Pontifi-
cate of Urban VIII. , whose family carried bees on their coat-
armorial. "Marmontel's Moral Tales" has been found to
give disappointment to parents in search of the absolutely cor-
rect and improving; and Edgeworth's " Essay on Irish Bulls "
has been counted money absolutely thrown away by eminent
breeders. "MacEwen on the Types" is not a book for prin-
ters, but for theologians. Ruskin's treatise "On the Con-
struction of Sheepfolds" treats about Popery and Protest-
antism. The Book Hunter,
A Carmelite Friar's Poem.
In the seventeenth century a carmelite friar named Jean
Louis Barthelemi, but who always called himself Pierre de St.
Louis, composed (in twelve books) a poem entitled, "The
Magdaleneide ; or, Mary Magdalen at the Desert of the Sainte
Beaume in Provence, a Spiritual and Christian Poem."
Some idea of it may be obtained from a literally translated
extract. Having treated at large of the Magdelen's irregular
conduct in the early part of her life, and of her subsequent
conversion, he says:
"But God at length changed this coal into a ruby, this
crow into a dove, this wolf into a sheep, this hell into a
heaven, this nothing into something, this thistle into a lily,
this thorn into a rose, this impotence into power, this vice
into virtue, this caldron into a mirror."
The poem cost him five years of close application, and he
32
concludes it by egotistically saying: "If you desire grace and
sweetness in verses, in mine will you find them."
Striking Parallel Passages between
Shakspeare and the Bible.
Othello. Rude am I in speech. I. 3.
But though I be rude in speech. 2 Cor. xi. 6.
Witches. Show his eyes and grieve his heart. iv. I.
Consume thine eyes and grieve thine heart. i Sam. ii. 33.
Macbeth. Lighted fools the way to dusty death. V. 5.
Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Ps. xxii.
Othello. I took him by the throat, the circumcised dog,
and smote him. V. 2.
I smote him, I caught him by his beard and smote him,
and slew him. i Sam. xvii. 35.
Macbeth. We will die with harness on our back. V. 5.
Nicanor lay dead in his harness. Maccabees xv. 28.
Curious Play Bill.
The following remarkable theatrical announcement is worthy
of preservation for its effusion of vanity and poverty, in the
shape of an appeal to the inhabitants of a town in Sussex:
"At the old theatre in East Grimstead, on Saturday, May
5th, 1758, will be represented (by particular desire, and for
the benefit of Mrs. P.) the deep and affecting tragedy of
Theodosius; or, the Force of Love, with magnificent dresses,
scenery, &c.
"Varanes, by Mr. P., who will strive, as far as possible, to
support the character of this fiery Persian Prince, in which he
was so much admired and applauded at Hastings, Arundel,
Petworth, Lewes, &c.
33
" Theodosius, by a young gentleman from the University of
Oxford, who never appeared on any stage.
"Athenais, by Mrs. P. Though her present condition will
not permit her to wait on gentlemen and ladies out of the
town with tickets, she hopes, as upon former occasions, foi
their liberality and support.
"Nothing in Italy can exceed the altar, in the first scene
of the play. Nevertheless, should any of the nobility or
gentry wish to see it ornamented with flowers, the bearer will
bring away as many as they choose to favour him with.
"As the coronation of Athenias, to be introduced in the
fifth act, contains a number of personages, more than sufficient
to fill all the dressing room, &c., it is to be hoped no gentle-
men and ladies will be offended at being refused admission
behind the scenes.
"N. B. The great yard dog that made so much noise on
Thursday night during the last act of King Richard the Third,
will be sent to a neighbor's over the way; and on account of
the prodigious demand for places, part of the stable will be
laid into the boxes on one side, and the granary be open for
the same purpose on the other. VivatRex"
Boone's Spelling.
An old letter written by Daniel Boone, furnishes this speci-
men of original spelling:
"I hope you Will Wright me By the Bearer, Mr. goe, how
you Com on with my Horsis I Hear the Indians have Killed
Some pepel near Limstone."
Vagaries of Spelling.
Queen Elizabeth spelt the word sovereign in seven different
ways. The Earl of Leicester, her favorite, spelt his own
34
name in eight different ways. Sir Walter Raleigh spelt his
own name in more than eight different ways. In the deeds of
the Villars family their name is spelt in fourteen different
ways. In the family documents of the Percy family their
name is spelt in fifteen different ways.
Singular Specimen of Orthography
in the Sixteenth Century.
The following letter was written by the Duchess of Norfolk
to Cromwell, Earl of Essex. It exhibits a curious instance of
che monstrous anomalies of our orthography in the infancy of
our literature:
"My ffary gode lord, her I sand you in tokyn hoff the
neweyer, a glasse hoff setyl set in sellfer gyld. I pra you tak
hit in wort. An hy wer habel het showlde be bater. I woll
hit war wort a m crone. ' '
Translated, "My very good lord. Here I send you, in
token of the new year, a glass of setyll set in silver gilt. I
pray you take it in worth. An I were able it should be bet*
ter. I would it were worth a thousand crowns."
High- Sounding Prologue.
In a medical work entitled "The Breviarie of Health,"
published in 1547, by Andrew Borde, a physician of that
period, is a prologue to physicians, beginning thus
"Egregious doctors and masters of the eximious and arcane
science of physic, of your urbanity exasperate not yourselves
against me for making this little volume."
Inducements to Subscribers.
For journals to offer inducements to subscribers is not a
modern feature. A book was published in 1764, entitled
35
"A New History of England, Manchester, printed by Joseph
Harrop, opposite the Exchange." At the end of this octavo
volume, which consists of 778 pages, is the following:
"To THE PUBLIC.
"The History of England being now brought down to that
period which was at first proposed, the Publisher takes this
opportunity of returning his thanks to his friends and sub-
scribers for the kind encouragement they have given his News
Paper; and hopes that as he has steadily persevered in going
through with, and given gratis, The History of England, at
the Expence of upwards of One Hundred Pounds, they will
still continue their Subscription to his paper, which he will
spare neither pains nor assiduity to render worthy their
perusal. Jos. HARROP."
Composition During Sleep.
Condorcet is said to have attained the occlusion of some
of his most abstruse, unfinished calculations in his dreams.
Franklin makes a similar admission concerning some of his
political projects which, in his waking moments, sorely puz-
zled him. Sir J. Herschel is said to have composed the fol-
lowing lines in a dream:
"Throw thyself on thy God, nor mock Him with feeble denial;
Sure of His love, and, oh! sure of His mercy at last !
Bitter and deep though the draught, yt drain thou the cup of thy trial,
And in its healing effect, smile at the bitterness past."
Goethe says in his "Memoirs," "The objects which had
occupied my attention during the day often reappeared at
night in connected dreams. On awakening, a new compo-
sition, or a portion of one I had already commenced, pre-
sented itself to my mind. In the morning I was accustomed
36
to record ray ideas on paper." Coleridge composed his poem
of the "Abyssinian Maid" during a dream. Something
analogous to this is what Lord Cockburn says in his "Life of
Lord Jeffrey." "He had a fancy that though he went to bed
with bis head stuffed with the names, dates and other details
of various causes, they were all in order in the morning;
which he accounted for by saying that during sleep ' they all
crystallized round their proper centres. 1 "
A Bill of Particulars.
A certain gentleman of Worcester (Mass.) sent a very fine
French clock to a well-known jeweler to be repaired, saying
that he wished each item of repairing specified. The follow-
ing is a copy of the bill as rendered:
To removing the alluvial deposit and oleaginous con-
glomerate from clock a la French, . . $0.50
To replacing in appropriate juxtaposition the constituent
components of said clock, . . . .50
To lubricating with oleaginous solution the apex of pin-
ions of said clock, . . . . .50
To adjusting horologically the isochronal mechanism of
said clock, . . . . .50
To equalizing the acoustic resultant of escape wheel per-
cussion upon the verge pallets of said clock, . .50
To adjusting the distance between the centre of gravity
of the pendulum and its point of suspension, so that
the vibrations of the pendulum shall cause the index
hand to indicate approximately the daily arrival of
the sun at its meridian height, . . .50
$3-
Lilly's Predictions.
While Lilly is ridiculed for his absurdities, let him have
credit for as lucky a guess as ever blessed the pages even of
3T
"Francis Moore, Physician." In Lilly's "Astrological Pre-
dictions for 1648," there occurs the following passage, in
which we must allow that he attained to "something like pro-
phetic strain," when we call to mind that the Great Plague
of London occurred in 1665, and the Great Fire in the year
following:
"In the year 1656, the aphelium of Mars, who is the general
signification of England, will be in Virgo, which is assuredly
the ascendant of the English monarchy, but Aries of the king-
dom. When this absis, therefore, of Mars shall appear in
Virgo, who shall expect less than a strange catastrophe of
human affairs in the commonwealth, monarchy and king-
dom of England? There will then, either in or about these
times, or within ten years, more or less, of that time, appear
in this kingdom so strange a revolution of fate, so grand a
catastrophe, and great mutation unto this monarchy and gov-
ernment as never yet appeared ; of which, as the times now
stand, I have no liberty or encouragement to deliver any
opinion. Only, it will be ominous to London, unto her mer-
chants at sea, to her traffique at land, to her poor, to her rich,
to all sorts of peop 'e inhabiting in her or her liberties, BY REA-
SON OF SUNDRY FlRES AND A PLAGUE."
This is the prediction which, in 1666, led to Lilly's being
examined by a committee of the House of Commons; not, as
has been supposed, that he might "discover by the stars who
wsre the authors of the Fire of London," but because the
precision with which he was thought to have foretold the
events gave birth to a suspicion that he was already acquainted
with them, and privy to the (supposed) machinations which
had brought about the catastrophe. Curran says there are
two kinds of prophets those who are really inspired and
those who prophecy events which they themselves intend to
bring about. Upon this occasion poor Lilly had the il a -*uck
to be deemed of the latter class.
38
Puritan Surnames.
The following names are given in Lower's English sirnames,
as specimens of the names of 1 the old Puritans in England
about the year 1658. They are taken from a jury list in
Sussex county:
Faint-not Hewett. Accepted Trevor.
Redeemed Compton. Stand-fast-on-high Stringer.
God-reward Smart. Called Lower.
Earth Adams. Be-courteous Cole.
Meek Brewer. Search-the-Scriptures Morton.
Repentance Avis. Return Spelman.
Kill-sin Pimple. Fly-debate Roberts.
Be-faithful Joiner. Hope-for Bending.
More-fruit Flower. Weep-not Billing.
Grace-ful Harding. Elected Mitchell.
Seek-wisdom Wood. The-peace-of-God Knight.
Fight-the-good- fight of Faith. Make-peace Heaton.
Curious Old Memorandum.
We have supposed that no record of our Saviour's life older
than the New Testament was known to exist; but it seems
that a venerable journal is carefully preserved in Nablous
(ancient Samaria), in which the following item appears in the
handwriting of one of the Samaritan high priests:
"In the year from Adam 4281, in the nineteenth year of
my pontificate, Jesus, the Son of 'Mary, was crucified at
Jerusalem."
This curious and interesting record was shown by the
present high priest, who keeps it among the archives of his
church, to Dr. El Kary, a Protestant missionary of Jewish
descent and a native of Nablous. The doctor learned that
the old journals of the priests of the Samaritan synagogue are
39
still in existence, dating back to fifty or sixty years before
Christ was born. It was the custom, he says, of all the
high priests to set down in their books any notable events that
happened during their term of office. He also learned that
the tenth Samaritan high priest was named Shaboth, who
lived in the days of our Saviour, and it was this Shaboth who
wrote the record quoted above.
It will be remembered that Jesus visited Samaria in the
early part of His ministry, where He first talked with the
woman at Jacob's well, and afterwards stayed two days in the
city, where He attracted public attention to His preaching,
and won many followers. During those days Shaboth may
have become personally acquainted with Him, and, though
far from being His disciple, he would naturally follow Jesus'
after-history and movements with considerable interest.
We gather the above account from the letter of an Eastern
correspondent to the Advance (Chicago), who spent some
time in Nablous, and received the statements from Dr. El Kary.
Double- Entendre.
This double-entendre was originally published in a Phila-
delphia newspaper a hundred years ago. It may be read
three different ways: First, let the whole be read in the order
in which it is written; second, read the lines downward on
the left of each comma in every line; third, in the same man-
ner on the right of each comma. In the first reading i.he
Revolutionary cause is condemned, and by the others it is
encouraged and lauded
Hark! Hark! the trumpet sounds, the din of war's alarms,
O'er seas and solid grounds, doth call us all to arms;
Who for King George doth stand, their honors soon shall shine;
Their ruin is at hand, who with the Congress join.
The acts of Parliament, in them I much delight,
I Late their cursed intent, who for the Congress fight;
40
The Tories of the day, they are my daily toast,
They soon will sneak away, who independence boast;
Who non-resistance hold, they hive my hand and heart,
May they for slaves be sold, who act a Whiggish part ;.
On Mansfield, North and Bute, may daily blessings pour,
Confusion and dispute, on Congress evermore ;
To North and British lord, may honors still be done,
I wish a block or cord, to General Washington.
Changes of Signification.
The meaning of the word wretch is one not generally
understood. It was originally, and is now, in some parts of
England, used as a term of fondest tenderness. This is not
the only instance in which words in their present general
acceptation bear a very opposite meaning to what they did in
other times. The word wench, formerly, was not used in the
low and vulgar acceptation that it now is.
Don Quixote's Sheep.
Don Quixote's mistaking two flocks of sheep for two armies
is not without parallel. In Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, written
1516, the hero, in his madness, falls foul of a flock of sheep.
Still more ancient is "Ajax Mad," a tragedy founded on
the madness of Ajax, because of the armor of Hector being
awarded to Ulysses instead of himself. In his insanity, Ajax
fell upon a flock of sheep, driven at night into the camp, sup-
posing it to be an army led by Ulysses and the sons of Atreus.
On discovering his mistake he stabs himself.
The Oldest Ballad.
The earliest English ballad is supposed to be the "Cuckoo
Song," which commences in the following style:
41
' Sumer is mcumen in
Lhude sing cuccu,
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And sprigth ye wede nu,
Singe cuccu."
Two Certificates of Gr etna- Green
Marriages.
" This is to sartfay all persons that may be consern'd, that
A. B., from the parish of C. in the county of D., and E. F.,
from the parish of G., in the county of H., and both comes
before me and declares themselves both to be single persons,
and now mayried by the form of the Kirk of Scotland, and
agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my
hand, this i8th day of March 1793."
"Kingdom of Scotland,
"County of Dumfries,
"Parish of Gretna:
"These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that
John N , from the parish of Chatham, in the County of
Kent, and Rosa H , from the parish of St. Maries, in the
County of Nottingham, being both here now present, and hav-
ing declared to me that they are single persons, but having
now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of
England, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness
our hands at Springfield, this 4th day of October, 1822.
"Witness me,
"Witness, David Lang.
Jane Rae. John N .
John Ainsle. Rosa H ."
42
Swift's Latin Puns.
Among the nugae of Dean Swift are his celebrated Latin
pans. They consist entirely of Latin words, but, by allowing
for false spelling, and running the words into each other, the
sentences make good sense in English. The subjoined is one
of his best
Mollis abuti, Moll is a beauty.
Has an acuti, Has an acute eye.
No lasso finis, Nc lass so fine is.
Molli divinis. Molly divine is.
Omi de armis tres, O my dear mistress.
Imi na dis tres, I'm in distress.
Cantu disco ver Can't you discover.
Meas alo ver? Me as a lover?
Rhyming Charter.
The following grant of William the Conqueror may be
found in Stowe's Chronicle and in Blount's Ancient Tenures:
HOPTON, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.
To THE HEYRS MALE OF THE HOPTON, LAWFULLY BEGOTTEN.
From me and from myne, to thee and to thyne,
While the water runs, and the sun doth shine,
For lack of heyrs to the king againe,
I, William, King, the third year of my reign,
Give to the Norman hunter,
To me that art both line (*) and deare,
The Hop and the Hoptoune,
And all the bounds up and downe,
Under the earth to hell,
Above the earth to heaven,
From me and from myne,
To thee and to thyne ;
43
As good and as fr.ire
As ever they myne were.
To witness that this is sooth,f
I bite the white wax with my tooth,
Before Judd, Marode and Margery,
And my third son Henery,
For one bow, and one broad arrow,
When I come to hunt upon the Yarrow.
Accidental Rhymes.
In President Lincoln's last inaugural address occurs the fol-
lowing instance of involuntary rhyme:
" Fondly do we hope,
Fervently do we pray,
That this mighty scourge of war
May speedily pass away ;
Yet, if it be God's will
That it continue until "
And here the rhyme ceases. Cicero's prose shows, in
places, similar instances of involuntary rhyme.
Ccesar's Wife must be above Suspicion.
No doubt this proverb originated from a passage in
Suetonius, which says that "the name of Pompeia, the wife
of Julius Caesar, having been mixed up with an accusation
against P. Clodius, her husband divorced her; not, as he said,
because he believed the charge against her, but because he
would have those belonging to him as free from suspicion as
from crime."
Oddly Addressed Letters.
On one occasion a letter arrived by post in London,
* Related, or by lineage. f True.
44
directed to "Sromfridevi, Angleterre." No such person had
ever been heard of; but, on a little consideration, and judg-
ing from the sound, it was obvious that the foreign writer of
the letter meant Sir Humphrey Davy, and such proved to be
the case. Some years since there was returned to the French
Dead Letter Office a letter which had gone the round of every
seaport in the Levant, and the ambiguity of whose super-
scription had baffled a legion of postmasters. It was
addressed, "J. Dubois, Sultan Crete," and was intended for
J. Dubois SurU Tancrede, a quartermaster on board of the
ship Tancrede. The name and address had been written just
as they had sounded to the ear. A letter addressed as follows
arrived safely at its destination :
Wood,
John,
Mass.
It was for John Underwood, Andover, Massachusetts.
Amusements of some Learned Men.
Tycho Brake polished glass for spectacles, and made
mathematical instruments; D'Andilly delighted in forest
trees; Balzac, in manufacturing crayons; Pieresc, in his
medals and antiques; the Abbe de Marolles, in engravings.
Renault's greatest recreation was in watching different
mechanics at their labor; Arnauld and Warbnrton read trashy
novels for recreation; Montaigne fondled his cat; Cardinal
Richelieu enjoyed leaping.
Kant's Eccentricity.
Kant was probably the profoundest of metaphysicians that
the world has yet seen. It was his custom, when deeply
45
engaged upon some abstruse topic, to walk backward and for-
ward, upon a moonlight evening, along the avenue (bordered
on each side with magnificent trees) approaching his house.
He was observed, on one occasion, as he slowly, in deep
meditation, moved backward and forward along the avenue,
to leap over the shadows of the trees as they cast themselves
before him in his meditative walk. The delusion was strong
upon him that these same shadows were ditches, and that it
was incumbent upon him that he should clear them, and that
precisely in the way he did. Such are the occasional abber-
rations of true genius.
Death Warrant of the Saviour.
Of the many interesting relics brought to light by the
researches of antiquarians, none could be more interesting to
Christians than the following, which is faithfully transcribed
"Sentence by Pontius Pilate, acting
Governor of Lower Galilee, stating that
Jesus of Nazareth shall suffer death
On the cross.
In the year seventeen of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, and
the 27th day of March, the city of the holy Jerusalem Annas
and Caiaphas being priests, sacrificators of the people of God
Pontius Pilate, Governor of Lower Galilee, sitting in the
presidential chair of the praetory, condemns Jesus of Nazareth
to die on the cross between two thieves, the great and notori-
ous evidence of the people saying
1. Jesus is a seducer.
2. He is seditious.
3. He is the enemy of the law.
4. He calls himself falsely the Son of God.
5. He calls himself falsely the King of Israel.
6. He entered into the temple followed by a multitude
bearing palm branches in their hands.
46
Orders the first centurian, Quilius Cornelius, to lead him
to the place of execution.
Forbids any person whatsoever, either poor or rich, to
oppose the death of Jesus Christ.
The witnesses who signed the condemnation of Jesus are
1. Daniel Robani, a Pharisee.
2. Joannus Robani.
3. Raphael Robani.
4. Capet, a citizen.
Jesus shall go out of the city of Jerusalem by the gate of
Struenus."
The foregoing is engraved on a copper plate, on the reverse
of which is written, "A similar plate is sent to each tribe."
It was found in an antique marble vase, while excavating in
the ancient city of Aquilla, in the kingdom of Naples, in
1810, and was discovered by the Commissioners of Arts of
the French Army. At the expedition of Naples, it was
enclosed in a box of ebony and preserved in the sacristy of
the Carthusians. The French translation was made by the
Commissioners of Arts. The original is in the Hebrew
language.
Quaint Recipes.
The following recipes are taken from a work entitled
"New Curiosities in Art and Nature, or a collection of the
most valuable Secrets in all Arts and Sciences. Composed
and Experimented by Sieur Lemery, Apothecary to the
French King. London, 1711."
To Make one Wake or Sleep. You must cut off, dexterously,
the head of a toad alive, and at once, and let it dry, observ-
ing th P. t one eye be shut and the other open; that which is
found open makes one wake, and that shut causes sleep, by
carrying it about one.
47
Preservative against the Plague. Take three or four great
toads, seven or eight spiders, and as many scorpions, put them
into a pot well stopp'd, and let them lye some time; then
add virgin-wax, make a good fire till all become a liquor;
then mingle them all with a spatula, and make an ointment,
and put it into a silver box well stopp'd, being well assured
that while you carry it about you, you will never be infected
with the plague.
These recipes indicate the delusion which prevailed with
respect to certain nostrums as late as 1711.
Chronological Table of Remarkable
Events.
The following curious table is taken from Arthur Hopton'a
" Concordancie of Years, " 1615:
1077 A blazing star on Palm Sunday, near the sun.
1 100 The yard (measure) made by Henry I.
1116 The moone seemed turned into bloud.
1128 Men wore haire like women.
1180 Paris in France, and London in Englande, paued, and
thatching in both left, because all Luberick was spoiled
thereby with fire.
1189 Robin Hood and Little John lived. This yeare Lon-
don obtained to be gouerned by Sheriffes and Maiors.
1205 By reason of a frost from January to March wheate
was sold for a marke the quarter, which before was at
twelve pence. Anno Regni 6. John.
1209 London bridge builded with stone; and this yeare the
citizens of London had a grant to choose them a maior.
1227 The citizens of London had libertie to hunt a certain
distance about the citie, and to pass toll-free through
England.
48
Thunder lasted fifteen dales; beginning the morrow
after St. Martin's day.
1233 Four sunnes appeared, beside the true sunne, of a red
colour.
j 235 The Jews of Norwich stole a boy and circumcised him,
minding to have him crucified at Easter.
^47 The king farmed Queene-hiue for fifty pounds per
annum, to the citizens.
4252 Great tempests upon the sea, and fearful; and this
year the king (Henry III.) granted, that wheretofore
the citizens of London were to present the maior before
the king, wheresoeuer he were, that now barons of the
exchequer should serue (serve).
1292 The Jews corrupting England with vsury, had first a
badge giuen them to weare, that they might be knowne,
and after were banished to the number of 150,000
persons.
1313 This yeare the king of France burned all his leporous
and pocky people, as well men as women; for that
he supposed they had poysoned the waters, which
caused his leprosie. About this time, also, the Jews
had a purpose to poyson all the Christians, by poyson-
ing all their springs.
1361 Men and beasts perished in diuers places with thunder
and lightning, and fiends were scene speake unto men
as they trauelled.
1386 The making of gunnes found; and rebels in Kent and
Essex, who entered London, beheaded all lawyers, and
burnt houses and all bookes of law.
1388 Picked shoes, tyed to their knees with siluer chains,
were vsed. And women with long gownes rode in
side-saddles, like the queen, that brought side-saddles
first to England; for before they rode astrid.
1401 Pride exceeding in monstrous apparreli.
49
141 1 Guildhall in London begun.
1417 A decree for lantherne and candle-light in London.
1427 Rain from the ist of Aprill to Hollontide.
Hymn in the Form, of a Cross.
The following hymn was composed by a Christian monk
during the middle ages:
THE CROSS.
Blest they who seek
While in their youth,
With spirit meek,
The way of truth.
To them the sacred Scriptures now display
Christ as the only true and living way;
His precious blood on Calvary was given
To make them heirs of endless bliss in heaven.
And e'en on earth the child of God can trace
The glorious blessings of his Saviour's face.
For them He bore
His Father's frown,
For them He wore
The thcrny crown;
Nailed to the cross,
Endured its pain
That His life's loss
Might be their gain.
Then haste to choose
That better part,
Nor dare refuse
The Lord your heart,
Lest He declare
"I know you not!"
And deep despair
Shall be your lot.
Now look to Jesus who on Calvary died,
And trust on Him alone who there was crucified.
50
Curious Piece of Antiquity, on the Cruet"
nxion of our Saviour and the two
Thieves.
INRI
1 My God! My God!
vers of my tears
I come to Thee ;
bow clown thy blessed ears
To hear me, wretch, oh
let thine eyes, which sleep
Did never close,
behold a sinner weep.
Let not, O God !
my God ! my faults, though great
And numberless, bet
w
een thy mercy-seat
And my poor soul be t
n
h
rown, since we are taught.
n
_]
Thou,| Lord!
L_
remember 1 est th
y
ne, If thou beest (sought.
1 i = _l
I CO
me
not, Lord, wit
h
any o
trie
r merit
Than
\vh
at I by my S
a
vi f ur
Ch
rist inherit :
Beth
en
his wound
s
my balm, his st
ri
pes my bliss,
My crown his
th
cms, my dea
t
hbelo
st
in his,
And th
ou
my bles
t
Redeemer,
Sa
viour God!
Quit my ac-
CO
unts, with
h
old thy
V
engeful rod;
O beg for
me
my h
pes on the
e
are set,
Thou Chri
st
forgi
u
e, as well as pay
th
e debt.
The liv
if)
g fount, the li
f
e, the wa
y
I know;
And but
to
thee
whither
s
hould I go ?
Allo
th
er helps a
r
e vain, giv
e
thine to me;
For by th
y
cross my
s
aving hea
1
th must be.
Oh hear
k
en then, wh
a
t I with
f
aith implore,
Lest s
in
and death sin
k
me forev
e
r more.
Oh Lord \ my
G
od ! my way
e
s direct
a
nd keep,
In
d
eath defe
n
d that from thee I
n
e'er slip;
And at the do
om
let
m
c be raise
d
then,
To liv
e
IBM
with the
e.
Sweet Jes
us
say, Amen ?
EXPLANATION.
The middle cross represents our Saviour; those on either side, the two
51
thieves. On the top and down the middle cross are our Saviour's expression,
"My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me?" and on the top of the
cross is the Latin inscription "INRI" Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judseorum,
i. e. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Upon the cross on the right-hand
is the prayer of one of the thieves : "Lord ! remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom." On the left-hand cross is the saying, or reproach, of
the other: "If thou beest the Chrht, save thyself and us." The whole,
comprised together, makes a piece of excellent poetry, which is to be read
across all the columns, and makes as many lines as there are letters in the
alphabet. It is perhaps one of the most curious pieces of composition to
be found on record.
Copy of a Letter written by Cardinal
Richelieu to the French Ambas-
sador at Rome.
First read the letter across, then double it in the middle,
and read the first column.
SIR. Mons.Compigne,aSavoyard by birth, a Friar of the order of Saint Benedict,
is the man who will present to you as his passport to your protection,
this letter. He is one of the most discreet, the wisest and the least
meddling persons that I have ever known or have had the pleasure to converse with.
He has long earnestly solicited me to write to you in his favor, and
to give him a suitable character, together with a letter of credence ;
which I have accordingly granted to his real merit, rather I must say, than to
his importunity ; for, believe me, Sir, his modesty is only exceeded by his worth,
I should be sorry that you should be wanting in serving him on account of being
misinformed of his real character; I should be afflicted if you were
as some ether gentlemen have been, misled on that score, who now esteem him,
and those among the best of my friends; w!\eref>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</. for a man detected teaching the children ob-
scene words.
A fine of i of. for any man waiting without a trencher, or
who is absent at a meal.
For any one breaking any of the butler's glass,
57
A fine of 2d. for any one who has not laid the table foi
dinner by half-past ten, or the supper by six.
A fine of 4^. for any one absent without leave.
For any man striking another, a fine of \d
For any follower visiting the cook, id.
A fine of id. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, untied
shoes, or torn doublet.
A fine of id. for any stranger's room left for four hours
after he has dressed.
A fine of id. if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter
and seven in summer.
The porter to be fined id. if the court-gate be not shut
during meals.
A fine of $d. if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after
dinner.
All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly
payment of wages.
Hindoo Oaths.
The Hindoos regard the Ganges as a sacred river. It is a
common practice in British Courts to "swear" Hindoo wit-
nesses upon the waters of the Ganges, just as Christians are
sworn upon the Bible.
Saturday a Fatal Day to the Royal
Family of England.
Saturday has been a fatal day to the royal family of England
during the last hundred and sixty years, as is shown by the
following list :
William III. died Saturday, March i8th, 1702.
Queen Anne died Saturday, August ist, 1714.
58
George I. died Saturday, June loth, 1727.
George II. died Saturday, October 251)1, 1760.
George III. died Saturday, January 29th, 1820.
George IV. died Saturday, June 26th, 1830.
Duchess of Kent died Saturday, March i6th, 1861.
Prince Albert died Saturday, December i4th, 1861.
Princess Alice died Saturday, December i4th, 1878.
Edicts Against Fiddlers.
An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all
popular amusements were prohibited when the Puritans had
the ascendency, from the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell
prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing,
fiddling or making music in any inn, ale-house or tavern,
etc. If they proffered themselves, or offered to make music,
they were adjudged to be rogues and vagabonds, and were to
be proceeded against as such.
John 0' Gaunt' s Will.
Perhaps the shortest deed of land by a will in the world
is the following:
" I, John of Gaunt,
Do give and do grant
To John of Burgoyne
And the heirs of his loin,
Both Sutton and Potton
Until the world's rotten."
It is by this tenure, it is said, that the estates of Sutton and
Potton, in the county of Bedford, England, are now held by
the house of Burgoyne.
59
Eccentric Will.
Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, England, who died
in 1810, bequeathed one penny to every child that attended
his funeral (there came from six to seven hundred) ; is. to
every poor woman in Wath ; los. 6d. to the ringers to ring
one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they
were putting him into the grave. To his natural daughter,
4 4s. per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph
Pitt, 21 per annum. To an old woman who had for eleven
years tucked him up in bed, i is. only. Forty dozen penny
loaves to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock
on Christmas day forever. Two handsome brass chandeliers
for the church, and 20 for a set of new chimes.
Curious Custom at Strasbourg.
At Strasbourg they exhibit a large French horn, the history
of which is as follows:
About four hundred years ago the Jews formed a conspiracy
to betray the city, and with this identical horn they intended
to give the enemy notice when to attack. The plot, however,
was discovered; many of the Jews were burnt alive; the
rest were plundered of their money and effects, and banished
the town. This horn is sounded twice every night from the
battlements of the steeple in gratitude for the deliverance.
The Jews deny the facts of this story, excepting the murder-
ing and pillaging of their countrymen. They say the whole
story is fabricated to furnish a pretext for the robberies and
murders, and assert that the steeple of Strasbourg, as has been
said of the monument of London,
"Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies."
60
Tooth-Picks.
In the fourteenth century it was the fashion to carry tooth-
picks of silver suspended round the neck by a chain.
Phantom Menageries.
"The Magick of Kirami, King of Persia, and of Har-
pocration," printed in the year 1685, contains the following:
* : The hyena is a four-footed animal, savage and ambiguous;
for this creature is born female, and, after a year, turns male,
and then, for the next year, turns female again, and brings
forth and gives suck; and the gall of this animal, being sweet,
has efficacy for a miracle; and a great miracle is made of it;
and this is the composition: Take the eyes of the fish glaucus,
and the right eye of the said hyena, and all that is liquid of
the said hyena; dissolve all together, and pot it up in a glass
vessel, covering it well. If, therefore, you will show a great
miracle, when you have set a light, mix the fat of any creep-
ing thing, or four-footed beast you please, with a little of the
foresaid composition ; if you anoint the wick of the lamp or
candle, they will think it is the beast of which it is the fat,
whether of a lion, bull, serpent, or any other creature. If
you put a little of the confection upon burning coals, in the
middle of the house, the beast will appear whose fat you mixed
with it. And you may do the same with birds. And if you
mix a little sea-water with the composition, and sprinkle
among the guests, they will all fly, thinking that the sea is in
the midst of them."
Curious Law.
The following curious law was enacted during the reign of
Richard I., for the government of those going by sea to the
Holy Land: "He who kills a man on shipboard, shall be
bi
bound to the dead body and thrown into the sea; if the man
is killed on shore, the slayer shall be bound to the dead body
and buried with it. He who shall draw his knife to strike
another, or who shall have drawn blood from him, to lose his
hand ; if he shall have only struck with the palm of the hand,
without drawing blood, he shall be thrice ducked in the sea/'
Curious Historical Coincidence.
The following curious historical coincidence has been
remarked in the life of Thomas a-Becket, who was appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry II:
The dignity was conferred upon him on a Tuesday; Tues-
day brought him face to face with the peers of Northampton;
he was banished from England on a Tuesday ; he had a celes-
tial visit on a Tuesday, foretelling his "martyrdom;" he came
home from exile on a Tuesday; he was slain at the altar on a
Tuesday, and was canonized as a saint on a Tuesday.
Born within the Sound of Bow Bells.
One of the most celebrated peals of bells in London is that
of St. Mary-le-bow, Cheapside, which forms the basis of a
proverbial expression meant to mark emphatically a London
nativity. Brand speaks of a substantial endowment by a citi-
zen for the ringing of Bow-bells every morning to wake up the
London apprentices.
Refreshments for the Pulpit.
In the books of Darlington parish church, the following
items appear, which show that, in the olden time, provision
was made for comforting the inner man:
62
"Six quarts of sack to the minister who preached when he
had no minister to assist, gs.', for a quart of sack bestowed
on Jillett, when he preached, 2s. 6tL; for pint of brandy
when George Bell preached here, is. ^d.\ for a stranger who
preached, a dozen of ale. When the Dean of Durham
preached here, spent in a treat in the house, y. 6d. ' '
Birthdays.
It is not generally known that the custom of keeping birth-
days is many thousand years old. It is recorded in the
fortieth chapter of Genesis, twentieth verse : "And it came to
pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he
made a feast unto all his servants."
Toppling Flower Pots.
An Act of Parliament was passed to "put down*' the
flower pots, "which were accustomed to topple on the
walkers' heads, from the windows of houses wherein flower-
fanciers dwelt."
Electioneering in 1640.
In Sir Henry Slingsby's diary is the following entry respect-
ing the election at Knaresborough, in 1640: "There is an
evil custom at such elections, to bestow wine on all the town,
which cost me sixteen pounds at least."
Monks Ordered to Shave.
In the year 1200 the Council of Lateran ordered the monks
to shave off their beards, "lest in the ceremony of receiving
63
the sacrament, the beard might touch the bread and wine, 01
crumbs and drops fall and stick upon it."
Odd Bill for Repairs.
One meets with curious things in the old church registers
of England. The subjoined, in the Record Office of Win-
chester Cathedral, dated 1182, is certainly unique. It is a
bill for work done: >
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
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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
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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.
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" 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
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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
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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 tells us that Homer's Iliad, with
its fifteen thousand verses, was written in so small a space as
to be contained in a nutshell ; while Elian mentions an artist
who wrote a distich in letters of gold, which he enclosed in
the rind of a kernel of corn. But the Harleian MS. mentions
a greater curiosity than any of the former, it being nothing
more nor less than the Bible, written by one Peter Bales, a
chancery clerk, in so small a book that it could be enclosed
within the shell of an English walnut. There is a drawing of
the head of Charles II. in the library of St. John's College,
Oxford, wholly composed of minutely written characters,
which at a short distance resemble the lines of an ordinary
engraving. The head and ruff are said to contain the book of
Psalms, in Greek, and the Lord's Prayer. Bombaugh.
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Wonderful Lock.
Among the wonderful products of art in the French Crystal
Palace was shown a lock which admitted of 3,674,385 com-
binations. Heuret spent one hundred and twenty nights in
locking it ; Fichet was four months in unlocking it ; after-
wards they could neither shut nor open it.
Roman Stamp.
This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is
the very earliest specimen of printing by means of ink or any
similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman
brass, the ground of which is covered with a green kind of
verdigris rust with which antique medals are usually covered.
The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim
which surrounds it. Its dimensions are about two inches long
by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the
finger, to make it more convenient to hold. As no person of
the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman
history, he is, therefore, supposed to have been a functionary
of some Roman officer, or private steward, who, perhaps, used
this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name.
Talisman of Charlemagne.
The Emperor Napoleon III., when Prince Louis Napoleon,
was stated to be in possession of the talisman of Charlemagne
to which allusion is frequently made in traditional history.
This curious object of vertu is mentioned in the Parisian
journals as la plus belle relique de F Europe, and it certainly
has excited considerable interest in the archaeological and re-
ligious circles on the continent. The talisman is of fine gold,
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of a round form, set with gems, and in the centre are two
rough sapphires and a portion of the Holy Cross, besides
other relics brought from the Holy Land. This was found
round the neck of Charlemagne on the opening of his tomb,
and given by the town of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to Bona-
parte, and by him to his favorite Hortense, ci-devant Queen of
Holland, at whose death it descended to her son Prince Louis,
the late Emperor of the French.
The Black Stone at Mecca.
Near the entrance of the Kaaba, at Mecca, is the famous
Black Stone, called by the Moslems Hajra el Assouad, or
Heavenly Stone. It forms a part of the sharp angle of the
building, and is inserted four or five feet above the ground.
It is an irregular oval, and is about seven inches in diameter.
Its color is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black,
and it is surrounded by a border of nearly the same color,
resembling a cement of pitch and gravel, and from two to
three inches in breadth. Both the border and the stone itself
are encircled by a silver band, swelling to a considerable
breadth below, where it is studded with nails of the same
metal. The surface is undulated, and seems composed of
about a dozen smaller stones, of different sizes and shapes,
but perfectly smooth, and well joined with a small quantity of
cement. It looks as if the whole had been dashed into many
pieces by a severe concussion, and then re-united an appear-
ance that may perhaps be explained by the various disasters
to which it has been exposed. During the fire that occurred
in the time of Yezzid I. (A. D. 682), the violent heat split it
into three pieces ; and when the fragments were replaced, it
was necessary to surround them with a rim of silver, which is
said to have been renewed by Haroun-al-Raschid. It was in
two pieces when the Karmathians carried it away, it having
93
been broken by a blow from a soldier during the plunder of
Mecca. Hakem, a mad Sultan of Egypt, in the eleventh
century, attempted, while on a pilgrimage, to destroy it with
an iron club which he had concealed under his clothes, but
was prevented and slain by the populace. After that accident
it remained unmolested until 1674, when it was found one
morning besmeared with dirt, so that every one who kissed
it returned with a sullied face. As for the quality of the
stone, it does not seem to be accurately determined. Burck-
hardt says it appeared to him like a lava containing several
small extraneous particles of a whitish and yellowish substance.
Ali Bey calls it a fragment of volcanic basalt, sprinkled with
small -pointed colored crystals, and varied with red feldspar.
The millions of kisses and touches impressed by the faithful
have worn the surface uneven, and to a considerable depth.
This miraculous block all orthodox Mussulmans believe to
have been originally a transparent hyacinth brought from
heaven to Abraham by the angel Gabriel ; but that its sub-
stance, as well as its color, have long been changed by coming
in contact with the impurities of the human race.
The Portland Vase.
This was the name of a beautiful cinerary urn, of trans-
parent dark blue glass, found about the middle of the six-
teenth century in a marble sarcophagus near Rome. It was at
first deposited in the Barberini Palace at Rome, and hence is
often called the Barberini Vase. Next it became (in 1770) the
property, by purchase, of Sir William Hamilton, from whose
possession it passed into that of the Duchess of Portland. In
1810 the Duke of Portland, one of the trustees of the British
Museum, allowed it to be placed in that institution, retaining
his right over it as his own property. In 1845 a miscreant
named William Lloyd, apparently from an insane love of
94
mischief, or a diseased ambition for notoriety, dashed the
valuable relic to pieces with a stone. Owing to the defective
state of the law, only a slight punishment could be inflicted;
but an act was immediately passed making such an offence
punishable with imprisonment for two years. The pieces of
the fractured vase were afterwards united in a very complete
manner; and, thus repaired, it still exists in the Museum, but
is not exhibited to the public.
Martin Luther's Tankard.
This interesting relic of the great reformer is of ivory, very
richly carved, and mounted in silver-gilt. There are six
medallions on its surface, which consist, however, of a repeti-
tion of two subjects. The upper one represents the agony in
the garden and the Saviour praying that the cup might pass
from Him ; the base represents the Lord's Supper, the centre
dish being the incarnation of the bread. This tankard, now
in the possession of Lord Londesborough, was formerly in the
collection of Elkington, of Birmingham, who had some copies
made of it. On the lid, in old characters, is the following :
"C. M. L., MDXXIIII."
Brass Medal of the Saviour.
\ '
In 1702 Rev. H. Rowlands, author of Mono, Antigua, while
superintending the removal of some stones near Aberfraw,
Wales, for the purpose of making an antiquarian research,
found a beautiful brass medal of the Saviour in a fine state of
preservation, which he forwarded to his friend and country-
man, the Rev. E. Lloyd, author of the Archeologice Britannic a,
and at that time-keeper of the Ashmolean Library at Oxford.
This medal has on one side the figure of a head exactly
95
answering the description given by Publius Lentulus of our
Saviour, in a letter sent by him to the Emperor Tiberius and
the Senate of Rome. On the reverse side it has the following
legend or inscription in Hebrew characters : " This is Jesus
Christ, the Mediator or Reconciler;" or, "Jesus the Great
Messias, or Man Mediator." Being found among the ruins
of the chief Druid's residence in Anglesea, it is not improba-
ble that the curious relic belonged to some Christian connected
with Bran the Blessed, who was one of Caractacus's hostages
at Rome from A. D. 52 to 59, at which time the Apostle Paul
was preaching the gospel at Rome. In two years afterwards,
A. D. 61, the Roman General Suetonius extirpated all the
Druids in the island. The following is a translation of the
letter alluded to, a very antique copy of which is in the pos-
session of the family of Lord Kellie, now represented by the
Earl of Mar, a very ancient Scotch family, taken from the
original at Rome :
" There hath appeared in these our days a man of great
virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and
of the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet, but his disciples call
him The Son of God. He raiseth the dead, and cures all
manner of diseases; a man of stature somewhat tall and
comely, with very reverend countenance, such as the beholders
both love and fear; his hair the color of chestnut, full ripe,
plain to his ears, whence downward it is more orient, curling,
and waving about his shoulders.
"In the midst of his head is a seam or a partition of his
hair after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead plain and
very delicate; his face without a spot or wrinkle, beautified
with the most lovely red ; his mouth and nose so formed that
nothing can be reprehended ; his beard thickish, in color like
his hair, not very long but forked; his look, innocent and
mature; his eyes gray, clear and quick. In reproving, he is
terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleas-
96
ant in conversation, mixed with gravity. It cannot be
remarked that any one saw him laugh, but many have seen
him weep. In proportion of body most excellent ; his hands
and arms most delicate to behold. In speaking, very temper-
ate, modest and wise. A man, for his singular beauty, sur-
passing the children of men."
The representation of this sacred person which is in the
Bodleian Library, somewhat resembles that of the print of this
medal, when compared together.
Friar Bacon's Brazen Head.
The most famous of all the brazen heads was that of Roger
Bacon, a monk of the thirteenth century. According to the
legend, he spent seven years in constructing the head, and he
expected to be told by it how he could make a wall of brass
around the island of Great Britain. The head was warranted
to speak within a month after it was finished, but no particular
time was named for its doing so. Bacon's man was therefore
set to watch, with orders to call his master if the head should
speak. At the end of half an hour after the man was left
alone with the head, he heard it say, "Time is," at the
expiration of another half hour, "Time was," and at the end
of a third half hour, "Time's past," when it fell down with
a loud crash, and was shivered to pieces; but the stupid ser-
vant neglected to awaken his master, thinking that he would
be very angry to be disturbed for such trifles: and so the wall
of brass has never been built.
Crucifix of Columbus.
Mrs. General Hefferman, of Animas City, is the possessor
of a very interesting and valuable relic, it being no less than
the veritable crucifix which Columbus held in his hand when he
97
landed in America, of which she has ample documentary evi-
dence, if one accept the witness, viz: the Catholic Church.
It has been in the possession of the missions and churches of
Mexico and California since a very early date; and even if
originally a fraud, it would nevertheless be almost as inter-
esting, from its great age and as a work of art, as though what
is claimed for it were actually true. Mrs. Hefferman holds it
in trust for a religious order to which her mother belonged,
and sacredly believes it a genuine relic, as claimed. The
crucifix itself is of carved wood, of what kind no one is able
to determine. The image of Christ upon it is of carved ivory.
The expression of agony depicted on the countenance and in
the drawn muscles and sunken flesh, as well as the delineation
of the anatomical structure, are triumphs of artistic skill which
could not be surpassed, if equalled, by the best artists of the
present day. Durango (Col.) fiecord.
Scipio's Shield.
In 1656 a fisherman on the banks of the Rhone, in the
neighborhood of Avignon, drew to shore in his net a round
substance in the shape of a large plate, thickly encrusted with
a coat of hardened mud. A silversmith who happened to be
present bought it for a trifling sum. He took it home, and
upon cleaning and polishing it, found it to consist of pure
silver, perfectly round, more than two feet in diameter, and
weighing upwards of twenty pounds. Fearing that such a
massive and valuable piece of plate might awaken suspicion,
if offered for sale entire, he divided it into four equal parts,
each of which he disposed of at different times and places.
One of the pieces was sold at Lyons to Mr. Mey, a wealthy
and well-educated merchant, who at once saw its value and
who, after great effort, procured the other three sections. He
had them nicely rejoined, and the treasure was finally placed
98
in the cabinet of the King of France. This relic of antiquity,
no less remarkable for the beauty of its workmanship than for
v having been buried at the bottom of the Rhone more than two
thousand years, was a votive shield, presented to Scipio as a
token of gratitude and affection by the inhabitants of Carthago
Nova, now the city of Carthagena, for his generosity and self-
denial in delivering one of his captives, a beautiful virgin, to
her original lover. This act, so honorable to the Roman
general, who was then in the prime vigor of manhood, is
represented on the shield.
Horn of Oldenburg.
The story of the Horn of Oldenburg is a type of the legends
which connect valuable plate, &c., belonging to old churches
with underground fairies. The pictures of the horn represent
it as a beautiful drinking vessel in the shape of a horn,
exquisitely decorated with the finest fanciful silver-work, in
the style contemporary with the richest Gothic architecture.
The legend is, that one day, Otto of Oldenburg, being
exhausted with hunting, and very thirsty, exclaimed: "O
God, would that I had a cool drink!" Thereupon appeared
before him, as if coming out of the rock, a lovely maiden, who
offered him a drink in the fairy horn. He made off with it,
and saved himself from evil consequences by bestowing it on
the church.
Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Mask.
This interesting relic of remote antiquity is at present pre-
served in the Museum of the East India Company. It was
found by Colonel Rawlinson while engaged in prosecuting the
discoveries commenced by Layard and Botta, at Nineveh and
Babylon, and is supposed to have belonged to King Nebuchad-
99
nezzar. The body was discovered in a perfect state of preser-
vation, and the face covered by the golden mask is described
as handsome, the forehead high and commanding, the features
marked and regular. The mask is of thin gold, and, inde-
pendent of its having once belonged to the great monarch,
has immense value as a relic of an ancient and celebrated
people.
Iron Crown of LoTnbardy.
When the Emperor Napoleon I. was crowned King of Italy,
1805, he placed the iron crown of the kings of Lombardy
upon his head with his own hands, exclaiming, "God has
given it to me beware who touches," which was the haughty
motto attached to it by its ancient owners. The crown takes
its name from the narrow iron band within it, which is about
three-eighths of an inch broad and one-tenth of an inch in
thickness. It is traditionally said to have been made out of
one of the nails used at the crucifixion, and given to Con-
stantine by his mother, the Empress Helena, the discoverer of
the Cross, to protect him in battle. The crown is kept in the
Cathedral of Monza. The outer circlet is composed of six
equal pieces of beaten gold, joined together by hinges, and
set with large rubies, emeralds and sapphires, on a ground of
blue-gold enamel. Within the circlet is the iron crown, with-
out a speck of rust, although it is more than fifteen hundred
years old.
The Sacro Catino.
The celebrated Sacred Catino, part of the spoil taken by
the Genoese at the storming of Cesarea, which was believed
to be cut from a single emerald, and had, according to tra-
dition, been presented by t^e Queen of Sheba to Solomon,
was for ages the pride and glory of Genoa, and an object of
100
the greatest devotional reverence at the yearly exhibitions,
which were attended with great pomp and ceremony. Such
was the opinion of its intrinsic value, that on many occasions
the republic borrowed half a million of ducats upon security
of this precious relic. When the French armies, during the
first revolution, plundered Italy of its treasures, it was sent,
with other spoils, to Paris. Upon examination, it was, instead
of emerald, proved to be composed of glass, similar to that
found in Egyptian tombs, of which country it was, no doubt,
the manufacture. At the Restoration the Sacro Catino was
returned in a broken state, and now lies shorn of all its honors,
a mere broken glass vessel, in the sacristy of the Church of
San Lorenzo.
Curious Lantern.
In 1602 it is related that Sir John Harrington, of Bath,
sent to James VI., of Scotland, as a new year's gift, a dark
lantern. The top was a crown of pure gold, serving also to
cover a perfume pan. Within it was a shield of silver,
embossed, to reflect the light; on one side of the shield were
the sun, moon and planets, and on the other side the story of
the birth and passion of Christ, as it was engraved by David
II., King of Scotland, who was a prisoner at Nottingham.
The following words were inscribed in Latin on the present :
"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
Carrara's Toilet Box.
Francis Carrara, the last Lord of Padua, was famous for his
cruelties. At Venice is exhibited a little box for the toilet,
in which are six little guns, which were adjusted with springs
in such a manner, that upon opening the box the guns were
discharged, and killed the lady to whom Carrara had sent it
tor a present.
101
Executioner's Sword.
This weapon forms one of the curiosities in the superb col-
lection of ancient armor which belonged to Sir Samuel R.
Meyrick, at Herefordshire. It bears the date of 1674. The
blade is thin and exceedingly sharp at both edges. Engraved
on it is a man impaled, above which are some words in Ger-
man, of which the following is a translation:
Look every one that has eyes,
Look here, and see that
To erect power on wickedness
Cannot last long.
A man holding a crucifix, his eyes bandaged, is on his
knees; the executioner, with his right hand on the hilt and
his left on the pommel, is about to strike the blow; above is
engraved
He who ambitiously exalts himself,
And thinks only of evil,
Has his neck already encompassed
By punishment.
On the other side is a man broken on a wheel, over which
is
I live, I know not how long;
I die, but I know not when.
Also a man suspended by the ribs from a gibbet, with the
inscription
I move, without knowing whither ;
I wonder I am so tranquil.
Luck of Eden-hall.
Hutchinson, in his "History of Cumberland," speaking of
Eden-hall, says : "In this house are some old-fashioned
apartments. An old painted drinking-glass, called the ' Luck
102
of Eden-hall,' is preserved with great care. In the garden,
near to the house, is a well of excellent spring water, called
St. Cuthbert's well. The glass is supposed to have been a
sacred chalice, but the legendary tale is, that the butler, going
to draw water, surprised a company of fairies who were
amusing themselves upon the green near the well. He seized
the glass which was standing upon its margin; they tried to
get it from him, but, after an ineffectual struggle, flew away,
singing
' If that glass either break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Eden-hall.' "
Bernini's Bust of Charles I.
Vandyck having drawn the king in three different faces, a
profile, three-quarters and a full face, the picture was sent to
Rome for Bernini to make a bust from it. Bernini was un-
accountably dilatory in the work, and upon this being com-
plained of, he said that he had set about it several times, but
there was something so unfortunate in the features of the face
that he was shocked every time that he examined it, and
forced to leave off the work, observing, that if any stress
was to be laid upon physiognomy, he was sure the person
whom the picture represented was destined to a violent end.
The bust was at last finished, and sent to England. As soon
as the ship that brought it arrived in the Thames, the king,
who was very impatient to see the bust, ordered it to be taken
immediately to Chelsea. It was accordingly carried thither,
and placed upon a table in the garden, whither the king went,
with a train of nobility, to inspect the work. As they were
viewing it, a hawk flew over their heads, with a partridge in
his claws, which he had wounded to death. Some of the
partridge's blood fell upon the neck of the bust, where it re-
mained without being wiped off.
103
Burn's Snuff-box.
Burns and Mr. Bacon, the latter an inn-keeper near Dum-
fries, were very intimate, and, as a token of regard, the former
gave to the latter his snuff-box, which for many years had
been his pocket companion. On Mr. Bacon's death, in 1825,
his effects were sold The snuff-box was put up for sale
among the other things, and some one bid a shilling. There
was a general exclamation that it was not worth two-pence.
The auctioneer, before knocking it down, opened the box.
He saw engraved on the lid, and read aloud, the following
inscription :
"RoBT. BURNS,
OFFICER
OF
THE EXCISE."
The value of the box suddenly rose. Shilling after shilling
was added, until it was finally knocked down for five pounds
to a Mr. Munnell, of Closburn. Hone.
Statue of Memnon.
This celebrated statue was situated at Thebes, and was
either injured by Cambyses, to whom the Egyptian priests
ascribed most of the mutilations of the Theban temples, or
else thrown down by an earthquake. The peculiar charac-
teristic of the statue was its giving out at various times a
sound resembling the breaking of a harp-string or a metallic
ring. Considerable difference has prevailed as to the reason
of this sound, which has been heard in modern times, it being
ascribed to the artifice of the priests, who struck the sonorous
stone of which the statue is composed to the passage of light
draughts of air through the cracks, or the sudden expansion of
aqueous particles, under the influence of the sun's rays. This
104
remarkable quality of the statue is first mentioned by Strabo,
who visited it about 18 B. C., and upwards of one hundred
inscriptions of Greek and Roman visitors, incised upon its
legs, record the visits of ancient travelers to witness the phe-
nomenon, from the ninth year of Nero, 63 A. D., to the reign
of the Emperor Severus, when it became silent.
The Head of Orpheus.
Whether the head of Orpheus spoke in the island of Les-
bos, or, what is more probable, the answers were conveyed to
it by the priests, as was the case with the tripod at Delphi,
cannot with certainty be determined. That the imposter
Alexander, however, caused his ^Esculapius to speak in this
manner, is expressly related by Lucian. He took, says that
author, instead of a pipe, the gullet of a crane, and trans-
mitted the voice through it to the mouth of the statue. In
the fourth century, when Bishop Theophilus broke to pieces
the statues at Alexandria, he found some which were hollow,
and placed in such a manner against a wall that a priest could
slip unperceived behind them and speak to the ignorant
populace through their mouths.
Wonderful Automata.
Archytas, of Tarentum, is reported, so long ago as 400 B. C.,
to have made a pigeon that could fly. The most perfect
automaton about which there is absolute certainty, was one
constructed by M. Vaucanson, exhibited in Paris in 1738.
It represented a flute-player, which placed its lips against the
instrument, and produced the notes with its fingers in pre-
cisely the same manner as a human being does. In 1741 M.
Vaucanson made a flageolet -player, which with one hand beat
105
a tambourine, and in the same year he produced a duck.
The latter was an ingenious contrivance ; it swam, dived, ate,
drank, dressed its wings, etc., as naturally as its live com'
panions; and, most wonderful of all, by means of a solution
in the stomach, it was actually made to digest its food. An
automaton made by M. Droz drew likenesses of public char-
acters. Some years ago a Mr. Faber contrived a figure which
was able to articulate words and sentences very intelligibly,
but the effect was not pleasant. The chess-player of Kempe-
len was long regarded as the most wonderful of automata.
It represented a Turk of natural size, dressed in the national
costume, and seated behind a box resembling a chest of
drawers in shape. Before the game commenced, the artist
opened several doors in the chest, which revealed a large
number of pulleys, wheels, cylinders, springs, etc. The chess-
men were produced from a long drawer, as was also a cushion
for the figure to rest its arm upon. The automaton . not being
able to speak, signified, when the queen of his antagonist was
in danger, by two nods, and when the king was in check by
three. It succeeded in beating most of the players with whom
it engaged, but it turned out afterwards that a crippled Rus-
sian officer a very celebrated chess-player was concealed in
the interior of the figure. The figure is said to have been
constructed for the purpose of effecting the officer's escape
out of Russia, where his life was forfeited. So far as the
mental process was concerned, the chess-player was not,
therefore, an automaton, but great ingenuity was evinced in
its movement of the pieces.
Temple of the Sun.
The Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, called Coricancha, or
"Place of Gold," was the most magnificent edifice in the
Persian empire. On the western wall, and opposite the eastern
106
portal, was a splendid representation of the Sun, the god of
the nation. It consisted of a human face in gold, with
innumerable golden rays emanating from it in every direction 1 ,
and when the early beams of the morning sun fell upon this
brilliant golden disc, they were reflected from it as from a
mirror, and again reflected throughout the whole temple by
the numberless plates, cornices, bands and images of gold,
until the temple seemed to glow with a sunshine more intense
than that of nature.
Tomb of Darius.
One of the most remarkable tombs of the ancients was that
carved out of rock, by order of Darius, for the reception of his
own remains, and which exists to this day at Persepolis, after
a duration of twenty-three centuries.
The portico is supported by four columns twenty feet in
height, and in the centre is the form of a doorway, seemingly
the entrance to the interior, but it is solid j the entablature is
of chaste design. Above the portico there is what may be
termed an ark, supported by two rows of figures, about the
size of life, bearing it on their uplifted hands, and at each
angle a griffin an ornament which is very frequent at Per-
sepolis. On this stage stands the king, with a bent bow in his
hand, worshipping the sun, the image of which is seen above
the altar that stands before him, while above his head hovers
his ferouher, or disembodied spirit. This is the good genius
that in Persian and Ninevite sculpture accompanies the king
when performing any important act. On each side of the
ark are nine niches, each containing a statue in bas-relief. No
other portion of the tomb was intended to be seen, excepting
the sculptured front; and we must, therefore, conclude that
the entrance was kept secret, and that the avenues were by
subterranean passages, so constructed that none but the privi-
10?
ledged could find the way. We are told by Theophrastus
that Darius was buried in a coffer of Egyptian alabaster; also
that the early Persians preserved the bodies of their dead in
honey or wax.
Temples the First Museums.
Natural objects of uncommon size or beauty were, in the
earliest periods, consecrated to the gods, and conveyed to the
temples, to awaken curiosity and to excite reverence. In the
course of time the natural curiosities dedicated to the gods
formed large collections. When Hanno returned from his
distant voyages, he brought with him to Carthage two skins
of the hairy women whom he found on the Gorgades Islands,
and deposited them in the temple of Juno. The monstrous
horns of the wild bulls which had occasioned so much devasta-
tion in Macedonia were, by order of King Philip, hung up in
the temple of Hercules. The unnaturally formed shoulder-
bones of Pelopos were deposited in the temple of Elis. The
crocodile, found in attempting to discover the sources of the
Nile, was preserved in the temple of Isis, at Czesarea. The
head of a basilisk was exhibited in one of the temples of Diana,
and in the time of Pausanias the head of the celebrated Caly-
donian boar was to be seen in one of the temples of Greece.
Wesley's Plate.
An order was made in the House of Lords, in May, 1776,
"that the commissioners of his majesty's excise do write circu-
lar letters to all such persons whom they have reason to sus-
pect to have///^, as also to those who have not paid regularly
the duty on the same." In consequence of this order, the
accountant-general for household plate sent to the celebrated
108
John Wesley a copy of the order. The reply was a laconic;,
one
"SiR: I have two silver teaspoons in London and two at
Bristol. This is all the plate which I have at present ; and I
shall not buy any more while so many round me want bread.
"I am, sir,
Your most humble servant,
JOHN WESLEY."
Grace Knives.
There is in existence a curious class of knives, of the six-
teenth century, the blades of which have on one side the musi-
cal notes to the benediction of the table, or grace before meat,
and on the other side the grace after meat. The set of these
knives usually consisted of four. They were kept in an upright
case of stamped leather, and were placed before the singer.
Religious Relics.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century there was
a crucifix belonging to the Augustine friars, at Burgos, in Spain,
which produced a revenue of nearly seven thousand crowns
per annum. It was found upon the sea, not far from the coast,
with a scroll of parchment appended to it descriptive of the
various virtues it possessed. The image was provided with a
false beard and a chestnut-colored periwig, which its holy
guardjans declared were natural, and they also assured all
pious visitors that on every Friday it sweated blood and water
into a silver basin. In the garden of this convent grew a
species of wheat, the grain of which was unusually large, and
which its possessors averred was brought by Adam out of Para-
dise. Cakes, for the cure of all diseases, were made out of
the wheat kneaded with the aforesaid blood and water, and
109
sold to the credulous multitude for a quartillo each. They
also sold blue ribbons, of the exact length of the crucifix, for
about a shilling each. The ribbons were a sovereign cure for
headache, and had upon them, in silver letters, "La madi del
santo crucifisco de Burgos."
Mammoth Bottle.
In January, 1751, a globular bottle was blown at Leith
capable of holding two hogsheads. Its dimensions were forty
inches by forty-two. This immense vessel was the largest
ever produced at any glass-works. Hone
A Drinking Glass a Yard Long.
"On the proclamation of James II., in the market place of
Bromley, by the Sheriff of Kent, the commander of the
Kentish troop, two of the king's trumpets, and other officers,
they drank the king's health in a flint glass a yard long."
Evelyn's Diary, Feb. loth, 1685.
Kneeling Statue of Atlas.
In the Museo Borbonico, at Naples, is a kneeling statue of
Atlas sustaining the globe. It is a very interesting monu-
ment of Roman art, and one of great value to the student of
ancient astronomy. Of the forty-seven constellations known
to the ancients, forty-two maybe distinctly recognized. The
date of this curious sculpture is fixed as anterior to the time
of Hadrian by the absence of the likeness of Antinous, which
was inserted in the constellation Aquila by the astronomers of
that period.
The Druid's Seat.
The "Druid's Judgment Seat" stands near the village of
Killiney, not far from Drogheda, near the Martello tower.
It was formerly enclosed with a circle of large stones and a
ditch. The former has been destroyed, and the latter so
altered that little of its ancient character remains. The
"Seat" is composed of large, rough granite blocks, and if
really of the period to which tradition credits it, an unusual
degree of care must have been exercised in its preservation.
The following are its measurements: Breadth at the base,
eleven feet and a half; depth of the seat, one foot nine inches;
extreme height, seven feet.
Curious Epitaphs.
Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent ;
A man's good name is his best monument.
From Childwald church-yard, England
Here lies me and my three daughters,
Brought here by using seidlitz waters;
If we had stuck to Epsom salts,
We would n't have been in these here vaults
From Nettlebed church-yard, Oxfordshire
Here lies father, and mother, and sister, and I,
We all died within the space of one short year ;
They all be buried at Wimble, except I,
And I be buried here.
At Wolstanton
Mrs. Ann Jennings.
Some have children, some have none :
Here lies the mother of twenty-one.
Ill
In Norwich Cathedral-
Here lies the body of honest Tom Page,
Who died in the thirty-third year of his age.
At Torrington church-yard, Devon, England
She was but words are wanting to say what :
Think what a woman should be she was that.
In the church-yard of Pewsey, Wiltshire
Here lies the body of Lady O'Looney, great-niece of Burke, commonly
called the Sublime. She was bland, passionate and deeply religious;
also she painted in water-colors, and sent several pictures to the exhibitioa
She was first cousin to Lady Jones ; and of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Shields (the Irish orator)
Here lie I at reckon, and my spirit at aise is,
With the tip of my nose, and the ends of my toes,
Turned up 'gaimt the roots of the daisies.
In Doncaster church-yard, 1816
Here lies 2 brothers by misfortin serounded,
One dy'd of his wounds & the other was drownded.
On the monument of John of Doncaster
What I gave, I have;
What I spent, I had ;
What I saved, I lost.
In a New England grave-yard
Here lies John Auricular,
Who in the ways of the Lord walked perpendicular
Sternhold Oakes
Here lies the body of Sternhold Oakes,
Who lived and died like other folks.
112
On a tombstone in New Jersey
Reader, pass on ! don't waste your time
On bad biography and bitter rhyme ;
For what I am, this crumbling clay insures,
And what I was, is no affair of yours 1
In East Hartford, Connecticut
Hark ! she bids all her friends adieu;
An angel calls her to the spheres ;
Our eyes the radiant saint pursue
Through liquid telescopes of tears.
In Newington church-yard
Through Christ, I am not inferior
To William the Conqueror.
In Bideford church-yard, Kent
The wedding-day appointed was,
And wedding-clothes provided,
But ere the day did come, alas !
He sickened, and he die did.
Rebecca Rogers, Folkestone, 1688
A house she hath, 't is made of such good fashion.
The tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation;
Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent,
Or turn her out of doors for non-payment.
From chimney -tax this cell 's forever free-
To such a house who would not tenant be ?
At Augusta, Maine-
After life's scarlet fever,
I s>tep well.
John Mound
Here lies the body of John Mound,
Lost at sea and never found.
113
POETRY, PIETY AND POLITENESS.
The following epitaph was copied from a stone in a country
church-yard
" You who stand around my grave,
And say, ' His life is gone ;'
You are mistaken pardon
My life is but begun."
At Loch Rausa
Here lies Donald and his wife,
Janet MacFee :
Aged 40 hee,
And 30 shee.
On Mr. Bywater
Here lie the remains of his relatives' pride,
Bywater he lived and by water he died ;
Though by water he fell, yet by water he '11 rise,
By water baptismal attaining the skies.
At Staverton, England
Here lieth the body of Betty Bowden,
Who would live longer but she couden ;
Sorrow and grief made her decay,
Till her bad leg carr'd her away.
At Penryn
Here lies William Smith; and, what is somewhat rarish,
He was born, bred and hanged in this here parish.
From St. Agnes', London
Qu an tris di c vul stra
Os guis ti ro um nere vit.
H san Chris mi t mu la.
114
In Linton church-yard, 1825
Remember man, that passeth by,
As them is now so once was I ;
And as I is so must thou be :
Prepare thyself to follow me.
Under this inscription some one wrote- 1
To follow you's not my intent,
Unless I knew which way you went.
At Queenborough
Henry Knight, master of a shipp to Greenland, and
Herpooner 24 voyages.
In Greenland I whales, sea-horses, bears did slay,
Though now my body is intombe in clay.
At Minster
Here interr'd George Anderson doth lye,
By fallen on an anchor he did dye,
In Sheerness Yard, on Good Friday,
Ye 6th of April, I do say,
All you that read my allegy : Be alwaies
Ready for to dye aged 42 years.
At Hadley church-yard, Suffolk
The charnel mounted on the w
Sets to be seen in funer
A matron plain domestic
In care and pain continu
Not slow, not gay, not prodig
Yet neighborly and hospit
Her children seven, yet living
Her sixty-seventh year hence did c
To rest her body natur
In hopes to rise spiritu
ALL.
U5
The middle line furnishes the terminal letters or syllables
of the words in the upper and lower lines, and when added
they read thus
Quos anguis tristi diro cum vulnere stravit,
Hos sanguis Christi miro turn munere lavit.
[Those who have felt the serpent's venomed wound,
In Christ's miraculous blood have healing found.]
In a Paris cemetery
I' attends ma femme.
1820.
Me voila.
1830.
Shakespeare's tomb
I await my wife.
1820.
I am here.
1830.
The inscription on Shakespeare's tomb forbids the removal
of the body. Subjoined is the prohibition
" Good Friend, for Jesvs sake forbeare
To digg Y-E dvst EncloAsed HERE.
Blest be Y-E Man T-Y spares T-hs Stones
And cvrst be He T-Y moves my bones."
In consequence of this inscription, the people of Stratford-
on-Avon are afraid to put their feet on the stones above the
grave, and the body of the greatest English poet has not been
placed with other geniuses in Westminster Abbey.
Stone tablet puzzle
The following letters are inscribed on a stone tablet placed
immediately over the Ten Commandments in a church in
England, and are deciphered with only one letter
PRSVR Y PRFCT MN!
VR KP THS PRCPTS TN.
116
Grimmingham church-yard, Norfolk, England
To the memory of Thomas Jackson, Comedian, who was
tngaged, 2ist of Dec., 1741, to play a comic cast of characters ,
in this great theatre the World : for many of which he was
prompted 'by nature to excel.
The season being ended, his benefit over, the charges all
paid, and his account closed, he made his exit in the tragedy
of Death, on the iyth of March, 1798, in full assurance of
being called once more to rehearsal; where he hopes to find
his forfeits all cleared, his cast of parts bettered, and his situa-
tion made agreeable by Him who paid the great stock-debt,
for the love which he bore to performers in general.
An inculpatory epitaph
The following epitaph at West Allington, Devon, England,
is not only a memorial of the deceased, but reproves the par-
son of the parish
Here lyeth the Body of
Daniel Jeffery the son of Micb
ael Jeffery and Joan his wife he
was buried y e 22 day of September
1746 and in y e i8th year of his age.
This Youth When In his sickness lay
did for the minister Send-J-that he would
Come and with him Pray-f-But he would not ateni
But when this Young Man Buried was
The minister did him admit ^-he should be
Caried into Church-j-that he might money geet
By this you see what man will dwo+to geet
money if he can+who did refuse to come
pray+by the Foresaid young man.
At St. Benedict Fink
"1673, April 23rd, was buried M r - Thomas Sharrow, Cloth-
worker, late Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an acci-
in
dental fall into a vault, in London Wall, men Corner, by
Paternoster Row, and was supposed had lain there eleven
days and nights before any one could tell where he was. Let
all that read this take heed of drink"
At Clophill, Bedfordshire
DEATH DO NOT KICK AT MEE
FOR CHRIST HATH TAKEN
THY STING AWAY.
1623.
In the same
HEAR
LIES THE
BODEY OF
THOMAS
DEARMAN T
HAT GAVE 6 P
OVND A YEAR
TO TH E LABE
RERS O F CLOPH
ILL 1631.
A watchmaker's epitaph
Among the curious epitaphs to be seen in the graveyards of
England, this one in the old church-yard of Lidford, Devon,
is worthy of insertion
Here lies, in a horizontal position,
The outside case of
George Rougleigh, watchmaker,
Whose abilities in that line were an honor
To his profession.
Integrity was the mainspring
And prudence the regulator
Of all the actions of his life.
Humane, generous and liberal,
His hand never stopped
Till he had relieved distress ;
118
So nicely were all his actions regulated
That he never went wrong
Except when set a-going
By people
Who did not know his key ;
Even then he was easily set aright again.
He had the art of disposing his time so well
That his hours glided away
In one continual round
Of pleasure and delight,
Till an unlucky minute put a period to
his existence.
He departed this life November 14, 1802,
Aged 57;
Wound up
In hopes of being taken in hand
By his Maker,
And of being thoroughly cleaned and repaired
And set a-going
In the world to come.
Grave of Robin Hood
At Kirklees, in Yorkshire, formerly a Benedictine nunnery,
is a gravestone, near the park, under which it is said Robin
Hood lies buried. Mr. Ralph Thoresby, in his "Ducatus
Leodiensis," gives the following as the epitaph
Here undernead dis laith stean
Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington,
Nea arcir ver az hie sa geude :
An piple kaud im Robin Heud
Sic utlawz as hi, an iz men,
Wil England never sigh agen.
Obiit 24 kal. Dekembris, 1247.
Great Tom of Lincoln.
The finest bell in England was the Great Tom of Lincoln,
considerably older than St. Paul's. Its elevation gave it an
119
horizon of fifty miles in every direction. Its note was like
the chord of A upon a full organ. It fell from its support
and was destroyed.
Mammoth Bell of Buddah.
Klaprath states that in an edifice before the great temple of
Buddah, at Jeddo, is the largest bell in the world. It weighs
1,700,000 pounds, four times greater than the great bell of
Moscow, and fifty-six times larger than the great bell of West-
minister, England.
Great Bell of Rouen.
The grand entrance to the cathedral of Rouen is flanked by
two towers; the one was erected by St. Remain; the expense
of constructing the other, which bears the whimsical name of
Tour-de-beurre, was raised by the sum received for granting
the more wealthy and epicurean inhabitants of the city per-
mission to eat butter during Lent. It was in this tower that
the celebrated bell was erected; it was named George
D'Amboise, after its founder, who died from joy upon seeing
it completed. It weighed 40,000 pounds, and was melted
into cannon in the year 1 793.
St. Milan's Bell.
In Sinclair's "Statistical Account of Scotland," the Rev.
Mr. Patrick Stuart, minister of Killin parish, Perthshire, says :
"There is a bell belonging to the chapel of St. Fillan that
was in high reputation among the votaries of that saint in old
times. It is a foot high, 'oblong in form, and made of mixed
metal. It usually lay on a grave-stone in the church-yard.
When mad people were brought to be dipped in the saint's
120
pool, it was necessary to perform certain ceremonies in which
there was a mixture of druidism and popery. After remain-
ing all night in the chapel, bound with ropes, the bell was set
upon their head with great solemnity. It was also the popu-
lar opinion that if the bell was ever stolen, it would extricate
itself out of the thief s hands and return home, ringing all the
way. ' '
The Bells of Jersey.
The following is the bell-legend connected with Jersey:
"Many years ago the twelve parish churches in that island
possessed each a valuable peal of bells; but during a long
civil war the government determined to sell the bells to defray
the expenses of the troops. The bells were accordingly col-
lected and sent to France for that purpose ; but on the pass-
age, the ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show the
wrath of Heaven at such a sacrilege. Since then, during a
storm, these bells always ring from the deep, and to this day
the fishermen of St. Owen's Bay always go to the edge of the
water before embarking, to listen if they can hear the bells
upon the wind. If so, nothing will induce them to leave the
shore; if all is quiet, they fearlessly set sail."
Subterranean Christmas Bells.
Near Raleigh, in Nottinghamshire, there is a valley, said to
have been caused by an earthquake several hundred years ago,
which swallowed up a whole village, together with the church.
Formerly, it was a custom for people to assemble in this val-
ley on Christmas morning, to listen to the ringing of the bells
of the church beneath them. This it was positively asserted
might be heard by putting the ear to the ground and harkening
attentively. Even now, it is usual on Christmas morning for
121
old men and women to tell the children to go to the valley,
stoop down, and hear the bells ringing merrily. Hone, 1827.
St. Sepulchre's Bell.
It has been a very ancient practice, on the night preceding
the execution of condemned criminals, for the bellman of the
parish of St. Sepulchre to go under Newgate, and, ringing
his bell, to repeat the following, as a piece of friendly advice
to the unhappy wretches under sentence of death:
All you that in the condemn' d hold do lie,
Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die;
Watch all, and pray, the hour is drawing near.
That you before the Almighty must appear;
Examine well yourselves, in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent.
And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls.
The Lord above have mercy on your souls !
Past twelve o'clock'
The Passing Bell.
The Passing Bell was so named from being tolled when any
one was passing from life. Hence it was sometimes called
the Soul Sell, and was rung that those who heard it might
pray for the person dying, and who was not yet dead. We
have a remarkable mention of the practice in the narrative of
the last moments of the Lady Katharine Grey (sister of Lady
Jane Grey), who died a prisoner in the Tower of London, in
1567. Sir Owen Hopton, constable of the tower, "perceiv-
ing her to draw toward her end, said to Mr. Bockeham,
( Were it not best to send to the church, that the bell may be
rung?' and she herself, hearing him, said : ' Good Sir Owen,
be it so;' and almost immediately died." Ellis' s Original
Letters.
122
Bell-ringing in Holland.
The Hollanders exhibit the most enthusiastic fondness for
bells. Every church and public building is hung round with
them in endless variety. In Amsterdam not less than a
thousand bells are kept constantly ringing, which creates a
din that is almost intolerable to strangers.
Babes of Bethlehem.
It is an ancient custom at Norton, Worcestershire, England,
on the 28th of December (Innocents' Day) to ring a muffled
peal in token of sorrow for the slaughter of the hapless
"babes of Bethlehem," and, immediately afterwards, an un-
muffled peal, in manifestation of joy for the deliverance and
escape of the infant Saviour.
Ringing the Changes.
It is curious to note the number of changes which may be
rung on different peals. The changes on seven bells are
5040; on twelve, 479,001,600, which it would take ninety-
one years to ring, at the rate of two strokes in a second.
The changes on fourteen bells could not be rung through at
the same rate in less than 16,575 years, and upon four-and-
twenty they would require more than 117,000 billions of
years. E. F. King.
Bell Inscriptions.
Epigraphs or legends on bells were quite common in Eng-
land. We subjoin specimens
123
On the Six Bells of the Ancient Abbey of Hcxham.
Even at our earliest sound,
The light of God is spread around.
At the echo of my voice,
Ocean, earth and air rejoice.
Blend thy mellow tones with mine,
Silver voice of Catherine !
Till time on ruin's lap shall nod,
John shall sound the praise of God.
With John in heavenly harmony,
Andrew, pour thy melody.
Be mine to chant Jehovah's fame,
While Maria is my name.
A not uncommon epigraph is
Come when I call,
To serve God all.
At Aldbourne, on the first bell, we read : " The gift of
Jos. Pizzie and Wm. Gwynn.
Music and ringing we like so well,
And for that reason we gave this bell."
On the fourth bell is
Humphry Symsin gave xx pounds to buy this bell,
And the parish gave xx more to make this ring go well.
At Broadchalk
I in this place am second bell,
I '11 surely do my part as welL
At Coin, on the third bell
Robert Forman collected the money for casting this bell
Of well-disposed people, as I do you tell.
124
At Devizes, St. Mary
I am the first, altho' but small,
I will be heard above you all.
I am the second in this ring ;
Therefore next to thee I will sing.
Amesbury, on the fifth bell
Be strong in faith, praise God well,
Frances Countess Hertford's bell.
Amesbury, on the tenor bell-
Altho' it be unto my loss,
I hope you will consider my cost.
At Bath Abbey-
All you of Bath that hear my sound,
Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound.
At Stowe, Northamptonshire
Be it known to all that doth me see,
That Newcombe, of Leicester, made me.
At St. Michael's, Coventry
I ring at six to let men know
When to and from their work to go.
On the seventh bell is
I ring to sermon with lusty borne,
That all may come, and none can stay at home.
At St. Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford, in expectation of other
bells which were never purchased
With seven more I hope soon to be
For ages joined in harmony.
125
On the eighth bell is
I am and have been called the common bell,
To ring when fire breaks out to tell.
St. Helen's church, at Worcester, England, has a set of
bells cast in the time of Queen Anne, with names and inscrip-
tions recording victories gained in that reign
i. BLENHEIM.
First is my note, and Blenheim is my name;
For Blenheim's story will be first in fame.
2. BARCELONA.
Let me relate how Louis did bemoan
His grandson Philip's flight from Barcelon.
3. RAMILIES.
Deluged in blood, I, Ramilies, advance
Britannia's glory on the fall of France.
4. MENIN.
Let Menin on my sides engraven be,
And Flanders freed from Gallic slavery.
5. TURIN.
When in harmonious peal I roundly go,
Think on Turin, and triumphs on the Po.
6. EUGENE.
With joy I bear illustrious Eugene's name;
Fav'rite of fortune and the boast of fame.
7. MARYBOROUGH.
But I for pride the greater Marlborough bear ;
Terror of tyrants and the soul of war.
8. QUEEN ANNE.
The immortal praise of Queen Anne I sound,
With union blest, and all these glories crowned.
126
On the famous alarm-bell called Roland, in a belfry-tower
in the once powerful city of Ghent, is engraved the subjoined
inscription, in the old Walloon or Flemish dialect
" My name is Roland ; when I toll there is fire,
And when I ring there is victory in the land."
The following inscription, remarkable for bad taste, is on
one of eight bells in the church tower of Tilton, Devon
"Recast by John Taylor and Son,
Who the best prize for church bells won
At the Great Ex-hi-bi-ti-on
In London, 1-8-5 an ^ I -"
Articles of Ringing.
The following "Articles of Ringing" are upon the walls
of the belfry in Dunster, Somersetshire, England:
1. You that in ringing take delight,
Be pleased to draw near ;
These articles you must observe,
If you mean to ring here.
2. And first, if any overturn
A bell, as that he may,
He forthwith for that only fault
In beer shall sixpence pay.
3. If any one shall curse or swear
When come within the door,
He then shall forfeit for that fault
As mentioned before.
4. If any one shall wear his hat
When he is ringing here,
He straightway then shall sixpence paj
In cyder or in beer.
12T
5. If any one these articles
Refuseth to obey,
Let him have nine strokes of the rope,
And so depart away.
Old Weather Rhymes.
If New Year's eve night-wind blow south,
It betokeneth warmth and growth ;
If west, much milk, and fish in the sea ;
If north, much cold, and storms there will be;
If east, the trees will bear much fruit ;
If north-east, flee it, man and brute.
If St. Paul's day be fair and clear,
It does betide a happy year ;
But if it chance to snow or rain,
Then will be dear all kinds of grain ;
If clouds or mists do dark the skie,
Great store of birds and beasts shall die;
And if the winds do fly aloft,
Then wars shall vex the kingdome oft.
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spune ;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
The hind had as lief see his wife on the bier,
As that Candlemas-day should be pleasant and clear,
If Candlemas-day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight ;
But if Candlemas-day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.
When Candlemas-day is come and gone,
The snow lies on a hot stone.
If Candlemas is fair and clear,
There '11 be twa winters in the year.
128
February fill dike, be it black or be it white?
But if it be white, it's the better to like.
When the cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,
Sell your cow and buy your corn ;
But when she comes to the full bit,
Sell your corn and buy your sheep.
If the cock moult before the hen,
We shall have weather thick and thin ;
But if the hen moult before the cock,
We shall have weather hard as a block.
When the wind 's in the south,
It blows the bait into the fishes' mouth.
As the days lengthen
So the colds strengthen.
If there be a rainbow in the eve,
It will rain and leave ;
But if there be a rainbow in the morrow,
It will neither lend nor borrow.
A rainbow in the morning
Is the shepherd's warning;
But a rainbow at night
Is the shepherd's delight.
No tempest, good July,
Lest corn come off blue by.
When the wind 's in the east,
It 's neither good for man nor beast;
When the wind's in the south,
It 's in the rain's mouth.
When the sloe-tree is as white as a sheet,
Sow your barley, whether it be dry or wet.
No weather is ill
If the wind be still.
A snow year,
A rich year.
129
Winter's thunder
Is summer's wonder.
St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain ;
St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 't will rain na mair.
The bat begins with giddy wing
His circuit round the shed and tree;
And clouds of dancing gnats to sing
A summer night's serenity.
At New Year's tide,
The days are lengthened a cock's stride.
If the red sun begins his race,
Expect that rain will fall apace.
The evening red, the morning gray,
Are certain signs of a fair day.
If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way,
No rain, be sure, disturbs the summer's day.
In the waning of the moon,
A cloudy morn fair afternoon.
When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth 's refresh'd by frequent showers.
As the days grow longer
The storms grow stronger.
Blessed is the corpse that the rain falls on.
Blessed is the bride that the sun shines on.
He that goes to see his wheat in May,
Comes weeping away.
Signs of Foul Weather.
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their cobwebs peep.
Loud quack the ducks, the sea-fowl cry,
The distant hills are looking nigh.
ISO
Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws.
Sits wiping o'er her whisker' d jaws.
The smoke from chimneys right ascends,
Then spreading, back to earth it bends.
The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
Clos'd is the pink-ey'd pimpernel.
Quite restless are the snorting swine,
The busy flies disturb the kine.
The wind unsteady veers around,
Or settling in the south is found.
The glow-worms, numerous and bright,
Illumed the dewy hill last night.
Through the clear stream the fishes rise
And nimbly catch the incautious flies.
First Meerschaum Pipe.
In 1723 there lived in Pesth, the capital of Hungary, Karol
Kowates, a shoemaker, whose ingenuity in cutting and carv-
ing on wood, etc., brought him in contact with Count And-
rassy, ancestor to the present prime minister of Austria, with
whom he became a favorite. The count, on his return from a
mission to Turkey, brought with him a large piece of whitish
clay, which had been presented to him as a curiosity on
account of its extraordinary light specific gravity. It struck
the shoemaker that, being porous, it must naturally be well
adapted for pipes, as it would absorb the nicotine. The
experiment was tried, and Karol cut a pipe for the count and
one for himself. But in the pursuit of his trade he could not
keep his hands clean, and many a piece of wax became
attached to the pipe. The clay, however, instead of assum-
ing a dirty appearance, as was naturally to be expected, when
Karol wiped it off, received, wherever the wax had touched, a
131
clear brown polish, instead of the dull white it previously had.
Attributing this change in the tint to the proper source, he
waxed the whole surface, and, polishing the pipe, again smoked
it, and noticed how admirably and beautifully it colored;
also, how much more sweet the pipe smoked after being
waxed. Karol had struck the smoking philosopher's stone ; and
other noblemen, hearing of the wonderful properties of this
singular species of clay, imported it in considerable quantities
for the manufacture of pipes. The natural scarcity of this
much esteemed article, and the great cost of transportation in
those days of limited facilities for transportation, rendered its
use exclusively confined to the richest European noblemen
until 1830, when it became a more general article of trade.
The first meerschaum pipe made by Karol Kowates has been
preserved in the museum at Pesth.
The First Oval Lathe.
William Murdock, the inventor of the oval lathe, was a poor
millwright. He was a good workman, but rather shiftless,
until he came into the employ of Boulton & Watt, the Eng-
lish manufacturers of steam-engines in the last century. The
way in which the millwright first attracted the attention of
these great machinists is thus told:
Somewhere about the year 1780, a traveling millwright,
weary and foot-sore, and with the broadest of Northern Doric
accent, stopped at a factory in England and asked for work.
His aspect indicated beggary, and the proprietor, Mr. Boulton,
had bidden him seek some other workshop, when, as the man
was turning sorrowfully away, he suddenly called him back,
saying
"What kind of hat's yon ye have on your head, my man?"
"It's just timmer, sir," replied the man.
132
"Timmer, my man!" ejaculated the manufacturer. "Just
let me look at it. Where on earth did you get it?"
"I just turned it in the lathe," said the mechanic, with a
flush of pride.
"But it's oval, not round, my man," said Mr. Boulton, in
surprise; "and lathes turn things round."
"A-weel, I just gar'd the lathe gang anither gait to please
me; and I'd a long journey before me, and I thocht I *d have
a hat to keep out water; and I had na muckle to spare, so I
just make ane. ' '
The man was a born inventor, but he didn't know it. By
his ingenuity he had invented the oval lathe, one of the most
useful of machines. He had made his hat with it, and the
hat made his fortune. Great events often result from seeming
trifles. Mr. Boulton was a sharp man of business. He saw
that the man who could turn out of a block of wood an oval
hat, was too valuable a workman for the firm of Boulton &
Watt to lose sight of. William Murdock was then and there
employed. In 1 784 he made the first wheeled vehicle impelled
by steam in England, made it with his own hands and
brains. He gained fame and fortune, but the "timmer" hat,
made for a long journey and to keep out water, was the cor-
ner-stone of both.
Porcelain.
An alchemist, while seeking to discover a mixture of earths
that would make the most durable crucibles, one day found
that he had made porcelain.
Origin of Blue-tinted Paper.
The origin of blue-tinted paper came about by a mere slip
of the hand. The wife of William East, an English paper-
133
maker, accidentally let a blue bag fall into one of the vats of
pulp. The workmen were astonished when they saw the
peculiar color of the paper, while Mr. East was highly in-
censed over what he considered a grave pecuniary loss. His
\vife was so much frightened that she would not confess her
agency in the matter. After storing the damaged paper for
four years, Mr. East sent it to his agent at London, with in-
structions to sell it for what it would bring. The paper was
accepted as a "purposed novelty," and was disposed of at
quite an advance over the market price. Mr. East was
astonished at receiving an order from his agent for another
large invoice of the paper. He was without the secret, and
found himself in a dilemma. Upon mentioning it to his wife,
she told him about the accident. He kept the secret, and the
demand for the novel tint far exceeded his ability to supply it.
Following His Nose.
While Marshall Jewell was Minister to Russia, he found out,
by the use of his nose, the secret of making Russia leather.
Instead of using tallow and grease in the dressings of skins,
the Russians employed birch-bark tar. By careful inquiry,
and literally following his nose, during a visit to one of their
large tanneries, he found the compound in a mammoth kettle,
ready for use. He reported his discovery, and the result is
that genuine Russian leather goods are now made in America.
Discovery of Composition for Printing
Hollers.
The composition of which printing-rollers are made was
discovered by a Salopian printer. Not being able to find the
pelt-ball, he inked the type with a piece of soft glue which
134
had fallen out of a glue pot. It was such an excellent substi-
tute that, after mixing molasses with the glue, to give the mass
proper consistency, the old pelt-ball was entirely discarded.
Mezzotinting.
This art was suggested by the simple accident of the gun-
barrel of a sentry becoming rusted with dew.
Whitening Sugar.
The process of whitening sugar was discovered in a curious
way. A hen that had gone through a clay puddle went with
her muddy feet into a sugar house, leaving her tracks on a pile
of sugar. It was noticed that wherever her tracks were the
sugar was whitened. Experiments were instituted, and the
result was that wet clay came to be used in refining sugar.
Discovery of Glass.
Pliny informs us that the art of making glass was accident-
ally discovered by some merchants who were traveling with
nitre, and stopped near a river issuing from Mount Carmel.
Not readily finding stones to rest their kettles on, they em-
ployed some pieces of their nitre for that purpose. The nitre,
gradually dissolving by the heat of the fire, mixed with the
sand, and a transparent matter flowed, which was, in fact,
glass.
Essence of Pearl.
A French bead-maker named Jaquin discovered the manner
of preparing the glass pearls used at present, which approach
as near to nature as possible, without being too expensive.
135
He once noticed, at his estate near Passy, that when the
small fish called ables or ablettes were washed, the water was
filled with fine silver-colored particles. He suffered the water
to stand for some time, and obtained from it a sediment which
had the lustre of the most beautiful pearls, which suggested
to him the idea of making pearls from it. He scraped off the
scales of the fish, and called the soft shining powder which
was diffused in the water essence of pearl, or essence d 1 orient.
He succeeded in coating the interior of glass beads with the
pearly liquid, and amassed a large fortune. This was during
the reign of Henry IV. (according to some authors), and
Jaquin's heirs continued the business down to a late period,
and had a considerable manufactory at Rue de Petit Lion, at
Paris. It required from eighteen to twenty thousand fish
(which were not more than four inches in length) to make a
pound of the essence of pearl. These pearls were frequently
taken for genuine ones. Mercure Galant (1686), tells us in
that year of a poor marquis, who, being in love with a lady,
gained her affections by presenting her with a string of arti-
ficial pearls. They cost him not more than three louis, while
she, believing them to be genuine pearls, valued them at 2,000
francs. Jewelers and pawnbrokers were frequently deceived
by them.
Diminutive Note Paper.
A Brighton stationer took a fancy for dressing his show-
window with piles of writing paper, rising gradually from the
largest to the smallest size in use ; and to finish his pyramids
off nicely, he cut cards to bring them to a point. Taking
these cards for diminutive note paper, lady customers were
continually wanting some of " that lovely little paper," and
the stationer found it advantageous to cut paper to the desired
pattern. As there was no space for addressing the notelets
136
after they were folded, he, after much thought, invented the
envelope, which he cut by the aid of metal plates made for
the purpose. The sale increased so rapidly that he was un-
able to produce the envelopes fast enough, so he commissioned
a dozen houses to make them for him, and thus set going an
important branch of the manufacturing stationery trade.
Etching upon Glass.
This process was discovered by accident about the year
1670, by an artist named Schwanhard. We are told that some,
aqua-fortis having fallen by accident upon his spectacles, the
glass was corroded by it. He thence learned to make a liquid
by which he could etch writing and figures upon glass.
Lundy foot's Luck.
The shop of a Dublin tobacconist by the name of Lundy-
foot was destroyed by fire. While he was gazing dolefully
into the smouldering ruins, he noticed that his poorer neigh-
bors were gathering the snuff from the canisters. He tested
the snuff for himself, and discovered that the fire had largely
improved its pungency and aroma. It was a hint worth
profiting by. He secured another shop, built a lot of ovens,
subjected the snuff to a heating process, gave the brand a par-
ticular name, and in a few years became rich through an ac-
cident which he at first thought had completely ruined him.
Citric Acid.
A London chemist was the inventor of citric acid, and,
having his own prices as long as the way of making the acid
was a secret, realized a large fortune.
13t
This chemist trusted nobody, but worked entirely alone.
He thought his secret very safe. It was necessary, however,
to have a chimney to his laboratory, and chimneys sometimes
want sweeping.
A rival, disguising himself as a chimney-sweep, got into the
sanctum. He had all his eyes about him, as the saying is,
and, when the chimney was swept, knew how to make citric
acid, and thus a monopoly was ended.
A Half-Starved Tramp.
Mr. Huntsman, who had devised some important processes
in the manufacture of cast steel, built his factory, to be out of
observation, in the middle of a bleak moor, and "No Admis-
sion for Strangers" was painted on the outer gate.
One terribly snowy night, however, a poor, belated, half-
frozen traveler, who said he had lost his way on the moor,
craved shelter, was charitably admitted, and was placed near
the furnace, to be thawed. He watched what was done, and,
being an expert, took it all away in his mind. Next morning
he walked away, and took the secret with him. So perished
Huntsman's El Dorado.
Fiddling to some Purpose.
Stourbridge, a smoky town in Worcestershire, England, has
long been famous for its iron, glass and fire-brick works, and
also for its nails, as long as they were produced by hand-work.
For the Crystal Palace, of 1851, a Stourbridge "hand"
received an order to make a thousand gold and a thousand
silver and a thousand iron tacks the whole three thousand
not to weigh more than three grains.
Nailmaking by machinery, which was accomplished in
Sweden before it was perfected in New England, was drawing
138
the trade away from England, and a Stourbridge man, one
Richard Foley, resolved to get into the heart of the mystery.
The case is curious, as showing the danger that has always
beset successful inventors, and has often converted the golden
hills into mere rocks of talc, and reduced many a secret
El Dorado into commonplace little workshops.
Foley, who was a very good violinist, took his fiddle, fid-
dled his way to the Swedish splitting mills, and then fiddled
his way into them. As often happens with musicians, he
presently conceived the idea that there was " a great deal of
brains outside of his head."
At any rate, he could look and speak foolishly, but his
fiddling was wonderfully good. No one suspected that "soft"
fellow, who lounged about with an idiotic want of expression
in his face, but was ready to play whenever asked to do so.
He ingratiated himself so thoroughly with the workmen
that they gave him a shakedown inside the mill or factory.
He quietly exercised his faculty of observation, saw all the
processes of manipulation, and one day was missing. He
carried home their secrets of work, and fame and fortune
became his own.
German Silver.
German silver derives its name from the fact that its first
introduction in the arts, to any great extent, was made in
Germany. It is, however, nothing more than the white
copper long known in China. It does not contain a particle
Df real silver, but ia an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc.
Isabella Color.
The Archduke Albert married the infanta Isabella, daughter
of Philip II., King of Spain, with whom he had the Low
Countries in dowry. In the year 1602 he laid siege to Ostend,
139
then in the possession of the heretics, and his pious princess,
who attended him in that expedition, made a vow that she
would not change her clothes until the city was taken. Con-
trary to expectation, it was three years before the place was
reduced, in which time the linen of her highness had acquired
a hue which, from the superstition of the princess and the
times, was much admired, and was adopted by the court
fashionables under the name of the " Isabella color." It is a
whitish yellow, or soiled buff better imagined than described.
Parisian Scarlet.
The tincture of cochineal alone yields a purple color, which
may be changed to a most beautiful scarlet by adding a solu-
tion of tin in aqua-regia, or muriatic acid, a discovery which
was made by accident. Cornelius Drebbel, who died in Lon-
don in 1634, having placed in his window an extract of
cochineal, made with boiling water, for the purpose of filling
a thermometer, some aqua-regia dropped into it from a phial,
broken by accident, which stood above it, and converted the
purple dye into a most beautiful scarlet. After some con-
jectures and experiments, he discovered that the tin by which
the window frame was divided into squares had been dissolved
by the aqua-regia, and was the cause of the change. Giles
Gobelin, a dyer at Paris, used it for dyeing cloth. It became
known as Parisian scarlet dye, and rose into such great repute
that the populace declared that Gobelin had acquired his art
from the devil.
Tyrian Purple.
The purple dye of Tyre was discovered about fifteen cen-
turies before the Christian era, and the art of using it did not
become lost until the eleventh century after Christ. It was
140
obtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the
smaller of which was called buccinum, the larger purpura, and
to both the common name mure was applied. The dye-stuff
was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the larger
genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. The tints capable
of being imparted by this material were various representing
numerous shades between purple and crimson, but the imperial
tint was that resembling coagulated blood. That it was
known to the Egyptians, in the time of Moses, is sufficiently
obvious from the testimony of more than one Scriptural pass-
age. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy of the
eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few
individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the
twelfth century, when Byzantium was suffering from attacks
without and dissensions within, the secret of imparting the
purple dye of Tyre was lost.
The rediscovery of Tyrian purple, as it occurred in England,
was made by Mr. Cole, of Bristol. About the latter end of
the year 1683, this gentleman heard from two ladies residing
at Minehead, that a person living somewhere on the coast of
Ireland supported himself by marking with a delicate crimson
color the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen sent him for that
purpose, which color was the product of a shell-fish. This
recital at once brought to the recollection of Mr. Cole the
tradition of Tyrian purple. He, without delay, went in search
of the shell-fish, and, after trying various kinds without suc-
cess, his efforts were at length successful. He found con-
siderable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast of
Somersetshire and the opposite coast of South Wales. The
fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye,
which in its natural state is not purple but white, the purple
being the result of exposure to the air. At length our acute
investigator found the dye-stuff in a white vein lying trans-
rersely in a little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish.
141
Odor of Patchouli.
The odor of patchouli was known in Europe before the
material itself was introduced, in consequence of its use in
cashmere to scent the shawls with a view of keeping out moths,
which are averse to it ; hence the genuine cashmere shawls
were known by their scent, until the French found out the
secret and imported the herb for use in the same way.
Veneered Diamonds.
Quite a notable industry is carried on in Paris, namely,
the manufacture of what are termed veneered diamonds. The
body of the gem is of quartz or crystal. After being cut into
a proper shape, it is put into a galvanic battery, which coats
it with a liquid, the latter being made of diamonds which are
too small to be cut and of the clippings taken from diamonds
during the process of shapening them. In this way all the small
particles of diamonds that heretofore have been regarded as
comparatively worthless, can, by means of this ingenious
process, be made of service to the jeweler.
Hungary Water.
This is a spirit of wine distilled upon rosemary, and con-
tains a powerful aroma of the plant. For many years it was
mainly manufactured at Beaucaire and Montpellier, in France,
where the plant grows in abundance. The name seems to
signify that this water, so celebrated for its medicinal virtues,
is an Hungarian invention; and we read in various books that
the recipe for preparing it was given to a queen of Hungary
by a hermit, or, as others say, by an angel, who appeared to
her in a garden, all entrance to which was shut, in the form
of a hermit or youth. Others affirm that Elizabeth, wife of
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Charles Robert, king of Hungary, who died in 1380, was the
inventor. By often washing with this spirit of rosemary,
when in the seventieth year of her age, she was cured, as we
are told, of the gout and an universal lameness; so that she
not only lived to pass eighty, but became so lively and beauti-
ful that she was courted by the king of Poland, who was then
a widower, and who wished to make her his second wife.
Hoyer says that the recipe for preparing this water, written
by Queen Elizabeth's own hand, in golden characters, is still
preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna. Beckmann says
such is not the case.
Cork Jackets.
The use of cork for making jackets, as an aid to swimming,
is very old. We are informed that the Roman whom
Camillus sent to the Capitol, when besieged by the Gauls, put
on a light dress, and took cork with him under it, because, to
avoid being taken by the enemy, it was necessary for him to
swim across the Tiber.
Nothing New under the Sun.
The Romans used movable types to mark their pottery and
indorse their books. Mr. Layard found, in Nineveh, a mag-
nificent lens of rock-crystal, which Sir D. Brewster considers
a true optical lens, and the origin of the microscope. The
principle of the stereoscope, invented by Professor Wheat-
stone, was known to Euclid, described by Galen fifteen hun-
dred years ago, and more fully in 1599, A. D., in the works
of Baptista Porta. The Thames tunnel, though such a novelty,
was anticipated by that under the Euphrates at Babylon, and
the ancient Egyptians had a Suez canal. Such examples
might be indefinitely multiplied ; but we turn to Photography.
143
M. Jobarb, in his "Neuvelles Inventions aux Expositions
Universelles," 1856, says a translation from German was dis-
covered in Russia, three hundred years old, which contains a
clear explanation of Photography. The old alchemists under-
stood the properties of chloride of silver in relation to light,
and its photographic action is explained by Fabricius in "De
Rubus Metallicis," 1566. The daguerreotype process was
anticipated by De La Roche, in his "Giphantie," 1760,
though it was only the statement of a dreamer.
How the Ancients Rewarded Inventors.
A Roman architect discovered the means of so far altering
the nature of glass as to render it malleable ; but the Emperor
Tiberius caused the architect to be beheaded. A similar dis-
covery was made in France during the reign of Louis XIII.
The inventor presented a bust, formed of malleable glass, to
Cardinal Richelieu, and was rewarded for his ingenuity by
perpetual imprisonment, lest the French glass manufacturers
should be injured by the discovery of it.
Deutsche Luft.
A German newspaper tells an amusing story of the famous
scientist, Alexander von Humboldt, who took advantage of
the exemption from duty of the covering of articles free from
duty, formerly the rule in France. In the year 1805 he and
Gay-Lussac were in Paris, engaged in their experiments on
the compression of air. The two scientists found themselves
in need of a large number of glass tubes, and since this article
was exceedingly dear in France at that time, and the duty on
imported glass tubes was something alarming, Humboldt sent
an order to Germany for the needed articles, giving directions
144
that the manufacturer should seal the tubes at both ends, and
put a label upon each with the words "Deutschc Luft"
(German air). The air of Germany was an article upon which
there was no duty, and the tubes were passed by the custom
officers without any demand, arriving free of duty in the
hands of the two experimenters.
The Great Hero of the Bretons.
Merlin, the enchanter, is the great hero of the Bretons as
he is of the Welsh, the same legends being common to both
people. Among other lays respecting him is the following,
which is of high antiquity:
" Merlin ! Merlin ! whither bound
With your black dog by your side?" (i)
" I seek until the prize be found,
Where the red egg loves to hide.
" The red egg of the sea-snake's nest, (2)
Where the ocean caves are seen,
And the cress that grows the best,
In the valley fresh and green.
" I must find the golden herb, (3)
And the oak's high bough must have, (4)
Where no sound the trees disturb
Near the fountain as they wave."
" Merlin ! Merlin ! turn again
Leave the oak-branch where it grew ;
Seek no more the cress to gain,
Nor the herb of gold pursue.
" Nor the red egg of the snake,
Where amid the foam it lies,
In the cave where billows break:
Leave these fearful mysteries.
" Merlin, turn ! to God alone
Are such fatal secrets known I"
145
(i.) At the foot of Mont St. Michel extends a wide marsh.
If the mountaineer sees in the dusk of the evening a tall man,
thin and pale, followed by a black dog, whose steps are
directed toward the marsh, he hurries home, shuts and locks
the door of his cottage, and throws himself on his knees to
pray, for he knows that the tempest is approaching. Soon
after, the winds begin to howl, the thunder bursts forth in
tremendous peals, and the mountain trembles to its base. It
is the moment when Merlin, the enchanter, evokes the souls
of the dead.
(2.) The red egg of the sea-snake was a powerful talisman,
whose virtue nothing could equal ; it was to be worn around
the neck.
(3.) The golden herb is a medicinal plant. The peasants
of Bretagne hold it in great esteem, and say that it shines at
a distance like gold. If any one tread it under foot he falls
asleep, and can understand the language of dogs, wolves and
birds. This simple is supposed to be rarely met with, and
only at daybreak. In order to gather it (a privilege only
granted to the devout), it is necessary to be en chemise and
with bare feet. It must be torn up, not cut. Another way is
to go with naked feet, in a white robe, fasting, and, without
using a knife, gather the herb by slipping the right hand under
the left arm and letting it fall into a cloth, which can only be
used once.
(4.) The high oak bough is probably the mistletoe. The
voice which warns Merlin in the poem may be intended for
that of Saint Colombar, who is said to have converted Merlin.
The Wandering Jew.
Brought to Europe from the East, after the first crusade
under Peter the Hermit, late in the eleventh century, was the
legend of the Wandering Jew. This appellation was given
146
by the popular voice to almost every mendicant with a long
white beard and scanty clothing, who, supported by a long
staff, trudged along the roads with eyes downcast, and without
opening his lips.
In the year 1228 this legend was told for the first time by
an Armenian bishop, then lately arrived from the Holy Land,
to the monks of St. Alban, in England. According to his
narrative, Joseph Cartaphilus was door-keeper at the prseto-
rium of Pontius Pilate when Jesus was led away to be crucified.
As Jesus halted upon the threshold of the praetorium, Carta-
philus struck him in the loins and said : " Move faster ! Why
do you stop here?" Jesus, the legend continues, turned
round to him and said, with a severe look : "I go, but you
will await my coming."
Cartaphilus, who was then thirty years old, and who since
then has always returned to that age when he had completed
a hundred years, has ever since been awaiting the coming of
our Lord and the end of the world. He was said to suffer
under the peculiar doom of ceaselessly traversing the earth on
foot. The general belief was that he was a man of great
piety, of sad and gentle manners, of few words, often weeping,
seldom smiling, and content with the scantiest and simplest
food and the most poverty-stricken garments. Such was the
tradition which poets and romancists in various lands and
many languages have introduced into song and story.
As the ages rolled on new circumstances were added to
this tale. Paul of Eitzen, a German bishop, wrote in a letter
to a friend that he had met the Wandering Jew at Hamburg,
in 1564, and had a long conversation with him. He appeared
to be fifty years of age. His hair was long, and he went
barefoot. His dress consisted of very full breeches, a short
petticoat or kilt reaching to the knees, and a cloak so long
that it descended to his heels. Instead of Joseph Cartaphilus,
he then was called Ahasuerus. He attended Christian wor-
147
ship, prostrating himself with sighs, tears and beating of the
breast whenever the name of Jesus was spoken. The bishop
further stated that this man's speech was very edifying. He
could not hear an oath without bursting into tears, and when
offered money would accept only a few sous.
According to the bishop's version of the affair, Cartaphilus
was standing in front of his house, in Jerusalem, with his wife
and children, when he roughly accosted Jesus, who had halted
to take breath while carrying his cross to Calvary. " I shall
stop and be at rest," was all that the Lord said; "but you
will ever be on foot." After this sentence Cartaphilus quitted
home and family to do perpetual penance by wandering on
foot over the whole world. He did not know, the bishop
said, what God intended to do with him, in compelling him
so long to lead such a miserable life, but had hope and faith
in His mercy. There was scarcely a town or village in
Europe, in the sixteenth century, but what claimed to have
given hospitality to this unfortunate witness of the Passion
of our Lord.
The Pyed Piper.
Verstegan, in his "Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,"
1634, relates the following strange story: " Hulberstadt, in
Germany, was extremely intested with rats, which a certain
musician, called, from his habit, the Pyed Piper, agreed for a
large sum of money to destroy. He tuned his pipes, and the
rats immediately followed him to the next river, where they
were all drowned. But when the piper demanded his pay he
was refused with scorn and contempt, upon which he
began another tune, and was followed by all the children of
the town to a neighboring hill called Hamelen, which opened
and swallowed them up, then closed again. One boy, being
lame, came after the rest, but seeing what had happened, he
148
returned and related the strange circumstance.' The story
was believed, for the parents never after heard of their lost
children. This incident is stated to have happened on the
23d of July, in the year 1376, and since that time the people
of Hulberstadt permit not any drum, pipe or other instrument
to be sounded in that street which leads to the gate through
which the children passed. They also established a decree
that in all writings of contract or bargain, after the date of
our Saviour's nativity, the date also of the year of the
children's going forth should be added, in perpetual remem-
brance of this surprising event."
Thomas, the Rhymer.
This character was one of the earliest poets of Scotland.
His life and writings are involved in much obscurity, though
he is supposed to have been Thomas Learmount, of Ercildonne.
The time of his birth is unknown, but he appears to have
reached the height of his reputation in 1283, when he is said
to have predicted the death of Alexander III., king of
Scotland. One day the Rhymer, when visiting at the Castle
of Dunbar, was interrogated by the Earl of March in a jocular
manner as to what the morrow would bring forth. "Alas
for to-morrow! a day of calamity and misery!" replied the
Rhymer. ''Before the twelfth hour shall be heard a blast so
vehement that it shall exceed all those which have yet been
heard in Scotland a blast which shall strike the nations with
amazement ; shall confound those who hear it ; shall humble
what is lofty, and what is unbending shall level with the
ground." On the following day the earl, who had been un-
able to discover any unusual appearance in the weather, when
seating himself at table, observed the hand of the dial to
point to the hour of noon, while, at the same moment, a
messenger appeared, bringing the mournful tidings of the ac-
149
cidental death of the king. The legend says that the Rhymer
was carried off at an early age to Fairyland, where he acquired
all the knowledge which made him so famous. After seven
years' residence there, he was permitted to return to the earth
to enlighten and astonish his countrymen by his prophetic
powers, but bound to return to the Fairy Queen, his royal
mistress, whenever she should intimate her pleasure. Accord-
ingly, while the Rhymer was making merry with his friends at
his tower at Ercildonne, a person came running in and told,
with marks of alarm and astonishment, that a hart and hind
had left the neighboring forest, and were slowly and com-
posedly parading the street of the village. The Rhymer in-
stantly rose, left his habitation, and followed the animals to
the forest, whence he was never seen to return.
Pontius Pilate at Vienne.
There is a tradition at Vienne, in Provence, that in the
reign of the Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate was exiled to
that city, where he died not long after of grief and despair
for not having prevented the crucifixion of the Saviour, and
his body was thrown into the Rhone. There it remained,
neither carried away by the force of the current nor consumed
by decay, for five hundred years, until the town, being afflicted
with the plague, it was revealed to the then archbishop, in a
vision, that the calamity was occasioned by Pilate's body,
which, unknown to the good people of Vienne, was lying at
the foot of a certain tower. The place was accordingly
searched, and the body drawn up entire, but nothing could
equal its intolerable odor. It was carried to a marsh two
leagues from the town and there interred, but for many years
after strange noises were reported to issue continually from the
place. The sounds were believed to be the groans of Pontius
Pilate, and the cries of the devils tormenting him. It was
150
imagined that it was the presence of his body which caused
the violent thunder-storms which are so frequent at Vienne ;
and as the tower where the body was found has been several
times struck by lightning, it is called the tower of Mauconseil.
The Sea-woman of Haarlem.
In the " History of the Netherlands" there is the following
strange account of the Sea-woman of Haarlem :
* 'At that time there was a great tempest at sea, with ex-
ceeding high tides, the which did drowne many villages in
Friseland and Holland ; by which tempest there came a sea-
woman swimming in the Zuyderzee betwixt the towns of
Campen and Edam, the which passing by the Purmerie,
entered into the straight of a broken dyke in the Purmermer,
where she remained a long time, and could not find the hole
by which she entered, for that the breach had been stopped
after that the tempest had ceased. Some country women and
their servants who did dayly pass the Pourmery to milk their
kine in the next pastures, did often see this woman swimming
on the water, whereof at first they were much afraid ; but in
the end, being accustomed to see it very often, they viewed
it neerer, and at last they resolved to take it if they could.
Having discovered it, they rowed towards it, and drew it out
of the water by force, carrying it into the town of Edam.
" When she had been well washed and cleansed from the
sea-moss which was grown about her, she was like unto
another woman. She was appareled, and began to accustome
herself to ordinary meats like unto any other, yet she sought
still means to escape and to get into the water, but she was
straightly guarded. They came from farre to see her. Those
of Haarlem made great sute to them of Edam to have this
woman, by reason of the strangenesse thereof. In the end
they obtained her, where she did learn to spin, and lived
151
many years (some say fifteen), and for the reverance which
she bore unto the signe of the crosse whereunto she had been
accustomed, she was buried in the church-yarde. Many per-
sons worthy of credit have justified in their writings that they
had scene her in the said towne of Haarlem."
Legends of Judas Iscariot.
It was believed in Pier della Valle's time that the descend-
ants of Judas Iscariot still existed at Corfu, though the persons
who suffered under the imputation stoutly denied it.
When the ceremony of washing the feet is performed in the
Greek Church at Smyrna, the bishop represents Christ, and
the twelve apostles are acted by as many priests. He who
personates Judas must be paid for it, and such is the feeling
of the people, that whoever accepts this odious part com-
monly retains the name of Judas for life. Hassclquiet, p. 43.
Judas serves in Brazil for a Guy Faux to be carried about
by the boys. The Spanish sailors hang him at the yard-arm.
The Armenians, who believe hell and limbo to be the same
place, say that Judas, after having betrayed the Lord, resolved
to hang himself, because he knew Christ was to go to limbo
and deliver all the souls which he found there, and therefore
he thought to get there in time. But the devil was more cun-
ning than he, and knowing his intention, held him over limbo
till the Lord had passed through, and then let him fall plum
into hell. Thcvenot.
Blue Beard.
Perrault, the author of "Blue Beard," founded the story,
popular belief assures us, on the history of a real person.
The original was Giles de Retz, Lord of Laval, who was made
Marshal of France in 1429. He was born in 1406, and
152
fought under the command of Joan of Arc. He lived like a
king in his castle, with two hundred horsemen for his guard of
honor, besides fifty choristers, chaplains and musicians.
He was wild and profligate, lavish with his own money and of
other people's, and lived at the costliest rate.
When he had squandered his property, he took to the study
of sorcery and magic, having an especial fancy for murdering
young children. From the villages within a circuit of twenty
miles, little boys and girls were seduced into his castle and
there immolated according to some wild Pagan rites. Among
his papers, history says, was found a list of two hundred
children whom he had thus sacrificed.
On the 26th of October, 1440, then being thirty-four years
old, he was burned in the city of Nantes, having been pre-
viously strangled in view of a vast multitude. The records of
his trial, which lasted a whole month, are preserved among
the manuscripts of the public library in Paris. In one of his
castles the bones of forty-six, and in another of eighty child-
ren, were discovered. Marshal de Retz was certainly the
type of Perrault's story. It appears that in his lifetime he
was known by the sobriquet of Barbe Bleu.
African Rain-Doctors.
How a belief in imaginary virtues of things may grow out
of the evidence of their real virtues, is indicated by Dr.
Livingstone, when speaking of the belief in rain-making
among the tribes in the heart of South Africa. The African
priest and the medicine-man is one and the same, and his
chief function is to make the clouds to give out rain. The
preparations for this purpose are various : charcoal made of
burned bats; lion's hearts, and hairy calculi from the bowels
of old cows ; serpent skins and and vertebrae, and every kind
of tuber, bulb, root and plant to be found in the country.
153
"Although you disbelieve their efficacy in charming the
clouds to pour out their refreshing treasures, yet, conscious
that civility is useful everywhere, you kindly state that you
think they are mistaken as to their power. The rain-doctor
selects a particular bulbous root, pounds it, and administers a
cold infusion of it to a sheep, which in five minutes afterwards
expires in convulsions. Part of the same bulb is converted
into smoke and ascends towards the sky : rain follows in a
day or two. The inference is obvious."
Whittington and his Cat.
This fable of the cat is borrowed from the East. Sir Will-
iam Gore Ousely, speaking of the origin of the name of an
island in the Persian Gulf, says that in the tenth century, one
Keis, the son of a poor widow in Siraf, embarked for India
with his sole property, a cat. "He fortunately arrived there
at a time when the palace was so infested by mice or rats that
they invaded the king's food, and persons were employed to
drive them away from the royal banquet. Keis produced his
cat ; the noxious animals disappeared ; Keis was magnificently
rewarded, sent for his mother and brother, and settled on the
island, which was subsequently called after him."
Head of James IV. of Scotland.
The king was slain in the battle at Flodden Field. At the
close of the bloody arbitrament his body was found among a
heap of the fallen. The discoverers made a prize of the
corpse, wrapped it up in lead, and transmitted it as a thanks-
giving offering to the monastery of Sheen, in Surrey. It was
well taken care of by the honest people there as long as the
monastery stood ; but when the dissolution of those religious
154
establishments took place, and the edifice was converted into
a mansion for the Duke of Suffolk, the king's body was put
into a fresh wrapping of lead and carried into an upper
lumber-room. Some workmen engaged in the house cut off
the head out of sheer wantonness. Their master, a glazier
from Cheapside, carried the head with him" to the city. There,
on his sideboard, the dried remnant of a crowned king, with
its red hair and beard, was long the admiration of the glazier's
evening parties and a subject of conversation for his guests.
John Stow saw it there, expostulated, purchased the anointed
skull, and gave it quiet and decent burial within the old
church of St. Michael's.
Discovery of the Body of Canute the Great.
In June, 1776, some workmen who were repairing Winches-
ter Cathedral discovered a monument which contained the
body of King Canute. It was remarkably fresh, had a wreath
round the head and several ornaments of gold and silver
bands. On his finger was a ring, in which was set a large and
remarkably fine stone, and in one of his hands a silver coin.
The coin found in the hand is a singular instance of a con-
tinuance of the Pagan custom of always providing the dead
with money to pay Charon.
Martyrdom of Isaiah.
There is a tradition that the prophet Isaiah suffered martyr-
dom by a saw. The ancient book entitled, " The Ascension
of Isaiah the Prophet, " accords with the tradition. It says:
" Then they seized Isaiah the son of Amos and sawed him
with a wooden saw. And Manasseh, Melakira, the false
prophets, the princess and the people, all stood looking on.
155
But he said to the prophets who were with him before he was
sawn, ' Go ye to the country of Tyre and Sidon, for the
Lord hath mixed the cup for me alone.' Neither while they
were sawing him did he cry out nor weep, but he continued
addressing himself to the Holy Spirit until he was sawn
asunder. ' '
Courtship of William the Conqueror
The following extract from the life of the wife of the Con-
queror is exceedingly curious as characteristic of the manners
of a semi-civilized age and nation :
"After some years of delay, William appears to have be-
come desperate, and, if we may trust to the evidence of the
' Chronicle of Ingerbe, ' he waylaid Matilda in the streets of
Bruges as she was returning from mass, seized her, rolled her
in the dirt, spoiled her rich array ; and, not content with these
outrages, struck her repeatedly, then rode off at full speed.
This Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author,
brought the affair to a crisis ; for Matilda, either convinced of
the strength of William's passion by the violence of his be-
haviour, or afraid of encountering a second beating, consented
to become his wile. How he ever presumed to enter her
presence again after such enormities the chronicler sayeth
not, and we are at a loss to imagine."
Court Fools.
From very ancient times there existed a class of persons
whose business it was to amuse the rich and noble, particularly
at table, by jests and witty sayings. It was, however, during
the Middle Ages that this singular vocation became fully de-
veloped. The symbols of the court fool were : the shaven
crown, the fool's cap of gay colors with asses' ears and cock's
156
comb and bells, the fool's sceptre, and a wide collar. Some
of these professional fools obtained an historical reputation, as
Triboulet, jester to Francis I. of France ; Klaus Narr, at the
Court of the Elector Frederic, the Wise of Prussia, and Sco-
gan, court fool to Edward IV. of England. Besides the
regular fools, dressed and recognized as such, there was a
higher class called merry counsellors, generally men of talent,
who availed themselves of the privilege of free speech to ridi-
cule in the most merciless manner the follies and vices of
their contemporaries. At a later period, imbecile or weak-
minded persons were kept for the entertainment of company.
Even ordinary noblemen considered such an attendant indis-
pensable, and thus the system reached its last stage, and
toward the end of the seventeenth century it was abolished.
It survived longest in Russia, where Peter the Great had so
many fools that he divided them into distinct classes.
A Cunning Astrologer.
An astrologer in the reign of Louis XL of France, having
foretold something disagreeable to the king, his majesty, in
revenge, resolved to have him killed. The next day he sent
for the astrologer and ordered the people about him, at a
given signal, to throw him out of the window. The king
said to him : " You pretend to be such a wise man, and know
so perfectly the fate of others, inform me a little what will be
your own, and how long you have to live.'' The astrologer,
who now began to apprehend some danger, promptly answered,
with great presence of mind, " I know my destiny, and am
sure I shall die three days before your majesty." The king,
on this, was so far from having him thrown out of the window,
that, on the contrary, he took particular care not to have him
want for anything, and did all that was possible to retard the
death of one whom he was likely soon to follow.
157
Stone Barometer.
A Finland newspaper mentions a stone in the northern part
of Finland which serves the inhabitants instead of a baro-
meter. This stone, which they call Tlmakiur, turns black, or
blackish gray, when it is going to rain ; but on the approach
of fine weather it is covered with white spots. Probably it is
a fossil mixed with clay, and containing rock-salt, nitre or
ammonia, which, according to the degree of dampness in
the atmosphere, attracts it, or otherwise. In the latter case
the salt appears, forming the white spots.
Crinoline in 1744-
Addison, who wrote a good deal about female fashions in
the "Spectator," very much ridiculed the hoop-petticoat,
which was so large, about the year 1744, that a woman wear-
ing one occupied the space of six men.
Pagoda-shaped Head-dresses.
The head-dresses of the ladies in 1776 were remarkable for
their enormous height. Fashion ruled its votaries then as
arbitrarily as in our day. The coiffure of a belle of fashion
was described as " a mountain of wool, hair, powder, lawn,
muslin, net, lace, gauze, ribbon, flowers, feathers and wire."
Sometimes these varied materials were built up tier upon tier,
like the stages of a pagoda !
Preserved in Salt.
We are told that Pharnaces caused the body of his father,
Mithridates, to be deposited in salt brine, in order that he
might transmit it to Pompey. Sigebert, who died in 1113,
158
informs us that a like process was employed upon the body of
St. Guibert, that it might be kept during a journey in summer.
The priests preserved in salt the sow which afforded a happy
omen to ^Eneas by having brought forth a litter of thirty
pigs, as we are told by Varro, in whose time the animal was
still shown at Lavinium. The hippopotamus described by
Columna was sent to him from Egypt preserved in salt.
Luxury in 1562.
The luxury of the present time does not equal, in one arti-
cle at least, that of the sixteenth century. Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton, the queen's ambassador at Paris, in a letter to
Sir Thomas Chaloner, the ambassador at Madrid, in June
1562, says
*' I pray you good my Lord Ambassador sende me two
paire of perfumed gloves, perfumed with orrange flowers and
jacemin, th' one for my wives hand, the other for mine owne ;
and wherin soever I can pleasure you with anything in this
countrey, you shall have it in recompence thereof, or els so
moche money as they shall coste you, provided alwaies that
they be of the best choise, wherin your judgment is inferior
to none."
< Trains in the Fourteenth Century.
In Mr. Wright's collection of Latin stories, there is one of
the fourteenth century a monkish satire upon dresses with
long trains
**Qf a Proud Woman, I have heard of a proud woman
who wore a white dress with a long train, which, trailing be-
hind her, raised a dust as far as the altar and the crucifix.
But, as she left the church, and lifted up her train on account
of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a devil laughing ; and
159
having adjured him to tell why he laughed, the devil said :
" A companion of mine was just now sitting on the train of
that woman, using it as if it were his chariot, but when she
lifted her train up, my companion was shaken off into the
dirt, and that is why I was laughing. ' '
Foppery in Eminent Men.
"Peculiarities of dress, even amounting to foppery, so com-
mon among eminent men, are carried off from ridicule by
ease in some or stateliness in others. We may smile at Chat-
ham, scrupulously crowned in his best wig, if intending to
speak; at Erskine, drawing on his bright yellow gloves
before he rose to plead ; at Horace Walpole, in a cravat of
Gibbon's carvings ; at Raleigh, loading his shoes with jewels
so heavy that he could scarcely walk; at Petrarch, pinching
his feet till he crippled them ; at the rings which covered the
philosophical fingers of Aristotle ; at the bare throat of Byron ;
the American dress of Rousseau ; the scarlet and gold coat of
Voltaire; or the prudent carefulness with which Caesar
scratched his head so as not to disturb the locks arranged
over the bald place. But most of these men, we apprehend,
found it easy to enforce respect and curb impertinence.
Edinburgh Review.
The Turban in Arabia.
A fashionable Arab will wear fifteen caps one above the
other, some of which are linen, but the greater part of which
are thick cloth or cotton. That which covers the whole is
richly embroidered with gold, and inwrought with texts or
passages from the Koran. Over all there is wrapped a sash
or large piece of muslin, with the ends hanging down, and
ornamented with silk or gold fringe. This useless encum-
160
brance is considered a mark of respect towards superiors. It
is also used, as the beard was formerly in Europe, to indicate
literary merit; and those who affect to be thought men of learn-
ing, discover their pretensions by the size of their turbans.
No part of oriental costume is so variable as this covering for
the head. Niebuhr has given illustrations of forty-eight dif-
ferent ways of wearing it. King .
Queen Elizabeth's Dresses.
The list of the queen's wardrobe, in 1600, shows us that she
had then only 99 robes, 126 kirtles, 269 gowns (round, loose
and French), 136 fore parts, 125 petticoats, 27 fans, 96
cloaks, 83 safe guards, 85 doublets, 18 lap mantles.
Absurdities of the Toilet.
The ladies of Japan gild their teeth ; those of the Indies
paint them red ; while in Guzerat the test of beauty is to
render them sable. In Greenland the women used to color
their faces blue and yellow. The Chinese torture their feet
into the smallest possible dimensions. The ancient Peruvians
used to flatten their heads ; among other nations, the mothers,
in a similar way, maltreat the nose of their offspring.
Gambling for Fingers.
Such is the passion among the Chinese for gambling, that
when they have lost all their money they will stake houses,
lands, their wives, the clothes on their backs. Those who
have nothing more to lose will collect around a table and
actually play for their fingers, which they will cut off recipro-
cally with frightful stoicism. Hue's Chinese Empire.
161
Pigmies.
"Among vulgar errors is set down this, that there is a
nation of pigmies, not above two or three feet high, and thax ^
they solemnly set themselves in battle to fight against the
cranes. " Strabo.
' ' Strabo thought this a fiction ; and our age, which has
fully discovered all the wonders of the world, as fully declares
it to be one." Brand.
This refers to accounts of the Pechinians of Ethiopia, who
are represented of small stature, and as being accustomed
every year to drive away the cranes which flocked to their
country in the winter. They are portrayed on ancient gems
as mounted on cocks or partridges, to fight the cranes ; or
carrying grasshoppers, and leaning on staves to support the
burden.
The Letter "M" and the Napoleons.
The " Frankforter Journal," of September zist, 1870,
remarked, that among other superstitions peculiar to the
Napoleons, is that of regarding the letter M as ominous, either
of good or of evil, and it took the pains to make the follow-
ing catalogue of men, things and events, the names of which
begin with M, with the view of showing that the two emperors
of France had cause for considering the letter a red or a black
one, according to circumstances.
It says, "Marboeuf was the first to recognize the genius of
Napoleon I. at the military college. Marengo was the first
great battle won by General Bonaparte, and Melas made room
for him in Italy. Mortier was one of his best generals,
Moreau betrayed him, and Marat was the first martyr to his
cause. Marie Louise shared his highest fortunes ; Moscow
was the abyss of ruin into which he fell. Metternich van-
quished him in the field ot diplomacy. Six marshals (Mas-
162
sena, Mortie, Marmont, Macdonald, Murat, Moncey) and
twenty-six generals of division under Napoleon I. had the
letter M for their initial. Marat, Duke of Bassano, was his
most trusted counsellor. His first battle was that of Mon-
tenotte ; his last, Mont St. Jean, as the French term Waterloo.
He won the battles of Millesimo, Mondovi, Montmirail and
Montereau ; then came the storming of Montmartre. Milan
was the first enemy's capital, and Moscow the last, into which
he entered victorious. He lost Egypt through Menou, and
employed Miellis to take Pius VIII. prisoner. Mallet con-
spired against him ; Murat was the first to desert him, then
Marmont. Three of his ministers were Maret, Montalivet
and Mallieu; his first charmberlaind was Montesquien. His
last halting place in France was Malmaison. He surrendered
to Captain Maitland, and his companions at St. Helena were
Montholon and his valet Marchand. "
If we turn to the career of his nephew, Napoleon III., we
find the same letter no less prominent, and it is said that he
attached even greater importance to its mystic influence than
did his uncle.
The Physician's Symbol.
De Paris tells us that the Physician of the present day con-
tinues to prefix to his prescriptions the letter R, which is
generally supposed to mean Recipe, but which is, in truth, a
relic of the astrological symbol of Jupiter, formerly used as a
species of superstitious invocation.
Chinese Giants.
The Chinese pretend to have men among them so prodi-
gious as fifteen feet high. Melchior Nunnez, in his letters
from India, speaks of porters who guarded the gates of Pekin,
163
who were of that immense height ; and in a letter dated in
1555, he avers that the emperor of that country entertained
and fed five hundred of such men for archers of his guard.
Hakewill, in his ' Apologie," 1627, repeats this story. Pur-
chas, in his " Pilgrimes," 1625, refers to a man in China who
' ' was cloathed with a tyger's skin, the hayre outward, his
arms, head and legges bare, with a rude pole in his hand ;
well-shaped, seeming ten palmes or spans long ; his hayre
hanging on his shoulders."
Trying Land Titles in Hindostan.
According to the "Asiatic Researches," a very curious
mode of trying the titles of land is practised in Hindostan :
Two holes are dug in the disputed spot, in each of which the
lawyer for the plaintiff and the lawyer for the defendant put
one of their legs, and remain there until one of them is tired
or complains of being stung by the insects, in which case his
client is defeated. In this country it is the client, and not
the lawyer, who/w/s his foot into it.
An Asylum for Destitute Cats.
Of all the curious charitable institutions in the world, th
most curious, probably, is the Cat Asylum at Aleppo, which
is attached to one of the mosques there, and was founded by a
misanthropic old Turk, who, being possessed of large granaries,
was much annoyed by rats and mice, to rid himself of which
he employed a legion of cats, who so effectually rendered him
service, that in return he left them a sum in the Turkish funds,
with strict injunctions that all destitute and sickly cats should
be provided for till such time as they took themselves off
again. In 1 84 5, when a famine was raging in all North Syria,
164
when scores of poor people were dropping down in the streets
and dying there, from sheer exhaustion and want, men might
daily be encountered carrying away sack loads of cats to be
well fed on the proceeds of the last will and testament of that
vagabond old Turk.
Treasure Digging.
A patent passed the great seal in the fifteenth year of James
I. "to allow to Mary Middlemore, one of the maydes of
honor to our dearest consort Queen Anne (of Denmark), and
her deputies, power and authority to enter into theabbiesof
St. Albans, St. Edmunsbury, Glassenbury and Ramsay, and
into all lands, houses and places, within a mile belonging to
said abbies, there to dig and search after treasure supposed to
be hidden in such places. "
House of Hen's Feathers.
There exists at Pekin a phalanstery which surpasses in
eccentrictity all that the fertile imagination of Fourier could
have conceived. It is called Ki-mao-fan ; that is, " House of
Hen's Feathers." This marvellous establishment is simply
composed of one great hall, the floor of which is covered over
its whole extent with one vast, thick layer of feathers.
Mendicants and vagabonds who have no other domicile come
to pass the night in this immense dormitoy. Men, women
and children, old and young, are admitted without exception.
Every one settles himself, and makes his nest as well as he
can for the night in this ocean of feathers. When day dawns
he must quit the premises, and an officer of the company
stands at the door to receive the rent of one sapeck (one-fifth
of a farthing) each for the night's lodging. In deference, no
165
doubt, to the principle of equality, half places are not allowed,
and a child must pay the same as a grown person.
On the first establishment of this eminently philanthropic
institution, the managers of it furnished each of the guests
with a covering ; but it was found necessary to modify this
regulation, for the communist company got into the habit of
carrying off their coverlets to sell them, or to supply an addi-
tional garment during the cold weather. It was necessary,
therefore, to devise some method of reconciling the interests
of the establishment with the comfort of the guests, and the
way in which the problem was solved was this
An immense coverlet, of such gigantic dimensions as to
cover the whole dormitory, was made, and in the day-time
suspended from the ceiling like a great canopy. When every-
body had gone to bed that is to say, had lain down upon the
feathers the counterpane was let down by pulleys, the precau-
tion having been previously taken to make a number of holes
in it for the sleepers to put their heads through in order to
escape the danger of suffocation. As soon as it is daylight
the phalansterian coverlet is hoisted up again, after a signal
has been made on the tam-tam to awaken those who are
asleep, and invite them to draw their heads back into the
feathers in order not to be caught by the neck.
St. George's Cavern.
Near the town of Moldavia, on the Danube, is shown the
cavern where St. George slew the dragon, from which, at
certain periods, issue myriads of small flies, which tradition
reports to proceed from the carcass of the dragon. It is
thought when the Danube rises, as it does in the early part of
the summer, the caverns are flooded, and the water which
remains in them becomes putrid, and produces the noxious
fly. But this supposition appears to be at fault, for the people
166
closed up the caverns, and still they were annoyed with the
flies. The latter resemble mosquitoes, and appear in such
swarms as to look like a volume of smoke, sometimes covering
a space of six to seven miles. Covered with these insects,
horses not unfrequently gallop about until death puts an end
to their sufferings. Shepherds anoint their hands with a de-
coction of wormwood, and keep large fires burning to ptotect
themselves from them.
Remarkable Echoes.
In the gardens of Les Rochas, which was the residence of
Madame de Sevigne, is a remarkable echo which finely illu
trates the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat su
face. The chateau is situated near the old town of Vitre. A
broad gravel walk on a dead flat conducts through the garden
to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular spot, the
listener is placed at the distance of about ten or twelve yards
from another person, who, similarly placed addresses him in
a low and, in the common acceptation of the term, inaudible
whisper, when, "Lo ! what myriads rise ! " for immediately,
from thousands and tens of thousands of invisible tongues,
starting from the earth beneath, or as if every pebble was
gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated with a
slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot
through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling
the distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly dimin-
ished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard. Under the
idea that the ground was hollow beneath, the soil has been
dug up to a considerable depth, but without discovering any
clue to the solution of the mystery.
An echo in Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire, repeats seven-
teen syllables by day and twenty by night. One on the bank
of the Lago del Lupo, above the fall of Terni, repeats fifteen.
167
The most remarkable echo known is one on the north side
of Shipley church, in Sussex, which distinctly repeats twenty-
one syllables. In the Abbey church at St. Albans is a curious
echo. The tick of a watch may be heard from one end of
the church to the other. In Gloucester Cathedral a gallery
of an octagonal form conveys a whisper seventy- five feet
across the nave.
In the Cathedral of Girgenti, in Sicily, the slightest whisper
is borne with perfect distinctness from the great door to the
cornice behind the high altar, a distance of two hundred and
fifty feet. In the whispering gallery of St. Paul's, London,
the faintest sound is faithfully conveyed from one side of the
dome to another, but is not heard at any intermediate point.
In the Manfroni Palace at Venice is a square room, about
twenty-five feet high, with a concave roof, in which a person
standing in the centre and stamping gently with his foot on
the floor, hears the sound repeated a great many times ; but
as his position deviates from the centre, the reflected sounds
grow fainter, and at a short distance wholly cease. The
same phenomenon occurs in a large room of the library of
the Museum at Naples.
Moving Gods.
The Italian temples were celebrated tor their moving gods.
In the fane of the two fortunes at Antium, the goddess moved
her arms and head when that solemnity was required. So at
Prseneste, the figures of the youthful Jupiter and Juno, lying
in the lap of Fortune, moved, and thereby excited awe. The
marble Servius Tullius is said to have shaded his eyes with his
hand whenever that remarkably strong-minded woman, his
daughter and murderess, passed before him. When the Athe-
nians were tardy in deserting their capital, and taking to the
ships for flight, it is said that the sacred wooden dragon of
168
Minerva rolled himself out of the temple and down into the
sea, as though to indicate to the people the direction in
which safety was to be secured. Dr. Doran.
Roving Tinkers.
In the Irish county of Donegal there is a tradition antago-
nistic to the race of tinkers. The alleged cause of this is the
belief that, when the blacksmith was ordered to make nails
for the Cross, he refused, but that the tinker consented.
Hence he and his race had cast on them the doom of being
perpetual wanderers, without any roof to cover them.
The Freischutz.
The free-shooters is the name given in the legend to a hunter
or marksman who, by entering into a compact with the devil,
procured balls, six of which infallibly hit, however great the
distance, while the seventh, or, according to some, one of
the seven, belonged to the devil, who directed it at his
pleasure. Legends of this nature were rife among the troop-
ers of Germany of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and
during the thirty years' war. The story was adapted, in
1843, to the opera composed by Weber in 1821, which has
made it known in all civilized countries.
Moon-struck.
In the i2istPsalm it is written of those who put their trust
in God's protection, "The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night." The allusion to the moon is ex-
plained by the common belief in the East that exposure to
169
the moon's rays while sleeping is injurious. Travelers in
oriental countries have noticed that when the natives slept
out of doors they invariably, if the moon was shining, cov-
ered their faces.
Curious Locality for Saying Prayers.
Francis Atkins was porter at the palace gate at Salisbury
from the time of Bishop Burnet to the period of his death, in
1761, at the age of 104 years. It was his office every night
to wind up the clock, which he was capable of performing
regularly till within a year of his decease, though on the sum-
mit of the palace. In ascending the lofty fight of stairs, he
usually made a halt at a particular place and said his evening
prayers. He lived a regular and temperate life, and took a
great deal of exercise ; he walked well, and carried his frame
upright and well-balanced to the last.
Egyptian Physicians.
Montaigne says it was an Egyptian law that the physician,
for th i first three days, should tike charge of a patient at the
patient's peril, but afterwards at his own. He mentions that,
in h s tme, physicians gave their pills in odd numbers, ap-
pointed remarkable days in the year for taking medicine,
gathered their simples at certain hours, assumed austere and
even severe looks, and prescribed, among their choice drugs,
the left foot of a tortoise, the liver of a mole, and blood
drawn from under the wing of a white pigeon.
Not Divine until Smeared with Red Paint.
The inhabitants of the village of Balonda, in Africa,
manufacture their idols by rudely carving a head upon a
170
crooked stick. There is nothing divine about the idol,
however, until it is dotted over with a mixture of medicine
and red ochre. Livingstone.
Gipsy Reticence.
A gipsy will never give a history of himself nor of his race.
"X. " My father is a crow, and my mother a magpie," is fre-
q^ently the only answer obtained.
Carrying Coals to Newcastle.
The old North of England phrase, "To carry coals to
Newcastle,'' finds its parallel in the Persian taunt of "carry-
ing pepper to Hindostan," and in the Hebrew, "To carry
oil to the City of Olives."
Mammoth Pawnbroker's Shop.
The Monte de piete, in Paris, established by royal com-
mand in 1717, often has in its possession forty casks filled
with gold watches that have been pledged.
Half-Penny and Farthing.
In 1060, when William the Conqueror began to reign, the
penny was cast with a deep cross, so that it might be broken
in half, as a half-penny, or in quarters, for/0#r-things or far-
things, as we now call them.
Jin Egg Mistaken for a Pearl.
Linnaeus announced to the king and council, in 1761, that
he had discovered an art by which mussels might be made to
171
produce pearls. In the year 1 763 it was said, in the German
newspapers that Linnaeus was ennobled on account of his
discovery, and that he bore a pearl in his coat-of-arms. Both
statements were false. His patent of nobi!i:y makes no men-
tion of the pearl discovery, and what in his arms has b: % en
taken for a pearl is an egg, which is meant to represent all
nature, after the manner of the ancient Egyptians.
Spacious Halls.
The old English halls were sometimes so spacious as to ad-
mit of a knight riding up to the high table, as the champion
of England was accustomed to do at the coronation. Chaucer
says
" In at the hall door all suddenly
There came a knight upon a steed,
And up he rideth to the high board."
Medallions only for the Royal.
Medallions, prior to the time of Hadrian, are rare and of
great value, one of the most beautiful and most famous being
a gold medallion of Augustus Caesar. Of the Roman medal-
lions, some were struck by order of the emperors some by
order of the senate. No portrait of a person not princely
occurs on any ancient medal a remarkable circumstance,
considering the numerous contemporary poets, historians
and philosophers.
The Queen's Vow.
Catherine de Medicis made a vow, that if some enterprises
which she had undertaken terminated successfully, she would
send a pilgrim on foot to Jerusalem, and that at every three
172
steps he advanced he should go one step back. A citizen of
Verberic offered to accomplish the queen's vow most scrupu-
lously, and her majesty promised him an adequate recompense.
She was well assured, by constant inquiries, that he fulfilled
his engagement with exactness, and on his return he received
a considerable sum of money and was ennobled.
Swearing on the Book.
In testimony, oaths have always been associated withsome^
thing to be touched or kissed. In England people used to
kiss their thumbs instead of the Bible, and so supposed that
they had saved their consciences. A rustic, in one of Mr.
Meredith's novels says, "I swore, but not upon oath," mean-
ing that he had kissed his thumb, not the book. Arthur
Orton, in the Bush, laid his hand on a copy of Sheridan's
plays, "which, though not a Bible, bore a cross." So Zeus
lays his hand on the earth, in Homer, when he swears by that
planetary body. People had to touch relics when they
swore in the Middle Ages, as in the famous oath of Harold.
The Danes, when they invaded England, were ready to take
any oath with impunity, save that of touching a certain
sacred ring or armlet. Hamlet made his comrades lay their
hands on the blade of his sword.
Chinese Oath.
At the Thames public office, in London, some years ago,
two Chinese sailors were examined on a charge of assaulting
another Chinese sailor. The complainant was examined
according to the custom of their country. A Chinese saucer
being given to him, and another to the interpreter, they both
advanced toward the window, directed theireyesto heaven,
173
and repeated in their own tongue the following : "In the
face of God I break this saucer ; if it comes together again,
Chinaman has told a lie, and expects not to live five days ; if
it remains asunder, Chinaman has told the truth, and escapes
the vengeance of the Almighty." They then smashed the
saucers in pieces on the floor, and returned to their places to
be examined.
Color of the Hat for Cardinals.
Innocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance
of the cardinals, enjoining them to wear a red hat at the cere-
monies and processions, in token of their being ready to spill
their blood for the Saviour.
Cat- Concert.
Some years ago there was a cat-concert held in Paris. It
was called "Concert Miaulant," from the mewing of the
animals. They were trained by having their tails pulled every
time a certain note was struck, and the unpleasant remem-
brance caused the mto mew each time they heard the sound
again.
Mob Wisdom.
A singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their
own headlong impetuosity is to be found in the life of Wood-
ward, the comedian. On one occasion, when he was in
Dublin, and lodged opposite the Parliament House, a mob,
I who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular
bill, called out to his family to throw them a Bible out of the
window. Mr. Woodward was frightened, for they had no
such book in the house, but he threw them out a volume of
Shakespeare, telling the mob they were welcome to it. They
174
gave him three cheers, swore the members upon the book, and
afterwards returned it without having discovered its character.
Queer Arctic Music.
One of the greatest curiosities in the arctic regions is the
music which the traveler has with him wherever he goes.
The moisture exhaled from his body is at once condensed and
frozen, and falls to the ground in the form of hard spikes of
crystals, which keep up a constant and not unpleasing clatter.
Fineness of Indian Muslins.
At the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the local com-
mittee of Dacca, in India, gave notice that they would award
prizes for the best piece of muslin that could be woven in
time for the Exhibition. The piece which received the first
prize was ten yards long and one yard wide, weighed only
three ozs. two dwts. , and could be passed through a very
small ring. Prof. Royle.
Mummies Converted into Paint.
Few persons are aware that veritable Egyptian mummies
are ground into paint. In Europe mummies are used for
this purpose the asphaltum with which they are impregnated
being of a quality far superior to that which can elsewhere be
obtained, and producing a peculiar brownish tint when made
into paint, which is highly prized by distinguished artists.
The ancient Egyptians, when they put away their dead,
wrapped them in clothes saturated with asphaltum, and could
never have realized the fact that ages after they had been laid
in the tombs and pyramids along the Nile, their dust would
175
be used in painting pictures in a country then undiscovered,
and by artists whose languages were unknown to them.
Swallowed by an Earthquake and Thrown
out Again.
A tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following
inscription: "Here lieth the body of Lewis Galdy, Esq.,
who died on the 22d of September, 1737, aged 80. He was
born at Montpellier, in France, which place he left for his
religion, and settled on this island, where, in the great earth-
quake, 1672, he was swallowed up, and by the wonderful
providence of God, by a second shock was thrown out into
the sea, where he continued swimming until he was taken up
by a boat, and thus miraculously preserved. He afterwards
lived in great reputation, and died universally lamented. "
Scripture Prices.
Abraham paid 400 shekels of silver ($200) for a piece of
land for a burying-place. In Solomon's time (i Kings x. 29)
it is mentioned that the price of a chariot from Egypt was 600
shekels of silver (1250). The price of a horse was 150
shekels (about $72). Wells.
Manufacturing Feat.
In 1811 a gentleman made a bet of one thousand guineas
that he would have a coat made in a single day, from the first
process of shearing the sheep till its completion by the tailor.
The wager was decided at Newbury, England, on the 25th of
June in that year, by Mr. John Coxeter, of Greenham mills,
near that town. At five o'clock that morning Sir John
176
Throckmorton presented two Southdown sheep to Mr. Coxe-
ter, and the sheep were shorn, the wool spun, the yarn
spooled, warped, loomed and wove, the cloth burred, milled,
rowed, dried, sheared and pressed, and put into the hands
of the tailors by four o'clock that afternoon. At twenty min-
utes past six the coat, entirely finished, was handed by Mr.
Coxeter to Sir John Throckmorton, who appeared with it
before more than five thousand spectators, who rent the air
with acclamations at this remarkable instance of despatch.
Wall Paper Pattern.
In the Great Exhibition at London, in 1851, a single pat-
tern of wall paper, representing a chase in a forest, attracted
much attention. To produce the pattern, twelve thousand
blocks had been used.
feathers for the Ladies.
Statistics of a late feather sale in England show that to fur-
nish material for that one sale, at least 9, 700 herons or egrets
and 15,574 humming birds must have been killed.
A Man Carries his House on his Head.
Simeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died in 1799, aged
104. This man, in his day, was a noted pedestrian, and
before the establishment of regular "Posts," was frequently
employed in walking commissions, from the northern coun-
ties to London and other places, which he executed with fidel-
ity and despatch. Helivedina neat stone cottage of his own
erecting, and, what is remarkable, he had literally carried his
house on his head. It was his constant practice to bring back
m
with him from every journey which he undertook, some suit-
able stone, or other material for his purpose, and which, not
unfrequently, he carried 40 or 50 miles on his head.
Queen Anne's Farthings.
The farthings of Queen Anne have attained a celebrity from
the large prices sometimes given for them by collectors.
Their rarity, however, has been much overrated; it was,
indeed, long a popular notion that only three farthings were
struck in her reign, of which two were in public keeping,
while a third was still going about, and, if recovered,
would bring a fabulous price. The Queen Anne farthings
were designed by a German name Crocker or Croker,
principal engraver to the mint. They were only patterns of
an intended coin, and, though never put into circulation, are
by no means exceedingly rare.
JVo Lead in Lead Pencils.
Lead pencils contain no lead. Lead pencil is as much a
misnomer as it would be to call a horse a cow. Red lead is
an oxide of lead, and white lead is a carbonate of lead, but
the black lead used in pencils is neither a metal nor a compound
of metal. It is plumbago or graphite, one of the forms of
carbon.
Whalebone.
This substance is improperly named, since it has none of
the properties of bone; its correct name is baleen. It is
found attached to the upper jaw, and serves to strain the water
which the whale takes into its mouth, and to retain the small
animals upon which it subsists. For this purpose the baleen
is abundant, sometimes eight hundred pieces in one whale,
placed across each other at regular distances, with the fringed
edge towards the mouth.
Light from Potatoes.
The emission of light from the common potato, when in a
state of decomposition, is sometimes very striking. Dr.
Phipson, in his work on "Phosphorescence," mentions a
case in which the light thus emitted from a cellarful of these
vegetables was so strong as to lead an officer on guard at
Strasburg to believe that the barracks were on fire.
A Very Long Word.
The longest Nipmuck word in Eliot's Indian Bible is in St.
Mark i. 40, Wutteppesittukgussunnoowehtunkquoh, and signifies
"kneeling down to him."
Cobblers' Stalls in Rome.
The streets of Rome in the time of Domitian were so
blocked up with cobblers' stalls that he caused them to be
removed.
Luminous Human Bodies.
Bartholin, in his treatise "De Luce Hominumet Brutorum "
(1647), gives an account of an Italian lady whom he desig-
nates as "mulier splendens," whose body shone with phos-
phoric radiations when gently rubbed with dry linen; and
Dr. Kane, in his last voyage to the polar regions, witnessed
almost as remarkable a case of phosphorescence. A few cases
are recorded by Sir H. Marsh, Professor Donovan and other
m
undoubted authorities, in which the human body, shortly
before death, has presented a pale, luminous appearance.
Soucred Anchors.
The ancient Greek vessels carried several anchors, one of
which, called the "sacred anchor," was never let go until
the ship was in dire distress.
Anne Boleyn's Gloves.
Anne Boleyn was remarkably dainty about her gloves. She
had a nail which turned up at the sides, and it was the delight
of Queen Catherine to make her play at cards without her
gloves, in order that the deformity might disgust King Hal.
Adding Insult to Injury.
This expression has reached us from a fable by Phaedrus, a
Roman author who lived in the reign of Augustus Caesar, and
whose writings were first discovered to modern literature in
1596, at Rheims, in France. The fable is called "The Bald
Man and the Fly," and reads as follows:
"A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who, endeavoring
to crush it, gave himself a heavy blow. Then said the fly,
jeeringly, ' You wanted to avenge the sting of a tiny insect
with death. What will you do to yourself, who have added
insult to injury?'"
St. Anthony's Fire.
St. Anthony's fire is an inflammatory disease which, in the
eleventh century, raged violently in various parts. According
180
to the legend, the intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for,
when it miraculously ceased ; and, therefore, from that time,
the complaint has been called St. Anthony's fire.
Before Houses were Numbered.
Before houses were numbered it was a common practice
with tradesmen not much known, when they advertised, to
mention the color of their next neighbor's door, balcony or
lamp, of which custom the following copy of a hand-bill pre-
sents a curious instance:
"Next to the Golden Door, opposite Great Suffolk street,
near Pall Mall, at the Barber's Pole, liveth a certain person,
Robert Barker, who has found out an excellent method for
sweating or fluxing of wiggs ; his prices are zs. 6d. for each
bob, and 3*. for every tye wigg and pig-tail, ready money. ' '
Monkish Prayers.
The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven
times in twenty- four hours
ist. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning).
zd. Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
3d. Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon.
5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
7th. Compline, soon after 7.
Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject
"For all our prayers the Almighty does regard
The judgment of the balance, not the yard;
He loves not words, but matter ; 't is His pleasure
To buy His wares by weight, and not by measure!*
181
A Mammoth Feast.
Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York,
at his installation, in the reign of Edward IV. There were
disposed of 300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns
of wine, 1000 sheep, 104 oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2000
geese, 1000 capons, 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 1500 hot
vension pasties, 4000 cold ones, 5000 custards, hot and cold.
Gluttony of the Monks.
The monks of St. Swithin made formal complaint to Henry
II. because the Abbot deprived them of three dishes out of
thirteen at every meal. The monks of Canterbury had seven-
teen rich and savory dishes every day.
Ancient Smokers.
When the ancient tower of Kukstatt Abbey fell, tn 1779,
Whitaker, a few days afterwards, discovered, embedded in the
mortar of the fallen fragments, several little smoking pipes,
such as were used in the reign of James I., for tobacco, a
proof of the fact, which has not been generally recorded, that
long prior to the introduction of that plant from America, the
practice of inhaling the smoke of some indigenous vegetable
prevailed in England.
Gipsy Dance.
The gipsy women of Spain especially and exclusively dance
the Romalis, imported from the Orient. It is said to be the
voluptuous dance which the daughter of Herodias danced
before Herod and his court.
182
Chinese Medical Prescriptions.
The Chinese divide their prescriptions into seven classes :
i. The great prescription ; 2. The little prescription ; 3. The
slow prescription; 4. The prompt prescription; 5. The odd
prescription; 6. The even prescription; 7. The double pre-
scription. Each of these recipes apply to particular cases,
and the ingredients are weighed with scrupulous accuracy.
Queer Evidence of Divinity.
Among the ancients the voluntary motion of inanimate
objects was considered an evidence of their divinity. When
Juno paid her celebrated visit to Vulcan, she found him
engaged in the manufacture of tripods, which moved about
and performed their office with a bustling air of zealous
activity
" Full twenty tripeds for his hall be framed,
That, placed on living wheels of massive gold,
Wondrous to tell, instinct with spirit, roll'd
From place to place around the blest abodes,
Self-moved, obedient to the beck of gods."
Picnics Centuries Ago.
Mainwaring, in a letter to the Earl of Arundel, dated No-
vember 22d, 1618, says: "The prince his birthday has been
solemnized here by the few marquises and lords which found
themselves here ; and (to supply the want of lords) knights
and squires were added to a consultation, wherein it was re-
solved that such a number should meet at Gamiges, and bring
every man his dish of meat. It was left to their own choice
what to bring; some chose to be substantial, some curious,
some extravagant. Sir George Young's invention bore away
183
the bell, and that was four huge brawny pigs, piping hot,
bitted and harnessed with ropes of sarsiges, all tied to a
monstrous bag-pudding. ' '
Skeletons at Feasts.
In old times the guests at an Egyptian feast, when they
grew hilarious, were called back to sober propriety by the ex-
hibition of a little skeleton, and the admonition to reflect
upon the lesson it conveyed.
Hair Cutting in Russia.
Among the lower classes in Russia, the barber, a primitive
artist, claps an earthen pot over the head and ears, and trims
off whatever hairprotrudes from the pot.
Antiquity of Tarring and Feathering.
Tarring and feathering, it seems, is an European invention.
One of Richard Coeur de Leon's ordinances for seamen was,
"that if any man were taken with theft and pickery, and
thereof convicted, he should have his head polled, and hot
pitch poured upon his pate, and upon that the feathers of some
pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he might thereby be
known as a thief, and at the next arrival of the ships to any
land be put forth of the company to seek his adventures with-
out jill^hope of return unto his fellows." Holinshed.
Grinning for a Wager.
In 1796, at Hendon, England, on Whit-Tuesday, a bur-
lesque imitation of the Olympic Games was held. One prize
184
was a gold-laced hat, to be grinned for by six candidates, who
were placed on a platform with horse-collars to exhibit
through. Over their heads was printed in capitals
Detur Tetriori ; or,
The ugliest grinner
Shall be the winner.
Each party grinned five minutes solus, and then all united
in a grand chorus of distortion. The prize was carried off by
a porter to a vinegar merchant, though he was accused by his
competitors of foul play for rinsing his mouth with verjuice.
Eating for a Wager.
The hand-bill, of which the subjoined is a copy, was circu-
lated by the keeper of the public house at which the gluttony
was to happen, as an attraction for all the neighborhood to
witness
"Bromley in Kent, July i4th, 1726. A strange eating
worthy is to preform a Tryal of Skill on St. James's Day,
which is the day of our Fair, for a wager of Five Guineas,
viz : he is to eat four pounds of bacon, a bushel of French
beans, with two pounds of butter, a quartern loaf, and to drink
a gallon of strong beer."
Curious Wagers.
Mr. Whalley, an Irish gentleman, for a wager of twenty
thousand pounds, set out on Monday, the azd of September,
1 788, to walk to Constantinople and back in one year. Some
years ago Sir Henry Liddel, a rich baronet, laid a consider-
able wager that he would go to Lapland, bring home two
females of that country, and two reindeer, in a given time.
He performed the journey, and effected his purpose in every
185
respect. The Lapland women lived with him about a year,
but, desiring to go back to their own country, the baronet fur-
nished them with the means.
The Jumping Jack.
This toy is of quite antiquated parentage. In the tombs of
ancient Egypt figures have been found whose limbs were made
movable, for the delight of children, before Moses was born.
Love-handkerchiefs.
At one time it was the custom in England to present love-
handkerchiefs. They were not more than three or four inches
square, wrought with embroidery, a tassel at each corner and
a small button in the centre. The finest of these favors were
edged with narrow gold lace or twist, and then, being folded
up in four cross-folds, so that the middle might be seen, they
were worn by the accepted lovers in their hats or on the
breast. These tokens of love became at last so much in vogue
that they were sold ready-made in the shops in Elizabeth's
time at from sixpence to sixteen-pence apiece. Tokens were
also given by the gentlemen, and accepted by the ladies, as is
indicated in an old comedy of the time
" Given earrings we will wear,
Bracelets of our lover's hair;
Which they on our arms shall twist,
(With our names carved) on our wrists,"
Umbrellas.
Umbrellas are an older invention than some writers would
have us suppose. Even the usually entertained notion that
186
Jonas Hanway introduced the umbrella into England, in the
year 1752, is proved to be false by evidence that can be cited.
Ben Jonson refers to it by name in a comedy produced in
1616 ; and so do Beaumont and Fletcher in " Rule a Wife and
Have a Wife." Swift, in the "Tatler" of October lyth, 1710,
says, in "The City Shower"
" The tucked-up seamstress walks with hasty strides,
While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides."
The following couplet also occurs in a poem written by
Gay in 1712
" Housewives underneath th' umbrella's oily shed
Safe through the wet in clinking pattens tread."
It is probable that Hanway was the first man seen carrying
an umbrella in London.
At Persepohs, in Persia, are some sculptures supposed to be
as old as the time of Alexander the Great, and on one of these
is represented a chief or king, over whose head some servants
are holding an umbrella. At Takht-i-Bostan are other sculp-
tures, one of which is a king witnessing a boar hunt attended
by an umbrella-bearer. Recent discoveries at Nineveh show
that the umbrella was in use there, it being common to the
sculpturings, but always represented open. The same is to be
seen upon the celebrated Hamilton vases preserved in the
British Museum. In many Chinese drawings ladies are
attended by servants holding umbrellas over their heads.
Loubere, who went to Siam as envoy from the king of
France, describes the use of umbrellas as being governed by
curious regulations. Those umbrellas resembling ours are
used principally by the officers of state ; while those several
tiers in height, as if two or more umbrellas were fixed on one
stick, are reserved for the king alone. In Ava, a country
adjacent to Siam, the king designates himself, among other
1ST
titles, as "Lord of the Ebbing and Flowing Tide, King of
the White Elephant, and Lord of the Twenty-four Umbrellas."
This last title, although ridiculous to us, is supposed to relate
to twenty-four states or provinces combined under the rule of
the king, the umbrella being especially a royal emblem in
Ava. The umbrella is also the distinguishing sign of
sovereignty in Morocco. ,
Fashionable Disfigurement.
The custom of dotting the face with black patches, of
different patterns, was introduced into England and France
from Arabia, and was at its height during the reign of Charles I.
The ladies, old and young, covered their faces with black
spots shaped like suns, moons, stars, hearts, crosses and
lozenges, and some even carried the mode to the extrava-
gant extent of shapening the patches to represent a carriage
and horses.
Fine for Insulting a King.
The use of gold and silver was not unknown to the Welsh
in 842, when their laws were collected. The man who dared
to insult the king of Aberfraw was to pay (besides certain
cows and a silver rod) a cup which would hold as much wine
as his majesty could swallow at a draught. It was to be made
of gold ; its cover was to be as broad as the king's face, and
the whole as thick as a goose's egg or a ploughman's thumb-
nail.
True-Lovers' Knots.
Among the ancient Northern nations a knot was the symbol
of indissoluble love, faith and friendship. Hence the ancient
runic inscriptions are in the form of a knot, and hence, among
188
the Northern English and Scots, who still retain, in a great
measure, the language and manners of the ancient Danes,
that curious kind of knot exists which is a mutual present be-
tween the lover and his mistress, and which, being considered
as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called "a true-
love knot." The name is not derived, however, as would be
naturally supposed, from the words " true " and "love," but
is formed from the Danish verb "trulofa," fidem do, I plight
my troth or faith. In Davidson's " Poetical Rhapsody," pub-
lished in 1611, the following is the opening verse of a poem
entitled " The True-Love's Knot "
" Lore is the linke, the knot, the band of unity,
And all that love do love with their beloved to be ;
Love only did decree
To change this kind in me."
Hundred Families' Lock.
A common Chinese talisman is the "hundred families'
lock," to procure which a father goes round among his friends,
and, having obtained from an hundred different parties a few of
the copper coins of the country, he himself adds the balance
to purchase an ornament or appendage fashioned like a lock,
which he hangs on his child's neck for the purpose of figura-
tively locking him to life and causing the hundred persons to
be concerned in his attaining old age.
The King's Cock-crower.
A singular custom of matchless absurdity formerly existed
in the English court. During Lent an ancient officer of the
crown, called the King's Cock-crower, crowed the hour each
night within the precincts of the palace. On Ash Wednesday,
after the accession of the House of Hanover, as the Prince of
189
Wales (afterwards George II.) sat down to supper, this officer
abruptly entered the apartment, and in a sound resembling
the shrill pipe of a cock, crowed past ten o'clock. The
astonished prince, at first conceiving it to be a premeditated
insult, rose to resent the affront, but upon the nature of the
ceremony being explained to him, he was satisfied.
Mourning Robes.
Under the empire male Romans wore black, and Roman
women wore white mourning. In Turkey, at the present day,
it is violet ; in China, white ; in Egypt, yellow ; in Ethiopia,
brown ; in Europe and America, black ; it was white in Spain
until the year 1498. The mourning worn by sovereigns and
their families is purple.
Mole-skin Eyebrows.
Some of the ladies of the Court of Louis XV., in connec-
tion with the patches, rouge and paint with which they dis-
figured their faces, were so whimsical as to wear eyebrows made
out of mole-skin.
Praying for Revenge.
In North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly
injured, it is not uncommon for him to go to some church
dedicated to a celebrated saint, as Llan Elian, in Anglesea,
and Clynog, in Carnarvonshire, and there to offer up his
enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees, and offering a
piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and misfortunes
upon the offender and his family for generations to come, in
the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled.
Sometimes they repair to a sacred well instead of to a church.
190
Selling Snails.
The sale of snails in the town of Tivoli, near Rome, is a
source of much profit to the inhabitants of that district in
rainy weather, when this curious edible is abundant in the
olive groves. The flavor is pronounced delicious, and when
artistically cooked, the foreigner does not long decline this
much despised Crustacea. The cooked snail is said to restore
tone to the coating of the stomach when badly injured by
strong drink.
Coral and Bells.
A superstitious belief exists that the color of coral is affected
by the state of health of the wearer, it becoming paler in dis-
ease. Paracelsus recommended it to be worn around the
necks of infants as an admirable preservative against fits,
charms and poison. " In addition to the supposed virtues of
coral usually suspended around the necks of children, it may
be remarked that silver bells are generally attached to it, which
are regarded as mere accompaniments to amuse children by
their jingle ; but the fact is, they have a very different origin,
having been designed to frighten away evil spirits." Dr.
Paris.
Bagging Ms Rival.
Two gentlemen, one a Spaniard, the other a German, asked
of Maximilian II. the hand of his daughter, the fair Helene
Scharfequinn, in marriage. After a long delay, the emperor
one day informed them that, esteeming them equally, and not
being able to bestow a preference, he should leave it to the
force and address of the claimants to decide the question. He
did not mean, however, to risk the life of one or the other,
or perhaps of both. He could not, therefore, permit them
191
to encounter with offensive weapons, but had ordered a large
bag to be produced. It was his decree that whichever suc-
ceeded in putting his rival into the bag should have the hand
of his daughter. The singular encounter between the two
gentlemen took place in the presence of the whole court. The
contest lasted for more than an hour. At length the Spaniard
yielded, and the German, Ehberhard, Baron de Talbert,
having planted his rival in the bag, took it upon his back and
gallantly laid it at the feet of his mistress, whom he espoused
the next day. This incident is gravely vouched for by M. de
St. Foix.
Deepened Damnation.
In his " History of all the Heresies," Bernino records an
instance of diabolical superstition. Pope Theodorus wrote
the sentence of deposition against the Monothelite secretary
Pyrrhus with ink in which had been mingled the blood from
the sacramental cup, in order that the fulmination of the pope
might possess the greater potency of damnation.
Ancient Bit of Waggery.
We find the following in a book printed in 1607, entitled,
"Pleasant Conceits of old Hobson, the merry Londoner; full
of Humourous Discourses and Merry Merriments:"
"When the order of hanging out lanterue first of all was
brought about, the bedell of the warde where Maister Hobson
dwelt, in a darke evening, crieing up and down, 'Hang out
your lanternes! Hang out your lanternes!' using no other
words, Maister Hobson tookean emptie lanterne, and, accord-
ing to the bedell's call, hung it out. This flout, by the lord
mayor, was taken in ill part, and for the offence Hobson was
sent to the Counter, but being released the next night follow-
192
ing, thinking to amende his call, the bedell cryed out, with a
loud voice, ' Hang out your lanternes and candle ! ' Maister
Hobson hereupon hung out a lanterne and candle unlighted,
as the bedell again commanded ; whereupon he was sent again
to the Counter ; but the next night, the bedell being better
advised, cryed 'Hang out your lanterne and candle-light!'
which Maister Hobson at last did, to his great commenda-
tions, which cry of lanterne and candle-light is in right man-
ner used to this day."
A Walking Apothecary Shop.
Mr. Samuel Jessup, an opulent grazier, of pill-taking
memory, died at Heckington, England, on the i7th of June,
1817. In twenty-one years the deceased took 226,934 pills,
supplied by a respectable apothecary at Bottesford, which was
at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or twenty-nine pills each
day ; but as the patient began with a more moderate appetite,
and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years he took
the pills at the rate of seventy-eight a day, and in the year
1814 he swallowed not less than 51,590. Notwithstanding
this, and the addition of 40,000 bottles of mixture and juleps
and electuaries, extending altogether to fifty-five closely
written columns of an apothecary's bill, the deceased lived to
attain the age of sixty-five years. Hone.
To Disappoint his Wife.
On the zoth of May, 1736, the body of Samuel Baldwin,
Esq., was, in compliance with a request in his will, buried,
sans ceremonie, in the sea at Lymington, Hants. His motive
for this extraordinary mode and place of interment was to
prevent his wife from "dancing over his grave," which she
had frequently threatened to do in case she survived him.
193
Boots an Object of Honor.
Among the Chinese no relics are more valuable than the
boots which have been worn by an upright magistrate. In
Davis's interesting description of the Empire of China we
are informed that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns
his situation, the people congregate to do him honor. If he
leaves the city where he has resided, the crowd accompany
him from his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn
off with great ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice.
Their place is immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in
turn, are drawn off to make room for others before he has
worn them five minutes, it being considered sufficient to con-
secrate them that he should have merely drawn them on.
St. CutJibert's Beads.
These beads were made from the single joints of the articu-
lated stems of Encrinites. The central perforation permitted
them to be strung. From the fancied resemblance of this
perforation to a cross, they were formerly used as rosaries,
and associated with the name of St. Cuthbert
" On a rock by Lindisfarm
St. Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
The sea-born beads that bear his name."
Sating Animals that have Died a Natural
Death.
The gypsies in Europe are very peculiar in their eating, and
are, perhaps, the only race who will eat animals that have
died a natural death. " Dead pig " is their favorite delicacy ;
and one of the most typical and most amusing of the Rom-
194
many ballads which Borrow has collected, celebrates the
trick formerly so common among them of poisoning a pig
in order the next day to beg its carcass for food.
Embalmed in Honey.
The ancients put dead bodies into honey to preserve them
from putrefaction. The body of Agesipolis, King of Sparta,
who died in Macedonia, was sent home in honey. The faith-
less Cleomenes caused the head of Archonides to be put in
honey, and had it always placed near him when he was
deliberating upon any affair of great importance, in order to
fulfil the oath he had made to undertake nothing without
consulting the head. The body of the Emperor Justin II.
was embalmed in honey. The wish of Democritus to be
buried in honey is a confirmation of the practice.
Perfumed Butter.
We are told by Plutarch that a Spartan lady paid a visit to
Berenice, the wife of Dejotarus, and that the one smelled so
much of sweet ointment and the other of butter that neither
of them could endure the other. Was it customary, there-
fore, at that period, for the ladies to perfume themselves with
butter ?
Wine at Two Millions a Bottle.
Some years ago wine graced the table of the King of Wurtem-
burg, which had been deposited in a cellar at Bremen two
centuries and a half before. One large case of the wine, con-
taining five oxhoft of two hundred and forty bottles, cost five
hundred rix dollars in 1624. Including the expenses of keep-
ing up the cellar, and of the contributions, interest of the
195
amount, and interest upon interest, an oxhoft costs at the
'present time 555,657,640 rix-dollars, and consequently a
bottle is worth 2, 723, 81 2 rix-dollars. The fact illustrates the
operation of interest, if it does not show the cost of the lux-
ury. Bombaugh.
Opal of Nonius.
The ancients valued opals very highly. The Roman
senator, Nonius, preferred exile to giving up an opal to Mark
Antony. This opal was still to be seen in the days of Pliny,
who ascribed to it a value of more than $500,000.
Children's Day in Japan.
There is a children's day in Japan on the fifth day of the
fifth month, when a flag of gay colors is hung from every
house where there are children. The family and friends have
a feast, and, among the articles of food are long, narrow rice
cakes, upon each of which a sweet-flavored rush-leaf is fast-
ened by straws. Where there are no children there may be a
family party, but no flag can be exhibited. On this day orna-
ments made of paper, of five different colors, are bound into
balls and hung up in the house as a charm against sickness.
Cock-Fighting among the Ancient Greeks.
yEschines reproaches Timarchus forspending the whole day
in gaming and cock-fighting. Cock-fights were represented
by the Greeks on coins and cut stones. Mr. Pegge caused
engravings to be made of two gems in the collection of Sir
William Hamilton, on one of which is seen a cock in the
humble attitude of defeat, with its head hanging down, and
another in the attitude of victory, with an ear of corn in its
196
bill as the object of contest. On the other stone two cocks
are fighting, while a mouse carries away the ear of corn, for
the possession of which they had quarreled a caricature
of law-suits, in which the greater part of the property in dis-
pute falls to the lawyers. Two cocks in the attitude of fight-
ing are represented also on a lamp found in Ilerculaneum.
Colors Most Frequently Hit in Battle.
It would appear, from numerous observations, that sol-
diers are hit during battle according to the color of their dress
in the following order : Red is the most fatal color ; Austrian
gray is the least fatal. The proportions are red, twelve ;
rifle green, seven ; brown, six ; Austrian bluish-gray, five.
Immense Value Placed upon Gems by the
Ancients.
The immense value placed by the ancients on their gems
can be estimated by the scabbard of Mithridates, valued at
400 talents, or ^"7,57* ; the pearl given by Julius Csesar to
Servillia was worth .^4,800; that swallowed by Cleopatra
valued at ^"5,000; and the pearls and emeralds worn by
Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, valued at ,320,000.
Candlel Cock.
Alfred the Great noted the time by the gradual burning
down of candles colored in rings. He had six tapers made,
each twelve inches long, and each divided into twelve parts
or inches. Three of these would burn for one hour, and
the six tapers, lighted one after the other, would burn for
twenty-four hours.
197
Twins in Africa.
Among some of the tribes in Africa if two babies come
to a family at the same time they think it a dreadful thing.
Nobody except the family can go into the hut where they
were born, nor even use any of the things in it. The twins
cannot play with other children, and the mother cannot
talk to anyone outside of the family. This is kept up for
six years. If the babies live to be six years old, the re-
strictions are removed, and they are treated like other
children.
Right and Left Hand.
Dr. Zinchinelli, of Padua, in an essay on the "Reasons
why People use the Right Hand in preference to the Left,"
will not allow custom or imitation to be the cause. He
affirms that the left arm cannot be in violent and continued
motion without causing pain in the left side, because there is
the seat of the heart and of the arterial system ; and that,
therefore, nature herself compels man to make use of the
right hand.
Earliest Traders.
The earliest record we have of nations trading with each
other occurs in the Book of Genesis, when Joseph's brethren
sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelites who were carrying
spices, balm and myrrh into Egypt. The balm was from
Gilead and the myrrh from Arabia. Thus commerce is of
great antiquity.
The First Hermits.
The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived
about the year 260 ; the second was Anthony, also of Egypt,
who died in 345, at the age of 105.
198
The First Opera.
The first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera
to music was Francisco Bamirino, an Italian artist. The
piece to which he affixed the charms of a melodious accom-
paniment was "The Conversion of St. Paul," which was
brought out at Rome in 1460.
The First Artificial Limb.
The first artificial limb on record is the iron hand of the
German knight, Gotz Von Berlichingen, who flourished in
the early part of the sixteenth century (1513), and who was
named The Iron-Handed. The hand weighed three pounds,
was so constructed as to grasp a sword or lance, and was
invented by a mechanic at Nuremberg. It is preserved at
Jaxthausen, near Heilbronn, and a duplicate of it is in the
Castle of Erbach, in the Odenwald.
Kir cher's Speaking- Trumpet.
"The Musurgia," printed in 1650, gives an account of a
speaking-trumpet invented by Kircher. From a convent
situated on the top of a mountain, he assembled twelve
hundred persons to divine service, and read the litany to
them through the trumpet, at a distance of from two to five
Italian miles. Soon after a tube was made, according to
Kircher's directions, by which words, without elevating
the voice, could be understood from Ebersdorf to Neu-
geben.
Fish Market at Scarborough.
The fish market is held on the sands by the sides of the
boats, which, at low water, are run upon wheels with a sail
199
<set, and are conducted by the fishermen, who dispose of
their cargoes in the following manner :
One of the female fishmongers inquires the price, and
bids a groat ; the fishermen ask a sum in the opposite ex-
treme; the one bids up, and the other reduces the demand,
till they meet at a reasonable point, when the bidder sud-
denly exclaims : "Het!" The purchase is afterwards re-
tailed among the regular or occasional purchasers.
Few Fish Found cub Sea.
Paradoxical as the fact may appear, there is no class of
persons who eat so few fish as the sailors ; and the reason
is, they seldom obtain them. With the exception of flying-
fish and dolphins, and perhaps a few others, fish are not
found on the high seas at a great distance from land. They
abound most along coasts, in straights and bays, and are
seldom caught in water more than forty or fifty fathoms
in depth. Wells.
Musical Stones.
A correspondent of Nature writes that, in roaming over
the hills and rocks in the neighborhood of Kendal, near
Lancaster, England, which are composed chiefly of lime-
stone, he had often found what are called "musical stones."
They are generally thin, flat, weather-beaten stones, of dif-
ferent sizes and peculiar shapes, which, when struck with a
piece of iron or another stone, produce a musical tone, in-
stead of the dull, heavy, leaden sound of an ordinary stone.
The sound of these stones is, in general, very much alike,
but sets of eight stones have been collected which produce,
when struck, a distinct octave.
The new French scientific weekly, La Nature, copies the
communication from its English namesake, and brings for-
200
ward some additional instances of the same phenomenon.
We are also informed of the accidental discovery of musical
properties in a stone fountain at the French Institute. Its
musical sound, when struck, corresponds with extreme pre
cision to the perfect accord major of fa natural. The foun-
tain in question is in the grand court of the institute.
Musical Sand.
A singular phenomenon is the "musical sand "of Jebel
Nagus, a sandy hill lying to the west of the mountain usually
called Sinai. According to Captain Palmer, an English
traveler, the sand of this hill possesses the marvellous property
of giving out musical sounds whenever it is set in motion.
The sandy slope is two hundred feet in height, the sand
being very much the same as that in the desert around.
When any considerable quantity of this sand is set in mo-
tion, it is seen to move in undulations, and, simultaneously,
a singnlar sound is heard, which is first feeble, but may be
heard at some distance when it has attained its maximum
intensity.
The sound is not easily described. It is neither metallic
nor vibratory. It might be compared to the sharpest notes
of the ^olian harp, or the sound produced by forcibly
drawing a cork over wet glass. The phenomenon attains
its greatest intensity during the day in summer, when the
sun is hottest, and while the wind blows from the northwest.
Captain Palmer has observed it on all sides of the hill, and
the only difference he has found are such as depend on the
direction of the wind.
A River of Ink.
In Algeria there is a river of genuine ink. It is formed by
the union of two streams, one coming from a region of ferru-
201
ginous soil, the other draining a peat swamp. The water of
the former is strongly impregnated with iron, that of the latter
with gallic acid. When the two waters mingle, the acid ot
the one unites with the iron of the other, forming a true ink.
We are familiar with a stream called Black Brook, in the
northern part of New York, the inky color of whose water is
evidently due to like conditions. Scientific American.
A Warlike Bantam.
In the "Life of Rodney " it is related that in the famou s
victory of the izth of April, 1782, a bantam cock perched
himself upon the poop of Rodney's ship, and at every
broadside that was poured into the Ville-de-Paris, clapped
his wings and crew. Rodney gave special orders that this
cock should be taken care of as long as he lived.
Oyster-dredging Chaunt.
During the oyster-dredging the fishermen keep up a wild
monotonous song, or rather chaunt, which they assert charm
the oysters into the dredge
"The herring loves the merry moonlight,
The mackeral loves the wind.
But the oyster loves the dredger's song,
For he comes of a gentle kind."
Normandy Treasures.
At Bayeux, Normandy, a strong belief exists among the
people of some hidden treasure in the ground beneath the
ruined churches and castles so abundant in the neighbor-
hood ; but they are supposed to be guarded by 'supernatural
202
means. Even so late as 1827 persons were found credulous
enough to follow the directions of a Douster-swivel and
employ much time and labor uselessly in searching after
imaginary riches beneath the stones in front of the Cathed-
ral. This belief that the hidden or lost treasure is guarded
by a spiritual attendant is very generally diffused. On this
point South ey, in the " Doctor," observes : "The popular
belief that places are haunted where money has been con-
cealed, or where some great and undiscovered crime has
been committed, shows how consistent this is with our
natural sense of likelihood and fitness."
Tenacity of Odors.
Dr. Carpenter states, in his "Comparative Physiology,"
that a grain of musk has been kept freely exposed to the air of
a room, of which the door and window were constantly open,
for ten years, during all which time the air, though constantly
changed, was completely impregnated with the odor of musk,
and yet at the end of that time the particle was found not to
have sensibly diminished in weight.
Antiquity of Acrobatic Figures.
Modern toys of acrobats are made to perform evolutions
by the use of quicksilver. Daedalus, the famous Greek
figure-maker, who is said to have lived about a thousand
years before Christ, introduced quicksilver into a wooden
image of Venus, thereby lending to it a sort of Chinese
tumbling motion. Dr. Doran.
Saffron as a Perfume.
It seems a little odd to us that the ancients used saffron as a
perfume. Not only were halls, theatres and courts strewn
203
with the plant, but it entered into the composition of many
spirituous extracts, which retained the scent. These costly
smelling waters were often made to flow in small streams,
which spread abroad their much admired odor. Luxurious
people even moistened with them all those things with which
they were desirous of surprising their guests in an agreeable
manner, or with which they ornamented their appartment
From saffron, with the addition of wax and other ingredients,
the Greeks and Romans prepared scented salves.
Spontaneous Combustion.
In Levoux's "Journal de Medicine " is an account of a very
fat woman, twenty-eight years of age, who was found on fire
in her chamber, where nothing else was burning. The neigh-
bors heard a noise of something like frying, and when the
body was removed it left a layer of black grease. The doctor
conceived that the combustion began in the internal parts,
and that the clothes were burned secondarily.
Egyptian Perfumes.
So perfect were the Eyptians in the manufacture of per-
fumes, that some of their ancient ointment, preserved in an
alabaster vase in the museum at Alnwick, still retains a very
powerful odor, though it must be almost three thousand
years old.
Magic Rain Stone.
The Indian magi, who are to invoke Yo He Wah, and
meditate with the supreme holy fire that he may give season-
able rains, have a transparent stone of supposed great power
in assisting to bring down the rain when it is put in a basin of
204
water. It is reputed to possess divine virtue ; it would suffer
decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own laity ; but
if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine
communicative power.
Decapitation by the Guillotine.
A reliable gentleman who witnessed an execution, wrote as
follows : "It appears to be the best of all modes of inflicting
the punishment of death, combining the greatest impression
on the spectator with the least possible suffering to the victim.
It is so rapid that I should doubt whetherthere was any suffer-
ing ; but from the expression of the countenance, when the
executioner held up the head, I am inclined to believe that
sense and consciousness may remain for a few seconds after
the head is off. The eyes seemed to retain speculation for a
moment or two, and there was a look in the ghastly stare
with which they stared upon the crowd, which implied that
the head was aware of its ignominious situation. "
Chateaubrun' s Escape from the Guillotine.
During the Reign of Terror, M. de Chateaubrun was sen-
tenced to death and sent to execution with twenty other
prisoners; but after the fifteenth head had fallen, the guillotine
got out of order, and a workman was required to repair it.
The six remaining victims were left standing in front of the
machine with their hands tied behind them. A French crowd
is very curious, and the people kept pressing forward to see
the man who was arranging the guillotine. By degrees M. de
Chateaubrun, who was to the rear of his companions, found
himself in the front line of the spectators, then in the second,
and finally well behind those who had come to see his head
205
cut off. Before the man could get the guillotine in working
order night began to fall, and M. de Chateaubrun slipped
away. When in the Champs Elysees he told a man that a
wag had tied his hands and stole his hat, and this simple in-
dividual cut him free. A few days later M. de Chateaubrun
escaped from France.
A Lucky Find.
During the month of April, 1733, Sir Simon Stuart, of
Hartley, England, while looking over some old writings, found
on the back of one of them a memorandum noting that 1500
broad pieces were buried in a certain spot in an adjoining
field. After a little digging the treasure was found in a pot,
hidden there in the time of the civil wars by his grandfather,
Sir Nicholas Stuart.
Paradise of Old Hats.
The group of islands known as the Nicobars, situated about
one hundred and fifty miles south of the Andamans, have been
but little explored, though the manners and customs of the in-
habitants of these islands offer interesting peculiarities. One
of the most noticeable, and one which seriously affects the
trade of the islands, is the passion for old hats which per-
vades the whole frame-work of society. No one is exempt,
and young and old endeavor to outvie each other in the singu-
larity of shape no less than in the number of the old hats
they can acquire during a lifetime. On a fine morning at
the Nicobars it is not unusual to see the surface of the ocean
in the vicinity of the islands dotted over with canoes, in each
of which the noble savage, with nothing whatever on but the
conventional slip of cloth and a tall white hat with a black
band, may be watched standing up and catching fish for his
206
daily meal. Second-hand hats are more in request, new hats
being looked upon with suspicion and disfavor. The passion
is so well known that traders from Calcutta make annual ex-
cursions to the Nicobars with cargoes of old hats, which they
barter for cocoanuts, the only product of the island, a good,
tall white hat with a black band bringing from fifty-five to
sixty-five good cocoanuts. Intense excitement pervades the
is'and while the trade is going on. When the hats or the
cocoanuts have come to an end, the trader generally lands a
flask or two of rum, and the whole population, in their hats,
get drunk without intermission until the rum also comes to
an end.
Wedding -Rings.
The wedding-ring, symbolical of the perpetuity of the con-
jugal relation, has ever been the accepted accompaniment
of marriage. Its being put on the fourth finger of the left
hand has been continued from long- established usage, be-
^catise of the fanciful conceit that from this finger a nerve
went direct to the heart.
The Prince of Charlatans.
Paracelsus was the prince of charlatans ; indeed he styled
himself the "King of Physic." Although he professed to
have discovered the "Elixir of Life," it did not seem to have
been available in his own case, for he died at the early age
of forty-eight years.
One Meal a Day.
Dr. Fordyce contented that as one meal a day was enough
for a lion, it ought to suffice for a man. Accordingly, for
more than twenty years, the doctor used to eat only a dinner
in the whole course of a day. A pound and a half of rump
207
steak, half a broiled chicken, a plate of fish, a bottle of port,
a tankard of strong ale, and a quarter of a pint of brandy
satisfied his moderate wants. Dinner over, occupying an
hour and a half, he returned home from the chop house to
deliver his six o'clock lecture on anatomy and chemistry.
G-old-headed Canes for Physicians.
In the times of the renowned Radcliffe, the gold-headed
cane was the sceptre of authority among the medical profess-
ion. Dignity dwelt in the mysterious symbol. It also protected
the owner against contagious diseases, being filled with disin-
fecting herbs, which he applied to his nose when visiting
patients.
He pursed his brows, then wink'd his eyes,
Put his cane to his nose and look'd wise.
Yearly Food of one Man.
From the army and navy diet scales of France and Eng-
land, which, of course, are based upon the recognized neces-
sities of large numbers of men in active life, it is inferred
that about two and one-fourth pounds avordupois of dry
food per day are required for each individual ; of this amount
three-fourths are vegetable and the rest animal. At the close
of an entire year, the amount is upwards of eight hundred
pounds. Enumerating under the title of water all the various
drinks coffee, tea, alcohol, wine, etc. its estimated quan-
tity is about fifteen hundred pounds per annum ; that for the
air received by breathing may be taken at eight hundred
pounds. The food, water and air which a man consumes
amount in the aggregate to more than three thousand
pounds a year ; that is, about a ton and a half, or more than
twenty times his own weight. Wells.
208
Eating Tea.
It was not until the end of the seventeenth century that
tea was indulged in as a beverage. The first brewers of tea
were often sorely perplexed with the preparation of the new
mystery; after boiling the tea, "they sat down to eat the
leaves with butter and salt." The Dutch were the first to
discover the utility and value of the herb, and when, in
1666, it was first introduced into England, it sold at about
three guineas per pound. Salad for the Solitary.
Human Hair.
It has been estimated that a single square inch of the scalp
the skin of the head contains about seven hundred and
forty-four hairs. This number, multiplied by one hundred
and twenty square inches the surface of the head gives
us eighty-nine thousand two hundred and eighty as the num-
ber of the hairs of the head. If a lady's hair is a half-yard in
length, she will have one hundred and thirty three thousand
nine hundred and twenty feet of hair. A man who has arrived
at the age of fifty years will have lost, by hair cutting, about
thirteen feet, which, multiplied by the number of hairs (eighty-
nine thousand two hundred and eighty), will amount to one
million one hundred and sixty thousand six hundred and forty
feet of hair tubing, or about two hundred and twenty miles.
Durability of Bricks.
The bricks of Nineveh and Babylon, in the museums, show
that they were selected by the ancients as the most lasting
material. Plutarch thinks them superior to stone, if properly
prepared ; and it is admitted that the baths of Caracalla, those
of Titus, and the Thermae of Dioclesian, have withstood the
209
effects of time and fire better than the stone of the Colisseum
or the marble of the Forum Trajan.
Origin of Long-toed Shoes.
Long-toed shoes were invented by Fulk, Count of Anjou.
to hide an excrescence on one of his feet. These toes were so
long as to be fastened to the knees with gold chains, and
carved at the extreme point with the representation of a
church-window, a bird or some fantastic device.
A Good Tenant.
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for September, 1775, Mr.
Clayton, a wealthy farmer of Berkshire, is related to have died
at the extraordinary age of one hundred and fifteen years, dur-
ing which time he rented the same farm for ninety years . An
occupancy of so great duration, by one individual, is perhaps
uneqalled in the history of landlord and. tenant.
Three Borrowed Days.
Thero is an old proverb still used by the English and Scotch
rustics, which represent March as borrowing three days from
April. In the "Complaynt of Scotland" they are thus
described
" The first it shall be wind and weet ;
The next it shall be snaw and sleet ;
The third it shall be sic a freeze
Shall gar the birds stick to the trees."
But it is disputed whether these " borrowed days " are the
last three of March or the first three of April.
210
Luncheon.
This word is said to have been originally noon-shun, a
meal partaken of by laborers in the fields at noon, when they
retire to the shade to shun the noontide heat.
Value of a Long Psalm.
In old times a culprit, when at the gallows, was allowed
to select a Psalm, which was then sung, thereby lengthening
the chances for the arrival of a reprieve. It is reported of
one of the chaplains to the famous Montrose, that being con-
demned in Scotland to die for attending his master in some
of his exploits, he selected the upth Psalm. It was well
for him that he did so, for they had sung it half through be-
fore the reprieve came. A shorter Psalm, and he would
have been hung.
Barbers' Basins.
Anciently, one of the utensils of the barber was a brass
basin with a semi-circulargap in one side, to encompass a
man's throat, by means of which, in applying the lather to the
face, the clothes were not soiled. It will be recollected that
Don Quixote crazily assumed a barber's basin as a helmet.
Strained Politeness.
On the 3th of April, 1745, the battle of Fontenoy was
fought between the allied armies of England, Holland and
Austria, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, and
the French army under Marshal Count De Saxe. The battle
was commenced with the formal politeness of a court minu t
Captain Lord Charles Hay, of the English guards, advanced
211
from the ranks with his hat off; at the same moment Lieuten-
ant Count D'Auteroche, of the French guards, advanced also,
uncovered, to meet him. Lord Charles bowed, and said :
"Gentlemen of the French guards, fire !" The Count bowed
to Lord Charles. "No, my lord, "he answered, " we never
fire first " They again bowed ; each resumed his place in
his own ranks, and after these testimonies of "high con-
sideration," the bloody conflict commenced, ending with a
loss of twelve thousand men on each side.
Can a Clergyman Marry Himself?
This question was officially decided in the affirmative in
the Court of Queen's Bench, Dublin, on November i6th,
1855, in the case of Beamish vs. Beamish, where the point
came into direct issue.
Novel Way of Curing Vicious Horses.
Burckhardt tells us of the strange mode of curing a vicious
horse. He has seen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured
of the habit of biting by presenting to them, while in the act
of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. The
pain which the horse feels in biting through the hot meat
causes it to abandon the practice.
Pope's Skull.
William Howitt says that, by one of those acts, which
neither science nor curiosity can excuse, the skull of Pope is
now in the private collection made by a phrenologist. On
some occasion of alteration in the church, or burial of some
one in the same spot, the coffin of Pope was disinterred and
212
opened to see the state of the remains. By a bribe to the
sexton at the time, possession of the skull was obtained for a
night, and another skull was returned instead of it, in the
morning. Fifty pounds were paid to manage and carry out
the Transaction. Be that as it may, the skull of Pope figures
in a private museum.
Pawning Bibles and Waterloo Medals.
Among a list comprising the articles found in a pawn-
broker's establishment in Glasgow, in 1836, were one hun-
dred and two Bibles and forty-eight Waterloo medals.
A Drum made of Human Skin.
John Zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in
1419 against the Emperor Sigismund, to revenge the deaths
of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who had been cruelly
burned at the stake for their religious tenets, defeated the
emperor in several pitched battles. He gave orders that,
after his death, they should make a drum out of his skin. The
order was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of
the enthusiastic Zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the
emperor, who, with difficulty, in the space of sixteen years,
recovered Bohemia, assisted by the forces of Germany. The
insurgents were 40,000 in number, and well disciplined.
Groaning Boards.
Groaning boards were the wonder in London in 1682 . An
elm plank was exhibited to the king, which, being touched by
a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep
groans. At the Bowman tavern, in Drury Lane, the mantel-
213
piece gave forth like sounds, and was supposed to be part of
the same elm tree. The dresser at the Queen's Arm Tavern,
St. Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality.
Strange times, when such things were deemed wonderful
so much so as to merit exhibition before the monarch.
Abyssinian Tradition.
A curious tradition exists among the Abyssinians concern-
ing the origin of burial. They say that when Adam found
the body of the murdered Abel he carried it about upon his
shoulders for twenty days, not knowing how to dispose of it.
The Almighty took pity on him and sent forth a crow with a
dead young one on its back. The crow flew before Adam
until it came to a tract of sandy ground, in which it dug a
hole with its feet, and there buried its young one. When
Adam saw this, he dug a grave in the sand and buried his
dead boy in it.
Cutting Timber by the Moon.
Columella, Cato, Vitruvius and Pliny all had their notions
of the advantage of cutting timber at certain ages of the
moon a piece of mummery which was long preserved in the
royal ordonnances of France to the conservators of the
forests, who were directed to fell oaks only "in the wane of
the moon " and ' ' when the wind was in the north. "
An Artist Tradition.
There is a tradition that Poussin, the French painter,
unable to depict the foam on a horse's mouth in a picture he
was finishing, angrily threw his sponge at the canvas, and
thus accidentally produced the desired effect. It is a pity
214
to spoil such an effective story, but it was told of Apelles,
the Greek painter, nearly two thousand years before Poussin
was born.
Born of a Peri.
A Peri, according to the mythical lore of the East, is a
being begotten by fallen spirits, which spends its life in all
imaginable delights. It is immortal, but is forever excluded
from the joys of Paradise. It takes an intermediate place
between angels and demons, and is either male or female.
One of the finest compliments to be paid to a Persian lady is
to speak of her as Perizadeh born of a Peri.
A Regal Hunting Party.
The following is an account of the destruction of game in
Bohemia, by a hunting party of which the Emperor Francis
made one, in 1755. There were twenty- three persons in the
party, three of whom were ladies, among the latter the
Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. The chase lasted eighteen
days, and during that time they killed 47, 950 head of game.
19 stags, 77 roebucks, 10 foxes, 18,243 hares, 19,545 part-
ridges, 9499 pheasants, 114 larks, 353 quails, 454 other
birds. The emperor fired 9798 shots, and the princess 9010;
in all there were 116,209 shots fired.
Care of the Beard.
The Mahometans are very superstitious touching the beard.
They bury the hairs which come off in combing it, and break
them first, because they believe that angels have charge of '
every hair, and that they gain them their dismissal by break-
ing it. They used to wear pasteboard covers over their beards
215
at night, lest they should turn upon them and rumple them
in their sleep. The famous Raskolniki Schismatics had a
similar superstition about the beard. They believed that the
divine image of man resided in it
Jl Royal Sportsman.
When the King of Naples (the greatest sportsman of
Europe) was in Germany, about the year 1792, it was said in
the German papers that he had killed, in Austria, Bohemia
and Moravia, 5 bears, 1,820 wild boars, 1,968 stags, 13
wolves, 354 foxes, 15,350 pheasants, 1,121 rabbits, 16,354
hares, 1,625 she-goats, 1,625 roebucks and 12,435 partridges.
Origin of Attar of Roses.
In the "Histoire Generale de 1'Empire du Mogol," com-
piled by Catrou the Jesuit, this perfume is said to have been
discovered by accident. "Nur-Jahan, the favorite wife of
the Mogul Jahan-Ghur, among her other luxuries, had a small
canal of rose water. As she was walking with the Mogul
upon its banks, they perceived a thin film upon the water,
which was an essential oil made by the heat of the sun.
They were delighted with its exquisite odor, and means were
immediately taken for preparing by art a substance like that
which had been thus fortuitously produced."
Effect of a New Nose.
Van Heltnont tells a story of a person who applied to
Taliacotius to have his nose restored. This person, having a
dread of an incision being made in his own arm, for the pur-
pose of removing enough skin therefrom for a nose, induced
216
a laborer, for a remuneration, to allow the skin for the nose
to be taken from his arm. About thirteen months after the
adscititious nose suddenly became cold, and, after a few days,
dropped off, in a state of putrefaction. The cause of this
unexpected occurrence was investigated, when it was dis-
covered that, at the same moment in which the nose grew
cold, the laborer at Bologna expired.
Coder Idris Couch.
On the very summit of Cader Idris there is an excavation
in the solid rock, resembling a couch ; and the residents of
the vicinity say that whoever rests for the night in the couch,
will be found in the morning dead, or raving mad, or en-
dued with supernatural genius.
Rights and Lefts.
Centuries ago shoes were made, as now, ' ' rights and lefts. "
The shoes found in the tomb of Bernard, King of Italy, were
"rights and lefts." Shakespeare describes his smith as
" Standing on slippers, which iais nimble haste,
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet. 1 '
Scott, in his " Discoverie of Witchcraft, "observes, "that
he who receiveth a mischance will consider whether he put
not on his shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his
right toot."
Efficacy in a Mutilated Saint.
There is a church connected with the convent at Chartreux,
Provence. It was dedicated to St. John, and over the portico
were colossal statues of the four evangelists, which have been
217
thrown down, and the fragments lie scattered about. When
Miss Plumptre and her party visited the spot, they observed
a woman upon her knees over a fragment of stone, muttering
to herself. When asked whether there was any particular
virtue in the stone, she replied, in French : "Ah, yes ? Tis
a piece of St. John. " She seemed to think that the saint's
intercession in her behalf, mutilated as he was, might still
avail her.
Feasts at Coronations.
The quantity of provisions consumed at the coronations
of some of the English kings was extraordinary. For that of
King Edward I., February loth, 1274, the different sheriffs
of twelve of the counties were ordered to deliver, at Windsor,
a total of 440 oxen, 743 swine, 430 sheep and 22,560 fowls.
A Baker's Dozen.
The " baker's dozen" is an old saying. In "The Witch,"
written by Thomas Middleton, about 1620, we find the fol-
lowing :
Firestone. " May you not have one o'clock into the
dozen, mother?"
Witch. "No."
Firestone. "Your spirits are the more unconscionable
than baker's. "
Wonderful Exhibition with Bees.
\
On the uth day of October, 1766, Mr. Wildman, of Ply-
mouth, who had made himself famous throughout the west of
England for his command over bees, was sent for to wait
on Lord Spencer, at his seat at Wimbledon, in Surrey, and
218
he attended accordingly. Several of the nobility and per-
sons of fashion were assembled, and the countess had pro-
vided three stocks of bees. The first of his performances was
with one hive of bees hanging on his hat, which he carried
in his hand, and the hive they came out of in his other hand ;
this was to show that he could take honey and wax without
destroying the bees. Then he returned to his room, and
came out with them hanging on his chin with a very vener-
able beard. After showing them to the company, he took
them out upon the grass walk facing the windows, where, a
table and a table-cloth being provided, he set the hive upon
the table and made the bees hive therein. Then he made
them come out again and swarm in the air, the ladies and
nobility standing amongst them, and no person stung by them.
He made them go on the table and took them up by hand-
fuls, and tossed them up and down like so many peas ; he
then made them go into the hive at the word of command.
At five o'clock in the afternoon he exhibited again with the
three swarms of bees, one on his head, one on his breast, and
the other on his arm, and waited on Lord Spencer in his room,
who had been too much indisposed to see the former experi-
ment ; the hives which the bees had been taken from were
carried by one of the servants. After this exhibition he with-
drew, but returned once more to the room with the bees all
over his head, face and eyes, and was led blind before his
lordship's window. One of his lordship's horses being brought
out in his body clothes, Mr. Wildman mounted the horse,
with the bees all over his head and face (except his eyes) ;
they likewise covered his breast and left arm : he held a whip
in his right hand, and a groom led the horse backwards and
forwards before his lordship's window for some time. Mr.
W. afterwards took the reins in his hand, rode round the
house, dismounted, and at his word of command the bees
sought their hives. The performance surprised and gratified
219
the earl and countess and all the spectators who assembled
to witness the bee-master's extraordinary exhibition. An-
nual Register, 1766.
A Treacherous Talisman.
Giibner mentions that a Jew once presented himself before
Duke Albrecht, of Saxony, and offered him a charm, engraved
with rare signs and characters, which should render him -
invulnerable. The duke, determined to try it, had the Jew
led out in the field, with his charm round his neck ; he then
drew his sword, and at the first thrust ran the Jew through.
The Cavern Chapel.
Waldron. in his "Description of the Isle of Man" (1731),
speaking of a crypt or subterranean chapel near Peel Castle,
says: "Within are thirteen pillars, on which the whole
chapel is supported. They have a superstition that whatso-
ever stranger goes to see this cavern out of curiosity, and
omits to count the pillars, shall do something to occasion his
being confined there."
Glastoribury Thorn.
This famous hawthorn, which grew on a hill in the church-
yard of Glastonbury Abbey, was said to have sprung from the
staff of Joseph of Arimathea, who, having fixed it in the ground
with his own hand on Christmas day, the staff took root
immediately, put forth leaves, and the next day was covered
with milk-white blossoms. It was declared that this thorn
continued to blow every Christmas day during a long series oi
years, and that slips from the original plant are still preserved,
and continue to blow every Christmas day to the present time.
220
There certainly was in the abbey church-yard a hawthome-
tree which blossomed in winter, and was cut down in the
time of the civil wars; but that it always blossomed on
Christmas day was a mere tale of the monks, calculated to
inspire the vulgar with notions of the sanctity of the place.
Buying and Selling.
There was a singular custom at Rome in connection
with the purchase of provisions. Purchaser and vendor
simultaneously closed, and then suddenly opened, one of their
hands or some of their fingers. If the number of ringers on
both sides was even, the vendor obtained the price which he
had previously asked : but if the number was uneven, the
buyer received the goods for the sum he had just tendered.
Fairy Treasure:
In the Leverian Museum were deposited " Orbicular sparry
bodies, commonly called fairies' money, from the banks of
the Tyne, Northumberland. " Ramon, a character in the play
<>f 'The Fatal Dowry," 1632, says
But not a word of it, 't is fairies' treasure ;
Which but reveaPd, brings on the babbler's mine.
Hour Glasses in Coffins.
A writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1746, says : "In
June, 1718, as I was walking in the fields, I stopt in Clerken-
well church-yard to see a grave-digger at work. He had dug
pretty deep, and was come to a coffin which had lain so long
that it was quite rotten, and the plate eaten so with rust that
he could not read anything of the inscription. In cleaning
221
away the rotten pieces of wood, the grave-digger found an
hour-glass close to the left side of the skull, with sand in it,
the wood of which was so rotten that it broke where he took
hold of it. Being a lover of antiquity, I bought it of him,
and made a drawing of it as it then appeared. Some time
after, mentioning this affair in company of some antiquarians,
they told me that it was an ancient custom to put an hour-
glass into the coffin as an emblem of the sand of life being
run out; others conjectured that little hour-glasses were an-
ciently given at funerals, like rosemary, and by the friends
of the dead put in the coffin or thrown into the grave."
Macduff f s Cross.
The law of Clan Macduff was a privilege of immunity for
homicide anciently enjoyed by those who could claim kindred
with Macduff, Earl of Fife, within the ninth degree. Mac-
duffs cross stood on the march or boundary between Fife and
Strathearn, above Newburg. Any homicide possessed of the
right of clanship who could reach it, and who gave nine kye
(cows) and a clopindash (a young cow) was free of the
slaughter committed by him.
Woman's Cleverness.
It is a singular fact that on one occasion the lives of thou-
sands of the Irish Protestants were saved by a clever device
of a woman.
At the latter end of Queen Mary's reign a commission
was signed for the purpose of punishing the heretics in that
kingdom, and Dr. Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, was honored with
the appointment, to execute which he set off with great alac-
rity. On his arrival at Chester, he sent for the mayor to sup
with him, and, in the course of conversation, related his busi-
ness. Going to his cloak-bag, he took out the box containing
the commission, and, having shown it, with great joy ex-
claimed : "This will lash the heretics of Ireland." Mrs.
Edmonds, the landlady, overheard this discourse, and having
several relations in Ireland who were Protestant, as well as
herself, resolved to play a trick upon the doctor, and while
he went to attend the magistrate to the door, took the com-
mission out of the box, and in its room placed a pack of
cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost. The zealous
doctor, suspecting nothing of the matter, put up his box, took
shipping and arriving safe in Dublin, went immediately to
the viceroy. A council was called, and, after a speech, the
doctor delivered his box, which being opened by the secretary,
the first thing that presented itself was the knave of clubs.
The sight surprised the viceroy and the council, but much
more the doctor, who assured them that he had received a
commission from the queen, but what had become of it he
could not tell. "Well, well," replied the viceroy, "you
must go back for another, and we will shuffle the cards in the
meantime." The doctor hastened across the channel, but at
Holyhead he received the intelligence of the queen's death,
and the accession of Elizabeth, who settled on Mrs. Edmonds
a pension of forty pounds a year for saving her Protestant
subjects in Ireland.
Queer Place to Secrete a Diamond.
An old gentleman recently died at Brussels who has solved
in his will a problem which his friends could never quite
unravel. He came home after a few years absence abroad,
some time ago, with plenty of pecuniary means, though when
he left Brussels he went literally to seek his fortune, since he
had none on starting. In his will, before he specifies his be-
223
quests, of which there are several very liberal ones to friends,
relatives, and also to charitable institutions, he tells for the
first time how he became possessed of his wealth. He went
to Asia and engaged himself as a day laborer in the mines,
and while working there found a diamond of large size and
great value. He at once made a deep cut in the calf of his
leg, where he secreted the gem. Of course, the limb became
very sore and lame, and led to his being permitted to leave
the mine unsuspected. Having reached a safe locality, he
removed the stone and the sore healed up. He worked his
way to Amsterdam, where he sold the diamond for $80,000.
This money, put at interest, not only afforded him a good
living, but enabled him to go on accumulating. The pre-
cious stone is now one of the crown diamonds of Russia.
Incredible Liars.
The French papers, in the autumn of 1821, mention that
a man named Desjardins was tried, on his own confession,
as an accomplice with Louvel, the assassin of the Duke de
Berri. But on his defense, Desjardins contended that his
confession ought not to be believed because he was so noto-
rious for falsehood that nobody would give credit to a word
he said. In support of this, he produced a host of witnesses,
his friend and relatives, who all swore that the excessively
bad character which he had given of himself was true, and
he was declared not guilty.
Before that a similar instance occurred in Ireland. A man
was charged with highway robbery. In the course of the
trial the prisoner roared out from the dock that he was
guilty, but the jury, in their verdict, pronounced him "not
guilty." "Good heavens, gentlemen!" exclaimed the as-
tonished judge, "did you not hear the man himself declare
that he was guilty ?" The foreman answered : ' ' We did,
324
my lord, and that was the very reason we acquitted him, for
we knew the fellow to be such a notorious liar that he never
told a word of truth in his life. "
Force of Imagination.
A peasant saw his dog attacked by a strange and ferocious
mastiff. He tried to separate the animals, and received a
bite from his own dog, which instantly ran off through the
fields. The wound was healed in a few days, and the dog
was not to be found, and the peasant after some time began
to feel symptoms of nervous agitation. He conceived that
the dog, from disappearing, was mad, and within a day or
two after this idea had struck him, he began to feel symp-
toms of hydrophobia. They grew hourly more violent ; he
raved, and had all the evidence of a violent distemper.
As he was lying with the door open to let in the last air
he was to breathe, he heard his dog bark. The animal ran
up to the bedside and frolicked about the room ; it was
clear that he at least was in perfect health. The peasant's
mind was relieved at the instant ; he got up with renewed
strength, dressed himself, plunged is head into a basin of
water, and thus refreshed walked into the room to his as-
tonished family. Pro/. Barrantini.
A Wife Returned.
The annexed story is gravely recorded in " Dodsley's An-
nual Register:" "The following extraordinary affair hap-
pened at Ferrybridge, in 1767. The wife of one Thomas
Benson, being suddenly taken ill, she, to all appearances, ex-
pired, and continued without any symptoms of life the whole
day, and every proper requisite was ordered for her burial ;
but the husband, hoping for consolation in his distress, by
225
some money which he had reason to believe she had secreted
from him in her lifetime, began a rummage for it, and found
seven pounds ten shillings in crown pieces concealed in an old
box; but, upon his attempting to take it away, he was surprised
by his wife, who was just then recovered, and met him and
terribly frightened him by appearing as if nothing had hap-
pened."
Life in Death.
The wife of the consul of Cologne, Retchmuth, apparently
died of the plague, in 1571. A ring of great value, buried
with her, tempted the cupidity of the grave-digger, and was
the cause of many future years of happiness. At night the
purloiner marched to his plunder, and she revived. She
lived to be the mother of three children, and, when really
dead, she was reburied in the same church, where a monu-
ment was erected, upon which the above particulars are re-
cited in German verse Edmund Fillingham King.
Remedy for Bad Dreams.
When a man has dreamed a bad dream in China he need
not despair, for an interpreter of dreams is ready to supply
him with a mystic scroll, which will avert the impending
calamity. It is written on red or yellow paper, and the in-
terpreter rolls it up in the form of a triangle and attaches it to
the dress of his client. The dreamer is then made to look
toward the east, with a sword in his right hand and his mouth
full of spring water. In this position he ejects the water from
his mouth, and beats the air with the sword, repeating in an
imperative tone certain words, of which the following is an
interpretation : "As quickly and with as much strength as
rises the sun in the east, do thou, charm or mystic scroll, avert
226
all the evil influences which are likely to result from my bad
dream. As quickly as lightning passes through the air, O
charm, cause impending evils to disappear." Credulities
Past and Present.
The Letiche.
At'Bayeux, in Normandy, one of the superstitions still cur-
rent relates to a being called a letiche. It is an animal whose
form is scarcely defined of dazzling whiteness which is
only seen in the night time, and disappears the moment any
one attempts to touch it. The letiches are believed to be the
souls of infants who died without baptism. Most probably
this pretty little spirit was no other than the agile and timid
ermine of Normandy and Brittany. Summer Among the
Bocages.
Hell-stones.
These were vast stones formerly used for covering graves,
helicin being the Saxon for " to cover " or conceal. In Dor-
setshire is one of these stones ; and the tradition is, that the
devil flung it from Portland Pike to its present position, as he
was playing at quoits.
The Golden Tooth.
In 1593 it was reported that a Silesian child, seven years
old, had lost all its teeth, and that a golden tooth had grown
in the place of a natural double one. In 1595 Horstius, pro-
fessor of medicine in the University of Helmstadt, wrote the
history of this golden tooth. He said it was partly a natural
event and partly miraculous, and that God had sent it to
the child to console the Christians for their persecution by the
Turks. In the same year Rullandus drew up another account
221
of the golden tooth. Two years afterwards, Ingosteterus,
another learned man, wrote against the opinion which Rullan-
dus had given on this golden tooth. Rullandus immediately
replied in a most elegant and erudite dissertation. Libavius,
a very learned man, compiled all that had been said relative
to this tooth, and subjoined his remarks upon it. Nothing
was wanting to recommend these erudite writings to posterity
but proof that the tooth was gold. A goldsmith examined it,
and found it a natural tooth artificially gilt.
The Devil Regarded as a Benefactor of the
Human Race.
The Ophites were a sect who, like most Gnostics, regarded
the Jehovah of the Old Testament with great abhorrence.
Regarding the emancipation of man from the power and con-
trol of Jehovah as the most important end, they considered
the serpent who tempted Eve and introduced "knowledge"
and "revolt" into the world, to have been the great benefac-
tor of the human race. They worshipped the serpent, and
sought to engraft Ophism upon Christianity by causing the
bread designed for the Eucharistic sacrifice to be licked by a
serpent which was kept in a cave for the purpose, and which
the communicants kissed after receiving the Eucharist.
Curse of Scotland.
This is a term applied to the nine of diamonds in a pack of
playing cards. Much uncertainty prevails respecting the
origin of the phrase. The most probable explanation is that
it refers to the detestation entertained in Scotland toward
John Dalrymple, first Earl of Stair, on account of his con-
nection with the Massacre of Glencoe, for which he had to
resign office in 1695. The heraldic bearing of this person
consisted of nine lozenges on a field of azure. These nine
lozenges resembled the nine of diamonds, and hence the
popular phrase, the " Curse of Scotland."
Curse of Innocent Blood.
Southey, in his " Common-place Book," has traced the out-
lines of what might be worked up into a very effective story
of "citation" for those who unjustly and cruelly put others
to death. " The Philipsons of Colgarth coveted a field, like
Ahab, and had the possessor hung for an offence which he had
not committed. The night before his execution the old man
(for he was very old) read the logth Psalm as his solemn and
dying commination, verses 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16."
The verses contain a prayer for vengeance upon the "wicked
and deceitful," who "have spoken with a lying tongue," and
whose days are to be few, their children to be fatherless and
continually vagabonds and beggars, and their posterity to be
cut off. "The curse," Southey adds, "was fully accom-
plished ; the family were cut off, and the only daughter who
remained sold laces and bobbins about the country."
Legend of an Inventor.
A story is told of an inventor whose skill was the occasion
of his own death. An immense bell, with the twelve hours
carved upon it, had been hung in a high tower. A female
figure was so arranged as to glide from her hiding place and
strike each hour on the bell with a huge hammer. Every-
thing was in its place, and it had been previously arranged
with the concourse below, who had assembled to hear the
bell strike, that it should sound the hour of one. Forgetful
229
that the hour approached, the artist was still at work upon the
carving of the bell, with his head near it, when the female
figure, true to the machinery that moved it, glided from its
place, and, hammer in hand, struck a fatal blow upon the
head of the workman.
A. Strange Legend.
We are told that when St. Helena had discovered the true
cross of Christ, she permitted various fragments to be taken
from it, which were encased, some in gold and some in gems,
and conveyed to Europe, leaving the main part of the wood
in the charge of the Bishop of Jerusalem, who exhibited it
annually at Easter, until Chosroes, King of Persia, plundered
Jerusalem in the reign of Phocas, and took away the holy
relic. Before this fatal event we are taught to believe, by
Rigordus, an historian of the thirteenth century, that the
mouths of Christians used to be supplied with thirty teeth,
and in some instances, no doubt according to their faith, with
thirty-two teeth; but that after the cross was stolen by the
infidels no mortal has ever been allowed more than twenty-
three !
Abraham and Sarah.
The Talmudists relate that Abraham, in traveling to Egypt,
brought with him a chest. At the custom house the officers
exacted the duties. Abraham would have readily paid them,
but desired they would not open the chest. They first insisted
on the duties for clothes, which Abraham consented to pay ;
but then they thought, by his ready acquiescence, that it
might be gold ; he consented to pay for gold. They then
began to suspect it might contain silk, whereupon Abraham
was willing to pay for silk or costly pearls; in short, he con-
sented to pay as if the chest contained the most valuable of
230
things. It was then resolved to open and examine the chest;
and. behold ! as soon as the chest was opened, that great
lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in
the land of Egypt, it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abra-
ham, to conceal her beauty, had locked her up in the chest.
Tradition of the Temple.
There is a beautiful tradition connected with the site on
which the temple of Solomon was erected. It is said to have
been occupied in common by two brothers, one of whom had
a family and the other none. On the spot was a field of
wheat. On the evening succeeding the harvest, the wheat
having been gathered in shocks, the elder brother said to his
wife, " My younger brother is unable to bear the burden and
heat of the day ; I will arise, take of my shocks, and place
them with his, without his knowledge." The other brother,
actuated by the same benevolent motives, said within himself,
" My elder brother has a family, and I have none ; I will
contribute to their support ; I will arise, take of my shocks,
and place them with his, without his knowledge."
Judge of their mutual astonishment when, on the following
morning, they found their respective shocks undiminished.
This course of events transpired for several nights, when each
resolved in his mind to stand guard and solve the mystery.
They did so, and on the following night met each other half-
way between the respective shocks, with their arms full.
Magnetic Cures.
The use of the magnet for the cure of diseases was known to
the ancients. It was known to Aetius, who lived as early as
the year 500. He says : " We are assured that those who are
231
troubled with the gout in their hands or their feet, or with
convulsions, find relief when they hold a magnet in their
hands." Paracelsus recommended the magnet in a number
of diseases, while Kircher tells us that it was worn around the
neck as a preventive against convulsions and affections of the
nerves. About the end of the seventeenth century magnetic
tooth-picks were made, and extolled as a secret preventive
against pains in the teeth, eyes and ears.
May Dew a Cure for Freckles.
The "Morning Post," (England,) issued for the 2d day of
May, 1791, states that the day before, "being the first of
May, according to annual and superstitious custom, a number
of persons went into the fields and bathed their faces with the
dew on the grass, under the idea that it would render them
beautiful."
Singular Hindoo Vow.
The following extraordinary vow is performed by some of
the Hindoos at their festival of Charak Puja : Stretching him-
self on the ground on his back, the devotee takes a handful
of moist earth, and placing it on his under lip, he plants in It
some mustard seed, and exposes himself to the dews of the
night and the heat of the day until the seeds germinate. In
this posture the man must remain in a fixed, motionless con-
dition, without food or drink, until the vegetable process
liberates him, which will generally be about the fourth day.
Satanic Superstitions.
That the devil has a "cloven foot," which he cannot hide
if it be looked for, is a common belief with the vulgar There
232
is a popular superstition in England relative to goats, that
they are never to be seen for twenty-four hours together, and
that once in that space they pay a visit to the devil in order
to have their beards combed.
Healing by the King.
On the 1 8th of May, 1664, the following public advertise-
ment was issued for the healing of the people by King Charles
II.:
NOTICE.
His sacred majesty having declared it to be his royal will
and purpose to continue the healing of his people for the evil
during the month of May, and then give over till Michalmas
next, I am commanded to give notice thereof, that the people
may not come up to the town in the interim and lose their
labour. NEWES, 1664.
Hallow Wen Customs.
Burns says that "burning the nuts is a favorite charm.
They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay
them in the fire; and accordingly, as they burn quietly
together or start from beside one another, the course and
issue of the courtship will be." In Ireland, when the young
women would know if their lovers are faithful, they put three
nuts upon the bars of the grates, naming the nuts after the
lovers. If a nut cracks or jumps, the lover will prove unfaith-
ful ; if it begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard for the per-
son making the trial. If the nuts, named after the girl and
her lover, burn together, they will be married. This sort of
divination is also practiced in England. Gay mentions it in
his "Spell"
233
"Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,
Aad to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name;
This with the loudest bounce me sore amaz'd,
That in a. flame of brightest colour blaz'd;
As blaz'd the nut, so may thy passion grow,
For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow."
Another charm consisted in eating an apple. "Take a
candle and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an apple before
it, and some traditions say you should comb your hair all the
time ; the face of your conjugal companion to be will be seen
in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder."
A third is, "to dip your left shirt-sleeve in a burn where
three lairds' lands meet." "You go out, one or more for
this is a social spell to a south-running spring or rivulet,
where three lairds' lands meet, and dip your left shirt-sleeve.
Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet sleeve before
it to dry. Lie awake ; and some time near midnight an
apparition, having the exact figure of the party in question,
will come and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the other side
of it."
A fourth is performed as follows: " Take three dishes; put
clean water in one, foul water in another, and leave the third
empty; blindfold a person and lead him to the hearth where
the dishes are ranged ; he (or she) dips the left hand ; if by
chance in the clean water, the future husband or wife will
come to the bar of matrimony a maid; if in the foul, a
widow ; if in the empty dish, it foretells with equal certainty
no marriage at all. It is repeated three times, and every
time the arrangement of the dishes is altered."
Pennant says that the young women in Scotland determine
the figure and size of their prospective husbands by drawing
cabbages blindfolded. "They must go out, hand in hand,
with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with. Its being
little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape
234
of the grand object of all their spells the husband or wife.
Earth sticking to the roots indicates a fortune."
St. Agnes' Eve.
Formerly this was a night of great import to maidens who
desired to know whom they were to marry. Of such it was
required that they should not eat on this day, and those who
conformed to the rule called it fasting St. Agnes' fast. Ben
Jonson says
And on sweet St. Agnes' night,
Please you with the promis'd sight,
Some of husbands, some of lovers,
Which an empty dream discovers.
Old Aubrey gives a form whereby a lad or lass was to
attain a sight of the fortunate lover. "Upon St. Agnes'
night you take a row of pins, and pull out every one, one
after another, saying a Pater Noster, sticking a pin in your
sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry."
Her vespers done
Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees;
Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one;
Loosens her fragrant boddice ; by degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees.
Half hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,
Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees,
In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed,
But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled. A'eates.
St. Patrick's Birth-day.
Saint Patrick, according to ancient lore, having been born
at Kilpatrick, Scotland, landed near Wicklow, in the year of
grace 433. Originally there was a dispute, according to
235
Lover, as to the true anniversary of this renowned saint, some
supposing the eighth and others the ninth to be the correct
day. The humorist represents a priest as settling the difficulty
as follows :
Says he, "Boys, don't be fighting for eight or for nine;
Do n't be always dividing but sometimes combine ;
Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark,
So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk.
So they all got blind drunk which completed their bliss,
And we keep up the practice from that day to this !
Wassailing the Orchards.
In Devonshire, according to Brand, on the eve of the
Epiphany, the farmer and his men, with a large pitcher of
cider, visit the orchard, and, encircling one of the best bearing
trees, they drink the following toast three several times :
"Here's to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
And whence thou may'st bear apples enow !
Hats full! caps full!
Bushel bushel sacks full !
And my pockets full too ! Huzza!"
This done, they return to the house, to find the doors bolted
by the ladies, who will not open until some one guesses what
is on the spit, and which is the reward of him who names it.
Some are so superstitious as to believe that if they neglect
this ceremony, the trees will bear no apples that year. In
allusion to a similar ceremony practiced in Sussex and Essex
on New Year's eve, Herrick, in his "Hesperides," says
" Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum, and many a pear;
For more or less fruits they will bring,
As you do give them wassailing."
236
Cutting Off the Fiddler's Head.
A very singular merriment in the Isle of Man is mentioned
by Waldron, in his history of that place. He says that
" during the whole twelve days of Christmas there is not a
barn unoccupied, and that every parish hires fiddlers at the
public charge. On twelfth-day the fiddler lays his head in
some one of the girls' laps, and a third person asks who such a
maid, or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls then
present one after another ; to which the fiddler answers, ac-
cording to his own whim, or agreeably to the intimacies he
has taken notice of during this time of merriment. But what-
ever he says is as absolutely depended upon as an oracle ;
and if he happens to couple two people who have an aversion
to each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This
they call cutting off the fiddler's head ; for after this he is
dead for the whole year."
Striking with Nettles.
A painful and mischievous custom prevailed on May eve in
the south of Ireland so late as the year 1825. "It was a
common practice for school boys, on that day, to consider
themselves privileged to run wildly about with a bunch of
nettles, striking at the face and hands of their companions,
or any other person whom they felt they could assault with
impunity."
Singular Burial Customs.
In the department of the Hautes Alpes, of France, in and
around the village of Andrieux, the dead are wrapped in a
winding sheet, but are not inclosed in a coffin. In the valleys
of Queyras and Grave, the dead are suspended in a barn
during five months in the winter, until the earth is softened by
28t
the sun 's rays, when the corpse is consigned to its native ele-
ment. On the return to the home of the deceased, it becomes
a scene of bacchanalian revelry, in which the groans and sighs
of the mourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebri-
ated guests. At Argentiere, after the burial, the tables are set
out round the church -yard ; that of the curate and the mourn-
ing family over the grave itself.
Treatment of Lepers in England.
According to the tenor of various old civil codes and local
enactments, when a person became affected with leprosy he
was looked upon as legally and politically dead, and lost the
privileges of citizenship. He was classed with idiots, mad-
men and outlaws, and was not allowed to inherit. The church
performed the solemn ceremonies of the burial of the dead
over him on the day on which he was separated from his
fellow-men, and confined to a lazar-house. A priest, with
surplice, stole and crucifix, conducted the leper from his resi-
dence to the church, and thence to the lazar-house. As the
priest left the latter place he threw upon the body of the poor
outcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closing of a
grave.
Kissed while Asleep.
There exists an old social custom of claiming a pair of
gloves, from man or woman, by a kiss given when asleep.
Allusion to this occurs in Scott's "Fair Maid of Perth."
Catherine Glover, on St. Valentine's day, found Henry of
the Wynd asleep in a chair in her father's house. She stole a
kiss from him, thereby choosing him as her valentine, and
winning a pair of gloves. Her father, who was a glove-maker,
says: "Thou knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a
88
sleeping man wins of him a pair of gloves. Come to my
booth. Thou shalt have a pair of delicate kid-skin that will
exactly suit her hand and arm."
How the Chinese Secure a Pastor.
The fourth of February, says the Nevada Transcript, is
the day on which the Chinese select one of their number to
preside over their Joss house. The manner of proceeding is
as follows : The two companies here are permitted to have
each a certain number of representatives, and the fleetest and
strongest men are generally chosen. These delegates repair
to a vacant lot at the rear of the Joss house. A stipulated
number of bombs, each one containing a metallic ring, are
placed in charge of a committee, whose duty it is to fire off
the bombs, one at a time. When the explosion takes place,
the ring contained in the bomb is sent flying into the air.
It is the desire of the two factions to have their respective
delegates to secure as many of the rings as possible. Of
course, a general scramble ensues. At the close, the side
which has secured the most rings is entitled to select a Joss
(equivalent to a minister of the gospel with us) from among
their number.
Easter-Box.
A custom was instituted in the city of Toulouse by Charle-
magne, that at Easter any Christian might give a box on the
ear to a Jew wherever he chanced to meet him, as a mark of
contempt for the nation which had, at that season, crucified
the Saviour of mankind. This usage, scandalous in itself,
was sometimes, through zeal, practiced with great violence.
It is stated that the eye of a poor Jew was forced out on the
side of the head whereon the blow was given. In the course of
239
centuries this cruel custom was commuted for a tax, and the
money appropriated to the use of the church of St. Saturnin.
Antipathies.
Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted
whenever he saw a rose, and never quitted his cell when that
flower was blooming. Scaliger mentions one of his relatives
who experienced a similar horror when seeing a lily. Mon-
taigne stated that there were men who dreaded an apple more
than they did a musket ball. Zimmerman tells us of a lady
who could not endure the touch of silk and satin, and shud-
dered when placing her hand upon the velvet skin of a peach.
Boyle records the case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence
to honey. Without his knowledge, some honey was mixed
with a plaster applied to his foot, and his agony compelled
his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known to
faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates
mentions one Nicanor who swooned whenever he heard a
flute. Erasmus experienced febrile symptoms when smelling
fish. The Duke d'Epernon swooned on beholding a leveret,
although a hare did not produce the same effect. Henry
III. of France fainted at the sight of a cat, and Marshal
d' Albert at the sight of a pig.
Superstitions Respecting Bees.
The lower order of people in some parts of England have
curious superstitions respecting the bee. A poor old widow
once complained to me that all her stocks of bees had died,
and on inquiring the cause, she informed me that on the death
of her husband, a short time before, she had neglected to tap
at each of the hives, to inform the bees of the circumstance;
240
that, in consequence of this omission, they had been gradually
getting weaker and weaker, and that now she had not one
left. Mr. Loudon mentions, that when he was in Bedford-
shire, he was informed of an old man who sang a psalm in
front of some hives which were not doing well, but which he
said would thrive in consequence of that ceremony. In Nor-
folk, at places where bees are kept, it is an indispensable
ceremony, in case of the death of any of the family, to put the
bees in mourning, or the consequence would be that all of
them would die. The method of putting them in mourning is
to attach a piece of black cloth to each of the hives. In the
neighborhood of Coventry, in the event of the death of any
of the family, it is considered necessary to inform the bees of
the circumstance, otherwise they will dwindle and die. The
manner of communicating the intelligence to the little com-
munity, is, with due form and ceremony, to take the key of
the house, and knock with it three times against the hive,
informing the inmates, at the same time, of the bereavement.
A similar custom prevails in Kent. Mr. Jesse.
Welcoming the New Moon.
In Scotland, especially among the Highlanders, the women
make a courtesy to the new moon. In some parts of England
the women exclaim, upon seeing the new moon: "A fine
moon, God bless her!"
The Bodach Glas.
Among the warnings or notices of death to be found in the
dark chronicle of superstitions, the omens peculiar to certain
families are not the least striking. Pennant tells us that
many of the great families in Scotland had their demon, or
341
genius, who gave them monitions of future events. Thus the
family of Rothmurchan had the Bodac an Dun, or Ghost of the
Hill; and the Kincardines, the Spectre of the Bloody Hand.
The Bodach Glas is introduced in the novel of "Waverley,"
as the family superstition of the Maclvors, the truth of which
had been proved by an experience of three hundred years.
Bodach is from the Saxon, Bode, a messenger, a tidings-
bringer; Glas, the Gaelic for gray, the "Gray Messenger."
The appearance of a tall figure in a gray plaid was always
regarded as an omen of an early death in the family.
Strange Instance of Sympathy.
The Duke de Saint Simon mentions in his "Memoirs" a
singular instance of constitutional sympathy between two
brothers. These were twins the President de Banquemore
and the Governor de Bergues, who were surprisingly alike,
not only in their persons, but in their feelings. One morn-
ing, he tells us, when the president was at his royal audience,
he was suddenly attacked by an intense pain in the thigh; at
the same instant, as it was discovered afterwards, his brother,
who was with the army, received a severe wound from a sword
on the same leg, and precisely the same part of the leg.
Double Apparition.
In a letter of Philip, the second Earl of Chesterfield, it is
related, that "on a morning in 1652, the earl saw an object
in white, like a standing sheet, within a yard of his bedside.
He attempted to catch it, but it slid to the foot of the bed,
and he saw it no more. His thoughts turned to his lady, who
was then at Networth, with her father, the Earl of Northumber-
land. On his arrival at Networth, a footman met him on the
242
stairs, with a packet directed to him from his wife, whom he
found with Lady Essex, her sister, and Mr. Ramsey. He
was asked why he had returned so suddenly. He told his
motive; and on perusing the letters in the packet, he found
that his lady had written to him, requesting his return, for she
had seen an object in white, with a black face, by her bedside.
These apparitions were seen by the earl and countess at the
same moment, when they were forty miles asunder. ' '
Spirit of Dundee.
At the time Viscount Dundee fell in the battle of Killie-
crankie, in 1689, his friend, the Lord Balcarras, was a prisoner
in the Castle of Edinburg, upon a strong suspicion of attach-
ment to the unfortunate house of Stuart. The captive earl
was in bed, when a hand drew aside the curtain, and the
figure of his friend was revealed to him, armed as for battle.
The spectre gazed mournfully on Lord Balcarras, passed to
the other end of the chamber, leaned some time on the mantle-
piece, and then slowly passed out of the door. The earl, not
for a moment supposing that he was looking at an apparition,
called out "Stop!" but the figure heeded him not. Immedi-
ately afterwards, the news was conveyed to his lordship of the
battle, and that the gallant Dundee was slain ; or, as the song
says, that
" Low lay the bonnet of bonny Dundee."
Captain Kidd's Vision.
Lord Byron used to mention a strange story which the com-
mander of a packet related to him. This officer stated, that
being asleep one night in his berth, he was awakened by the
pressure of something heavy on his limbs; and, there being a
faint light in his room, could see, as he thought distinctly,
243
the figure of his brother, who was at that time in the same
service in the East Indies, dressed in his uniform, and stretched
across the bed. Concluding it to be an illusion of the senses,
he shut his eyes and made an effort to sleep. But still the
same pressure continued, and still, as often as he ventured to
look, he saw the figure lying across in the same position. To
add to his wonder, on putting forth his hand to touch the
figure, he found the uniform in which it appeared to be
dressed dripping wet. On the entrance of one of his brother
officers, to whom he called out in alarm, the apparition
vanished. A few months later Captain Kidd received intel-
ligence that on that very night his brother had been drowned
in the Indian seas. Moore's Life of Byron.
Sir Henry Wotton's Strange Dream.
Honest Isaac Walton makes Sir Henry Wotton a dreamer
in the family line ; for, just before his death, he dreamed that
the University treasury was robbed by townsmen and poor
scholars, and that the number was five. He then wrote to
his son Henry at Oxford, inquiring about it, and the letter
reached him the morning after the night of the robbery.
"Henry," says the account, "shows his father's letter about,
which causes great wonderment, especially as the number of
thieves was exactly correct."
Supernatural Appearance at Holland
House.
Aubrey tells us, in his "Miscellanies," that "the beauti-
ful Lady Diana Rich, daughter of the Earl of Holland, as she
was walking in her father's garden, at Kensington, to take the
fresh air before dinner, about eleven o'clock, being then very
244
*rell, met with her own apparition habit and everything as
in a looking-glass. About a month after she died of small-
pox. It is said that her sister, the Lady Elizabeth Thynne,
saw the like of herself also, before she died. This account I
had from a person of honor. ' '
Old Grimaldi' s Death.
Grimaldi, the father of "Joe," the celebrated clown, had
a vague yet profound dread of the i4th day of the month. At
its approach he was always nervous, disquieted, anxious;
directly it had passed, he was another man again, and invari-
ably exclaimed, in his broken English, "Ah! now I am safe
for anoder month. ' ' If this circumstance were unaccompanied
by any singular coincidence, it would be scarcely worth men-
tioning; but it is remarkable that Grimaldi actually died on
the i4th of March, and that he was born, christened and mar-
ried on the 1 4th of the month. Dickens 1 Life of Grimaldi.
Twelfth-night Omens.
In Normandy, if any of the family are absent when the
cake is cut on Twelfth-night, his share is carefully put by. If
he remains well, it is believed that the cake continues fresh;
if ill, it begins to be moist; if he dies, the cake spoils.
Twofold Apparition.
Mrs. Mathews relates, in the memoirs of her husband, the
celebrated comedian, that he was one night in bed and unable
to sleep from the excitement that continues some time after
acting; when, hearing a rustling by the side of his bed, he
looked out and saw his first wife, who was then dead, standing
245
by the bedside, dressed as when alive. She smiled and bent
forward, as if to take his hand; but in his alarm he threw
himself out on the floor to avoid the contact, and was found
by the landlord in a fit. On the same night, and at the same
hour, the second Mrs. Mathews, who was far away from her
husband, received a similar visit from her predecessor, whom
she had known when alive. She was quite awake, and in her
terror seized the bell-rope to summon assistance ; the rope
gave way, and she fell with it in her hand to the floor.
Dr. Donne's Apparition.
Isaac Walton gives an account of this apparition in the life
of Dr. Donne. The doctor left his wife unwell in London,
and went with Sir Robert Drury to Paris. Two days after
arriving there he stated to Drury that he had had a vision of
his wife walking through his room, with her hair hanging over
her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms. So impressed
were they by the incident that they immediately sent a mes-
senger to London to inquire regarding Mrs. Donne's health.
The intelligence procured by the man was, that she had been
brought to bed of a dead child at the very hour in which her
husband thought he had seen her in Paris.
Picture Omens.
Archbishop Laud, not long before the disastrous circum-
stance happened which hastened his tragical end, on entering
his study one day, found his picture at full length on the floor,
the string which held it to the wall having snapped. The
sight of this struck the prelate with such a sense of the proba-
bility of his fate, that from that time he did not enjoy a
moment's peace. The Duke of Buckingham was struck by an
346
occurrence of a similar kind; he found his picture in the
Council Chamber fallen out of its frame. This accident, in
that age of omens, was looked upon with a considerable degree
of awe.
Felling Oaks.
In the "Magna Britannia," the author, in his "Account
of the Hundred of Croydon," says: "Our historians take
notice of two things in this parish which may not be con-
venient to us to omit, viz : A great wood called Norwood,
belonging to the archbishops, wherein was anciently a tree
called the Vicar's Oak, where four parishes met, as it were,
in a point. It is said to have consisted wholly of oaks, and
among them was one that bore a mistletoe, which some persons
were so hardy as to cut for the gain of selling it to the apothe-
caries of London, leaving a branch of it to sprout out ; but
they proved unfortunate after it, for one of them fell lame and
others lost an eye. At length, in the year 1678, a certain
man, notwithstanding that he was warned against it, upon the
account of what the others had suffered, ventured to cut the
tree down, and he soon after broke his leg.
" To fell oaks has long been counted fatal, and such as
believe it produce the instance of the Earl of Winchilsea, who,
having felled a curious grove of oaks, soon after found his
countess dead in her bed suddenly, and his eldest son, the
Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea by a cannon ball."
Lord Bacon's Dream.
When Lord Bacon, as he himself records, dreamt in Paris
that he saw "his father's house in the country plastered all
over with black mortar," his feelings were highly wrought
upon ; the emotions under which he labored were of a very
247
apprehensive kind, and he had no doubt that the next intelli-
gence from England would apprise him of the death of his
father. The sequel proved that his apprehensions were well
grounded, for his father actually died the same night in which
he had his remarkable dream.
Reckless Disregard of Omens.
P. Claudius, in the First Punic War, caused the sacred
chickens, who would not leave their cage, to be pitched into
the sea, saying: "If they will not eat, they must drink."
Sailors' Whistling.
Zoraster imagined there was an evil spirit that could excite
violent storms of wind. The sailors are tinctured with a
superstition of the kind, which is the reason why they so
seldom whistle on ship-board ; when becalmed, their whistling
is an invocation.
The Hinder Well-spout Unlucky.
A curious instance of popular superstition, in defiance of
plain facts to the contrary, is related in a letter written in the
year 1808, published in Dr. Aikin's "Athenseum." The
writer says that in the year 1801, he visited Glasgow, and,
passing one of the principal streets in the neighborhood of the
Iron Church, observed about thirty people, chiefly women and
girls, gathered round a large public pump, waiting their turn
to draw water. The pump had two spouts, behind and before ;
but he noticed that the hinder one was carefully plugged up,
no one attempting to fill her vessel from that source, although
she had to wait so long till her turn came at the other spout.
24S
On inquiry, the visitor was informed that, though the same
handle brought the same water from the same well through
either and both of the spouts, yet the populace, and even
some better informed people, had for a number of years con-
ceived an idea, which had become hereditary and fixed, that
the water passing through the hindermost spout would be
unlucky and poisonous . This prejudice received from time to
time a certain sanction; for in the spout, through long disuse,
a kind of dusty fur collected, and this, if at any time the water
was allowed to pass through, made it at first run foul thus
confirming the superstitious prejudice of the people, who told
the traveler that it was certain death to drink of the water
drawn from the hindermost spout. The magistrates had
sought to dispel the ignorant terror of the populace, by clean-
ing out the well repeatedly in their presence, and explaining
to them the internal mechanism of the pump, but all was in
vain.
Assuming the Form of a Bird.
That the soul quits the dead body in the form of a bird, is
a wide-spread belief, and has been the subject of superstitious
fancies from the earliest times. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics,
a bird signifies the soul of man.
In the legend of St. Polycarp, who was burned alive, his
blood extinguished the flames, and from his ashes arose a
white dove which flew towards heaven. It was said that a
dove was seen to issue from the funeral pyre of Joan of Arc.
In the Breton ballad of "Lord Nann and the Kerrigan"
there is an allusion to spirit-bearing doves
" It was a marvel to see, men say,
The night that followed the day,
The lady in earth by her lord lay,
To see two oak-trees themselves rear
From the new-made grave into the air;
249
" And on their branches two doves white,
Who were there hopping gay and light ;
Which sang when rose the morning ray,
And then toward heaven sped away."
A wild song, sung by the boatmen of the MoK, in Venice,
declares that the spirit of Daniel Manin, the patriot, is flying
about the lagoons to this day in the shape of a beautiful dove.
In the Paris Figaro (October, 1872), is an account of the
death of a gipsy belonging to a tribe encamped in the Rue
Duhesme. Among other ceremonies, a live bird was held
close to the lips of the dying girl, with the view of introduc-
ing her soul into the bird.
In certain districts of Russia bread-crumbs are placed in a
piece of white linen, outside of the window, for six weeks,
under the belief that the soul of the recent inmate will come,
in the shape of a bird, to feed upon the crumbs. When
Deacon Theodore and his three schismatic brethren were
burnt in 1681, the souls of the martyrs, as the "Old Believers"
affirm, appeared in the air as pigeons.
Talismanic Stones in Birds.
Among the curiosities of ancient credulity was the belief
that certain birds possessed stones of remarkable talismanic
virtue. One of these was supposed to be found in the brain
of the vulture, which gave health to the finder and successful
results when soliciting favors. Dioscorides gives an account
of the use of an eagle-stone in detecting larceny. The Alec-
toriuS) a stone worn by the wrestler Milo, was so called from
being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl. A stone like a
crystal, as large as a bean, extracted from a cock, was con-
sidered by the Romans to make the wearer invisible. Corvia
was the name of a stone obtained from the nest of a crow.
The swallow-stone was a Norman superstition, according to
250
which the bird knows how to find on the seashore a stone that
restores sight to the blind. Longfellow, in "Evangeline,"
says
" Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the swallow
Brings from the shore of the sea, to restore the sight of her fledglings."
Birds Prognosticating Death.
In old times it was believed that certain birds prognosti-
cated death. In Lloyd's " Stratagems of Jerusalem " (1602),
he says: "By swallows lighting upon Pirrhus' tents, and
lighting upon the mast of Mar. Antonius' ship, sayling
after Cleopatra to Egypt, the soothsayers did prognosti-
cate that Pirrhus should be slaine at Argos, in Greece, and Mar.
Antonius in Egypt. ' ' He alludes to swallows following Cyrus
from Persia to Scythia, from which the magi foretold his death.
Ravens followed Alexander the Great in returning from India,
and going to Babylon, which was a sure presage of his end.
Among the Danish peasantry the appearance of a raven in
the village is considered an indication that the parish priest is
to die. "There is a common feeling in Cornwall," observes
Mr. Hunt, "that the croaking of a raven over the house bodes
evil to some of the family." Marlowe, in his "Rich Jew of
Malta," described the " sad-presaging raven"
" That tolls
The sick man's passport in her hollow beak,
And in the shadow of the silent night
Doth shake contagion from her sable wings."
Gay, in "The Dirge," notices the presage
" The boding raven on her cottage sat
And with hoarse croakings warn'd us of our fate."
A number of crows are said to have fluttered about Cicero's
head on the very day he was murdered.
251
An evil prognostic attends the bittern in its flight. Bishop
Hall, alluding to a superstitious man, says : " If a bittern flies
over his head by night, he makes his will."
Homer has immortalized the crane as foreboding disaster
" That when inclement winters vex the plain
With piercing frosts, or thick descending rain, ,
To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,
With noise and order, through the midway sky ;
To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
And all tie war descends upon the wing."
Here is a saying that includes the magpie as a presager of
death
"One's joy, two's a greet [crying],
Three's a wedding, four's a sheet [winding sheet]."
The burree ckurree, an Indian night bird, preys upon dead
bodies. The Mohammedans say that should a drop of the
blood of a corpse, or any part of it, fall from this bird's beak
on a human being, he will die at the end of forty days.
The Crossbill.
There is an odd superstition connected with the crossbill,
m Thuringia, which makes the wood-cutters very careful of
the nests. This bird in captivity is subject to many diseases,
such as weak eyes, swelled and ulcerated feet, etc., arising
probably from the heat and accumulated vapors of the stove-
heated rooms where they are kept. The Thuringian moun-
taineer believes that these wretched birds can take upon them-
selves any diseases to which he is subject, and always keeps
some near him. He is satisfied that a bird whose upper
mandible bends to the right, has the power of transferring
colds and rheumatisms from man to itself; and if the mandible
252
turns to the left, he is equally certain that the bird can render
the same service to the women. The crossbill is often attacked
with epilepsy, and the Thuringians drink every day the water
left by the bird, as a specific against that disease.
The Ostrich.
The ancient myth about the ostrich was that she did not
hatch her eggs by setting upon them, but by the rays of light
and warmth from her eyes. Southey alludes to this in (
"Thalaba"
With such a look as fables say
The mother ostrich fixes on her eggs,
Till that intense affection
Kindle its light of life.
Honoring the Lark.
In Russia, on the pth of March, the day on which the larks
are supposed to arrive, the rustics make clay images of those
birds, smear them with honey, tip their heads with tinsel, and
then carry them about, singing songs to spring, or to Lada,
their vernal goddess.
The Nightingale.
Milton's exquisite sonnet to the nightingale makes pointed
reference to the fancy that her song portended success in love.
Faber, in the "Cherwell Water Lily," gives an angelic char-
acter to the strains of the nightingale. The classical fable of
the unhappy Philomela may have given origin to the concep-
tion that the nightingale sings with its breast impaled upon a
thorn. The earliest notice of this myth by an English poet
253
is, probably, that in the "Passionate Pilgrim" of Shakes-
peare
" Everything doth banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone.
She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean 'd her brtast up till a thorn,
And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,
That to hear it was great pity."
The Blackbird originally White.
There is a curious story of the blackbird that its original
color was white, but it became black because one year three
of the days were so cold that it had to take refuge in a
chimney. Mr. Swainson says that "these three days (January
3oth, 3ist and February ist) are called in the neighborhood
of Brescia, "I giorni della merla," the blackbird's days.
The Dove.
The dove amongst birds, from its gentle and loving nature
in the first place, and in the second from the purity of its
plumage, has been preferably selected as the image of the
Holy Ghost.
According to an apocryphal gospel, the Holy Ghost, under
the form of a dove, designated Joseph as the spouse of the
Virgin Mary by alighting on his head; and in the same man-
ner, says Eusebius, was Fabian indicated as the divinely-
appointed Bishop of Rome. According to a singular legend,
the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, was present at the
Council of Nice, and signed the creed that was there framed !
There are many legends of a similar character.
At the consecration of Clovis the divine dove is said
actually to have presided over the Christian destinies of France.
254
Clovis and the Bishop of Rheims, St. Remi, proceeded in
procession to the baptistry, where the chief of the Franks was
to be consecrated king and made a Christian. When they
arrived there, the priest, bearing the holy chrism, was stopped
by the crowd, and could not reach the font. But a dove,
whiter than snow, brought thither in her beak the "ampoule "
(a phial of white glass) filled with chrism sent from heaven.
St. Remi took the vessel and perfumed with chrism the bap-
tismal water.
In a painted window at Lincoln College, Oxford, Elisha
the prophet is represented with a double-headed dove seated
on his shoulder. This becomes intelligent on referring to his
petition to Elijah, when he entreated that "a double portion "
of his spirit might rest upon him.
The dove, as a harbinger of good news, is alluded to in one
of Martial's epigrams
" A dove soft glided through the air
On Aretulla's bosom bare.
This might seem chance, did she not stay,
Nor would, permissive, wing her way.
But, if a pious sister's vows
The Master of mankind allows,
This envoy of Sardoan skies
From the returning exile flies."
Killing a Robin.
In old times ill-luck attended the killing of a robin. If one
died in the hand, it was believed that the hand would always
tremble. In "Six Pastorals," by George Smith, 1770, the
following occurs :
" I found a robin's nest within our shed
And in the barn a wren has young one's bred;
I never take away their nest, nor try
To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die.
255
Dick took a robin's nest from the cottage side,
And ere a twelvemonth pass'd his mother died."
In Derbyshire, among many other places, it is believed that
the catching and killing of a robin, or taking the eggs from
the nest, is sure to be followed by misfortune, such as the
death of cattle, blight of corn, etc. The folks say
" Robins and wrens
Are God's best cocks and hens.
Martins and swallows
Are God's best scholars."
In Yorkshire, if a robin is killed, it is believed that the
family cow will give bloody milk.
The Cuckoo.
A superstition prevails in Ireland, and in some parts of
England, that any young person, on first hearing the cuckoo,
will find a hair of the color of their sweetheart's adhering to
their stocking, if they will at once take off their left shoe and
examine it carefully. Gay, in his "Shepherd's Week,"
says
" Upon a rising bank I sat adown,
Then doff 'd my shoe, and, by my troth, I swear
Therein I spied this yellow frizzled hair,
As like to Lubberkin's in curl and hue
As if upon his comely pate it grew."
In Norfolk there is a belief that an unmarried person will
remain single as many years as the cuckoo utters its call, when
first heard in the spring. Subjoined is an old English invoca-
tion
" Cuckoo, cherry-tree,
Good bird, tell me,
How many years I have to lire ?"
266
At the first call of the cuckoo the German peasant does the
same thing as when he hears thunder for the first time in the
year. He rolls himself two or three times on the grass, think-
ing himself thereby insured against pains in the back through-
out the rest of the year, and all the more so if the bird con-
tinues its cry whilst he is on the ground.
If the first note of the cuckoo comes upon you when you
have no money in your pocket, it is held, both in Germany
and England, to portend want of money throughout the year.
A valuable virtue is attributed to cuckoos in keeping off
fleas. In Hill's "Naturall and Artificiall Conclusions,"
(1650), we find : "A very easie and merry conceit to keep off
fleas from your beds or chambers. Pliny reporteth that if,
when you first hear the cuckow, you mark well where your
first foot standeth, and take up that earth, the fleas will by no
means breed where any of the same earth is thrown or scat-
tered." This belief still exists in some Darts of France.
WTiy the Cuckoo Builds no Nest.
"If you wish to know," says Horace Marryat, in his "Jut-
land and the Danish Isles," "why the cuckoo builds no nest
of its own, I can easily explain it, according to the belief in
Denmark. When in early spring-time the voice of the cuckoo
is first heard in the woods, every village girl kisses her hand,
and asks the question : ' Cuckoo ! cuckoo ! when shall I be
married?' And the old folks, borne down with age and
rheumatism, inquire : ' Cuckoo ! when shall I be relieved
from this world's cares?' The bird, in answer, continues
singing ' Cuckoo !' as many times as years will elapse before
the object of their desires will come to pass. But as many
old people live to an advanced age, and many girls die old
maids, the poor bird has so much to do in answering the ques-
tions put to her, that the building season goes by ; she has no
257
time to make her nest, but lays her eggs in the nest of the
hedge-sparrow. ' '
The Magpie*
The magpie has always had many superstitions connected
with it. One magpie foretells misfortune, which can be
obviated, however, by pulling off the hat and making a polite
bow to the bird. In Lancashire the saying is
" One for anger, two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
Five for rich, six for poor,
Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more.'*
To meet a magpie portends misfortune in a journey, and it
is thought best to return. It is the usual habit of the peasants
to cross themselves when they meet a single chattering mag-
pie. In the north of England the bird is thus addressed
" Magpie, magpie, chatter and flee,
Turn up thy tail, and good luck fall me."
Of all living creatures in Russia, magpies are those whose
shapes witches like best to take. The wife of the false
Demetrius, according to popular poetry, escaped from Moscow
in the guise of a magpie.
Why the Magpie Builds but Half a Nest.
The half-nest of the magpie is accounted for by a rural
ornithological legend. Once on a time, when the world was
very young, the magpie, by some accident or other, although
she was quite as cunning as she is at present, was the only
bird that was unable to build a nest. In this perplexity she
applied to the other members of the feathered race, who
kindly undertook to instruct her. So, on a day appointed,
they assembled for the purpose, and, the materials having been
collected, the blackbird said, "Place that stick there," suit-
ing the action to the word, as she commenced the work.
"Ah!" said the magpie, "I knew that before." The other
birds followed with their suggestions, but to every piece of
advice the magpie kept saying, "Ah! I knew that before."
At length, when the nest was half finished, the patience of the
company was fairly exhausted by the pertinacious conceit of
the magpie ; so all left her, with the united exclamation,
"Well, Mistress Mag, as you seem to know all about it, you
may finish the nest yourself." Their resolution was obdurate
and final, and to this day the magpie exhibits the effects of
partial instruction by her incomplete abode.
A Swallow Drinks the King's Health.
Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," relates that "At Stretton,
in Hertfordshire, 1648, when Charles I. was prisoner, the
tenant of the manor-house there sold excellent cyder to gen-
tlemen of the neighborhood. Among others that met there
was old Mr. Hill, B. D., parson of the parish, quondam Fellow
of Brazennose College at Oxford. This venerable good old
man one day (after his accustomed fashion), standing up, with
his head uncovered, to drink his Majesty's health, saying,
'God bless our gracious sovereign,' as he was going to put
the cup to his lips, a swallow flew in at the window, and
pitched on the brim of the little earthen cup (not half a pint)
and sipt, and so flew out again. This was in the presence of
the aforesaid Parson Hill, Major Gwillim, and two or three
more that I knew very well then, my neighbors, and whose
joint testimony of it I have more than once had in that very
room. It was in the bay-window of the parlor, and Mr. Hill's
back was next to the window. The cup is preserved there
still as a rarity."
259
Birds of Paradise.
These birds have been the subject of many a fable. Old
naturalists describe them as being destitute of feet, dwelling
in the air, without an abiding place, nourished by dews and
the odor of flowers. Tavernier relates, "that they come in
flocks during the nutmeg season to the south cities of India.
The strength of the nutmeg intoxicates them, and while they
lie in this state on the earth, the ants eat off their legs!"
Moore says, in his "Lalla Rookh "
"Those golden birds that in the spice-time drop
About the gardens, drunk with that sweet fruit
Whose scent hath lur'd them o'er the summer flood."
The natives of New Guinea and the neighboring islands
looked upon the skins of these birds as sacred, and as charms
against the dangers of war. In preparing them, the legs of
the bird were cut off in a manner that gave rise to the idea,
when the skins were exported from the islands, that the birds
were legless.
" But thou art still that Bird of Paradise,
Which hath no feet, and ever nobly flies."
The Owl.
The owl, "the fatal bellman which gives the sternest good
night," was the dread of the superstitious from the earliest
times. Virgil introduces the owl among the prodigies and
horrors that foreran the suicide of Dido. It was said that
two large owls would perch upon the battlements of Wardour
Castle whenever an Arundel's last hour had come. The cry
of the owl is heard by Lady Macbeth, during the murder.
Hogarth introduces the owl in the murder scene of his "Four
Stages of Cruelty."
360
The Ethiopians, wnen they wished to pronounce sentence
of death upon any person, carried to him a table upon which
an owl was painted. When the guilty man saw it, he was
expected to destroy himself with his own hand. To the
peasants, the cry of the owl foretells hail and rain, accom-
panied by lightning. The practice of nailing the bird to a
barn-door, to avert evil consequences, is common throughout
Europe, and is mentioned by Palladius in his "Treatise on
Agriculture." Pliny wrote : " If an owl be seen either with-
in cities or otherwise abroad in any place, it is not for good,
but prognosticates some fearful misfortune."
The Phoenix.
The Rabbins tell us "that all the birds having complied
with the first woman, and, with her, having eaten of the forbid-
den fruit, except the phcenix, as a reward it obtained a sort
of immortality. It lived five hundred years in the wilderness;
then making a nest of spices, it lighted it by the wafting of its
wings, and the body was consumed. From the ashes arose a
worm which grew up to be a phcenix." Moore, in "Para-
dise and the Peri," alludes to
The enchanted pile of that lonely bird
Who sings at the last his own death-lay,
And in music and perfumes dies away.
"The myth of the phcenix," says George Stephens, in
Archseologia, "is one of the most ancient in the world.
Originally a temple type of the immortality of the soul, its
birthplace appears to have been the sunny clime of the fanci-
ful and gorgeous East. Even in the days of Job and David it
was already a popular tradition in Palestine and Arabia. ' '
Herodotus describes the phcenix in the following words :
"The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the genera)
261
make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell
a story in Egypt of what this bird does, which appears incredi-
ble, that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the
parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the Temple of
the Sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him,
they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that
he can carry; then he hollows out the ball and puts his parent
inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh
myrrh, and the ball is then exactly of the same weight as at
first. So he brings it to Egypt, as I have said, and deposits
it in the Temple of the Sun. ' ' Ariosto alludes to this fable in
the voyage of Astolfo
"Arabia, named the Happy, now he gains;
Incense and myrrh perfume her grateful plains;
The virgin phoenix there, in need of rest,
Selects from all the world her balmy nest."
The phoenix, as a sign over chemists' shops, was adopted
from the association of this fabulous bird with alchemy.
The Wren.
The story of the contest for the crown, in which the wren
outwitted the eagle, is traditional in Germany, France, Ire-
land and other countries. It seems that the birds all met
together one day, and settled among themselves that which
ever of them could fly the highest was to be king of them all.
As they were starting, the wren, unknown to the eagle,
perched himself on his tail. Away flew the birds, and the
eagle soared far above the others, until, tired, he perched him-
self on a rock, and declared that he had gained the victory.
"Not so fast/' cried the wren, getting off the tail and spring-
ing above the eagle; "you have lost your chance, and I am
king of the birds. ' ' The eagle, angry at the trick played
262
upon him, gave the wren, as he came down, a smart stroke with
his wing, from which time the wren has never been able to
fly higher than a hawthorn bush.
The story is told with a different conclusion in Germany.
According to the German version, the tricky wren was
imprisoned in a mouse-hole, and the owl was set to watch
before it, whilst the other birds were deliberating upon the
punishment to be inflicted upon the offender. The owl fell
asleep, and the prisoner escaped. The owl was so ashamed
that he has never ventured to show himself by daylight.
In the Ojibua legend the gray linnet is the tricky bird, and
the verdict was rendered in favor of the eagle, for he not only
flew nearest to the sun, but carried the linnet with him.
In France the wren is called roitelet (little king), and also
poulette au bon Dieu, "God's little hen." To kill it or to
rob its nest would bring down lightning on the culprit's head.
Robert Chambers, in "Popular Rhymes," says
" Malisons, malisons, mair than ten
That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen."
At Carcasonne the wren was carried about on a staff adorned
with a garland of olive, oak and mistletoe. In the Isle of
Man the wren is believed to be a transformed fairy.
White-breasted Birds.
In Devonshire the appearance of a white-breasted bird has
long been considered an omen of death. This belief has been
traced to a circumstance which happened to the Oxenham
family in that county, and related by Howell, in his "Familiar
Letters," wherein is the following monumental inscription :
"Here lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man, in who^e
chamber, as he was struggling with the pangs of death, a bird
with a white breast was seen fluttering about his bed, and so
263
vanished." The same circumstance is related of his sistei
Mary, and two or three others of the family.
The Penguin's Solitary Egg.
The female penguin of Patagonia does not commit her off-
spring to any kind of nest. She constantly carries her solitary
egg in a pouch formed by a fold in the skin of the abdomen,
and it is held so fast in this that she leaps or sometimes rolls
from rock to rock without letting it fall. It is well for her
she does so, for should such a mishap befall her the male
bird chastises her without pity.
The Crocodile Plover.
One of the best friends of the crocodile is a little bird of
the plover species. The mouth of the reptile is infested with
painful parasites, and the bird fearlessly flies into the open
jaws and picks out the insects. The crocodile appears to be
conscious of this kindly office, for it never offers to hurt its
little feathered friend.
Peacocks' Crests.
In ancient times peacocks' crests were among the orna-
ments of the kings of England. Ernald de Aclent (Acland)
"paid a fine to King John in a hundred and forty palfries,
with sackbuts, gilt spurs and peacocks' crests, such as would
be for his credit. ' '
Worshivful Cranes.
Tame cranes, kept in the Middle Ages, are said to have
stood before the table at dinner, and kneeled and bowed the
264
head when a bishop pronounced the benediction. But how
they knelt is as fairly open to inquiry as how Dives could
take his seat in torment, as he did, according to an old carol,
"all on a serpent's knee."
The Great Auk.
Pennant says that this bird never wanders beyond sound-
ings, by which sailors are assured that land is not very remote.
Aristophanes tells us that the Greek mariners, more than two
thousand years ago, made note of the habits and movements
of birds.
" From birds, in sailing, men instructions take,
Now lie in port, BOW sail Mid profit make."
The Kingfisher.
Sir Thomas Brown, in his "Vulgar Errors," says: ''A
kingfisher hanged by the bill sheweth what quarter the wind
is, by an occult and secret property, converting the breast to
that part of the horizon from whence the wind doth blow.
This is a received opinion, and very strange, introducing
natural weathercocks and extending magnetical positions as
far as animal natures, a conceit supported chiefly by present
practice, yet not made out by reason nor experience. ' ' The
ancients believed that so long as the female kingfishers sat on
their eggs, no storm or tempest disturbed the ocean. In
Wild's "Iter Boreale," we read
" The peaceful kingfishers are met together
About the decks, and prophesy calm weather."
Gmelin, in his "Voyage en Sib6rie," says that "the Tar-
tars believe that if they touch a woman, or even her clothes,
with a feather from a kingfisher, she must fall in love with
265
them. The Ostiacs take the skin, the bill and the claws of
this bird, shut them up in a purse, and so long as they pre-
serve this sort of amulet they believe they have no ill to fear.
The person who told me of this means of living happily could
not forbear shedding tears, for the loss of a kingfisher's skin
had caused him to lose both his wife and his goods."
The Albatross.
The albatross is remarkable for its migrations ; indeed, it
may almost be said to pass from pole to pole, and is seen at a
greater distance from land than any other bird. Hence
sailors regard this companion of their voyage with superstitious
fondness. Coleridge speaks of the albatross in his "Ancient
Mariner"
And all avert' d I had killed the bird
That made the breezes to blow ;
"A wretch," said they, '' the bird to slay,
That made the breezes to blow."
The Stork.
A feeling of attachment, not devoid of superstition, pro-
cures the stork an unmolested life in all Moslem countries.
The Dutch regard them as birds of good omen, and a wagon-
wheel is often laid upon the house-top for the stork to build
his nest on, during which time the house is safe from fire. It
is sometimes called by them the "fire-fowl" and "baby-
bringer."
In North Germany, the first time in the year that a girl
hears the stork, if it clatter with its bill, she will break some-
thing ; if it be flying, she will be a bride before the year is
out ; if it be standing, she will be asked to stand godmother.
Storks are "fabled" to be very attentive to their aged
266
parents, carrying them from place to place and feeding them
if they are blind. Aristophanes says
"'Tis an ancient law
Among the birds, on the storks' tables writ,
Soon as the father stork hath nourished all
His brood, and made them fit for flight, in turn
The younglings should support their aged sire."
Cocks and Hens.
Schweinfurth, in his "Heart of Africa," gives the follow-
ing curious auguries from cocks and hens, common to various
negro tribes: "An oily fluid, concocted from a red wood
called 'Bengye,' is administered to a hen. If the bird dies,
there will be misfortune in war ; if it survives, there will be
victory. Another mode of trying their fortune consists in
seizing a cock and ducking its head repeatedly under water,
until the creature is stiff and senseless. They then leave it to
itself. If it should rally, they draw an omen that is favorable
to their design ; if it should succumb, they look for an adverse
issue."
A curious notion respecting fowls existed in various parts
of England. On the morning of St. Valentine's day, the
girls, before opening the outer door, would look into the yard
through the key-hole. If they saw a cock and hen in com-
pany, it was taken for granted that the person most interested
would be married before the year was out.
In Hooker's "Tour in Morocco," recently published, he
mentions that in a storm in the heights of the Atlas, one of
his attendants cut the throat of a cock he carried, to appease
the wrath of the demons of the mountains.
Mr. Dalyell, in his "Darker Superstitions of Scotland,"
observes that during the prevalence of infectious diseases in
the East, a cock was killed over the bed of the invalid, sprink-
267
ling him with the blood. A red cock was dedicated by sick
persons in Ceylon to a malignant divinity, and afterwards
offered as a sacrifice in the event of recovery.
In "Credulities Past and Present," it is stated that "in
Durham there is a superstition that if any person was
bewitched, the author of the evil might be discovered by the
following means : To steal a black hen, take out the heart,
stick it full of pins, and roast it at midnight. The f double '
of the witch would come and nearly pull the door down. If
the ' double ' was not seen, any one of the neighbors who
had passed a remarkably bad night was fixed upon !"
Led by a Gander.
In Germany an aged blind woman was led to church every
Sunday by a gander, which dragged her along, holding her
gown in his beak. As soon as the old woman was seated in
her pew the gander retired to the church-yard to feed upon
the grass, and when the service was ended he conducted his
mistress to her home. Menault.
Crows Lost in a Fog.
The Hartford Times tells a curious story of a flock of crows
in that vicinity who recently lost their way in a fog. They
lost their bearings at a point directly above the South Green,
in Hartford. For a good while they hovered there, coming
low down, circling and diving aimlessly about, like a blind-
folded person in "blind man's buff," and keeping up a hoarse
cawing and general racket beyond description. It was plain
enough that of the entire company each individual crow was
not only puzzled and bothered, but highly indignant, and
inclined to utter "cuss words" in his frantic attempts to be
268
heard above the general din, and tell the others which way to
go. Once or twice the whole flock swept down to a distance
of not more than one hundred feet above the street. Finally,
after going around for many times, they sailed away in a south-
erly direction, evidently having got some clue to the way out
of the fog, or desperately resolved to go somewhere till they
could see daylight.
The Peacoch at Home.
Peacocks are found in almost all parts of India and Siam,
and the multitudes in which they occur in some districts is
wonderful. Colonel Williamson, in his "Oriental Field
Sports," says: " About the passes in the Jungletery district
whole woods were covered with the beautiful plumage, to
which a rising sun imparted additional brilliancy. I speak
within bounds when I assert that there could not have been
less than 1200 or 1500 pea- fowls, of various sizes, within sight
of the spot where I stood." Sir James Emerson Tennent says,
in his work on Ceylon, "that in some of the unfrequented
portions of the eastern province, to which Europeans rarely
resort, and where the pea-fowl are unmolested by the natives,
their number is so extraordinary that, regarded as game, it
ceased to be sport to destroy them ; and their cries at early
morning are so tumultuous and incessant as to banish sleep,
and amount to an actual inconvenience. ' '
Story of the Dodo.
This extinct bird was a native of Mauritius, in the Indo-
African Ocean, and was first described by Van Neck, a Dutch-
man, in 1598, in which year a living specimen was embarked
for Holland, but died on its way. This specimen is supposed
to have been preserved at Leyden; and one of the feet is
believed to be that in the British Museum. Several successive
voyagers mention the bird, down to Canche, in 1638, in which
year a living dodo was brought to England by Sir Hamon
T Estrange, who describes the back as of "dunn or deare
colour." It was exhibited for money in London, in a house
which bore a figure of the bird represented on canvas. This
specimen has been traced to Tradescant's Museum at Lambeth,
whence it was conveyed, in 1682, to Oxford by Ashmole. The
body and a leg were destroyed by vermin before 1775, but the
other leg and the head are preserved to this day in the Ash-
molean Museum, in which place there also is a large drawing
of a dodo, taken from nature, by John Savery. It was not
related to the ostrich or the vulture, as many have supposed,
but was closely allied to the pigeons and the solitaire bird
seen by Leguat in the Island of Rodrigeux in 1691. Wells.
An Old Gander.
Willoughby states, in his work on Ornithology, that a friend
of his possessed a gander eighty years of age, which in the end
became so ferocious that they were forced to kill it, in con-
sequence of the havoc it committed in the barn-yard. He also
mentions a swan three centuries old and several parrots that
attained the age of one hundred and fifty years.
Chaffinch Contest.
At the town of Armentieres, in France, there is a fete du
pays, in which the chaffinch and its fellows are the chief actors
and objects of attraction. Numbers of these birds are trained
with the greatest care and no small share of cruelty, for they
are frequently blinded by their owners, that their song may
not be interrupted by the sight of any external object. The
270
point upon which the amusement, the honor and the emolu-
ment rests is the number of times a bird will repeat his song
in a given time.
A day being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed
place, each with his bird in a cage. The prize is then dis-
played, and the birds are placed in a row. A bird-fancier
notes how many times each bird sings, and another verifies
his notes. In the year 1812, a chaffinch repeated his song
seven hundred times in one hour. Emulated by the songs of
each other, they strain their little plumed throats, as if con-
scious that honor was to result from their exertions.
The Fabulous Hoc.
The roc, the huge bird that gave Sindbad the sailor his
ride through the air, is not to be compared with some of those
mentioned in the Talmud. Some mariners saw one of those
large birds standing up to the lower joint of the leg in a
river, and thinking the water could not be deep, they were
hastening to bathe, when a voice from heaven said: "Step
not in there ; seven years ago a carpenter dropped his axe
there, and it hath not yet reached the bottom."
Fable of the Pelican.
The pelicans are said to carry water to their young, as well
as food, in their pouch. During the night the pelican sits
with its bill resting on its breast. The nail or hook which
terminates the bill is red, and Mr. Broderip supposes that the
ancient fable of the pelican feeding its young with blood from
its own breast originated from its habit of pressing the bill
upon the breast in order the more easily to empty the pouch,
when the red tip might be mistaken for blood.
211
Night Owls.
It is worthy of remark that in all owls that fly by night the
exterior edges and sides of the wing-quills are slightly recurved,
and end in fine hairs or points, by means of which the bird
can pass through the air with the greatest silence a provision
necessary to enable it the better to surprise its prey. Adam
White.
Imprisoned During Incubation.
In his work on "The Birds of India," M. Jerdon details
the curious domestic arrangements of some species of the
genus Homrain of French naturalists, the males of which, at
the time of laying, imprison the female in her nest. They
close the entrance to it by means of a thick wall of mud, leav-
ing only a small hole by which the hen breathes and through
which she protrudes her beak to receive food, which is brought
by her spouse. Though barbarous enough to imprison her, he
is not cruel enough to starve her. This forced retirement
only ceases with the termination of the hatching, when the
pair break the prison door.
Love-Birds.
These birds receive their name from the affection which
they manifest towards one another. Anatomically, this genus
is remarkable in the parrot tribe for having no furcula, 01
merry-thought bone.
Penguin Breeding Grounds.
These birds often occupy acres for their breeding ground,
which is laid out and leveled and divided into squares, as
nicely as if done by a surveyor. They march between the
212
compartments as accurately as soldiers on parade, and some-
what resembling them from a distance, or, according to
another similitude which has been used, looking like bands of
little children in white aprons. Bennett describes one breed-
ing ground on Macquarie Island as covering thirty or forty
acres, and, to give some notion of the multitudes, speaks of
30,000 or 40,000 birds as continually landing, and as many
putting to sea.
The Ear of Birds not to be Deceived.
A bird-catcher, wishing to increase his stock of bullfinches,
took out his caged bird and his limed twigs and placed them
in such a situation of hedge and bush as he judged favorable
to his success. It so happened that his own bird was an edu-
cated one, such as is usually termed a piping bullfinch. In
the first instance a few accidentally thrown out natural notes
or calls had attracted three or four of his kindred feather,
which had taken their station not far distant from the cage.
There they stood in doubt and curiosity, and, presently, moving
inch by inch and hop by hop toward him and the fatal twigs,
they again became stationary and attentive. It was in this
eager and suspended moment that the piping bullfinch set up
the old country dance-tune of "Nancy Dawson." Away flew
every astonished bullfinch as fast as wings could move, in con-
fusion and alarm.
A Bird Hammock.
In his voyage to India, Sonnerat speaks of a Cape titmouse,
the nest of which is made of cotton and is shaped like a bottle.
While the female is hatching inside, the male, a most watch-
ful sentinel, remains outside in a pouch or hammock, fixed to
one side of the neck of the nest. When his mate moves off
and he wishes to follow her, he beats the opening of the nest
273
violently with his wing until he closes it, in order to protect
the young from enemies.
Sagacity of a Bird.
In the museum of Brown University, Providence, R. I., is a
curiosity in the shape of a bird's nest. Aside from its ingenious
construction as a swinging nest, partly suspended by strings
and cords carefully woven into it and around the slender
branch which holds it, another evidence of the builder's
sagacity is given. As the young birds grew, and the nest
daily became heavier, the mother saw that the slender twig,
about the thickness of a pipe-stem, to which it was attached,
could not support it much longer, so she made it secure by
fastening a stout cord about it and passing the end around a
strong limb above, which steadied it and made it safe.
Change of Sight in Birds.
Birds destined to move in the medium of a very rare atmo-
sphere and which has but little tendency to refract the rays
of the sun, have a great quantity of aqueous humor, in order
that the light, strongly refracted in entering their eyes, may
bring distinct images. Thus birds at heights where they
appear to us only as points, perceive the smallest reptile con-
cealed in the grass. But, as presbyte birds do not distinguish
objects when brought near, nature has provided for this diffi-
culty, which occurs when they descend from the heights of the
air to seize their prey. To provide for this emergency, they
have a membrane, by means of which they remove the crys-
talline lens from the retina; and thus changing the power of
the eye by changing the focal distance of objects, as we do
with spectacles, they never lose sight of their prey, whether
in the air or on the ground.
974
Nest of the Flamingo.
The flamingo arranges its nest in a peculiar way, as its long
legs would not adapt themselves to the ordinary style of nest-
building. The nests are placed upon the ground, are built
solely of coarsely-tempered mud, and are very curiously
shaped, being like narrow, lengthened cones. They are twenty
inches in height, and their truncated summit presents a con-
cavity, at the bottom of which the female deposits her eggs.
In order to hatch them she places her abdomen over them,
and allows her legs to hang down on both sides of the raised
nest.
Barking of Dogs.
The Australian dog never barks ; indeed, Gardiner, in his
"Music of Nature," states "that dogs in a state of nature
never bark ; they simply whine, howl and growl ; the explo-
sive noise is only heard among those which are domesticated."
Sonnini speaks of the shepherd dogs in the wilds of Egypt as
not having this faculty ; and Columbus found the dogs which
he had previously carried to America to have lost their pro-
pensity for barking.
Superstitions about Eggs.
Thiers, in his "Trait des Superstitions," observes that he
has known people who preserved all the year such eggs as are
laid on Good Friday, as they think them good to extinguish
fires when thrown on them.
People in the northern parts of Germany, remarks William
Jones, say that to cross one's face with the first new-laid egg
of a chicken that has been hatched in spring and begins to
lay shortly before Christmas of the same year, is considered
the means of improving and beautifying the complexion.
2*5
Carnden, in his "Ancient and Modern Manners of the
Irish," says that if the owners of horses eat eggs, they must
take care to eat an even number, otherwise some mischief will
betide the horses. Grooms are not allowed eggs, and the
riders are obliged to wash their hands after eating eggs.
In Derbyshire it is considered a bad omen to gather eggs
and bring them into the house after dark. Eggs ought not to
be brought in on Sunday, and no hen must be set on that
day. The number of eggs for a setting must be either eleven
or thirteen ; the number must be odd, and if twelve eggs are
sat upon, the hen will scarcely succeed in hatching them ; or,
if hatched, the chickens will do no good.
In some parts of England it is believed that the first egg
laid by a white pullet, placed under the pillow at night, will
bring dreams of those you wish to marry.
In some parts of Java, at a wedding, the bride, as a sign of
her subjection, kneels and washes the feet of the bridegroom,
after he has trodden upon raw eggs.
In Ireland, at Hallow E'en, among other curious customs,
the women take the yolks from some eggs boiled hard, fill the
cavity with salt, and eat egg, shell and salt. They are care-
ful not to quench their thirst until morning. If at night they
dream that their lovers are at hand with water, they believe
they will be jilted.
The Camel as a Scape- Croat.
A very singular account of the use to which a camel is
sometimes put is given by the traveler Bruce. He tells us
that he saw one employed to appease a quarrel between two
parties, somewhat in the same way as the scape-goat was used
in the religious sacrifices of the Jewish people. The camel
being brought out, was accused of all the injuries, real or
fancied, which belonged to each. All the mischief that had
276
been done they accused this camel of doing. They upbraideC
it with being the cause of all the trouble that had separated
friends, called it by every opprobious epithet, finally killed it,
and then declared themselves reconciled over its body.
The Mark of the Cross on the Ass.
It is a common superstition that the dark marks across the
shoulders of the ass, and which bear some resemblance to a
cross, were given as memorials of our Saviour having entered
Jerusalem riding on one of that humble species. In the north
of England, however, a tradition prevails that the dark streaks
are a memento of Balaam's having thrice smitten one of the
family, which carried him, and, as the Bible states, reproved
him for wilful disobedience of the Divine command.
White Elephants.
White elephants are reverenced throughout the East, and
the Chinese pay them a certain kind of worship. The Bur-
mese monarch is called " The King of the White Elephants,"
and is regarded under that title with more than ordinary ven-
eration, which oriental despotism extracts from its abject
dependants.
Tenacity of Life in an Elephant.
In March, 1826, it became necessary to kill an infuriated
elephant at Exeter Change, in London. One hundred and
fifty-two bullets were fired into him at short range, and
directed toward vital parts, before he fell dead. It was found
necessary to kill an elephant at Geneva, May jist, 1820.
Three ounces of prussic acid and three ounces of arsenic were
277
administered, but produced no effect. He was shot by a cannon
thrust through a breach in the wall, the muzzle almost touch-
ing him. The ball entered near the ear, behind the right
eye, went through a thick partition on the opposite side of
the enclosure, and spent itself against a wall. The animal
stood still two or three seconds, then tottered, and fell with-
out any convulsive movement.
Ears of the Elephant.
The ears of the African elephant are said to be much larger,
in proportion to the size of the animal, than those of the
Indian species. Baker, the African traveler, says that he has
frequently cut off an ear of one of these animals to form a mat,
on which he has slept comfortably.
A Shaved Bear.
"At Bristol I saw a shaved monkey shown for a fairy, and
a shaved bear, in a check waistcoat and trousers, sitting in a
great chair as an Ethiopian savage. This was the most cruel
fraud I ever saw. The unnatural position of the beast and
the brutality of the woman keeper, who sat upon his knee, put
her arm around his neck, called him husband and sweetheart,
and kissed him, made it the most disgusting spectacle I ever
witnessed. Cottle was with me. Southty.
Retailing a Lion.
A lion in a Cincinnati menagerie recently lost a part of his
tail. A vicious hyena, confined in an adjoining cage, nipped
it off, for want of something better or worse to do. The
Enquirer of that city tells the sequel of the story
278
"The noble king of the woods was much mortified in con-
sequence, and it was feared would worry himself to death.
He kept continually biting his tail and playing all kinds of
mysterious pranks in his cage. Two men were kept contin-
ually employed, at an expense of $21 a week each, to watch
the lion and prevent him from further injury upon himself.
"Mr. John Carney, the new superintendent of the Zoological
Gardens, devised a plan for the pacification of the king of the
forest, which has succeeded beyond the most sanguine expec-
tations. He had a small box-cage constructed adjoining the
lion's cell, and coaxed the wounded beast therein. The cage
was so constructed that the lion could not turn about in it.
Once in, his tail was treated medically, and covered with
a black snake's skin. The lion now seems perfectly satisfied
with the amendment to his tail, and holds his head as erect
and is as proud as ever. Mr. Carney is a genius. ' '
Magpie Stoning a Toad.
There is a story told of a tame magpie which was seen
busily employed in a garden gathering pebbles, and with
much solemnity and a studied air dropping them into a hole
about eighteen inches deep, made to receive a post. After
dropping each stone it cried "Currack" triumphantly, and set
off for another. On examining the spot, a poor toad was
found in the hole, which the magpie was stoning for his
amusement.
Cynocephalic Apes.
A correspondent in the "Transvaal Republic" writes that a
species of large cynocephalic apes are in the habit of ravaging
the coffee plantations there, which therefore have to be
guarded. Among the coffee trees there grows a shrub whose
279
fruit the apes particularly enjoy. But a species of wasp had
fastened their nests to these shrubs, and the apes were kept
from their tempting food by their fear of being stung. One
morning fearful cries were heard from the apes, and the fol-
lowing scene was witnessed : A large baboon, the leader of the
band, was throwing some young apes down into the shrubs,
that they might break off the wasp nests with the shock of
their fall. The poor victims, stung by the infuriated insects,
were crying piteously, but the old baboon paid no heed to
their miserable condition. While they were down below, suf-
fering from the anger of the wasps, he quietly proceeded to
regale himself with the fruit, now safely within his reach, and
occasionally threw a handful to some females and young a
little way off.
Monkeys Demanding their Dead.
Mr. Forbes tells a story of a female monkey who was shot
by a friend of his and carried to his tent. Forty or fifty of
her tribe advanced with menacing gestures, but stood still
when the gentleman pointed his gun at them. One, however,
who appeared to be the chief of the tribe, came forward, chat-
tering and threatening in a furious manner. Nothing short
of firing at him seemed likely to drive him away. At length
he approached the door of the tent with every sign of grief
and supplication, as if he were begging for the body. It was
given to him; he took it in his arms and carried it to his com-
panions with actions expressive of affection, after which they
all disappeared.
Can Dogs Count?
A gentleman on a visit to Scotland came across some men
who were washing sheep. Close to the water where the
operation was being carried on was a small pen, in which a
280
detatchment of ten sheep were placed handy to the men for
washing. While watching the performance his attention was
called to a sheep-dog lying down close by. This animal, on
the pen becoming nearly empty, without a word from any
one, started off to the main body of the flock, and brought
back ten of their number, and drove them into the empty
washing-pens. The fact of his bringing exactly the same
number of sheep as had vacated it he looked upon at first as a
strange coincidence a mere chance. But he continued look-
ing on, and, much to his surprise, as soon as the men had
reduced the number to three sheep, the dog started off again,
and brought back ten more, and so he continued throughout
the afternoon, never bringing one more nor one less, and
always going for a fresh lot when only three were left in the
pen, evidently being aware that during the time the last three
were washing he would be able to bring up a fresh detachment.
Can Hens Count?
On one occasion the author found a hen disposed to set in
a horse-trough. She had but eight eggs under her, and he
added five more. The next morning he noticed that she had
discarded five of the eggs ; they were replaced, and were again
hustled to the other end of the trough. He next marked the
eggs, in order to discover whether she objected to the five eggs
with which he had supplied her. At his next visit he found
that she had once more rejected five eggs, two of which were
marked and three not marked. She would accept but eight
eggs, and was left to incubate in peace.
How Rats and Mice use their Tails.
To test the correctness of the popular belief that rats and
mice use their tails for feeding purposes, when the food to be
281
eaten is contained in vessels too narrow to admit the entire
body of the animal, a writer in "Nature" made the following
experiments : Into a couple of preserve bottles with narrow
necks he put as much semi-liquid fruit jelly as filled them
within three inches of the top. The bottles were then covered
with bladder and set in a place frequented by rats. Next
morning the covering of each bottle had a small hole gnawed
in it, and the level of the jelly was lowered to an extent about
equal to the length of a rat's tail, if inserted in the hole. The
next experiment was still more decisive. The bottles were
refilled to the extent of half an inch above the level left by
the rats, a disk of moist paper laid upon the surface, and the
bottles covered as before. The bottles were now laid aside
in a place unfrequented by rats, until a good crop of mould
had grown upon one of the moistened disks of paper. This
bottle was then transferred to the place infested by the rats.
Next morning the bladder had again been eaten through at
one edge, and upon the mould were numerous and distinct
tracings of the rats' tails, evidently caused by the animals
sweeping their tails about in the endeavor to find a hole in
the paper.
Kicked by a Camel.
The camel's kick is a study. As it stands demurely chew,
ing the cud, and gazing abstractedly at some totally different
far-away object, up goes a hind leg, drawn close in to the
body, with the foot pointing out ; a short pause, and out it
flies with an action like the piston and connecting-rod of a
steam-engine, showing a judgment of distance and direction
that would lead you to suppose the leg gifted with perceptions
of its own, independent of the animal's proper senses. I
have seen a heavy man fired several yards into a dense crowd
by the kick of a camel, and picked up insensible. Keane.
Crocodiles of the Nile.
The crocodile of the Nile is one of the most celebrated of
the eastern species. Among the ancient Egyptians it was a
sacred animal, and to destroy it was a crime. The priests
kept crocodiles in tanks in the temple grounds ; they orna-
mented them with jewels and fed them with the choicest food.
After death the bodies were carefully embalmed and buried
with great ceremony, and it is not uncommon at this date to
find crocodile mummies in their tombs.
Alligators Swallowing Stones.
The alligators on the banks of the Oronoko, previous to
going in search of prey, swallow large stones, that they may
acquire additional weight to aid them in diving and dragging
their victims under water. Bolivar shot several with his rifle,
and in all of them were found stones varying in weight accord-
ing to the size of the animal. The largest killed was about
seventeen feet in length, and had within him a stone which
weighed sixty or seventy pounds.
Animals Forecasting Danger.
That animals forebode the approach of an earthquake is a
fact which frequently has been demonstrated. When no sign
announces to unthinking man the coming terror, these crea-
tures indicate it by their agitation and their cries. Every
animal, without exception, feels this singular presentiment,
but it has been more particularly observed among the poultry
in the barn-yard. Dogs howl distressingly, and great restless-
ness is shown by horses and oxen in the open country.
Humboldt relates that, in the earthquakes so frequent in
bouth America, oxen and other domesticated animals will
283
stand with their legs placed wide apart, as if they hoped by
that device to lessen the danger of being precipitated into a
crevasse which might suddenly open under their feet. It is
for this reason that men in the same regions are advised, on
the occurrence of an earthquake, to extend their arms from
their bodies in the shape of a cross. The precaution is one
which tradition and experience have impressed on the inhabit-
ants.
Singular Provision against Famine.
The synapta is a marine animal closely allied to the sea-
cucumber. If one of them is preserved in sea-water for a
short time, and subjected to a forced fast, a very strange thing
will be observed. The animal, being unable to feed itself,
successively detaches various parts of its body, which it ampu-
tates spontaneously. ' ' It would appear, ' ' says M. Quatrefages,
"that the animal, feeling that it had not sufficient food to
support its whole body, is able successively to abridge its
dimensions by suppressing the parts it would be most difficult
to support, just as we should dismiss the most useless mouths
from a besieged city." This singular mode of meeting a fam-
ine is employed by the synapta up to the last moment. In
order to preserve life in the head, all the other parts of the
body are sacrificed.
Looking for the Head of the Bed.
Every one has observed that dogs, before they lie down, turn
themselves round and round, which has been facetiously called
"looking for the head of the bed." Those who have had an
opportunity of witnessing the actions of uninaals in a wild
state, know that they seek long grass for their beds, which
they beat down and render more commodious by turning
around in it several times. It would appear, therefore, that
284
the habit of our domesticated dogs in this respect is derived
from the nature of the same species in the wild state. Mr.
Jesse.
Getting Himself Outside of his Dinner.
The intelligence of a toad is remarkable. When an insect
is too large to swallow, it thrusts the creature against a stone
to push it down its throat. On one occasion, when a toad
was attempting to swallow a locust, the head was down the
former's throat, the hinder part protruding. The toad then
sought a stone or clod, but as none were to be found, he
lowered his head and crept along, pushing the locust against
the ground. But the ground was too smooth (a rolled path),
and the angle at which the locust lay to the ground too small,
and thus no progress was made. To increase the angle, he
straightened up his hind legs, but in vain. At length he
threw up his hind quarters, and actually stood on his head,
or, rather, on the locust sticking out of his mouth ; and, aftei
repeating this several times, succeeded in getting himself out-
side of his dinner.
Superstition about the Camel.
The Orientals declare that, at the time of the rising of the
Pleiades, the camel sees the constellation before it is visible
to the human eye, and will not lie down in any other direc-
tion than with its head toward the east.
Pedigree of Arabian Horses.
The Arabs claim that their finest horses are direct descend-
ants of the stud of Solomon. The pedigree of an Arabian
horse is hung around his neck soon after his birth, properly
285
witnessed and attested. The following is the pedigree of a
horse purchased by a French officer in Arabia :
"In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate,
and of Saed Mahomed, agent of the high God, and of the
companions of Mahomed, and of Jerusalem. Praised be the
Lord, the omnipotent Creator. This is a high-bred horse,
and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about his neck, with his
pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no infidel can
refuse to believe. He is the son of Rabbamy, out of the dam
Labadah, and equal in power to his sire of the tribe of Zaz-
halah ; he is finely moulded, and made for running like an
ostrich. In the honors of relationship he reckons Zuluah,
sire of Mahat, sire of Kallac, and the unique Alket, sire of
Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, father of the race down to the
famous horse, the sire of Lahalala. And to him be ever
abundance of green meat and corn, and water of life, as a
reward from the tribe of Zazhalaha; and may a thousand
branches shade his carcass from the hyaena of the tomb, from
the howling wolf of the desert ; and let the tribe of Zazhalah
present him with a festival within an enclosure of walls ; and
let thousands assemble at the rising of the sun in troops has-
tily, where the tribe holds up, under a canopy of celestial
signs within the walls, the saddle with the name and family
of the possessor. Then let them strike the bands with a loud
noise incessantly, and pray to God for immunity for the tribe
of Zoab, the inspired tribe. ' '
Voracity of the Mole.
A naturalist has calculated that a mole devours annually
20,000 grubs. It is so voracious that it must cat every six
nours. No animal is so favored in its carnivorous instincts as
the mole; forty-four teeth studded with points never cease
working from morning to night. It requires nourishment to
286
such an extent, that if deprived of food for a day it dies of
inanition. It is a complete eating machine, gulping down
every day a proportionately enormous quantity of food, so that
M. de la Blanch6re was right in saying that "if we could
magnify the mole to the size of an elephant, we should be
face to face with the most terrific brute the world ever brought
forth."
Cat Worship.
In the Middle Ages animals formed as prominent a part in
the worship of the time as they did in the old religion of
Egypt. The cat was a very important personage in religious
festivals. At Aix, in Provence, on the festival of Corpus
Christi, the finest torn cat of the country, wrapt in swaddling
clothes like a child, was exhibited in a magnificent shrine to
public admiration. Every knee was bent, every hand strewed
flowers or poured incense, and the cat was treated in all
respects as the god of the day.
Horses Feeding one Another.
M. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of
Beauvilliers, relates in his "Military Observations," printed in
Paris in 1760, "that in the year 1757 an old horse of his com-
pany, that was very fine and full of mettle, had his teeth sud-
denly so worn down that he could not chew his hay and corn,
and that he was fed for two months, and would still have been
so fed had he been kept, by two horses on each side of him
that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay
from the rack, which they chewed, and afterward threw before
the old horse ; that they did the same with the oats, which
they ground very small and also put before him. This was
observed and witnessed by a whole company of cavalry,
officers and men.'*
287
Odd Mode of Revenge.
Monkeys in India are more or less objects of superstitious
reverence, and are, consequently, seldom destroyed. In some
places they are fed, encouraged and allowed to live on the
roofs of the houses. If a man wishes to revenge himself for
any injury done him, he has only to sprinkle some rice or
corn upon the top of his enemy's house or granary, just before
the rains set in, and the monkeys will assemble upon it, eat
all they can find outside, and then pull off the tiles to get at
that which falls through the crevices. This, of course, gives
access to the torrents which fall in such countries, and house,
furniture and stores are all ruined.
Cats with Knotted Tails.
We extract the following paragraph from the narrative of a
voyager in the Indian Ocean, because it contains an account
of a rarity in natural history with which few, we suspect, are
acquainted :
" The steward is again pillowed on his beloved saltfish, and
our only companion is a Malacca cat, who has also an attach-
ment for the steward's pillow. Puss is a tame little creature
and rubs herself mildly against our shoes, looking up in our
faces and mewing her thoughts. Doubtless she is surprised
that you have been so long looking at her without noticing
the peculiarity in her tail, which so much distinguishes her
from the rest of the female race in other quarters of the globe.
Did you ever observe such a singular knot ? so regular, too,
in its formation? Some cruel monster must have tied it in a
knot while puss was yet a kitten, and she has outlived both
the pain and the inconvenience. But here comes a kitten, all
full of gambols and fun, and we find that the tail is in pre-
cisely the same condition. So, then, this is a remarkable
288
feature amongst the whole race of Malayan cats, but for which
no one we meet with is able to give us a satisfactory explana-
tion."
Tortoises Afraid of Heat and Rain.
Tortoises seem, by their thick shells, to be protected against
all changes of the weather. But one of immense size, impor-
ted from the Galapagos Islands to England, was actually afraid
of rain. Its owner says : " No part of its behaviour ever struck
me more than the extreme timidity it always expresses with
regard to rain ; and though it has a shell that would secure it
against a loaded cart, yet it exhibits as much solicitude about
rain as a lady dressed in her best attire, shuffling away on the
first sprinklings and running its head into a corner. If
attended to, it becomes an excellent weather glass; for as sure
as it walks elate, and as it were on tip-toe, feeding with great
earnestness in the morning, so sure will it rain before night."
The same tortoise was careful to keep out of the hot sun, and
always sought a shady nook at mid-day in summer.
Pea Crabs.
The fact that these small crabs take up their abode within
the shells of mollusks was well known to the ancients, and
gave rise to many curious fables. A species is very common
in the pinnae (mollusks) of the Mediterranean, and was
imagined to render important services to its host in return
for its lodging, keeping a lookout for approaching dangers,
against which the blind pinna itself could not guard, and par-
ticularly apprising it, that it might close its shell when the
cuttle-fish came near. It is curious to find this repeated by
Hasselquist, in the middle of the last century, as a piece of
genuine natural history. Whether the pea crab lives at the
389
expense of the mollusk, and sucks its juices, is uncertain. It
is certain, however, that the flesh of such mollusks is palatable
to pea crabs, as they eat it greedily in the aquarium.
Extraordinary Muscular Strength of
the Bat.
When bats bring forth their young they are obliged to carry
them on their backs, as they do not build nests like the birds,
the little things hanging fast to their fur during flight. The
extrordinary strength of muscle possessed by the bat is shown
in the fact that two of the young, which are often born at a
birth, weigh two-thirds as much as the parent. Thus, flying
at nearly double its ordinary weight, we can fancy the power
of this animal, surpassing in proportion the strength of the
eagle or condor.
Great Digestive Powers.
In certain caterpillars the digestive power is so great that
they swallow every day three or four times their own weight
in food. If the elephant and rhinoceros were to feed on this
scale, and were as numerous as the caterpillars, they would
require but a short time to devour all the vegetation on the
globe.
The Earwig.
This insect is supposed to have a "fondness" forgetting
into the human ear, the effect of which, it has been believed,
is to penetrate the brain and cause madness. The earwig is
not more likely than any other insect to enter the ear. The
wings of the earwig, when fully expanded, are in shape pre-
cisely like the human ear, from which fact it is highly probable
390
that the original name of the insect was ear-wing and not ear-
wig, which appears to be entirely without meaning. The
name is also traced to the Saxon ear-wigca, from its destroying
ears of grain and fruit.
Eyes of the Cuttle-Fish.
The eyes of the cuttle-fish are so solid as to be almost cal-
careous. They are exceedingly beautiful, and reflect light
with a splendid play of color, like an opal. They are used
for necklace beads in Italy, and are highly valued objects for
the jeweler's art.
Innate Appetite
McKenzie mentions the following fact as having been wit-
nessed by Sir James Hall: He had been engaged in making
experiments in hatching eggs by artificial heat, and on one
occasion observed in one of his boxes a chicken in the act of
breaking from its confinement. It happened that just as the
creature was getting out of the shell a spider ran along the
box, when the chicken darted forward, seized and swallowed it.
Leaf -Butterfly of Java.
This butterfly, as a defense against the birds of the tropics,
almost exactly imitates, in its color and appearance, the leaves
of the trees among which it lives. The upper surface of the
wings, when outspread, of a rich orange blue, is very marked,
but the lower side consists of some shade of ash or brown or
ochre, such as are found among dead and decaying leaves.
When the insect is at rest on a tree, it resembles so closely a
leaf that the most acute observation fails to note the difference.
It sits on a twig, the wings closely fitted back to back, con*
291
cealing the antennae and head, which are drawn up beneath
their basis. The little tails of the hind wing touch the branch
and form a perfect stalk to the seeming leaf. The irregular
outline of the wings gives exactly the perspective effect of the
outline of a shriveled leaf.
The Jump of a Flea.
M. de Fonvielle, in his interesting work on the "Invisible
World," maintains that a flea can raise itself from the ground
to a height equal to two hundred times its stature. At this
rate, he says, a man would only make a joke of jumping over
the towers of Notre-Dame or the heights of Montmartre. A
prison yard would be useless unless the walls were more than
a quarter of a mile in height.
Book- Worms.
An instance is recorded of twenty-seven folio volumes being
perforated, in a straight line, by the same worm, in such a
manner that, by passing a cord through the round hole made
by it, the twenty-seven volumes could be raised at once.
Spider Barometers.
If the weather is likely to become rainy, windy or in other
respects disagreeable, spiders fix the terminating filaments, on
which the whole web is sustained, unusually short. If the
terminating filaments are made uncommonly long, the weather
will be serene, and continue so, at least for ten or twelve days.
If spiders be totally indolent, rain generally succeeds ; their
activity during rain is certain proof that it will be of short
duration, and followed by fair and constant weather. Spiders
usually make some alteration in their webs every twenty-four
hours; if these changes take place between the hours of six
and seven in the evening, they indicate a clear a; d pleasant
night.
"The clouds grow heavier over head-
The spider strengthened his web."
Muscles of the Caterpillar.
Our varied movements are executed by the aid of fleshy
muscles attached to the skeleton. In these, insects possess a
numerical and dynamical superiority over the human race.
Anatomists calculate that there are only 370 of these muscles
in a man, whilst the patient Lyonet discovered more than
4000 in a single caterpillar.
A Persistent Fly.
Linnaeus saw one of the flies which attack cattle follow a
reindeer an entire day, though dragging its sled at a gallop
over the snow. The fly flew almost continuously by its side,
watching for the moment when it might introduce one of its
eggs beneath the skin.
Phosphorescent Insects.
In tropical America there are phosphorescent insects of
remarkable splendor. In Cuba the women often inclose sev-
eral of the luminous beetles in little cages of glass, which
they hang up in their rooms, and this living lustre throws out
sufficient light for them to work by. Travelers, in a difficult
road, light their path in the middle of the night by attaching
one of these beetles to each of their feet. The Creoles some*
times set them in the curls of their hair, where, like resplend-
293
ent jewels, they give a fairy-like aspect to their heads. The
negresses, at their nocturnal dances, scatter these brilliant in-
sects over their robes of lace which nature provides for them,
all woven from the bark of the Lagetto.
Eating Clouds.
Dr. Livingstone, relating his adventures on Lake Nyassa,
says: "During a portion of the year the northern dwellers
on the lake have a harvest which furnishes a singular kind of
food. As we approached our limit in that direction, clouds
as of smoke arising from miles of burning grass were observed
tending in a southeasterly direction, and we thought that the
unseen land on the opposite side was closing in, and that we
were near the end of the lake. But next morning we sailed
through one of the clouds on our own side, and discovered
that it was neither smoke nor haze, but countless millions of
midges, called "kungo," (a cloud or fog.) They filled the
air to an immense height and swarmed upon the water, too
light to sink in it. Eyes and mouth had to be kept closed
while passing through this living cloud they struck upon the
face like fine drifting snow. The people gathered these in-
sects by night, and boiled them into thick cakes to be used
as a relish millions of midges in a cake. A kungo cake an
inch thick, and as large as the blue bonnet of a Scotch plow-
man, was offered to us. It was very dark in color, and tasted
not unlike caviare or salted locust."
Jl Hundred Stomachs.
Some of the animalcules have in the interior of the body
large cavities, which incessantly empty and fill themselves
with colored fluid. These cavities represent the heart of large
294
animals and their fluid the blood; and this circulating system
is relatively so large that it may be stated, without exaggeration,
that some microscopic beings have hearts fully fifty times as
large and as strong, in proportion, as that of the horse or ox.
A man has only one stomach, whilst invisible microzoa have
sometimes a hundred.
Motherly Sacrifice by the Gall Insect.
Some kinds of gall insects immolate themselves in order to
protect their offspring. As the enormously distended insect
gradually expels its eggs, it heaps them up in a little pile, and
when its body is quite cleared out, and only resembles a hol-
low bladder, the female straightway covers its progeny with
it, attaches the edges round them, and dies directly after.
It thus forms for them a convex, solid roof, the impermea-
bility of which protects its eggs against the injurious agency
of the air and storms. The mother pays for her childbirth
with her life, and her young are born under the shelter of her
mummified corpse.
Wonderful Spider's Web.
Across the sunny paths of Ceylon, where the forest meets
the open country, and which constitute the bridle-roads of the
island, an enormous spider stretches its web at the height of
from four to eight feet from the ground. The cordage of
these webs is fastened on either side to projecting shoots of
trees or shrubs, and is so strong as to hurt the traveler's face,
and even lift off his hat, if he happened not to see the line.
The nest in the centre is sometimes as large as a man's head,
and is continually growing larger, as it is formed of successive
layers of the old webs rolled over each other, sheet after sheet,
into a ball. These successive envelopes contain the limbs
295
and wings of insects of all descriptions, which have been the
prey of the spider and his family, who occupy the den formed
in the midst. There seems to be no doubt that the spider
casts the web loose and rolls it around the nucleus in the
centre when it becomes overcharged with carcasses, and then
proceeds to construct a fresh one, which in its turn is des-
tined to be folded up with the rest.
Horrible Mode of Assassination.
i
Before English law and custom had subdued the barbarism
of Hindostan, the following mode of assassination was not
uncommon : The murderer would kill one of a pair of
cobras, and drag the body of the snake along the ground into
the bungalow, over the floor, and into the very bed of the
victim. After a few moments, the dead snake, having accom-
plished the purpose of leaving an odorous trail to the sleeping
couch of the victim, would be thrown away. The dead
cobra's living mate would infallibly follow the trail to the bed,
where it would coil itself at rest, waiting to strike the sleeper.
Fighting Fish.
It is a favorite amusement among the natives of the East
Indian islands to secure a number of these fish, and pit them
one against the other, jiist as English ''gentlemen" of days
gone by used to match game-cocks to fight each other. Mons.
Carbonnier has never placed two together in the same vessel,
but if two are put into separate glasses and placed near to each
other, it is very amusing to watch their attempts at combat.
At first they will closely scan each other from a distance;
then, changing color and becoming almost black, the gill-
covers are opened out and form a sort of collarette round the
296
head, giving the fish a most curious appearance. The tail and
fins become phosphorescent in color, as well as the eyes, and
are tinted with the most beautiful hues. Then they attempt
to get at each other, but are prevented by the intervening
glass. When their anger is sufficiently aroused, they are
turned into the same vessel, when they fight vigorously with
rapid strokes of the tails and fins, till one of them seeks
safety in flight, and turns a sort of grayish-white color, often
jumping out of the water to escape his conqueror.
A Snake's Attachment for Home.
Lord Monboddo relates the following anecdote of a ser-
pent : "I am well informed of a tame serpent in the East
Indies, which belonged to the late Dr. Vigot, once kept by
him in the suburbs of Madras. This serpent was taken by the
French when they invested Madras, and was carried to Pon-
dicherry in a close carriage. But from thence he found his
way back to his old quarters, though Madras was above one
hundred miles distant from Pondicherry."
Queer Legend about Fish.
Most of the flat-fish, such as the flounder, plaice, sole, &c.,
are white or colorless on one side and dark colored on the
other. Naturalists account for this by saying that these fish
live at the bottom of the sea, dark side uppermost, to prevent
their being easily seen by the ocean monsters that devour
them. The Egyptians give another explanation. They tell
that Moses was once cooking a flat-fish, and when it had been
broiled on one side, the fire or the oil gave out, and Moses
angrily threw the fish into the sea, where, though half broiled,
it became as lively as ever, and its descendants have retained its
297
parti-colored appearance to the present day, being white on
one side and brown or black on the other.
An Old Pike.
In the year 1497 a pike was captured in the vicinity of
Manheim, Germany, with the following announcement, in
Greek, appended to his muzzle :
"I am the first fish that was put into this pond by the hands
of the Emperor Frederic the Second, on this third day of
October, 1262."
The age of the pike, therefore, if the notice spoke the
truth (and the enormous dimensions of his body left little
doubt on that point), was more than two hundred and thirty-
five years. Already he had been the survivor of many im-
portant changes in the political and social world around him,
and would have survived perhaps as many more, had it not
been for his capture. His carcass, which weighed three hun-
dred and fifty pounds, and measured nineteen feet, was sent
to the museum at Manheim, where it now hangs, a light, desi-
cated skeleton, which a child might move.
Colossal Shells.
One of these in particular has acquired a certain celebrity
on account of its size and the peculiar use to which it has been
put. It is the gigantic Tridacna, commonly known as the
" font," because it is sometimes employed in churches to con-
tain the sacred water. The great Tridacnse, which are only
detached from the rocks by cutting their cable with an axe,
sometimes weigh more than five hundred pounds. The
natives of the Molucca Islands eat them like we do oysters, to
which they are analogous, and the flesh of one is a sufficient
298
meal for twenty people. Their thick valves, which are some-
times five feet long, serve as troughs for the inhabitants, which
nature offers ready cut and polished, and which they often use
for feeding pigs, or convert into bath-tubs for their children.
Buffon speaks of a shell, the diameter of which was equal to
that of a carriage-wheel, and which was used for a mill-stone.
Changing Colors in a Dying Mullet.
The mullet is a fish that was much esteemed by the ancients.
The Italians have a proverb which says : "He who catches a
mullet is a fool if he eats it and does not sell it" owing to
the high price which the fish commanded. When it is dying,
it changes its colors in a very singular manner until it is life,
less. This spectacle was so gratifying to the Romans that
they used to show the fish dying in a glass vessel to their
guests before dinner.
An Immense Zoological Cabinet.
Schleiden maintains that a single visiting card, when it is
covered with a white layer of chalk, represents a zoological
cabinet containing nearly 100,000 shells of animals. These
shells are formed of carbonate of lime, and are so extremely
small that it has been calculated that it would require 10,000,-
ooo of them to make a pound of chalk.
Chank- Shell.
This name is given to a shell of several species of Turbinclla,
a genus of mollusks found in the East Indian seas. They are
much used as ornaments by Hindoo women, the arms and legs
being encircled with them. Many of them are buried with
opulent persons. A chank-shell opening to the right is rare,
and highly prized in Calcutta, one hundred pounds being
sometimes paid for one.
Edifices of the Polypi.
The prodigious surface over which the combined and cease-
less toil of these little architects extends, must be taken into
consideration in order to understand the important part they
play in nature. They have built a barrier of reefs 400 miles
long round New Caledonia, and another which extends along
the northeast coast of Australia 1000 miles in length. This
represents a mass in comparison with which the walls of Baby-
lon and the Pyramids of Egypt are as children's toys. And
these edifices of the Polypi have been reared in the midst of
the ocean waves, and in defiance of tempests which so rapidly
annihilate the strongest works constructed by man. They
build their reefs and islands with remarkable rapidity. One
of the straits in the approaches to Australia, which a few years
ago only possessed twenty-six madrepore islands, at present
displays one hundred and fifty.
Showers of Blood.
In the old chronicles we often read of drops of blood scat-
tered here and there being regarded as a sinister omen, or
even of regular showers of blood which carried terror into the
minds of our superstitious ancestors. Now-a-days we know
that the phenomenon is connected with the metamorphosis of
insects. Gregory of Tours speaks of a shower of blood which
fell in the reign of Childebert and spread alarm among the
Franks. But the most celebrated is that which took place at
Aix during the summer of 1608. It struck the inhabitants of
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the country with terror. The walls of the church-yard and
those of the houses for half a league round were spotted with
great drops of blood. A careful examination of them con-
vinced a savant of that day, M. de Peirese, that all that was
told about the subject was only a fable. He could not at first
explain the extraordinary phenomenon, but chance revealed
the cause. Having inclosed in a box the chrysalis of one of
the butterflies which were then showing themselves in great
numbers, he was astonished to see a stain of scarlet red at the
spot where the metamorphosis had taken place. He had dis-
covered the cause of the wondrous rain which had alarmed the
people. A prodigious swarm of butterflies had appeared at
the time, and his conjectures were confirmed by the fact that
no drops of blood had been found on the roofs of the houses,
but only on the lower stories, the places which the butterflies
had chosen for their metamorphoses.
Shirts Growing on Trees.
" We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says Humboldt,
"shirt trees fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical
pieces two feet in diameter, from which they peel the red and
fibrous bark without making any longitudinal incision. This
bark affords them a sort of garment which resembles a sack of
very coarse texture, and without a seam. The upper opening
serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to admit the
arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina in the rainy
season ; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cot-
ton which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito and in
Peru, As in this climate the riches and beneficence of nature
are regarded as the primary cause of the indolence of the
inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say, in showing the
shirts of Marina, in the forests of Oroonoka garments are
found ready made upon the trees." '
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Whistling Trees.
Schweinfurth, in his "Heart of Africa," describes what
may be termed an insect organ-builder. In the country of the
Shi Hooks, he says, the acacia groves extend over an area of a
hundred miles square and stretch along the right bank of the
stream. From the attacks of larvae of insects, which have
worked to the inside, their ivory white shoots are often dis-
torted in form and swollen out at their base with globular
bladders measuring about an inch in diameter. After the
mysterious insect has unaccountably managed to glide out of
its circular hole, this thorn-like shoot becomes a sort of musi-
cal instrument, upon which the wind, as it plays, produces
the regular sound of a flute. On this account the natives of
the Soudan have named it the whistling tree.
Aconite.
This plant was regarded by the ancients as the most violent
of poisons. They said that it was the invention of Hecate,
and that it sprung from the foam of Cerberus.
Oysters Growing on Trees.
Mr. C. H. Williams, of the Geographical Society of Eng-
land, tells us how oysters inhabit the Mangrove woods in
Cuba: "For several years I resided in that island, and have
several times come across scenes and objects which many
people would consider great curiosities one in particular.
Oysters grow on trees, in immense quantities, especially in
the southern part of the island. I have seen miles of trees,
the lower stems and branches of which were literally covered
with them, and many a good meal have I enjoyed with very
little trouble in procuring it. I simply placed the branches
302
over the fire, and, when opened, I picked out the oysters with
a fork or a pointed stick. These peculiar shell-fish are indi-
genous in lagoons and swamps on the coast, and as far as the
tide will rise and the spray fly so will they cling to the lower
parts of the Mangrove trees, sometimes four or five deep, the
Mangrove being one of the very few trees that flourish in salt
water."
The Shaking Aspen.
The aspen is popularly said to have been the tree which
formed the cross upon which the Saviour was crucified, and
since then its boughs have been filled with horror and tremble
ceaselessly. Unfortunately for the probability of this story,
the shivering of the aspen in the breeze may be traced to other
than a supernatural cause. The construction of its foliage is
particularly adapted for motion; a broad leaf is placed upon
a long footstalk so flexible as scarcely to be able to support
the leaf in an upright posture. The upper part of this stalk,
on which the play or action seems mainly to depend, is con-
trary to the nature of footstalks in general, being perfectly
flattened, and, as an eminent botanist has acutely observed, is
placed at a right-angle with the leaf, being thus particularly
fitted to receive the impulse of every wind that blows.
Tree Planting in Java.
In Java a fruit tree is planted on the birth of each child,
and is carefully tended as the record of his or her age.
Turkish Superstition about the Geranium.
The Turks believe that the geranium was originally a swal-
low, and that its existence was changed by a touch from the
robe of Mahomet.
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Four-leaved Clover.
For centuries it has been considered lucky to find a four-
leaved clover. Melton, in his "Astrologaster," says: "That
if a man, walking in the fields, find any foure-leaved grasse, he
shall in a small while after find some good thing. ' '
Bitterness of Strychnia.
Strychnia, the active principle of the nux vomica bean,
which has become so famous in the annals of criminal poison-
ing, is so intensely bitter that it will impart a sensibly bitter
taste to six hundred thousand times its weight of water.
Copied from Nature.
The remarkably pleasing patterns which adorn the Cash-
mere shawls from the foot of the Himalaya mountains are
copied from the leaves of the begonia.
Rose of Jericho.
Under this trivial name is known one of the most singular
forms of plant-life. It is an annual, and is found in northern
Africa, Syria and Arabia. It presents nothing strange during
the growing season, but, as the pods begin to ripen on
the approach of dry weather, the branches drop their leaves
and curl inward, appearing like dead twigs. When com-
pletely ripe the whole plant presents the aspect of a ball of
curious wicker-work at the top of a short stem. The roots
die away, and the wind carries the plant to great distances.
When the apparently dead, worthless ball reaches the sea or
Other water, or becomes wedged somewhere till a rain comes,
304
then the curled and dried ball, under the influence of water,
unbends, and the branches resume their proper places. The
pods open and discharge their seeds perhaps hundreds of
miles from the place of original growth.
The monks of Palestine call it "Mary's Flower," from the
belief that it expands each year on the day and hour of the
birth of the Saviour. It is also known as the resurrection
plant, and women in Palestine, about to undergo the pangs
of childbirth, place it in water at the beginning of their pains
in the hope that the blooming may be the signal of their
deliverance.
Curious Oranges.
There are many oranges, of curious shape and flavor, which
we seldom or never see in this country. Such are the pear-
shaped kind grown in the far East ; the orange of the Philip-
pines, which is no larger than a good-sized cherry; the double
orange, in which two perfect oranges appear, one within the
other; and the "fingered citron" of China, which is very
large, and is placed on the table by the Celestials rather for
its exquisite fragrance than for its flavor.
Trifoliated Plants considered Sacred.
Many trifoliated plants have been held sacred from a
remote antiquity. The trefoil was eaten by the horses of-
Jupiter, and a golden, three-leaved, immortal plant, affording
riches and protection, is noticed in Homer's Hymn in Mer-
curium. In the palaces of Nineveh, and on the medals of
Rome, representations of triple branches, triple leaves and
triple fruit are to be found. On the temples and pyramids of
Gibel-el-Birkel, considered to be much older than those of
Egypt, there are representations of a tri-leaved plant, which,
30ft
in the illustrations of Hoskin's " Travels in Ethiopia," seem
to be nothing else than the shamrock. The triad is still a
favorite figure in national and heraldic emblems.
The Belladonna Lily.
This flower (the Amaryllis formosissima), in a strong light,
has a yellow lustre like gold. It was originally named flos
Jacobcebus, because some imagined that they discovered in it
a likeness to the badge of the knights of the order of St.
James, founded in Spain in the fourteenth century.
Thirty Years in Blossoming.
The bamboo tree does not blossom until it attains its thir-
tieth year, when it produces seed profusely and then dies. It
is said that a famine was prevented in India, in 1812, by the
sudden flowering of the bamboo trees, where fifty thousand
people resorted to the jungles to gather the seed for food.
Mouse-Ear.
Lupton, in his third "Book of Notable Things," 1660,
says: "Mousear, any manner of way administered to horses,
brings this help unto them, that they cannot be hurt while
the smith is shoeing of them; therefore it is called of many,
herba clavorum, the herb of nails."
Mugwort.
Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," says : "If a footman take
mugwort and put into his shoes in the morning, he may goe
forty miles before noon, and not be weary."
906
The Shoe-black Plant.
There is a species of hibiscus growing in New South Wales,
the showy flowers of which contain a large proportion of
mucilaginous juice of a glossy, varnish-like appearance.
Chinese ladies use the juice for dyeing their hair and eye-
brows. In Java the flowers are used for blacking shoes.
St. John's Wort.
The common people in France and Germany gather this
plant with great ceremony on St. John's day, and hang it in
their windows as a charm against thunder and evil spirits. In
Scotland it is carried about as a charm against witchcraft and
enchantment, and the people fancy it cures ropy milk, which
they suppose to be under some malignant influence. As the
flowers, when rubbed between the fingers, yield a red juice,
it has obtained the name of Sanguis hominis (human blood)
among some fanciful medical writers.
The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blushed as she sought the plant of pow'r
" Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night"
Vegetable Fungus.
At the beginning of the present century Sir Joseph Banks,
of London, had a cask of wine which was too sweet for imme-
diate use, and it was placed in the cellar to become mellowed
by age. At the end of three years he directed his butler to
ascertain the condition of the wine, when, on attempting to
open the cellar door, he could not effect it in consequence of
some powerful resistance. The door was cut down, and the
cellar was found completely filled with a firm fungus vegeta-
307
ble production so firm that it was necessary to use an ax foi
its removal. This had grown from and had been nourished
by the decomposed particles of the wine. The cask was
empty and touched the ceiling, where it was supported by the.
surface of the fungus. Hone.
The Rose cub Midsummer.
The gathering of a rose on midsummer eve was once super-
stitiously associated with the choice of a husband. The cus-
tom is stated to be a relic of Druidical times, and is thus men-
tioned in the Connoisseur, No. 50 :
"Our maid Betty tells me, that if I go backward, without
speaking a word, into the garden, upon midsummer eve, and
gather a rose, and keep it in a clean sheet of paper without
looking at it until Christmas day, it will be as fresh as in
June; and if I then stick it in my bosom, he that is to be my
husband will come and take it out. ' '
Another custom was to gather the rose and seal it up while
the clock was striking twelve at mid-day.
The House Leek,
A. superstition used to exist that the house leek preserved a
house from lightning. It is still common in many parts of
England to plant it on top of the houses.
Ordeal of the Cross.
When a person accused of crime had declared his innocence
upon oath, and appealed to the cross for its judgment in his
favor, he was brought into church before the altar. The
priest previously prepared two sticks exactly alike, upon one
SOS
of which was carved the figure of a cross. They were both
wrapped up with great care and much ceremony in a quantity
of wool, and laid upon the altar, or upon the relics of the
saints. A solemn prayer was then offered up to God, that he
would be pleased to discover, by the judgment of his holy
cross, whether the accused person was innocent or guilty. A
priest then approached the altar and took up one of the
sticks, and the assistants reverently unswathed it. If it was
marked with the cross, the accused person was innocent ; if
unmarked, he was guilty. It would be unjust to assert that
the judgments delivered were in all cases erroneous, and it
would be absurd to believe that they were left altogether to
chance.
Ordeal of the Eucharist.
This ordeal was in use among the clergy. The accused
party took the sacrament in attestation of innocence, it being
believed that, if guilty, he would be immediately visited with
divine punishment for the sacrilege. A somewhat similar
ordeal was that of the corsned, or consecrated bread and
cheese. If the accused swallowed it freely, he was pro-
nounced innocent; if it stuck in his throat, he was presumed
to be guilty. Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the reign of Edward
the Confessor, when accused of the murder of the king's
brother, is said to have appealed to the ordeal of the corsned,
and was choked by it.
Ordeals in Africa.
Ordeals seem to be prevalent in Africa. "When a man,"
says Dr. Livingstone, "suspects that any of his wives have
bewitched him, he sends for the witch-doctor, and all the
wives go forth into the field, and remain fasting till that per-
309
son has made an infusion of a plant called goho. They all
drink it, each one holding up her hand to heaven in attesta-
tion of her innocence. Those who vomit it are considered
innocent, while those whom it purges are pronounced guilty,
and put to death by burning. The innocent return to their
homes, and slaughter a cock as a thank-offering to their
guardian spirits.. The Barotse pour the medicine down the
throat of a cock or dog, and judge of the innocence or guilt
of the person accused by the vomiting or purging of the
animal."
Ordeal of Cold Water.
The suspected person was flung into the river. If he floated,
without any appearance of swimming, he was judged guilty;
while if he sank he was acquitted.
Ordeal of Chewing Rice.
It is a common practice, in many parts of India, to oblige
persons suspected of crimes to chew dry rice in the presence
of the officers of the law. Curious as it may appear, such is
the intense influence of fear on the salivary glands, that, if
they are actually guilty, there is no secretion of saliva in the
mouth, and chewing is impossible. Such culprits generally
confess without any further efforts. On the contrary, a con-
sciousness of innocence allows of a proper flow of fluid for
softening the rice.
Ordeal by Fire.
This ordeal was allowed only to persons of high rank. The
accused had to carry a piece of red-hot iron for some distance
in his hand, or to walk nine feet, blindfolded and barefooted,
over red-hot ploughshares. The hand or foot was bound up
310
and inspected three days afterwards; if the accused had
escaped unhurt, he was pronounced innocent; if otherwise,
guihy.
Ordeal of Touch.
At one time a superstition prevailed that if a murderer, at
the inquest, or when on trial, touched the dead body of his
victim, it would commence to bleed. On the trial, in Edin-
burgh, of Philip Standsfield, for the murder of his father, the
following deposition was made by Mr. Humphrey Spurway :
"When the chirurgeons had caused the body of Sir James to
be, by their servants, sewen up again, and his grave-clothes
put on, a speech was made to this purpose : * It is requisite,
now, that those of Sir James Standsfield 's relations and nearest
friends should take him off from the place where he now lies,
and lift him into his coffin.' So I saw Mr. James Rowe at
the left side of Sir James' head and shoulder, and Mr. Philip
Standsfield at the right side of his head and shoulder; and,
going to lift off the body, I saw Mr. Philip drop the head of
his father upon the form, and much blood in hand, and himself
flying off from the body, crying, 'Lord, have mercy upon me,'
or 'upon us,' wiping off the blood on his clothes, and so laying
himself over a seat in the church; some, supposing that he would
swaiff or swoon away, called for a bottle of water for him."
Sir George McKenzie takes this notice of the above evi-
dence, in his speech to the inquest :
"But they, fully persuaded that Sir James was murdered by
his own son, sent out some chirurgeons and friends, who, having
raised the body, did see it bleed miraculously upon his touch-
ing it. In which God Almighty himself was pleased to bear
a share in the testimonies which we produce: that Divine
Power which makes the blood circulate during life, has oft-
times, in all nations, opened a passage to it after death upon
such occasions, but most in this case."
Chinese Veneration for the Lily.
Among the Chinese, should the lily blossom on New Year's
day, it is regarded as a most happy omen, presaging the best
of luck to the fortunate owner of the plant.
The Passion Flower.
This genus of plants received its name from some fanciful
persons among the first Spanish settlers in America, who
imagined that they saw in its flowers a representation of our
Lord's Passion the filamentous processes being taken to rep-
resent the crown of thorns, the nail-shaped styles the nails of
the cross, and the five anthers the marks of the wounds.
Burned Wastes Replenished.
Mr. Veitch, the well-known author on "Coniferae," re-
cently stated that the cones of many of the species on the
Pacific coast never open and permit the seed to escape unless
opened by a forest fire, when they fall out and replenish the
burned waste. They hang on the trees for many generations
even for thirty years.
Unlucky Stumbling*
When Mungo Park took his leave of Sir Walter Scott, prior
to his second and fatal expedition to Africa, his horse stum-
bled on crossing a ditch which separated the moor from the
road. "I am afraid," said Scott, "this is a bad omen."
Park smilingly answered: "Omens follow them who look to
them, ' ' and, striking spur into his horse, he galloped off. Scott
never saw him again.
312
Patagonian Superstitions.
To the Patagonians the cry of the nightjar on the Cordillera
betokens sickness, a certain toad -like lizzard mysteriously lames
horses, a fabulous two-headed guanaco is a sure forerunner ot
epidemic disease, &c. To counteract the influence of these,
charms and talismans are liberally employed.
Superstition about the Caul.
One of the superstitions that still clings to seafaring life, is
the confidence in the virtues of a child's caul, as a preservative
against drowning. The caul is a thin membrane found
encompassing the head of some children when born; it was
considered a good omen for the child itself, and productive of
good fortune and security from danger to the purchaser.
The superstition was so common in the primitive church that
St. Crysostom felt it his duty to inveigh against it in many
of his homilies. In later times midwives sold the caul at
enormous prices to advocates, "as an especial means of mak-
ing them eloquent," and to seamen as "an infallible preser-
vative against drowning." In Ben Jonson's "Alchemist"
Face says to Dapper
"Ye were born with a caul o' your head."
In Digby's "Elvira" (Act V.), Don Sancho says
"Were we not born with cauls upon our heads?
Think'st thou, chicken, to come off twice aroif
Thus rarely from such dangerous adventures?"
The caul is alluded to in a rondeau by Claude de Malleville,
born 1597. "// cst nt coifft" is a well-known expression,
describing a lucky man, and indicating that he was born with
a caul. Weston, in his " Moral Aphorisms from the Arabic"
313
(i8oi), says that the superstition came from the East, and
that there are several Arabic words for it.
The Will-with-a-Wisp.
This phenomenon, known also as " Jack-with-a-Lantern "
and "Ignis fatuus," has terrified many a simple-minded
rustic, whereas it is simply the phosphuretted hydrogen gas
which rises from stagnant waters and marshy grounds. Its
origin is believed to be in the decomposition of animal sub-
stances. Collins has left us some fine lines upon this phe-
nomenon, beginning
"Ah, homely swains ! your homeward steps ne'er lose ;
Let not dank Will mislead you to the heath;
Dancing in murky night o 'er fen and lake,
He glows to draw you downward to your death,
In his bewitch'd, low, marshy willow brake."
At Bologna, in 1843, the painter Onofrio Zanotti saw this
phenomenon in the form of globes of fire, issuing from between
the paving-stones in the street, and even about his feet. They
rose into the air and disappeared; he even felt their heat
when they passed near him.
Cramp Rings.
These rings were supposed to cure cramp and the "falling
sickness. ' ' They are said to have originated as far back as
the middle of the eleventh century, in a ring presented by a
pilgrim to Edward the Confessor, which, after that ruler's
death, was preserved as a relic in Westminster Abbey, and
was applied for the cure of epilepsy and cramp. Hence
appears to have arisen the belief that rings blessed by English
sovereigns were efficacious in such cases, and the custom of
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blessing for distribution large numbers of cramp rings on Good
Friday, which continued in existence down to the time of
Queen Mary. The accomplished Lord Berners, ambassador
to Spain in the time of Henry VIII., wrote from Saragossa to
Cardinal Wolsey: "If your grace remember me with some
cramp rings ye shall doo a thing muche looked for; and I
trust to bestow thaym with Goddes grace."
Horseshoes.
An ancient superstition existed that horseshoes kept witches
out of the house. It was a common practice to nail them to
the threshold, stipulated, however, that the shoe was to be
one that had been found. In Gay's fable of "The Old
Woman and her Cats," the supposed witch makes the follow-
ing complaint :
" Crowds of boys
Worry me with eternal noise;
Straws laid across, my pace retard ;
The horseshoe 's nailed (each threshold's guard);
The stunted brooms the wenches hide,
For fear that I should up and ride."
Breaking a Piece of Money.
It was an ancient custom to break a piece of gold or silver
in token of a verbal contract of marriage and promises of love;
one half of the coin was kept by the woman, the other half
was retained by the man.
Love Charms.
Theocritus and Virgil both introduce women into their
pastorals, using charms and incantations to recover the affec-
315
tions of their sweethearts. Shakespeare represents Othello as
accused of winning Desdemona "by conjuration and mighty
magic." In Gay's "Shepherd's Week," these are repre-
sented as country practices
"Strait to the 'pothecary's shop I went,
And in love-powder all my money spent,
Behap what will, next Sunday, after prayers, \
When to the ale-house Lubberkin repairs,
These golden flies into his mug I '11 throw,
And soon the swain with fervent love shall glow."
Throwing bay leaves into the fire, or bruising poppy flowers
in the hands, was believed to influence the love of others. In
Herrick's "Hesperides" is given "a charm or an allay for
love"
" If so a toad be laid
In a sheep-skin newly flay'd,
And that ty'd to a man, 'twill sever
Him and his affections ever."
Spellbound.
It was a popular belief in Scotland that the Duke of Mon-
mouth was spellbound to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, the
charm being lodged in the gold toothpick case which he sent
to her from the scaffold. William Jones, F.S.A.
Amulets Inserted under the Skin.
Devices to procure invulnerability are common in the Indo-
Chinese countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of
gold under the skin with this view. At a meeting of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, in 1868, gold and silver coins were
shown which had been extracted from under the skin of a
Burmese convict, at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric
316
speaks of the practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently
Borneo), and the stones possessing such virtue were, accord-
ing to him, found in the bamboo, presumably the silicious
concretions called Tabashir. Conti also describes the practice
in Java of inserting amulets under the skin.
Divining Rods.
Divination by the rod or wand is an imposition of the
highest antiquity. Hosea reproaches the Jews for believing
in it : "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff
declareth it unto them." (IV. 12.) It was a custom in vogue
among the Chaldeans, among almost every nation with any
pretence to scientific knowledge, and also among the wilder
or ruder races, as the Alani and the ancient Germans. Dr.
Henry states that after the Saxons and Danes had embraced
Christianity, the priests were commanded by their ecclesiasti-
cal superiors to preach very frequently against diviners,
sorcerers, augurers, and "all the filth of the wicked and the
dotages of the Gentiles." The divining rod, virgula divina,
or baculus divinatorius, was a forked branch of hazel, cut in
the form of a Y, and was supposed to reveal not only the
hidden spring, but mines of gold and silver, and any other
concealed treasure.
The "Quarterly Review," in an early number, relates that a
certain Lady Noel possessed the divining faculty : " She took a
thin forked hazel twig, about sixteen inches long, and held it
by the ends, the joint pointing downwards. When she came
to the place where water was under the ground, the twig
immediately bent, and the motion was more or less rapid as
she approached or withdrew from the spring. When just over
it, the twig turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the fingers,
which, by pressing it, were indented and heated and almost
317
blistered; a degree of agitation was also visible in her face.
The exercise of the faculty is independent of any volition."
Washing but Once in a Lifetime.
No devout Spanish woman dares to bathe without the per-
mission of her confessor. A female Bulgarian is permitted to
wash only once in her life on the day before her wedding;
and in most South Sclavonian families the girls are rarely
allowed to bathe the women never.
Looking Back.
The superstition of the ill-luck of looking back, or return-
ing, is nearly as old as the world itself, having no doubt origi-
nated in Lot's wife "having looked back from behind him,"
when he was leaving the doomed city of the Plain. Whether
walking or riding, the wife was behind the husband, accord-
ing to a usage still prevalent in the East. In Robert's
"Oriental Illustrations" it is stated to be "considered exceed-
ingly unfortunate in Hindostan for men or women to look
back when they leave their house. Accordingly, if a man.
goes out and leaves something behind him which his wife
knows he will want, she does not call him to turn or look
back, but takes or sends it after him; and if some emergency
obliges him to look back, he will not then proceed on the
business he was about to transact."
Toad-Stone Rings.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a curious super-
stition was prevalent in England in connection with what was
known as the toad-stone ring. The setting was of silver, and
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the stone was popularly believed to have been formed in the
heads of very old toads. It was eagerly coveted by sovereigns,
and by all persons in office, because it was supposed to have
the power of indicating to the person who wore it the prox-
imity of poison, by perspiring and changing color. Fenton,
who wrote in 1569, says : "There is to be found in the heads
of old and great toads a stone they call borax or stelon ;" and
he adds, "They, being used as rings, give forewarning
against venom." Their composition is not actually known;
by some they are thought to be a stone by others, a shell ;
but of whatever they may be formed there is to be seen in
them a figure resembling that of a toad, but whether produced
accidentally or by artificial means, is not known, though,
according to Albertus Magnus, the stone always bore the
figure on its surface when it was taken out of the toad's head.
Lupton, in his "One Thousand Notable Things," says: "A
toad-stone, called crepaudina, touching any part envenomed,
hurt or stung with rat, spider, wasp or any other venomous
beast, ceases the pain or swelling thereof. ' ' The well known
lines in Shakespeare are doubtless in allusion to the virtue
which Lupton says it possesses
" Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like a toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
* And Lyly, in his Euphues, says
"The foule toad hath a faire stone in his head."
Royal Dinner Time.
The Khan of the Tartars, who had not a house to dwell in,
who subsisted by rapine, and lived on mare's milk and horse
flesh, every day after his repast caused a herald to proclaim,
319
"That the Khan having dined, all other potentates, princes
and great men of the earth might go to dinner."
Throwing an Old Shoe.
The custom of throwing an old shoe after a person is still,
in many rural districts, believed to propitiate success, as in
servants seeking or entering upon situations, or about to be
married. In Scripture, "the receiving of a shoe was an evi-
dence and symbol of asserting or accepting dominion or
ownership; the giving back the shoe was the symbol of
rejecting or resigning it." Hence the throwing of a shoe
after a bride was a symbol of renunciation of dominion over
her by her father or guardian ; and the receipt of the shoe by
the bridegroom, even if accidental, was an omen that the
authority was transferred to him.
Cock-crowing an Omen of Victory.
Cicero quotes an instance where a Boeotian soothsayer
promised victory to the Thebans from the crowing of a cock.
The same circumstance once served the Boeotians as an omen
of victory over the Lacedaemonians.
The Unicorn's Horn.
The unicorn's horn was considered an amulet of singular
efficacy. It is now known that the object shown as such in
various museums is the horn of the rhinoceros. They were
sold at six thousand ducats, and were thought infallible tests
of poison, just as Venitian glass and some sorts of jewels were.
The Dukes of Burgundy kept pieces of the horn in their wins
jugs, and used others to touch all the meat they tasted.
920
Drinking-cups of this kind were greatly esteemed in former
times. In the inventory of jewels and plate in the Tower
(1649), w ^ tn CU P S an d beakers of unicorn's horn, is entered,
"A rinoceras cupp, graven with figures, with a golden foot,"
valued at 12. Decker, in "Gul's Hornbook," speaks of
"the unicorn whose horn is worth a city."
The Evil Eye in Spain.
In the Gitano language casting the evil eye is called
querclar nasula, which simply means "making sick," and
which, according to the common superstition, is accomplished
by casting an evil look at people, especially at children, who,
from the tenderness of their constitution, are supposed to be
more easily blighted than those of a more mature age. After
receiving the evil glance, they fall sick and die in a few hours.
The Spaniards have very little to say about the evil eye,
though the belief in it is very prevalent, especially in And-
alusia, among the lower orders. A stag's horn is considered a
good safeguard, and on that account a small horn, tipped with
silver, is frequently attached to the children's necks by means
of a cord braided from the hair of a black mare's tail. Should
the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the horn receives
it, and instantly snaps asunder. Such horns may be purchased
in some of the silversmiths' shops at Seville Borrow.
Witchcraft Charms.
The charms by which witches worked were short rhymes at
the different stages. In the fifteenth century an old dame
was tried for using witchcraft in curing diseases, when the
judges promised to liberate her if she would divulge her
charm. This she readily did, and informed the court tfcrt
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the charm consisted in repeating the following words, after
the stipulated pay, which was a loaf of bread and a penny
" My loaf in my lap,
My penny in my purse,
Thou art never the better,
And I am never the worse."
That was ludicrous indeed. Here is a "Charme for a
Thorne"
" Christ was of a Virgin born,
And he was pricked with a thorn;
And it did neither bell nor swell,
And I trust in Jesus this never will."
For "A Burning ":
"There came three angels out of the East:
The one brought fire, the other brought froit
Out fire in frost,
In the name of the Father, and Son
And Holy Ghost. Amen."
A Mountain Highway.
During the occupation of Java by the English in May, 1814,
it was unexpectedly discovered that in a remote but populous
part of the island a road leading to the top of the mountain
of Sumbeng, one of the highest in Java, had been constructed.
The delusion which gave rise to the work had its origin in the
province of Banyunas, in the territories of the Susunan, and
the infection spread to the territory of the Sultan, and thence
extended to that of the Europeans.
On examination, a road was found constructed twenty feet
broad and from fifty to sixty miles long, and it was wonder-
fully smooth and well made. One point which appears to
have been considered necessary, was that this road should not
cross rivers, and in consequence it wound in a thousand ways.
322
Another point as peremptorily insisted upon, was that its
course should not be interrupted by any private rights, and in
consequence trees and houses were overturned to make way
for it. The population of whole districts, occasionally to the
amount of five or six thousand laborers, were employed on the
road, and, among people disinclined to active exertion, the
laborious work was nearly completed in two months such was
the effect of the temporary enthusiasm with which they were
inspired.
It was found in the sequel that the whole work was set in
motion by an old woman who dreamed, or pretended to have
dreamed, that a divine personage was about to descend from
heaven on the mountain in question. Piety suggested the
propriety of constructing a road to facilitate his descent ; and
it was rumored that divine vengeance would pursue the sacri-
legious person who refused to join in the meritorious labor.
These reports quickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of
the people, and they heartily joined in the enterprise. The
old woman distributed to the laborers slips of palm-leaves,
with magic letters written upon them, which were charms to
secure them against sickness and accidents. When this strange
affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders were
issued to desist from the work, and the inhabitants returned
without a murmur to their usual occupations
A Buffalo's Skull.
Nowhere has superstition a greater power over the human
mind than among the inhabitants of Java. Mr. Crawford
relates that some years since it was accidentally discovered
that the skull of a buffalo was superstitiously conveyed from
one part of the island to another. The point insisted upon
was never to let it rest, but to keep it in constant progressive
motion. It was carried in a basket, and no sooner was one
323
person relieved from the load than it was taken up by another;
for the understanding was that some dreadful imprecation was
denounced against the man who should let it rest. In this
manner the skull was hurried from one province to another,
and, after a circulation of many hundred miles, it at length
reached the town of Samarang, the Dutch governor of which
seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus the spell was
broken. The Javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing
further was heard of this unaccountable transaction. None
could tell how or where it originated.
Superstitious Notion of the Number One.
The Bedui, a people found in the interior of Bantam, Java,
have a superstitious notion of the number one. It is an estab-
lished rule among them to allot but one day for each of the
different successive operations of husbandry, one day for
cutting down the trees and underwood ; one day for clearing
what has been so cut down ; one day for sowing the grain ;
one for weeding the field; one for reaping; one for binding
up the grain; one for carrying it home. If any part of what
has been reaped cannot be carried home in one day, it is left
to rot in the field.
Thunder and Lightning.
Thunder and lightning have been fruitful sources of super-
stitious terror. The ancients considered lightning as a visible
manifestation of Divine wrath; hence whatever was struck
with it was considered to be accursed and separated from
human uses. The corpse of a person struck by lightning was
never removed from the place where it fell ; there it lay, and,
with everything pertaining to it, was covered with earth and
324
enclosed by a rail or mound. In some parts of the East,
however, it is considered a mark of Divine favor to be struck
by lightning. In England, formerly, during storms, bells
were rung, and the aid of Saint Barnabas was invoked, in
abbeys, to drive away thunder and lightning.
The bay-tree was commonly believed to afford protection
from lightning. It was also believed that if a fir-tree were
touched, withered or burned by lightning, its owner would
soon die. It was customary to place a piece of iron on the
beer barrel, during a storm, to keep the beer from souring.
Manna Marked with the Number Six.
In the Calaba, the number six was considered to be one of
potent mystical properties. The rabbinical writers assert that
the manna, when it was found, was marked with the Hebrew
vau, the equivalent of number six. As the world was created
in six days; as a servant had to serve six years (Exodus xxi. 2);
as the soil was tilled for six years (Exodus xxiii. 10); as Job
endured six tribulations so this number was typical of labor
and suffering. Consequently it was impressed on the manna
not only to show the Israelites that it fell but on six days, but
also to warn them of the miseries they would undergo if they
dared to desecrate the Sabbath day.
The Seventh Son of the Seventh Son.
Grose remarks as a popular superstition that the seventh son
of a seventh son is born a physician, having an intuitive
knowledge of the art of healing all disorders, and sometimes
the faculty of performing wonderful cures by touching only.
It is recorded as a superstition in Yorkshire (1819), that if
any woman has seven boys in succession, the last should be
325
bred to the profession of medicine, in which he would be sure
of being successful.
In an article on "Fairy Superstitions in Donegal," pub-
lished in the University Magazine for August, 1879, are the
following statements respecting the seventh son: "It is not
generally known that a particular ceremony must be observed
at the moment of the infant's birth, in order to give him his
healing power. The woman who receives him in her arms
places in his tiny hand whatever substance she decides that he
shall rub with in after life, and she is very careful not to let
him touch anything until this shall have been accomplished.
If silver is to be the charm, she has provided a sixpenny or
threepenny bit ; but as the coinage of the realm may possibly
change during his lifetime, and thus render his cure valueless,
she has more likely placed meal or salt upon the table, with-
in reach. Sometimes it is determined that he is to rub with
his own hair, and in this case the father is summoned and
requested to kneel down before his new-born son, whose little
fingers are guided to his head, and helped to close upon a lock
of hair. Whatever substance a seventh son rubs with must
be worn by his patients so long as they live."
Virtue in the Number Seven.
In the manuscript on Witchcraft, by John Bell, a Scottish
minister (1705), he says: "Are there not some who cure by
observing number? after the example of Balaam, who used
inagiam geometricam (Numbers xxiii. i), 'Build me here
seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams,'
etc. There are some witches who enjoin the sick to dip their
shirt seven times in south-running water. Elisha sends
Naaman to wash in Jordan seven times. Elijah, on the top
of Carmel, sends his servant seven times to look for rain.
When Jericho was taken they compassed the city seven times."
326
Not only the ancient Jews but the heathens regarded this
number of great efficacy in religious ceremonies. Apuleius
says : "Desirous of purifying myself, I wash in the sea, and dip
my head in the waves seven times, Pythagoras having thought
that this number is, above all others, most proper in the con-
cerns of religion."
The Bektashi dervishes of Turkey have many superstitious
beliefs in connection with their girdle, cap and cloak. One
ceremony with the stone worn in the girdle is rather striking.
The Sheikh puts it in and out seven times, saying: "I tie up
greediness, and unbind generosity. I tie up anger, and
unbind meekness. I tie up ignorance, and unbind the fear of
God. I tie up passion, and unbind the love of God. I tie
up the devilish, and unbind the divine."
In Lane's "Modern Egyptians," mention is made of a
ridiculous ceremony for the cure of a pimple on the edge of
the eyelid. The person affected with it goes to any seven
women of the name of Fa't'meh, in seven different houses,
and begs from each of them a morsel of bread ; these seven
morsels constitute the remedy.
A curious French manuscript belonging to the latter part of
the thirteenth century has a singular illustration of the num-
ber seven. It is a miniature, a wheel cut into seven rays,
and composed of seven concentric cordons. The rays form
seven compartments divided into as many cordons, contain-
ing in each cordon one of the seven petitions of the Lord's
prayer, one of the seven sacraments, one of the seven spiritual
arms of justice, one of the seven works of mercy, one of the
seven virtues, and one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.
William Jones, F.S. A.
Onomancy.
The notion that an analogy existed between men's names
and their fortunes is supposed to have originated with the
32T
Pythagoreans; it furnished some reveries for Plato, and has
been the source of much wit to Ausonius. Two leading rules
in what was called Onomancy were, first, that an even number
of vowels in a man's name signified something amiss in his
left side ; an uneven number, a similar affection in the right ;
so that between the two perfect sanity was little to be
expected. Secondly, of two competitors, that one would
prove successful the numeral letters in whose name, when
summed up, exceeded the amount of those in the name of his
rival ; and this was one of the reasons which enabled Achilles
to triumph over Hector.
Mystic Gifts.
Chrysostom says that the three gifts of the three Magi
gold, myrrh and frankincense were mystic gifts, signifying
that Christ was king, man and God.
Exterminating Vermin.
In France it is believed that water from the well of the
Church of St. Gertrude of Nivelles will drive away rats and
mice if sprinkled about the house. Earth from the tomb of
St. Ulric, at Augsbourg, is believed to possess the same virtue.
In Scotland it was the custom to paste the following rhyme
against the wall of the house
" Ratton and mouse,
Lea' the puir woman's house;
Gang awa' owre by to the mill,
And there ye '11 a' get ye'r fill."
The Bulgarians beat copper pans all over the house on the
last day of February, calling out at the same time, ' ' Out with
you, serpents, scorpions, fleas, bugs and flies ! ' ' A pan held
by a pair of tongs is put outside in the courtyard.
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Perforated Stones.
Creeping through perforated stones was a Druidical cere-
mony, and is practiced in the East Indies. Barlase mentions
a stone in the parish of Marsden, Cornwall, through which
many persons have crept for pains in their backs and limbs,
and many children have been drawn for the rickets. He adds
that two brass pins were carefully laid across each other on
the top edge of this stone, for oracular purposes.
St. Helena Coins.
Among amulets in repute in the Middle Ages were the
coins attributed to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine.
These and other coins marked with a cross were thought
especially efficacious against epilepsy, and are generally found
perforated for the purpose of being worn suspended from the
neck.
Weighing a Witch.
At Wingrave, in Buckinghamshire, in 1759, a case occurred
of the old popular witchcraft trial by weighing against the church
Bible. One Susannah Hameokes, an elderly woman, was
accused by a neighbor of being a witch. The overt act offered
in proof was, that she had bewitched the said neighbor's spin-
ning-wheel, so that she could not make it go round either one
way or the other. The complaining party offered to make
oath of the fact before a magistrate, on which the husband ot
the poor woman, in order to justify his wife, insisted that she
should be tried by the church Bible, and that the accuser
should be present. The woman was accordingly conducted
by her husband to the ordeal, attended by a great concourse
of people, who flocked to the parish church to see the cere-
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mony. Being stripped of nearly all her clothes, she was put
into one scale and the Bible into another, when, to the no
small astonishment and mortification of her accuser, she
actually outweighed it, and was honorably acquitted of the
charge.
Poetry of Omens.
Omens constitute the poetry of history. They cause the
series of events which they are supposed to declare to flow
into epical unity, and the political catastrophe seems to be
produced not by prudence or by folly, but by the superin-
tending destiny. The numerous tokens of the death of Henry
IV. are finely tragical. Mary de Medicis, in her dream, saw
the brilliant gems of her crown change into pearls, the symbol
of tears and mourning. An owl hooted until sunrise at the
window of the chamber to which the king and queen retired
at St. Denis, on the night preceding her coronation. Dur-
ing the ceremony, it was observed, with dread, that the dark
portals leading to the royal sepulchre, beneath the choir, were
gaping and expanded. The flame of the consecrated taper
held by the queen was suddenly extinguished, and twice her
crown nearly fell to the ground. The prognostications of the
misfortunes of the Stuarts have equally a character of solemn
grandeur; and we are reminded of the portents of Rome
when we read how the sudden tempest rent the royal standard
on the Tower of London. Charles I. , yielding to his destiny,
was obstinate in the signs of evil death. He refused to be
clad in the garments of Edward the Confessor, in which all
his predecessors had been arrayed, and he would be attired in
white velvet. Strongly did the Earl of Pembroke attempt to
dissuade him for the prophecy of the misfortunes of the
white king had long been current ; but his entreaties were in
vain, and Charles was crowned invested with the raiment
which indicated his misfortunes. Quarterly Review,
330
House Crickets.
It is singular that the house cricket should, by some weak
persons, be considered a lucky, and by others an unlucky,
inmate of a dwelling. Those who hold the former opinion con-
sider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune on their
habitations. "In Dumfriesshire," says Sir William Jardine,
" it is a common superstition, that if crickets forsake a house
which they have long inhabited, some evil will befall the
family generally the death of some member is portended.
In like manner, the presence or return of this cheerful little
insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family."
Sitting Cross-Legged.
Sir Thomas Browne tells us that to sit cross-legged, or with
our fingers pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and
friends will dissuade us from it. The same conceit religiously
possessed the ancients; but Mr. Park says: "To sit cross-
legged, I have always understood, was intended to produce
good or fortunate consequences. Hence it was employed as
a charm at school, by one boy who wished well for another,
in order to deprecate some punishment which both might
tremble to have incurred the expectation of. At a card-table
I have also caught some superstitious players sitting cross-
legged, with a view of bringing good luck." Brand.
The Death-Watch.
This name has been given to a harmless little insect which
lives in old timber, and produced a noise which somewhat
resembles the ticking of a watch. It is simply the call of the
insect to another of its kind, when spring is far advanced.
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The general number of distinct strokes in succession is from
seven to nine, or eleven, and the noise exactly resembles that
produced by tapping moderately with the finger nail upon a
table, and, when familiarized, the insect will readily answer to
the tap of the nail. The noise used to be regarded as an
omen of death in the family, and is mentioned by Baxter in
his "World of Spirits." Swift ridicules the superstition as
follows:
"A wood worm,
That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
With teeth or with claws it will bite, it will scratch,
And chamber-maids christen this worm a death-watch;
Because, like a watch, it always cries click :
Then woe be to those in the house that are sick!
For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post.
But a kettle of scalding hot water injected,
Infallibly cures the timber affected ;
The omen is broken, the danger is over,
The maggot will die, the sick will recover. v
Sundry Rural Charms.
For good bread
This I '11 tell ye, by the way :
Maidens, when ye leavens lay,
Cross your dow and your dispatch
Will be better for your batch. Herrick.
To make the butter come
Come butter, come,
Come butter, come,
Peter stands at the gate
Waiting for a butter' d cake,
Come butter, come.
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Scattering wash-water
In the morning, when ye rise,
Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes.
Next be sure ye have a care
To disperse the water farre,
For as farre as that doth light,
So farre keeps the evil spright. Herrick.
There is mention of older charms in "Bale's Interlude
Concerning the Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ," 1562
" With blessynges of Saynt Germayne
I will me so determyne
That neyther fox nor vermyne
Shall do my chyckens harme ;
For your gese seke Saynt Legearde,
And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde,
There is no better charme."
"Take me a napkin folte
With the byas of a bolte,
For the healing of a colte
No better thynge can be;
For lampes and for bottes
iake me Saynt Wilfrid's knottes,
And holy Saynt Thomas Lottes,
On my life I warrande ye."
Charm against Dogs.
On the 22d of November the sun enters Sagittarius.
Ac
