THE QUEER, THE QUAINT AND THE QUIZZICAL A CABINET FOR THE CURIOUS "The company is mixed." Byron RRANK H. STAURKER PHILADELPHIA: DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER, 610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE. Copyright, 1882, by F. H. 8TAUFFER attfc tootrtrers- ImfquUfes ana tluntters. <$metts Ufre, mgstfc fire, Strange customs, cranfes anti (peats, eirfth phClosophg tit streams. 203SS45 Custom doth often reason overrule, And only serves for reason to the fool. Rochester. A moon dial, with Napier's bones, And sev'ral constellation stones. Butler. He shows, on holidays, a sacred pin, That touch'd the ruff that touch'd Queen Bess's chin. Wolcofs Peter Pindar. Stretching away on the one hand into the deep gloom of barbaric ignorance, and on the other hand into the full radiance of Christian intelli- gence, and, grounding itself strongly in the instinctive recognition by all men of the intimate relations between the seen and the unseen, the empire of SUPERSTITION possesses all ages of human history and all stages of human progress. Nimno. Matrons who toss the cup, and see The grounds of fate in grounds of tea. Churchill. I have known the shooting of a star to spoil a night's rest; I have seen a man in love grow pale upon the plucking of a merry-thought. There is nothing so inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled with omens and prognostics. Addison. (5) Books with Unpronounceable Names. In the seventeenth century there was a book published entitled: " Crononhotonthologos, the most tragical tragedy that ever was tragedized by any company of tragedians." The first two lines of this effusion read "Aldeborontiphoscophosnio ! Where left you Chrononhotonthologos ?" We might name another singular title of a work published in 1661 by Robert Lovell, entitled: "Panzoologicomineralogia; a complete history of animals and minerals, contain 'g the summs of all authors, Galenical and Chymicall, with the anatomic of man, &c." Salad for the Solitary, Most Curious Book in the World. The most singular bibliographic curiosity is that which belonged to the family of the Prince de Ligne, and is now in France. It is neither written nor printed. All of the letters of the text are cut out of each folio upon the finest vellum ; and, being interlaced with blue paper, it is read as easily as the best print. The labor and patience bestowed upon it must have been excessive, especially when the precision and minuteness of the letters are considered. The general execu- tion is admirable in every respect, and the vellum is of the most delicate and costly kind. Rodolphus IT., of Germany, offered for it, in 1640, eleven thousand ducats, which was probably equal to sixty thousand at this day. The most 8 remarkable circumstance connected with this literary treasure is that it bears the royal arms of England, but it cannot be shown that it was ever in that country. The book is entitled : Liber Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi cum Characteribus Nulla Materia Compositis. A Long Lost Book Recovered. The book called "The Ascension of Isaiah the Prophet" had been known to exist in former ages, but had disappeared after the fifth century. During the present century Dr. Richard Laurence, the professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop of Cassel, accidentally met with an ^Ethiopic MS. at the shop of a bookseller in Drury Lane, which proved to be this apocryphal book. There was some- thing remarkable in the discovery, in a small bookseller's shop, of a book which had been lost to the learned for more than a thousand years. The Bug Bible. Among the literary curiosities in the Southampton library, England, is an old Bible known as the "Bug Bible," printed by John Daye, 1551, with a prologue by Tyndall. It derives its name from the peculiar rendering of the fifth verse in the gist Psalm, which reads thus: "So that thou shall not need to be afraid for any bugs by night." Illuminated Manuscript Bible. Guido de Jars devoted half a century to the production of a manuscript copy of the Bible, with illuminated letters. He began it in his fortieth year, and did not finish it until his ninetieth (1294). It is of exceeding beauty. 9 The Mazarine Bible. This is so called from its having been found in the Cardi- nal's library. It was the first book printed with metal types, and cost $2,500. A Book without Words. A literary curiosity exists in England in the shape of "A Wordless Book,'' so called because, after the title page, it contains not 9. single word. It is a religious allegory devised by a religious enthusiast, and the thought is in the symbolic color of its leaves, of which two are black, two crimson, two pure white, two pure gold. The black symbolizes the unre- generate heart of man; the crimson, the blessed redemption; the white, the purity of the soul " washed in the blood of the Lamb;" the gold, the radiant joy of eternal felicity. Wierix's Bible. The edition of this Bible contains a plate by John Wierix, representing the feast of Dives, with Lazarus at his door. In the rich man's banqueting room there is a dwarf playing with a monkey, to contribute to the merriment of the company, according to the custom among people of rank in the sixteenth century. Gilt Beards. There was a French Bible printed in Paris in 1538, by Anthony Bonnemere, wherein is related "that the ashes of the golden calf which Moses caused to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by the Israelites, stuck to the beards of such as had fallen down before it, by which they appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark to distinguish 10 those who had worshipped the calf." This idle story is actually interwoven with the j2d chapter of Exodus. Printed in Gold Letters. Bede speaks of a magnificent copy of the Gospels in letters of the purest gold, upon leaves of purple parchment. Magnificent Latin Bible. Amongst the rare and costly relics in the library of the Vatican, is the magnificent Latin Bible of the Duke of Urbino. It consists of two large folios, embellished by numerous figures and landscapes, in the ancient arabesque. Interesting Manuscript Bibles. In the British Museum there are two copies of the Scrip- tures which are peculiarly calculated to interest the pious visitors, from the circumstances under which they were tran- scribed. The elder manuscript contains "The Old and New Testaments, in short hand, in 1686," which were copied, during many a wakeful night, by a zealous Protestant, in the reign of James II., who feared that the attempts of that monarch to re-establish Popery would terminate in the sup- pression of the sacred Scriptures. The other manuscript contains the book of Psalms and the New Testament, in 15 volumes, folio, written in characters an inch long, with white ink, on black paper manufactured for the purpose. This perfectly unique copy was written in 1745, at the cost of a Mr. Harries, a London tradesman. His sight having failed with age so as to prevent his reading the Scriptures, though printed in the largest type, he incurred 11 the expense of this transcription that he might enjoy those sources of comfort which "are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold." The British Museum paid $3750 for the manuscript Bible made by Alcuin, in the eighth century, for the Emperor Char- lemagne, whose instructor and friend he was. The Vinegar Bible. This Bible derives its title from an edition which contained an error in the heading to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke, in which '''Parable of the Vineyard" is printed "Parable of the Vinegar." The edition was issued in the year 1717, by the University of Oxford, at their Clarendon Press. Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Booke." This book is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the work of Queen Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold. It hung by a gold chain at her side, and was the fre- quent companion of the "Virgin Queen." In her own hand- writing, at the beginning of the volume, the following quaint lines appear " I walke many times into the pleasaunt fieldes of the Holie Scriptures, where I plucke up the gooclliesome herbes of sentences by pruning; eate them by readinge; chawe them by musing; and laye them up at length in ye state of memorie by gathering them together; that so, having tasted their sweetness, I may the lesse perceave the bitterness of this miserable life." This was penned by the Queen, probably while she was in captivity at Woodstock, as the spirit it breathed affords a singular contrast to the towering haughtiness of her ordinary deportment. 12 Eliot's Indian Bible. At the age of 42, John Eliot, pastor of a church at Roxbury, Mass., began the study of the Natick Indian dialect, with a view of translating the Bible into that language. He com- pleted the translation in 1658, after a labor of eight years, and the book was issued in 1663. Upwards of one thousand copies were printed, of which twenty copies were dedicated to King Charles. The latter copies are so rare that one of them was sold in the U. S., in 1862, for $1000, and six years later for $i 150. Among the many points of interest which Eliot's Indian Bible possesses, not the least is the fact that it is the language of a nation no longer in existence, and is almost the only monument of the race ; another, that it is the first edi- tion of the Bible published in this country. Silver Book. In the library of Upsal, in Sweden, there is preserved a translation of the four Gospels, printed with metal type upon violet-colored vellum. The letters are silver, and hence it has received the name of Codex Argenteus. The initial letters are in gold. It is supposed that the whole was printed in the same manner as book-binders letter the titles of books on the back. It was a very near approach to the art of printing, but it is not known how old it is. Huge Copy of the Koran. D'lsraeli mentions a huge copy of the Koran probably without a parallel, as to its size, in the annals of letters. The characters are described as three inches long; the book itself is a foot in thickness, and its other dimensions five feet by three. 13 A Lost Book. Celsus wrote a book against the Magi, which was not pre- served. He was an Epicurian philosopher, and lived in the second century. Much regret has been expressed over the loss of the work. He is mentioned with respect by Lucian, who derived from him the account which he gives of Alex- ander the imposter. Even Origen treated him with con- sideration. Book of Riddles. The Book of Riddles, alluded to by Shakespeare in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act ist, scene ist), is mentioned by Laneham, 1575, and in the English Courtier, 1586. The earliest edition now preserved is dated 1629. It is entitled "The Booke of Merry Riddles, together with proper Ques- tions and with Proverbs to make pleasant pastime; no less usefull and behovefull for any young man or child, to know if he be quick-witted or no." Unique Library. A singular library existed in 1535, at Warsenstein, near Cassel. The books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, were made of wood, and every one of them is a speci- men of a different tree. The back is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished pieces of the same stock. When put together, the whole forms a box, and inside of it are stored the fruit, seed and leaves, together with the moss which grows on its trunk and the insects which feed upon the tree. Every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether has an excellent effect. 14 The New England Primer. After the horn-book, the children of the incipient United States were furnished with primers, among the most noted of which was "The New England Primer for the more easy attaining the reading of English, to which is added the Assembly of Divines and Mr. Cotton's Catechisms." This primer had in it the alphabet, syllables of two letters, and many a pious distich, such as Young Timothy Learn'd sin to fly. Whales in the sea God's voice obey. In Adam's fall We sinned all. Vashti for pride Was set aside. These puritanic verses were accompanied with illustrations fully as bad as the rhymes, which were occasionally stretched to a triplet, as Young Obadias, David, Josias, All were pious. The Bedford Missal. One of the most celebrated books in the annals of biblio- graphy is the richly illuminated Missal executed by John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France under Henry VI., and presented by him to the king in 1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and two and a half inches thick. It contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in circles of about an inch and a half in diameter, 15 displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage, with varie- gated flowers, etc. At the bottom of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the subject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various hands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collec- tion was sold by auction in 1786. Among its many attrac- tions was the Bedford Missal. A knowledge of the sale com- ing to the ears of George III., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. The book- seller ventured to submit to his Majesty the probable high price it would bring. "How high?" asked the king. "Probably two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hun- dred guineas for a missal!" exclaimed the Queen, who was present, and lifted her hands in astonishment. "Well, well, I'll have it still," said his majesty; "but since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a missal, I'll go no higher." The bidding for the royal library actually stopped at that point, and a celebrated collector, Mr. Edwards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. The same missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in 1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough for the enormous sum of 637 i$s. sterling. Lord Kingsborough's Mexico. The most costly undertaking of a literary character ever undertaken by a single individual is the magnificent work on "Mexico," by Lord Kingsborough. This stupendous work is said to have been produced at an enormtous cost to the author. It is comprised in seven immense folio volumes, embellished by about one thousand colored illustrations. He spent more than $300,000 in its production, his enthusiasm carrying him so far that he ultimately died in debt. 16 Imperishable Prison Literature. Bcethius composed his excellent "Consolations of Philoso- phy" in prison. Grotius wrote his "Commentary" while in prison. Cervantes, it is said, wrote that masterpiece of Spanish romance, "Don Quixote," on board one of the gal- leys, in Barbara. Sir Walter Raleigh compiled his "History of the World" in his prison-chamber in the Tower. Bunyan composed his immortal allegory in Bedford jail. Luther gave the Bible to Germany, having translated it in Wartburg castle. Puffing their own Books. Authors of the olden time used to puff their own works by affixing "taking titles" to them; such as "A right merrie and wittie interlude, verie pleasant to reade, &c.;" "A marvellous wittie treatise, &c.;" "A Delectable, Pithie and Righte Profit- able Worke, &c." Sibylline Books. The Sibylline prophecies were of early Trojan descent, and the most celebrated of the Sibyls, or priestesses, plays an important part in the tales of ./Eneas. Her prophecies were supposed to be heard in dark caverns and apertures in rocks. They are thought by Varro to have been written upon palm leaves in Greek hexameters. They were largely circulated in he time of Croesus, and the promises which they made of future empire to ^Eneas escaping from the flames of Troy into Italy, were remarkably realized by Rome. Of the nine books offered for sale by a Sibyl to Tarquinius Superbus, six were burnt, after which he purchased the remaining three for the price originally demanded for the nine. They were kept in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 17 in the custody of certain officers, who only consulted the books at the special command of the Senate. Some Sibylline books appear to have been consulted until the tenth century. Prophetic Almanacs. The fame of the celebrated astrologer, Nostradamus, who prophesied minutely the death of Henry II. of France, the execution of Charles I. of England, the great fire of London, the Restoration, &c., gave such an impulse to predictions that, in 1579, Henry III. of France prohibited the insertion of any political prophecies in almanacs, a prohibition which was renewed by Louis XIII., in 1628. In the reign of Charles IX. a royal edict required every almanac to be stamped with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Prophetic almanacs still circulate to an incredible extent in the rural districts of France, and among the uneducated. The most popular of all these is the "Almanac Liegeois," a venerable remnant of superstition, first issued in 1636. It is a most convenient almanac for those who are unable to read, for by certain sym- bols attached to certain dates the most unlettered persons can follow its instructions. A rude representation of a phial announces the proper phase of the moon under which a draught of medicine should be taken ; a pair of scissors points out the proper period for cutting hair; a lancet, for letting blood, &c. Diaries. Marcus Antonius' celebrated work, entitled "Of the Things which Concern Himself," would be a good definition of the use and purpose of a diary. Shaftesbury calls a diary "A Fault-book," intended for self-correction; and a Colonel Hardwood, in the reign of Charles I., kept a diary which, in 18 the spirit of the times, he entitled "Slips, Infirmities and Passages of Providence. " One old writer quaintly observes that "the ancients used to take their stomach-pill of self- examination every night. Some used little books or tablets, tied at their girdles, in which they kept a memorial of what they did, against their night-reckoning." We know that Titus, the delight of mankind, as he has been called, kept a diary of all his actions, and when at night he found that he had performed nothing memorable, he would exclaim: "Friends, we have lost a day." Edward VI. kept a diary, while that left by James II., so full of facts and reflections, furnished excellent material for history. Richard Baxter, author of one hundred and forty-five distinct works, left a diary extending from 1615 to 1648, which, when published, formed a folio of seven hundred closely-printed pages. Valu- able diaries were also left by Whitelock and Henry Earl of Clarendon. Literary Ingenuity. Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet anna. The above line is said, in an old book, to have "cost the inventor much foolish labor, for it is perfect verse, and every word is the very same both backward and forward." Supposed to be a Genuine Island. When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned quite a complimentary blunder. This political romance represents a perfect but visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered in America. As this was the age of discovery (says Granger), the learned Budseus, and others, took it for a genuine history, and con- sidered it as highly expedient that missionaries should be sent thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity. 19 King of India's Library. Dabshelim, King of India, had so numerous a library, that a hundred brachmans were scarcely sufficient to keep it in order, and it required a thousand dromedaries to transport it from one place to another. As he was not able to read all these books, he proposed to the brachmans to make extracts from them of the best and most useful of their contents. These learned personages went so heartily to work, that in less than twenty years they had compiled of all these extracts a little encyclopaedia of twelve thousand volumes, which thirty camels could carry with ease. They presented them to the king, but what was their amazement to hear him say that it was impossible for him to read thirty camel-loads of books. They therefore reduced their extracts to fifteen, afterwards to ten, then to four, then to two dromedaries, and at last there remained only enough to load a mule of ordinary size. Unfortunately, Dabshelim, during this process of melting down his library, grew old, and saw no probability of living long enough to exhaust its quintessence to the last volume. "Illustrious Sultan," said his vizier, "though I have but a very imperfect knowledge of your royal library, yet I will undertake to deliver you a very brief and satisfactory abstract of it. You shall read it through in one minute, and yet you will find matter in it to reflect upon throughout the rest of your life." Having said this, Pilpay took a palm leaf, and wrote upon it with a golden style the four following paragraphs: 1. The greater part of the sciences comprise but one single word Perhaps, and the whole history of mankind contains no more than three they are born, suffer, die. 2. Love nothing but what is good, and do all that thou lovest to do; think nothing but what is true, and speak not all that thou thinkest. 3. O kings ! tame your passions, govern yourselves, and it will be only child's play to govern the world. 20 4. O kings! O people! it can never be often enough repeated to you, what the half-witted venture to doubt, that there is no happiness without virtue, and no virtue without God. Palindromes. One of the most remarkable palindromes is the following SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS. Its distinguishing peculiarity is that the first letter of each successive word writes to spell the first word; the second letter of each the second word, and so on throughout; and the same will be found as precisely true upon reversal. But the neatest and prettiest that has yet appeared comes from a highly cultivated lady who was attached to the court of Queen Eliza- beth. Having been banished from the court on suspicion of too great familiarity with a nobleman in high favor, the lady adopted this device a moon covered by a cloud and the fol- lowing palindrome for a motto ABLATA AT ALBA. (Secluded but Pure.) The rnqrit of this kind of composition was never in any example so heightened by appropriateness and delicacy of sentiment. Chronogram. Such was the name given to a whimsical device of the later Romans, resuscitated during the renaissance period, by which a date is given by selecting certain letters amongst those which form an inscription, and printing them larger than the others. The principle will be understood from the following chronogram made from the name of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham 21 GEORG IVs. DVX. The date MDCXVVVIII (1628), is that of the year in the Duke was murdered by Felton, at Portsmouth. Instance of Remarkable Perseverance. The Rev. Wm. Davy, a Devonshire curate, in the year 1795, begun a most desperate undertaking, viz: that of him- self printing twenty-six volumes of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page, for fourteen copies, and con- tinued the almost hopeless task for twelve years, in the midst of poverty. Such wonderful perseverance almost amounts to a ruling passion. Alliterative Whims. Mrs. Crawford says she wrote one line in her song, "Kathleen Mavourneen," for the express purpose of con- founding the cockney wablers, who sing it thus " The 'om of the 'unter is 'card on the 'ill." Moore has laid the same trap in the Woodpecker "A 'eart that is 'umble might 'ope for it "ere." And the elephant confounds them the other way "A helephant heasily heats at his hease, Hunder humbrageous humbrella trees." Alliterations carried to Absurd Excess. In the early part of the seventeenth century the fashion of hunting after alliterations was carried to an absurd excess. Even from the pulpit the chosen people were addressed as "the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and 22 the jweet jwallows of salvation." "Ane New-Year Gift," or address, presented to Mary Queen of Scots by the poet Alex- ander Scot, concludes with a stanza running thus "Fresh, fulgent, flourist, fragrant flower formose, Lantern to love, of ladies lamp and lot, Cherry maist chaste, chief, carbuncle and chose, &c." Vacillating Newspapers. The newspapers of Paris, under censorship of the press, in 1815, announced in the following manner Bonaparte's depart- ure from the Isle of Elba, his march across France and his entrance into the French Capital : "pth March. The Cannibal has escaped from his den. loth. The Corsican Ogre has just landed at Cape Juan, nth. The Tiger has arrived at Gap. i2th. The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. I3th. The Tyrant has crossed Lyons. i4th The Usurper is directing his course toward Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a body and they surround him on all sides. i8th. Bona- parte is sixty leagues from the Capital; he has had skill enough to escape from the hands of his pursuers, ipth Bonaparte advances rapidly, but he will never enter Paris 2oth. To-morrow Napoleon will be under our ramparts. 2ist. The Emperor is at Fontainebleau. 22d. His Imperial and Royal Majesty last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the Tuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faithful people" Dr. Johnson's Blunders. Considering that Doctor Johnson was himself a severe verbal critic, it might be expected that his own writings would be correct. But he wrote: "Every monumental inscription 23 should be in Latin; for that being a dead language it will always //#re, and from no other motive I think it my duty to advertise you that you are most particularly desired, to have especial attention to all he docs, to show him all the respect imaginable, nor venture to say any thing before him, that may either offend or displease him in any sort; for I may truly say, there is no man I love so much as M. Ccrnpigne, none whom I should more regret to see negiccted, as no one can be more wonhy to be received and trusted in decent society. B.ISC, therefore, would it be to injure him. Ar.J 1 well know, that as soon as you are made sensible of his virtues, and shall become acquainted with him you will love him as I do; and then you will thank me for this my advice. The assurance I entertain of your Courtesy obliges me to desist from urgiiig this matter to you firther, or Mying any thing more on this subject. Believe me, Sir, &c., RICHELIEU. 52 Passage through the Isthmus of Panama, Suggested Three Hundred Years Ago. In the Town Library (Stadt BibliotheK) of Nuremberg is preserved an interesting globe, made by John Schoner, pro- fessor of mathematics in the gymnasium there, A. D. 1520. It is very remarkable that the passage through the Isthmus of Panama, so much sought after in later times, is, on this old globe, carefully delineated. A False Conclusion. Amongst the deliramenta of the learned, which have amused mankind, the following deserves a place: In 1815 a noted London professor occupied a window which overlooked the college garden. Amid the trees in the latter a number of rooks had taken up their abode. A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic opposite, frequently amused himself by shooting the rooks with a cross-bow. The pro- fessor noticed that the birds frequently dropped senseless from their perches, no sound being heard, no person being visible. It was a strange phenomenon, and he set his wits to work to account for the cause of it. At length he became fully satis- fied that he had made a great ornithological discovery which would add vastly to his fame. He actually wrote a learned treatise, stating what he had seen, and declaring that it was a settled conviction in his mind that rooks were subject to falling sickness. Posies from Wedding Rings. Hamlet. Is this a prologue, or a posy of a ring? The following posies were transcribed by an indefatigable collector, from old wedding rings, chiefly of the seventeenth 53 and eighteenth centuries. altered : Death never parts Such loving hearts. In thee, my choice, I do rejoice. 1677. A heart content Need ne'er repent. All I refuse, And thee I choose. In thee, dear wife, I find new life. This ring doth bind Body and mind. The orthography is, in most cases, Joy day and night Be our delight. Endless as this, Shall be our bliss. 1719. God alone Made us two one. I change the life Of maid to wife. No gift can show The love I owe. In love abide, Till death divide. Private Expenses of Charles II. Malone, the well-known editor of Shakespeare, possessed a curious volume an account of the privy expenses of Charles II., kept by Baptist May. A few extracts from Malone's transcripts are here subjoined : My Lord St. Alban's bill, Lady Castlemaine's debts, For grinding cocoanuts, Paid Lady C., play-money, For a band of music, For a receipt for chocolate Lady C., play-money, Mr. Knight, for bleeding the king, Mr. Price, for milking the asses, s. d. 1,746 18 ii i,n6 i o 5 8 o 300 o 5 o 227 o o 300 o 10 o o 10 o 54 Lady C., play-money, . . . . 300 o o To one that showed tumbler's tricks, . 5 7 6 For weighing the King, . , . .-..-, i o o The Queen's allowance, . . . 1,250 o o Lost by the King at play on twelfth-night . 220 o o Nell Gwyn, . . . . . too o o For 3,685 ribbons for healing, . . . 107 10 4 Lord Landerdale, for ballads, . . . 500 Paid what was borrowed for the Countess of Castlemaine, 1,650 o o First Brick House in Philadelphia. The following editorial announcement is taken from the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury of November 3oth, 1752, because it is a novelty in its way, and also affords an insight into the degree of communication which existed at the time between large towrjs and the provinces : "On Monday next the Northern Post sets out from New York, in order to perform his stage but once a fortnight, during the winter quarter ; the Southern Post changes also, which will cause this paper to come out on Tuesdays during that time. The colds which have infested the Northern Colonies have also been troublesome here ; few families have escaped the same, several have been carry'd off by the cold, among whom was David Brintnall, in the 77th year of his age ; he was the first man that had a brick house in the city of Philadelphia, and was much esteem'd for his just and upright dealing. There goes a report here that the Lord Baltimore and his lady are arrived in Maryland, but the Southern Post being not yet come in, the said report wants confirmation." The Pillory in Philadelphia. Among the local items of news in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 55 published in Philadelphia, and bearing date of November 4th, 1772, is recorded the following : "At the Mayor's Court, held in this city last week, John Underwood, for counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money, of this province, was ordered to be whipt, stand in the pillory, and have both his ears cut off and nailed to the post; others were ordered to be whipt and stand in the pillory for divers felonies, and five more to receive the discipline of the post, which was put in execution on Saturday last." One Hundred Years too Soon. The following appears in Baker's Chronicle, sub anno 1524: " In this yeere, through bookes of prognostications, fore- showing much hurt by waters and floods, many persons with- drew themselves to high grounds for feare of drowning; spe- cially one Bolton, prior of St. Bartholomew's, in Smithfield, builded him an house upon Harrow on the hill, and thither went and made provision for two moneths. These great waters should have fallen in February, but, no such thing happening, the astronomers excused themselves by saying, that, in the computation, they had miscounted in their number an hundred yeeres." The Manner of Watchmen Imitating the Clock at Herrnhuth, in Germany. VIII. Past eight o'clock ! O, Herrnhuth, do thou ponder; Eight souls in Noah's Ark were living yonder. IX. "Tis nine o'clock ! ye brethren, hear it striking ; Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking. X. Now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing ; None rest but such as wait for Christ's embracing. 56 XL Eleven is past ! Still at this hour eleven The Lord is calling us from earth to heaven. XII. Ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming; At midnight our great Bridegroom will be coming. I. p^t one o'clock ! The day breaks out of darkness ; Great Morning Star appear, and break our hardness. II. ' Tis two ! On Jesus wait this silent season, Ye two so near related, Will and Reason. III. The clock is three ! The blessed three doth merit The best of praise, from body, soul and spirit. IV. ' Tis four o'clock! When three make supplication, The Lord will be the fourth on that occasion. V. Five is the clock ! Five virgins were discarded, While five with wedding garments were rewarded. VI. The clock is six, and I go off my station. Now, brethren, watch yourselves for your salvation. Household, Rules in the Sixteenth Century. From Sir J. Harrington's (the translator of Ariosto) rules for servants, we obtain a very clear conception of the internal government of a country gentleman's house in 1566 A servant who is absent from prayers to be fined. For uttering an oath, \d.\ and the same sum for leaving a door open. A fine of id. from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed after seven, or out after nine. A fine of \d. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned, after eight. A fine of 4 s. a. To soldering and repairing St. Joseph, . .08 To cleaning and ornamenting the Holy Ghost, . o 6 To repairing the Virgin Mary and cleaning the child, 4 8 To screwing a nose on the Devil, and putting in the hair on his head, and placing a new joint in his tail, 5 6 Antiquity of Riddles. Riddles are of the highest antiquity. The oldest one on record is in the book of Judges, xiv. 14-18. We are told by Plutarch that the girls of his time worked at netting or sew- ing, and the most ingenius made riddles. The following riddle is attributed to Cleobolus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, who lived about 570 years before the birth of Christ: "There is a father with twice six sons; these sons have thirty daughters apiece, parti-colored, having one cheek white and the other black, who never see each other's faces, nor live more than twenty-four hours." Cashing Lottery Prizes. In the State Lottery of 1739, tickets, chances and shares were "bought and sold by Richard Shergold, printer, at his 64 office at the Union Coffee-house over and against the Royal Exchange, Cornhill." He advertised that he kept numerical books during the drawing, and a book wherein buyers might register their numbers at sixpence each; \ha.i fifteen per cent, was to be deducted out of the prizes, which were to be paid at the bank in fifty days after the drawing. The heavy percent- age demanded occasioned the following epigram : "This lottery can never thrive," Was broker heard to say, " For who but fools will ever give Fifteen per cent, to play?" A sage, with his accustomed grin, Replied, "I'll stake my doom, That if but half the fools come in The wise will find no room I" Lottery for Women in India. Advertisement. BE IT KNOWN, that Six FAIR PRETTY YOUNG LADIES, with two sweet and engaging young children, lately imported from Europe, having roses of health blooming on their cheeks and joy sparkling in their eyes, possessing amiable manners and highly accomplished, whom the most indifferent cannot behold without expressions of rapture, are to be RAFFLED FOR next door to the British gallery. SCHEME: Twelve tickets at twelve rupees each; the highest of the three throws takes the most fascinating, &c v &c. Cat- , cutta Newspaper of September yd, 1818. Ancient Lottery. In 1612, King James I , "in special favour for the planta- tion of English colonies in Virginia, granted a Lottery to be held at the west end of St. Paul's; whereof one Thomas 65 Sharplys, a taylor of London, had the chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate." Baker 's Chronicles. Child Played For. In October, 1735, a child of James and Elizabeth Leesh, of Chester-le-street, in the county of Durham, was played for at cards, at the sign of the Salmon, one game, four shillings against the child, by Henry and John Trotter, Robert Thom- son and Thomas Ellison, which was won by the latter two and delivered to them accordingly. Syke* s Local Records, page 79. Lotteries. The change in public opinion respecting lotteries is strik- ingly illustrated by the following entry in the day-book kept by the Rev. Samuel Seabury, father of the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the United States: "June, 1768. The ticket number 5866, by the blessing of God, in the Lighthouse and Public Lottery of New York, appointed by law, Anno Domini, 1763, drew in my favor 500 os. od., of which I received 425, os. od., which, with the deduction of fifteen per cent., makes 500, for which I now record to my Posterity my thanks and praise to Almighty God the giver of all good gifts. Amen!" Babes in the Wood. This popular legend was a disguised recital of the reported murder of his young nephews by Richard III. Throughout the tale there is a marked resemblance to several leading facts connected with the king and his brother's children, as well as a correspondence with historical details. In an old black- letter copy of the ballad there is a rude representation of a stag, which is significant, because a stag was the badge of the unfortunate Edward V. A Little Bird Told Me. This expression comes from Ecclesiastes x. 20: "For a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." Dead Drunlc for Twopence. From the "Gentleman's Magazine" (1736), we learn that at some of the taverns where the poorer classes drank to excess, the signs bore the following inscription: " Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, clean straw for nothing. ' ' This record gives reality to the inscription in Hogarth's print of "Gin-lane." How the Prophecy of the Destruction of Bath came About. On the 3oth of March, 1809, the destruction of the city oi Bath was to have been effected by a convulsion of the earth, which should cause "Beaconhill to meet Beechen Cliff." This inauspicious juncture was said to have been foretold by an old woman who had derived her information from an angel. This reported prophecy rendered many of the inhabit- ants uneasy, and instigated crowds of visitors to quit the city. The portentous hour twelve o'clock passed, and the believers were ashamed of their credulity. The alarm is said to have originated with two noted cock-feeders, who lived near the before-mentioned hills; they had been at a public 67 house, and, after much boasting on both sides, made a match to fight their favorite cocks on Good Friday; but fearing the magistrates might interfere, if it became public, they named the cocks after their respective walks, and in the agreement it was specified that "Mount Beacon would meet Beechen Cliff, precisely at 12 o'clock on Good Friday." The match was mentioned with cautions of secresy to their sporting friends, who repeated it in the same terms, and with the same caution, until it came to the ears of some credulous beings, who took the words in their plain sense; and, as stories seldom lose by being repeated, each added what fear or fancy framed, until the report became a marvellous prophecy, which in its intended sense was fulfilled; for the cocks of Mount Beacon irul Beechen Cliff met and fought, and left their hills behind '"lem on their ancient sites, to the comfort and joy of multi- tudes who had been disturbed by the epidemical prediction. Hone. Drop-Letter Retort. An old gentleman by the name of Page, having found a young lady's glove at a watering place, presented it to her with the following couplet : " If you from your glove take the letter G, Your glove leaves love, which I devote to thee." To which the lady returned the following answer: " If from your page you take the letter P, Your page is age, and that won't do for me." Dean Swift's Marriage Ceremony. Dean Swift was applied to, at a late hour on a stormy night, after he had gone to bed, by a run-away couple, to be married. 68 He answered the call from his upper chamber window. He told them that as he was undressed, the weather very threaten- ing, and they, he presumed, in a hurry, he would marry them as they stood. After asking the necessary questions, he said " Under this window, in stormy weather, I marry this man and woman together ; Let none but Him who rules the thunder Put this man and woman asunder." Pious Guide-Posts. In olden times the guide-posts not only pointed out the road, but furnished texts and maxims upon which to meditate. The following inscriptions were upon guide-posts in Devon- shire, England: V&" To Woodbury, Topsham, Exeter. Her ways are wa; of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. t&~To Brixton, Ottery, Honiton. O hold up our goings in thy paths, that our footsteps slip not. t&~To Otter ton, Sidmouth, A. D. 1743. O that our ways were made to direct, that we might keep thy statutes. S&T To Budleigh. Make us to go in the paths of thy com- mandments, for therein is our desire. A Bogus Dragon. A curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden of Oxford, England, occurs in one of Grey's notes tc Hudibras: "He made a dead rat resemble the common picture of a dragon, by altering its head and tail, and thrust- ing in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as pos- sible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. 69 Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; several fine copies of verses were written on so rare a subject. At last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat ; however, it was looked upon as a master-piece of art, and, as such, was deposited in the museum." Donation to a Fair. On one occasion Oliver Wendell Holmes sent a letter to the post-office of a ladies' fair at Pittsfield. On the first page he wrote " Fair lady, whoso' er thou art, Turn this poor leaf with tenderest care, And hush, Oh hush, thy breathing heart The one thou lovest will be there." On turning the "poor leaf" there was found a one dollar bill with the subjoined verse " Fair lady, lift thine eyes and tell If this is not a truthful letter ? This is the one (i) thou lovest well, And nought (o) can make thee love it better." Confectionery Decorations. Probably the ancients exceeded us in the art of decorating confectionery. After each course in solemn feasts there was a "subtilty." Subtilties were representations of castles, giants, saints, knights, ladies and beasts, all raised in pastry, upon which legends and coat-armor were painted in their proper colors. At the festival, on the coronation of Henry VI., in 1429, there was a "subtilty" of St. Edward and St. Louis, "armed, and upon either his coat-armor, holding between them a figure of King Henry, standing also in his coat-armor, and an inscription passing from both, saying, 70 'Beholde twoe perfecte kynges vnder one coate-armoure. ' " Fabyan-Dallaway* s Heraldic Inq. Superscription to a Letter. A letter upon which the following was written, passed through the Atlanta (Ga.) post-office: " Steal not this for fear of shame There is no money in the same; True, it does a check contain, But 'tis for baggage on a tram." In Search of a Looking- Glass. "When I was last in Lisbon, a nun made her escape from the nunnery. The first thing for which she inquired, when she reached the house in which she was to be secreted, was a looking-glass. She had entered the convent when only five years old, and from that time had never seen her own face." Southey, Bleeding for Nothing. "Whereas, the majority of Apothecaries in Boston have agreed to pull down the price of Bleeding to sixpence, let these certifie that Mr. Richard Clarke, Apothecary, will bleed anybody at his shop, gratis." Stamford Mercury, March 28th, 1716. An Astonished Lawyer. A curious instance occurred of a witness confounding a counsel, at Gloucester, England, some years ago. The wit- ness, on being asked his name, gave it as Ottiwell Woodd. u The learned counsel did not seem to catch it, though it was several times pronounced. "Spell it, sir, if you please," he said, somewhat angrily. The witness complied as follows: "O-double t-i-double you-e-double 1-double you-double o- doubled." The spelling confounded the lawyer more than ever, and in his confusion, amid the laughter of the court, he took the witness aside to help him to spell it after him. Duels Fought by Clergymen. In England, in 1764, the Rev. Mr. Hill was killed in a duel by Cornet Gardener, of the carbineers. The Rev. Mr. Bates fought two duels, and was subsequently created a baronet, and preferred to a deanery after he had fought another duel. The Rev. Mr. Allen killed a Mr. Delany in a duel in Hyde Park, without incurring ecclesiastical censure, though the judge, on account of his extremely bad conduct, strongly charged his guilt upon the jury. A Singular Coincidence. On the 1 3th of February, 1746, as the records of the French criminal jurisprudence inform us, one Jean Marie Dunbarry was brought to the scaffold for murdering his father; and, strangely enough, on the I3th of February, 1846, precisely one hundred years later, another Jean Marie Dunbarry, a great-grandson of the first-mentioned criminal, paid the same penalty for the same crime. Tavern Screens. Centuries ago, the doors of taverns had an interior screen, similar to those in use at the present day. Lounging was just 72 as much in vogue. In Clare's "Shepherd's Calender," we read " Now, musing o'er the changing scene, Farmers behind the tavern screen Collect; with elbow idly press'd On hob, reclines the corner's guest, Reading the news, to mark again The bankrupt Hits, or price of grain, Puffing the while his red-tipt pipe, He dreams o'er troubles nearly ripe; Yet, winter's leisure to regale, Hopes better times, and sips his ale." Ancient Antipathy to lied Hair. Ages before the time of Judas, red hair was thought a mark of reprobation, both in the case of Typhon, who deprived his brother of the sceptre in Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, who acquired it in expiation of his atrocities. Even the donkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened visitation, according to the proverb of "wicked as a red ass." Asses of that color were held in such detestation r mong the Copths, that every year they sacrificed one by hurling it from a high wall. Lightning- Prints. Lightning-prints are appearances sometimes found on the skin of men or animals that are struck by lightning, and are currently believed to be photographic representations of sur- rounding objects or scenery. At Candclaria, in Cuba, in 1828, a young man was struck dead by lightning near a house, on one of the windows of which was nailed a horse-shoe; and the image of the horse- shoe was said to be distinctly printed upon the neck of the young man. On the i4th of November, 1830, lightning 73 struck the Chateau Benatcniere, in Lavendee. At the time a lady happened to be seated on a chair in the salon, and on the back of her dress were printed minutely the ornaments on the back of the chair. In September, 1857, a peasant-girl, while herring a cow in the department of Seine-et-Marne, was overtaken by a thunder-storm. She took refuge under a tree, and the tree, the cow and herself were struck with light- ning. The cow was killed, but she recovered, and on loosen- ing her dress for the sake of respiring freely, she saw a picture of the cow upon her breast. JVo Buttons but Brass Buttons. There is a curious law extant in England in regard to brass buttons. It is, by Acts of Parliament passed in three reigns, (William III., Anne and George I.), illegal for a tailor to make, or mortal to wear, clothes with any other buttons appended thereto but buttons of brass. The law was put in force for the benefit of the button-makers of Birmingham; and it further enacts, not only that he who makes or sells gar- ments with any but brass buttons thereto affixed, shall pay a penalty of forty shillings for every dozen, but that he shall not be able to recover the price he claims, if the wearer thinks proper to resist payment. The Act is not a dead letter. Not more than thirty years ago a Mr. Shirley sued a Mr. King for nine pounds sterling due for a suit of clothes. King pleaded non-liability on the ground of an illegal transaction, the buttons on the garments supplied being made of cloth, or bone covered with cloth, instead of glittering brass, -as -the law directs. The judge allowed the plea; and the defendant having thus gained a double suit without cost, immediately proceeded against the plaintiff to recover his share of the forty shillings for every dozen buttons which the poor tailor had unwittingly supplied. A remarkable feature in the case was, that the judge who admitted the plea, the barrister who set it up, and the client who profited by it, were themselves all buttoned contrary to law ! Curious Signs in New York. One may see in the shop-windows of a Fourth avenue con- fectioner, "Pies Open All Night." An undertaker in the same thoroughfare advertises, ''Everything Requisite for a First-class Funeral." A Bowery placard reads, "Home- made Dining Rooms, Family Oysters." A West Broadway restaurateur sells "Home-made Pies, Pastry and Oysters." A Third avenue "dive" offers for sale "Coffee and Cakes off the Griddle," and an East Broadway caterer retails "Fresh Salt Oysters" and "Larger Beer." A Fulton street tobacconist calls himself a "Speculator in Smoke," and a purveyor of summer drinks has invented a new draught, which he calls by the colicky name of "^Eolian Spray." A Sixth avenue barber hangs out a sign reading "Boots Polished Inside," and on Varick street, near Carmine, there are "Les- sons Given on the Piano, with use for Practice " "Cloth Cutt and Bastd" is the cabalistic legend on the front of a millinery shop on Spring street; on another street the follow- ing catches the eye : "Washin Ironin and Goin Out by the Day Done Here." Recipes from Mbertus Magnus. "If thou wylt see that other men cannot see: Take the gall of a male cat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint thy eyes, and thou shall see it that others cannot see. "If the hart, eye or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged upon a man's neck, it is profitable agaynste forget- 75 fulnesse, and sharpeth man's understanding." Black letter copy very old, Infamous Nankeen. The wearing of nankeen at one time was so popular among gentlemen in England, that it also became the fashion in France. English nankeen threatened to drive all French manufactured articles of summer wear out of the market. Louis XVI., however, was equal to the emergency. He ordered all the executioners and their assistants to perform their terrible office in no other dress but one made out of nankeen, which rendered the material so "infamous" that its use was discarded. The Military Salute. The military salute, which consists of the hand being brought to a horizontal position over the eyebrows, has a very old origin, dating, in fact, from the very commencement of the history of the English army. Its origin is founded on the tournaments of the Middle Ages, and was as follows : After the queen of beauty was enthroned, the knights who were to take part in the sports of the day, marched past the dais on which she sat, and as they passed they shielded their eyes from the rays of her beauty. Book-keeping in Norway. The process of keeping accounts among the Norway lumber- men is unique in style. The time-keeper, after comparing accounts with the workman, sends him to the cashier for his wages, with the amount due to him chalked on his back; and when the cashier has paid it, he takes his receipt by brushing off the chalk-marks. 76 Carious Post- Office. The smallest post-office in the world is kept in a barrel, which swings from the outermost rock of the mountains over- hanging the Straits of Magellan, opposite Terra del Fuego. Every passing ship opens it to place letters in or take them out. Every ship undertakes to forward all letters in it that it is possible for them to transmit. The barrel hangs by its iron chain, beaten and battered by the winds and storms, but no locked and barred office on land is more secure. Inordinate Self-Esteem. Some Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Guinea, found a negro prince seated under a tree on a block of wood for his throne, and three or four negroes, armed with wooden spears, for his guards. His sable majesty anxiously inquired : "Do they talk much of me in France?" He's a Brick. If this is slang, it is classical slang. Of the thousands who use the expression, very few know its origin or its primi- tive significance. Truly, it is a heroic thing to say of a man to call him a brick. The word so used, if not twisted from its original intent, implies all that is brave, patriotic and loyal. Plutarch, in his life of Agesilaus, King of Sparta, gives us the original of the quaint and familiar expression. On a certain occasion an ambassador from Espirus, on a diplomatic mission, was shown by the king over his capital. The ambassador knew of the monarch's fame knew that though only nominally king of Sparta, he was ruler of Greece and he had looked to see massive walls rearing aloft their embattled towtrs for the defence of tVe town; but he found 77 nothing of the kind. He marvelled much at this, and spoke of it to the king. "Sire," he said, "I have visited most of the principal towns, and I find no walls reared for defence. Why is this?" " Indeed, Sir Ambassador," replied Agesilaus; "thou canst not have looked carefully. Come with me to-morrow morn- ing, and I will show you the walls of Sparta." Accordingly, on the following morning, the king led his guest out upon the plain where his army was drawn up in full array, and pointing proudly to the serried hosts, he said "There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta ten thousand men, and EVERY MAN A BRICK!" Punch and Judy in 1669. Although Punch was not originally French, he has always been greatly esteemed in France. The following entries are found in the registers of the royal treasury: "Paid to Brioche, the puppet-player, for sojourning at St. Germain-en-Laye, during September, October and November. 1669, to divert the royal children, 1365 livres." "Paid to Francois Daitelin, puppet-player, for the fifty-six days he remained at St. Germain, to amuse Monseigneur le Dauphin (July and August, 1669), 820 livres." Five successive months must almost have been enough of such amusement for the royal children of France. Offending Barbers. On the 2oth of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of Parliament. 18 Primitive Tavern Signs, In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey can be obtained, the traveler i-s informed of the fact by a piece of turf unobtrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale houses in England were indi- cated by a stake projecting from the front of the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt originated from this custom. Watch-Papers. Years ago it was the custom for watch-makers to put their business cards inside of the case. These cards were sometimes enlivened with a couplet or a verse, of each of which we subjoin a sample He that wears a watch, two things must do ; Pocket his watch and watch his pocket too. I labor here with all my might, To tell the hours of day and night ; Therefore, example take by me, And serve the Lord as I serve thee. Echo Verse. It was a sharp bit of echo verse that the Sunday Times of London threw off in 1831, when tickets to hear the great violinist were very high What are they who pay three guineas To hear a tune of Paganini's ? Echo Pack o' ninnies. 79 Signature of the Cross. The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make instead of their signatures, is in the form of a cross ; and this practice having formerly been followed by kings and nobles, is constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of ancient times. This signature is not, however, ir variably a proof of ignorance. Anciently, the use of the mark was not confined to illiterate persons; for among the Saxons the mark of the cross, as an attestation of the good faith of the persons signing, was required to be attached to the signature of those who could write, as well as to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. Simply on Account of her Name. Herrera, the Spanish historian, records an anecdote in which the choice of a queen entirely arose from her name. When two French ambassadors negotiated a marriage between one of the Spanish princesses and Louis VIII., the names of the royal females were Urraca and Blanche. The former was the elder and the more beautiful, and intended by the Spanish court for the French monarch ; but they resolutely preferred Blanche, observing that the name of Urraca would never do! And for the sake of a more mellifluous sound, they carried off the happier-named but less beautiful princess. Richelieu's Boast. Richelieu one day boasted among his courtiers that out of any four indifferent words he could extract matter to send any one to a dungeon. One of his attendants immediately wrote upon a card: "One and two make three" "Three make 80 only One!" exclaimed the cardinal. "To the Bastile with him. It is a blasphemy against our Holy Trinity." Curious Parallel. The story of Alnaschar, which is in the "Arabian Nights," tells how one Alnaschar had invested all his money in a basket of glassware, which he calculated to sell at a profit, and got into a day-dream of a splendid future. Out of the profits of his glass he was to rise into the position of a merchant-prince, with the Grand Vizier's daughter for his wife. Offended, in this day-dream, with the lady, he fancied that he would spurn her before forgiving her, and kicked out his foot, which broke all his glass and left him beggared. Rabelais makes Echepron, an old soldier, tell the advisers of King Picrochole, who wanted him to go to war, that a shoemaker bought a ha'p'orth of milk. This he intended to make into butter, and buy a cow with the money thus obtained. In due time the cow would have a calf; this calf would be sold, and so on money would pile up, until, having become a nabob, he should wed a princess. Only, just at this crisis, the jug fell, the milk was lost, and the dreamer sneaked, sup- perless, to bed. Earliest Clocks. The first clock which appeared in Europe was probably that which Eginhard (Secretary to Charlemagne) describes as sent to his royal master by Abdallah, King of Persia. ' 'A horologe of brass, wonderfully constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, while as many little brazen balls dropped upon bells underneath, and sounded each other." The Venetians had clocks in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Con- stantinople. 81 Famous Astronomical Clock. This clock, in the Strasburg Cathedral, was invented by Isaac Habrecht, a Jewish astrologer, in 1439. He called it the "Clock of the Three Sages," because once in every hour the figures of the Three Kings of Orient came out from a niche in its side, and made a reverential bow before an image of the Virgin Mary, seated just above the dial-plate, on the front of the clock. It is built of dark wood, gilded and carved, and is sixty feet high. In shape it is somewhat similar to a church, with a tower on either side of the entrance; and these towers of the clock are encircled by spiral staircases, which are used when repairs are necessary. When Isaac Habrecht invented this wonderful clock, he meant it to run forever, always displaying to the good people of Strasburg the days of the month, phases of the sun and moon, and other celestial phenomena; and while he lived it worked admirably, but when he had been dead awhile, the clock stopped; and as nobody else understood its machinery, it had quite a vacation, which lasted until 1681, when it was repaired and improved. It will now not only give the time of Strasburg, but every principal city in the world ; also the day of the week and month, the course of the sun and planets, and all the eclipses of the sun and moon, in their regular order. In an alcove above the dial is an image of the Saviour, and every day, at noon, figures of the twelve apostles march around it and bow, while the holy image, with uplifted hands, administers a silent blessing. A cock, on the highest point of the right-hand tower, flaps his wings and crows three times; and when he stops, a beautiful chime of bells rings out familiar and very musical tunes. A figure of Time, in a niche on one side, strikes the quarter hours from twelve to one, and four figures Childhood, Youth, Manhood and Old Age pass slowly before him. In a niche on the other side is an angel turning an hour-glass. Clock that Strikes Thirteen. The Duke of Bridgewater was very fond of watching his men at work, especially when any enterprise was on foot. When they were boring for coal at Worsley, the duke came every morning, and looked on for a long time. The men did not like to leave off work while he remained there, and they became so dissatisfied at having to work so long beyond the hour at which the bell rang, that Brindley had difficulty in getting a sufficient number of hands to continue the boring. On inquiry, he found out the cause and communicated it to the duke, who from that time made a point of immediately walking off when the bell rang returning when the men had resumed work, and remaining with them usually until six o'clock. He observed, however, that though the men dropped work promptly as the bell rang, when he was not by, they were not nearly so punctual in resuming work some straggling in many minutes after time. He asked to know the reason, and the men's excuse was, that though they could always hear the clock when it struck twelve, they could not so readily hear it when it struck only one. On hearing this, the duke had the mechanism of the clock altered so as to make it strike thirteen at one o'clock, which it continues to do to this day. Westminster Clock. The winding up of the going part of the great clock at Westminster, London, takes ten minutes, the weight of the pendulum being six hundred and eighty pounds; but the winding up of the striking parts the quarter part and the hour part takes five hours each, and this has to be done 83 twice a week. The contract cost of winding up the clock is $500 a year. The error of the clock amounts to only about one second for eighty-three days in the year, and there is probably no other clock in the world of which the same can be said. Wonderful Clock. Toward the end of the last century a clock was constructed by a Geneva mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of surprising movements, which were effected by the figures of a negro, a shepherd and a dog. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six tunes on his flute and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This clock was exhibited to the King of Spain, who was highly delighted with the ingenuity of the artist. The king, at the request of Droz, took an apple from the shepherd's basket, when the dog started up and barked so loud that the king's dog, which was in the same room, began to bark also. We are, moreover, informed that the negro, on being asked what hour it was, answered the question in French, so that he could be under- stood by those present. Vocal Clock. The subjoined description of a curious clock is given in the journal of the Rev. J. Wesley: "On Monday, April 27, 1762, being at Lurgan, in Ireland, I embraced the opportunity, which I had long desired, of talking to Mr. Miller, the con- triver of that statue which was in Lurgan when I was there before. It was the figure of an old man standing in a case, with a curtain drawn before him, over against a clock which stood on the opposite side of the room. Every time the clock struck he opened the door with one hand, drew back the curtain 84 with the other, turned his head, as if looking round on the company, and then said, with a clear, loud, articulate voice: 'Past i,' or 2 or 3, and so on. But so many came to see this (the like of which all allowed was not to be seen in Europe), that Mr. Miller was in danger of being ruined, not having time to attend to his own business. So, as none offered to purchase it, or reward him for his pains, he took the whole machine to pieces." Harrison's Clock. In 1735, J onn Harrison, a rural clock-maker, invented a time-piece which scarcely ever lost five seconds in six months. To him, in 1767, was paid $100,000, as the first prize for all but an infallible time-keeper. A Cat- Clock. The following curious incident is to be found in Hue's " Chinese Empire:" "One day when we went to pay a visit to some families of Chinese Christian peasants, we met, near a farm, a young lad who was taking a buffalo to graze along our path. We asked him carelessly, as we passed, whether it was yet noon. The child raised his head to look at the sun, but it was hidden behind thick clouds, and he could read no answer there. 'The sky is so cloudy,' said he; 'but wait a moment;' and with these words he ran toward the farm, and came back a few minutes afterward with a cat in his arms. 'Look here,' said he, 'it is not noon yet;' and he showed us the cat's eyes, by pushing up the lids with his hands. We looked at the child with surprise, but he was evidently in earnest. 'Very well,' said we; 'thank you;' and we continued on our way. 85 " To say the truth, we had not at all understood the pro- ceeding, but we did not wish to question the little pagan, lest he should find out that we were Europeans by our ignorance. As soon as we reached the farm, however, we made haste to ask our Christian friends whether they could tell the clock by looking into a cat's eyes. They seemed surprised at the ques- tion; but as there was no danger in confessing to them our ignorance of the properties of a cat's eyes, we related what had just taken place. That was all that was necessary ; our complaisant neophytes immediately gave chase to all the cats in the neighborhood. They brought us three or four, and explained in what manner they might be made use of for watches. They pointed out that the pupils of their eyes went on constantly growing narrower until twelve o'clock, when they became like a fine line, as thin as a hair, drawn perpen- dicularly across the eye, and that after twelve the dilation recommenced." Curious Time-Piece. About 1679 Nicholas Grallier de Servierre, an old soldier who had served in the Italian army, constructed a whimsical clock. A figure of a tortoise, dropped into a plate of water, having the hours marked on the rim, would float around and stop at the proper time, telling what o'clock it was. A lizard ascended a pillar, on which the hours were marked, and pointed to the time as it advanced. A mouse did the same thing by creeping along an hour-marked cornice. Clock Presented to Charlemagne. The French historians describe a clock sent to Charlemagne in the year 807, by the famous eastern caliph, Haroun-al- Raschid, which was evidently furnished with some kind of 86 wheel-work, although the moving power appears to have been produced by the fall of water. In the dial of it were twelve small doors forming the divisions for -the hours, each door opened at the hour marked by the index, and let out small brass balls which, falling on a bell, struck the hours a great novelty at that time. The doors continued open until the hour of twelve, when twelve figures, representing knights on horseback, came out and paraded around the dial-plate. Delicate Machinery. Machines in a watch factory will cut screws with 589 threads to an inch. These threads are invisible to the naked eye, and it takes 144,000 of the screws to make a pound. A pound of them is worth six pounds of pure gold. Lay one of them upon a piece of white paper, and it looks like a tiny steel filing. Ancient Dials. The dial in use among the ancient Jews differed from that in use among us. Theirs was a kind of stairs; the time of the day was distinguished, not by lines, but by steps or degrees ; the shade of the sun every hour moved forward to a new degree. On the dial of Ahaz, the sun went back degrees or steps, not lines. Skull Watches. Diana of Poictiers, the mistress of Henry II., being a widow, the courtiers of the period, to ingratiate themselves in her favor, used to present her with watches in such shapes as cof- fins, skulls, etc., and it became the fashion to have them made in this lugubrious style. Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to 87 have had several, and she gave one to Mary Letown, in 1587, which is still in existence. It was made by Moyse, of Blois, France, and has been thus described : "The watch has a silver casing in the form of a skull, which separates at the jaws so as to expose the dial, which is also of silver, occupying about the position of the palate, and is fixed in a golden circle, with the hours in Roman letters. The movement appropriately occupies the place of the brains, but is enclosed in a bell, filling the hollow of the skull, which bell is struck by the hammer to sound the hours. The case is highly ornamented with fine engravings, showing on the front of the skull Death standing between a cottage and a palace j in the rear is Time devouring all things; on one side of the upper part of the skull are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with the serpent tempting Eve; on the opposite side is the Crucifixion. Inside, on the plate or lid, is the Holy Family in the stable, with the infant Saviour in the manger, and angels ministering to him. In the distance are the Shepherds with their flocks, etc." The works are said to be in good order and to perform astonishingly well. Book-Shaped Watch. One of the choicest rarities of the Bernal collection is a book-shaped watch. It was made for Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an engraved inscription of the duke and his titles, with the date 1627, and the engraving of his armorial bearings ; on the back of the case there are engraved two male portraits, buildings, &c. The watch has apparently two separate movements, and a large bell; at the back, over the bell, the metal is ornamentally pierced in a circle, with a dragon and other devices. It bears the maker's name, "Dionistus Hessichti." 88 Cruciform Watch In the family of Lady Fitzgerald, of England, there is a cruciform watch made in 1770, and covered with elaborate drawings of a delicate character. The centre of the dial- plate has a representation of Christ's agony in the garden, the outer compartments being occupied by the emblems of the passion, and the lowermost by a figure of Faith. Miniature Time-Piece. The time-piece carried by Louis XIV. of France was so small that it was set in one of that luxurious monarch's finger- rings. Resurrection Watch. During the reign of Catherine II. of Russia, Kalutin, a peasant, made a musical repeating watch about the size of an egg, which had within it a representation of Christ's tomb, with sentinels on guard. On pressing a spring the stone would be rolled from the tomb, the angels appear, the holy women enter the sepulchre, and the same chant which is sung in the Greek Church on Easter eve accurately performed. The watch is now in the Academy of Sciences at St. Peters- burg. Borrowing Watches. Watches were so rarely in use in the early time of James I. that it was deemed a cause of suspicion that one was found, in 1605, upon Guy Vaux. Jonson, in his "Alchemist," tells of the loan of one to wear on a particular occasion And I had lent my watch last night to one That dines to-day at the sheriff's. 89 Striking Watches. Hon. Mr. Barrington mentions that a thief was detected bj watches called "strikers," which he says were introduced in the reign of Charles II.; but repeating watches were worn in the time of Ben Jonson. In his " Staple of News," we read It strikes ! one, two, Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch, Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now stop and rest ; Would thou couldst make the time to do so too ; I '11 wind thee up no more. Too Many Watches. Watches were very common in 1638. It is complained in the "Antipodes," a comedy of that year, that Every clerk can carry The time of day in his pocket. On which account a projector in the same play proposes to diminish the grievance by a Project against The multiplicity of pocket watches. Wearing Two Watches. About 1770 it became the fashion to wear two watches. In a rhyming recipe of that date, " To Make a Modern Fop," appear the lines "A lofty cane, a sword with silver hilt, A ring, two watches and a snuff-box gilt." The ladies soon adopted the fashion, but as watches were still very expensive, mock watches were often substituted. 90 Minute Mechanisms. There is a cherry stone at the Salem (Mass. ) Museum which contains one dozen silver spoons. The stone itself is of the ordinary size, but the spoons are so small that their shape and finish can only be distinguished by the microscope. Dr. Oliver gives an account of a cherry stone on which were carved one hundred and twenty-four heads, so distinctly that the naked eye could distinguish those belonging to popes and kings by their mitres and crowns. It was bought in Prussia for fifteen thousand dollars, and thence conveyed to England, where it was considered an object of so much value that its possession was disputed, and it became the subject of a suit in chancery. One of the Nuremberg toy-makers enclosed in a cherry stone, which was exhibited at the French Crystal Palace, a plan of Sevastopol, a railway station, and the "Messiah" of Klopstock. In more remote times, an ac- count is given of an ivory chariot, constructed by Mermecides, which was so small that a fly could cover it with its wing; also a ship of the same material, which could be hidden under the wing of a bee. Pliny 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. 91 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, 92 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 142 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