Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS COMPRISING WHATEVER IS MARVELLOUS AND RARE, CURIOUS ECCENTRIC AND EXTRAORDINARY IN ALL AGES AND NATIONS ENRICHED WITH HUNDREDS OF AUTHENTIC ILLUSTRATIONS EDITED BY EDMUND FILLINGHAM KING, M.A, LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LJMITED BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK STANDARD WORKS OF REFERENCE. UNIFORM WITH- THIS VOLUME. LEMPRIERE'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. WALKER'S RHYMING DICTIONARY. MACKAY'S THOUSAND AND ONE GEMS OF ENGLISH POETRY. D'ISRAELI'S CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS. CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE TO THE BIBLE. THE FAMILY DOCTOR. PREFACE. A BOOK OF WONDERS requires but a brief introduction. Our title-page tells its own tale and forms the best expo- sition of the contents of the volume. Everything that is marvellous carries with it much that is instructive, and, in this sense, " Ten Thousand Wonderful Things," may be made useful for the highest educational purposes. Events which happen in the regular course have no claim to a place in any work that professes to be a regis- ter of what is uncommon; and were we to select such Wonders only as are capable of familiar demonstration, we should destroy their right to be deemed wondrous, and, at the same time, defeat the very object which we profess to have in view. A marvel once explained away ceases to be a marvel. For this reason, while rejecting everything that is obviously fictitious and untrue, we have not hesitated to insert many incidents which appear at first sight to be wholly incredible. In the present work, interesting Scenes from Nature, Curiosities of Art, Costume and Customs of a bygone period rather predominate; but we have devoted many of its pages to descriptions of remarkable Occurrences, beau- tiful Landscapes, stupendous Water -falls, and sublime Sea- pieces. It is true that some of our illustrations may nor 1C99398 PIS? All. be beautiful according to the sense in which the word is generally used; but they are all the more curious and characteristic, as well as truthful, on thst account ; for whatever is lost of beauty, is gained by accuracy. Whit is odd or quaint, strange or startling, rarely possesses much claim to the picturesque and refined. Scrape the rust off an antique coin, and, while you make it look more shining, you invariably render it worthless in the eyes of a collector. To polish up a fact which derives its value either from the strangeness of its nature, or from the quaintness of its narra- tion, is like the obliterating process of scrubbing up a painting by one of the old masters. It looks all the cleaner for the operation, but, the chances are, it is spoilt as a work of art. We trust it is needless to say that we have closed our pages against everything that can be considered objtc- tionable in its tendency ; and, Avhile every statement in this volume has been culled with conscientious care from authentic, although not generally accessible, sources, we have scrupulously rejected every line that could give offence, and endeavoured, in accordance with what we profess in our title-page, to amuse by the eccentric, to startle by the unexpected, and to astonish bv the marvellous. INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS So*" 1 ... 492 CANDLJ18TICK, A BBMAHKABtB, I* AMULBT BHOTCHB ... 496 ... 332 333 87 OF TUB ... 210 ... 27 JD ... 308 , Djr.OHI'.Kl's, ANCIKNT , HBNXV Till. '8 614 3(U 1% CHUBCH ... ... 433 ... 425 CHAPTSK-HOr?K, A, IN IHh 1JMK Of CHIKFTA1N, ANC1BNT SCOTTrSH 600 SIX) BAGPIPES BANDOMKRS ... 37 ... C05 ... 6fiO SNT 581,585 WOOOKN Col. 1, Alt 31(5 134 It fi!7 BECT1VB ABBEY ... 392 COMB, A CUKIODS INDIAN Oiif, 6.', 7 74 OF SAINT MURA ... 412 r THB 213, 220, 29, , GERMAN, Of THK 16lH 207 f-W (> 13 tin BHANK, THB 2 CnCKtNG STOOL 324 620 4.-, 7 G53 HIITCKS OF BABVLO.V BKIDGK OVKK THB THAMES, THB ... 613 JIBST 428 ... 63 BAGGBB 0V BAOUI, T)B COURCT 203 2R3 421 2Z5 8TKT I! INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS. DINrfBB fABTY IW THB 1 7TH CENTUBY 609 HKLMET OF SIB JOHN CROSBY r~\n DRINKING CUP, A CURIOUSLY SHAPED 101 413 JS-> 26 ' VESSEL, A DBCOHATIVB 336 HINDOO ADORATION OF THB SALAGBAM DROPPING WELL OF KNABESBOBOUGH... 143 HOOPS, LADIES', IN 1740 6 BUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OB OBNITHO- RYNCHUS PABADOXUS BYAK WITH HEADS, SKULL HOUSE, AND 273 277 IMPLEMENTS USED IN BUDDHIST TEW- 473 fi'l WAB BOAT IN BORNEO DYAKS CF BORNEO, WAB DANCB OF THB 640 641 INCENSE CHABIOT, AN ANCIENT 613 130 WHICH LORDS BALMEBINO AND HER EXECUTION 263 PBESSION OF BRAND; PUNIPHMK.N? 183 OF PUNISHMENT ; PILLORY, STOCKS, TIME OF CHARLES I FAWKES HALL. OLD MANOB HOUSE OF *KTE OF THR FEDEBATION OF THR 213 LONDON BRIDGR 6( IRRIGATION, TURKISH MACHINE FOR ... ), 90 (iSl Fioo (JAMES), THE CHAMPION PBIZE- F1GHTKR OF 1733 113 LONGIiD TO II., AND THE CHUBCH OF DONORS 657 FISHERMAN, BULGtRIAN 407 417 SCOTS, TO EARL HUNTIET INNBB TBMPLB LANS 2!3 43 FTTLLERTON'S (COLONEL) DEVICE *OB M 177 TUNEHJSAL JAB OAPDF.N, EGYPTIAN 431 349 KNIGHT'S COSTUMB o* THE 13in CENTURY 480 GATE, THE, ON OLD LONDON 3RIDGB ... 501 6f,l LOCOMOTIVE, THE FIRST M !>7 15 473 GREY MAN'S PATH, THB 528 681 GUY, THOMAS, POBTRAIT 0* 606 MAY-POLES 315 101 484 BEART OF LOUD EDWARD BRUCE AND CASE 246, BLkET, AS BABLY BKGLIBH 393 247 632 WILL AT LISSOY MIRROR, A MAGICIAN'S MONSOONS MONSTROUS HEAD-DBESS OF 1732 7f, 3t4 ISO INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS T4 , HOLS CUT, OF ASIA MINOB KOBAYSHIBB FLOOD!* MOSQUE OF OMAB ST. SOPHIA MUMMERS, OR ANCIENT WAITS MUMMY CASES MUSICAL INSTBUMENT, HINDOO A MESK ... C2S 414 126 317 104 14 409 RALEIGH'S (SIB WALTER) AKCIENT RESI- DENCE AT BLACKWALI 161 BBVOLV UR, A, OF THE FIFTEENTH CSNTUBY 3O B1NG, FORMEllLf THB FBOrBKTX OF CHAULES 1 263 KINGS, CALCINATED 408 SABDONYX, WITH CAMBO HBAD OP QUEEN ELIZABETH 372 JTAOBA, THB KEBUCHADNBZZAH, MASK OJ ROCK OF CASHEL, THB 353 BUINS OF CLONMACNOI9 613 SACK-POT, OLD ENGLISH 621 NELL GWYNNB'S LOOKING-GLASS NEWTON'S (SIB ISAAC) OSERVATOBT ... 10 SAINT GROKGB 8 HALL, GIBRALTAR ... 7 OLD LONDON BBIDGB, GATE ON THB ... 561 120 493 SCEPTRE, IVOBY, OF LOUIS XII 476 SCHOOL, A CHINESE 625 SCHIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES :-DBUM, OB TIMES OF THB ANCIENT BBITONS... 79 GOATS 22 SEPULCHRAL VASB 320, C17 FLOWERS 82 S3 SNAKE CHARUEB 300 80UTH STACK LIGHTHOUSE 2W PENNSYLVANIA JOUBNAL, PAC-SIMILE OF NEST OP THB 386 1765 EST HOUSB DUEING TUB *LAU-SB IN TOTHIf.L FIELDS >ETEB THB GBEAT, HOC3B OF, A! ZAANDAM 63 673 646 STAMP, MEDICINE, ANTIQUB BOH. IN ... 449 STANDARDS, EGYPTIAN 396 ASSYBIAN ... ... 584,685 STEAM BOAT, FAC-SIMILB O THB KB8T 301 STICKS, OLD WALKING 3 FONT DU GABD, THE OBBAT AQUEDUCT OP FOPK'S CHAIB POPVLAB AMUSEMENTS IW 1743 PORCELAIN FIGUKB3 POTTERY IN CHINA, TH1? ART OP 485 312 577 50 C17 321 ' CURIOUS ANTIQUK 696 , THB HAWTHOBNDElf 3-53 , THB SETON 357 SUMMERS' MAGNET, OB IOADSTOJTB ... 41 FBIKSTS OF 8IKKIM 221 1!)9 664 OF ' 620 THBASHINO COBN, ANCIENT METHOD OF 67 IN 1644 VTTLPIT OP JOHN KNOX AT ST. ANDREW'S 292 270 680 131 TOMB, ANCIENT GBEEK, INTEBIOB T1EW OP 617 VTIiAMIDS OF EGYPT OF BAFFAELLB , M ., 68* Till INDEX TO ENGRAVINGS. TOMB OP CECILIA METELLA TOPB, THE SAXCHI 477 ASES TErTONIC, BUT-SHAPED tSO ATiHALL ... 380 TKIPOD, AW AlfCIKHT ::: -Si WHICH IT IS OBIAi:. KD TYBBELLA, AXGLO-SAXCK Wl ... 624 GREEK oCi , Al'OIS.K 672 A BEFCLCBKAL, Of aaitt ... INDEX. Abbey Biiiidtnam, The Arrangement of... 658 /vliraham and Sarah 101 A oyssinian Ladies, Dress of the 491 Abyssinian Lady, Tattooed 495 Advertisement, an American Ill Advertisements, Curious ... 406, 447, 455. 478 in the last Century ... 207 of a Dying-speech Book 116 New Style of 249 a Pudding as an of a Fleet Parson ... A False Find A Female Sampson A Fine Old Soldier A Floating City A Funeral appropriately conducted Aged Persons, instances of many Dyir.g Ages of Celebrated Men A Great Marvel seen in Scotland A Happy Family A Harmless Eccentri ric Albertus Mairnus, Receipts from... Ale Too Strong Alexandria, Pharos at Alcerme Invasion of Ireland ... A Last Chance All Humbugs A Lucky Find A Man in a Vault Eleven Days ... Carries his House on his Head Selling his own Body ... - aged One Hundred Years A Monster Ambassador, French, Entry into Lor.don 262 why Held by the Arms ... 102 Amphitheatres 102 Amulets worn by Egyptian Females ... 120 Brotche 332 Amusements in the 15th Century ... i54 in 1743, Popular 56 An apparent Singularity accounted for... 293 An Eccentric Tourist 139 Ancients, Credulity of the 144 A ntrlo-Sa> one, Sepulchral Barrow of ... 26 Animals, Food ot 24 - Communication between ... 294 Animation, Suspended 374 Ann* Itoleyn, fc.xecui.ion of .. Antimony Antipathies Unaccountable Antiquities, Egyptian A poilo, Oracles of, in France Arabian Horses ... Arabs, Horsea of the Archbishop, an, Washing Feet Arch, A Ucautiful A remarkable Old Man Armlet, Ancieut ... Armour, Ancient, Curious Pleoe ol ... 341 Arms, Abyssinian 6 H Artists, Duration of Life amongst ... 19U A Sea above the Sky 81 Ash, the Shrew 397 Ass, The lltf Assiduity and Perseverance 3^1 Attar of Hoses, Origin of 343 Attar of Roses 2H8 A Woman takes the Lighted Match ... 40 Defends a Post singly ... 62 Authors, some Learned, Amusements of 137 A Unique Library 211 Aztec Children ... , 37 Babes of Bethlehem, Tr.f ... +~ . 80 Bagpipec, Irish - ... 605 Ballot, Origin of the ... ~ ... 673 Bandoliers ... 600 Bank, A M attrass for f 323 Banner, The Templars', called L'eauseant 604 Banquets of the Ancients 439 Bara, a Machine used in Sicily 415 Barbers 94 Barometer, Incident connected wi'h ... 138 Bartholomew Fair in 1700, Handbill of... 148 liastille of Paris, Storming of the ... 184 Bazaar, A lurkish 614 Hear, a Shaved 17 Beard, Care of the 603 Beau Brnmmell (a) of the 17th Century 61 Bcctive Abbey 392 Bedesmen in the time of Henry VII. ... 693 Hcdlord Missal. The 407 Bee, The Queen 25 Bees, Obtuient to Training 95 Beggars, Severe Enactment against ... 302 , selected as Models by Painters 2>1 Bell, The Great, of Bur man 669 of Rouen 650 Bells 193 of the Ancients ... ... ... 279 of St. Mura 411 Bell-Shrine, an Ancient 347 Bellows, JPiimitivel'airof 637 Bible 118, 372, 490 , Bunjan's 121 , Summary of the 169 , used by Charles I. on the Scaffold 271 Billy in the Salt-box 181 rds, the Ear oX, not to be Deceived ... 228 Blind Jack Granny ... . Workman ... Boat, Burmese ... ... Bobart, Jacob ... ... Boiling to Death Bolton Abbey, Origin ol ... 23 067 22 INDEX. r*e Bombardier Beetle, The ... _ ... 63 Bones, Adaptation of to Age ... ... 62 Uook-shaped Watch ... ~. ... 323 Boots an object of Honour ... ... 232 Boydell, Alderman .- ... 9 Brama, the Hindoo Deity ... 555 Bramins, Philosophy of the 371 Brank.fhe... ... .. 2 Brass Medal, of our Saviour 241 Break fasting Hut in 1745 158 Chess, in India, How it Originated ... 30* Chieftain, Ancient Scottish 6oO Chilcott, the Giant 71 Child, Test of Courage in a 133 Children of Aged Parents 310 China, Origin of the Great Wall of ... 233 Chinese Dainties 91 Ivory Balls 144 Method of Fishing 3i5 Punishment of the Kang ... 134 Bridge, Old London, The Gate or".. "! 561 Chinese 439 School 525 Therapeutics 369 Britannia Tubular Brirfge 172 British Islands, Size of the 245 Brooch, Ancient Scandinavian 401 Bruce, Lord Edward, Case containing the Heart of 215 Brunswick, House of, Anecdote of the ... 459 Bnekinger, Matthew 53 Buddist Temples, Instruments used in... 621 Bumper 163 Bunyan'n, John, Tomb 158 Burial Places of Distinguished Men ... 390 Christmas Customs, Bygone 14,19 Chris'ening, Novel Mode of Celebrating a 393 Chronology of Remarkable Events ... 218 Church nf Donore, James 1 1. and (he ... 657 Cigars, Extraordinary Fashion in ... 274 Circumstance, a Curious 430 Extraordinary 15 Cistern of Majolica Ware 597 Clock at Hcrnh'ith. Watchmen Imitating 20 .Wonderful 167 Clocks Early ... ... 171 Burn- ah, Elephant God of 537 Bust, Etrurian, An Ancient 677 Bynjr, Admiral, Execution of 1S2 Caderldris 118 Cagots, The 6t8 Calculation, Interesting 474 Cambridge Clods ... ... 20 Camden Cup 25Q Camel, as a Scape-Goat 522 Cameleon, The Eye of the 479 Candles in the Church 449 Cannon, Ancient, rai>ed from the Sea ... 40 , at the Siege of Constantinople . 69 Clonmacnois, Ruins of ... ... ... 2S9 Coachmen of the Time of Charles 11. ... 257 Cock Fighting at Schools 219 Coffee 15* Coffee and Tea 122 Coffee-house in London, the First ... 4 Attractions in 1760 ... 41 Coin, The First, with Britannia on It ... 48 Coinage, Variations in the 6.iO Coincidences, some Curious 43* Collars, Stone, Ancient 6*5 Column at Cussi 5:53 Comb, Curious Indian 657 Conecte, Thomas 433 Confectionary Art in 1660 373 Canute, Th* Discovery cf the Body of ... 176 Cardinals, Colour of the Hat for 234 Cards, Games with, in the 16th Century . 618 Carfax Conduit 333 Carronades 149 Carrara, Francis, Cruelty of EOt Carriage, Turkish 655 Cascade deg Pelerines 135 Cat, Instinct in a _ ... 353 Catacombs at Rome 87 Cataract, Extraord'nary 223 Conjuring, Public Taste for. in 1718 ... 123 Convay Church, Inscription in 112 Coral Keefg 73 Coronations, Prices for Scafs at ICO Expenses at 233 Corpulent Man ... 73 Corpulence, Cure for , 80 Cost cf Articles in the 14lh Centnry ... 330 Costume, Ancient Female 71,7s Costumes ... 395, 437, 536, 544, 547, 630, 65 1 Cat-Clock, A 631 Cats, White 51 with Knotted Tails ... ... ... 238 Caves, The Hawthornden 3-2 Chaffinch Contest 651 Chalice, lona. The Golden 422 Changes of Fortune 371 Cranmcr's (Archbishop) Dietary 137 Credulity, Extraordinary Instance of ... 311 Cricket-Matches Extraordinary 403 Criminal, a Rich and Cruel 4-50 Criminals, Old Custom Relating to ... 698 Cromwell's Bridge at Glcngariff 648 Cross of Cong, The 457 Chapter-House in Henry Vllth's time ..'. 699 Charing Cross, Autobiography of ... 128 Charity instead of Pomp 407 Rewarded by a Mendicant ... 257 Charlemagne, Clock presented V ... 145 Charles I., Anecdote rclatir. .j 174 .Ordeal of the 463 Crown of Charlemagne 377 Cueking-Stool, The 1 Cupid, The, of the Hindoos 230 Curious Fcais 181, 239 Law ... 8 CherryTrea'T}' ..'.'" ^""~."' .'." 458 Cttrionsly-shaped'Vessel .'.'.' ~.' .".' 371 INDEX. XI 8Kl Pi.* Cariously-ahaped Drinking Cups 413 Edicts against Fiddler* ... . "'3 10 Custom, Means of attracting 683 Egypt Customs Singular Loc&i ... ... 653 Pyramids of KiO Dairy's Elixir Dagger, An Ancient Dagobert, Ancient Chair of Dance, Curious Provincial in France ... Dances, Fashionable of the last Century Dancine: Rooms Dead, Fashions for the Dead Bodies, Preservation of ... 251, 23 Death, Boiling to Lunar Influence in Pressing to Decorative Drinking Vessel Delia Kobbia Ware Demons, Bribing the Dervishes, Dancing Desolation, Scene of. 173 673 421 679 220 57 524 ), 638 663 3 JO 515 601 631 669 329 Esryptian Toys in the British Museum... Elephant Detects a Robber, An ... ... Elephants Frightened at Pigs ... Energy, A Triumph of England before the Romans ... ... Englishman. A Fat Epitaph, an Inculpatory Etna, Mount, Great Eruption of Changes of Europa, Kuins of Exchequer-bills, Origin of Execution, in 1793 Extraordinary Tree Extravagance at. Elections Oriental l> 193 88 vt 203 451 401; 507 076 84 183 149 499 228 Eyam, The Desolation of Destitute Cats, Asylum for Dial and Fountain in Leader.hall Street Dilemma 2SO E53 499 Fallacy of the Virtues of a Seventh Son... False Accusers, Punishing Farmers, Illustrious 315 230 3*>4 Dinner, an Egyptian 637 Fashionable Disfigurement 213 in Cniria 696 Fajcnce, The, of Hcury II. of France ... 591 Party in the 17th Century Dioc-cnes in a Pithos, not. Tub 609 101 Feasts, Anglo-Saxon Federation, Fete of the 517 2H8 Disorders Cured by Fright Dispute and appropriate Decision Dog (A) ExtinguUhins: a Fire S07 140 20 Female Intrepidity, Extraordinary Ferrers, Earl, Execution of Figg, Champion 107 113 , Combination of Instinct and Force 284 Finger Rings, Porcelain 488 , A. Sensible, Refusing to Bait a Cat , Persevering 76 80 Fire at Harwell, Cambridseshire Fire-arms in the Tower of London ~29 .Friendship 8-1 Fire-engines, When first made 223 , A Piscatorial 307 Fish, Shooting 432 , Sensible 376 , High Price of, in London 312 , in Japan (>22 , Extraordinary Ponds and 501 , Kicures of on Ancient Tombs 682 . Tame 059 Doir-wheel The Old 1(11 , Wonderful . Dole in consequence of a Dream Doles... . 603 399 Fishermen, Bulgarian Fleet Marriages, about 1740 vrt 2:0 Down among the Dead Men Dress, Forty years ago 185 212 Floods, the Morayshire Flying Coach ... 228 Dress in London 18,114,253,295 , Fastidiousness at an Old Age ,. 243 Fog of 1783, The Great Font at Kilcarn, The 414 417 of the Ancient Britons 79 Food of the Ancients 450 Drinking Bouts in Persia 647 Foot- Racing in 1699 457 Drinlis, Intoxicating, Antiquity of Dropping Wells Druids' Seat 611 142 464 Foreigners in London in 167 Fortune, Change of Fox Killed by a Swan 371 371 4 Drunkenness, the Offspring of Duns in the Mahratta Country Dyats of Borneo 606 379 275 Francis I., Funeral Oration of Franklin's Celebrated I/otter to Strahan Frederick the Great at Table 30." so 67!> Ears, Character Indicated by Earthenware. English Earthquake Panic , Swallowed np by an at Lisbon Nottingham, in 1818 88 675 620 329 200 230 French Dress Assignats, the Origin ~. Friars, Preaching . .. Frost Fairs M m , Extraordinary ... ... ... Funeral, an Eccentric ... ~. ... 253 221 67 209 395 4S1 Earthquakes S9S ,a Fast India House, the First 200 Game Preserves at Chnntilly 303 Eat ins tor a Wager 4 Gamblers, Chinese, Playingfor Fingers... Eccentric Enplishman, An 433 Gambling:. Legalised 141 Eccentrics, a Couple of ... . 318| Extraordinary sen Echo, Extraordinary 341 Gaming, a National Taste for 207 Eddjstone Lightl-oue ... 108 Gander, an Old m S7 xii Garden, an Egyptian 349 at Kenii worth, when in its Prime 611 .Love of 419 .Sacred 420 , The Hanging, of Babylon .. 553 Carriers Cnp .. 233 Gauntlet of Henry, Prince of Wales .. 661 George II., Proclamation for 200 Georgians as Topers .. 511 Giant Tree ... ... 229 Gibraltar, Siege of 6 Gigantic Bones ... M ... ~. 248 Glaives . 504 Glove Money 5C3 Gloves, Anne Boleyn's 600 . Origin of "Pin Money 275 Grace Knives 611 Graham Island 443 Graves of the Stone Period 363 Greek Vases 501 Gretna Green Marriage* 159 Grey Man's Path, The 623 Grinning for a Wager 13 Horses, Different Sort* of, in the 16th Century 3oa Feeding one another 3 Vicious, Novel Way of Curing ... 174 Hot Cross Buns 2-51 House, Novel Way of Designating a ... 639 of Hens' Feathers 644 Household Rules of the 16th Century ... 61* How Distant Ages are Connected ... 2oO Hudson, Jeffery, the Dwarf of the Court of Charles 1 472 ' Humbug," Origin of the Term 97 Hume, Dairld. on his own Death... ... 215 Hundred Families' Lock 435 Hunting Party, a Regal 3fll Husband, Novel way of Purchasing a ... 275 Hydra, Extraordinary Reproductive Power of the ... 490 ce, Ground 606 snorance and Fear ... 290 mpostor, An ^ CO mpudence or Candour ? Which it lit ... 239 ncens-e Chariot, An Ancient ... ... 613 Groat, a Castle for a 470 Grotto, Remarkable, and Story connected with it 625 mlian Ju?glers, European Balancing ... 293 nhumanity, Extraordinary Instances of 4-36 Guillotine, Decapitation by the 8 Gnu, Celebrated 563 Gunpowder, Making a Candlestick of ... 249 Hackney Coach, The Earliest 211 Hair, Ancient, Quantity and Colour of the 4 , Price of Human 242 , Remarkable Preservation of ... 122 -, Transplantation of 40 , Turned Grey by Fright 327 , Two ol the Fathers, on False ... 24 Hamster Bat, The . . 265 nsccts, Wonderful Formation of the Eye in 467 nsect Life, Minuteness of 333 nstinct of Animals 410 nsurance Agent, Canvass of an 4*5 meresting and Fanciful Belique ... 243 nventors, The Perils of 141 rrigation, Turkish Machine for 349 ' It's much the same Now" 94 James It. and the Church of Donore ... 657 James II., Spent by the Cojjwration of Handbills, Distributing 378 from Peckham Fair, in 1728 72 Hanging a Mayor 110 " Happy Dispatch" in Japan, The ... 678 Head Breaker, A ;-33 Coventry at the i-ntertainment of, in his Progress through Coventry ... 378 Javanese, Superstition of the 244 Jenny's Whim 174 Jewel, A Curious, which belonged to James I . . 456 Ornament, Antique 393 Hejira, The 223 Jews, Wealth of the 359 Johnson, Dr., A Visit to the Residence of 4i Helmet, Early English 632 of Sir John Crosby . ... 620 Henry I., Dream of 26 II., Stripped when Dead 39 V., Cradle of 418 Joy, William, the English Sampson ... 178 Judas Iscariot, Legends of 339 Judges attending Public Balls 303 Salaries 440 Jugglers in Japan fi2H VIII., Curious Extracts from the Household Book of Lady Mary, Daughter of 399 Highlander, A Remarkable 238 Highwaymen in 1782 5 Hindoo Computation 507 Riies, Cruelty of 627 Historical Anecdote !66 Holy Water Sprinkler 533 Homer in a Nutshell 127 Hooking a Bojr instead of a Fish 319 Hoops, in 1740 6 Horse, A, Getting himself Shod 76 1 1 ors<-race, Indenture of a . ... 52 Horses of the Arab* ... . ... 498 Ki Ware, Death of the Earl of 173 Killed by eating Mutton and Pudding ... 73 King Edward 1., Household Expenses of 231 , Fine for Insulting a 149 ofKippen, The 139 John and Pope Innocent 463 King-Maker, Warwick the 627 King's Bed, Ceremonial for Makbg the 63 Cock Grower, The ... 127 Dishes with the Cook's Naaoe ... 235 Stone, The, at Kingston 461 Kitchen, Spacious 383 Knight's Costume of the 13th Century ... 480 Knives and Forks 133 Kuox, Joto, The Pulpit of; at St. Andrew* 2o xiri Lad/, Origin of the Word Lafrmi, and the Use mada of it Lambeth Wells, the ApoiJo Gardens . . Lamps, Roman Land, Change in the Value of Landslip nt Colebroke, Shropshire Lantern, Curious Lauderdale, The Duchess of LawoftheMozeas 147 623 272 437 196 184 400 403 454 131 Mary Queen of Scots, her C:\ndlesilck ... 4.'t< Maternal Aflection in a Dumb Woman ... 14 Maypole in the Strand 63-4 , Fate of the Last, in the Strand 634 Maypoles 100 Mecca, The Black Stone at 660 Medmenham Abbey 42J Memento-Mori Watch 265 Mental Affection, A Curious 3i5 Merman, A 10 Laws, a Hundred years ago, Severity of.. Leadenhall Street, Old Dial and Foun- rain in Legend, A Superstitious Legends among savage Nations Length of Life without Bodily Exercise.. Lepers, Treatment of, in England 234 653 351 146 274 493 169 Mexican Tennis 375 Michaelmas-day, Origin of eatinir Goose on 19S Military Hats in Olden Time ~ 75 MillatLissoy 469 Miraculous Escape 266 Misers, Two 459 Missal, The Bedford 163 Mob Wisdom 24 Letter, Extraordinary Lettsom's (Dr.) Reasons Lewson, The Eccentric Lady Life, An Eventful in Death Lighting the Streets, Bequests for Lightning, Calmuc's Opinion of Living, Style of, among the Nobility of the 15th Century , in the ICth Century ... Lizards, Swallowing Loaf Sugar 322 71 221 427 443 310 63 533 357 41 166 Monasteries, Libraries of destroyed ... 334 Monkeys Demanding their Dead ... 415 Monkish Prayers 38* Monks, Gluttony of the , ... 347 and Friars 6SO Monsey (Dr.) bequeaths his own Body ... 93 Monsoons ... 179 Monument, Rock-cut, of Asia Minor ... 44-1 Monuments, AVayside 587 Mosque of Omar 316 Mother Mapp, the Bone Setter .., ... 158 Mountains, Height of 14ft Locomotives, the First Locusts London Localities in the 16th Century... London Water Carrier in Older. Time ... in 17E6, State of London Resorts a Hundred Years Ago... Longevity Long Meg and her Daughters ... Lord Mayor's Feast in 1663 Lotteries Louis XVI., Execution of 96 151 526 258 H7 197 269 394 551 619 258 Mouth, Character of the 106 M.IVs and Mavors, Privateers 176 Mulgrave, Origin of the House of ... C02 Mullet and Turbot, with the Romans ... 488 Mummy Cases 409 Murderess, a Young but Cruel 392 Music, Effect of, on a Pigeon 64 of the Hindoos 683 Sea 361 Musical Instrument, A Curious 628 Musical Instruments, Burmese 629 Luxury in 1562 Lynch's Castle, Galway Mackarel, Price of Madnesss, Siuiden Recovery from Madyn, the Capital of Persia, Magnifi- cence of, when invaded by the Saracens A.D.636 Magic Rain Stone Magician's Mirror and Bracelet Maenet, The Summers' or Loadstone ... Magnificence of Former Tines 41S 681 676 168 554 168 344 41 111 92 Names, Strange Custom about 295 Naors,The 636 Narrow Escape 121 Nature, Wonderful Provision of 65 Nebuchadnezzar, Gold Mask of 105 Necklace, Ancient Jet 62 Negro, Bill of Sale for a, in 1770... ... 3 Nell Gwynne's Looking-Glass 237 Never Sleeping in a Bed 831 Newspapers, Vacillating 614 New South Wales, Dances of the Natives of 225 Mahomet, Personal Appearance of Mail, Ancient suit of Malady, Extraordinary llaiidrin, the Smuggler Manners, Ancient, of the Italian Man without Hands Manufacture, One of the Effects of Marat, Funeral of Marriage Custom, Curious 671 483 670 167 585 77 143 375 643 Newton, A Visit to the Observatory of .. 10 New Zealand, The Wingless Bird of .. 807 Norman Caps .. 44 North American Indian War Dispatch .. 45 Nose, Effect of a New 103 Nostrums 63 Nun, The First English 330 Nut Cracsers, Ancient 239 \ ow Mary, Queen of Scots, her First Letter h) Bullish 419 370 ,' Remarkable ... .'.'.' .'.. ' ... ' 405 Old Age, Dying of, at Seventeen Years ... 47 Old Books . .7 MO INDEX. Old London Signs Opera, The First 118 667 Prayers, Unusual Locality for Saying ... Praying by Machinery 171 314 Opium, Best Position for Smoking 675 by Wheel and Axle 5:*) Oraefa Mountain, in Ireland 356 Pre-Adamite Bone Caverns i: Ornaments, Personal Antique 293, 400, 417 ,452 Precocious Children 01 Orthography in the Sixteenth Century ... 17 Presence of Mind Escape from a Tiger Priests in Burmah, Knavery of the H:JD 2H8 Pagoda, The Great Shocmadoo 572 ofSibkim Pailoos, Chinese 625 Prince of Wales, Origrin of the Crest of the Ho Panama, Isthmus of, Passage through ... 143 Pnnce Rupert, at Evcrton 2!U Paper 619 Prolific Author 320 Papyrus,The Parental Authority, Too Much 513 Proteus Anguinus, The " ... Psalm, Value of a Long , in M Paris Garden at Blackfriars 465 Pterodactylus, The 3(0 Parlour Dogs 320 Pulpit, Refieshments for the 1:02 Passport, A Traveller's Pastimes, Popular 679 514 Punishing by Wholesale Punishment, Ancient Instrument of ... ("so (ISO Pate's de Foies Gras _ 142 , Russian 651 Peacocks 366 and Torture, Ancient Instru- Pear- Tree, Great 454 ments of 6 3, R.S Pearls, British 363 Puritan Zeal 57il , Fondness of the Romans for ... 208 Purple, Tyrian Pedestrian Feat, Wonderful 327 Peg Tankards Penn, Tea Service which belonged to ... Penny Post, Origin of the 43 201 47 Quackery in the Olden Time Queen Elizabeth, Banquets of , Drepscs of ... .. 671 411 501 Pensylvania Journal , ... ... ... 63 Perfumes 253 f Old Verses on... ., Side saddle of 201 Persecution 430 , State Coach of 123 Perseverance rewarded by Fortune 637 287 151 Persia, Drinking Bouts in Personal Charms Disclaimed 547 118 Rnffaelle, Tomh of ... " ces Peru, Condor in Peruvian Bark 170 61 Raffle, A, in 1725 Raleigh, Sir Walter, Residence of Ranelagh ... ... ... ... ... ir IN 201 Pest-house, during the Plague, inTothill Fields 673 Ranz des Vaches 173 Pestilence, The Black Peter the Great at Zaandam 402 511 Ravilliac, Kxecution of 402 1132 Physic, A Friend to Physick for the Poor, Choice Receipts for Pigeon Catching near Naples Pig, Roast, Advertisement of, in 1726 ... 287 117 437 46 Receipts, Quaint ... Red Sea, Luminous Appearance of the... Regiments, The Modern Names of Reichstadt, The Duke de 153 iol W.t 435 Pike, An Old 667 Relics ... ... ... ... ... 39-i Pilgrim Fathers, Chair belonging to ... Pillory for Eating Flesh in Lent Plague in England, The Corpse Bearers during the Plantagenets, Yellow Hair in the Time .. Plate, Use of, in tho time of Honry VIII. Platypus, the Duck-billed Playbill, Curious , in the time of William III. ... Ploughing and Threshing, Ancient Poets, Enslish, Fates of ihe Families of. Pogonias Vocal Fish Poison Cup, The 186 63 183 283 103 523 273 227 630 66 471 478 435 , A Group of .Rescued Remarkable Events and Inventions ... Revenge, New Mode of Rheumatism. Strange Cure for tho Rhinoceros, First in Europe Richardson, the Showman Ringing ihe Changes Rings, Calcinated Rites, Hindoo, Cruelty of Roads in 1780 RockofCashel Romans in Britain, Dress of Native Fe- 2fil 61S 11,5 423 201 055 251 192 40-4 C27 A-n 352 Poisoning the Monarch Police, London, Disgraceful State of ... Pont du Card, Great Aqueduct of Pope's Chair Porcelain, Anecdote In ]3 193 313 577 517 males at that Period Rouen, The Great Bell of. Royal Touch, The Royal Giants, Specimens of Prisoner, Expenses of ... 8f 650 42 2 GO Port Coon Cave ... ... ... ... 516 Poft Haste One Hundred Years ago "Postman." The, Paragraph from, in 182 Sack Pot, Old English ... w Sacro Catino, The ... 521 COS 1097 . . . 219 Sadler's Wells 113 Pottery in China, Art of 321 Saint George, TomV of 231 Vowersci/wt Fall, Phenomenon at tht ... 304 Saint Lawreuue ... 4'j| INDEX. Bslagram, Hindoo Adoration of the Sand Columns in Africa ... Sandwiches, Origin of the... Sardonyx Ring, with ~ Queen Elizabeth, in Kev. Lord Thynne Bcape Goat, Camel as a Sceptre, Ivory, of Louis XII. School, Chinese School Expenses in the Olden Tim Science and Persevera Scottish Wild Cattle Scriptural Antiquities Sea, Phosphorescence of the Sea Perpent, Immense Sea-Urchin, Wonderful ( Second Sight Seeinsr Two Generations Self.Nburishment ... Selkirk and the Dancing Goat* Sepulchral Vase from f eru Sermons, Anecdotes in Berpent, Anecdote of a .. Seven, Tha Number Sevres Porcelain, Prices of i-ex, Change of " Siorza," Origin of the Title Shakspeare's Jug ... Sham Prophets Sharks, The Queen's Sheba, The Queen of Sheep Killer, Hnntintr _ .. Shell Fish, in 1675, Price of Shetland, The Noss in Shield, Ancient Danish Shilline, Cutting a Wife off with a Shocking Depravity Shoes, l.ontr-toed. Origin of Shrine, Curious Figures on a Shrine of St. Sebald at Nuremberg Simoom, The Skin, Human, a Drum made of ... Slave Advertisements Slave Trade, Iniquities of the Slaves, Recent Piices of Sleep, Protracted ... , State of the Mind during Sleeper, An Extraordinary... Smoking, Attachment to ... Snake Charmers Snakes. Power of Fascination La ... Snow Storm, Memorable ... Snuff Boxes, Ancient Snuff, Time Wasted in taking Something like a Feast Somnambulism Sound, Phenomena of Southcottian Delusion, / South-stack Liehthouse Spain, Wealth of, under the Moois Spider, Bite of the Tarantul; Spiders Fond of Music Spirit Drinker, An Aged Spontaneous Combustion ... Sports of the Lower Classes Sportsman, A Royal Springs, Iniermittent Rtaiw Coach in 170 on of the ... 610 Stag.Hunt in the 16th Century Stags like Cattle, Driving 'ft 208 rnieo Head of 563 Stamps, Antique Roman 44E Standards, Ancient Banner and ... 39 ,643 ,633 State Coach in 1796 ^possession of 373 190 Statue, Metal, the Largest in the World.. Steam boat, Facsimile of the First 454 301 II. '..'. '.'. 476 Stevens's Specific 50 525 St. George's Cavern 421 den Time Triumphs of . 427 123 St. James's Square St. Paul's, Old 12S 163 ... 273 St. Paul and the Viper 125 216 St. Winifred's Well .. ... 303 lie .'.'.' .'.'.' 413 Sticks, Old Walking 387 42 Stirrups 671 nstruction of.. 475 Stomach Brush 55 65 Stoneware 619 211 Ptrasbnrg, Curious Custom at ... .:. 185 315 Strength, Feats of, in 1789 9 o'at '.'.' .'.'. 22 Street Cries of Modern Egvpt 401 320 Stuff Ball at Lincoln, Origin of the 49 147 Sultan, City ol the 103 ... 85 Sun and Moon, Worship of the 81 354 Superstition in 1856 638 4S7 Curious 424 Ye 189 651 , Death caused by in France 124 519 575 Vitality of 474 319 Sweating Sickness 110 203 Sweets, Artificial 679 518 208 Sword, Curious Antique Kxecutioner's 696 340 f 17-i The Hawthorndcn 353 32-1 The Seton ... T'O Fish and Whales 665 r with a 339 Sword-Breaker, An Ancient 673 ... 117 >f "! 646 Taking a Man to Pieces 79 a rcmberg 202 271 662 Tappstry, The Bajeux Tar and Feather, Notices to Taxation, Universality of 642 38 318 3eof I!! .'." 398 Tea 94 25 Tea-Drinkers, The First, Puzzled 632 he '." ".'. 175 Teapot, The 4S2 435 Temple of Pou-tou, The 673 4*3 at Simonbong 620 during 350 Temples of Bmmbanam 442 ... 28 Terrier, Anecdote of a 358 322 Thames, Frost Fair on the 106 299 , The First Bridge over the ... 423 on in !!.' !!.* 64 327 Thanksgiving Day in 1697 Theatre, Roman, at Orange 627 368 t . 209 Theatres in the Time of Shakespeare ... 697 lag 612 The First H ermits- Why so Called .. 125 129 The Ruling Passion ... ... IS S, 32 !!! 72 Theodora de Verdion 207 367 Thief Caught in his own Trap, The 77 'haw of the .'.'.' 230 Singular Discovery of a 115 239 Thugs, The 674 eMoois 235 Titrer Cave at Cuttack 361 ila 13 Tilburv ff . ... 1*9 157 Time. Division of, in Persia 3* ... 2 28 Tobacco, Origin of the Use of ^ 57 431 Toilet, Absurdities of the ~. 6'J6 a 155 Boxes, Egvotiau 381 4-13 Tomb, Chinese ".. 503 455 of Ciccilia Metclla ... 477 !H 155 of Darius xvi INDEX. Tomb of the Emperor Maximilian at Insprn* 59 "Too Late." quoth Bolae 489 Tope, the Sanchi 3S9 Topers, Georgians as Toping in the Last Ccnturj ... . 314 Torture " j Chamber at Nuremberg ... . 615 Tower of the Thundering Winds... . 93 Trajan, Arch of, at Beneventum... . 11.4 Trance, A ... 354 at Will 462 Trap-door Spider 333 Travelling, Common in Olden Times ... 108, 162 in the United States 2HS Treaty-Stone at Limerick 53 Tree, Extraordinary Situation for ... 31-1 Trees, Age of - ; 6 ^1 Volition, Suspended ... .. 199 Voltaire, English Letter of -. ... 423 Vow, Singular Hindoo 658 Vagers. Curious 373 Valking-Sticks, Old 3W Vail, Governor, Execution of ... ... 15* Vallace, the Hero of Scotland 99 War Boat, A Uyak, in Borne.} tV Dance of the Dyaks of Borneo ... 6-W Chariot of Ancient Egypt 3( Warwick, the King-Maker 627 Washing Account, Method of Keeping ... Washington 683 Watch, An Antique 353 presented by Louis XIII. to Charles I. of England 3 Writing Materials outf> of the helm & MARVELLOUS, RARE, CLRIOUS, AND QUAINT. 17 second time. At that very moment, Captain Morin got a harping-iron ready, and took it himself to strike him with it ; but the cordage being entangled, he missed his aim, and the harping-iron touched only the monster, who turned about, showing his face, as he had done before. Afterwards he came again to the fore part, and viewed again the figure in our prow. The mate called for the harping-iron; but he was frightened, fancying that this monster was one La Commune, who had killed himself in the ship the year before, and had been thrown into the sea in the same passage. He was contented to push his back with the harping-iron, and then the monster showed his face, as he had dene at other times. Afterwards he came along the board, so that one might have given him the hand. He had the boldness to take a rope held up by John Mazier and John Deffiete, who being willing to pluck it out of his hands, drew him to our board ; but he fell into the water and then removed at the distance of a gun's shot. He came again immediately near our board, and rising out of the water to the navel, we observed that his breast was as large as that of a woman of the best plight. He turned upon his back and appeared to be a male. Afterwards he swam again round the ship, and then went away, and we have never seen him since. I believe that from ten o'clock till twelve that this monster was along our board ; if the crew had not been frighted, he might have been taken many times with the hand, being only two feet distant. Tha' monster is about eight feet long, his skin is brown and tawny, without any scales, all his motions are like those of men, the eyes of a propor- tionable size, a little mouth, a large and flat nose, very white teeth, black hair, the chin covered with a mossy beard, a sort of whiskers under the nose, the ears like those of men, fins between the fingers of his hands and feet like those of ducks. In a word, he is a well-shaped man. Which is certified to be true by Captain Oliver Morin, and John Martin, pilot, and by the whole crew, consisting of two and thirty men." An article from Brest, in the Memoirs of Trevoux. This monster waa mentioned in the Gazette of Amsterdam, October 12, 1725, where it is said it was seen in the ocean in August, same year. A SHAVED BEAE. At Bristol I saw a shaved monkey shown for a fairy ; and a shaved bear, in a check waistcoat and trousers, sitting in a great chair as an Ethiopian savage. This was the most cruel fraud I ever saw. The un- natural position of the beast, and the damnable brutality of the woman- keeper who sat upon his knee, put her arm round his neck, called him husband and sweet-heart, and kissed him, made it the most disgusting spectacle I ever witnessed ! Cottle was with me. Southey. THE ORIGIN OF WIGS. As for the origin of wigs, the honour of the invention is attributed to the luxurious Sapygians in Southern Italy. The Louvain theologians, who published a French version of the Bible, affected, however, to dis- cover the first mention of perukes in a passage in the fourth chapter of Isaiah. The Vulgate has these words : " Decalvabit Dominus verticem tiliarum Sion, et Dominus crinem earum midabit." This, the Louvain 2 18 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; gentlemen translated into French as follows : " Le Seigneur dechevelera les tetes des filles de Sion, et le Seigneur decouvrira leurs perruques;" which, done into English, implies that " The Lord will pluck the hair from the heads of the daughters of Sion, and will expose their periwigs." DKESS nr 1772. The year 1772 introduced a new style for gentlemen, imported by a number of young men of fashion who had travelled into Italy, and formed an association called the Maccaroni Club, in contradistinction to the Beef-steak Club of London. Hence these new-fashioned dandies were styled Maccaronies, a name that was afterwards applied to ladies of the same genus. The accom - panying cut delineates the pe- culiarities of both. The hair of the gentleman was dressed in an enormous toupee, with very large curls at the sides ; while behind it was gathered and tied up into an enormous club, or knot, that rested on the back of the neck like a porter's knot ; upon this an exceedingly small hat was worn, which was some- times lifted from the head with the cane, generally very long, and decorated with extremely large silk tassels ; a full white handkerchief was tied in a large bow round the neck ; frills from the shirt-front projected from the top of the waistcoat, which was much shortened, reaching very little below the waist, and being without the flap-covered pockets. The coat was also short, reach- ing only to the hips, fitting closely, having a small turn-over collar as now worn ; it was edged with lace or braid, or decorated with frog-but- tons, tassels, or embroidery ; the breeches were tight, of spotted or striped silk, with enormous bunches of strings at the knee. A watch was car- ried in each pocket, from which hung bunches of chains and seals : silk stockings and small shoes with little diamond buckles completed the gentleman's dress. The ladies decorated their heads much like the gen- tlemen, with a most enormous heap of hair, which was frequently siir- mounted by plumes of large feathers and bunches of flowers, until the head seemed to overbalance the body. The gown was open in front ; hoops were discarded except in full-dress ; and the gown gradually spread outward from the waist, and trailed upon the ground behind, shewing the rich laced petticoat ornamented with flowers and naedlework ; the sleeves widened to the elbow, where a succession of ruffles and lappets, each wider than the other, hung down below the hips. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. CHRISTMAS OBSERVANCES PUT DOWN BY THE PURITANS, 19 During the Commonwealth, when puritanical feelings held iron sway over the rulers of the land, and rode rampant in high places, many strong attempts were made to put down what they were pleased to term superstitious festivals, and amongst these was that of Christmas Day. So determined was the Puritan party to sweep away all vestiges of evil creeds and evil deeds, that they were resolved to make one grand attempt upon the time-honoured season of Christmas. The Holly and the PKOCLAIMINS THE NON-OBSEBVANCE Of CHRISTMAS. Mistletoe-bough were to be cut up root and branch, as plants of the Evil One. Cakes and Ale were held to be impious libations to superstition ; and the Koundheads would have none of it. Accordingly, we learn that, in the year 1647, the Cromwell party ordered throughout the principal towns and cities of the country, by the mouth of the common crier, that Christmas Day should no longer be observed it being a superstitious and hurtful custom ; and that in place thereof, and the more effectually to work a change, markets should be held on the 25th day of December. This was attacking the people, especially the country folks, in their most sensitive part. It was hardly to be expected that they would quietly submit to such a bereavement ; nor did they, as the still-existing " News-letters " of those days amply testify. 20 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , TEE MANNER OF WATCHMEN INTIMATING THE CLOCK AT HERENUtriH IN GERMANY. VIII. Past eight o'clock ! 0, Herrnliuth, do thou ponder ; Eight souls in Noah's ark were living yonder. IX. 'Tis nine o'clock ! ye hrethren, hear it striking ; Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking. X. Now, hrethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing ; None rest but such as wait for Christ embracing. A I. 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. Past 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, When five with wedding garments were rewarded. VI. The clock is six, and I go off my station ; Now, brethren, watch yourselves for your salcation. A DOG EXTINGUISHING A FIRE. On the evening of the 21st February, 1822, the shop of Mr. Coxon, chandler, at the Folly, Sandgate, in Newcastle, was left in charge ol his daughter, about nine years of age, and a large mastiff, which is generally kept there as a safeguard since an attempt was made to rob the shop. The child had on a straw bonnet lined with silk, which took fire from coming too near the candle. She endeavoured to pull it off, but being tied, she could not effect her purpose, and in her terror shrieked out, on which the mastiff instantly sprang to her assistance, and with mouth and paws completely smothered out the flame by pressing the bonnet together. The lining of the bonnet and the child's hair only were burnt. CAMBRIDGE CLODS. About sixty years since, two characters, equally singular in their way, resided at Cambridge : Paris, a well-known bookseller, and Jack- son, a bookbinder, and principal bass-singer at Trinity College Chapel m that University ; these two gentlemen, who were both remarkably corpulent, were such small consumers in the article of bread, that their abstemiousness in that particular was generally noticed ; but, to make amends, they gave way to the greatest excess and indulgence of their appetites in meat, poultry, and fish, of almost every description. So one day, having taken an excursion, in walking a few miles from home. MARVELLOUS, RAKB, CURIOUS; AND QUAINT. 21 .hey were overtaken by hunger, and, on entering a public-house, the only provision they could procure was a clod of beef, weighing near four teen pounds, which had been a day or two in salt ; and this these two moderate bread consumers contrived to manage between them broiled, assisted by a due proportion of buttered potatoes and pickles. The land- lord of the house, having some knowledge of his guests, the story got into circulation, and the two worthies were ever after denominated the Cam bridge Clods ! WITCH-TESTIKG AX NEWCASTLE IX 1649. March 26. Mention occurs of a petition in the common council books of Newcastle, of this date, and signed, no doubt, by the inhabitants, concerning witches, the purport of which appears, from what followed, to have been to cause all such persons as were suspected of that crime to be apprehended and brought to trial. In consequence of this, the magistrates sent two of their sergeants, viz. Thomas Shevill and Cuth- bert Nicholson, into Scotland, to agree with a Scotchman, who pretended knowledge to find out witches, by pricking them with pins, to come to Newcastle, where he should try such who should be brought to him, aud to have twenty shillings a piece, for all he should condemn as witches, and free passage thither and back again. "When the sergeants had brought the said witch-finder on horseback to town, the magistrates sent their bell-man through the town, ringing his bell and crying, all people that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a witch, they should be sent for, and tried by the person appointed. Thirty women were brought into the town-hall, and stripped, and then openly had pins thrust into their bodies, and most of them were found guilty. The said reputed witch-finder acquainted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Hobson, deputy-governor of Newcastle, that he knew women whether they were witches or no by their looks ; and when the said person was searching of a personable and good-like woman, the said colonel replied, and said, surely this woman is none, and need not be tried, but the Scotchman said she was, and, therefore, he would try her ; and presently, in the sight of all the people, laid her body naked to the waist, with her cloathes over her head, by which fright and shame all her blood contracted into one part of her body, and then he ran a pin into her thigh, and then suddenly let her cloathes fall, and then demanded whether she had nothing of his in her body, but did not bleed ! but she being amazed, replied little ; then he put his hands up her cloathes and pulled out the pin, and set her aside as a guilty person, and child of the devil, and fell to try others, whom he made guilty. Lieutenant-Colonel Hobson, per- ceiving the alteration of the aforesaid woman, by her blood settling in her right parts, caused that woman to be brought again, and her cloathes pulled up to her thigh, and required the Scot to run the pin into the same place, and then it gushed out of blood, and the said Scot cleared her, and said she was not a child of the devil. The witch-finder set aside twenty-seven out of the thirty suspected persons, and in conse- quence, fourteen witches and one wizard, belonging to Newcastle, were executed on the town moor. TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ALEXANDER SELKIRK AXD THE DAXCING GOATS. The adventures of Alexander Selkirk, an English sailor, who, more than one hundred and fifty years since, was left alone on the island of Juan Fernandez are very wonderful. This extraordinary man sought to heguile his solitude by rearing kids, and he would often sing to them, and dance with his motley group around him. His clothes having worn out, he dressed himselt in gar- ments made from the skins of such as run wild about the island ; these he sewed together with thongs of the same material. His only needle was a long slender nail ; and when his knife was no longer available, he made an admirable substitute from an iron hoop that was cast ashore. Upon the wonderful sojourn of this man, Defoe founded his exquisite tale of " Robinson Crusoe," a narrative more extensively read and better known than perhaps any other ever written. JACOB BOBAET. A curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden at Oxford, occurs in one of Grey's notes to Hudibras " He made a dead rat resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon ; and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand Duke pf Tuscany ; several fine copies of verses were wrote on so rare a subject ; but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat. However, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of the art ; and, as such, deposited in the Museum." MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. BLIND JACK. The streets of London, in the reigns of Queen Anne and Georges I. find II., were infested with all sorts of paupers, vagabonds, impoa tors, and common adventurers; and many, who otherwise might be considered real objects of charity, by their disgusting manners and general appearance in public places, rather merited the interference of the parish beadles, and the discipline of Bridewell, than the countenance and encouragement of such persons as mostly congregated around common street exhibitions. One-eyed Granny and Blind Jack were particular nuisances to the neighbourhoods in which the first ractised ner mad- 24 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; drunk gambols, and the latter his beastly manner of performing on the flageolet. John Keiling, alias Blind Jack, having the misfortune to lose his sight, thought of a strange method to insure himself a livelihood. He was constitutionally a hale, robust fellow, without any complaint, saving blindness, and having learnt to play a little on the flageolet, he conceived a notion that, by performing on that instrument in a different, way to that generally practised, he should render himself more noticed by "the public, and be able to levy larger contributions on their pockets. The manner of Blind Jack's playing the flageolet was by obtruding the mouth-piece of the instrument up one of his nostrils, and, by long custom, he could produce as much wind as most others with their lips into the pipe ; but the continued contortion and gesticulation of his mus- cles and countenance rendered him an object of derision and disgust, as much as that of charity and commiseration. THE YORKSHIRE TIKE. Ah iz i truth a country youth, Neean us'd teea Lunnon fashions ; Yet rartue guides, an' still presides, Ower all mah steps an' passions. Neea coprtly leear, bud all sincere, Xeea bribe shall ivver blinnd me, If thoo can like a Yorkshire tike, A rooague thoo' 11 niwer finnd me. Thof envy's tung, seea slimlee hung, Wad lee aboot oor country, Neea men o' t' eearth booast greter wurth, Or mare extend ther boounty. Oor northern breeze wi' uz agrees, An' does for wark weel fit uz ; I* public cares, an' all affairs, Wi' honour we acquit uz. Seea gret a moind is ne'er confiand, Tu onny shire or nation ; They geean meeast praise weea weel displays A leearned'iddicasion. Whahl rancour rolls i' lahtle soula, By shallo views dissarning, They're nobbut wise 'at awiue prize Gud manners, sense, and leearnin. TWO OF THE FATHERS ON FALSE HAIR. Tertullian says, " If you will not fling away your false hair, as hate- ful to Heaven, cannot I make it hateful to yourselves, by reminding you that the false hair you wear may have come not only from a criminal, but from a very dirty head ; perhaps from the head of one already damned ?" This was a very hard hit indeed ; but it was not nearly so clever a stroke at wigs as that dealt by Clemens of Alexandria. The latter informed the astounded wig-wearers, when they knelt at church to receive the blessing, that they must be good enough to recol- lect that the benediction remained on the wig, and did not pass through to the wearer ! This was a stumbling-block to the people ; many of whom, however, retained the peruke, and took their chance as to the percolating through it of the benediction. FOOD OP ANIMALS. Linnaeus states the cow to eat 276 plants, and to refuse 218 ; the goat eats 449, and declines 126; the sheep takes 387, and rejects 141 ; the horse likes 262, and avoids 212 ; but the hog, more nice in its provision than any of the former, eats but 72 plants, and rejects 171. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AXD QUAINT. 2 SLAVE ADVERTISEMENTS. The following announcements are curious, as showing the merchandise %ht in which the negro was regarded in America while yet a colony ul fireat Britain: FRANCIS LEWIS, lias fur SALE, A Choice Parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars, in Hogsheads, J -*- Tierces, and Barrels ; Ravens, l)uck, and a Negro Woman and Negro Boy. The Coach-House and Stables, with or without the Garden Spot, formerly the Property of Joseph Murray, Esq ; in the Broad Way, to be let separately or together : Inquire of said Francis Lewis. New York Gazette, Apr. 25, 1765. rphis Day Kun away from John 31' Comb, Junier, an Indian Woman, -*- about 1 7 Years of Age, Pitted in the face, of a middle Stature and Indifferent fatt, having on her a Drugat, Wastcoat, and Kersey Petticoat, of a Light Collour. If any Person or Persons, shall bring the said Girle to her said Master, shall be Rewarded for their Trouble to their Content. American Weekly Mercury, May 24, 1726. A Female Negro Child (of an extraordinary good Breed) to be given ** away ; Inquire of Edes and Gill. Boston Gazette, Feb. 25, 1765. To be Sold, for want of Employ. A Likely Negro Fellow, about 25 Years of Age, he is an extraordinary good Cook, and understands setting or tending a Table very well, likewise all Kind of House Work, such as washing, scouring, scrubbing, &c. Also a Negro Wench his Wife, about 17 Years old, born in this City, and understands all Sorts of House Work. For farther Particular inquire of the Printer. New York Gazette, Mar. 21, 1765. PRESERVATIVE POWER OF COAL-PIT "WATER. The following is extracted from the register of St. Andrew's, in New- castle : "April 24th, 1695, wear buried, James Archer and his son Stephen, who, in the moneth of May, 1658, were drowned in a coal-pit in the G alia- Flat, by the breaking in of water from an old waste. The bodys were found intire, after they had lyen in the water 36 years and 11 months." THE QUEEN BEE. Reaumur relates the following anecdote of which he was a witness : A queen bee, and some of her attendants, were apparently drowned in a brook. He took them out of the water, and found that neither the queen bee, nor her attendants were quite dead. Reaumur exposed them to a gentle heat, by which they were revived. The plebeian bees recovered rirst. The moment they saw signs of animation in their queen, they ap- proached her, and bestowed upon her all the care in their power, linking nd rubbing her ; and when the queen had acquired sufficient foi x t( move, they hummed aloud, as if in triumph ! 2* TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; DKEA1I OF KIXG HENRY I. A singular dream, which happened to this monarch when passing ovei to Normandy in 1130, has been depicted in a manuscript of Florence of Worcester, in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The rapacity and oppres- sive taxation of his government, and the reflection forced on him by his own unpopular measures, may have originated the vision. He imagined himself to have been, visited by the representatives of the thrse most important grades of society the husbandmen, the knights, and the clergy who gathered round his bed, and so fearfully menaced him, that he awoke in great alarm, and, seizing his sword, loudly called for his at- tendants. The drawings that accompany this nar- rative, and represent each of these visions, appear to have been executed shortly afterwards, and are valuable illustrations of the general costume of the period. One of them is introduced in this place. The king is here seen sleeping ; behind him stand three husbandmen, one carrying a scythe, another a pitchfork, and the third a shovel. They are each dressed in simple tunics, without girdles, with plain close-fitting sleeves ; the central one has a mantU; fastened by a plain brooch, leaving the right arm free. The beards of two of the'se figures are as ample as those of their lords, this being an article of fashionable indulgence within their means. The one with the scythe wears a hat not unlike the felt hat still worn by his descend- ants in the same grade : the scroll in his left hand is merely placed there to contain the words he is supposed to utter to the king. SEPULCHllAL BAEKOW OF HIE AXGI.O-SAXONS. The engraving on the next page is copied from a plate in Douglas's Nenice and represents one of the most ancient of the Kentish bariows opened by him in the Chatham Lines, Sept. 1779 ; and it will enable the reader at once to understand the structure of these early graves, and the inte- resting nature of their contents. The outer circle marks the extent of the mound covering the body, and which varied considerably in eleva- tion, sometimes being but a few inches or a couple of feet from the level of the ground, at others of a gigantic structure. In the centre of the mound, and at the depth of a few feet from the surface, an oblong rec- tangular grave is cut, the space between that and the outer circle being tilled in with chalk, broken into small bits, and deposited carefully and MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAIKT. 27 firmly around and over the grave. The grave contained the body of a male adult, tall and well-proportioned, holding in his right hand a spear, the shaft of which was of wood, and had perished, leaving only the iron head, 15 inches in length, and at the bottom a flat iron stud (a), having, a small pin in the centre, which would appear to have been driven into the bottom of the spear-handle ; an iron knife lay by the right side, with remains of the original handle of wood. Adhering to its under side were very discernible impressions of coarse linen cloth, showing that the warrior was buried in full costume. An iron sword is on the left side, thirty-five and a quarter inches in its entire length, from the point to the bottom of the handle, which is all in one piece, the wood-work which covered the handle having perished ; the blade thirty inches in length and two in breadth, flat, double - edged, and sharp-pointed, a great por- tion of wood covering the blade, which indicates that it was buried with a scab- bard, the external covering being of leather, the inter- nal of wood. A leathern strap passed round the waist, from which hung the knife and sword, and which was secured by the brass buckle (6) , which was found near the last bone of the vertebra?, or close to the os sacrum. Between the thigh-bones lay the iron umbo of a shield, which had been fastened by studs of iron, four of which were found near it, the face and reverse o'f one being represented at (c.) A thin plate of iron (d), four and a half inches in length, lay exactly under the centre of the umbo, having two rivets at the and, between which end the umbo were the remnants of the original wooden (and perhaps hide-bound) shield ; the rivets of the umbo having apparently passed through the wood to this plate as its bracer or stay. In a recess at the feet was placed a vase of red earth, slightly ornamented round the neck with concentric circles and zigzag lines. AN OLD GANDER. Willoughby states in his work on Ornithology, that a Mend of his possessed a gander eighty years of age; which in the end became so ferocious that they were forced to kill it, in consequence of the havock it committed in the barn-yard. He also talks of a swan three centuries old ; and several celebrated parrots are said to have attained from one hundred to one hundred and iiftjjr years. 23 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL TILINGS , M. Brady, Physician to Prince Charles of Lorraine, gives the follow- ing particulars of an extraordinary sleeper : " A woman, named Elizabeth Alton, of a healthful strong constitution, who had been servant to the curate of St. Guilain, near the town of Mons, about the beginning of the year 1738, when she was about thirty- six years of age grew extremely restless and melancholy. In the month of August, in the same year, she fell into a sleep which held four days, notwithstanding all possible endeavours to awake her. At length she awoke naturally, but became more restless and uneasy than before ; for six or seven days, however, she resumed her usual employments, until she fell asleep again, which continued eighteen hours. From that time to the year 1 753, which is fifteen years, she fell asleep daily about three o'clock" in the morning, without waking until about eight or nine at night. In 1754 indeed her sleep returned to the natural periods for four months, and, in 1748, a tertian ague prevented her sleeping for three weeks. On February 20, 1 755, M. Brady, with a surgeon, went to see her. About live o'clock in the evening, they found her pulse extremely regular ; on taking hold of her arm it was so rigid, that it was not bent without much trouble. They then attempted to lift up her head, but her neck and back were as stm as her arms. He hallooed in her ear as loud as his voice could reach ; he thrust a needle into her flesh up to the bone ; he put a piece of rag to her nose flaming with spirits of wine, and let it burn some time, yet all without being able to disturb her in the least. At length, in about six hours and a half, her limbs began to relax ; in eight hours she turned herself in the bed, and then suddenly raised herself up, sat down by the fire, eat heartily, and began to spin. At other times, they whipped her till the blood came ; they rubbed her back with honey, and then exposed it to the stings of bees ; they thrust nails under her finger-nails ; and it seems these triers of experiments consulted more the gratifying their own curiosity than the recovery of the unhappy object of the malady. A FAT ENGLISHMAN. Keysler, in his travels, speaks of a corpulent Englishman, who in pass- ing through Savoy, was obliged to make use of twelve chairmen. He ia said to have weighed five hundred and fifty pounds, or thirty-nine stone four pounds. A HAPPT FAMILY. A gentleman travelling through Mecklenburgh, some years since, witnessed a singular association of incongruous animals. After dinner, the landlord of the inn placed on the floor a large dish of soup, and gave a loud whistle. Immediately there came into the room a mastiff, an Angora cat, an old raven, and a remarkably large rat, with a bell about its neck. They all four went to the dish, and, without disturb- ing each other, fed together ; after which the dog, cat, and rat, lav before the fire, while the raven hopped about the room. The landlord, after accounting for the familiarity of these animals, informed his guest MARVELLOUS, RARE, CtlRlOUS, AITD QUAINT. 29 that the rat was the most useful of the four ; for the noise he made had completely freed his house from the rats and mice with which it was before infested. ANCIENT FTRE-AHMS IX THE TOWEE OF 10JTDON ABMORY. We have just now hefore iis a drawing of an old piece of ordnance, formed of bars of iron, strongly hooped with the same material, which forms a striking contrast with the finely- wrought cannons which may be seen in store at "Woolwich Arsenal, and elsewhere, at the present day. The exact date and manner of the' introduction of cannon is a matter which has caused much dispute. The earliest mention of the use of can- non on shipboard is in Rymer's " Fcedera." It is an order to Henry Somer, Keeper of the Private "Wardrobe in the Tower, to deliver to Mr. Goveney, Treasurer to Queen Philippa, Queen of Sweeden, Denmark, and Norway, (who was then sent by her uncle, Henry the FourtK, to her husband, in the ship called the Queen's Hall,) the following military stores : 1 1 guns, 40 petras pro gunnes, 40 tumpers, 4 torches, 1 mallet, '2 fire-pans, 40 pavys, 24 bows, 40 sheaves of arrows. After the old cannon composed of bars of iron, hooped together, had been some time in use, hand-cannon, a simple tube fixed on a straight stake, was used in warfare, charged with gunpowder and an iron bullet. This was made with trunnions and casabel precisely like the large cannon. In course of time, the touch-hole was improved, and the barrel cast in brass. This, fixed to a rod, had much the appearance of a large sky- rocket. "What is now called the stock was originally called the frame of the gun. Various improvements were from time to time made in the hand-gun, amongst which was a pan fixed for containing the touch-powder. In rainy weather, this became a receptacle for water ; to obviate which, a small piece of brass made to turn on a pin was placed as a cover. This done, there was a difficulty in preserving the aim in consequence of the liability of the eye to be diverted from the sight by the motion of the right hand when conveying the lighted match to the priming. This was, to a certain extent, prevented by a piece of brass being fixed to the breech and perforated. The improved plan for holding the lighted match for firing the hand^-guns is shown in the engraving of the Buckler and Pistol ; it consists of a thin piece of metal something in, shape of an S reversed, the upper part slit to hold the match, the lower pushed up by the hand when entended to ignite the powder. After the invention of the hand-cannon, its use became general in a very short space of time in most parts of the civilized world. Philip de Comines, in his account of the battle of Morat, in 1476, says he encountered in the conferate army 10,000 arquebusiers. The arquebusiers in Hans Burgmain s plates of the " Triumph of Maximilian the First," have suspended from their necks large powder flasks or horns, a bullet bag on the right hip, and a sword on the left; while they carry the match-lock in their hands. Henry the Eighth's Walking-stick, as the Yeomen of Guard at the Tower call it, is a short -spiked mace, in the head of which are thre 30 fEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; short guns or pistols, which, may be fired at very primitive touch -Loles by a match. " The llevolver has four barrels, and although clumsy in construction, ia not very different in principles from those recently introduced. t. Kenry the Eighth's "\Vaiking-stick. 2. A Revolver of the Fifteenth century. 3. Buckler, with Pistol inserted. The use of the pistol inserted inside the buckler is O^T-.C.ZS as '.he lattei ffords protection to the person while using tte former MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 31 WIGS. In 1772 the Maccaronies, as the exquisites of that time were called, wore wigs similar to 1, 2, 3, with a large toupee, noticed as early as 1751, in the play of the Modern Husband : " I meet with nothing but a parcel of toupet coxcombs, who plaster up their brains upon their peri- wigs, ' alluding to the pomatum with which they were covered. Thoae worn by the ladies in 1.7V2 are given as 4, showing the rows of curls at the sides. The pig-tails were worn hanging down the back, or tied up in a knot behind, as in i>. About 1780 the hair which formed it was allowed to stream in a long lock down the back, as in 6, and soon afterwards was turned up in a knot behind. Towards the end of the century, the wig, as a general and indispensable article of attire to young and old, went out of fashion. A FA1SE FIND. At Falmouth, some years ago, the sexton found coal in digging a grave ; he concluded it must be a mine, and ran with the news and the specimen to the clergyman. The surgeon explained that they had stolen a French prisoner who died, and filled his coffin with coal that the bearers might not discover its emptiness. TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; BELLS. As far back as the Anglo-Saxon times, before the conclusion of the seventh century, bells had been in use in the churches of this country, particularly in the monastic societies of Northumbria ; and were, there- fore, in use from the tirst erection of parish churches among us. Those of France and England appear to have been furnished with several bells. Jn the time of Clothaire II., King of France, and in the year 610, the were frequently made of bass. And as early as the ninth century many were cast of a large size and deep note. Weever, in his work on funeral monuments, says " In the little sanc- tuary at Westminster, King Edward III., erected a clochier, and placed therein three bells, for the use of St. Stephen's Chapel. About the biggest of them were cast in the metal these words : "King Edward made mee thirty thousand weight and three ; Take me down and wey mee, and more you shall tind mee." " But these bells being taken down in the reign of Henry Till., one """^ underneath with a coal : "But Henry the Eight, V/ill bait me of my weight." This last distich alludes to a fact mentioned by Stow, in his survey of London ward of Farringdon Within to wit that near to St. Paul's School stood a clochier, in which were four bells, called Jesus' bells, the greatest in all England, against which Sir Miles Partridge staked an hundred pounds, and won them of Henry VIII., at a cast of dice. Matthew Paris observes, that anciently the use of bells was prohibited in time of mourning. Mabillon adds, that it was an old practice to ring the bells for persons about to expire, to advertise the people to pray for them whence our passing-bell. The passing-bell, indeed, was anciently for two purposes one to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soui just departing ; the other to drive away the evil spirits who were supposed to stand at the bed's foot. This dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend, by Wynkyn de Worde. " It is said, evill spirytes that ben in the regyon ot thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen ; and this is the :ause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete tem- peste and outrages of wether happen ; to the ende that the nends and wycked spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movvnge of '.empeste. Another author observes, that the custom of ringing bells a1 'Jie approach of thunder is of some antiquity ; but that the design was lot so much to shake the air, and so dissipate the thunder, as to call the people to church, to pray that the parish might be preserved from the terrible effect of lightning. Warner, in his history of Hampshire, enumerates the virtues of a bcU, by translating the tines from the " Helpe to Discourse : MARVELLOUS, KARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. &S " Men's death's I tell by doleful knell; Lightning and thunder I break asunder. On Sabbath all to church I call ; The sleepy head I raise from bed ; The winds so fierce I doe disperse ; Men's cruel rage I doe assuage." Four of the bells of the ancient Abbey of Hexliam were dedicated or baptised ; and although the old bells no longer exist, the legends ti[x/n TUB CUEFEW BELL. the whole six have been preserved, and a free translation given by Mi. Wright, is as follows : t. Even at our earliest sound, The light of God is spread around. 2. At the echo of my voice. Ocean, earth and air, rejoice. 3. Plend thy mellow tones with mine, Silver voice of Catherine ! 4. Till time on ruin's lap shall nod. John shall sound the praise of (MM!. 5. With John in heavenly harmony, Andrew, pour thy melody. G. Be mine to chant Jehovah's fame, While 31 aria is my name. These epigraphs or legends on bells, are not uncommon. Tlie l'uv. . C. Lukis, in his notices on church bells, read at the Wilts Archsecio- t-d Meeting, gave the following instances : ?* TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS At Aldbourne, on the first beU, we read, " The gift of Jos. Tizzir and Wm. Gwynn. " Music and ringing we like so well. And for that reason we gave this boll.*' On the fourth bell is, " Humphry Symsin gave xx pound to buy this bell, And the parish gave xx more to make this ring go oil." A not uncommon epigraph is,- - " Come when I call To serve God all." At Chilton Foliatt, on the tenor, is, " Into the church the living 1 call, And to the grave I summon all. Attend the instruction which I give, That so you may for ever live." At Devizes, St. Maiy, on the first bell, is, " I am the first, altho' but small. I will be heard above you all." And on the second bell is, " I am the second in this ring, Therefore next to thee I will sing." Which, at Broadchalk, is thus varied : " I in this place am second bell, I'll surely do my part as well." On the third beU at Coin is, " Robert Forman collected the money for casting this bel" Of well-disposed people, as I do you tell." At Bath Abbey, on the tenth bell, is, " All you of Bath that lisar me sound, Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound." On the fifth bell at Aiaesbiiry is, " Be strong in faith, praise God well, Frances Countess Hertford's bell." And, on the tenor, " Altho' it be unto my loss, I hope you will consider my cost." At Stcwe, Northamptonshire, and at St. Mary the Virgin. Oxfori. ^x find, " Ue it known to all that doth me see, That Newcombc, of Leicester, made me." At St. Michael's, Coventry, on the fourth bell, is, " 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 a lusty borne, That all may come and nouc can stay a*, hciun/'' MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 36 On the eighth bell is " I am and have been called the common bell To ring, when fire breaks out to tell." At St. Peter' s-le-Bailey, Oxford, four bells were sold towards finishing the tower, and in 1792 a large bell was put up, with this inscription : " "With seven more I hope soon to be For ages joined in harmony." But this very reasonable wish has not yet been realized ; whereas at St. Lawrence's, Reading, when two bells were added to form a peal of ten. >n the second we find " By adding two our notes we'll raise, And sound the good subscribers' praise." The occasion of the erection of the "Westminster Clock-tower, is said to have been as follows : A certain poor man, in an action for debt, being fined the sum of 13s. 4d., Radulphus Ingham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, commiserating his case, caused the court roll to be erased, and the fine reduced to 6s. 8d., which being soon after discovered, Ingham was amerced in a pecuniary mulct of eight hundred marks, which was employed in erecting the said bell-tower, in which was placed a bell and a clock, which, striking hourly, was to remind the regarded ; as other bells were frequently called Tom, as fancied to pro- nounce that name when stricken that at Lincoln, for instance, and that at Oxford this also followed the fashion, of which, to what I remember of it before it was hung up, I may add another proof from a catch made by the late Mr. Eccles, which begins " 'Hark, Harry, 'tis late 'tis time to be gone, For Westminster Tom, bj my faith, strikes one. " Hawkins, in his " History of Music," says, " The practice of ringing bells in change, or regular peals, is said to be peculiar to England : whence Britain has been ^termed the ringing island. The custom seems to have commenced in the time of the Saxons, and was common before the Conquest. The ringing of bells, although a recreation chiefly of the lower sort, is, in itself, not incurious. The tolling of a bell is nothing more than the producing of a sound by a stroke of the clapper against the side of the bell, the bell itself being in a pendant position, and at rest. In ringing, the bell, by means of a wheel and a rope, is elevated to a perpendicular ; in its motion, the clapper strikes forcibly on one side, and in its return downwards, on the other side of the bell, producing at each stroke a sound." There are still in London several societies of ringers. There was one called the College Youths (bell-ringers, like post- boys, never seem to acquire old age). Of this it is said Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was, in his youthful days, a member ; and in the life of that upright judge, by Burnet, some farj " 4. If any one shall wear his hat When he is ringing here ? lie straightway then shall sixpence pay In cyder or in oeer " 5. If any one these articles Ilefuseth to obey, Let him have nine strokes of the rope, And so depart away." Sti TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS: nre mentioned which favour this relation. In England the practice of ringing has been reduced to a science, and peals have been composed which bear the names of their inventors ; some of the most celebrated of these were composed about fifty years ago by one Patrick. This man was a maker of barometers. In the year 1684, one Abraham lludhall, of the citv of Gloucester, brought the art of bell-founding to great perfection. His descendants in succession have continued the business of casting bells; and by a list published by them at Lady Day, 1774, the family, in peals and od'd bells, had cast to" the amount o"f 3,594. The peals of St. Ihmstan's in the East, St. Bride's, London, and St. Martin' s-in-the- Fields, are among the number. The following " Articles of Panging" are upon the walls of the belfry in the pleasant village of Dunster, in Somersetshire. They are dated 1787 : " ). 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 forteit for that fault As mentioned before. HILL OF SALE FOR A XEGEO IN 1770. " Know all Men by these Presents, That I, Elizabeth Treat, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, widow, in consideration of the sum of 25 13s. 4d. to me in hand, paid before the ensealing hereof bv Samuel Breck, of Boston aforesaid, merchant, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknoAvledge, have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents do fully and absolutely grant, bargain, and sell urlo the said Samuel Breck, my Negro man named Harry, aged about forty years, with his apparel, to have and to hold the said Negro man Harry, with his apparel, uuto the said Samuel Breck, his executors, administrators, and assigns, to his and their only proper use, benefit, and behoof for ever ; And I, the said Elizabeth Treat, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, do covenant, that at the time of ensealing, and until the delivery hereof, I am the true and lawful owner of the said Negro man, and th'at he is free from all former sales, charge?, and incumbrances whatsoever, and that I will warrant and defend the said Negro man unto the said Samuel Mreck, his heirs, and assigns for ever, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever. " Witness my hand and seal, this tenth day of October, Anno Domini, one thousand seven hundred and seventy, in the tenth year of His Majesty's reign " Signed, sealed, and delivered in preserve of us. "T 110 MAS MELVILLE. "ELIZABETH TKEAT." " MAUT "WHITE. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 37 THE AZTEC CHILDIIEN. Among the animated curiosities wliich are occasionally exposed to th pize of the wonder-loving public, we may prominently notice the AZTRC CHILDREN two singular Lilliputians who were recently exhibiu-d throughout the kingdom. Maximo and Bartolo (for by these names the two Aztec children have been baptized) are by some medical men supposed to be of the respective ages of twenty-two and sixteen. Professor Owen, stated them to be ten or twelve, and seven or nine in 185:3. The height of the boy (the elder is about three feet, and the girl dues not reach quite two feet six inches. Their limbs, though slender, are proportionate ntnj well formed, and the general development of their figures is remarkably graceful. The cranium is peculiar, being narrower thnn that of any other races of beings known to the world; and though the face is somewhat prominent, the features are regular and the countenances agreeable, and, after a short acquaintance, highly interesting. Each has a beautiful head if jet black hair, which flows gracefully in curls. They are lively and intelligent, showing considerable aptitude for mental training, and have already learned to give utterance to several expressions which can ba readily understood by visitors. Since the arrival of these prodigies from the United States, they have been the objects of curious ethnological speculations. Dr. Latham does not consider them as a new species of the yenus homo. Professor Owen regards them as instances of impeded development, and Dr. CouoUy wa Biruck with their resemblance to idiots. 38 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , NOTICES TO TAR AND FEATHER. The original handbills of the committee for Tarring and Feathering subjoined, are of singular interest, as they were the earliest emanations of the spirit that led to England's losing her American colonies, and the consequent rise of the United States : To the Delaware Pilots. fPHE Regard we have for your Characters, and our Desire to promote your future Peace and Safety, are the Occasion of this Third Address to you. In our second Letter we acquainted you, that the Tea Ship was a Three Decker ; "VVe are now informed by good Authority, she is not a Three Decker, but an old black Ship, without a Head, or any Ornaments. The Captain is a short fat Fellow, and a little obstinate withal. So much the worse for him. For, so sure as he rides rusty, "VVe shall heave him Keel out, and see that his Bottom be well fired, scrubb'd and paid. His Upper- Works too, will have an Overhawling and as it is said, he has a good deal of Quick Work about him, We will take particular Care that such Part of him undergoes a thorough Rummaging. We have a still worse Account of his Owner ; for it is said, the Ship POLLY was bought by him on Purpose, to make a Penny of us : and that he and Captain Ayres were well advised, of the Risque they would run, in thus daring to insult and abuse us. Captain Ayres was here in the Time of the Stamp- Act, and ought to have known our People better, than to have expected we would be so mean as to suffer his rotten TEA to be funnel' d down our Throats, with the Parliament's Duty mixed with it. We know him well, and have calculated to a Gill and a Feather, how much it will require to fit him for an American Exhibition. And we hope, not one of your Body will behave so ill, as to oblige us to clap him in the Cart along Side of the Captain. We must repeat, that the SHIP POLLY is an old black Ship, of about Two Hundred and Fifty Tons burthen, without a Head, and without Ornaments, and, that CAPTAIN AYRES is a thick chunky Fellow. As such, TAKE CARE TO AVOID THEM. Your Old Friends, THE COMMITTEE FOR TARRING AND FEATHERING . Philadelphia, December 7, 1773. To Capt. Ayres, of the Ship Polly, on a Voyage from London to Philadelphia. SIR, \fyTe are informed that you have, imprudently, taken Charge of a Quantity of Tea ; which has been sent out by the India Company, under tilt Auspices of the Ministry, as a Trial of American Virtue and Resolution. Now, as your Cargo, on your Arrival here, will most assuredly bring you into hot water ; and as you are perhaps a Stranger to these Partt, we have concluded to advise you of the present Situation of Affairs in Philadelphia that, taking Time by the Forelock, you may stop short MAllVKLLOUS, P.A11E, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 39 in your dangerous Errand secure your Ship against the Hafts of com- bustible Matter which may be set on Fire, and turned loose against her r and more than all this, that you may preserve your own Person, from the Pitch and Feathers that are prepared for you. In the first Place, we must tell you, that the Pennsylcanians are, to a Man, passionately fond of Freedom ; the Birthright of Americans , and at all Events are "determined to enjoy it. That they sincerely believe, no Power on the Face of the Earth has a Right to tax them without their Consent. That in their Opinion, the Tea in your Custody is designed by the Ministry to enforce such a Tax, which they will undoubtedly oppose ; and in so doing, give you every possible Obstruction. We are nominated to a very disagreeable, hut necessary Service. To oui' Care are committed all Offenders against the Rights of America ; and hapless is he, whose evil Destiny has doomed him to suffer at our Hands. You are sent out on a diabolical Service ; and if you are so foolish and obstinate as to compleat your Voyage ; by bringing your Ship to Anchor in this Port ; you may run such a Gauntlet, as will induce you, in your last Moments, most heartily to curse those who have made you the Dupe of their Avarice and Ambition. What think you Captain, of a Halter around your Neck ten Gallons of liquid Tar decanted on your Pate with the Feathers of a dozen wild Geese laid over that to enliven your Appearance ? Only think seriously of this and fly to the Place from whence you came fly without Hesitation without the Formality of a Protest and above all, Captain Ayres let us advise you to fly without the wild Geese Feathers. Your Friends to serve THE COMMITTEE as before subscribed. Philadelphia, Nov. 27, 1773. B. FRANKLIN'S CELEBRATED LETTER TO STRAHAN. As a sequel to the foregoing notices, we give Dr. Franklin's celebrated letter, written in the actual heat of the first outbreak. Philadelphia, July 5, 1775. Mr. STRAHAN, You are a member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns, and murder* our people. Look upon your hands They are stained with the blood of your relations ! You and I were long friends; you are now my enemy, and I am, yours, B. FRANKLIN. HENRY II. STRIPT WHEN DEAD. 1189. Immediately upon his death, those that were about him applied their market so busilie in catching and niching awaie things that laie readie for them, that the king's corps laie naked a long time, till a child covered the nether parts of his body with a short cloke, and then it seemed that his surname was fulfilled that he had from his childhood, which was Shortmantell, being so called, because he was the first who brought short plokes out of Anjou into England. 40 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS: Tn.VNSl'LANTATIOlf OF HAIR. 1'he Signer Dottore Domenico Nardo addressed a letter to the Academy ef Padua, in 1826, on the subject of the growth of hair after death, and even after its separation from the body. The latter property had been previously observed by Krafft. The Signor Nardo recounts the results >f experiments made on his own person in the transplantation of hair, and relates, that by transplanting quickly a hair, with its root, from a pore of his head, into a pore of his chest, easily to be accomplished bv widening the pore somewhat with the point of a needle, introducing the root with nicety, and exciting within the pore itself, by friction, a slight degree of inflammation, the hair takes root, continues to vegetate, and grows ; in due season changes colour, becomes white, and falls. ANCIENT CANNON KAISED FROM THE SEA, A fisherman of Calais some time since, drew up a cannon, of very ancient form, from the bottom of the sea, by means of his nets. M. de Jlheims has since removed the rust from it. and on taking off the breech was much surprised to iind the piece still charged. Specimens of the powder have been taken, from which, of course, all the saltpetre has dis- appeared after a submersion of three centuries. The ball was of lead, and was not oxidized to a depth greater than that of a line. COFFEE-HOUSE ATTRACTIONS IX 1760. The great attraction of Don Saltero's Coffeehouse was its collection of rarities, a catalogue of which was published as a guide to the visitors. It comprehends almost every description of curiosity, natural and arti- ficial. " Tigers' tusks ; the Pope's candle ; the skeleton of a Guinea- pig ; a fly-cap monkey ; a piece of the true Cross ; the Four Evangelists' heads cut on a cherry-stone ; the King of Morocco's tobacco-pipe ; Mary Queen of Scot's pincushion ; Queen Elizabeth's prayer-book ; a pair o'f Nun's stockings ; Job's ears, which grew on a tree ; a frog in a tobacco- stopper ;" and five hundred more odd relics ! The Don had a rival, as appears by "A Catalogue of the Rarities to be seen at Adams's, at the Koyal Swan, in Kingsland Road, leading from Shoreditch Church, 1756." Mr. Adams exhibited, for the entertainment of the curious, " Miss Jenny Cameron's shoes ; Adam's eldest daughter's hat ; the heart of the famous Hess Adams, that was hanged at Tyburn with Lawyer Carr, January IS, 1736-7; Sir Walter Raleigh's tobacco-pipe; Vicar of Bray's clogs; engine to shell green pease with ; teeth that grew in a fish's belly ; Black Jack's ribs; the very comb that Abraham combed his son Isaac and Jacob's head with; Wat Tyler's spurs; rope that cured Captain l.owry of the head-ach, ear-ach, tooth-ach and belly-ach ; Adam's key of the fore and back door of the Garden of Eden, &c., &c." These are only a few out of five hundred others equally marvellous. A. WOMAN TAKES THE LIGHTED MATCH FROM A BOMB. During the siege of Gibraltar, in 1782. the Count d'Artois came to St. llocli, to visit the place and works. While his highness was inspect- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 41 ing the lines, in company with the Duke de Crillon, they both alighted with their suite, and all lay flat upon the ground, to avofd the effects of a bomb that fell near a part of the barracks where a Frenchwoman had a canteen. This woman, who had two children in her arms at the time, rushed forth with them, and having seated herself, with the utmost sang-froid, on the bomb-shell, she put out the match, thus extricating from danger all that were around her, many of whom witnessed this courageous and devoted act. His highness rewarded this intrepid female by bestowing on her a pension of three francs a day, and engaged to pro- mote her husband after the siege ; while the Duke de Crillon, imitating the generous example of the prince, ensured to her likewise a daily pay- ment of live francs. THE STJMMEHS MAGNET, OR LOADSTONE. Among the great naval officers of Elizabeth's reign must be ranked Sir George Summers, the discoverer of the Bermudas, often called the Summers Islands from that circumstance. Here is a representation given of what the descendants of Sir George Summers call the " Summers magnet, or loadstone." It is in the possession of Peter Franklin Bellamy, Esq., surgeon, second son of Dr. Bellamy, of Ply- mouth. The tradition in the family is that the admiral before going to sea used to touch his needle with it. The stone is dark-coloured, the pre- cise geological formation doubtful. This curious stone, with armature of iron, was probably an ancient talisman. SWALLOWING LIZAEDS. Bertholin, the learned Swedish doctor, relates strange anecdotes of lizards, toads, and frogs ; stating that a woman, thirty years of age, being thirsty, drank plentifully of water at^a pond. At the end of a few months, she experienced singular movements in her stomach, as if some- thing were crawling up and down ; and alarmed by the sensation, con- sulted a medical man, who prescribed a dose of orvietan in a decoction of fumitory. Shortly afterwards, the irritation of the stomach increasing, she vomited three toads and two young lizards, after which, she became more at ease. In the spring following, however, her irritation of the stomach was renewed ; and aloes and bezoar being administered, she vomited three female frogs, followed the next day by their numerous progeny. In the month of January following, she vomited five more living frogs, and in the coxirse of seven years ejected as many as eighty. r. Bortholin protests that he heard them croak in her stomach ! 42 TEN 1HOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; IMMENSE SEA SERPENT. A species of sea-serpent was thrown, on shore near Bombay in 1819. It was about forty feet long, and must have weighed many tons. A violent gale of wind threw it high above the reach of ordinary tides, in which situation it took nine months to rot; during which process travellers were obliged to change the direction of the road for nearly a quarter of a mile, to avoid the offensive effluvia. It rotted so completely that not a vestige of bone remained. THE EOYAL TOUCH. For many ages one of the regal prerogatives in this country was to touch for the cure of regius morbus, or scrofula ; a disease too well known to need any description. At different periods hundreds of persons as- sembled from all parts of the country annually to receive the royal interposition. Lists of the afflicted were published, to afford a criterion for determining as to its success ; and from Edward the Confessor to the reign of Queen Anne, its efficacy appears to have obtained a ready and general belief. The ceremony was announced by public proclamations ; one of which we copy from " The Newes," of the 18th of May, 1664. " His Sacred Majesty" (Charles II.) "haying declared it to be his royal will and purpose to continue the healing of his people for the Evil during the month of May, and then to give over until Michaelmas next, I am com- manded to give notice thereof, that the people may not come up to town in the interim, and lose their labour." An extract from the " Mercurius Politicus" affords additional informa- tion. " Saturday," says that paper, " being appointed by His Majesty to touch such as were troubled with the Evil, a great company of poor afflicted creatures were met together, many brought in chairs and flaskets, and being appointed by His Majesty to repair to the banqueting-house, His Majesty sat in a chair of state, where he stroked all that were brought unto him, and then put about each of their necks a white ribbon, with an angel of gold on it. In this manner His Majesty stroked above six hundred ; and such was his princely patience and tenderness to the poor afflicted creatures, that, though it took up a very long time, His Majesty, who is never weary of well-doing, was pleased to make inquiry whether there were any more who had not yet been touched. After prayers were ended, the Duke of Buckingham brought a towel, and the Earl of Pembroke a basin and ewer, who, after they had made obeisance to His Majesty, kneeled down, till His Majesty had washed." This sovereign is said to have touched nearly one hundred thousand patients. With Queen Anne the practice was discontinued. But so late as the 2Sth of February, 1712, little more than two years before her death, the following proclamation appeared in the " Gazette" : " It being Her- Ma- jesty's royal intention to touch for the Evil en "Wednesday, the 19th of March next, and so to continue weekly during Lent, it is Her Majestv's MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 43 ommand that tickets be delivered the day before at tie office in White- hall ; and that all persons shall bring a certificate signed by the Minister and Churchwardens of their respective parishes, that they have never received the royal touch." Dr. Johnson, when an infant, was brought, with others, for this purpose ; " and when questioned upon the subject, confessed he had a faint recollection of an old lady with something black about her head." A religious service, of which Dr. Heylin, Prebendary of "Westminster, in his "Examen Historicum," has given us the particulars, accompanied the ceremony ; which, as a document of pious interest, we transcribe : " The first Gospel is the same as that on the Ascension-day, Mark xvi. 14, to the end. At the touching of every infirm person these words are repeated : ' They shall lay their hands on the side, and they shall recover.' The second Gospel begins with the first of St. John, and ends a Ithese words : (John i. 14 :) ' Full of grace and truth.' At the putting the angel about their necks were repeated, ' That light was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' ' Lord, have mercy upon us.' ' Christ have mercy upon us.' ' Lord have mercy upon us. Our Father, &c.' ' Minister. Lord, save thy servants :' ' Response. Which put their trust in thce.' ' M. Send unto them help from above :' ' 11. And ever more defend them.' ' M. Help us, God, our Saviour!' ' R. And for the glory of thy name sake deliver us : be merciful unto us, sinners, for thy name sake !' M. Lord, hear our prayer :' R. And let our cry come unto thee.' The Collect. Almighty God, the eternal health of all such as put their trust in thee, hear us, we beseech thee, on the behalf of these thy servants, for whom we call for thy merciful help ; that they receiving health, may give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen.' " ' The peace of God,' &c." PEG TAXKAEDS. The pegging, or marking the drinking cups, was introduced by St. Dunstan, to check the intemperate habits of the times, by preventing one man from taking a larger draught than his companions. But the device proved the means of increasing the evil it was intended to remedy; for, refining upon Dunstan's plan, the most abstemious were required to drink precisely to a peg or pin, whether they could soberlv take sucn a quantity of liquor or not. To the use of such cups may be traced the origin of many of our popular phrases. When a person is much elated, we still say, "He is in a merry pin;" ana, "He is a peg too low," when he is not in good spirits. On the same principle we talk of " taking a man down a peg," when we would check forwardness. 44 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, XORMA.X CAPS. Tliere is nothing more amusing to the traveller on the continent, thaR to observe the extraordinary variety of those head-appendages, many of them heir-looms for generations in some families, all more or less prized according to the richness of materials employed upon them, and the peculiarity of shape. There is no article of dress more important to the Jformande, whatever may be her means, than the cap which so jauntily and triumphantly asserts the dignity of the wearer. The wives <>f termieres who ca'n afford such luxuries as expensive lace and trimmings, spend a little income in the decoration of their caps. Many cost upwards of three thousand francs for the materials and manufacture ; and these, as we have before observed, are handed from mother to daughter through successive years, and are highly prized. In the primitive villages of Normandy, on some holidays, it is a pleasing sight to see the dense army of caps, with flaps fanning the air, and fol- lowing the gesticulatory movements of their talkative and volatile owners. When the weather is doubtful, the cap-wearers take care to be provided with a red umbrella of a clumsy construction, remarkably heavy, and some- what similar, perhaps, to the original with which Jonas Hanway braved the jeers of a London populace in first introducing it. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "WAR DESPATCH. 45 The following is a facsimile of a gazette of a tribe of North American ludians, who assisted the French forces in Canada, during the war between France and England : Explanation of the Gazette, giving an account of one of their expedi- tions. The following divisions explain those on the plate, as referred (o by the numbers : 1. Each of these figures represents the number ten. They all signify, that 18 times 10, or 180 American Indians, took up the hatchet, or declared war, in favour of the French, which is represented by, the hatchet placed over the arms of France. 2. They departed from Montreal represented by the bird just taking wing from the top of a mountain. The moon and the buck show the time to have been in the tirst quarter of the buck-moon, answering to July. 3. They went by water signified by the canoe. The number of huts, such as they raise to pass the night in, shows they were 21 days on tlieii passage. 46 TKN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; 4. Then they came on snore, and travelled seven days by land represented by the foot and the seven huts. 5. When they arrived near the habitations of their enemies, at sun- rise shown by the sun being to the eastward of them, beginning, at they think, its daily course, there they lay in wait three days repre- sented by the hand pointing, and the three huti 6. After which, they surprised their enemies, in number 12 times 10, or 120. The man asleep shows how they surprised them, and the hole in the top of the building is supposed to signify that they broke into gome of their habitations in that manner. 7. They killed with the club eleven of their enemies, and took five prisoners. The former represented by the club and the eleven heads, the latter by the figures on the little pedestals. 8. They lost nine of their own men in the action represented by the nine heads within the bow, which is the emblem of honour among the Americans, but had none taken prisoners a circumstance they lay great weight on, shown by all the pedestals being empty. 9. The heads of the arrows, pointing opposite ways, represent the buttle. 10. The heads of the arrows all pointing the same way, signify the flight of the enemy. BECEiriS FROM ALBEETUS 1TAGMJS. If thon tcylt make a Carbuckle stone, or a thyng shynimj in the nyyht. Take verye many of the lyttle beastes shyninge by nyghte, and put them beaten smale in a bottel of glasse, and close it, and buryc it in hoate horses doting, and let it tarye xv dayes, afterwarde thou shalte destyll water of them Peralembicum, which thou shalt put in a vessel of Christal or glasse. It giueth so great clearnesse, that euery man may reade and write in a darke place where it is. Some men make this water of the gall of a snale, the gal of a wesel, the gall of a feret, and of a water dogge : they burie them in doung and destyll water out of them. If thou ivylt see that other men can not 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 shalt see it that others cannot sec. If the hart, eye, or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged vpon a mans necke it is profitable agaynste forgetfulnesse, and sharpetli mans vnderstanding. " Albertus Magnus." Black Letter : very old. ADVEETISEitEXT OF KOAST PIG IX 1726. " On Tuesday next, being Shrove Tuesday, there will be a fine Iwg barbyqu'd whole, at the house of Peter Brett, at the Rising Sun, in Islington Road, with other diversions. Note. It is the house where the ox was roasted whole at Christmas last." A hog barbecu'd is a West Indian term, and means a hog roasted whole, staffed with spice, and basted with Madeira wine. Oldfield, an eminent glutton of former days, gormandised away a fortune of fifteen hundred pounds a-year. Pope thus alludes to him, 41 Oldfield, with more than harpy throat er.du'd, Cries, ' Send me, 0, gods, a whole hog larbeatfd r " MARVELLOUS. RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 47 DYING OP OLD AGE AT SEVENTEEN TEAKS. March 19th, 1754, died, in Glamorganshire, of mere old age and a gradual decay of nature, at seventeen years and two months, Hopkins Hopkins, the little "Welchman lately shown in London. He never weighed more than seventeen pounds, but for three years past no more than twelve. The parents have still six children left, all of whom no way differ from other children, except one girl of twelve years of age, who weighs only eighteen pounds, and bears upon her most of the marks of old age, and in all respects resembles her brother when at that age. "WE DAE BEEN:" In Ayrshire there is a tradition, that the family motto of De Bruce " We have been," originated from a lady named Fullarton, married to a cadet of the family of Cassilis. They had been gained to favour England during the chivalrous achievements of Wallacp. d instructed them in the manner of using it. The next day it was tried on several patients, who were kept in sight, and were cured by it. The officers, or grandees who had been appointed to superintend the experi- ment, gave an account to the Emperor of the astonishing effect of the remedy, and the monarch decided instantly on trying it himself, provided the hereditary prince gave his consent. The prince, however, not only refused, but was angry with the grandees for having spoken so favour- ably of a remedy, of which only one successful trial had been made ; at hist, after much persuasion, the Prince reluctantly grants his consent, and the emperor takes the bark without hesitation, and permanently recovers. A house is given by the emperor to the Europeans, who had made known the remedy, and through the means of Pe-tsin (Father Bouret) presents were conveyed to the King of France, accompanied with the information, that the Europeans (that is, the French Jesuits) were in high favour. Histoire Generate de la Chine, $c. tome xi. p. 168, 4to. Paris, 1780. WHITE CATS. In a number of "Loudon Gardener's Magazine," it is stated that white cats with blue eyes are always deaf, of which extraordinary fact there is the following confirmation in the " Magazine of Natural History,'' No. 2, likewise conducted by Mr. Loudon : Some years ago, a white cat of the Persian kind (probably not a thorough-bred one), procured from Lord Dudley's at Hindley, was kept in a family as a favourite. The -ox^iftl was a female, quite white, and perfectly deaf. She produced, at *arious times, many litters of kittens, of which, generally, some were quite white, others more or less mottled, tabby, &c. But the extra- ordinary circumstance is, that of the offspring produced at one and tha same birth, such as, like the mother, were entirely white, were, like her, invariably deaf; while those that had the least speck of colour on their fur, as invariably possessed the usual faculty of hearing. 52 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; A WOMAN DEFENDS A FORT SINGLY. Lord Kames in his " Sketches of the History of Man," relates an ex- traordinary instance of presence of mind united with courage. Some Iroquois in the year 1690, attacked the fort de Vercheres, ia Canada, which belonged to the French, and had approached silently, hoping to scale the palisade, when some musket -shot forced them to re- tire : on their advancing a second time they were again repulsed, in wonder and amazement that they could perceive no person, excepting a woman who was seen everywhere. This was Madame de Vercheres, who conducted herself with as much resolution and courage as if supported by a numerous garrison. The idea of storming a place wholly unde- fended, except by women, occasioned the Iroquois to attack the fortress repeatedly, but, after two days' siege, they found it necessary to retire, lest they should be intercepted in their retreat. Two years afterwards, a party of the same nation so unexpectedly made their appearance before the same fort, that a girl of fourteen, the daughter of the proprietor, had but just time to shut the gate. \Vith this young woman there was no person whatever except one soldier, but not at all intimidated by her situation, she showed herself sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, frequently changing her dress, in order to give some appearance of a garrison, and always tired opportunely. In short, the faint-hearted Iroquois once more departed without success. Thus the presence of mind of this young girl was the means of saving the fort. INDENTURE OF A HORSE-HACK BETWIXT THE EARLS OF MORTON AND ABERCORN AND THE LORD BO I'D K. As indicating the state of the English language amongst the nobility of Scotland in 1621, the following is curious : "Ane Indentour of ane Horse-raise betuix my Lords Mnrtoun, Alter - come, and Boyde. The erle of Mortoun obleissis himselff to produce George Ruthert'uirdis Barb Naig : The erle of Abercorne obleissis him to produce his gray Naig : My lord Boyd obleissis him to produce his bay horse ; Upone the conditions following. Thay ar to run the first Thurs- day November nixtocum, thrie mett myleis of Cowper raise in Fyff. The waidger to be for euery horse ten dowbill Anegellis. The foirmest horse to win the hail thretty. Ilk rydare to be aucht scottis stanewecht. And the pairtie not comperaud, or refuisand to consigne the waidger, sail undergo the foirfaltour of this sowme, and that money foirfaltit salbe additt to the staik to be tane away be the wynner. Forder, we declair it to be lesum to ony gentilman to produce ans horse and the lyk waidger, and thay salbe welcum. Subscrybith with all our handis, at Hammiltoune the fyfteine day off August 1621. MORTON, ABEBCORNE, BOYDE. EAKLY USE OF CHOCOLATE. An advertisement in " The Public Adviser," from Tuesday, June 10th, to Tuesday, June 23d, 1657, informs us that " in Bishopsgute-strcet, in Queen's-head-alley, at a Frenchman's House, is an excellent West India drink, called Chocolate, to be sold, where you may have it ready at auj time, and also unmade, at reasonable rates." MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 53 MATTHEW BUCKING EH. Of all the imperfect beings brought into the world, few can challenge, for mental and acquired endowments, any thing like a comparison to vie with this truly extraordinary little man. Matthew Euckinger was a native of Nuremberg, in Germany, where he was born, June 2, 1674, without hands, feet, legs, or thighs ; in short, he was little more than the trunk of a man, saving two excrescences growing from the shoulder- blades, more resembling fins of a fish than aims of a man. He was the last of nine children, by one father and mother, viz. eight sons and one daughter ; after arriving at the age of maturity, from the singularity of 54 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; his case, and the extraordinary abilities he possessed, he attracted the notice and attention of all persons, of whatever rank in life, to whom lie was occasionally introduced. It does not appear, by any account extant, that his parents exhibited him at any time for the purposes of emolument, but that the whole of his time must have been employed in study and practice, to attain the wonderful perfection he arrived at in drawing, and his performance on parlous musical instruments ; he played the flute, bagpipe, dulcimer, and trumpet, not in the manner of general amateurs, but in the style of a finished master. He likewise possessed great mechanical powers, and conceived the design of constructing machines to play on all sorts of musical instruments. If Nature played the niggard in one respect with him she amply repaid the deficiency by endowments that those blessed with perfect limbs could seldom achieve. He greatly distinguished himself by beautiful writing, drawing coats of arms, sketches of portraits, history, landscapes, &c., oost of which were executed in Indian ink, with a pen, emulating in perfection the finest and most finished engraving. He was well skilled in most games of chance, nor could the most experienced gamester or juggler obtain the least advantage at any tricks, or game, with cards or dice. He used to perform before company, to whom he was exhibited, various tricks with cups and balls, corn, and living birds ; and could play at skittles and ninepins with great dexterity ; shave himself with perfect ease, and do many other things equally surprising in a person so de- ficient, and mutilated by Nature. His writings and sketches of figures, landscapes, &c., were by no means uncommon, though curious ; it being customary, with most persons who went to see him, to purchase some- thing or other of his performance ; and as he was always employed in writing or drawing, he carried on a very successful trade, which, together with the money he obtained by exhibiting himself, enabled him to sup- port himself and family in a very genteel manner. The late Mr. Herbert, of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, editor of "Ames's History of Print- in$, M had many curious specimens of Buckinger's writing and drawing, the most extraordinary of which was his own portrait, exquisitely done on vellum, in which he most ingeniously contrived to insert, in the flow- ing curls of the wig, the 27th, 121st, 128th, 140th, 149th, and the 150th Psalms, together with the Lord's Prayer, most beautifully and fairly written. Mr. Isaac Herbert, son of the former, while carrying on the business of a bookseller in Pall-Mall, caused this portrait to be engraved, for which he paid Mr. Harding fifty guineas. Buckinger was married four times, and had eleven children, viz., one by his first wife, three by his second, six by his third, and one by his last. One of his wives was in the habit of treating him extremely ill, frequently beating and other ways insulting him, which, for a long time, he very patiently put up with ; but once his anger was so much aroused, that he sprung upon her like a fury, got her down, and buffeted her with his stumps within an inch of her life ; nor would he suffer her to arise tutil she promised amendment in future, which it seems she prudently MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 56 adopted, through, fear of another thrashing. Mr. Buckinger was but twenty-nine inches in height, and died in 1722. WOXDEEFTTL PROVISION OF NATTJRE The insects that frequent the waters, require preaaceous animals to keep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth ; and the water-spider (Argyroneta aquatica) is one of the most remark- able upon whom that- office is devolved. To this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still waters for this purpose. Her house- is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants. In this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It is most commonly, yet not always, under water ; but its inhabitant has filled it for her respiration, which enables her to live in it. She conveys the air to it in the following manner : she usually swims on her back, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of quicksilver. "With this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all water. How these little animals can envelope their abdomen with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one of Nature's mysteries that has not been explained. It is a wonderful provision, which enables an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill her house with it under water, and by some secret art to clothe her body with air, as with a garment, which she can put off when it answers her purpose. This is a kind of attraction and repulsion that mocks all inquiries. STOMACH BRUSH. One of the Court Physicians, in the reign of Charles II., invented an instrument to cleanse the stomach, and wrote a pamphlet on it ; and ridiculous as a chylopoietic-scrubbing-brush may appear, it afterwards g-ot a place among surgical instruments, and is described as the Excutor Ventriculi, or cleanser of the stomach; but the moderns not having stomach for it, have transferred it to the wine merchant, who more ap- propriately applies it to the scouring the interior of bottles. Heister gives a minute description of it, and very gravely enters on the mode and manner of using it : the patient is to drink a draught of warm water, or spirit of wine, that the mucus and foulness of the stomach may bo washed off thereby : then, the brush being moistened in some convenient liquor , is to be introduced into the oesophagus, and slowly protruded into tne stomach, by twisting round its wire handle. When arrived in the stomach, it is to be drawn up and down, and through the oesophagus, like the sucker in a syringe, till it be at last wholly extracted. Some recommend plentiful drinking in the operation, to be continued till no more foulness is discharged. But though this contrivance is greatly extolled, and said to prolong life to a great age, especially if practiced once a week, month, or fortnight ; yet, there are very few (probably, because tried by very few) instances of its happy effects. 56 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; POPTOAR AMUSEMENTS ET 1743. In Merrie England of the Olden Time, we find the following copy of a hand-bill announcing performances : By a company of English, French, and Germans, at Phillips's ^ew Wells, near the London Spa, Clerkenwell, 20th August, 1743. This evening, and during the Summer Season, will be perform! several new exercises of Rope-dancing, Tumbling, Vaulting, Equilibres, Ladder-dancing, and Balancing, by Madame Kerman, Sampson Kogetzi, Monsieur German, and Monsieur Dominique ; with a new Grand Dance, called Apollo and Daphne, by Mr. Phillips, Mrs. Lebrune, and others ; singing by Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Jackson ; likewise the extraordinary performance of Herr Von Eeckenberg, who imitates the lark, thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and German flute ; a Sailor's Dance by Mr. Phillips ; and Monsieur Dominique flies through a hogs- head, ana forces both heads out. To which will be added The Harlot's Progress. Harlequin by Mr. Phillips ; Miss Kitty by Mrs. Phillips. Also, an exact representation of the late glorious victory gained over the French by the English at the battle of Dettingen, with'the taking of the White Household Standard by the Scots Greys, and blowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most part of the French armv. To begin every evening at five o'clock. Every one will be admitted for a pint of wine, as usual. MARVELLOUS, RAKE, Cl RIOUS, AND QUAINT. 57 DANCING ROOMS. Dancing rooms were much frequented a century or so ago in London, which was then pretty well supplied with this means of recreation. We lind that there were rare dancing doings at the original dancing room at the^eW-end of King-Street, Bloomsbury, . in the year 1742 Hickford's great room, Pant on- Street, Haymarket, . 174o Mitre Tavern, Charing-Cross, , . . . Barber's Hall, . . . . . . . 1745 Richmond Assembly, . . . . . 1745 Lambeth Wells . . . . . , ; ' . 1747 Duke's long room, Paternoster Row . . . . 1748 Large Assembly Room at the Two Green Lamps, near Exeter Change, (at the particular desire of Jubilee Dickey !) . 1749 The large room next door to the Hand and Slippers, Long-lane, West Smithfield 1750 Lambeth Wells, where a Penny Wedding, in the Scotch manner, was celebrated for the benefit of a young couple, . . 1 752 Old Queen's Head, in Cock-lane, Lambeth, . . . 1755 and at Mr. Bell's, at the sign of the Ship, in the Strand, where, in 1755, a Scotch Wedding was kept. The bride "to be dressed without any linen ; all in ribbons, and green flowers, with Scotch masks. There will be three bag-pipes ; a band of Scotch music, &c. &e. To begin precisely at two o'clock. Admission, two shillings and sixpence." ORIGIN OF THE T7SE OF TOBACCO. ' Maister John Xicot, Counsellor to the Kyng, beeyng Embassadour for the Kyng in Portugall, in the yeres of our Lorde, 1559, 60, 61, wente one daye to see the Prysons of the Kyng of Portugall, and a gentleman beeyng the keeper of the saide Prisons presented hym this hearbe, as a strange Plant brought from Florida ; the same Maister Nicot, hauyng caused the saide hearbe to be set in his garden, where it grewe and mul- tiplied marveillously, was vpon a tyme aduertised, by one of his Pages, that a young man, a kinne to that Page, made a saye of that hearbe bruised, both the herbe and the joice together upon an ulcer whiche he had vpon his cheeke nere vnto his nose, coming of a Noli me tangere whiche bega to take roote already at the gristles of the Nose, wherewith lie founde hym self marveillously eased. Therefore the said Maister Xicot caused the sicke yong man to be brought before hym, causing the said herbe to be continued to the sore eight or tenne daies, this saide Noli me tangere, was vtterly extinguished and healed : and he had sent it, while this cure was a working to a certaine Physition of the Kyng of Portiigall of the moste fame, for to see the further workyng and effect of the said Nicotiane, and sending for the same yong man at the end of tenne daies, the said Phisition seeyng the uisage of the said sicke yong man certified, that the saide Noli me tangere was utterly extinguished, as in deede he never felt it since. Within a while after, one of the Cookes of the said Embassadour hauyng almost cut off his Thombe, with great choppyng knife, the steward of the house of the saide gentleman 3* 58 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ranne to the saide Nicotians, and dresssed him there with fyve or sLxe times, and so in the ende thereof he was healed : from that time forwarde this hearbe began to bee famous throughout all Lisbornc, where the court of the Kyng of Portugall was at that presente, and the vertue of this saide hearbe was preached, and the people beganne to name it the Ambsssadour's hearbe ! Wherefore there came certaine daies after, a gentleman of the country, Father to one of the Pages of the Ambassa- dour, who was troubled with an vlcer in his Legge, hauyng had the same two yeres, and demaunded of the saide Ambassadour for has hearbe, and vsing the same in suche order as is before written, at the ende of tenne or twelve daies he was healed. From that time fourth the fame of that hearbe encreased in such sorte, that manye came from all places to have that same herbe. Emong all others there was a woman that had her face covered with a Ringworme rooted, as though she had a Visour on her face, to whom the saide L : Ambassadour caused the herbe to be given her, and told how she should vse it, and at the ende of eight or tenne daies, this woman was thoroughleye healed, she came and shewed herself to the Ambassadour, shewing him of her healyng. After there came a captain to presente his sonne, sick of the Kinges euill to the saide L: Ambassadour, for to send him into France, vnto whom there was saye made of the saide hearbe, whiche in fewe daies did beginnc to shewe greate signes of healing, and finally was altogether healed of the kinges euill. The L: Ambassadour seeing so great effectes proceeding of this hearbe, and hauing heard say that the Lady Montigny that was, dyed at Saint Germans, of an vlcer bredde in her breast, that did turn to a Noli me tanyere, for which there could never be remedey bee founde, and likewise that the Countesse of Ruffe, had sought for all the famous Fhisitions of that Realme, for to heale her face, unto whom they could give no remedy, he thought it good to communicate the same into Fraunce, and did send it to Kyng Fraunces the seconde ; and to the Queen Mother, and to many other Lords of the Courte with the maner of governyng the same : and how to applie it vnto the said diseases, even as he had found it br experience ; and chiefly to the lorde of Jarnac governour of Rogell, with whom the saide Lorde Ambassadour had great amitie for the service of the Kyng. The whiche Lorde of Jarnac, told one dave at the Queenes Table, that he had caused the saide Nicotians to be distilled, and caused the water to be dronke, mingled with water Euphrasie, otherwise called eyebright, to one that was shorte breathed, and was therewith healed." J'oyfvll News ovt of the newe found worlde, 4-c., 1577. Slack Letter. ANCIENT INSTRUMENTS OF PUNISHMENT AND TOETtTRE IN THE TOWEE OF LONDON. There are few tilings among the valuable collection of antiquities pre- served in the Tower of London, which excite so much interest as the grim-looking objects forming the group figured in the accompanying engraving. With the executioner's axe, that long list of unfortunates who have met their fate within the walls of til* Tower, or on Tower Hill, since th MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 59 time of Henry VIII., have been beheaded. Among them 1 may be enu- merated Queen Anne Boleyn, whom Henry first presented to his people as their Queen while standing with her on the Tower Stairs, after she had been conveyed thither from Greenwich with every possible pomp. Crowds of gilded barges, with gay banners waving at their sterns, then lined the stream. The noblest of the land were in the young Queen's train or were waiting to receive her. Loud rounds of cannon, and soft, merry strains, announced her arrival ; and the burly King stepped for- ward" to kiss her in the sight of the assembled multitude. On the same day, three short years afterwards, she was led forth to execution within the Tower walls. The good Sir Thomas More and the chivalrous Earl of Surrey, Lady Jane <3rey and her young husband, the gallant Raleigh, and a host of others, also perished by that sad symbol of the executioner's office. The block is said to be of less ancient date, but is known to have been used at the execution of three Scotch lords the unfortunate adherents of the Pretender a little more than a century ago. On the top part of the block, there are three distinct cuts, two of them very deep and pa- rallel, and the other at an angle and less effective. The horrible instrtunentof torture called the " Scavenger's Daughter," was, in the " good old days," used as a means of extorting confession. The head of the culprit was passed through the circular hole at the top, and the arms through those below. The whole of this part of the machine opens in somewhat the same manner as a pair of tongs, the upper part \>eing fixed round the neck and arms, and the semi- circular irons placed on the legs. The body was then bent, and a strong iron bar was passed through the irons connected with the head and arms, and those in which vhe legs were placed. " The culprit would then," as one of the " Beef- eaters" who attends on visitors makes a point of observing, " be doubled up into very small compass, and made exceedingly uncomfortable." The Bilboes need little explanation, being only a strong rod of iron, with a nob at one end, on which are two moveable hoops, for the pur- pose of holding the legs ; these being fixed, and a heavy iron padlock put on the proper part the wearer was said to be in a Bilboe. Instru- ments of this description were much used on board of ship for the pur- pose of securing prisoners of war. The Iron Collar is a persuader of a formidable description, for it weighs upwards of 141bs.. and is so made that it can be fixed on the neck and then locked. Such a necklace would, we think, be sufficiently inconvenient; but it is rendered still more uncomfortable by sundry prickles of iron knowingly placed. The Thumb-screw, also preserved in the Tower, is a characteristic example of a species of torture at one time much resorted to. The engraved example has been constructed so as to press both thumbs; nevertheless, it is a convenient little instrument, which might be easily carried about in the pocket. We have met with varieties of the thumb- screw in several collections some for the accommodation of one thumb only. In the Museum of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Scotland there are some thumb-screws which are said to have been used ujcn the Covenanters. 60 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, Times have changed for the better since the " Scavenger's Daughter," and the other matters represented, were amongst the mildest of the methods used for the purposes of punishment and intimidation. The s, the public whipping-posts, boilings, and burnings in Smithiiald 1 . The Executioner's Axe. 2. The Block on which Lords Balmerino, Lovat, &c., ere beheaded. 3. The Scavenger's Daughter. 4. Spanish Bilboes. 5. Massive Iron Collar for the Neck. 6. Thumb-Screw. and elsewhere, the exhibition of dead men's heads over gateways, the boot, the rack, the pillory, the practice of making men eat their own books in Cheapside, drawing on hurdles to the place of execution, and then hanging, drawing, and quartering, chopping off hands and ears, and other revolting punishments, have gone out of use, and it is gratify- ing to know tKvt we are all the better for it. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 61 A BEAU BRUMMELL OF THE 1?TH CENTTTBT. This very curious representation of a first-rate exquisite is copied from a very rare broadside, printed in 1646, and styled The Picture of an English Anticke, with a List of his ridiculous Habits and apish Gestures The engraving is a well-executed copperplate, and the description beneath i-s a brief recapitulation of his costume : from which, we learn that he wears a tall hat, with a bunch of riband on one side, and a feather on the other ; his face spotted with patches; two love- locks, one on each side of his head, which hang upon his bosom, and are tied at the ends with silk rib- and in bows. His beard on the upper lip encompassing his mouth ; his band or collar edged with lace, and tied with band-strings, secured by a ring; a tight vest, partly open and short in the skirts, be- tween which and his breeches his shirt protruded. His cloak was carried over his arm. His breeches were ornamented by "many dozen of points at the knees, and above them, on either side, were two great bunches of riband of several colours." His legs were incased in " boot-hose tops, tied about the middle of the calf, as long as a pair of shirt-sleeves, double at the ends like a ruff-band ; the tops of his boots very large, fringed with lace, and turnod down as spurres, which gingled like the bells of a morrice-dancer as he the " feet of his boots were two inches too lon." In his r low as his a morrice-dancer as he walked ;" long." In his right hand he carried a stick, which he " played with" as he " straddled" along the streets " singing." FOE REVENGE. In North Wales, when a person supposes himself highly injured, it if 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 his enemy. He kneels down on his bare knees in the church, and offering a piece of money to the saint, calls down curses and rerisfortunes upon the offender and his family for generations to come ; in the most firm belief that the imprecations will be fulfilled. Sometime* they repair to a sacred well instead of a church. 62 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; A FE3IALE SA1IPSOX : FEOH A HANDBILL. September 4th, 1818, was shown at Bartholomew Fair, " The strongest woman in Europe, the celebrated French Female Hercules, Madame Gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet long and three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it ; also carry thirty- six weights, fifty-six pounds each, equal to 2,016 Ibs., and will disengage herself from them without any assistance ; will carry a barrel containing 340 bottles ; also an anvil 400 Ibs. weight, on which they will forge with four ham- mers at the time she supports it on her stomach ; she will also lift with her hair the same anvil, swing it from the ground, and suspend it in that position to the astonishment of every beholder ; will take up a chaii by the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body. Her travelling caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Harwich to Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the road, sunk in the mud, nearly up to the box of the wheels ; the two horses being unable to extricate it she descended, and, with apparent ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance whatever." TBEES THAT GEOW SHIE1S. "We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says M. Humboldt, ' ' shirt trees, fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark, without mailing any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of garment which resembles a sack of a very coarse texture, and without a seam. The upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina in the rainy season ; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cotton which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito, and in Peru. As in this climate the riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the primary causes of the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say in showing the shirts of Marina, ' in the forests of Oroonoko, garments are found ready made upon the trees.' " A FEMALE YENTBILOQTJIST. A female ventriloquist, named Barbara Jacobi, narrowly escaped being burnt at the^stake in 1685, at Haarlem, where she was an inmate of the public Hospital. The curious daily resorted thither to hear her hold s. dialogue with an imaginary persuTiage with whom she conversed as if concealed behind the curtains of her bed. This individual, whom she jailed Joachim, and to whom she sidressed a thousand ludicrous ques- tions, which he answered in the same familiar strain, was for some time supposed to be a confederate. But when the bystanders attempted to search for him behind the curtains, his voice instantly reproached them with their curiosity from the opposite corner of the room. As Barbara Jaccbi had contrived to make herself familiar with all the gossip of the city of Haarlem, the revelations of the pretended familiar were such as to cause considerable embarrassment to those who ber^t her with impertinent questions. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 63 CALMtrc OPINION OF LIGHTNING. The Calniucs liold the lightning to be the fire spit out of the mouth of a dragon, ridden and scourged by evil Dtemons, and the thunder they make to be his roarings. THE HEADING OF TTTE EXPIRING PENSYLVANIA JOtniNAl. Journalism has had its trials and difficulties in England as well as in America ; but we do not remember to have ever seen a more quaint last .Number, than the subjoined fac-simile exhibits : AND WEEKLY ADVERT I SER. EXPIRING .-In. Hopes of aResuraczronloI,IFE ag[f/j. AM sorry to be oblised to ac. quaint my Read- ers, that as The STAMP- ACT, is fear'd to be ob- ligatory upon us after the Krt of November ensuing, (the fatal To-morrow) the Publisher of this Paper un- able to bear the Burthen, has thought it expedient TO STOP awhile.in order to deliberate, whether any Methods can be found to elude the Chains forged for us, and escape the insupportableSlavery; which it is hoped, from the last Representations now made against the Act, may be ef- fected. Mean while, I must earnestly Request every In- dividual of my Subscribers, many of whom have been long behind Hand, that they wouJdimmediately Discharge their respective Arrers, that I may be able, not only to support myself during the Interval, but, be better pre- pared to proceed again with this Paper, whenever an opening for that Purpose ap- pears, which I hope will be soon. WILLIAM BRADFORD. NOSTKUJJS. Unsuccessful gamesters used formerly to make a knot in their linen ; of .ate years they have contented themselves with changing their chair as a remedy against ill-luck. As a security against cowardiceyit was once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from the winding sheet of a corpse. To .insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you had but to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times. To get rid of warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as you had warts, and throw them upon the high road ; when the unlucky person who picked them up became your substitute. In the present day, to cure a tooth-ache, you go to your dentist. In the olden time you would have solicited alms in honour of St. Lawrence, and been relieved without cost or pain. 64 TEX THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN. Baillet mentions one hundred and sixty-three children endowed with extraordinary talents, among whom few arrived at an advanced age. The two sons of Quintilian, so vaunted by their father, did not reach their tenth year. Hermogenes, who, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to Marcus Aurelius, who triumphed over the most celebrated rhetoricians of Greece, did not die, but at twenty-four, lost his faculties, and forgot all he had previously acquired. Pica di Mirandola died at thirty-two ; Johannes Secundus at twenty-five ; having at the age of fifteen composed admirable Greek and Latin verses, and become profoundly versed in jurisprudence and letters. Pascal, whose genius developed itself' at ten years old, did not attain the third of a century. In 1791, a child was born at Lubeck, named Henri Heinekem, whose precocity was miraculous. At ten months of age, he spoke distinctly ; at twelve, learnt the Pentateuch by rote, and at fourteen months, was perfectly acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. At two years of &ge, he was as familiar with Ancient History as the most erudite authors of antiquity. Sanson and Danville only could compete with him in geographical knowledge; Cicero would have thought him an "alter ego," on hearing him converse in Latin ; and in modern languages lie was equally proficient. This wonderful child was unfortunately carried off in his fourth year. According to a popular proverb "the sword wore out the sheath." EFFECT OF MUSIC ON A PIGEON. Bingley gives a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a pigeon, as relate'd by John Lockman, in some reflections concerning operas, prefixed to nis musical drama of Rosalinda. He was staying at a friend's house, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord, and observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song of " Speri-si," in Handel's opera of Admetus (and this only), would descend from an adjacent dove-house to the room-window where she sat, and listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions ; and when the song was finished it always returned immediately to the dove- house. POWER OF FASCINATION IN SNAKES. Some animals are held in universal dread by others, and not the least terrible is the effect produced by the rattle-snake. Mr. Pennant says, that this snake will frequently lie at the bottom of a tree, on which a squirrel is seated. He fixes his eyes on the animal, and from that moment it cannot escape : it begins a doleful outcry, which is so well known that a passer by, on hearing it, immediately knows that a snake is present. The squirrel runs up the tree a little way, comes down again, then goes up and afterwards comes still lower. The snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with his eyes fixed on the squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person acci- dentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so much a the snake's turning about. The squirrel comes lower, aad at last MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 66 leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is already distended for its recep- tion. Le Vaillant confirms this fascinating terror, by a scene he wit- nessed. He saw on the branch of a tree a species of shrike trembling as if in convulsions, and at the distance of nearly four feet, on another branch, a large species of snake, that was lying with outstretched neck and liery eyes, gazing steadily at the poor animal. The agony of the bird was so great that it was deprived of the power of moving away, and when one of the party killed the snake, it was found dead upon the gpot and that entirelv from fear for, on examination, it appeared not to have received the slightest wound. The same traveller adds, that a ehort time afterwards he observed a small mouse in similar agonizing convulsions, about two yards from a snake, whose eyes were intently iixed upon it ; and on frightening away the reptile, and taking up the mouse, it expired in his hand. SECOND SIGHT. About the year 1725, the marvellous history cf a Portuguese woman set the whole world of science into confusion, as will be found by refer- ring to the "Mercure deFrance." This female was said topossess the gift of discovering treasures. "Without any other aid than the keen penetra- tion of her eyes, she was able to distinguish the different strata of earth, and pronounce unerringly upon the utmost distances at a single glance. Her eye penetrated through every substance, even the human body ; and she could discern the mechanism, and circulation of all animal fluids, and detect latent diseases ; although less skilful than the animal inag- netisers, she did not affect to point out infallible remedies. Ladies could learn from her the sex of their forthcoming progeny. The King of Portugal, greatly at a loss for water in his newly built palace, consulted her ; and after a glance at the spot, she pointed out an abundant spring, upon which his Majesty rewarded her with a pension, the order of Christ, and a patent of nobility. In the exercise of her miraculous powers, certain preliminaries were indispensable. She was obliged to observe a rigid fast ; indigestion, or the most trifling derangement of the stomach, suspending the marvellous powers of her visual organs. The men of science of the day were of course confounded by such prodigies. But instead of questioning the woman, they consulted the works of their predecessors ; not forgetting the inevitable Aristotle. By dint of much research, they found a letter from Huygens asserting that there was a prisoner of war at Antwerp, who could see through stuffs of the thickest texture provided they were not red. The wonderful man was cited in confirmation of the wonderful woman, and vice versa. CHARACTER INDICATED BY THE EARS. According to Aristotle, large ears are indicative of imbecility ; while small ones announce madness. Ears which are flat, point out the rustic and brutal man. Those of the fairest promise, are firm and of middling size. Happy the man who boasts of square ears ; a sure indication of sublimity of soul and purity of life. Such, according to Suetonius, Mtit the ears of the Emperor Augustus. hb TEX rai.'SAXD WOXDERFDL THINGS; GROANING BOARDS Groaning boards were the wonder in London in 1GS2. An elm plank was exhibited to the king, which, being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound resembling deep groans. At the Bowman Tavern, in Drury Lane, the mantel-piece did the same so well that it was supposed to be part of the same elm-tree ; and the dresser at the Queen's Arm Tavern, St. Martin le Grand, was found to possess the same quality. Strange times when such things were deemed wonderful ; even to meriting exhibition before the monarch. ANCIENT PLOUGHING AND THRESHING. The ancient plough was light, the draught comparatively easy ; but then the very lightness required that the ploughman should lean upon it with N AJfCIBNT MODE O FLOCGHnfO. Ids whole weight, or else it would glide over the soil without making i angle furrow. " Unless," said Pliny, " the ploughman stoop forward, to press down the plough, as well as to conduct it, truly it will turn aside." Oxen were anciently employed in threshing corn, and the same custom is still retained in Egypt and the east. This operation is effected by trampling upon the sheaves, and by dragging a clumsy machine, furnished with three rollers that turn on their axles. A wooden chair is attached to the machine, and on this a driver seats himself, urging his oxen backwards and forwards among the sheaves, which have previously been thrown into a heap of about eight feet wide and two in height. The grain thus beaten out, is collected in an open place, and shaken against the wind by an attendant, with a small shovel, or, as it is termed, a winnowing fan, which disperses the chaff and leaves the grain uninjured : MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 67 ' Thus, with autumnal harvests cover'd o'er, And thick hestrewn, lies Ceres' sacred floor ; While round and round, with never-wearied pain, The trampling steers beat out th" unnumber'd grAi HOSIER. Horace further tells us, that the threshing floor was mostly a smooth space, surrounded with mud walls, having a barn or garner on one side ; occasionally an open field, outside the walls, was selected for this purpose, vet uniformly before the town or city gates. Such was the void place wherein the king of Israel, and Jehosnaphat, king of Judah, sat each of them on his throne, clothed in his robes, at the entering in of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. In the marginal reading we are informed, that this void space was no other than a thresh- ing floor ; and truly the area was well adapted for such an assemblage, OXEJf THBBSHING COEN. being equally suited to accommodate the two kings and their attendants; and to separate them from the populace. Eastern ploughshares were of a lighter make than ours, and those wno notice the shortness and substance of ancient weapons, among such as arc preserved in museums, will understand how readily they might be applied to agricultural uses. FROST FAIRS. In 1788-9, the Thames was completely frozen over below London- bridge. Booths were erected on the ice ; and puppet-shows, wild beasts, bear-baiting, turnabouts, pigs and sheep roasted, exhibited the various amusements of Bartholomew Fair multiplied aud improved. From this seven weeks' saturnalia. The last frost fair was celebrated in the 68 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, year 1814. The frost commenced on 27th December, 1813, and continued to the 5th February, 1814. There was a grand walk, or mall, from Blackfriars-bridge to London-bridge, that was appropriately named The City Road, and lined on each side with booths of all descriptions. Several printing-presses were erected, and at one of these an orange- coloured standard was hoisted, with " Orange Boven" printed in large characters. There were E and Rouge et Noir tables, tee-totums, and skittles ; concerts of rough music, viz. salt-boxes and rolling-pins, grid- irons and tongs, horns, and marrow-bones and cleavers. The carousing booths were filled with merry parties, some dancing to the sound of the fiddle, others sitting round blazing fires smoking and drinking. A printer's devil bawled out to the spectators, " Now is your time, ladies and gentlemen, now is your time to support the freedom of the press ! Co the press enjoy greater liberty ? Here you find it working in the mi-idle of the Thames ! MAGIC BAIN STONE. The Indian magi, who are to invoke To He Wah, and mediate with the supreme holy fire that he may give seasonable rains, have a trans- parent stone of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain, when it is put in a basin .Tf water, by a reputed divine virtue, impressed on one of the like sort, in time of old, whicn communicates it circularly. This stone would suffer a great decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own laity ; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine communicative power. THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE. The bombardier beetle ( Carabus crepitans) when touched produces a noise resembling the discharge of a musket in miniature, during whicL a blue smoke may be seen to proceed from its extremity. Rolander says that it can give twenty discharges successively. A bladder placed near its posterior extremity, is the arsenal that contains its store. This is its chief defence against its enemies ; and the vapour or liquid that pro- ceeds from it is of so pungent a nature, that if it happens to be dis- charged into the eyes, it makes them smart as though brandy had been thrown into them. The principal enemy of the bombardier is another insect of the same tribe, but three or four times its size. When pursued and fatigued it has recourse to this stratagem ; it lies down in the path of its enemy, who advances with open mouth to seize it ; but on the discharge of the artillery, this suddenly draws back, and remains for a while confused, during which the bombardier conceals itself in some neighbouring crevice, but if not lucky enough to find one, the other returns to the attack, takes the insect by the head, and bears it off. THE PILLORY FOB EATING FLESH IN LENT. Even in this kingdom, so late as the Reformation, eating flesh in Lent was rewarded with the pillory. An instance of this occurs iti the "Patriot King," the particulars of which, quoted in " Clavis Caleu- daria," are somewhat amusing. Thomas Freburn's wife, of Parer- aos*r-row, London, having expressed a particular inclination for pig, MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 69 one was procured, ready for the spit ; but the butter-woman who pro- vided it, squeamish as to the propriety of what she had done, carried a foot of it to the Dean of Canterbury. The Dean was at dinner, and one of his guests was Freburn's landlord, and Garter King at Arms, who sent to know if any of his family were ill, that he ate flesh in Lent. ' All well,' quoth Freburn, (perhaps too much of a Dissenter for the times,) ' only my wife longs for pig.' His landlord sends for the Bishop of London's apparitor, and orders him to take Freburn and his pig be- fore Stocksly, the Bishop, who sent them both to Judge Cholmley ; but he not being at home, they were again brought back to the Bishop, who committed them to the Compter. Next day, being Saturday, Freburn was carried before the Lord Mayor, who sentenced him to stand in the pillory on the Monday following, with one half of the pig on one shoulder, ind the other half on the other. Through Cromwell's intercession, the poor man at last gained his liberty by a bond of twenty pounds for his appearance. The mischief-making pig was, by the order of the Bishop, buried in Finsbury-field, by the hand of his Lordship's apparitor ; but Freburn was turned out of his house, and could not get another in four years. Hence we may infer his ruin. HUGE CANNON AT THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. In 1432, several kinds of artillery are mentioned, cannons, bombards, vulgaires, coulverins. The vulgaires were ordinary artillery. In the year 1460, James II. of Scotland was killed by the accidental bursting of a cannon. The artillery of the Turks, in the year 1453, surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A stupendous piece of ordnance was made by them ; its bore was twelve palms, and the stone bullet weighed about 600 Ibs. ; it was brought with great difficulty before Constantinople, and was flanked by two almost of equal magnitude : fourteen batteries were brought to bear against the place, mounting 130 guns ; the great cannon could not be loaded and fired more than seven times in one day. Mines were adopted by the Turks, and counter- mines by the Christians. At this siege, which was in 1453, ancient and modern artillery were both used. Cannons, intermingled with machines for casting stones and darts, and the battering-ram was directed against the walls. The fate of Constantinople could no longer be averted : the diminutive garrison was exhausted by a double attack ; the fortifications were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon ; a spirit of discord impaired the Christian strength. After a siege of fifty-three days, Constantinople, which had defied the power of Chosroes, the Chagan, and the Caliphs, was subdued by the arms of Mahomet II. A MAN IN A VAULT ELEVEN DATS. St. Benedict Fink. 11 1 *"3, April 23, was buried M r Thomas Sharnm, Cloth-worker, late Churchwarden, of this parish, killed by an accidental 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. Truly, a quaint warning ! 70 TEN I'HOUSANH WONDERFUL THING'S; BLIND GliAXKT. This miserable, wretched, drunken object, who was blind of one eye, used to annoy the passengers in the streets of London, while sober, with licking her blind eye with her tongue, which was of a most enormous length, and thickness ; indeed, it was of such a prodigious size, that her mouth could not contain it, and she could never close her lips, or to tise a common expression, keep her tongue within her teeth. This wonder- ful feat of washing her eye with her tongue was exhibited with a view of obtaining money from such as crowded arpund her, and no sooner had MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 71 she obtained sufficient means, but she hastened to the first convenient liquor-shop, to indulge her propensity in copious libations, and when properly inspired, would rush into the streets with all the gestures of a trantic maniac, and roll and dance about, until she became a little sobered, which was sometimes accelerated by the salutary application of a pail of water, gratuitously bestowed upon her by persons whose door- way she had taken possession of, as shelter from the persecuting torment- ings of boys and girls who generally followed her. ANCIENT FEMALE COSTTTME. A good specimen of the costume of a female of the higher classes is here given, from an effigy of a lady of the Ryther family, in Ityther church, "Yorkshire, engraved in Hol- lis's Monumental Effigies, She wears a wimple, covering the neck and encircling the head, the hair of which is gathered in plaits at the sides, and covered with a kerchief, which falls upon the shoulders, and is secured by a fillet passing over the forehead. The sleeves of the gown hang midway from the elbow and the wrist, and display the tight sleeve with its rows of buttons beneath. The mantle is fastened by a band of ribbon, se- cured by ornamental studs. The lower part of the dress consists of the wide gown, lying in folds, and completely concealing the feet, which have been omitted, in order to display the upper part of this interesting effigy to greater advantage. CHIICOTT, THE GIANT. 1815. Died at Trenaw, in Cornwall, a person known by the appella- tion of Giant Chillcott. He measured at the breast six feet nine inches, and weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. One of his stockings held six gallons of wheat. DR. LETTSOJl'S REASONS FOB DISMISSING A SERVANT. The Doctor was in the practice of carrying the produce of his fees carelessly in his coat-pocket. His footman being aware of this, used allv, while it hung up in the passage, his gold, was suspicious of the The Doctor, having repeatedly mis ibotman, and took an opportunity of watching him. He succeeded in the detection, and, without even noticing it to the other servants, called Lira into his study, and coolly said to him, ' ' John, art in want of money ?" 44 No ; " replied John. " Oh ! then, why didst thou make so free with my pocket ? And since thou didst not want money, and hast told me a lie, . must part with thee. Now, say what situation thou wouldst like at.road, and I will obtain it for thee; for I cannot keep thee; I cannot recommend thee ; therefore thou must go." Suffice it to say, the Doctor procured John a situation, and he went abroad. 72 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; HANDBILL FROM PECKHAM FAIK IN 1726. Our ancestors just 133 years ago had but limited opportunities for gra- -ifying a taste for Natural History if we may judge from the supply of animals deemed sufficient to attract attention in 1726 : " Geo. I. R. "To the lovers of living curiosities. To be seen during the time of Peckham Fair, a Grand Collection of Living "Wild Beasts and Birds, lately arrived from the remotest parts of the World. " 1. The Pellican that suckles her young with her heart's blood, from " 2. The Noble Vultur Cock, brought from Archangell, having the finest tallons of any bird that seeks his prey ; the fore part of his head is covered with hair, the second part resembles the wool of a Black ; below that is a white ring, having a Ruff, that he cloaks his head with at night. " 3. An Eagle of the Sun, that takes the loftiest fiight of any bird that files. There is no bird but this that can fly to the face of the Sun with a naked eye. " 4. A curious Beast, bred from a Lioness, like a foreign Wild Cat. "5. The He-Panther, from Turkey, allowed by the curious to be one of the greatest rarities ever seen in England, on which are thousands of spots, and not two of a likeness. " 6 & 7. The two fierce and surprising Hi/anas, Male and Female, from the Jliver Gambia. These Creatures imitate the human voice, and so decoy the Negroes out of their huts and plantations to devour them. They have a mane like a horse, and two joints in their hinder leg more than any other creature. It is remarkable that all other beasts are to be tamed, but Hyceaas they are not. " 8. An Ethiopian Toho Savage, having all the actions of the human species, which (when at its full growth) will be upwards of five feet high. " Also several other surprising Creatures of different sorts. To be seen from 9 in the morning till 9 at night, till they are sold. Also, all manner of curiosities of different sorts, are bought and sold at the above place by Joha Bennett." SOMNAMBULISM. Some years ago a Hampshire Baronet was nearly driven to distraction by the fact that, every night, he went to bed in a shirt, and every morn- ing awoke naked, without the smallest trace of the missing garment being discovered. Hundreds of shirts disappeared in this manner ; and as there was no fire in his room, it was impossible to account for the mystery. The servants believed their master to be mad ; and even he began to fancy himself bewitched. In this conjuncture, he implored an intimate friend to sleep in the room with him ; and ascertain by what manner of mys- terious midnight visitant his garment was so strangely removed. The friend, accordingly, took up his station in the haunted chamber ; and lo'. as the clock struck one, the unfortunate Baronet, who had previously given audible intimation of being fast asleep, rose from his bed, rekindled with a match the candle which had been extinguished, deliberately MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 73 opened the door, and quitted the room. His astonished friend followed : saw him open in succession a variety of doors, pass along several pas- sages, traverse an open court, and eventually reach the stable-yard ; where he divested himself of his shirt, and disposed of it in an old dung- heap, into which he thrust it by means of a pitch-fork. Having finished this extraordinary operation, without taking the smallest heed of liis friend who stood looking on, and plainly saw that he was walking in his sleep, he returned to the house, carefully reclosed the doors, re-extin- guished the light, and returned to bed ; where the following morning he awoke as usual, stripped of his shirt ! The astonished eye-witness of this extraordinary scene, instead of apprising the sleep-walker of what had occurred, insisted that the fol- lowing night, a companion should sit up with him ; choosing to have additional testimony to the truth of the statement he was about to make ; and the same singular events were renewed, without the slightest change or deviation. The two witnesses, accordingly, divulged all they had seen to the Baronet ; who, though at first incredulous, became of course con- vinced, when, on proceeding to the stable-yard, several dozens of shirts were discovered ; though it was surmised that as many more had been previously removed by one of the helpers, who probably looked upon the hoard as stolen goods concealed by some thief. KILLED BY EATING MTTTTON AND PUDDING. Teddington. " James Parsons, who had often eat a shoulder of mutton or a peck of hasty pudding, at a time, which caused his death, buried March 7, 1743-4, aged 36." COEAL BEEFS. Coral reefs are produced by innumerable small zoophytes, properly called Coral-insects. The Coral insect consists of a little oblong bag of jelly closed at one end, but having the other extremity open, and surrounded by tentacles or feelers, usually six or eight in number, set like the rays of a star. Multitudes of these diminutive animals unite to form a common stony skeleton called Coral, or Madrepore, in the minute openings of which they live, protruding their mouths and tentacles when under water ; but suddenly drawing them into their holes when danger approaches. These animals cannot exist at a greater depth in the sea than about ten fathoms, and as the Coral Islands often rise with great steepness from a sea more than three hundred fathoms deep, it would seem that a great alteration must have taken place in the depth of the ocean since the time when these little architects commenced their labours. Throughout the whole range of the Polynesian and Australasian islands, there is scarcely a league of sea unoccupied by a coral reef, or a coral island ; the former springing up t the surface of the water, perpendicularly from the fathomless bottom, " deeper than did ever plummet sound ;" and the latter in various stages, from the low and naked rock, with the water rippling over it, to an un- interrupted forest of tall trees. " Every one,'' savs Mr. Darwin, " must be struck with astonishment when he first beholds one of these vast rings of coral rock, often many leagues in diameter, here and there surmounted by a low verdant island 74 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; with dazzling white shores, bathed on the outside by the foaming breakers of the ocean, and on the inside surrounding a calm expanse of water, which, from reflection, is of a bright but pale green colour. The naturalist - will feel tliis astonishment more deeply after having examined the soft and almost gelatinous bodies of these apparently insignificant creatures ; and when he knows that the solid reef increases only on the outer edge, which, day and night, is lashed by the breakers of an ocean never at rest." Coral being beautiful in form and colour, is sought after for purposes ot ornament ; and its fishery or gathering gives employment to many persons in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, and other places. In the Straits of Messina, the rocks which yield coral are from about 350 to 650 feet below the surface of the water. 'The coral here grows to about the height or length of twelve inches, and requires eight or ten years to come to perfection. In the general mode of fishing for coral, the instru- ment used consists of two heavy beams of wood, secured together at right angles, and loaded with stones to sink them. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND MILITARY HATS ES* OLDEN TIME Xo. 1, Charles I. No. 2, William III. No. 3, Nivernois. No. 4, Kevcnhuller. No. 5, Ramilies. No. 6, Wellington. WHY A MAX MEASURES MORE IN THE MORNING THAN IN THE EVENING, &C. There is an odd phenomenon attending the human body, as singular as common: that a person is shorter standing than lying; and shorter in the evening when he goes to bed, than in the morning when he rises. This remark was first made in England, and afterwards confirmed art Paris, by M. Morand, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in France, and by the Abbot Fontana likewise. The last-mentioned person found, from a year's experience, that ordinarily in the night he gained five or six lines, and lost nearly as much in the day. The cause of which effect, so ancient, so common, but so lately per- ceived, proceeds from the different state or condition of the inter- vertebral annular cartilages. The vertebrae, or joints of the spine, are kept separate, though joined by particular cartilages, every one of which has a spring. These yield 76 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; oa all sides, without any inflexion on the spine, to the weight of the head and upper extremities ; but this is done by very small and imper- ceptible degrees, and most of all when the upper parts of the body are loaded with any exterior weight. So that a man is really taller after lying some time, than after walking, or carrying a burthen a great while. For this reason it is that, in the day and evening, while one is sitting or standing, the superior parts of the body that weigh or press upon the inferior, press those elastic annular cartilages, the bony jointed work ia contracted, the superior parts of the body descend towards the inferior, and proportionably as one approaches the other, the height of the stature diminishes. Hence it was, that a fellow enlisting for a soldier, by being measured over-night, was found deficient in height, and therefore refused ; but by accident being gauged again the next morning, and coming up to the stature, he was admitted. On the contrary, in the night-time, when the body is laid a-bed, as it is in an horizontal situation, or nearly so, the superior parts do not weigh, or but very little, upon the inferior ; the spring of the cartilages is unbent, the vertebra are removed from one another, the long jointed work of the spine is dilated, and the body thereby prolonged ; so that a person finds himself about half an inch, or more, higher in stature in the morning than when going to bed. This is the most natural and simple reason that can be given, for the different heights of the same person at different times. A SENSIBLE DOG EEFUSTXG TO BAIT A CAT. A dustman of the name of Samuel Butcher, residing at Mile-end, who kept a large dog, having taken it into his head to divert himself and others, a few days ago, by the cruel sport of cat baiting, which the dog refusing to perform to the" satisfaction of his master, was beat by him in a most brutal manner, when the animal at length, in retaliation, flew at his unmerciful keeper, and inflicted very severe wounds about his face, limbs, and body, in some instances tearing large mouthfuls of his flesh quite clean out, and at one time clung so fast to the man, that before he disengaged from him the animal's throat was obliged to be cut. The man was promptly conveyed to the London Hospital, and there died of the injuries he received. A HOBSE GETTING HTMSELF SHOD. A horse having been, turned into a field by its owner, Mr. Joseph Lane, of Fascombe, in .the parish of Ashelworth, was missed therefrom the next morning, and the usual inquiries set afoot, as to what could have become of him. He had, it seems, been shod (all fours) a few dava before, and as usual got pinched in a foot. Feeling, no doubt, a lively sense of proper shoeing, and desirous of relieving the cause of pain, he contrived to unhang the gate of his pasture with his mouth, and make the best of his way to the smithy, a distance of a mile and a half from Fascombe, waiting respectfully at the door until the bungling artist got up. The smith relates that he found him there at opening his shed ; that the hcrse advanced to the forge and held up his ailing foot ; and MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 77 that he himself, upon examination, discovered the injury, took off the shoe, and replaced it more carefully, which having done, the sagacious creature set off at a merry pace homewards. Soon after, Mr. Lane's servants passed by the forge in quest of the animal, and upon inquiry, received for answer " Oh, he has been here and got shod, and is gone home again." MAN WITHOUT HANDS. The following account is extracted from a letter sent to the llev. Mr. Wesley by a person named Walton, dated Bristol, October 14, 1788: " I went with a friend to visit this man, who highly entertained us at breakfast, by putting his half-naked foot upon the table as he sat, and carrying his tea and toast between his great and second toe to his mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, and his toes fingers. J put half a sheet oi paper upon the floor, with a pen and ink-horn : he threw off his shoes as he sat, took the ink-horn in the toes of his left foot, and held the pen in those of his right. He then wrote three lines, as well as most ordinary writers, and as swiftly. He writes out all his own bills, and other accounts. He then showed now he shaves himself with a razor in his toes, and how he combs his own hair. He can dress and undress himself, except buttoning his clothes. He feeds himself, and can bricg both his meat or his broth to his mouth, by holding the fork or spoon in his toes. He cleans his own shoes ; can clean the knives, light the fire, and do almost every other domestic business as well as any other man. He can make his hen-coops. He is a fanner by occupation ; he can milk his own cows with his toes, and cut his own hay, bind it up in bundles, and carry it about the field for his cattle. Last winter he had eight heifers constantly to fodder. The last summer he made all his own hay-ricks. He can do all the business of the hay-field (except mowing), as fast and as well, with only his feet, as others can with rakes and forks. He goes to the field and catches his horse ; he saddles and bridles him with liis feet and toes. If he has a sheep among his flock that ails anything, he can separate it from the rest, drive it into a corner, and catch it when nobody else can. He then examines it, and applies a remedy to it. He is so strong in his teeth, that he can lift ten pecks of beans with them. He can throw a great sledge-hammer as far with his feet as other men can with their hands. In a word, he can nearly do as much without, as others can with, their arms. He began the world with a hen and chicken ; with the profit of these he purchased an ewe ; the sale of these procured him a ragged colt (as he expressed it) and then a better ; after this he raised a few sheep, and now occupies a small farm." THE THIEF CA.TTGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP. A man having, some years since, stolen a sheep at Mitcham, in Surrey, tied its hind legs together, and put them over his forehead to carry it away, but in getting over a gate the sheep, it is thought, strug- gled, and, by a sudden spring, slipped its feet down to his throat ; for they were found in that posture, the sheep hanging on one s ; de of ths gate and the man dead on the other. 78 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; COSICME OF THE LADIES IN THE TIME OF THE PLANTAGENETS, The ladies' costume may seen to advantage in the annexed engravin from the Sloane MSS., No. 3983. A wimple or gorget is wrapped round the neck, and is fastened by pins at the sides of the face, which are_ covered above the ears ; a gown of capacious size, unconfined at the waist and loose in the sleeves, trails far behind'in the dirt. The under- garment, which is darker, has sleeves that fit closely ; and it appears to be turned over, and pinned up round the bottom. The unnecessary amount of stuff that was used in ladies' robes rendered them obnoxious to the satirists of that period. In Mr. "Wright's collection of Latin stories, published by the Percy Society, there is one of the fourteenth century, which is so curious an in- stance of monkish satire, and is so apt an illustration of the cut before us, that I cannot resist presenting it to my readers. It runs thus : " Of 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 ac- count of the dirt, a certain holy man saw a devil laugh- ing ; and 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 laugh- ing." CORPULENT MAN. NOTTINGHAM, 1819. November 10. Death of Mr. Henry Bucknall, confectioner, Chandlers- lane, aged forty-nine. He was excessively corpulent, weighing moro than twenty-five stone, and died very suddenly, immediately after eat- ing a hearty breakfast. In Lord Howe's memorable engagement, on the 1st of June, 1794, he had served as a marine on board the Bruns- wick. His interment, at St. Mary's New Burial-ground, on the 14th, drew together a large concourse of spectators. The coffin was of enor- mous size, and nearly equalled the body in weight. It was made of excellent oak, was 6 feet 8 inches in length, and 2 feet 11 inches across the breast ; the bottom was 2 inches thick, the sides 1, and the lid 1. The whole, including the body, considerably exceeded five hundred weight. AIARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 79 TAKING A MAN TO PIECES AND SETTING HIM UP AGAIN. "Don John, of Austria," says Staveley, "Governor of the Nether- lands for Philip the 2d of Spain, dying at his camp at Buge (Bouges, a mile from Namur), was carried from thence to the great church at Havre, where his funeral was solemnised, and a monument to posterity erected for him there by Alexander Farnese, the Prince of Parma. Afterwards his body was taken to pieces, and the bones, packed in mails, were privatelv carried into Spain, where being set together with small wires, the bocly was rejointed again, which being tilled or stuft'ed with cotton, and richly habited, Don John was presented to the king entire, leaning on his commander's staff. Afterwards the corpse being carried to the church of St. Laurence, at the Escurial, was there buried near his father, Charles V., with a fitting monument for him." OKNAMENTS OF FEMALE DUESS IN THE TIMES OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. Fig. 1 is a necklace of beads, each bead being cut so as to represent a group of several, and give the effect of many small round beads to what are in reality long and narrow ones. Fig. 2 is a necklace of sim- pler construction, consisting of a row of rudely-shaped beads, its centre being remarkable for con- taining a rude attempt at representing a human face, the only thing of the kind Hoare discovered of so an- cient a date in Britain. Fig. 3 is another necklace, con- sisting of a series of cu- rious little shells, like the hirlas horn used by the Bri- tons, which are perforated lengthways, and thus strung together. Fig. 4 is a pin of iron, supposed to have been used as a fastening for a mantle ; it is ornamented with two movable rings. Fig. 5 is a small gold orna- ment, checkered like a chess- board, and suspended from a chain of beautiful workmanship, which, in taste and execution, bearn a striking similarity to our modern curb-chains. Fig. 6 is an ear-ring, a bead suspended from a twisted wire of gold. Fig. 7 is a brass orna- ment, and Fig. 8 a similar one of gold : such ornaments are usually found upon the breasts of the exhumed skeletons of our barrows, and were probably fastened on their clothes as ornaments. Their cruciform character might lead to a doubt of their high antiquity, if we were not aware of the fact, that the symbol of the cross was worn, as an aruui*t or ornament, ages before the Christian era. 80 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J LABGE EEL. Lately, near Maiden, an eel was taken, measuring Jive f vet six inchet in lenyth, seventeen in girth, and weighing 26 pounds, the largest of the species ever caught, or described in natural history. PERSEVEKIXG DOG. A boast being made of the obedience of a Newfoundland dog in fetching and carrying, the master put a marked shilling under a large square ttoiie by the road side, and, having ridden on three miles, ordered the dog to go back and fetch it. The dog set off, but did not return the whole day. He had gone to the place, and being unable to turn the etone, sat howling by it. Two horsemen came by and saw his distress, and one of them alighting removed the stone, and finding the shilling, put it in his pocket, not supposing that the dog could possibly be looking for that. The dog followed the horses for upwards of twenty miles, stayed in the room where they supped, got into the bed-room, got the breeches in which the fatal shining had been put, made his escape with them, and dragged them through mud and mite, hedge and ditch, to his master's house. CUKE FOE CORPULENCE. A few years ago, a man of about forty years of age, hired himself as a labourer, in one of the most considerable ale-breweries in the City : at this time he was a personable man ; stout, active, and not fatter than a moderate-sized man in high health should be. His chief occupation was to superintend the working of the new beer, and occasionally to set up at night to watch the sweet-wort, an employment not requiring either activity or labour ; of course, at these times, he had an opportunity of tasting the liquor, of which, it appears, he always availed himself; besides this, he had constant access to the new beer. Thus leading a quiet inactive life, he began to increase in bulk, and continued to enlarge, until, in a very short time, he became of such an unwieldy size, as to be unable to move about, and was too big to pass up the brewhouse stair- case ; if by any accident he fell down, he was unable to get up again without help. The integuments of his face hung down to the shoulders und breast : the fat was not confined to any particular part, but diffused over the whole of his body, arms, legs, &c., making his appearance such as to attract the attention of all who saw him. He left this service to go into the country, being a burthen to himself, and totally useless to his employers. About two years afterwards he called upon his old masters in very different shape to that above described, being reduced in size nearly half, and weighing little more than ten stone. The account that he gave of himself was, that as soon as he had quitted the biewhouse he went into Bedfordshire, where having soon spent the money he had earned, and being unable to work, he was brought into such a state of poverty, as to be scarcely able to obtain the sustenance of life, often being a whole day without food ; that he drank very little, and that was generally water. By this mode of living he began to diminish in size, so u to be able to walk about with tolerable ease. He then engaged him- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 81 self to a farmer, with whom he stayed a considerable time, and in the latter part of his service he was a'ble to go through very hard labour, being sometimes in the field ploughing and following various agricultural concerns, for a whole day, with no other food than a small pittance of bread and cheese. This was the history he gave of the means by which this extraordinary change was brought about. He added, his health had never been so good as it then was. WOKSHIP OF THE STTN AND MOON. The Sun was first worshipped, probably, as a bright manifestation of God, but soon began to be regarded as the Deity himself. The Moon, in the absence of the Sun, and next in splendour, would succeed it in superstitious attention. And so we find the Romans, as well as the Saxons, dedicating the first and second days of the week respectively to these "great lights." Formerly, festivals were held on the appearance of a New Moon ; and in some parts of England it is still customary to bless it, and in Scotland at the same time to drop a courtesy. And in times not long past, the influence of the Moon was considered to be so great as to regulate the growth of air, and the effect of medi- cine, and to cause steeples and other elevated buildings to bend from their upright positions. A SEA ABOVE THE SKY. This belief is curiously illustrated by two legendary stories pre- served by Gervase of Tilbury. " One Sunday," he says, " the people of a village in "England were coming out of church on a thick cloudy day, when they saw the anchor ot a s>hip hooked to one of the tombstones ; the cable, which was tightly stretched, hanging down from the air. The people were astonished, and while they were consulting about it, sud- denly they saw the rope move as though some one laboured to pull up the anchor. The anchor, however, still held fast by the stone, and a great noise was suddenly heard in the air, like the shouting of sailors. Presently a sailor was seen sliding down the cable for the purpose of unfixing the anchor ; and when he had just loosened it, the villagers seized hold of him, and while in their hands he quickly died, just as though he had been drowned. About an hour after, the sailors above, hearing no more of their comrade, cut the cable and sailed away. In memory of this extraordinary event, the people of the village made the hinges of the church doors out of the iron of the anchor, and ' there they are still to be seen.' At another time, a mer- chant of Bristol set sail with his cargo for Ireland. Some time after this, while his family were at supper, a knife suddenly fell in through the window on the table. "When the husband returned, he saw the knife, declared it to be his own, and said that on such a day, at such an hour, while sailing in an unknown part of the sea, he dropped the knife overboard, and the day and hour were known to be exactly the time when it fell through the window. These accidents, Gervase thinks, are a clear proof of there being a sea above hanging over us." St. Patrick's Purgatory. By Thos. Wright. 1844. tEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; THE PAPYRT7S. Paper as we now have it, that is to say, paper made of the pulp of fibrous materials, pressed into thin sheets, dried, and, when intended for writing or printing purposes, sized, is of comparatively modern intro- duction to Europe and "Western Asia ; although the Ch'inese appear to have formed paper out of silk pulp, mixed with the inner pith of the bamboo, as early at least as 95 A.D. : not from time immemorial, as some authors have stated, because the circumstance is well attested, that in the time of Confucius, the Chinese wrote with a style on the innei bark of trees. Before the invention of paper, the surfaces employed for writing upon were numerous. Surfaces of lead or other metal ; tables covered with wax, skins of animals, (parchment in fact) all were used ; but no one of these was ever so extensively employed as the Egyptian papyrus, whenever the latter material could be obtained. So soon, however, as BBIIISH MUSEUM. the Saracens in the seventh century conquered Egypt, the exportation of papyrus was at an end ; and writing surfaces became so scarce in Europe that many ancient documents of great value were erased in order to render them adapted for being written on once more. Thus perished many treasures of antiquity. As the Saracens closed the avenue of supply for the ancient papyrus, so they compensated to Europe for this deprivation by discovering the manufacture of ordinary paper at least paper made in the ordinary modern fashion, though the material was cotton, not linen. This dis- covery was made some time anterior to the year 706 A.D., for at that perioa a manufactory of paper existed at Samareand. In the eighth century the Saracens conquered Spain, and introduced into the Penin- sula, amongst other arts, that of the manufacture of paper, which art was a long time finding its way into other parts of Europe, in Italy not until the eleventh or twelfth century. The vast amount of papyrua MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 83 which must have been employed in Italy, may be inferred from the number of rolls or scapioi this substance discovered in Herculaneum and Pompeii ; also from a perusal of many existing documents bearing directly or indirectly on this branch of commerce. Even so late as the commencement of the sixth century, _Cassiodorus congratulated the world on the abolition, by King Theodoric, of the high duty on papyrus from Egypt ; and he spoke in high tiown terms of the great utility of the material. The latest papyrus roll known is of the twelfth century, con- taining a brief of Pope Paschal II., in favour of the Archiepiscopal see of Eavenna. The various species of papyrus plants belong to the natural order PTBCS WITH FLOTTBBS. " Cyperacese," or sedges, of botanists ; a main characteristic of which is a certain triangularity of stem. The method of constructing a writing surface from these stems was as follows : The available portion being cut off (it was seldom more than twelve inches in length), and split, or, more properly speaking, unfolded into thin sheets, which were glued together transversely in such a manner that the original length of the papyrus stem became the breadth of the future sheet ; the length of which might be increased at the pleasure of the operator. Frequently the manufactured scrolls were more than thirty feet long. As different methods prevail in the manufacture of our ordinary paper, so in like manner there were different processes of fashioning the papyrus into shape. The rudest manufacture appears to have been that of Egypt, and the best papyrus sheets appear to have been made in Rome during th 84 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; Augustine ^ra. The preceding sketch represents a papyrus roll, copied from a specimen in the Egyptian Room of the British Museum. Considering the numerous pieces entering into the composition of the roll, of which our illustration represents a portion, the lines of juncture are remarkably well concealed, only a sort of grain being visible. The surface, moreover, is smoothed, and its colour very much like that of India paper. The hieroglyphics are coloured as is usual, red is the predominant tint, and the colours are no less well demarcated and sepa- rate than they would have been on glazed paper. Our preceding wood-cuts represent the Sicilian or Syrian papyrus, hitherto termed cyperus papyrus, in two states of development one with flowers, the other without. In order that inflorescence may take place, the plant requires to be well supplied with water. EXECUTION IK 1733. "Friday, March 9 "Was executed at Northampton, William Alcock, for the murder of his wife. He never own'd the fact, nor was at all concerned at his approaching death ; refusing the prayers and assistance of any persons. In the morning he drank more than'was sufficient, yet sent and paid for a pint of wine, which being deny'd him, he would not enter the cart before he had his money re turn' d. On his way to the gallows he sung part of an old song of " Robin Hood," with the chorus, "Derry, derry, down," &c., and swore, kick'd, and spurn'd at every person that laid hold of the cart ; and before he was turn'd off, took off his shoes, to avoid a well known proverb ; and being told by a person in the cart with him, it was more proper for him to read, or hear somebody read to him, than so vilely to swear and sing, he struck the book out of the person's hands, and went on damning the spectators and calling for wine. Whilst psalms and prayers were performing at the tree he did little but talk to one or other, desiring some to remember him, others to drink to his good journey, and to the last moment declared the injustice of his case. DOG FRIENDSHIP. At Bishops Stortford there were two dogs, which belonged to nobody, and lived upon the quay of the river or canal there. They took the greatest delight in rat hunting, and when the maltsters went about at night to see that all was safe, these dogs invariably followed them. Their mode of proceeding was very ingenious. As soon as the door of the malt-house was unlocked, one rushed in and coursed round the warehouse, not chasing any rat which might start, but pursuing ite way among the malt. The other stood at the door and snapped at the rats as they endeavoured to escape. The one standing at the door was known to kill six rats, all of which had rushed to the door at the same time. The next room they came to, they would change posts ; the one which hunted before, now standing at the door and seizing the prey. By this means the dogs killed in the malting-houses of one maltster alone, upwards of 2,000 rats in the course of one year. One of them on one occasion killed sixty-seven in less than five minutes Tliejf eemed to pursue the sport simply for their amusement. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 85 ALL HUMBUGS. Just as a strolling actor at Newcastle had advertised his benefit, a remarkable stranger, no less than the Prince Annamaboo, arrived, and placarded the town that he granted audiences at a shilling a-head. The stroller, without delay, waited on the proprietor of the Prince, ana for a good round sum prevailed on him to command his Serene Highness to exhibit his august person on his benefit night. The bills of the day announced that between the acts of the comedy Prince Annamaboo would give a lively representation of the s'calping operation, sound the Indian war-whoop in all its melodious tones, practice the tomahawk exercise, and dine d la cannibal. An intelligent mob were collected to witness these interesting exploits. At the conclusion of the third act, his Highness marched forward flourishing his tomahawk, and shouting, " Ha, ha ! ho, ho .'" Next entered a man with his face blacked, and a a piece of bladder fastened to his head with gum ; the Prince, with an enormous carving-knife, began the scalping part of the entertainment, which he performed in a truly imperial style, holding up the piece of bladder as a token of triumph. Next came the war-whoop, an un- earthly combination of discordant sounds; and lastly, the banquet, consisting of raw beef-steaks, which he rolled up into rouleaus, and devoured with right royal avidity. Having finished his delicate repast, he wielded his tomahawk in an exulting manner, bellowed " Ha, ha .' ho, ho .'" and made his exit. The beneficiare strolling through the market-place the following-day, spied the most puissant Prince Anna- maboo selling penknives, scissors, and quills, in the character of a Jew pedlar. "What!" said the astonished Lord Townley, "my Prince, is it you ? Are you not a pretty circumcised little scoundrel to impose upon us in this manner ?" Moses turned round, and with an arch look, replied, " Princh be d d! I vash no Princh ; I vash acting like you. Your troop vash Lords and Ladies last night ; and to-night dey vil be Kings, Prinches, and Emperor ! I vash humpugs, you vash humpugs, all vash humpugs .'" REDUCING WEIGHT. A gentleman, of great respectability in the mercantile world, who weighed thirty-two stone nine pounds, put himself upon a strict diet of four ounces of animal food, six ounces of bread, and two pounds of liquid, in twenty-four hours. In one week he lost thirty pounds weight, and in six months he was diminished the astonishing quantity of one hundred and thirty-four pounds. His health and spirits were much improved, and considering his remaining size of twenty-three stone, he was very active. ANECDOTE OF A SEKPENT. Lord Monboddo relates the following singular anecdote of a serpent : " I am well informed of a tame serpent in the East Indies, which belonged to the late Dr. Yigot, once kept by him in the suburbs of Madras. This serpent was taken by the French, when they invested Madras, and was carried to Pondicherry in a close carriage. But from thence, he found his way back again to his old quarters, though Madras was above one hundred miles distant from Pondicherry," 86 CBN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMANS. Before the Roman invasion, the dress of its chieftains consisted of A close coat or covering for the body, called by Dio a tunic, and described as checkered with various colours in divisions. It was open before, and had long close sleeves to the wrist. Below were loose pantaloons, called by the Irish brigis, and by the Romans brages and braces ; whence the modern term " breeches." Over their shoulders was thrown the mantle or cloak, called by the Romans sagum, and derived from the Celtic word saic, which signi- fied a skin or hide, and which was the original cloak of the country. Diodorus tells us that it was of one uniform colour, generally either blue or black, the predominating tint in the checkered trousers and tunic being red. On their heads they wore a conical cap, which de- rived its name from the " cab," or hut of the Briton, which was of similar form. On their feet were shoes made of raw cow-hide, that had the hair turned outward, and which reached to the ankles. Shoes so constructed were worn within the last few years in Ireland ; and we engrave two from specimens in the Royal Irish Academy. One is of cow-hide, and drawn together by a string over the foot ; and the other has a leather thong, which is fastened be- neath the heel inside, and, passing over the instep, draws the shoe like a purse over the foot. It is of untanned leather. ROMANS IN BRITAIN DRESS OF NATIVE FEMALES AT THA? PERIOD. The British gwn, from whence comes the modern "gown," descended to the middle of the thigh, the sleeves barely reaching to the elbows : it was sometimes confined by a girdle. Beneath this a longer dress reached to the ancles. The hair was trimmed after the Roman fashion; and upon the feet, when covered, were sometimes worn shoes of a costly character, of which we know the Romans themselves to have been fond. An extremely beautiful pair was discovered upon opening a Roman burial-place at Southfleet in Kent, in 1802. They were placed in a stone sarcophagus, between two large glass urns or vases, each containing a considerable quantity of burnt bones. They were of superb and expensive workmanship, being made of fine purple leathur, reticulated in the form of hexagons all over, and each hexago nal division worked with gold, in an elaborate and beautiful manner. MAKVEM.OUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. ATACOMBS^ ROME. Amid the ruins of stately temples, and uuuierous remains of the " Kt<>r- nal City," there are no objects which have such great and general in- terest as the subterranean churches, dwellings, and places of sepulchre of the early Christians, which perforate, by a net-work of excavations, the neighbourhood of Rome. The great increase in the extent and magnificence of Rome during tha times of the Republic, led to the formation of quarries in the surrounding parts. The peculiar nature of the soil has caused the excavations to be 69 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS maJe in a manner similar to that used in the working of coal, iron, stone, lime, &c. The useful material has, in fact, been cleared away, leaving long ranges of dark caves and passages. After the stone had been re- moved from these underground quarries, it was, for many centuries, customary to work out the sand for the purpose of making cement. Vitruvius has stated that the sand obtained from the Esquiline pits was preferable to any other. Ultimately the quarries and sandpits extended to a distance of upwards of fifteen miles on one side of Rome. Parts of this large range of excavations were from time to time used as burial- grounds by such of the Romans as could not afford the cost of burning the bodies of their dead relations. And, in addition, the Esquiline hills became infested by banditti, and was from these various causes rendered almost impassable In these excavations, it is said, that not only persons, but cattle, con- trived to support existence ; and although it was well known that large numbers were lodged in these dismal dwellings, their intricacy and num- berless entrances rendered them a comparatively secure retreat. It is related that attempts were made to cover the galleries with earth, in order to destroy those who were concealed within. p - * , n*/~v rx -f 1 I I R course of time the catacombs became, ' H L (_} LI V L ' ^k *^ e exce P tion f one or two > neglected r--f- r\ p^*"^ and filled up with rubbish, and remained \ \ Y \\ PYf Pr fr> r a period of upwards of one thousand * \ ^ 1 H/ years untouched and almost unknown. In ~f*l* ^ tT P\/T/"" D ^ e sixteenth century the whole range of J t- I V I C. I\ the catacombs were reopened, and numerous inscriptions and other matters connected with the struggles and hardships of the early Christians brought to light. The annexed brief memorial will show the general style of the lettering. OBSOLETE MODES OF PUNISHMENT. Ante page 60, we gave representations of some ancient instruments of punishment and torture, all more or less terrible in their character, the use of which, for many a long year, has been happily abandoned. As a companion to this group, we have engraved a few of the instruments of punishment by which criminals of a vulgar character were sought to be reformed. The first of these is the felon's brand, the mark of which rendered a man infamous for life. Figure 1, p. 90 represents the, instrument itself. Figure 2, the mark branded in, which latter has been engraved the exact size. The device, which is deeply cut into the metal, is a gallows, such as was used before the invention of the Drop and the Wheel for Execution and torture. The Stocks and Whipping-post, although long since removed from London Bridge, may be met with in retired country places. We have noticed some characteristic examples in the Forest of Dean. Gloucester- shire, where some of the may-poles, day-wheels, and other curious relics, may still be seen.* In some instances the Stocks and Whipping-posts * A good specimen vis demolished at Tottenham not long ago. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 89 were riclily carved, and clamped with iron woik of an ornamental cha- racter. We remember seeing the stocks used within the last thirty years, once at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and once at Gateshead, the adjoining town. The culprit in the one instance was an elector, who, in the excess of zeal and beer, during an old-fashioned contested election, rushed into one of the churches during the Sunday's service, and shouted out, " Bell (one of the candidates) for ever." He was speedily taken hold of, and placed for several hours in the stocks in the churchyard ; and, as the stimulating effect of the strong drink passed away, he looked a deplorable object, decked as he was with numerous cockades, the " favours " of the candi- date, whose cause he so indiscreetly supported. The punishment of the barrel we should think to have been adapted for drunkards who could preserve a perpendicular position. In the histories of London, it is mentioned that bakers and other dealers caught giving false weight, or in any other ways cheating the poor, wero exhibited occasionally in this manner ; but more frequently they were placed in the parish dung- cart, and slowly drawn through the streets of the district. The Whirligig, a circular cage which could be moved swiftly round on a pivot, was, in bygone days, in use for offenders in the English army. There was another instrument used for the same purpose called the Horse, which was made in rude resemblance of the animal whose name it bore. The body was composed of planks of wood, which formed a sharp angle along the back. On this the soldier was seated, and his legs fastened below to several heavy muskets. This is said to have been a very severe and dangerous punishment. In addition to the above, and flogging, im- prisonment, &c., there were three ancient methods of punishment in the English army viz., beheading, hanging, and drowning. The latter of these, according to Grose, was in use only in the reign of Richard I. This author observes that, some centuries ago, capital punishment was rare in our army, the men having generally property, which was confiscated in case of ill conduct. He, however, refers to some terrible means which were resorted to for the purpose of preserving discipline. Hanging was chiefly confined to spies; who were taken to a tree in sight of the camp, and yet sufficiently distant, and there hung up. In many instances, when a corps or a considerable body of men were guilty of crime, for which the established punishment was death, to prevent too great a weak- ening of the army, the delinquents, Grose says, "were decimated, that is, only every tenth man was taken. A number of billets, equal to that of the body to be decimated, were put into a helmet, every tenth billet being marked with the letter D, or some other character signifying death ; the helmet was then shaken, in order to miy them, and the soldiers, filing off singly from the right, passed by the commanding officers, before whom, on a table, stood the helmet ; as they passed, each drew a billet and pre- sented it to an officer placed to receive them. If the billet had the fatal mark; the soldier was seized and marched into the rear." This wholesale method of capital punishment must have been a solemn fcffair. At times, it was customary to punish the man at the right hand of companies; without giving them the chance of the billet on the prin- 90 1EN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ipal that these were the most influential persons, and must, from then companionship with the others, have been acquainted with and have p<- 1. Brand for Harking Felons. 2. Impression of Brand. 3. Punishment foi Drunkards, formerly in use at Nc\vcastle-on-Tyne. 4. The Whirligig, a military method of punishment. 5. Pillory, Stocks, and Whipping Post, formerly on London Bridge. sessed the means of checking or giving information, which would prevent dangerous offences. The regulations of the English army during the time of Henry VIII., and previous reigns, may be met with" in " Grose's Military AntiijiutieB." MARVELLOUS, RAREj CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 91 ORIGIN OF THE TERM " HUMBUG." This, now, common expression, is a corruption of the word Hamburgh, and originated in the following manner : During a period when war prevailed on the Continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were fabricated at Hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his disbelief of a statement, he would say, " You had that from Hamburgh;" and thus, "That is Hamburgh," or Humbug, became & common expression of incredulity. MARRIAGE LOTTERT. It has often been said figuratively that marriage is a lottery ; Lut we do not recollect to have met with a practical illustration of the truth of the simile, before the following, which is a free translation of an adver- tisement in the Louisiana Gazette : " A young man of good figure and disposition, unable, though desirous to procure a wife, without the pre- liminary trouble of amassirg a fortune, proposes the following expedient to attain the object of his vishes. He offers himself as the prize of a lottery to all widows and virgins under 32. The number of tickets to to be 600, at 50 dollars each. But one number to be drawn from the wheel, the fortunate proprietor of which is to be entitled to himself and the 30,000 dollars." CHINESE DAINTIES. The common people of the country seem to fare hardly and sparingly enough, but one of our envoys praises much of the good cheer he found at the tables of the great men. They had pork, fish, and poultry, prepared in a great variety of ways, and very nice confectionery in abundance. The feasts, moreover, were served up in a very neat and cleanly manner. But there was one dainty which much offended their nostrils, and nearly turned their stomachs when it was named to them. It was not stewe'd dog or fricaseed pup. JN T o ; it consisted of three bowls of hatched egqs ! When the Englishmen expressed some surprise at the appearance of this portion of the repast, one of the native attendants observed that hatched eggs formed a delicacy beyond the reach of the poor a delicacy adapted only for persons of distinction ! On inquiry, it was found that they cost in the market some thirty per cent, more than fresh eggs. It seems that they always form a distinguished part of every great entertainment, and that it is the practice, when invitations are sent out, to set the hens to hatch. The feast takes place about the tenth or twelfth day from the issuing the invitations, the eggs being then considered as ripe, and exactly in the state most agreeable and pleasant to the palate of a Chinese epicure. RECEIPTS FROM ALBERTTJS- MAGNUS. " Bubo a shriek owle, is a byrd wel inough knowen, which is called Magis of the Chaldes, and Hysopus of the Greekes. There bee mar uaylous vertues of this Fowle, for if the hart and ryght foote of it b put upon a man sleeping, hee shall saye anone to thee whatsoever thou halt asske of him. Ajid thys hath beene prooued of late tyme o our 92 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J brethren. And if any man put thys onder his arme hole, no Dog wyll barke at hym, but keepe silence. And yf these thynges aforesaydo ioyned together with a wyng of it be hanged up to a tree, byrdes wyl gather together to that tree." " When thou wylt that thy wyfe or wenche she we to thee all that shee hath done, take the hart of a Doove, and the heade of a Frog, and drye them both, and braie them vnto poulder, and lay them vpon the brest or her sleeping, and shee shall shew to thee all that shee hath done, but when shee shall wake, wipe it awaye from her brest, that it bee not lifted vp." " Take an Adders skyn, and Auri pigmentum, and greeke pitch of Reuponticum, and the waxe of newe Bees, and the fat or greace of an Asse, and breake them all, and put them all in a dull seething pot full of water, and make it to seeth at a slowe fire, and after let it waxe cold, and make a taper, and euery man that shall see light of it shall seeme headlesse." The Secrecies of Nature,^ setfoorth by Albertus Magnus in Latine, newly e translated into Enqlish, T aiprinted at London by me Wyllyam Copland. No date. Slack letter, very old. THE MAGPIE STONING A 10AD. There is a story told of a tame magpie, which was seen busily employed in a garden, gathering pebbles, and with much solemnity, and a studied air, dropping them in a hole, about eighteen inches deep, made to receive a post. After dropping each stone, it cried, Currack ! triumphantly, and set off for another. On examining the spot a poor toad was found in the hole, which the magpie was stoning for his amusement. ADAPTATION OP BONES TO AGE IN THE HUMAN FEAME. Growth produces in the species a somewhat remarkable change in the mechanical qualities of the bones. This important part of our organism consists of three constituents fibre, cartilage, and the earthy matter already mentioned called phosphate of lime. From the fibre they derive their toughness ; from the cartilage their elasticity ; and from the lime their hardness and firmness. Nothing can be more admirable in the economy of our body than the manner in which the proportion of these constituents adapts itself to the habitudes of age. The helpless infant, exposed by a thousand incidents to external shocks, has bones, the chief constituents of which being gristly and cartilaginous, are yielding and elastic, and incur little danger of fracture. Those of the youth, whose augmented weight and increased activity demand greater strength, have n larger proportion of the calcareous and fibrous elements, but still enough of the cartilaginous to confer upon the solid framework of his body the greatest firmness, toughness, and elasticity. As age advances, prudence and tranquil habits increasing, as well as the weight which the bonea have to sustain, the proportion of the calcareous constituent increases, giving the requisite hardness and strength, but diminishing the tough- ness and elasticity. While the bones thus change their mechanical qualities as age advances, they diminish in number, the frame consequently having fewer joinU MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 93 and less flexibility. The bones of a child, whose habits require greater bodily pliability, are more numerous than those of an adult, several of the articulations becoming ossified between infancy and maturity. In like manner, the bones at maturity are more numerous than in advanced age, the same progessive ossification of the joints being continued. It has been ascertained by anatomists that, on attaining the adult state, the number of bones constituting the framework of the human body is 198 ; of which 52 belong to the trunk, 22 to the head, 64 to the trms, and 60 to the legs. TOWEB OF THE THUNDERING WINDS. The Great Wall is certainly a wonderful monument of ancient times ; I ut it is almost the only one that we read of in China, except a famous Temple, or Tower, partly in ruins, which stands on an eminence in the neighbour- hood of Hang-chow-foo. It is called the "Tower of the Thundering Winds," and is supposed to have been built about 2,500 years ago. DK. MONSET BEQUEATHS HIS OWN BODY. This eccentric person died at the great age of 96, and was for half a century, physician to Chelsea Hospital. He left his body for dissection, 94 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; and a few days before he died, wrote to Mr. Cruikshanks, the Anatomist, begging him to know, whether it would suit his convenience to do it, as he felt he could not live many hours, and Mr. Forster, his surgeon, was then out of town. He died as he predicted, and his wishes with respect to his body, were strictly attended to. TEA. A folio sheet of the time of Charles II. entitled " An Exact De- scription of the Growth, Quality, and Virtues of the Leaf Tea, by Thomas Garway, in Exchange Alley, near the Royal Exchange, in London, Tobacconist, and Seller and Retailer of Tea and Coffee," informs us that " in England it hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten pounds the pound weight ; and in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a regalia in high treatments, and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees till the year 1657. The said Thomas Ganvay did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publikely sold the said Tea in leaf and drink, made according to the direction of the most knowing merchants and travellers in those eastern countries : and upon know- ledge and experience of the said Garway's continued care and industry, in obtaining the best Tea, and making drink thereof, very many noble- men, physicians, merchants, and gentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his house, in Exchange Alley, to drink the drink thereof." IT'S MT7CH THE SAME NOW. The following lines, from the Gentleman's Magazine of 1733, will give us some idea of what fashionable life was at that period : The Town Lady's Answer to, " What tho' I am a Country Lass." What tho* I am a London dame, And lofty looks I bear, a ? I carry, sure, as good a name, As those who russet wear, a. What tho' my cloaths are rich brocades ? My skin it is more white, a Than any of the country maids That in the fields delight, a. What tho' I to assemblies go, And at the Opera's shine, a ? It is a thing all girls must do, That will be ladies fine, a : And while I hear Faustina sing, Before the king and queen, a By Eyes they are upon the wing, To see, if I am seen, a. My Peko and Imperial Tea Are brought me in the Morn, n. At Noon Champaign and rich Tokay My table do adorn, a. The Evening then doesine invite To play at dear Quadrille, a : And sure in this there's more delight, Than in a purling rill, a. Then since my Fortune does allow Me to live as I please, a ; I'll never milk my father's cow Nor press his coming cheese, a. But take my swing both night and d"y, I'm sure it is no sin, a : And as for what the grave ones fay, I value not a pin, a. BAEBEKS. The barber's pole, one of the popular relics of Merrie England, is still to be seen in some of the old streets of London and in country towns, painted with its red, blue, and yellow stripes, and surmounted with MAUVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOtJS, AND QUAINT. 9fc n gilt acorn. The lute and violin were formerly among the furniture of & barber's shop. He who waited to be trimmed, if of a musical turn, played to the company. The barber himself was a nimble-tongued, pleasant- witted fellow. "William Rowley, the dramatist, in " A Search for Money, 1609," thus describes him: " As wee were but asking the question, steps me from over the way (over-listning us) a news-searcher, viz. a barber : hce, hoping to attaine some discourse for his next patient, left his baner of basons swinging in the ayre, and closely eave-drops our conference. The saucie treble-tongu'd knave would insert somewhat of his knowledge (treble-tongu'd I call him, and thus I prove't : hee has a reasonable mother-tonger, his barber-surgions tongue; and a tongue betweene two of his fingers, and from thence proceeds his wit, and 'tis a snapping wit too). Well, sir, hee (before hee was askt the question,) told us that the wandring knight (Monsier L' Argent) sure was not farre off; for on Saterday-night hee was faine to watch till morning to trim some of his followers, and its morning they went away from him betimes. Hee swore hee never clos'd his eyes till hee came to church, and then hee slept all sermon-time ; but certainly hee is not farre afore, and at yonder taverne showing us the bush) I doe imagine hee has tane a chamber." In ancient times the barber and the tailor, as news-mongers, divided the crown. The barber not only erected his pole as a sign, but hung hia basins upon it by way of ornament. BEES OBEDIENT TO TEAINING. Though it is customary in many rural districts of England, when bees are swarming, to make a clanging noise with metal implements, under the impression an erroneous one we believe that it will induce the swarm to settle, it is not generally supposed that bees are susceptible of being trained to obey in many respects the orders of their teacher. Such, however, is the fact, and an instance of it occurs in the following adver- tisement, which we have copied from an old newspaper. "We give it as we find it, but it is not very clear what locality is meant by " their proper places " : "At the Jubilee Gardens, Dobney's, 1772. Daniel Wildman rides, standing upright, one foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck, with a curious mask of bees on his face. He also rides, standing upright on the saddle, with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a pistol, makes one part of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air, and return to their proper places again." A MAN SELLING HIS OWN BODY. Anatomists and surgeons have frequently incurred the odium of being precipitate in their post mortem examinations. It has been charged, upon the illustrious Vessalius, and, in more modern times, on Mons. de Lassone, and others ; nay, credulity has gone so far, as to suppose, that jubjects have occasionally been kept till wanted ; nor is such a notion iltogether extravant, when we find an article of this kind offered to Joshua Brookes, the anatomical lecturer, in the following terms : " Mr. Brooke, i have taken it into consideration to send this poor man ./O TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , to you, being greatly in distress, hopeing you will find sum employment for Mm in silling the dead carcases ; and if you can find him no employ- ment, the berer of this wishes to sill himself to you, as he is weary of this life. And I remain your humble servant, " JOHN DAVIS." THE FI11ST LOCOMOTIVES. It is little more than thirty years ago, when, on the river Tyne, a large fleet of peculiarly-formed vessels was to be seen daily employed in _the carriage of coals to the ships from the " staiths," which projected into THE FIEST LOCOMOTIVE. the river from the various colliery tramways. At that period, there was only one very small and ill-constructed steam-packet for the conveyance of passengers between Newcastle and Shields, and against which so much prejudice existed, that the majority of persons preferred the covered wherries, which, for some centuries before, had been in use ; vet so slow and uncertain was this means of transit between the two "towns, that persons in a hurry often found it advisable to walk the intervening dis- tance, which is about eight miles. The collieries situated away from the river had tramways of wood let into the ordinary roads, in such a manner as to form wheel-tracks for iarriages. These, drawn by horses, were the only means thought of for MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AN1> QUAINT. 97 bringing the coals to the river bank. Some of these tramways were nearly as old as the times of Queen. Elizabeth or James I , when the increase of London and other causes began to overcome the prejudice against the use of " sea-coal." Many of the tramways passed amid green and shadowy woods and other pleasant places, and we have often THE PEESENT LOCOMOTIVE AND TEAIN. thought when wandering through them, of the difficulties that beset travellers at that time. Even at a more recent date, in 1673, day coaciies were ocr.sidered dangerous, and it was suggested that the multitude of them in London should be limited, and not more than one be allowed 1 o each shire, to go once a week backwards and forwards, and to perform the whole journey with the same horses they set out with, and not to travel 98 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; more than thirty miles a day in summer, and twenty-five in winter. The arguments advanced in favour of these proposals were, that coaches and caravans were mischievous to the public, destractive to trade, and prejudicial to the land because, firstly, they destroyed the breed of good horses, and made men careless of horsemanship ; secondly, they hindered the breed of watermen, who were the nursery of seamen ; thirdly, they lessened the revenue. Is. 1703, the road from Petworth to London (less than 50 miles) was so bad that the Duke of Somerset was obliged to rest a night on the road. In March, 1739 or 1740, Mr. Pennant, the historian, travelled by the stays, then no despicable vehicle for country gentlemen, and in the first dav, with "much labour," got from Chester to "Whitechurch twenty miles; and, after a " wondrous effort," reached London before the com- mencement of the sixth night. "Without entering into an account of the rapid improvement of the English roads soon after the time of Pennant, we may mention that, at about the date 1765, the colliery tramways underwent considerable improvement, by plating the wooden rails in many parts with iron : stone-ways were tried in some instances, but were not found successful ; and in course of time the old tramways were covered with cast-iron rails laid on the old foundations. Inclined planes, with fixed steam-engines, also came into use ; and at the same time the idea of a locomotive engine was attracting attention in various directions. In 1805 a machine was used on a tramway near Merthyr Tydvil, and soon after this the " Iron Horse," shown in the engraving, was placed upon the wagon way of the Wylam Colliery, from Wylam to Newburn, on the'Tyne, near Newcastle, and greatly astonished all who saw it drawing along, at the rate of three miles and a half per hour, from fifteen to twenty wagons of coals, making all the while a horrible and snorting noise, difficult to describe, and send- ing forth at the same time fire and dense clouds of black smoke. George Stcphenson was then beginning to make way, and had provided several improved locomotives for Heaton Colliery. In 1816-1817, patents for improvements in locomotives were taken out by George Stephenson, in connexion with Messrs. Dodd and Losh; and in 1825 the projection of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway afforded a further opportunity for their development. The opposition to the use of steam-engines on this line of railway seems singular enough at the present day; still it was very great. The use of horses was, however, found to be too expensive, and George Stephenson having stated that he could work a locomotive with safety at a rate of from six to eight miles an hour (" I knew," said he, " that if I told them more than that, they would look upon me as more fit for a lunatic house than to give evidence in the House of Commons"), a reward of 500/. was offered for the best locomotive engine. A trial took place in October, 1829 only twenty-seven years ago ! of the steam locomotive engines which were offered in competition. Of these, one was withdrawn at the commencement of the experiment. The " Novelty;" by Braithwait and Ericsson, met with an accident ; and the " Sanspareil, by Hackworth, attained a velocity of fifteen miles an hour, wUU a gross load of nineteen tons, but at length gave way, owing to an MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAtXT. 99 accident ; the remaining engine, constructed by Robert Stephenson and il r. Booth, succeeded in performing more than was stipulated. The contrast between the date mentioned at the commencement of our article and the present time is remarkable : the old and clumsy fleet lias vanished from the Tyne ; a railway carries passengers from Newcastle to Shields in a few minutes ; numerous steam vessels sail upon the river, some of large size; which travel to various and distant ports. On the colliery railway hundreds of locomotives are at work, and hundreds of thousands of miles of iron rails spread over a wide extent of the civilized world ; and, in addition to other wonders, the electric telegraph will, ere long, outrival the power of Puck, the fairy, and " put a girdle round the world in (less than) forty minutes." SIK WILLIAM WALLACE THE HEIIO OF SCOTLAND. 1305. This year was marked by the capture of Sir William Wallace. It appears that the King of England had anxiously sought to discover his re- treat, and that, tempted by the prospects of the rewards his baseness might earn for him, Ralph de Haliburton, one of the prisoners taken a short time previously at Sterling, had proffered his services for that purpose. Upon being seized, he was conveyed to the castle of Dumbarton, and thence to England. He was brought to London, ' ' with great numbers of men and women," says Stow, " wondering upon him. He was lodged in the house of William Delect, a citizen of London, in Fenchurch- streeet. On the morrow, being the eve of St. Bartholomew, he was brought on horseback to Westminster, John Segrave and Geoffrey, knights, the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London, and many others, both on horseback and on foot, accompanying him ; and in the great hall at Westminster, he being placed on the south bench, crowned with laurel for that he had said in times past that he ought to bear a crown in that hall, as it was commonly reported and being appeached for a traitor by Sir Peter Malorie, the king's justice, he answered, that he was never traitor to the king of England, but for other things whereof he was accused, he confessed them." These circumstantial and minute details, inartificially as they are put together, and homely or trivial as some of them may be thougnt, are yet full of interest for all who would call up a living picture of the scene. Wallace was put to death as a traitor, on the 23rd of August, 1305, at the usual place of execution the Elms in West Smithfield. He was dragged thither at the tails of horses, and there hanged on a high gallows, after which, while he yet breathed, his bowels were taken out and burnt before his face. The barbarous butchery was then completed by the head being struck off, and- the body being divided into quarters. The head was afterwards placed on a pole on London-bridge ; the right arm was sent to be set up at Newcastle, the left arm to Berwick, the right foot and limb to Perth, and the left to Aberdeen. AX ELEPHANT DETECTS A ROBBEB. An officer in the Bengal army had a very fine and favourite elephant, which was supplied daily in his presence with a certain allowance of 100 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS food, but being compelled to absent himself on a journey, the keeper of the beast diminished the ration of food, and the animal became daily thinner and weaker. When its master returned, the elephant exhibited the greatest signs of pleasure ; the feeding time came, and the keeper laid before it the former full allowance of food, which it divided into two parts, consuming one immediately, and leaving the other untouched. The officer, knowing the sagacity of his favourite, saw immediately the fraud that had been practiced, and made the man confess bis crime. MAY-POLES. The May-pole, decked with garlands, round which the rustics used to dance in this month, yet stands in a few of our villages through the whole circle of the year. A May-pole formerly stood in the Strand, upon the site of the church by Somerset House, but was taken down in 1717. The village May-pole we engrave still remains by the ruins of St. Briavol Castle, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and forms an object of consider- able interest to the visitor. Several in the village could remember the May-day dancers, and the removal and setting up of the May-pole. Iso notice whatever of this old English festival has, however, been taken for some years. The May-pole is about sixty feet high ; about half-way up is the rod to which it was usual to fasten the garlands and ribbons. Let *s observe, that in many parts of Dean Forest, those who love, to trace MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 101 the remains of old manners and customs will find ample employment. The people are civil and hospitable ; their manner of address reminds us of the wording of the plays of Shakspere's times ; and in most houses, if a stranger calls, cider and bread are offered, as in the olden time. THE OLD DOG WHEEL. A.bout a century and a half ago, the long-backed " turnspit" dog, and the curious apparatus here shown, yclept the " Old Dog Wheel," were to be found in most farm houses ; simple machinery has, however, now been substituted for the wheel which the dog was made to turn round. like the imprisoned squirrels and white mice of the present day ; and not only the dog wheels, but also the long-backed "turnspit" dog have almost disappeared. That which we engrave, however, still exists, and may be seen by the curious, at the Castle of St. Briavel, which stands in. the borders of the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire. ABRAHAM AXD SAKAH. The Talmudists relate that Abraham, in travelling to Egypt, brought with him a chest. At the custom-house the officers exacted the duties. Abraham would have readily paid them, but desired they would not open the chest. They first insisted on the duties for clothes, which Abraham consented to pay ; but then they thought by his ready acqui- escence that it might be gold. Abraham consents to pay for gold. They now suspect it might be silk. Abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly pearls in short, he consented to pay as if the chest contained 102 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; the most valuable of things. It was then they resolved to open and examine the chest ; and, behold, as soon as the chest was opened, that great lustre of human beauty broke out which made snch a noise in the land of Egypt it was Sarah, herself! The jealous Abraham, to eonoeal her beauty, had locked her up in this chest. AGES OF CELEBRATED HEX. Hippocrates, the greatest physician the world has ever seen, died * the age of one hundred and nine, in the island of Cos, his native countn Galen, the most illustrious of bis successors, reached the age of oiu hundred and four. The three sages of Greece, Solon, Thales, and Pittu- cus, lived for a century. The gay Democritus outlived them by two years. Zeno wanted only two years of a century when he died. Dio- genes ten years more ; and Plato died at the age of ninety-four, when the eagle of Jupiter is said to have borne his soul to heaven. Xenophon, the illustrious warrior and historian, lived ninety years. Polemon and Epicharmus ninety-seven ; Lycurgus eighty -five ; "Sophocles more thai: a hundred. Gorgias entered his hundred and eighth year ; and Asclepi- ades, the physician, lived a century and a half. Juvenal lived a hun- dred years ; Pacuvius and Varro but one year less. Carneades died at ninety ; Galileo at sixty-eight ; Cassini at ninety-eight ; and Xewton at eighty-five. In the last century, Fontenelle expired in his ninety-ninth year ; Bufibn in his eighty-first ; Voltaire in his eighty-fourth. In the present century, Prince Talleyrand, Goethe, Rogers, and Niemcewicz are remarkable instances. The Cardinal du Belloy lived nearly a century ; and Marshal Moncey lately terminated a glorious career at eighty-five." EFFECT OF A NEW NOSE. Van Helmont tells a story, of a person who applied to Taliacotius to have his nose restored. This person, having a dread of an incision being made in his own arm, for the purpose of removing enough skin therefrom for a nose, got a labourer, who, for a remuneration, suffered the skin for the nose to be taken from his arm. About thirteen months after, the adscitious nose suddenly became cold, and, after a few days, dropped off, in a state of putrefaction. The cause of this unexpected occurrence having been investigated, it was discovered that, at the same moment ic which the nose grew cold, the labourer at Bologna expired. FRENCH DRESS. Sigebert was buried in St. Medrad's church, at Soissons, where hii statue is still seen in long clothes, with the mantle, which the Romans called chlamys. This was the dress of Colvil's children, whether as more noble and majestic, or that they looked on the title of Augustus as here- ditary in their family. However it be, long clothes were, for several ages, the dress of persons of distinction, with a border of sable, ermine, or miniver. Under Charles V. it was emblazoned with all the pieces of the coat of arms. At that time, neither ruffs, collars, nor bands were known, being introduced by Henry II. 'Till this time the neck of the Trench king was always quite bare, except Charles the Wise t who \M MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AXD QUAINT. 10.1 everywhere represented with an ermin collar. Tlie short dress anciently worn in the country and the camp, came to be the general fashion under Louis XL but was laid aside under Louis XII. Francis I. revived it, with the improvement of flashes. The favourite dress of Henry II. and his children was a tight, close doublet, with trunk hose, and a cloak csarce reaching the waist. The dress of French ladies, it may be sup - posed, had likewise its revolutions. They seem for nine hundred years, not to have been much taken up with ornament. - Nothing could require less time or nicety than their head-dress, and the disposition of their hair. Every part of their linen was quite plain, but at the same time ex- tremely fine. Laces were long unknown. Their gowns, on the right side of which was embroidered their husband's coat of arms, and on the left that of their own family, were so close as to shew all the delicacy of their shape, and came up so high as to cover their whole breast, up to their neck. The habit of widows was very much like that of the nuns. It was not until Charles VI. that they began to expose their shoulders. The gallantry of Charles the VII. 's Court brought in the use of bracelets, necklaces, and ear-rings. Q,ueen Anne de Bretagne despised those trinkets ; and Catherine de Medicis made it her whole business to invent new. A LAST CHANCE. John Jones and Jn. Davis, condemn'd for robberrics on the high- way, were executed at Tyburn. Davis feign'd himself sick, and desir'd he might not be ty'd in the cart : But when he came to the tree, while the hangman was fastening the other's halter, he jumpt out of tho cart, and ran over two fields ; but being knock'd down by a country- man, was convey'd back and hang'd without any more ceremony. Jones confessed he had been confederate in several robberies with Gordon, lately, executed. Gentleman's Magazine 1733. A convict running away over two fields at Tyburn, and then being caught by a countryman ! How strange this seems, when we look at the streets and squares which now cover the locality, and when the only countrymen now seen there are those who come up from the rural districts I YELLOW HAIB IJT THE TIME OF THE PLANTAGEXETS. Yellow hair was at this time esteemed a beauty, and saffron was used by the ladies to dye it of a colour esteemed " odious" by modern ladiee Elizabeth also made yellow hair fashionable, as hers was of the wuue tint. In the romance of King Alisaunder, we are told of Queen 01 rm- pias : " Hire yellow hair was fair atyred With riche strings of gold wyred, And wryen hire abouten all " To hire gentil myddel small." THE CITY OK THE SULTAX. The Mosques of Constantinople are the most wonderful objects of that renowned city. More than 300 are picturesquely distributed in conspi- cuous parts, and form a most attractive feature to the eye of the traveller. The city itself is built upon seven gentle hills, which is the main cause 104 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, not only of its grandeur of appearance, but also of its salubrity and com parative cleanliness. There are fourteen chief or imperial mosques, all lofty, and magnificent in their general dimensions, and built from base to dome, of enduring materials, chiefly of white marble, slightly tinged with grey. Some of these have two, some four, and one (that of Sultan Achmet) has even six of those light, thin, lofty, arrowy, and most grace- THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA. ful towers called minarets. The mosque of Santa Sophia was onc a Christian cathedral, and is rich in historical recollections. This mosque ranks as one of the grandest edifices. The ridge of the first hill on which the city stands, setting out from the north eastern part, is covered by the Serai or palace of the Sultan, behind which, a little on the reverse of the hill, the dome of Santa Sophia shows itself. The colleges and hospitals, which are generally attached to or near the great mosques, ofier no strik- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 105 ing architectural features ; but some of the detached chapels or. sepul- chres (turbes), where sultans, viziers, and other great personages repose, are handsome. GOLD MASK FROM THE BANKS OP THE EUPHRATES. This interesting relic of remote antiquity is at present preserved in the M useuin of the East India Company. It was found by Colonel llawlin- son while engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced by Layard and Botta, at Nineveh and Babylon ; and is supposed to have belonged to King Nebuchadnezzar. In exhuming from the mounds of these long-lost rival cities, the instructive remains of this once gigantic Power, the Colonel discovered, in a perfect state of preservation, what is well believed to be the mummy of Nebuchadnezzar. The face of the rebellious monarch of Babylon, covered by one of those gold masks usually found m Assyrian tombs, is described as very handsome the forehead high 106 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; and commanding, the features marked and regular. The mask is ol thin gold, and independent of its having once belonged to the great monarch, has immense value as a relic of an ancient and celebrated people. The Arab tribes encamping about "Wurka and other great mound-* search in the loose gravel with their spears for coffins. Gold and silver ornaments, which have been buried in these graves for centuries, are worn by the Arab women of the present day ; and many a rare object recovered from them is sold and melted by the goldsmiths of the East. The Arabs mention the discovery, by some fortunate shepherd, of lloyal tombs, in which were crowns and sceptres of solid gold. FKOST FAIR ON THE THAMES. " I went erosse the Thames," says Evelyn, January 9, 1G83-4, "on the ice, which now became so thick as to bear not only streetes of boothes, in which they roasted meate, and had divers shops of wares, quite acrosse as in a towne, but coaches, carts, and horses passed over. So I went from Westminster Stayres to Lambeth, and din'd with the Archbishop. I walked over the ice (after dinner) from Lambeth Stayres to the Horseferry. " The Thames (Jan* 16) was filled with people and tents, selling all sorts of wares as in a citty. The frost (Jan y 24) continuing more and more severe, the Thames before London was still planned with boothes in formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnished and full of com- modities, even to a printing-presse, where the people and ladyes took a fancy to have their names printed on the Thames. This humour took so universally, that 'twas estimated the printer gained 5 a-day, for printing a line only, at sixpence a day, besides what he got by ballads, &c. Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other staires to and fro, as in the streetes, sleds, sliding with skeates, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet playes and interludes, cookes, tipLing, and other lewd places, so that it seem'd to be a baccha- nalian triumph, or carnival on the water." " It began to thaw (Feb. 5), but froze againe. My coach crossed from Lambeth to the Horseferry at Millbank, Westminster. The booths were almost all taken down ; but there was first a map, or landskip, cut in copper, representing all the manner of the camp, and the several actions sports, and pastimes thereon, in memory of so signal a frost." THE CHARACTEB OF THE MOUTH. We give the following extract from a very old work ; not only because it contains several shrewd observations, but also because it is a good specimen of the spelling and diction which prevailed in the sixteenth century, at which period there is internal evidence that the book was written, though it bears no date on the title page : " The mouth greate and wyde betokeneth wrath, boldnes and warre. And such men are commonly glottons. A wyde mouth withoute meesure, as thought it were cutte and stretched out, sygnifieth ravening inhu- manitie, wickednes, a warlyke hart and cruell, like unto bcastcs of the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 10" sea. Such men are grcate talkers, boasters, babblers, enuious, lyars, and full of follye. The mouthe that hathe but a lyttle closynge and a lyttle openynge, sygnyfyeth a fearful man, quyet, and yet unfaithful!. The mouthe that is verye apparent and rounde with thycknes of lyppea, sygnyfyeth vnclenlynes, follye, and cruelltye. The mouth whyche hath a quantitie in his sytuation with a lyttle shutting, and smylvnge eye& wyth the reste of the face, sygnyfyeth a carnall man, a lover ot daunces, and a greate lyar. "When the mouthe turneth in speakinge it is a sygne that it is infected with some catarre or murre as is manyfest ynough. The long chynne declareth the man to be very lyttle subiecte to anger, and of a good complexion : and yet he is somewhat a babbler and a boaster of hymselfe. They that have a lyttle chinne, are much to be avoyded and taken heede of, for besydes all vices with the whyche they yes, lyke feminine sygne o a woman. u te cynne o a man muste bealmoste square." " The most excellent, profitable, and pleasant booke of the famous doctour and expert Astroloyien Arcandam or Ale- andrin" ***. Now ready turned out of French into our vulgare tonge, by Will. Warde. Black letter. No date. Printed by J. Rowbothum. EXECUTION OF EARL FERRERS FOR MURDER, 1760. Lord Ferrers was hung for the deliberate and cruel murder of his steward, Mr. Johnson, and his execution at Tyburn furnishes a curious instance of the exhibition of egregious vanity in a man who was just about to meet an ignominious death, and of misplaced pride in his family who could actually decorate the scaffold with the emblems of respectful mourning. His lordship was dressed in his wedding-clothes, which were of light colour, and embroidered in silver. He set out from the Tower at nine o'clock, amidst crowds of spectators. First went a large body of con- stables, preceded by one of the high constables ; next came a party of grenadiers and a party of foot; then the sheriff, in a chariot and six, 'the horses dressed with ribbons ; and next, Lord Ferrers, in a landau and six, escorted by parties of horse and foot. The other sheriff's carriage followed, succeeded by a mourning- coach and six, conveying some of the malefactor's friends ; and lastly, a hearse and six, provided for the pur- pose of taking the corpse from the place of execution to Surgeons' HalL The procession was two hours and three -quarters on its way. Lord Ferrers conversed very freely during the passage. He said, " the appa- my ancestor, the Earl of Essex, the favourite of Elizabeth, suffered, and was in great hopes of obtaining that favour, as I have the honour of being allied to his Majesty, and of quartering Dart of the royal arms. I think it hard that I must die at the place appc-nted for the execution of common felons." 108 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; The scaffold was hung with black by the undertaker, t the expense of Lord Ferrers' family His lordship was pinioned with a black sash, and was unwilling to have his hands tied, or his face covered, but was persuaded to both. On the silken rope being put round his neck, he turned pale, but recovered instantly. "Within seven minutes after leav- ing the landau, the signal was given for striking the stage, and in four minutes he was quite dead. The corpse was subjected to dissection. STRANGE FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. The following, taken from an old magazine, is a singular manifestation of eccentricity in a person who, from the books he selected to be buried with him, was evidently a man of an educated and refined mind : Died, May 4, 1733, Mr. John Underwood, of Whittlesea, in Cambridge- shire. At his burial, when the service was over, an arch was turn'd over the coffin, in which was placed a small piece of white marble, with this inscription, " Non omnis mortar, 1733." Then the six gentlemen who follow'd him to the grave sung the last stanza of the 20th Ode of the 2d book of Horace. No bell was toll'd, no one invited but the six gen- tlemen, and no relation follow'd his corpse; the coffin was painted green, and he laid in it with all his cloaths on ; under his head was placed Sanadon's "Horace," at his feet Bentley's "Milton;" in his right hand a small Greek Testament, with this inscription in gold letters, "ft pi iv TM ftavga, J. U," in his left hand a little edition of " Horace" with this inscription, " Musis Amicus, J. U. ;" and Bentley's "Horace" under his back. After the ceremony was over they went back to his house, where his sister had provided a cold supper ; the cloth being taken away the gentlemen sung the 31st Ode of the 1st Book of " Horace," drank a chearful glass, and went home about eight. He left about 6,000/. to his sister, on condition of her observing this his will, order'd her to give each of the gentlemen ten guineas, and desir'd they would not come in black cloaths. The will ends thus, "Which done I would have them take a chearful glass, and think no more of John Underwood." QUICK TRAVELLING IN OLD TIMES. Saturday, the seventeenth day of July, 1619, Bernard Calvert, of Andover, about three o'clock in the morning, tooke horse at St. George's Church in Southwarke, and came to Dover about seaven of the clocke the same morning, where a barge, with eight oares, formerly sent from London thither, attended his suddaine coming : he instantly tooke barge, and went to Callice, and in the same barge returned to Doyer, about three of the clocke the same day, where, as well there as in diverse other places, he had layed sundry swift horses, besides guides : he rode back from thence to St. George's Church in Southwarke the same evening, a little after eight o'clock, fresh and lusty. Slaw's Annals. EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. As the arts and sciences improved, so did the construction of Light- houses, until one of the greatest accomplishments of engineering skiL, ever attempted upon such works, was exhibited in the construction of the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QCAlJS'l. lOi) Eddystone Lighthouse, which is, indeed, much more entitled than the Pharos of Alexandria to be considered one of the wonders of the world. The rock on which this tower is built is placed about twelve miles south- west of Plymouth, and consists of a series of submarine clifi's, stretching from the west side (which is so precipitous that the largest ship can ride THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. close beside them) in an easterly direction, for nearly half a mile. At the distance of about a quarter of a mile more is another rock, so that a more dangerous marine locality can hardly be imagined. Both these rocks had proved the cause of many fatal shipwrecks, and it was at last resolved to make an attempt to obviate the danger. In the year 1696, a gentleman of Essex, named Winstanley, who had a turn for architecture and mechanics, was engaged to erect a lighthouse upon the Eddvstono rock, and in four years he completed it. It did not, however, stand long, for while some repairs were in progress under his direction in 1703, on 110 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; the 26th November, a violent hurricane came on which blew the light- house down, and Mr. Winstanley and all his workmen perished nothing remaining of the edifice but a few stones and a piece of iron chain. In the spring of 1706 an Act of Parliament was obtained for rebuilding the lighthouse, and a gentleman named Rudyerd, a silk mercer, was the engineer engaged. He placed five courses of heavy stones upon the rock and then erected a superstructure of wood. The lighthouse on the Bell Rock, off the coast of Fife, and the one placed at the entrance of the Mersey on the Black Rock, are similarly constructed, so that there seemed to be good reason for adopting the principle. Mr. Smeaton thought that the work was done in a masterly and effective manner ; but in 1755 the edifice was destroyed by fire, and he was next retained as the engineer for this important building. The result of his labours has justly been considered worthy of the ad- miration of the world, for it is distinguished alike for its strength, dura- bility, and beauty of form. The base of the tower is about twenty-six feet nine inches in diameter, and the masonry is so formed as to be a part of the solid rock, to the height of thirteen feet above the surface, where the diameter is diminished to nineteen feet and a half. The tower then rises in a gradually diminishing curve to the height of eighty-five feet, including the lantern, which is twenty-four feet high. The upper ex- tremity is finished by a cornice, a balustrade being placed around the base of the lantern for use as well as ornament. The tower is furnished with a door and windows, and the whole edifice outside bears the graceful outline of the trunk of a mighty tree, combin- ing lightness with elegance and strength. Mr. Smeaton commenced his labours in 1756, and completed the building in four years. Before com- mencing operations he took accurate drawings of the exterior of the rock, and the stones, which were brought from the striking and romantic dis- trict of Dartmoor, were all formed to fit into its crevices, and so prepared as to be dovetailed together, and strung by oaken plugs. When put into their places, and then firmly cemented, the whole sec-med to form, and does indeed constitute, a part of the solid rock. SWEATING SICKXESS. The Sweating Sickness first visited England Anno Dom. 1483, and repeated its visitations 1485, 1506, 1517, 1528, and last of all, 1551. This epidemic disease raged with such peculiar violence in England, and had so quick a crisis, that it was distinguished by the name of Ephemera Britannica. This singular fever seems to have been of the most simple, though of the most acute kind, and notwithstanding princes and nobles were its chief victims, the physicians of the day never agreed upon the method of treating it. The splendid French embassy, which arrived in England in 1550, found the court-festivities damped by a visitation of that strange and terrific maladv. " This pestilence, first brought into the island by the foreign merce- naries who composed the army of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., now made its appearance for the four' 11 ' ~:"4 last tim in MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. Ill our annals. It seized principally, it is said, on males, on such as were in the prime of their age, and rather on the higher than the lower classes : within the space of twenty-four hours, the fate of the sufferer was decided for life or death. Its ravages were prodigious ; two princes died of it ; and the general consternation was augmented, by a super- stitious idea which went forth, that Englishmen alone were the destined victims of this mysterious minister of fate, which tracked their steps, with a malice and sagacity of an evil spirit, into every distant country of the earth whither they might have wandered, whilst it left unassailed all foreigners in their own." AN AMEEICAN ADVEETISEMENT. The following is an early specimen of that system of poetical advertis- ing which in recent times has become so common. It is always inte- resting to note the origin of customs with which we subsequently become familiar : Notice to the Public, and especially to Emigrants, who wish to settle on Lands. The Subscriber offers for Sale, several Thousand Acres of Land, situated in well settled Front Townships, in Lots to suit Purchasers. Particulars about Location, May be known by application. For quality of soil, and so forth, Buyers to see, on Nag must go forth. This much I'll tell ye plainly, Of big trees ye'll see mainly. "Bout Butter Nut and Beach, A whole week I could preach ; But what the plague's the use of that ? The lands are high, low, round, and flat. There's rocks and stumps, no doubt enough, And bogs and swamps, just quantum-suff To breed the finest of Musquitoes ; As in the sea are bred Bonitos, No lack of fever or of ague ; And many other things to plague you. In short, they're just like other people's, Sans houses, pigsties, barns, or steeples What most it imports you to know, 'S the terms on which I'll let 'em go. So now I offer to the Buyer, A Credit to his own desire, For butter, bacon, bread, and cheese, Lean bullocks, calves, or ducks and geese, Corn, Tates, flour, barley, rye, Or any thing but Punkin-Pie. In three, four years, Aye, Jive or six, If that won't do, why let him fix. But when once fix'd, if payment's slack, As sure as Fate, I'll take 'em back. THOMAS DALTON. Kingston Brewery, (Canada,) Nov. 2, 1821. MAGNIFICENCE OP FOEMEE TIMES. Account how the Earl of Worcester lived at Rayland Castle in Mon- mouthshire, before the Civil Wars, which began in 1641. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Castle gates were shut, and the tables laid ; two in the dining-room ; three in the hall one in Mrs. """atson's apartment, where the chaplains are, (Sir Toby Mathews being the first ;) and two in the housekeeper's room for the lady's women. The Earl came into the dining-room attended by his gentlemen. As soon, as he was seated, Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward of the house, retired. The Comptroller, Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, as did the Sewer, Mr. Blackburne ; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, and Mr. Scudamore ; with many gentlemen's sons, from two to seveu 12 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; Hundred pounds a year, bred up in the Castle ; my Lady's Gentleman Usher, Mr. Harcourt ; my Lord's Gentlemen of the Chamber, Mr. Mojgan and Mr. Fox. At the first table sat the noble family, and such of the nobility as came. At the second table, in the dining-room, sat Knights and Honourable Gentlemen, attended by footmen. In the hall, at the first table sat Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward ; the Comptroller, Mr. Holland ; the Secretary ; the Master of the Horse, Mr. Delewar ; the Master of the Fish Ponds, Mr. Andrews ; my Lord Her- bert's Preceptor, Mr. Adams ; with such Gentlemen as came there under the degree of a Knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with wine. At the second table in the hall, (served from my Lord' stable, and with other hot meats,) sat the Sewer, with the Gentlemen "Waiters and Pages, to the number of twenty-four. At the third table in the hall, sat the Clerk of the Kitchen, with the Yeomen Officers of the House, two Grooms of the Chamber, &c. Other Officers of the Household were, Chief Auditor, Mr. Smith ; Clerk of the Accounts, Mr. George Wharton ; Purveyor of the Castle, Mr. Salsbury ; Ushers of the Hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Croke ; Closet Keeper, Gentleman of the Chapel, Mr. Davies ; Keeper of the Records ; Master of the Wardrobe ; Master of the Armoury; Master Groom of the Stable for the War Horses ; Master of the Hounds ; Master Falconer ; Porter and his man. Two Butchers ; two Keepers of the Home Park ; two Keepers of the Red Deer Park. Footmen, Grooms, and other menial Servants, to the number of 150. Some of the footmen were brewers and bakers. Out Officers. Steward of Ragland, "William Jones, Esq. ; the Governor of Chepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, Bart. ; Housekeeper of "Worces- ter House, in London, James Redman, Esq. Thirteen Bailiffs. Two Counsel for the Bailiffs to have recourse to. Solicitor, Mr. John Smith. SADLER'S WELLS. "T. G., Doctor in Physic," published, in 1684, a pamphlet upon this place, in which he says : " The water of this well, before the Reforma- tion, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures performed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called Holy-well. The priests belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to attend there, made the people believe that the virtue of the water proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers ; but at the Reformation the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of it was altogether super- stitious ; and so by degrees it grew out of remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found, out ; when a gentleman named Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being surveyor of the high- ways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden, in the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of stone." After the decease of Sadler, Francis Forcer, a musician of some eminenro in his profession, became proprietor of the well and music-room : he was MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 113 succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the diversions of rope- dancing and tumbling, which were then performed in the garden. The rural vicinity of the " Wells," long made it a favourite retreat of the pleasure-seeking citizens. CHAMPION FIGG. James Figg, a native of Thame, in. Oxfordshire, was a man of remark- able athletic strength and agility, and signalized himself greatly over any of liis country competitors in the art of cudgel-playing, single-stick, and other gymnastic exercises. Having acquired a considerable know- ledge of the broad-sword, he came to London, and set up as master in 5 114 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ' that science, undertaking to teach the nobility and gentry of his day the noble art of self defence ; and championed himself against all comers. He took a waste piece of ground, the corner of Wells and Castle-streets, Oxford-road, and erected a wooden edifice, which, in imitation of the Romans, he denominated an amphitheatre ; and established here a regular academy, to train pupils in the practice of cudgeling, broad- sword, &c. &e., as well to use it, on fixed occasions, for the exhibition of prize-fighting. He had many followers, and we find him commemo- rated and praised by most of the wits of his time. "The Tattler," " Guardian," and " Craftsman," have equally contributed to preserve his memory, as have several writers. Bramstone, in his " Man of Taste" teUs us : ' In Figg the prize-fighter by day delight, And sup with Colley Gibber every night." Another writer notices bim in the following lines : " To Figg and Broughton he commits his breast, . To steel it to the fashionable test." Sutton, the pipe-maker of Gravesend, was his rival, and dared the mighty Figg to the combat. Twice they fought, with alternate advan- tage ; but, at the third trial, a considerable time elapsed before victory decided for either party; at length the palm of victory was obtained by l* igg. In short, neither Ned Sutton, Tom Buck, nor Bob Stokes, could resist, or stand against his skill and valour. He was never defeated but once, and then by Sutton, in one of their previous combats, and that was generally supposed to have been in consequence of an illness he had on bim at the time he fought. When Faber engraved his portrait from a painting by Ellys, he was at a loss what he should insert, as an appropriate motto, and consulting with a friend what he should put, was answered, "A Fi'jtj for the Irish." This was immediately adopted, and the print had a rapid sale. Figg died in 1734. William Flander a noted scholar of his, fought at the amphitheatre, in 1723, with Christopher Clarkson, from Lanca- shire, who was called the Old Soldier. The fashion of attending prize- fighting matches had attained its highest zenith in Figg's time, and it was looked upon as a very great proof of self-denial in an amateur if he failed a meeting on those occasions. From Figg's theatre he will not miss a night, Though cocks, and bulls, and Irish women, fight. Figg left a widow and several children ; so recently as 1794 a daughter- in-law of his was living, and resided in Charles-street, Westminster, where she kept a house, and supported herself very decently by letting lodgings, aided by a very small income. DBESS IK 1573. The wardrobe of a country gentleman is thus given from a will, dated 1573, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in Brayley and Britton's Graphic Illustrator " I give unto my brother Mr. William Sheney MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 115 my best black gown, garded and faced with velvet, and my velvet cap ; also I will unto my brother Thomas Marcal my new shepe colored gowne, garded with velvet and faced with cony ; also I give unto my son Tyble my shorte gown, faced with wolf (skin), and laid with Billements lace ; also I give unto my brother Cowper my other shorte gowne, faced with foxe ; also I give unto Thomas Walker my night gown, faced with cony, with one lace also, and my ready (ruddy) colored hose ; also I give unto my man Thomas Swaine my doublet of canvas that Forde made me, and my new gaskyns that Forde made me ; also I give unto John Wyldinge a cassock of shepes colour, edged with ponts skins ; also I give unto John Woodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas, and my hose with fryze bryches ; also I give unto Strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons ; also I give Symonde Bisshoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkyn, with stone buttons ; also I give to Adam Ashame my hose with the frendge (fringe), and lined with crane-coloured silk ; which gifts J will to be delivered immediately after my decease." ORIGIN OF THE CHEST OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. The loss of the French at the battle of Crecy was immense. There fell .1,200 knights ; 1,400 esquires ; 4,000 commissioned officers ; 30,000 rank and file ; Dukes of Lorraine and Bourbon ; Earls of Flanders, Blois, Har- court, Vaudemont, and Aumale ; the King of Bohemia ; the King of Ma- jorca. The English lost one esquire, three knights, and less than one hundred rank and file. Here did they first use field artillery ; and on this battle-field did the young Prince of Wales adopt the ostrich plumes and motto of the slain King of Bohemia, who, being blind, desired to be led at a gallop between two knights into the thick of the fight, and thus met death. Those feathers and the two words " Ich dien," " I serve," are to this day the heraldic bearings of the Prince of Wales, whom God preserve ! So much for Cre9y or Cressy ! SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF A THIEF IN 1822. On February 20, as a servant in the employ of J. L. King, Esq., of Stogumber, was entering a field, his attention was attracted by a mag- pie, which appeared to have escaped from a neighbouring house. The bird spoke so uncommonly plain that the man was induced to follow it. " Cheese for Martjei, Cheese for Marget" was its continual cry, as it hopped forward, till it stopped behind a hay-stack, and began to eat, On inspection, a number of hams, a quantity of cheese, &c., were dis- covered, which had been stolen, a short time previously, from Mr. Bowering, of Williton. The plunder was deposited in sacks, on on of which was marked the name of a person residing in the neighbourhood, which led to the apprehension of four fellows, who have been committed to Wilton gaol. EFFECT OF VINEGAR ON THE SKIN. By the use of vinegar the Spanish General Vitellis, made his skin hang about-him like a pelisse ; but of the wonderful dilatability of the skin, no instance equals the Spaniard who showed himself to Van-Horn, Silvius. Pi so, and other learned men at Amsterdam. Taking up with his left 116 T/JN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; hand the skin of his right shoulder, he would hring the same up to his mouth : again he would draw the skin of his chin down to his breast like a beard, and presently put it upwards to the top of his head, hiding both his eyes therewith; after which, the same would return orderly and equally to its proper place. ADVERTISEMENT OF A DYING SPEECH BOOK IN 1731 Newgate literature was more popular in the last century than it is now. The following is an advertisement in the Gentleman's Magazine of the above date : " A General History of Executions for the vear, 1730. Containing the lives, actions, dying speeches, confessions and behaviour, of sixty male- factors executed at Tyburn, and elsewhere; particularly three un- fortunate young gentlemen, viz., Mr. Goodburn, a Cambridge scholar, Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Porter, son to the late Lord Mayor of Dublin : and of several notorious highwaymen, foot-pads, street-robbers, and housebreakers, as Dalton, Everet, Doyle, Newcomb, &c. , and of the five young highwaymen taken at Windsor, said to have formed a design to rob the Queen there. To which is added, the trial of William Gordon at Chelmsford for a robbery *", . the highway ; an account of the incen- diaries at Bristol, and ' *.* apprehending John Power, for sending threatening letters, and Lring Mr. Packer's house; also the life of Col. Ch s. Togetb'-- *r.th an alphabetical list of all the persons in- dicted or tried at tb- ')A Bailey, the year past. With the judgment of the couit respectively passed upon each, referring to the pages in the session books for the trials at large. Printed for R. Newton at St. John's Gate, and sold by the booksellers price bound 2s. 6d." ADVERTISEMENT OF A FLEET PAKSON. In the last century, when marriages were allowed to be transacted we cannot say solemnized in the Fleet Prison, and the adjacent taverns, the profligate wretches who disgraced their sacred profession by taking part in such iniquities, were obliged to bid against one another for custom here is one of their advertisements : G. R. At the true Chapel at the old Red Hand and Mitre, three doors from Fleet Lane and next Door to the White Swan ; Marriages are performed by authority by the Reverend Mr. Symson educated at the University of Cambridge, and late Chaplain to the Earl of Rothes. N.B. Without Imposition. In all countries, this sure-footed and faithful animal is adopted as an emblem of stupidity, from the patience with which it submits to punish- ment and endures privation. A pair of ass's ears is inflicted upon a child MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 117 in reproof of his duncehood ; acd through life we hear every blockhead of our acquaintance called an ass. Whereas the ass is a beast of great intelligence ; and we often owe our safety to its sure and unerring foot beside the perilous precipice, where the steps of the man of science would have faltered. The Fathers of the Church, and the Disciples of the Sorbonne, per- suaded of the universal influence of the Christian faith, believed the dark cross on the back of the ass to date only from the day on which our Saviour made his entry into Jerusalem. The ass of the desert was an animal of great price. Pliny mentions that the Senator Arius paid for one the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces. Naturalists have fre- quently remarked the extraordinary dimensions of an ass's heart, which is thought an indication of courage ; and it is the custom of the peasantry of some countries to make their children wear a piece of ass's skin about their person. The ass's skin is peculiarly valuable, both for the manu- facture of writing-tablets and drums ; which may be the reason why a dead ass is so rarely seen. It is too valuable to be left on the highway. In many places, the ass serves as a barometer. If he roll in the dust, fine weather may be expected ; but if he erect his ears, rain is certain. Why should not these animals experience the same atmospheric influences as man ? Are we not light-hearted in the sunshine, and depressed in a heavy atmosphere ? CHOICE EECEIPTS FEOM " PHrSICK POE THE POOH. LONDOX, 1657." To make any one that Sleepeth answer to whatsoever thou ask. Take the heart of an oul, and his right legg, and put them upon the breast of one that sleepeth, and they shall reveal whatsoever thou ask them. To know any Man or Woman's minde when they are Asleep. Take the hart of a dove, and the legg of a frog, dry it well, and beat them to powder in a morter, put this up in a linnen cloth, with three or four round pibble stones, as big as wallnuts, then lay this upon the parties pit of their stomach, and they shall tell you all things that they have done, if there is anything remarkable that troubles them. To make the Nose Bleed. Take the leaves of yerrow, put it up in thy cose ; this will make the nose bleed immediately. 'lo make a Tooth Drop out. Mizaldus saith that if you make a powder of earth-worms and put it in the hollow of a rotten tooth, it will im- mediately drop out. How strange must have been the education and intelligence of the period, when people could write, publish, and practice such incredible trash ! SHOCKING DEPRAVITY. The following account, from an old magazine, affords a strange and lamentable instance of a wretch just about to die, being only intei t with his latest breath to defame his own mother : Mary Lynn, condemn'd last Assizes for the County of Noi "oik, was burnt to ashes at a stake, for being concern'd in the murder jer mis tress; and Smith, the principal, was hang'd for the same fact. She denv'd her being guilty, and said Smith could clear her if he would. 118 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; She behaved with decency, and died penitent. Smith was drunk at the gallows ; and seem'd to have but little sense either of his crime or punishment ; however, desired all masters to pay their servants' wages on Saturday night, that they might have money to spend, and not run in debt. Said, " My mother always told me I should die in my shoes, but I will make her a liar ;" so threw them off. PERSONAL CHARMS DISCI AIMED. If any human being was free from personal vanity, it must have been the second Duchess d'Orleans, Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria. In one of her letters (dated 9th August, 1718), she says, " I must certainly be monstrously ugly. I never had a good feature. My eyes are small, my nose short and thick, my lips broad and thin. These are not materials to form a beautiful face. Then I have flabby, lank cheeks, and long features, which suit ill with my low stature. My waist and my legs are equally clumsy. Undoubtedly I must appear to be an odious little wretch; and had I not a tolerable good character, no creature could endure me. I am sure a person must be a conjuror to judge me by my eyes that I have a grain of wit." CADER IDRIS. On the very summit of Cader Idris there is an excavation in the solid rock, resembling a couch ; and it is said that whoever should rest a night in that seat, will be found in the morning either dead, raving mad, or endued with supernatural genius. OLD LONDON SIGNS. Some notion of the houses and shops of old London may be gathered by a visit to Bell Yard, near Temple Bar ; Great "Winchester Street, near the Bank ; the wooden houses near Cripplegate Church ; and a few other districts which were spared by the Great Fire of 1666. In Bell Yard, for instance, the national feeling for improvement has from time to time effected changes ; the lattices of diamond-shaped lead-work, carved pendants, and the projecting signs of the various tradesmen, have dis- appeared, and here and there sheets of plate glass have been used, to give a somewhat modern appearance to the places of business. Still the pro- jecting and massive wood- work of the shops, and the peculiar picturesque appearance of the houses, cannot be altogether disguised ; and if any of our readers, who may be curious in such matters, will walk up Bailey's Court, on the west side of Bell Yard, he will there see a group of wooden buildings exactly like the great mass which was cleared by the fire. In some of the pictures of London of about this time, the shops of the various tradesmen were chiefly unglazed, and above the door of each was suspended the silver swans ; the golden swans ; the chained swans ; the golden heads ; mitres ; bells black, red, white, and blue ; rising and setting suns ; moons of different phases ; men in the moon ; sceptres ; crowns, and many other devices, which, even at that time, were necessary to distinguish one shop from another. The chequers ; St. George and the dragon ; royal oaks ; king's heads ; and double signs, such as tha MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT, 119 horse-shoe and magpie; bell and crown; bell and horns, and such.like, were more -particularly set. apart for the use of the various hosteiries. Everyone, however, who had a London shop of any kind or consequence, had his sign. Many of them were well carved in wood, and ornamented with emblazonry and gilding. No doubt if it were possible to find at the present time the same picturesque architectural displays as were to be met with in London in (iueen Elizabeth's days, our artistic friends would be able to pick up many a nice subject fos their pencils, but in those days there were plenty of drawbacks ; the pavement was bad, the drainage was worse, and from the eaves of the houses and pents of the shops, streams of water ran down in wet weather upon the wayfarers, and, by lodging in the thoroughfares, made the London streets something in the same state as those of Agar Town and some other neglected parts of the metropolis. "We must not forget that in the days to which we allude there were no nagged foot- paths, and that the only distinction from the horse and cart roads, and that for the foot passengers, was a separation by wooden posts, which, in genteel places, were made supports for chains. People, however, got tired of this bad state of things, and measures were taken to put a stop to the streams of water from the roofs, &c. After the Great Fire, an enactment was made for an alteration in the spouts, &c. ; all barbers' poles, and projecting signs, and other projections were to be done away with, and other changes made for the better. Up to the reign of Queen Anne, we find, by reference to views of Cheapside and the neighbourhood of the Monument, that the projecting signs were still in use ; and that even at that recent date, many of the London shops in the important neighbourhoods above mentioned were without glazing, and looked much like some of the greengrocers' sheds in use now in Bermondsey and some other places. Severe measures seem to have been at length taken against the pro- jecting signs, and most of them disappeared, and then it became a most difficult matter either to address letters, or find a man's shop. In Dr. Johnson's day, he and other persons gave the address " over against" a particular sign, or so many doors from such a sign. In consequence of this uncertainty, many houses in London, which from their association with eminent men would possess much interest now, cannot be pointed out ; and it was a wonderful benefit to the metropolis when the plan of numbering the houses in each street was hit upon. But for this, considering that the population has doubled in the last fifty years, it is difficult to know how the genius of Rowland Hill would have worked his plan of London post-office delivery, or business could be carried on with any kind of comfort. The booksellers and publishers seem to have been the last, with the exception of the tavern-keepers, to give up the old signs. After the Great Fire, some of the ancient signs which were cut in stone, and which had escaped the conflagration, were got out of the ruins, and afterwards placed in the front of the plain, yet solid, brick buildings which were erected after that event. Some of these the "Chained Bear," the " Collared Swan." the " Moon and Seven Stars," and " Sun," in Cheap 120 TEN THOUSAND WONDEHFtJL THINGS J side, and some others which we now engrave are still preserved. The carved wooden sign of the " Man in the Moon," in "Wych Street, Strand, is a rare example ; and the " Horse-shoe and Magpie," in Fetter Lane, is one of the last of the suspended signs to be now found in the City. Amongst the painted signs of London taverns worth notice, is one in Oxt" ard-street (nearly opposite Rathbone-place), said to have been painted by Hogarth. The subject is " a man loaded with mischief." He has a stout woman on his shoulders, together with a monkey, magpie, etc. The male figure shown in this street picture seems to bear up pretty well under bis burden. MARVELLOUS, RARE; CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 121 NARROW ESCAPE. CALM RELIANCE ON PROVIDENCE. In the year 1552, Francis Pelusius, of sixty-three years old, digging a well forty foot deep in the hill of St. Sebastian, tho earth above him foil in upon him to thirty-five foot depth ; he was somewhat sensible before of what was coming, and opposed a plank, which by chance he had with him, against the ruins, himself lying under it ; by this means he was protected from the huge weight of earth, and retained some room and breath to himself, by which he lived seven days and nights without food or sleep, without any pain or sorrow, being full of hope, which he placed in God only. Ever and anon he called for help, as being yet safe, but was heard by none, though he could hear the motion, noise and words of those that were above him, and could count the hours as the clock went. After the seventh day, he being all this while given for dead, they brought a bier for his corpse, and when a good part of the well was digged up, on a sudden they heard the voice of one crying from the bottom. At first they were afraid, as if it had been the voice of a subterranean spirit ; the voice continuing, they had some hope of his life, and hastened to dig to him, till at last, after they had given him a glass of wine, they drew him up living and well, his strength so entire that to lift him out he would not suft'er himself to be bound, nor would use any help of another. Yea, he was of so sound understanding, that, jesting, he drew out his purse and gave them money, saying He had been icith such good hosts, that for seven days it had not cost him a farthing. CEILING OF WHITEHALL. The celebrated painting on the roof of the Banqueting House, has been restored, re-painted, and refreshed, not fewer than three times. In the reign of James II., 1687, Parrey Walton, a painter of still life, and the keeper of the king's pictures, was appointed to i -ft- touch this grand work of art, which had then (as appears by the Privy Council Book) been painted only sixty years. "Walton was paid 212 for its complete restora- tion, which sum was considered by Sir Christopher "Wren, "as very modest and reasonable." It was restored a second time by the celebrated Cipriani ; and for a third time by a painter named Rigaud. BTTNTAN'S BIBLE. John Bunyan's Bible (printed by Bill and Barker) bound in morocco, and which had been his companion during his twelve years' unjustifiable confinement in Bedford gaol, where he wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress, was purchased at the sale of the library of the Rev. S. Palmer, of Hackney, March, 1814, for the late Samuel "Whitbread, Esq., for the sum of 21. This Bible, and the " Book of Martyrs," are said to have constituted the whole library of Bunyan during his imprisonment. SPECIMENS OP ROYAL GRANTS. In 1206, King John grants to W. de Camville a licence to destroy e in any of the royal forests, which proves the origin of the Game aws. 1238. Henry III. gave 500/. to Baldwyn, Emperor of Constantinople. gam Law TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J 1342. King Edward III. forgives to the mayor and citizens A London the indignation and rancour of mind that he had conceived against them. 1344. The king grants to Adam Thorp, the trimmer of his beard, certain lands at Eye, near Westminster. The scrupulous attention which Edward III. paid to that ornament of his face, may be seen in his bronze in "Westminster Abbey, which was taken from a mask after his 1409. The king settles on Joan of Navarre, his queen, 10,OOOZ. per annum. 1417. Henry V. grants to Joan "VVarin, his nurse, an annuity of 20/. during life. 1422. The jewels which had belonged to King Henry V., and were valued at so large a sum as 40,OOOZ., were delivered to Sir Henry Fitz Hugh, and his other executors, for the payment of his personal debts. 1422. The " Pysanc," or great collar of gold and rubies, was pawned by the king to his uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, who is supposed, at the time of his death, to have amassed more wealth than any subject in England. COFFEE AND TEA. The bill for attendance at the Dorchester Assizes in 1686 of Mr. John Bragge, the town-clerk of Lyme, presents this novelty the article coffee is charged 2d. This may have been drunk at a coffee-house. Coffee was introduced from Turkey in 1650. An advertisement in the "Mercurius Politicus," Sept. 30, 1658, instructs how " That excellent and by all physitians approved China drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations, tay alias tee, is sold at the Sultana's Head Coftee-house, in Sweeting's-rents, by the Exchange, London. " There was a " cophee-house" in St. Miehael's-alley, Cornhill, about. 1G57. Tea, coffee, and chocolate were placed under the excise. There was no tax upon these commodities when imported, but when made into drink, as tea was, at 8d. a gallon, and sold at these houses. REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF HUMAN HAIR SINCE THE NORMAN PERIOD. In 1839 a coffin was discovered in the abbey church of Itomsey, which had originally contained the body of a female of the above early time. The bones had entirely decayed, but the Lrr, with its characteristic in- destructibility, was found entire, and appcired as if the skull had only recently been removed from it, retaining its form entire, and having plaited tails eighteen inches in length. It is still preserved in a glass case, lying upon the same block of oak which has been its pillow for centuries. PTTBLIC TASTE FOR CONJtTRING IN 1718. One of the amusements of 1718 was the juggling exhibition of a fire- eater, whose name was De Hightrehight, a native of the valley of An- nivi in the Alps. This tremendous person ate burning coals, chewed flaming brimstone and swallowed it, licked a red-hot poker, placed a red- hot heater on his tongue, kindled coals on his tongue, suffered them to be blown, and broiled meat on them, ate melted pitch, brimstone, bees- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 123 wax, sealing-wax, and rosin, with a spoon ; and, to complete the busi- ness, he performed all these impossibilities five times per diem, at the Duke of Maryborough's Head, in Fleet-street, for the trifling receipts oi 2s. 6d., Is. 6d., and Is. Master High trehight had the honour of exhibit ing before Lewis XIV., the Emperor of Germany, the King of Sicily, the Doge of Venice, and an infinite number of princes and nobles and the Prince of "Wales, who had nearly lost this inconceivable pleasure by the envious interposition of the Inquisition at Bologna and in Piedmont, which holy office seemed inclined to try their mode of burning on his body, leaving to him the care of resisting the flames and rendering them harmless ; but he was preserved from the unwelcome ordeal by the in- terference of the Dutchess Royal Regent of Savoy and the Marquis Bentivoglia. THE TRIUMPHS OF SCIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. Distance seems not to have entered into the calculations of the engineers who built those monuments of human skill carriage -roads over the Alps. They were after a certain grade, and they obtained it, though by contortions and serpentine windings that seem almost endless. Thus the Simplon averages nowhere more than one inch elevation to a foot, and, indeed, not quite that. Thirty thousand men were employed on this road six years. There are six hundred and eleven bridges in less than forty miles, ten galleries, and twenty houses of refuge, while the average width of the road is over twenty-five feet. The Splugen presents almost as striking features as the Simplon. From these facts, some idea may be gathered of the stupendous work it must be to carry a carriage-road over the Alps. CHRISTMAS PIE. The following appeared in the Newcastle Chronicle, 6th January, 1770: '-' Monday last was brought from Howick to Berwick, to be shipped for London, for Sir Henry Grey, bart., a pie, the contents whereof are as follows : 2 bushels of flour, 201bs. of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkeys, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons : it is supposed a very great curiosity, was made by Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, house-keeper at Howick. It was near nine feet in circumference at bottom, weighs about twelve stones, will take two men to present it at table ; it is neatly fitted with a case, and four small wheels to facilitate its use to every guest that inclines to partake of its contents at table." THE UPAS, (POISON) TREE. "We give here an instance of the extravagancies of ancient travellers, thia tissue of falsehoods being taken from " Foersch's Description of Java :" The JBohon Upas is situated in the Island of Java about twenty- seven leagues from Batavia, fourteen from Soulis Charta, the scat of the Emperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from Tinkjoe, the present residence of the Sultan of Java. It is surrounded on all sides by a circle of high hills and mountains ; and the country round 124 f EN- THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J it, to the distance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entire}/ barr .n. Not a tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is to be seen. I have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at about eighteen miles distant from the centre, and I found the aspect of the country on all sides equally dreary. The easiest ascent of the hills is from that part where the old Ecclesiastick dwells. From his house the criminals are sent for the poison, into which the points of all warlike instruments are dipped. It is of high value, and produces a consider- able revenue to the Emperor. The poison which is procured from this tree is a gum that issues out between the bark and the tree itself, like the camphor. Malefactors, who for their crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch the poison ; and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives. After sentence is pronounced upon them by the Judge, they are asked in Court, whether they will die bjr the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go to the Upas-tree for a box of poison ? They commonly prefer the latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving their lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a provision will be made for them in future by the Emperor. They are also permitted to ask a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of a trifling nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedition. They are always told to attend to the direction of the wind, as they are to go towards the tree before the wind ; so that the effluvia from the tree is always blown from them. They go to the house of the old ecclesiastic, who prepares them by prayers and admonitions for their future fate ; he puts them on a long leathern cap with two glasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their breast ; and also provides them with a pair of leather gloves. They are conducted by the priest, and their friends, and relations, about two miles on their journey. The old Ecclesiastick assured me that in upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred criminals in the manner described, and that scarcely two out of twenty have re- turned. All the Malayans consider this tree as an holy instrument of the great prophet to punish the sins of mankind, and, therefore, to die of the poison of the Upas is generally considered among them as an honourable death. This, however, is certain, that from fifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature can exist, but no animal of any kind has ever been discovered, there are no fish in the waters, and when any birds fly so near this tree that tLe effluvia reaches them, they drop down dead. DEATH CAUSED BY SUPERSTITION. In Hamburg, in 1784, a singular accident occasioned the death of a young couple. The lady going to the church of the Augustin Friars, knelt down near a Mausoleum, ornamented with divers figures in marble, among which was that of Death, armed with a scythe, a small piece of the scythe being loose, fell on the hood of the lady's mantelet. On her return home, she mentioned the circivnstance as a matter of indifference MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 125 to her husband, who, being a credulous and superstitious man, cried out in a terrible panic, that it was a presage of the death of his dear wife. The same day he was seized with a violent fever, took to his bed, and died. The disconsolate ladv was so affected at the loss, that she was taken ill, and soon followed him. They were both interred in the same grave ; and their inheritance, which was very considerable, fell to some very distant relations. ST. PAUL AND THE VIPEK. THE CHTTRCH AT MALTA. Not far from the old city of Valetta, in the island of Malta, there is a small church dedicated to St. Paul, and just by the church, a mira- culous statue of the Saint with a viper on his hand ; supposed to be placed on the very spot on which he was received after his shipwreck on this island, and where he shook the viper off his hand into the fire, without being hurt by it. At which time the Maltese assure us, tte Saint cursed all the venomous animals of the island, and banished them for ever ; just as St. Patrick treated those of his favourite isle. Whether this be the cause of it or not, we shall leave to divines to determine, though if it had, St. Luke would probably have mentioned it in the Act* of the Apostles ; but the fact is certain, that there are no venomous animals in Malta. THE FLRST HERMITS WHY SO-CALLED. Hermits, or Eremites, (from the Greek tpr^ios, a desert place,) were men who retired to desert places to avoid persecution ; they lodged iu caves and cells : " Where from the mountain's grassy side, Their guiltless feast they bring ; A scrip with herbs and fruit supply'd, And water from the spring." The first hermit was Paul, of Thebes, in Egypt, who lived about the year 260 ; the second, was St. Anthony, also of Egypt, who died in 345, at the age of 105. ST. JAMES'S SQTTABE. The author of A Tour through the Island of Great, Britain (Daniel Defoe), second edition, 1738, gives us the following particulars of this aristocratic locality: "The alterations lately made in St. James's Square are entitled to our particular notice. It used to be in a very ruinous condition, considering the noble houses in it, which are inhabited by the fiist quality. But now it is finely paved all over with heading- stone ; a curious oval bason full of water, surrounded with iron rails on a dwarf wall, is placed in the middle, mostly 7 feet deep and 150 diameter. In the centre is a pedestal about fifteen feet square, designed for a statue of King William III. The iron rails are octagonal, and at each angle without the rails, is a stone pillar about 9 feet high, and a lamp on the top. The gravel walk within the rails is about 26 feet broad from each angle to the margin of the basin. It was done at the expense of the inhabitants by virtue of an act of parliament. The house that once belonged to the Duke of Ormond, and since to the Duke of Cbando^, 126 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ', is pulled down and makes three noble ones, besides fine stables and coach- houses behind, and two or three more good houses in the street leading to St. James's Church. This noble square wants nothing but to have the lower part of it, near Pall Mall, built of a piece with the rest, and the designed statue to be erected in the middle of the basin. "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has taken the Duke of Norfolk's house, and another adjoining to it, which are now (October, 1737), actually repairing for his town residence ; Carlton House being too small for that purpose. THE IIOUAYSJIIEE FLOODS. In the month of August, 1829, the province of Moray and adjoining districts were visited by a tremendous flood. Its ravages were most destructive along the course of those rivers which have their source iu the Cairngorm mountains. The waters of the Findhorn and the Spey, and their tributaries, rose to an unexampled height. In some parts of their course these streams rose fifty feet above their natural level. Many houses were laid desolate, much agricultural produce was destroyed, and several lives were lost. The woodcut in our text represents the situation of a boatman called Sandy Smith, and his family, in the plains of Torres. " They were huddled together," says the eloquent historian of the Floods, ' ' on a spot of ground a few feet square, some forty or fifty yards below their inundated dwelling. Sandy was sometimes standing and sometimes sitting on a small cask, and, as the beholders fancied, watching with intense anxiety the progress of the flood, and trembling for every large tree that it brought sweeping past them. His wife, covered with a blanket, sat shivering on a bit of a log, one child in her lap, and a girl of MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 127 about seventeen, and a boy of about twelve years of age, leaning against her side. A bottle and a glass on the ground, near the man, gave the (spectators, as it had doubtless given him, some degree of comfort. About a score of sheep were standing around, or wading or swimming in the shallows. Three cows and a small horse, picking at a broken rick of straw that seemed to be half-afloat, were also grouped with the family. 1 ' The account of the rescue of the sufferers is given with a powerful dramatic effect, but we cannot afford space for the quotation. The courageous adventurers who manned the boat for this dangerous enter- prise, after being carried over a cataract, which overwhelmed their boat, caught hold of a floating hay-cock, to which they clung_ till it stuck among some young alder-trees. Each of them then grasping a bough, they supported themselves for two hours among the weak and brittle branches. They afterwards recovered the boat under circumstances almost miraculous, and finally sxicceeded in rescuing Sandy and his family from their perilous situation. TREATMENT AND CONDITION OF WOMEN IN FORMEB, TIMES. From the subversion of the Roman Empire, to the fourteenth or fif- teenth century, women spent most of their time alone, almost entile strangers to the joys of social life ; they seldom went abroad, but to be spectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashions of the times countenanced. Francis I. was the first who introduced women on public days to Court ; before his time nothing was to be seen at any of the Courts of Europe, but grey-bearded politicians, plotting the destruction of the rights and liberties of mankind, and warriors clad in complete armour, ready to put their plots in execution. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries elegance had scarcely any existence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. The use of linen was not known ; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore woollen shifts. In Paris they had meat only three times a week ; and one hun- dred livres, (about five pounds sterling,) was a large portion for a young lady. The better sort of citizens used splinters of wood and rags dipped in oil, instead of candles, which, in those days, were a rarity hardly to bo met with. Wine was only to be had at the shops of the Apothecaries, where it was sold as a cordial ; and to ride in a two -wheeled cart, along the dirty rugged streets, was reckoned a grandeur of so enviable a nature, that Philip the Fair prohibited the wives of citizens from en- joying it. In the time of Henry VIII. of England, the peers of the realm carried their wives behind them on horseback, when they went to London ; and in the same manner took them back to their country seat* with hoods of waxed linen over their heads, and wrapped in mantles J cloth to secure them from the cold. HOMEB IX A NUTSHELL. Huet, Bishop of Avranches, thus writes in his autobiography: *' When his Highness the Dauphin was one day confined to his bed by is, slight illness, and we who stood round were endeavouring to entertain him by pleasant conversation, mention was by chance made of the person 128 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; who boasted that he had written Homer's Iliad in characters so minute, that the whole could be enclosed in a walnut shell. This appearing in- credible to many of the company, I contended not only that it might be done, but that I could do it. As they expressed their astonishment at this assertion, that I might not be suspected of idle boasting, I im- mediately put it to the proof. I therefore took the fourth part of a com- mon leaf ol paper, and on its narrower side wrote a single line in so small a character that it contained twenty verses of the Iliad : of such lines each page of the paper could easily admit 120, therefore the page would contain 2400 Homeric verses : and as the leaf so divided would give eight pages it would afford room for above 19,000 verses, whereas the whole number in the Iliad does not exceed 17,000. Thus by my single line I demonstrated my proposition." ATJTOBIOGEAPHY OF CHARING C&OSS AND CHEAPSIDE CBOS3. The following interesting "Autobiographies" of the Old London Crosses, are extracted from Henry Peacham's Dialogue between the Crosse in Cheap and Charing Cross, confronting each other, as fearing their fall in these uncertaine times, four leaves,' 4to. 1641. " Charing Cross. I am made all of white marble (which is not per- ceived of euery one) and so cemented with mortar made of the purest lime, Callis sand, whites of eggs and the strongest wort, that I dene all hatchets and hammers whatsoever. In King Henry the Eighth's daies I was begged, and should have been degraded for that I had : Then in Edward the Sixe, when Somerset-house was building, I was in danger ; after that, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one of her footmen had like to have run away with me ; but the greatest danger of all I was in, when I quak'd for fear, was in the time of King James, for I was eight times begged : part of me was bespoken to make a kitchen chimney for a chiefe constable in Shoreditch ; an inn-keeper in Holborn had bargained for as much of me as would make two troughes, one to stand under a pumpe to water his guests' horses, and the other to give his swine their meate in ; the rest of my poore carcase should have been carried I know not whither to the repaire of a decayed stone bridge (as I was told) on the top of Harrow-hill. Our royall forefather and founder, King Edward the First you know, built our sister crosses, Lincolne, Granthame, "Woburne, Northampton, Stonie-Stratford, Dunstable, Saint Albanes, and ourselves here in London, in the 21st yeare of his raigne, in tho yeare 1289." " Cheapside Cross. After this most valiant and excellent king had built me in forme, answerable in beauty and proportion to the rest, I fell to decay, at which time one John Hatherly, maior of London, having first obtained a licence of King Henry the" Sixt, anno 1441, I was re- paired in a beautiful manner. John Fisher, a mercer, after that gave 600 markes to my new erecting or building, which was finished anno 1484, and after in the second yeare of Henry the Eighth, I was gilded over against the coming in of Charles the Fift Emperor, and newly then gilded against the coronation of King Edward the Sixt, and gilded againe anno 1554, against the coronation of King Philip. Lord, how often have MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 129 I Veen presented by juries of the quest for incombrance of the street, and hindring of cartes and carriages, yet I have kept my standing ; I *hall never forget how upon the 21st of June, anno 1581, my lower statues were in the night with ropes pulled and re At down, as in the resurrection of Christ the image of the Virgin Mary, Edward the Con- fessor, and the rest. Then arose many divisions and new sects formerly unheard of, as Martin Marprelate, alias Penrie, Browne, and sundry others, as the chronicle will inform you. My crosse should have been taken quite away, and a Piramis errected in the place, but Queen Elizabeth (that queen of blessed memory) commanded some of her privio councell, in her Majesties name, to write unto Sir Nicholas Mosely, then Maior, to have me againe repaired with a crosse ; yet for all this I stood bare for a yeare or two after : Her Highness being very angry, sent expresse word she would not endure their contempt, but expressly com- manded forthwith the crosse should be set up, and sent a strict command to Sir "William Eider, Lord Maior, and bade him to respect my antiquity ; for that is the ancient ensigne of Christianity, &c. This letter was dated December 24, anno 1600. Last of all I was marvellously beautified and adorned against the comming in of King James, and fenced about with sharp pointed barres of iron, against the rude and villainous hands of such as upon condition as they might have the pulling me down, would be bound to rifle all Cheapside." It is scarcely necessary to say that both crosses have long since dis appeared, and their sites become uncertain, although the name of Charing Cross still distinguishes an important London district. SOMETHING LIKE A FEAST. Leland mentions a feast given by the Archbishop of York, at his installation, in the reign of Edward IV. The following is a specimen : 300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 100 tuns of wine, 1,000 sheep. 104 oxen, 304 calves, 304 swine, 2,000 geese, 1,000 capons, 2,000 pigs. 400 swans, 104 peacocks, 1,500 hot venison pasties, 4,000 cold, 5,006 custards hot and cold. Such entertainments are a picture of manners. EGYPTIAN TOTS IN THE BEITISH MTJSEITM. The truth of the old proverb,that " there is nothing new under th sun," will be recognised on an examination of the interesting group which forms the subject of our engraving. Here are dolls of different shapes, some of them for good children, and some, perhaps, for bad ; foot-balls, covered with leather, &c., the stitches in parts still firmly adhering ; models of fishes and fruit ; and round pellets, which the " small boys" of the present day would call " marbles." These toys have been played with by little Egyptians who have been deacggars, counterfaite Egyptians, &c., as there are, nor yet so manye Plagues to bee amongst vs as there are, if these Dunghilles and filthe in Coinmonweales were remooued, looked into, and cleane caste oute, by .fie Industrie, payne, and trauell of those that are sette in authoritie, /nd haue gouernment." " A Treatise against Dicing, Daunting, Vaine places or Enterluds." Black Letter ; no date. THE INTENTION OF TTTES. The honour of the iuTention of movable types has been disputed by two cities, Haarlem and Mentz. The claims of Haarlem rest chiefly upon a statement of Hadrien Junius, who gave it upon the testimony of Cornelius, alleged to be a servant of Lawrence Coster, for whom the in- vention is claimed. The claims of Mentz, which appear to be more con- clusive, are in favour of Peter Schtefier, the assistant and son-in-law of John Faust, better known as Dr. Faustus. The first edition of the Speculum humance salvationis was printed by Coster at Haarlem, about the year 1440, and is one of the earliest productions of the press of which the printer is known. The celebrated Bible, commonly known as the Mentz Bible, without date, is the first important specimen of printing with moveable metal types. This was executed by Gutenberg and Faust, or Fust, as it is sometimes spelt, between the years 1450 and 1455. The secret of the method then becoming known, presses were speedily established in all parts of Europe, so that before the year 1500 there were printing-offices in upwards of 220 different places in Austria, Bavaria, Bohemia, Calabria, the Cremonese, Denmark, England, Flanders, France, Franconia, Frioul, Geneva, Genoa, Germany, Holland, Hungarv, Italy, Lombardy, Mecklenburg, Moravia, Xaples, the Palatinate, Pied- mont, Poland, Portugal, Rome, Sardinia, Upper and Lower Saxony, Sicily, Silesia, Spain, Suabia, Switzerland, Thessalonica, Turkey, Tuscany, the Tyrol, Venice, Verona, "Westphalia, "Wurtemberg, &c. This vast and rapid extension of the art, combined with the skill which the earlier printers displayed in it, seems to be totally incompatible with the date assigned to the invention, and it is more than probable, that the art having been long practised in private under continued at- tempts at secrecy, it at length broke into publicity after it had already attained a considerable degree of perfection. THE PKOTETJS ANGUINUS. It has been satisfactorily proved that the polypus cannot see its prey, but is only aware of its presence by the actual agitation of the water, from its remaining altogether passive when a thin piece of glass is in- terposed between them. There are many Monads, which, without pos- sessing any trace of an eye, are yet susceptible of light. An equally extraordinary phenomenon presents itself in the Proteus anguinus. This singular animal is found in the subterranean lakes of the inter- MARVELLOUSj RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 158 minable stalactital caverns in the limestone range of the Carmolan Alps, where the author saw it. In appearance it is between a fish and a lizard ; it is of a flesh-colour, and its respiratory organs, which are connected with lungs, so as to enable it to breathe above or below the water, form a red crest round the throat, like a cock's comb. It has no eyes, but small points in the place of them, and light is so obnoxious to it, that it uses every effort to exclude it, by thrusting its head under stones. It is reported also to exist in Sicily, but is known no where else. The jolly toper is so fond of the thing we call a bumper, that he troubles not himself about the name, and so long sin the liquor is but tine and clear, cares not a farthing in how deep an obscurity the ety- mology is involved. The sober antiquarian, on the contrary, being prone to etymology, contemplates the sparkling contents of a full glass with much less delight than he does the meaning, the occasion, and the original of the name. The common opinion is, that the bumper took its name from the grace-cup ; our Roman Catholic ancestors, say they, after their meals, always drinking the Pope's health in this form, au bon Pere. But there are great objections to this ; the Pope was not the bon Pere, but the Saint Pere ; amongst the elder inhabitants of this kingdom, the attribute of sanctity being in a man- ner appropriated to the Pope of Rome, and his see. Again, the grace-cup, which, went round of course, after every repast, did not imply anything extraor- dinary, or a full glass. Drinking-glasses were not in use at the time here supposed, for the grace-cup was a large vessel, proportioned to the number of the society, which went round the table, the guests drinking out of one cup, one after another. COFFEE. From a number of the " Public Advertiser," of May 19 to May 26, 1657, we have ' In Bartholomew-lane, on the back side of the Old Exchange, the drink called Coffee is advertised as to be sold in th morning, and at three of the clock in the afternoon. QUATNT EECEIPTS. The following Receipts are taken from a work entitled, "New Curiosities in Art and Nature, or a Collection of the most valuable Secrets in all Arts and Sciences. Composed and Experimented by Sieur Lemery, Apothecary to the French King. London : John King, Little Britain. 1711." To make one Wake or Sleep. You must cut off" dexterously the head of a toad alive, and at once, and let it dry, in observing that one eye be shut, and the other open ; that which is found open makes one wake, &nd that shut causes sleep, by carrying it about one. 154 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL 1 KINGS Preservative against the Plague. Take three or four great toads, seven or eight spiders, and as many scorpions, put them into a pot well atopp'd, and let them lye some time ; then add virgin-wax, make a good fire till all become a liquor, then mingle them all with a spatula, and make an ointment, and put it into a silver box well stopp'd, the which carry about you, being well assured that while you carry it about you, you will never be infected with the plague. We give the above as indicating the delusions which prevailed with respect to certain nostrums as late as the year 1711. EXECUTION OF GOVERNOR WALL IS 1802. As the following account, by a gentleman who witnessed the scene, avoids all disgusting details, we give it as containing a description ot some of the circumstances which attended the execution, at the com- mencement of the present century, of a criminal of the higher class. The wretched man was hung for murder and barbarity : his victims were the men he had under his charge as Governor of the Island of Goree : " As we crossed the Press-yard, a cock crew ; and the solitary clanking of a restless chain was dreadfully horrible. " The prisoner entered. He was death's counterfeit, tall, shrivelled, and pale ; and his soul shot so piercingly through the port-holes of his head that the first glance of him nearly petrified me. I said in my heart, putting my pencil in my pocket, God forbid that I should disturb thy last moments ! His hands were clasped, and he was truly penitent. After the yeoman had requested him to stand up, 'he pinioned him,' as the Newgate phrase is, and tied the cord with so little feeling that the governor, who had not given the wretch the accustomed fee, observed ' You have tied me very tight ;' upon which Dr. Ford, the chaplain, ordered him to slacken the cord, which he did, but not without muttering, 'Thank you, sir,' said the governor to the doctor : 'it is of little moment.' He then observed to the attendant, who had brought in an immense iron shovel-full of coals to throw on the fire, ' Ay, in one hour that will be a blazing fire,' then turning to the doctor, questioned him : ' Do tell me, sir : I am informed I shall go down with great force ; is it so ?' After the construction and action of the machine had been explained, the doctor questioned the governor as to what kind of men he had at Goree : 'Sir,' he answered, 'they sent me the very riff-raff.' The poor soul then joined the doctor in prayer ; and never did I witness more contrition at any condemned sermon than he then evinced. " The sheriff arrived, attended by his officers, to receive the prisoner from the keeper. A new hat was then partly flattened on his head, for owing to its being too small in the crown, it stood many inches too high behind. As we were crossing the Press Yard, the dreadful execrations of some of the felons so shook his frame that he observed, the clock had struck ; and quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the room where the sheriff was to give a receipt for his body, according to the usual custom. 0ing, however, to some informality in the wording of this receipt, he was not brought out as soon as the multitude expected ; and it was this M4.RVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 155 delay which occasioned a partial exultation from those who betted as to a reprieve, and not from any pleasure in seeing him executed. " After the execution, as soon as I was permitted to leave the prison, I found the Yeoman selling the rope with which the malefactor had been suspended, at a shilling an inch ; and no sooner had I entered Newgate- street, than a lath of a fellow, passed threescore years and ten, who had just arrived from the purlieus of Black Boy Alley, woe-hegone as Romeo 1 i apothecary, exclaimed, ' Here is the identical rope at sixpence an inch.' '' STAGE-COACH IN 1760. Ayscough's Nottingham Courant of this date, contained the following advertisement : The flying machines on steel springs set off from the Swan with Two Necks Inn, Lad-lane, London, and from the Angel Inn in Sheffield, every Monday and Thursday morning at five o'clock, and t ies the first night from London at the Angel Inn in Northampton, the second at the Blackmoor's Head Inn, Nottingham, and the third at Sheffield. Each passenger to pay 11. 17s., and to be allowed fourteen pounds of luggage. Performed (if God permit) by John Hanforth and Samuel Glanville. BLIND WORKMAN. A young man, in Greenock, of the name of Kid, who was blind from his infancy, finished the model of a sixty-four gun ship, of about five feet keel, planked from the keel, with carriages for the guns, and every necessary material and apparelling of a ship of that rate, with- out any assistance whatever, or other instrument than a small knife and hammer. SPORTS OP THE LOWER CLASSES IN 1749. The following handbill is curious, on account of the light it sheds on what was considered attractive to the million a hundred years ago : "According to Law. September 22, 1749. On Wednesday next, the 27th inst., will be run for by Asses (! !) in Tothill Fields, a purse of gold, not exceeding the value of Fifty Pounds. The first will be entitled to the gold ; the second to two pads ; the third to thirteen pence half- penny ; the last to a halter fit for the neck of any ass in Europe. Each ass nmst be subject to the following articles : " No person will be allowed to run but Taylors and Chimney -sioeepers; the former to have a cabbage-leaf fixed in his hat, the latter a plumage of white feathers ; the one to use nothing but his yard-wand, and the other a brush. " No jockey-tricks will be allowed upon any consideration. " No one to strike an ass but the rider, lest he thereby cause a retro- grade motion, under a penalty of being ducked three times in the river. " No ass will be allowed to start above thirty years old, or under ten months, nor any that has won above the value of fifty pounds. " No ass to run that has been six months in training, particularly above stairs, lest the same accident happen to it that did to one nigh a town ten miles from London, and that for reasons well known to that piase. 156 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; "Each ass to pay sixpence entrance, three farthings cf which are to be given to the old clerk of the race, for his due care uud attendance. " Every ass to carry weight for inches, if thought proper." Then follow a variety of sports, with " an ordinary of proper victual. particularly for the riders, if desired." "Run, lads, run! there's rare sport in Tothill Fields!" STATE COACH AT THE PROROGATION OP PARLIAMENT IN 1796. Never was a greater assemblage of persons collected together than on this occasion: in the Park and in Parliament-street there were atleast 20,000 people. By the repair of the state coach, which has undergone several material alterations since the damage it received at the opening of the last session, the Icing is now secluded from the sight. Hitherto, the upper pannels of it had always been of glass, so that the multitude could see the king in all directions, through the front, through the sides, as well as through the windows in the doors : it has been newly glazed, and the whole of the carriage is lined with sheet copper, musket proof; between the crimson lining of the carriage is a wadding of tine wool, coated with buffalo skin, the nature of which is so close that no bullets can penetrate it. HISTOEICAL ANECDOTE. On the dollars, stivers, &c., coined at the town of Dordrecht in Holland, is the figure of a mikmaid sitting under her cow, which figure is also ex- hibited in relievo on the water-gate of the place. The occasion was as follows : In the noble struggle of the United Provinces for their liberties, the Spaniards detached a body of forces from the main army, with the view of surprising Dordrecht. Certain milk-maids, belonging to a rich farmer in the vicinity of the town, perceived as they were going to milk, some soldiers concealed under the hedges. They had the presence of mind to pursue their occupation without any symptoms of alarm. On their return home they informed their master of what they had seen, who gave information to the Burgomaster, and the sluices were let loose, by which great numbers of the Spaniards were drowned, and the expedition defeated. The States ordered the farmer a handsome revenue for the loss he sustained by the overflowing of his lands, rewarded the women, and perpetuated the event in the manner described. TOMB OF JOHN BTOYAN. Who has not read the " Pilgrim's Progress," " that wonderful book," writes Mr. Macaulay, " which, while it obtains admiration from the most fastidious critics, is loved by those who are too simple to admire it ?" "We can remember our own delight on reading, for the first time, the pre- cious volume. This was in the days of our childhood, when we were deeply imbued with the fairy lore which at that time was so plentifully supplied, and so eagerly devoured. John Bunvan was buried in Bunhill Fields burying-ground, City-road ; and the tablet on his tomb, which the engraving very correctly repre- sents is as follows: " Mr. John Bunyan, author of the ' Pilgrim'; MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUA1M. 157 Progress,' ob. 12 Aust. 1688, cet. 60." Formerly there were also the fol- lowing lines : " The Pilgrim's Progress now is finished. And death has laid him in his earthly bed." Bunhill Fields burying-ground was opened as a suburban cemetery in 1665, in the time of the great plague, and was a favourite burying-pluce with the Dissenters. Here are buried Daniel ^efoe ; Dr : Isaac Watts ; J oseph Ritson the antiquary ; Dr. Thomas Goodwin, the chaplain who at tended Cromwell's death-bed ; George Fox, the founder of the Quakers ; the mother of John "Wesley ; Lieut. -General Fleetwood, son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell; Thomas Stothard, II. A., and other eminent men. SPIDERS FOND OF MUSIC. Spiders hear with great acutencss, and it is affirmed that they an attracted by nusic. Disjonval relates the instance of a spider which 158 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; used to place itself on the ceiling of a room over the spot \vher a lady played the harp, and which followed her if she removed to another part ; and he also says tnat the celebrated violinist Berthome, when a boy, saw a spider habitually approach him as soon as he began to play, and which eventually became so familiar that it would fix itself on his desk, and on his arm. Bettina noticed the same effect with a guitar, on a spider which accidentally crossed over it as she was playing. BREAKFASTING HOT IN 1745. This quaint announcement, in a handbill of the time, shows how cheaply those who lived a century or so past could enjoy suburban pleasures in merrie Islington : " This is to give notice to all Ladies and Gentlemen, at Spencer's original Breakfasting-Hut, between Sir Hugh Middleton's Head and St. John Street Road, by the New River side, fronting Sadler's Wells, may be had every morning, except Sundays, fine tea, sugar, bread, butter, and milk, at fourpence per head ; coffee at threepence a dish. And in the afternoon, tea, sugar, and milk, at threepence per head, with good attendance. Coaches may come up to the farthest garden-door next to the bridge in St. John Street Road, near Sadler's Wells back gate. Note. Ladies, &c., are desired to take notice that there is another person set up in opposition to me, the next door, which is a brick-house, and faces the little gate by the Sir Hugh Middleton's, and therefore mistaken for mine ; but mine is the little boarded place by the river side, and my backdoor faces the same as usual ; for I am not dead, I am not gone, Nor liquors do I sell ; But, as at first, I still go on, Ladies, to use you well. No passage to my hut I have, i river runs before ; Therefore your care I humbly crave, Pray don't mistake my door. ; Yours to serve, S. SPENCER." SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. In Leroux's Journal de Medicine, is an account of a very fat woman, twenty-eight years of age, who was found on fire in her chamber, where nothing else was burning. The neighbours heard a noise of something like frying, and when the body was removed it left a layer of black grease. The doctor conceives that the combustion began irj the internal parts, and that the clothes were burnt secondarily. MOTHER MAPP THE BONE-SETTER. She was the daughter of a man named Wallis, a bone-setter at Hin don, in Wiltshire, and sister to the celebrated " Polly Peachem," who married the Duke of Bolton. Upon some family quarrel, Sally Wallis left her professional parent, and wandered up and down the country in a miserable manner, calling herself " Crazy Rally," and pursuing, in her perambulations, a course that fairly justified the title. Arriving at last at Epsom, she succeeded in humbugging the worthy bumkins of that place, so decidedly, that a subscription was set on foot to keep her among them ; but her fame extending to the metropolis, the dupes of London, a nu- merous class then as well as now, thought it no trouble to go ten miles to MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 159 ec the conjuror, till at length, she was pleased to bless the afflicted of London with her presence, and once a week drove to the Grecian Coffee- house, in a coach and six with out-riders ! and all the appearance of nobility. It was in one of these journeys, passing through Kent-street, in the 'Borough, that being taken for a certain woman of quality from the Electorate in Germany, a great mob followed and bestowed on her many bitter reproaches, tul Madame, perceiving some mistake, looked out of the window, and accosted them in this gentle manner, " Confound you, do'nt you know me? lam Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter!" upon which, they instantly changed their revilings into loud huzzas. TWO CERTIFICATES OP GRETNA-GREEN MARRIAGES AT DIFFERENT DATES. ' ' This is to sartfay all persons that my be consernid, that A B from the parish of C in the County of D and E F from the parish of G and in the county of H and both comes before me and declayred themseless both to be single persons, and now mayried by the form of the Kirk of Scot- land, and agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my hand, this 18 th day of March 1793." " Kingdom of Scotland " County of Dumfries " Parish of Gretna " These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that John N. . . from the parish of Chatham in the County of Kent, and Rosa H from the Parish of St. Maries in the County of Nottingham, being both here now present and haying declared to me that they are single persons, but have now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of Eng- land, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness our hands at Springfield this 4 th day of October 1822. " Witness " Witness me. Jane Rae David Lang. John Ainslie." John N RosaH...." THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The women here are generally more handsome than in other places, sufficiently endowed with natural beauties, without the addition of adulterate sophistications. In an absolute woman, say the Italians, are required the parts of a Dutch woman, from the girdle downwards ; of a French woman, from the girdle to the shoulders : over which must be placed an English face. As their beauties, so also their prerogatives are greater than any nation ; neither so servilely submissive as the French, nor so jealously guarded as the Italians ; but keeping so true a decorum, that as England is termed the Pergatorie of Servants, and the Hell of Horses, so is it acknowledged the Paradise of Women. And it is a common by- word amongst the*[talians, that if there were a bridge built across the narrow seas, all the women in Europe would run into England. E'or here they have the upper hand in the streets, the upper place at the table, the thirds of their husband's estates, and their equal share of ail lands ; privileges with which other women are not acquainted. They 160 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; were in high esteem in former times amongst foreign nations, for the mo- destie and gravitie of their conversation ; but of late so much addicted to the light garb of the French, that they have lost much of their ancient honour and reputation amongst knowing and more sober men of foreign countries who before admired them. Peter Heylin's Cosmoyrapliie, 1G52. PRICES FOE SEATS AT CORONATIONS. On consulting Stowe, Speed, and other antiquaries, it appears that the price of a good place at the coronation of William the Conqueror was a blank ; and probably the same at that of his son William Rufus. At that of Henry I. it was a crocard, and at King Stephen's and Henry the Second's a pillard. At King Richard's and King John's, it was nfuskm ; and rose at Henry the Third's to a dodkin. In the reign of Edward I. the coins began to be more intelligible ; and we find that tor seeing his coronation a Q was given, or the half of aferliny, or farthing, which was, as now, the fourth part of a sterling, or penny. At the coronation of Edward II. it was a farthing ; and at that of Edward III. a halfpenny,' which was very generally given. In the reign of Richard II. it was a penny, and continued the same at that of Henry IV. But at that of Henry V. it was two pennies, or half of a yrossus, or groat ; and the same at that of Henry VI. and of Edward IV. ; nor do we find it raised at the coronation of Richard III. or that of Henry VII. At that of Henry VIII. it was the whole grossus, or groat, nor was the price altered at those of Edward VI. and Queen Mary ; but at Queen Elizabeth's it was a lesion, tester, or sixpence. At those of James I. and Charles I. a shilling was given ; which sum was advanced to half a crown at the coronations of Charles and James II. At King William's and Queen Anne's, it was a crown ; and at George the First's the show was seen by many at the same price. At the coronation of George II. some gave half a guinea ; but at that of George III. and Queen Charlotte, anno 1761, curiosity seems to have risen to an amazing height. On this occasion the price given for single seats were almost incredible ; in some houses ten guineas, and in ordinary houses five guineas. Great and universal anxiety prevailed to see this grand spectacle, from the reflection how improbable it was that many who were there could ever have an opportunity of witnessing the like again. As an instance of this extreme anxiety, it is confidently related, that a gentleman was prevailed on to take a room for his lady, at the price of one hundred and forty guineas ; but the appointment of the solemnity of the coronation falling unluckily at the exact time when she expected to be delivered, she actually further prevailed on her husband to let a skilful man-midwife, nurse, &c., attend her, and to hire another room, lest the hurry of the day should bring on her labour, when it might be impossible for her to be removed without endangering her life. ANCIENT HOTTSE AT BLACKWALL SAID TO BE THE RESIDENCE OF SIR "WALTER RALEIGH. The house shown in the engraving is interesting from two causes ; first, that it was the house in which Sir Walter Raleigh smoked his first pipe MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 1K1 of tobacco in England, and secondly, that it is one of the few relict remaining of those picturesque old houses of the days of Queen 15ess. The house is built of strongly framed timber, which, in recent years, has teen plastered over ; and the carved heads that ornament the gables, and wnicn. are good both in design and execution, show that this house is at least 350 vcars oil 162 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; At the present time a tavern has been built between this house and the river. Formerly, however, there was, no doubt, a trimmed garden and terrace towards the Thames, from which the inhabitants may have watched the progress of Queen Elizabeth from the Tower to *her palace at Greenwich. It is singular to notice the fashion of these old houses, arising from the value of space within walled towns ; each floor projects over the other, so that the upper apartments have more room than the lower. While, in an artistic point of view, we cannot help regretting the disappearance of the venerable and quaint gables, for sanitary and other reasons we must be tontent with the change. AMBASSADORS WHY HELD BY THE AEMS A3 THH OTTOMAN COURT. A dervise addressed Bajazet, emperor of the Turks, 1495, for alms, and while the charitable Sultan searched for his money, the treacherous beggar wounded him with a dagger, and was instantly slain by the royal attendants. This incident is rendered memorable by its having occasioned the ungracious restraint under which even the ambassadors of Christian powers were subject to in former times when they received an audience from the Ottoman Emperor. They were held by the arms bv two attendants, when they approached the throne, nor were their arms loosed till they had quitted the presence. TRAVELLING TS 1760. The nobility and gentry were accustomed to make their long journeys in ponderous family-carriages, drawn by four horses. These vehicles would be laden at the top with an array of trunks and boxes, while perhaps six or seven persons, with a lapdog, would be stowed within. The danger of famine on the road was averted by a travelling larder of baskets of various condiments ; the risk of thirst would be provided against by bottles of usquebaugh, black cherry-brandy, cinnamon-water, sack, port, or strong beer : while the convoy would be protected by a tasket-hilted sword, an old blunderbuss, and a bag of bullets and a great horn of gunpowder. OLD ST. PAUL'S. La the old cathedral was a tower of stone, in height from the ground 260 feet, on which was a spire of wood, covered with lead, 274 feet high, In the tower was a celebrated peal of bells ; and somewhat above the btone-work was a " faire dial," from which there was order taken in the eighteenth year of Edward III. that the rich chasing and gilding should be always kept in good preservation. On this dial was the figure of au mgel pointing to the hours of both day and night a device more ap- propriate than most of the clock-hands in present use. From this lofty tteeple, which formed such an important feature of old London, the jliimcs rung merrily on saints' days and holidays ; and at times the choristers mounted up aloft and chaunted forth their orisons at dawn and sunset a custom still observed at Durham Cathedral. Before the lire of London, the spire of St. Paul's was more thaaonce destroyei or lamaged by lire and lightning. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AKD QUAINT. 163 On Candlemas Eve, 1444, about two o'clock in the afternoon, the light- ning fired the steeple. The citizens came forth and succeeded in over- coming the tire ; it, however, broke forth again at night, and but little of the spire was saved. In the year 1561, in the month of June, there fell a prodigious quantity of rain, attended with thunder and lightning. St. Paul's steeple was struck within a yard of the top. At first, a little fire appeared, resembling the light of a torch, and in eight minutes the weather-cock fell ; and the wind rising high, the fire within an hour afterwards destroyed the steeple down to the very battlements, and then, in consequence of the mass of burning timber that fell from the spire, burnt so violently that the iron-work and the bells melted and fell upon tbe stairs in the church ; the east and west roofs catching fire communi- cated with the north and south, and destroyed them all. Much damage was also done to other parts. The spire was again reared, and the damaged bells properly replaced. In addition to the bells in the tower of old St. Paul's there was a common bell, the property of the city, hung in a suitable building, closely ad- joining to the Cathedral, which was rung that the inhabitants might assemble at wardmotes and other important occasions. Another fire damaged the ancient church, and then the great fire of 1666, swept steeples, bells, churches, and all before it. THE BEDFORD MISSAL. In January, 1786, when the Bedford Missal was on sale, with the rest of the Duchess of Portland's collection, King George III. sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the purchaser. The bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty, that the article in question, as one highly curious, was likely to fetch a high price. " How high ?" exclaimed the king. " Probably two hundred guineas," replied the book- seller. " Two hundred guineas for a Missal !" exclaimed the Queen, who was present, and lifted up her hands with astonishment. " Well, well," said his Majesty, " I'll have it still ; but since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a price for a Missal, I'll go no further." The biddings for the royal library did actually stop at that point ; and Mr. Edwards carried on the prize by adding three pounds more. The same Missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' s sale, in 1815, and purchased by the Duke of Marlborough, for 637 15s. FORMATION OF THE VOLCAKO OP JOETJLLO. The Mexican volcanoes of Orizaba, Popocatapetl, Jorulio, and Colima appear to be connected with each other, being placed in the direction oi a line running transverse to the former, and passing east and west from sea to sea. As was first observed by Humboldt, these mountains are all situated between north latitude 18 59' and 19 12'. In an exact line of direction with the other volcanoes, and over the same transverse fissure, Jorulio was suddenly elevated on the 29th of September, 1759. The circum- stances attending the production of this volcano are so remarkable, tkii we shall here notice them in some detail. 164 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; An extensive plain, called the Halpays, was covered by rich fields of cotton, sugar-cane, and indigo, irrigated by streams, and bounded by basaltic mountains, the nearest active volcano being at the distance o'f eighty miles. This district, situated at an elevation of about 2600 feet above the level of the sea, was celebrated for its beauty and extreme fer- tility. In June, 1759, alarming subterranean sounds were heard, and these were accompanied by frequent earthquakes, which were succeeded by others for several weeks, to the great consternation of the neighbouring TOLCAXO OP JOBrLLO, MEXICO. inhabitants. In September tranquillity appeared to be re-established, when, in the night of the 28th, the subterranean noise was again heard, and part of the plain of Malpays, from three to four miles in diameter, rose up like a mass of viscid fluid, in the shape of a bladder or dome, to a height of nearly 1700 feet; flames issued forth, fragments of red-hot stones were thrown to prodigious heights, and, through a thick cloud of ashes, illumined by volcanic fire, the softened surface of the earth was seen to swell up like an agitated sea. A huge cone, above 500 feet high, with five smaller conical mounds, suddenly appeared, and thousands of lesser cones (called by the natives hornitos, or ovens,) issued forth from the upraised plain. These consisted of clay intermingled with decom- posed basalt, each cone being a fumarolle, or gaseous vent, from which issued thick vapour. The central cone of Jorullo is still burning, and oil MARVELLOUS, RARE, CUKIOVS, AND QUAINT. 1G5 one side has thrown up an immense quantity of scoriaceous and basaltic lavas, containing fragments of primitive rocks. Two streams, of the tem- perature of 186 of Fahrenheit, have since burst through the argillaceous vault of the hornitos, and now now into the neighbouring plains. 1 or many years after the first eruption, the plains of Jorullo were uninhabit- able from the intense heat that prevailed. CKATEli OF VESUVIUS IN 1829. The crater Stromboli, which has been in activity since the most ancient times, presents at present the same appearances as those which were des- cribed by Spallanzani, in 1788. It is constantly filled with lava in a state of fusion, which alternately rises and falls in the cavity. Having ascended to ten or twelve yards below the summit of the walls, this boil- ing fluid is covered with large bubbles, which burst with noise, letting enormous quantities of gas escape from them, and projecting on all sides B-joriaccous matter. After these explosions, it again subsides, but only U> rise Egain and produce like effects these alternations being repeated 166 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; at intervals of some minutes. In craters where the lava is less nuid than in that of Stromboli, new cones are sometimes formed in the midst of the Crater, which first rise in the form of a dome, and then burst out so as to form a small active volcano in the middle of the crater of the great one. This phenomenon is often presented within the crater of Vesuvius, and was more particularly witnessed in 1829. LOAF SUGAR. In 1553 a sugar-loaf was presented to Mr. Waldron, of Bovey House, which weighed 7 Ibs., at Is. Id. per Ib. (7s. 7d.) The late Lord Kolle married the last of that branch of the Waldron family. The house remains about ten miles west of Lyme. The sugar- loaf was charged at a high rate, considering the greater value of money in Queen Mary's reign. This article began to be highly prized. The sugar-cane, which had been grown from the year 1148 in Sicily, had been imported into Madeira A.D. 1419. About the year 1503 the art of refining sugar, before called "blanch powdre," was discovered by a Venetian ; before which the juice, when selected instead of honey for sweetening, was used as it came from the cane. Only twenty-seven years from this date, in 1526, it was imported from St. Lucar in Spain by Bristol merchants. Let not the present of the Mayor of Lyme be considered as a cheap article produced in abundance in the island's of the West Indies. The sugar-cane was not imported thither into Barbadoes from the Brazils till the year 1641. How surprising the result of official inquiries in the year 1 853 into the consumption of sugar ! 1 1 amounted to 7,523,187 cwts., or 30 Ibs. each individual of the United Kingdom. SUSPENSION BBIDGES AT FREYBOUHG. There are two suspension bridges in Freybourg ; one remarkable for its great length, the other for its extreme beauty. The latter connects the top of two mountains, swinging over a frightful gulf that makes one dizzy to look down into. There are no buttresses or masonwork in sight at a little distance ; shafts are sunk in the solid rock of the mountains, do*.V2 which the wires that sustain it are dropped. There it stretches, a mere black line, nearly three hundred feet in the heavens, from summit to summit. It looks like a spider's web flung across a chasm ; its delicate tracery showing clear and distinct against the sky. While you are looking at the fairy creation suspended in mid-heaven, almost expecting the next breeze will waft it away, you see a heavy waggon driven on it ; you shrink back with horror at the rashness that could trust so frail a structure at that dizzy height ; but the air-hung cobweb sustains the pressure, and the vehicle passes in safety. Indeed, weight steadies it ; while the wind, as it sweeps down the gulf, makes it swing under you. The large suspension bridge is supported on four cables of iron wire, each one composed of one thousand and fifty-six wires. As the Menai bridge of Wales is often said to be longer than this, I give the dimensions of both as I find them in Mr. Murray: Freybourg: length, nine hundred and five feet ; height, one hundred and seventy-four feet ; breadth, twenty eight feet. Menai : length, five hundred and eighty feet ; height, on MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 167 hundred and thirty feet ; breadth, twenty-five feet. A span of nine hundred and five feet, without any intermediate pier, seems impossible at first, and one needs the testimony of his own eyes before he can fully believe it. WONDERFUL CLOCK. Towards the eE'i of the last century, a clock was constructed by a Genevan mechanic named Droz, capable of performing a variety of sur- prising 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. MANDRLN THE SMUGGLER, 1757. Mandrin was the son of a peasant in Dauphiny who dealt in cattle. His first employment was buying and selling horses, by which he sub- sisted several years. But having on some occasion committed a murder, he was obliged to fly from justice, and in his absence was condemned by the Parliament of Grenoble to be broken on the wheel. Being now a fugitive, and destitute of employment, he learned to counterfeit money, and by this fraud made considerable gain, till, being discovered, the officers of the Mint at Lyons issued a warrant for apprehending him, and he was again obliged to quit the country. While he was wandering about from place to place, and hiding himself in caves and woods, he be- came acquainted with a gang of smugglers, and associating with them was, after some time, made their captain. As this gang was very nume rous, he was less cautious of being seen, and having at length lost his sense of fear by habitual danger, he frequently entered towns and cities, raised contributions on the king's officers by force, and spread the same terror among others that others had brought upon him. But in propor- tion as he became more formidable he was, in fact, less sec'ire ; for the Government found it necessary to detach after him such a force as he could not resist, and the Farmers-General offered 48,000 livres reward for taking him. After many times attacking his party in a running fight, in which several were cut off, Mandrin, with eight of his men, took shelter in a castle on the frontiers of Savoy. They were closely pursued by several detachments, under the command of Colonel de Moliere, who entered the King of Sardinia's territory after him, without having first obtained leave. Moliere was immediately opposed by a great number of peasants: whether they were instigated by Mandrin, or whether they were jealous of their privilege, is not known ; but all his expostulations being fruitless, and being determined not to relinquish his prey, for whom he hoped to receive so considerable a reward, he forced his way against them, killing twelve and wounding many others. Mandrin waited the /68 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; issue of this contest in his castle, where he was soon hesieged by 150 men, who attacked the place with great vigour. Mandrin and his partisans defended themselves like men who had nothing to fear in a battle equal to being taken alive ; and after several of them were killed, and the castle gates burst open, thev retreated, fighting from chamber to chamber, ?nd from story to story, till, reaching the garret, and being able to pro- ceed no further, they were at last overpowered by numbers, having killed twenty of their adversaries, and spent all their ammunition. Mandrin, with those that survived of his little party, were carried prisoners to Valence in Dauphiny. * * Mandrin was examined every day from the 13th of May to the 25th, in order to discover his accomplices. In the mean time several of his associates were put to the torture to dis- cover what they knew of him, and were afterwards broken on the wheel, that death might give a sanction to their testimony. He himself wao subjected to torture, but without eliciting anything further than he had previously revealed. Throughout he steadfastly re- fused to betray his comrades, and conducted himself with much dignity and heroism. On the day of his execution he received absolution from Father Gasnerini, a Jesuit, who had administered to him the consolations oi religion during his confinement. Before he was led out of the prison, his shoes and stockings were taken from him ; but, though barefooted, he walked along with great firmness and a good grace. When he came to the cathedral to perform the amende honorable, he asked forgiveness of the monks and priests for his want of respect to their order, and was then conducted to the scaffold. He mounted with great composure, and addressed himself in a short and pa- thetic exhortation to the spectators, especially the young persons of both sexes ; he then sat down on the nave of the wheel, and loosened the buttons of his shirt-sleeves himself. Then he entreated pardon of the custom-house officers, whom he had so often and so grossly injured ; and turning to the penitents who surrounded the scaffold with his confessor and two other eminent persons of his order he earnestly recommended himself as the object of their prayer, and immediately delivered himself up to the executioner. He received eight blows on his arms and legs, and one on his stomach, and was intended to have been left to expire of the wounds ; but as the executioner was going down from the scaffold, an order came to strangle him ; the bishop and all the considerable persons at Valence having interceded for this mitigation of his punishment. Mandrin was twenty-nine years of age, about five feet five inches high, well made, had a long visage, blue eyes, and sandy chesnut hair ; he had something rough in his countenance, and a strong robust port ; he was perpetually smoking tobacco, with which he drank plentifully of any Liquor that was at hand, and ate till tne last with a good appetite. SUDDEN EECOVEBT FEOM MADXESS. The following extraordinary account is taken from the Gentleman 1 Magazine of 1784: "About six years since, a seafaring person was taken into the Asylum for Maniacs at York ; during the space of five jears and six months he never expressed any desire for sustenance, and MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 169 Tras fed in the manner of an infant. The servants undressed him at night, and dressed him in the morning ; he never spoke, and remained with his body bent all day, and was regarded by all about him as an animal nearly converted into a vegetable. About the middle of May, 1 783, he suddenly astonished the people round him with saying, ' Good morrow to you all.' He then thanked the servants for the care they had taken of him, and appeared perfectly sane. A few days after, h? wrote a letter to his wife, in which he expressed himself with great propriety. On the 28th of May following he was allowed to leave the hospital, and return to his family ; and has now the command of a ship in the Baltic trade, and is in full enjoyment of perfect health, both in mind and bods'. This very singular case is attested by Dr. Hunter, F.R.S., of York, in a letter to Dr. Percival, of Manchester, and by the servants now at the Asylum in York." SUMMABY OF THE BIBLE. The following table is published, as containing accurate particular? 1 of the English version of the Bible : In the Old Testament. Books, 39 Chapters, 929 Verses, 23,214 Words, 592,493 Lcttcps, 2,728,100 In the New Testament. Books, 27 Chapters, 260 Verses, 7,959 Words, 181,253 Letters, 838,380 Total. Books, 66 Chapters, 1,189 Verses, 31,173 Words, 773,740 Letters 3,566,480 The middle chapter and the shortest in the Bible is the hundred and seventeenth Psalm ; the middle verse is the eighth of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm. The twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of Ezra, in the English version, has all the letters of the alphabet in it. The nineteenth chapter of the second book of Kings and the thirty- seventh chapter of Isaiah are alike. THE LEPROSY. LAZARS. LAZAR-HOI'SES. That loathsome disorder, leprosy, was introduced into England in the reign of Henry I., and was supposed to have been brought out of Egypt, or perhaps the East, by means of the crusaders. To add to the horror, it was contagious, which enhanced the charity of a provision for such miserables, who were not only naturally shunned, but even chased by royal edict, from the society of their Bellow-creatures. Lepers, or Lazars, were sick persons removed out of monasteries to cells or hospitals, always built out of cities and towns. Their usual maintainence was, from liberty allowed them to gv> upon every market- day, to the market, where with a dish, called a clap dish, they Avould teg corn. Their sickness and loathsome appearance giving great disgust, many withheld their charity, upon which account they were afterwards re- strained from begging at large, but permitted to send the proctor of the hospital, who came with his box one day in every month to the churches, and other religious houses, at time of service; and theie received the voluntary charity of the congregations. This custom is said to be the origin of the present practice of collecting briefs. 170 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; The leprosy was much more common formerly, in this part of the globe, than at present. It is said, that there were in Europe lifteen thousand hospitals founded for them. Perhaps near half the hospitals that were in England were built for lepers. Lepers wers so numerous in the twelfth century, that by a deciee of the Lateran Council under pope Alexander III., A.D. 1179, they were empowered to erect churches for themselves, and to have their own mi- nisters to officiate in them. This shows at once how infectious and offen- sive their distemper was. And on this account, " In England where a maa was a leper, and was dwelling in a town, and would come into the churches, or among his neighbours when they were assembled, to talk to them to their annoy- ance or disturbance, a writ lay De Leproso amovendo." What follows'is remarkable. The writ is for those lepers " who appear to the sight of all men, they are lepers, by their voice and their sores, the putrefaction of their flesh, and by the smell of them." And so late as the reign of Edward VI. multitudes of lepers seem to have been in England ; for in 1 Edw. 6. c. 3. in which directions are given for carrying the poor to the places where they were born, &c. we read the following clause : " Provided always, that all leprous and poor bed-red creatures may, at their liberty, remain and continue ?n such houses appointed for lepers, or bed-red people, as they now be in. x 1184 to ' 191. The leprosy was at this period, and long after, a cruel epidemic h. Oar country, possibly brought by the crusaders from the Holy Land, and spread here by filth and bad diet. It was supposed to be infectious, and was shunned as the plague ; so that, had it not been for these pious institutions, multitudes must have perished under this loath- some disorder. Among other wild fancies of the age, it was imagined that the persons afflicted with leprosy, a disease at that time (1327, Edward II.) very common, probably from bad diet, had conspired with the Saracens to poison all springs and fountains ; and men being glad of any pretence to get rid of those who were a burthen to them, many of those unhappy people were burnt alive on the chimerical imputation. Every one of the lazar-houses had a person, called a f ore-goer t who used to beg daily for them. THE CONUOll IN VERV. Dr. Pickering, of the United States Antarctic Expedition of 1839, being in the vicinity of the Andes, attempted the ascent of one of the summits ; by noon he had reached a high elevation, and looking up, he espied a huge condor soarici? down the valley. He stopped to observe the majestic bird as it sailed slowly along. To his surprise it took a turn around him, then a second and a third, the last time drawing so near that he began to apprehend that it meditated an attack. He describes himself as being in the worst possible condition for a fight, his strength being exhausted by climbing, and his right hand having been lamed for some days from a hurt. The nature of the ground, too, was anything but favourable for defence ; but there was nothing left but to prepare for a MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 171 fig;ht, and with this intent he took a seat and drew his knii'e. At the instant, as if intimidated by the sight of the weapon, the bird whiilud off in another direction. Dr. Pickering confessed, however humiliating the acknowledgment, that he was at the time very well satislied witS the condor's determination to let him alone. COST or SIR CHKISTOPHER WREN'S CHURCHES. The following is an account of what the undermentioned churches cost btiilding, the designs for which were furnished by Sir Christopher Wren : St Paul's / 36,752 8. 9, d. 84 St. Michael, Queenhithe 4 354 p. 3 d. s 5 641 g o T 9 551 3'348 j 2 llicau .iticct . . 8 058 1 5 g St. A [ban's, Wood-street St. Anne and Agnes i?t. Andrew's, Wardrobe. 3,165 2,448 7,060 9 ooo 1C o 8 10 11 Q St. Martin, Ludgate .... St. Matthew, Friday-str. St. Margaret Pattens . . 5^378 2,301 4,986 5 340 18 8 10 g 8 2 4 St Antholin's 5 685 5 lOf, St Marv, Abchurch 4 922 o 11 3 145 fl 10 " Ma'-dilcn 4 291 1" or 3 583 Q 11 oi. I3cnct, Lfiaiicnuicn, . ](i y ,. pi n ]; 4V>Q 10 10 5 9 37 3 3 11 430 5 n 8 071 1 y I 5 077 1 i S Christ Church St. Clement, Eastcheap. . 11,778 4,365 9 3 6 St. Magnus, Lond. bridge St. Mildred. Bread-street 9,579 3,705 19 13 i.V 61 St. Dionis Back Church St. Edmund the King . . St. George, Botolph-lane St.James^Garlick-hill.. 5,737 5,207 4,509 5,357 8 500 10 11 4 12 8 Z 10 10 o St. Nicholas Cole Abbey St. Olav, Jewry St. Peter's, Cornhill St. S within, Canon-street St Stephen Wallbrook 5,042 5,580 5,647 4,687 7 6-^2 6 4 8 4 1 1? 10 2 6 g T II 87^ j 9 4 02'J St. Michael, Basinghall 2,822 7 455 17 7 1 q St. Vedast, Foster- lane. . 1,853 15 6 EARLY CLOCKS. The first clock which appeared in Europe, was probably that which Eginhard (the secretary of Charlemagne), describes as sent to his royaJ master by Abdalla, King of Persia. " A horologe of brass, wonderfully constructed, for the course of the twelve hours, answered to the hour- glass, with as many little brazen balls, which drop down on a sort of bells underneath, and sounded each other." The Venetians had clocks in 872, and sent a specimen of them that year to Constantinople. SINGULAR. SPECIMEN OF ORTHOGRAPHY IX THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The following letter was written by the Duchess of Norfolk to Crom- well, Earl of Essex. It exhibits a curious instance of the monstrous anomalies of our orthography in the infancy of our literature, when a spelling book wus yet a precious thing : " My fi'ary gode lord, her I sand you in tokyn hoff the neweyer, a 172 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J glasse hoff Sctyl set in Sellfer gyld, I pra you tak hit hi wort. An hy wer babel bet sbowlde be bater. I woll bit war wort a m crone." * Thus translated : " My very good lord, Here I send you, in token of the new year, a glass of setyll set in silver gilt ; I pray you take it in worth. An I were able it should be better. I would it were worth a thousand crown." DEATH OF THE EAEL OF KILDAEE. In 1513, died the most powerful baron and active soldier of his age, Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. He had been, during thirty years, at different times, chief governor of Ireland, and was too potent to be set aside, otherwise his strong attachment to the house of York would pro- bablv have been his ruin. The untameable spirit of the earl sometimes involved him in trouble, from which he was extricated by a lucky blunt- ness ; as when once, when charged before Henry VIII. with setting fire to the cathedral of Cashel, "I own it," said the earl, "but I never would have done it had I not believed that the archbishop was in it." The king laughed, and pardoned the ludicrous culprit. The Bishop of Meath was his bitterest foe. He accused him to Henry of divers mis- deeds, and closed his accusation with " Thus, my liege, you see that all Ireland cannot rule the earl." " Then," said the perverse monarch, " the earl shall rule all Ireland," and instantly made him lord-deputy. The English loved the earl because he was brave and generous, and because his good humour equalled his valour. Once, when he was in a furious paroxysm, a domestic who knew his temper, whispered in his ear, " My lord, yonder fellow has betted me a fine horse, that I dare not take a hair from your lordship's beard ; I pray, my lord, win me that wager." The earl's features relaxed, and he said to the petitioner, ' Take the hair, then, but if thou exceedest thy demand, my fist shall meet thy head." THE BEITANNIA TTJBULAE BEIDGE. This is one of the most remarkable structures in the world, the design of the celebrated architect, Sir R. Stephenson. This bridge is on the line of the Chester and flolyhead Railway, crossing the Menai Straits, within sight of Telford's Chain Suspension Bridge. It is made of cast iron of a tubular form, in the tube of which the railway passes. Four of these span the Strait, and are supported by piles of masonry ; that on the Anglesea side is 143 feet 6 inches high, and from the front to the end of the wing walls is 173 feet. These wing walls terminate in pedestals, on which repose colossal lions of Egyptian character. Tho Anglesea pier is 196 feet high, 55 feet wide, and 32 feet long. In the middle of the Strait is the Britannia Rock, from which the bridge derives its name ; on this the Britannia pier is raised. It is equi-distant from the Anglesea and Carnarvon piers, being 460 feet in the clear from each, and sustains the four ends of the four long tubes, which span the distance from shore to shore. There are two pairs of short and two of long tubes, the lengths of these pairs being 250 feet and 470 respectively. The Egyptian lions are 25 feet 6 inches long, 12 feet 6 inches high, 8 feet wide, and weigh 80 tons. Two thousand cubic feet of stone were MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 173 required for each lion. The total quantity of stone in the bridge is 1,400,000 cubic feet. The weight of malleable iron in the tubes is 10,000 tons; of cast iron, 1,400 tons. The whole length of the entire bridge, measuring from the extreme front of the wing walls, is 1,833 feet, and its greatest elevation at Britannia pier, 240 feet above low- walcr-mark. The total cost of the structure is 601,865. This won- derful structure was begun April 13, 1846, and completed J uly 25, 1850; opened for traffic Oct. 21, 1850. DAFFET'S ELIXIE. In the Postboy, Jan. 1, 1707-8, is the following curious advertise- ment : " Daffey's famous Elixir Salutis by Catherine Daflcy, daughter 174 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; of Mr. Thomas Daffy, late rector of Redmile, in the valley of Belvoir, who imparted it to his kinsman, Mr. Anthony Daffy, who published the same to the benefit of the community and his own great advantage. The original receipt is now in my possession, left to me by my father. My own brother, Mr. Daniel Daffy, apothecary in Nottingham, made the Elixir from the said receipt, and sold it there during his life. Those who know it, will believe what I declare ; and those who do not, may be convinced that I am no counterfeit, by the colour, taste, smell, and operation of my Elixir. To be had at the Hand and Pen, Maiden- Lane, Covent Gardes." JENNY'S WHIM. " This was a tea garden, situated, after passing over a wooden bridge on the left, previous to entering the long avenue, the coach way to where Ranelagh once stood. This place was much frequented, from its novelty, being an inducement to allure the curious, by its amusing deceptions, Sarticularly on their first appearance there. Here was a large garden, in ifferent parts of which were recesses ; and if treading on a spring, taking you by surprise, up started different figures, some ugly enough to frighten you a harlequin, a Mother Shipton, or some terrific animal. In a large piece of water, facing the tea alcoves, large fish or mermaids, were show- ing themselves above the surface. This queer spectacle was first kept by a famous mechanist, who had been employed at one of the winter theatres, there being then two." Angelo's Pic Nic or Table Talk, p. 106. Horace "Walpole, more than once alludes to this place of entertainment in his Letters; and in 1755 a 4to. satirical tract appeared entitled Jenny's Whim ; or a Sure Guide to the Nobility, Gentry, and other Eminent Persons, in this Metropolis. ANECDOTE EELATIVE TO THE MASKED EXECUTIONER OF CHAELES I. It is universally known, that, at the execution of King Charles L, a man in a vizor performed the office of executioner. This circumstance has given rise to a variety of conjectures and accounts. In the Gentle- man's Magazine for November, 1767, and January, 1768, are accounts of one William Walker, who is said to be the executioner. In the same magazine for June, 1784, it is supposed to be a Richard Brandon, of whom a long account is copied from an Exeter newspaper. But William Lilly, in his " History of his Life and Times," has the following remark- able passage : ' ' Many have curiously inquired who it was that cut off his [the king's] head : I have no permission to speak of such things : only thus much I say, he that did it is as valiant and resolute a man as lives, and one of a competent fortune." To clear up this passage, we shall present our readers with Lilly's examination (as related by himself) before the first parliament of King Charles II. in June, 1660. "At my first appearance, many of the young members affronted me highly, and demanded several scurrilous questions. Mr. Weston held a paper before his mouth ; bade me answer nobody but Mr. Prinn ; I obeyed his command, and saved myself much trouble thereby, and when Mr." Frinn put any difficult or doubtful query imto me, Mr. Weston prompted me with a fit question. At last, after almost one hour's MARVELLOUS., RARE, CUklOUS, AND QUAINT. i *(J tugging, I de-sired to be fully heard what I could say as to the person that cut Charles I.'s head oft'. Liberty being given me to speak, 1 related what follows, viz. : "That the next Sunday but one after Charles I. was beheaded, llobert Spavin, Secretary to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Pearson, and several others, along with him to dinner. That their principal discourse all dinner-time was only who it was that beheaded the king ; one said it was the common hangman ; another, Hugh Peters ; others were also nominated ; but none concluded, llobert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand, and carried me to the south window : saith fie, ' These are all mistaken ; they have not named the man that did the fact; it was Lieutenant- Colonel Joice. I was in the room when he fitted himself for the work, stood behind him when he did it ; when done, went in with him again. There is no man knows this but my master, viz., Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and myself.' ' Doth Mr. Rushworth know it y saith T. ' No, he doth not know it, saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin since has often related to me when we were alone." WHIPPING PEISONEBS. Mr. Ellcsdon, Mayor of Lyme, in 1595, paid for s. d. Four yards of canvas to make a coat to whip the rogues in . 3 Making the same . 06 Whipping of three of the ship boys for stealing of Mr. Hassard's salmon fish in the Cobb 10 (N.B. Salmon was plentiful in the west at this epoch.) The charge of fourpence made for whipping a boy continued for many years the same. The whipping of a woman who was a stranger was little more costly ; but the inflicting such a punishment upon a towns - woman was remunerated at a higher rate, as may well be supposed, from a consideration of several circumstances. To take a violent, noisy woman from her chamber, tie madam to the tumbrel and whip her round the town, was an undertaking that demanded assistance and protection to the official or hireling that wielded the thong. In the Town Accompt Hook are found such entries as those which are given in illustration : s. d. 1025. For whipping William Wynter's boy . . ... 4 ,, Agnes Abbott twice . . . .24 1 G44. Paid two soldiers to attend the whipping of a woman . 2 G Paid to whipping four women . . . . 40 THE INIQUITIES OF TIIE SLAVE TllABE. We may form some idea of the temptations which the trade in human hcir.gs held out, even to people who held an honourable position in the world, from the fact that the captain cf a frigate, within a few years before the slave trade was abolished, was known to purchase slaves in the West India market, have them entered as able seamen, and compel the artificers to teach them a trade; so that when the nhip 70 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THING? ; returned each was sold at a high, rate as a valuable piece of proper! v. The worst, however, has to be told. Upon sailing from Portsmouth, some of the best men were sent away upon duty in a ship's boat, in order that they might be returned " run," by which they lost pay and clothes, but made room for the negroes lately kidnapped, who were entered, though they did no work for the ship, as able seamen ! We have all heard of a naval officer who had his pocket picked at a West- minster election, and who openly professed his vow, which he rigidly performed, of flogging every Londoner that joined his ship for this act. This, it is said, was no idle vow ! DISCOVERY OF THE BODY OF CANUTE THE GREAT. In June 1766, some workmen who were repairing Winchester Cathe- dral discovered a monument, wherein was contained the body of King Canute. It was remarkably fresh, had a wreath round the head, and several other 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 penny. Arcliccologia, vol. iii. The penny found in the hand is a singular instance of a continuance of the pagan custom of always providing the dead with money to pay Charon. M.P.'S AND MAYORS PRIVATEERS. William Morfote, who represented Winchelsea in Parliament in 1428, was a privateer with a hundred men under him. He found it necessary to obtain the Icing's pardon in 1435, by the advice of Parliament, there being a legal difficulty about his having broken prison at Dover Castle. Two merchants of Sherborne in Dorsetshire were robbed of their cargo, worth 80, A.D. 1322, by Robert de Battyle. This transaction did not lose him. the good opinion of his townsmen, who chose him Mayor of Winchelsea a few years later. ALGERINE INVASION OF IRELAND. The Algerines landed in Ireland in 1627, killed 50 persons, and carried oft' about 400 into slavery. One vessel captured by them was worth 260,000. They made purchases of stores and provisions they wanted in the western parts of Ireland by Baltimore, and in 1631 carried off 1 00 captives from that town. They landed their poor cap- tives at llochelle, and marched them in chains to Marseilles. Twentv- BIX children are said to have been carried off at one time from Cornwall. In 1633, Lord Wentworth, appointed lord deputy of Ireland, named noted pirate vessels off the coast of Ireland and their captures. Persons in their wills used to leave sums of money for redeeming well-known captives from bondage in Algiers and other places. WILLIAM JOY, THE ENGLISH SAMPSON. William Joy was a native of Kent, and born May 2, 1675, at St. Law- rence, a small village one mile from Ramsgate, in the Isle of Thnnet. When very young, he distinguished himself among his juvenile com- panions and playmates, by his amazing superiority in strength, over any MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 177 antagonist that dare to come in competition with his power, whether in first began " prowess Among many other of this man's extraordinary performances may be recorded : 1. A strong horse, urged by the whip to escape his powerful rein, is restrained and kept from escape solely by the check of his pull, aided by a stron- rope, and this without any stay or support whatever. 2. Seated upon a stool, with his legs horizontally elevated, solely by muscular power, he jiunps clearly from his seat. 3 To prove the agility and 178 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFLL THINGS; flexibility of his joints, he places a glass of wine on the sole of his foot, and, in an erect posture, without the least bending of h's head or body, raises the glass to his mouth, and drinks the contents, turning his foot with both hands, to accommodate his draught. 4. Aided by a strong leather girdle, or belt, and supporting himself by pressing his arms on a railing, he lifts from the ground a stone of the enormous weight of 2,240 Ibs. 5. A rope fastened to a waU, which had borne 3,500 Ibs. weight, without giving way, is broke asunder by his amazing strength. The celebrity of this man attracted the curiosity of King William III., before whom he exhibited at Kensington Palace ; likewise before George, Prince of Denmark, and his royal consort, the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne, and their son William, Duke of Gloucester, called the Hope of England. He also went through a regular course of performances at the Duke's Theatre, in Dorset-gardens, Salisbury-square, which was attended by the first nobility and gentry in the kingdom. PRICE OF SHELL-FISH IN 1675. A bill for shell-fish enables us to ascertain the prices paid in Charles II.' a reign for these delicacies. Mr. Walter Tucker, mayor of Lyme, Dorset, paid for the judges, for 30 lobsters 1 10 6 crabs 060 100 scallops 050 300 oysters 040 50 oranges 020 2 7 DISTELBUTIKJ HAND-BILLS. The month of July 1736 afforded a singular popular explosion, con- trived ia the following strange manner : A brown paper parcel, which had been placed unobserved near the side-bar of the Court of King's- bench, Westminster-hall, blew up during the solemn proceedings of the Courts of Justice assembled, and scattered a number of printed bills, giving notice, that on the last day of Term five Acts 01 Parliament would be publicly burnt in the hall, between the hours of twelve and one, at the Royal Exchange, and at St. Margaret's hill, which were the Gin Act, the Smuggling Act, the Mortmain Act, the Westminster Briclgo Act, and the Act for borrowing 600.000/. on the Sinking fund. One of the bills was immediately carried to the Grand Jury then Bitting, who found it an infamous libel, and recommended the offering of a reward to discover the author. BANZ DBS VACHES. The " Ranz des Vaches," which is commonly supposed to be a single air, stands in Switzerland for a class of melodies, the literal meaning of which is cow-rows. The German word is Kureihen rows of cows. It derives its origin from the manner the cows march home along the Alpine paths at milking time. The shepherd goes before, keeping eveiy stregglor in its place by tho tones of his horn, while the whole herd wind MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 179 along in Indian file, obedient to the call. From its association it always creates home-sickness in a Swiss mountaineer, when he hears it in a foreign land. It is said, these melodies are prohibited in the Swiss regiments attached to the French army, because it produces so many desertions. One of the " Kanz des Vacnes " brings back to his imagina- tion his Alpine cottage the green pasturage the bleating of his moun- tain goats the voices of the milk-maids, and all the sweetness and in- nocence of a pastoral life ; till his heart turns with a sad yearning to the haunts of his childhood, and the spot of his early dreams and early happiness. The Swiss retain their old fondness for rifle-shooting, and there is annually a grand rifle match at some of the large towns, made up of the best marksmen in all Switzerland. There are also yearly contests in wrestling, called Zwing Feste, the most distinguished wrestlers at which arc from Unterwalden, Appenzel, and Berne. MONSOONS. These are periodical winds which blow over the Indian Ocean, be- tween Africa and Hindustan for nearly six months from the north-east, and during an equal period from the south-west. The region of the monsoons lies a little to the north of the northern border of the trade- winds, and they blow with the greatest force and with most regularity between the eastern coast of Africa and Hindustan. When the sun is in the southern hemisphere a north-east wind, and when it is in the northern hemisphere, a south-west wind blows over this sea. The north- oast monsoon blows from November to March. It extends one or two degrees south of the equator. It becomes regular near the coasts of Africa sooner than in the middle of the sea, and near the equator sooner than in the vicinity of the coasts of Arabia. This wind brings rain on the eastern coasts of Africa. The south-west monsoon does not extend south of the equator, but usually begins a short distance north of it. It blows from the latter end of April to the middle of October. Along the coast of Africa, it appears at the end of March ; but along the coast of Malabar, not before the middle of April ; it ceases, however, sooner in the former than in the latter region. The rainy season on the west coast of Hindustan commences with the first approach of the south-west mon- soon. The monsoons prevail also on the seas between Australia and China. The effect of the struggle which precedes the change in the direction of the wind in this part of the world is thus described in " Forbes's Oriental Memoirs." The author was encamped with the English troops : "The shades of evening approached as we reached the ground, and just as the encampment was completed, the atmosphere grew suddenly dark, the heat became oppressive, and an unusual stillness presaged tho immediate setting-in of the monsoon. The whole appearance of external nature resembled those solemn preludes to earthquakes and hurricanes in the West Indies, from which the East in general is providentially free. We were allowed very little time for conjecture. In a few minutes the heavy clouds burst over us. I had witnessed seventeen monsoons in India, but this surpassed them all in its awful appearance and dreadfiJ ufl'ects. Encamped in a low situation on the borders of a lake formed to 180 TEN THOUSAND WOMDERFUL THINGS J collect the surrounding water, we found ourselves in a few houri in a liquid plain ; tent-pins giving way in a loose soil the tents fell down and left the whole army exposed to the contending elements. It requires a lively imagination to conceive the situation of a hundred thousand human beings of every description, with more than two hundred thousand elephants, camels, horses, and oxen, suddenly overwhelmed by this dreadful storm in a strange countrv, without any knowledge of high or low groxmd, the whole being covered by an immense lake, and surrounded Ly thick darkness, which rendered it impossible for us to distinguish a single object except such as the vivid glare of the lightning occasionally displayed in horrible forms. No language can adequately describe the wreck of a large encampment thus instantaneouslv destroyed, and covered with water, amid the cries of old men and helpless women, ter- rified by the piercing shrieks of their expiring children, unable to afford them relief. During this dreadful night more than two hundred persons and three thousand cattle perished miserably, and the morning dawn exhibited a shocking spectacle ! " MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 181 UNUSUAL LOCALITY FOE SATING PBAYERS. 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 10-i 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 summit of the palace. In ascending the lofty flight cf 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. BILLY IN THE SALT BOX. Political caricatures are generally well worth preserving, they fami- liarize us with the features and peculiarities of celebrated men, and they tell us what was the popular feeling of the day. We regret that iu general they are too large for our pages, but now and then we meet with a small one which we are glad to present to our readers. Mr. Pitt's budget of 1805 was not allowed to pass without | ^rxs^jj^ "V^v.-./ 7 / ^s severe remarks, and a heavily I lljlhf^^""^ ^r\jS) / // \ increased duty on salt excited Vlli ^^ ' /f general dissatisfaction. People ')' // said that the grand contriver of / '' // taxes had visited every corner of the house above stairs, and that he had now descended into the kitchen ; and the annexed caricature, by Gilray, which was published at this period, represents the premier alarming the poor cook by popping his head out of the salt-box, with the unexpected salutation " How do you do, cookey ?" The person thus apostrophised cries out in con- sternation, " Curse the fellow, how he has frightened me ! I think, on my heart, he is getting in everywhere ! who the deuce would have thought of finding him in the salt-box P" DAXGEEOUS FEAT. An extraordinary instance of the rash feats which men with cool heads and courageous hearts will sometimes perform, was witnessed at Notting- ham on January 22, 1789. The vane at the top of St. Peter's spire, which was placed there in 1735, and measured thirty-three inches m length, having become insecure, the parish officers agreed with Mr. llobert "NVooton, of Kegworth, to take it down and reinstate it. This ven< *rous man, henceforth known as " the steeple climber," com- menced his undertaking by placing a ladder against the steeple, and securing it to the wall with tenters : he then mounted that with another on his shoulder, which he fastened above it in like manner ; and so on till he readied the top. To prevent himself falling, he was girded round with belts, which he connected with the ladders by means of 182 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; hooks. In this manner ho replaced the vane and cock, and rebuilt four yards of the steeple. The celerity with which the man placed the ladders was remarkable. He began to affix the first at eleven in the morning, and brought the vane down in triumph by- two in the afternoon. The bells were then set a-ringing, the congregation of people became very great, and Wooton re-ascended the spire, to exhibit his daring. He extended himself on its summit, only thirteen inches in diameter, and spread out his arms and legs. He afterwards balanced himself on the uppermost stave of the top ladder, and for a quarter of an hour capered about in every imaginable posture, the admiring crowd beneath expecting momentarily to witness his descent in a manner much less agreeable than precipitate. Subsequently, when his undertaking was accomplished, to excite admiration and obtain money, ho again balanced himself on the apex of the spire, beat a drum, and drank a bottle of ale, in the sight of thou- sands of people, on a market-day; but the reprobation of the man's temerity so far preponderated over public approval, as in a considerable degree to diminish his expected reward. POST-HASTE OXE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Glasgow is now within one minute of London ; in the last century it was scarcely within a fortnight of it. It is a positive fact that when the post arrived there a hundred years ago, the firing of a gun announced its coming in. The members of the clubs who heard it tumbled out of bed, and rushed down to the club-room, where a tankard of hot herb ale, or a beverage which was a mixture of rum and sugar, was ready for them before breakfast. How forcibly do these things bring before us the size of Glasgow at that time, and the habits of its citizens. EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BTJfO. The horrid details of the execution of criminals are wholly unfitted for our pages, but Admiral Byng was not a criminal ; his life was sacri- ficed to party spirit and party interests, and an account of his murder for such it really was is therefore highly interesting, as it enables us to see the dauntless manner in which a brave man can meet a dreadful fate, which he knew to be wholly undeserved. The execution took place on board the "St. George," man-of-war in Portsmouth harbour, on the 14th of March, 1757. The Admiral, accompanied by a clergyman who attended him during his confinement, and two gen- tlemen, his relations, walked out of the great cabin to the quarter- deck, where he suffered, on the larboard side, a few minutes before twelve o'clock. He was dressed in a light grey coat, white waist- coat, and white stockings, and a large white wig, and had in each hand a white handkerchief. He threw his hat on the deck, kneeled on a cushion, tied one handkerchief over his eyes, and dropped the other as a signal, on which a volley from six marines was fired, five of whose bullets went through him, and he was in an instant no more. The sixth went over his head. From his coming out of his cabin could not be two minutes till he fell motionless on his left fide. He died with great re- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 183 solution and composure, not snowing the least sign of timidity. The Ramillics, the ship the admiral had in the Mediterranean, was riding at her moorings in the harbour, and about half an hour before he suffered, she broke her mooring chain, and only held by her bridle, which is looked on as a wonderful incident by people who do not consider the high wind at that time. EXTRAOEDINABY TBEE. The Samoan group of islands in the South Sea lies between the lati- tudes of 13 30' and 14 30' S, and the longitudes of 168 and 173 W In some of these islands there is a most remarkable tree which well de- serves a place in our roll of extraordinary productions. It is a species of. banyan (Ficus relif/iosa), and is called by the natives Ohwa. Our sket'*'' gives a good idea of some of these trees. The pendant branches of many of them take root in the ground to the number ot thousands, forming stems from an inch to two feet in diameter, uniting in the main trunk more than eighty feet above the ground, and supporting a vast system of horizontal branches, spreading like an umbrella over the tops of th other trees. THE PLAGUE IN ENGLAND. The Register of Ramsay, in Huntingdonshire, mentions 400 people ^y \Yi;u.llUg u v;uo.Uj UlU VM/W1 Ul Wlin;il UCUUV UVIU AJViAV4.v/AA . VAA^ M*A\/A TVJivr ^ado the coat, with all his family, died, as did no less than the number above mentioned. But the ravages mado by the plague in London, about 1665, are 131 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; well known : it was brought over irom Holland, in some Levant goods, about the close of the year 1664 : its progess was arrested, in a great degree, by a hard frost which set in in the winter ; but as the spring of 1665 advanced, its virulence advanced. Infected houses were shut up and red crosses painted on the doors, with this in- scription, " Lord have mercy upon us." Persons going to market took the meat off the hooks themselves, for their own security, and for the Butcher's, dropped their money into pans of vinegar ; for it was supposed that even their provisions were tainted with the infection. In the months of August and September the greatest mortality occurred ; for the deaths of one week have been estimated at 10,000 ! It may be supposed, that no great accuracy existed in the Registers, to afford a correct esti- mate ; for, in the parish of Stepney, it is said they lost, within the year, 116 sextons, grave-diggers and their assistants; and, as the disorder advanced, the churchyards were incapable of holding more bodies, and large pits were therefore dug in several parts, to which the dead were brought by cartloads, collected by the ringing of a bell and the mournful cry of ' ' Bring out your dead." Add to this, that these carts worked in the night, and no exact account was kept, as the clerks and sextons were averse to a duty exposing them to such dangerous consequences, and often carried off before such accounts as they had taken were delivered in. All the shops were shut up, grass grew in the most public streets, until about December 1665, when the plague abated, and the citizens who had left their abodes for the country, crowded back again to their residences. The computation is, that this horrible disease carried off 100,000 persons in London: it is singular, that the only parish quite exempt from infection was St. John the Evangelist, in Watling Street. LANDSLIP AT COLEBEOOK, SHROPSHIRE. A most remarkable circumstance happened there in the morning of the 27th of May, 1773, about four o'clock. Near 4,000 yards from the river Severn stood a house, where a family dwelt ; the man got up about tliree o'clock, heard a rumbling noise, and felt the ground shake under him, on which he called up his family. They perceived the ground begin to move, but knew not which way to run ; however, they providentially and wonderfully escaped, by taking an immediate flight, for just as they got to an adjacent wood, the ground they had left separated from that on which they stood. They first observed a small crack in the ground about four or five inches wide, and a field that was sown with oats to heave up and roll about like waves of water ; the trees moved as if blown with wind, but the air was calm and serene ; the Severn (in which at that time was a considerable flood} was agitated very much, and the current seemed to run upwards. They perceived a great crack run very quick up the ground from the river. Immediately about thirty acres of land, with the hedges and trees standing (except a few that were overturned), moved with great force and swiftness towards the Severn, attended with great and uncommon noise, compared to a large flock of sheep running swiftly. That part of the land next the river was a small wood, less than two acres, in which grew twenty large oaks ; a few of them were MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 185 thrown down, and as many more were undermined and over-turned ; tome left leaning, the rest upright, as if never disturbed. The wood was pushed with such velocity into the channel of the Severn (which at that time was remarkably deep), that it forced the waters up in columns a considerable height, like mighty fountains, and drove the bed of the river before it on the opposite shore, many feet above the surface of the water, where it lodged, as did one side of the wood ; the current being instantly stopped, occasioned a great inundation above, and so sudden a fall below, that many fish were left on dry land, and several barges were heeled over, and when the stream came down were sunk, but none were damaged above. The river soon took its course over a large meadow that was opposite the small wood, and in three days wore a navigabk channel through the meadow. A turnpike road was moved more than thirty yards from its former situation, and to all appearance rendered for ever impassable. A barn was carried about the same distance, and left as a heap of rubbish in a large chasm ; the house received but little damage. A hedge that was joined to the garden was removed about fifty yards. A great part of the land was in confused heaps, full of cracks, from four inches to more than a yard wide. Several very long and deep chasms were formed in the upper part of the land, from about fourteen to upwards of thirty yards wide, in which were many pyramids of earth standing, with the green turf remaining on the tops of some of them. Hollows were raised into mounts, and mounts reduced into hollows. Less than a quarter of an hour completed this dreadful scene. CURIOUS CUSTOM AT STRASBOURG. At Strasbourg they show a large French horn, whose history is as fol- lows : About 400 years ago, the Jews formed a conspiracy to betray the city, and with this identical horn they intended to give the enemy notice when to attack. The plot, however, was discovered ; many of the Jews were burnt alive, the rest were plundered of their money and effects, and banished the town ; and this horn is sounded twice every night from the battlements of the steeple in gratitude for the deliverance. The Jews deny the fact of this story, except the murdering and pillag- ing their countrymen. They say the whole story is fabricated to furnish a pretext for these robberies and murders, and assert that the steeple of Strasbourg, as has been said of the Monument of London, "Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies/' DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN, The following is an extraordinary instance of the recklessness of Bailors when in the pursuit of what they call pleasure. In the year 1779, a Mr. Constable, of Woolwich, passing through the churchyard there at midnight, heard people singing jovially. At first he thought they were in the church, but the doors were locked, and it was all silent there : on looking about he found some drunken sailors who had got into a large family vault, and were regaling with bread, cheese, tobacco. 186 TEN THOUSAND \VONBERFUL THINGS and strong beer. They belonged to the Robust, man of war, and having resolved to spend a jolly night on shore, had kept it up in a neighbouring alehouse till the landlord turned them out, and then they came here to finish their evening. They had opened some of the coffins in their dare- devil drunkenness and crammed the mouth of one of the bodies with bread, and cheese, and beer. Constable, with much difficulty, prevailed on them to return to the ship. In their way one fell down in the mud, , and was suffocated, as much from drunkenness as the real danger. The comrades took him on their shoulders, and carried him back to sleep in eompany with the honest gentlemen with whom he had passed the Bvening. CHAIR BEOUGHT OVER TO AMEEICA IN THE MAYFLOWEE BY THE PILGEIM FATHEES. How frequently do we obtain, from the ordinary articles of domestic life which they were accustomed to use, a correct idea of the habits and tastes of whole communities which have long since passed away. A striking instance of this is the chair, of which the above is a correct sketch. It belonged to John Carver, who was one of the band of single- hearted men who constituted the Pilgrim Fathers, and who after first setting out from Holland, eventually sailed from Plymouth in England", in August, 1620. They landed iu Cape Cod Harbour, New England, on the 9th of November following. Carver, was one of the chief spirits of the band, and the chair which we have sketched was one of his best articles of furniture, which he took with him in the Mayflower. He was elected the first governor of the community, and died in the year following his election. How forcibly does it show the simplicity of taste, and the freedom from pomp and vanity which characterised the de- voted and fearless men -who left their native shores, and sough* " freedom to worship God" in a land to them unknown, that they should have selected as their first governor, an individual, the best chair in whose house was the homely article which we have here depicted. A HAEMLESS ECCENTBIC. The annexed cut represents a singular character who was well known about the year 1790 in the southern part of the county of Cumberland. Her appearance is thus described by a correspondent of the Gentleman'* MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 187 Magazine of that date : " Though I have seen her at various times, and frequently conversed with her, for these 20 years, I have never been able to learn any particulars respecting her family, friends, or name. The country people know her by the s.ppellation of Jenny Darney, from the manner, I presume, in which a* used to mend her clothes. Her present garb is entirely of her own manufacture. She collects tho small parcels of wool which lie about the fields in sheep farms, spins it on a rock and spindle of her own making ; and as she cannot find any other method of making the yarn into cloth, she knits it on wooden needles, and by that means procures a warm comfortable dress. In the lifetime of the late Charles Lutwidge, Esq., of Holm Rook, she took possession of an old cottage, or rather cow-house, on his estate, in which she has ever since been suffered to continue. Her intellects seem at certain times greatly deranged, but her actions are harmless, and her language in- offensive. On that score she is caressed by all the villagers, who supply her with eatables, &c., for money she utterly refuses. She seems a person in her lucid intervals, of much shrewdness, and her understanding r 188 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J above the common level. This has also been improved by a toler .bla education. Her appearance has been much the same for these 20 years, to that she must now be nearly 90 years of age ; but of this, as well as her family and name, she is always silent. She seems to have chosen out the spot where she now lives, to pass the remainder of her davs unknown to her friends, and in a great measure from a distaste of a wicked world, to ' prepare herself,' as she often in her quiet hours says, ' for a better.' " THE RULING PASSION'. A remarkable instance of the irresistible strength of the ruling passion was to be seen a few years ago in a Londoner, who had kept are tail spirit-shop, and retired into the adjoining county when he had made a fortune, to enjoy himself. This man used to amuse himself by having one puncheon filled with water, and measuring it off by pints into another. There was also another retired cit who used every day to angle in his round wash-hand-basin sized fish-pond for gold-fish. One fish he knew, because it had once lost its eye in being caught and he used to say " Confound that fellow, this is the fifth, sixth, &c., time that I have caught him this season." It used to provoke him. INTERESTING KEPOET WRITTEN BY SIB CHRISTOPHER WEEK. In the history of public buildings and monuments, it is always curious to note the original plans of those who designed them, and to mark the different proposals and suggestions which were taken into consideration. On this account our readers will no doubt be gratified by perusing the following Report of Sir Christopher Wren, on the ornament which it would, in his opinion, be most desirable to place on summit of the Monu- ment, on Fish Street-hill. The Report was drawn up for the use of the Committee of City Lands : " In pursuance of an Order of the Comittee for City Landes, I doe heerwith offer the several designes which some monthes since I showed His M Ue . for his approbation ; who was then pleased to thinke a large Ball of metall, gilt, would be most agreeable, in regard it would give an Ornament to the Town at a very great distance ; not that His M tie . dis- liked a statue ; and if any proposal! of this sort be more acceptable to the City, I shall most readily represent the same to His M Ue . " I cannot but comend a large Statue, as carrying much dignitie with it, and that W* would be more valewable in the eyes of Forreiners and strangers. It hath been proposed to cast such a one in Brasse, of 1 2 foot high for 1,000. I hope (if it be allowed) wee may find those who will cast a figure for that mony of 15 foot high, W* will suit the great- nosse of the pillar, & is (as I take it) the largest at at this day extant, and this would undoubtedly be the noblest finishing that can be found answerable to soe goodly a worke in all men's judgements. " A Ball of Copper, 9 foot diameter, cast in severall peeces with the Flames and gilt, may well be don with the iron worke and fixing for 3501b., and this will be most acceptable of any thing inferior to a statue, by reason of the good appearance at distance, and because one may goe up into it, & upon occasion use it for fireworkes. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 188 " A Phoenix was at first thought of, & is the ornament in the wooden modell of the jfilar w ch I caused to be made before it was begun ; but upon second thoughtes I rejected it, because it will be costly, a.ot easily understood at that highth, and worse understood at a distance, ani lastly dangerous, by reason of the sayle, the spread winges will carry in ttie winds. "The Belcony must be made of substantial well forged worke, there being noe need at that distance of filed worke, and I suppose (for I cannot exactly guesse the weigh) it may be well performed and fixed ac- cording to a good designe for fourscore & ten poundes, including painting, All w ch is humbly submitted to your consideration. " July 28, 1675. " CHE. WEEN." CHANGE OF SEX. Connected with the plumage of birds is an extraordinary problem which has baffled all research, and towards the solution of which not the slightest approach has been made. Among certain of the gallinaceous birds, and it has been observed in no other family, the females occa- sionally assume the male plumage. Among pheasants in a wild state, the hen thus metamorphosed, assumes with the livery a disposition to war with her o>*> race, but in confinement she is spurned and buffeted by the rest. From wh& took plars in a hen pheasant in the possession of a lady, a friend of the late fir .psepn Banks, it would seem probable that this change arises froci eome alteration in the temperament at a late period of the animal's life. This lady had paid particular attention to the breeding of peasants. One of the hens, after having produced several broods, moulted, anc the succeeding feathers were exactly those of a cock. This anima. 1 never afterward* laid an egg. The pea-hen, has sometimes been known to take the plumage of the cock bira. Lady Tynte had a favourite pea-^en, whit** at eight several times produced chicks. Having moulted whev about eleven years old, the lady and her family were astonished by her displaying the feathers peculiar to the other sex, and appearing like a pied peacock. In this process the tail, which was like that of the cock, first appeared. In the following year she moulted again, and produced similar feathers. In third year she did the same, and then had also spurs resembling those of the cock. The bird never bred afte* this change of her plumage. T1LBUEY FOET. The chief fame of Tilbury rests on the formation of the camp here, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to defend London against the Spanish in- vasion. Although it is unnecessary to recount the well-known circum- stances which led to the formation of the Tilbury camp, it may not be out of place to give the famous speech of Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of her visit : " My loving People, We have been persuaded by some that are care- ful of our safety, to take heed how we trust ourselves to armed multitude-p fur fear of treachery ; but assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and Ipving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so be- 190 TEN THOUSAND WONI/ERFUL THINGS haved myself that under God I have placed my chief est strength and safe- guard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects ; and therefore I am come among you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst 3-001 all to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. I know that I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and a king of England too ; and I think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, WATKB-GATE OF TILBCBT POST. or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I will myself take up arms I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your victories in the field." The most full description of Elizabeth's reception at Tilbury is printed in a sort of doggrel poem, headed, "Elizabetha Triumphans, brietiv, truly, and effectually set forth, declared, and handled by James Aske.' f The poem mentions, that when about 20,000 well-appointed men had MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 191 arrived at Tilbury, orders were sent to the various shires to cause the troops in each to remain until further notice ; and so great was the de- sire to meet the enemy, that one thousand men of Dorsetshire offered 500 io be allowed to march to the camp at Tilbury. The alarm of the Spanish invasion was, however, not the last to threaten the Londoners, and direct attention to Tilbury. On the 8th of June, 1667, Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, sailed out of the Texel with fifty ships, and came to the mouth of the Thames, from whence he detached Vice-Admiral Van Ghent, with seventeen of his lightest ships and some fire-ships. Yan Ghent in the same month sailed up the Medway, made himself master of the fort of Sheerness, and, after burn- ing a magazine of stores to the value of 40,000, blew up the fortifica- tions. This action alarmed the City of London ; so that to prevent simi- lar mischief, several ships were sunk, and a large chain put across the narrowest part of the Medway. But by means of an easterly wind and a strong tide, the Dutch ships broke through the chain, and sailed between the sunk vessels. They burnt three ships, and carried away with them the hull of the " Royal Charles," besides burning and damaging several others. After this they advanced as far as Upnor Castle, and burnt the " Royal Oak," the " Loyal London," and the " Great James." Fearing that the whole Dutch fleet would sail to London Bridge, the citizens caused thirteen ships to be sunk at "Woolwich, and four at Blackwall, and platforms furnished with artillery to defend them were raised in several places. The consternation was very great, and the complaints were no les'^ so. It was openly said the king, out of avarice, had kept the money so generously given to him to continue the war, and left his ships and subjects exposed to the insults of the enemy. After this ex- ploit, Ruyter sailed to Portsmouth, with a design to burn the ships in that harbour ; but finding them secured, he sailed to the west, and took some ships in Torbay. He then sailed eastward, beat the English force before Harwich, and chased a squadron of nineteen men-of-war, com- manded by Sir Edward Spragg, who was obliged to retire into the Thames. In a word, he kept the coasts of England in a continual alarm all July, till he received news of the conclusion of peace. This daring attack was no doubt the cause of Tilbury Fort being made to assume its present form. It is now a regular fortification, and may be justly looked upon as the key to the City of London. The plan of the building was laid out by Sir Martin Beckman, chief engineer to Charles II., who also designed the works at Sheerness. The foundation is laid upon piles driven down, two on end of each other, till they were assured they were below the channel of the river, and that the piles, which were pointed with iron, entered into the solid chalk rock. On the land side, the works are complete ; the bastions are faced with brick. There is a double ditch, or moat, the innermost of which is 180 feet broad, with a good counterscarp, and a covered way marked out with ravelins and tenailles. There are some small brick redoubts ; the chief strength, how- ever, of this part of the fort consists in being able to lay the whole level under water, and, by that means, make it impossible for an enemy to carry on approaches that way. On the river side IB a very strong curtain, 192 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS with the picturesque water-gate shown in our engraving in the middle. Before this curtain is a platform, in the place of a counterscarp, on which are planted cannon of large size. These completely command the river, and would no doubt cripple the ships of an enemy attempting to pass in this direction. A few years ago there were placed on the platform 106 cannon, carrying from 24 to 46 pounds each, besides smaller ones planted between them. The bastions and curtains are also planted with guns. The circular tower shown in the engraving was in existence in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and was called the Block-house. HINGING THE CHAXGES. It is curious to note the number of changes which may be rung uu different peals. The changes on seven bells are 5,040 ; 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 uponfour- and-twenty, they would require more than 117,000 billions of years. DISGRACEFUL STATE OF THE LOXDOX POLICE IX 1724. That notorious burglar, Jack Sheppard, finished his disgraceful career at Tyburn in the year 1724, and we notice the event, not with the view of detailing the disgusting particulars of an execution, but because the outrages which were allowed to take place after the dreadful scene was over, exhibit in a striking light the miserable police regulations which existed at that period, and the manner in which the mob were allowed to have it nearly all their own way. The Sheriff's officers, aware of the person they had to contend with, thought it prudent to secure his hands on the morning of execution. This innovation produced the most violent resistance on Sheppard's part ; and the operation was performed by force. They then proceeded to search him, and had reason to applaud their vigilance, for he had contrived to conceal a penknife in some part of his dress. The ceremony of his departure from our world passed without disorder ; but, the instant the time expired for the suspension of the body, an undertaker, who had followed by his friends' desire with a hearse and attendants, would have conveyed it to St. Sepulchre's church-yard for interment ; but the mob, conceiving that surgeons had employed this unfortunate man, proceeded to demolish the vehicle, and attack the sable dependants, who escaped with difficulty. They then seized the body, and, in the brutal manner common to those wretches, beat it from each to the other till it was covered with bruises and dirt, and till they reached Long-acre, where they deposited the miserable remains at a public-house called the Barley- mow. After it had rested there a few hours the populace entered into an enquiry why they had contributed their assistance in bringing Shep- pard to Long- acre ; when they discovered they were duped by a bailiff, Vho was actually employed by the surgeons ; and that they had taken the corpse from a person really intending to bury it. The elucidation of their error exasperated them almost to phrensy, and a riot immediately ccmmvnccd, which threatened the most serious consequences. The in- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOOS, AND QTJAINT. 193 habitants applied to the police, and several magistrates attending, they were immediately convinced the civil power was insufficient to resist the torrent of malice ready to burst forth in acts of violence. They therefore sent to the Prince of Wales and the Savoy, requesting detachments o! the guards ; who arriving, the ringleaders were secured, the body wag priven to a person, a friend of Sheppard, and the mob dispersed to attend it to the grave at St. Martin's in the fields, where it was deposited in an elm coffin, at ten o'clock the same night, under a guard of soldiers, and with the ceremonies of the church. A TRIUMPH OF ENEEOr. After the accession of Tippoo Saib to the throne of Mysore in 1782, the English made overtures for a termination of the war which had been Commenced by his father ; but flushed by the possession of a large army, a well-filled treasury, a passion for war, and an inordinate sense of his own importance, Tippoo refused all terms of pacification, and left the English no alternative but to battle against him as they could. Lord Macartney, who was at that time the Governor of Madras, on becoming acquainted with the determination of Tippoo, resolved to prosecute hos- tilities with the greatest vigour, and having placed Col. Fullerton at the head of his force, he provided him with an army, collected from various parts, of 16,000 good troops, and afforded that excallent officer all avail- able assistance in carrying the war into Tippoo' s territory. Fullertou laid his plans with considerable skill ; he encouraged the natives to bring and sell provisions to him on his march, effectually checked devastation and plundering, scrupulously respected the religious opiniona of the Hindus, consolidated and improved the mode of march, and availed himself of the subtle cunning and nimble feet of the natives to establish a remarkably complete courier-system, whereby he could re- ceive and communicate intelligence with a rapidity never before attained by any European officer in India. He had to choose between two systems of strategy either to march through the Mysore territory, and frustrate Tippoo in his siege of Mangalore ; or boldly to attack Seringapatam, in order to compel Tippoo to leave Mangalore as a means of defending his own capital. The colonel decided on the adoption of the latter course, as promising more fruitful results. Being at Daraporam, 200 miles south of beringapatam, Fullerton resolved to divert the route, and take a circuit nearer the western coast, where the capture of the strong fort of Palagat- cherry would afford him a valuable intermediate depot, commanding one of the chief roads from the Malabar to the Coromandel coasts. On the i?th of October he started. After capturing a few small forts, he ascended to laigh ground, where dense forests, deep ravines, and tortuous water courses embarrassed every yard of his progress : to fill up the ravines before he could drag his artillery over them, to throw trees across them where the depth was too great for filling up, to clear gaps through forests with the axe, to contend against tremendous rains were only part of the difficulties he had to meet ; but he met them like a skilful commander, reached Palagatcherry on the 5th of November, and captured the fort on the lotli, obtaining with it a welcome supply of money, grain, guns, 194 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; powder, shot, and military stores. When the difficulties which Colonel Fullerton had to encounter, and the triumphant manner in which he overcame them, are taken into consideration, it will be readily admitted, we think, that his enterprise is well deserving of being recorded, as A striking example of what may be accomplished by a union of professional bkill and invincible energy. Our engraving represents one of the de- vices which Colonel Fullerton employed for the purpose of enabling hia forces to pass over a mountain torrent. STORMING- OF THE BASTILLE AT PARIS. The great Revolution in France, at the close of the last century, was full of wonderful events, many of which might be appropriately recorded in our pages. One of the most striking among them was the storming and capture of the Bastille, a vast state-prison which was begun to be built in 1369 bv Charles V., and fcnfshed Vy his snecessor in 1383. The MARVELLOUS, KARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 195 demolition of this fortress was the first triumph of the armed populace of Paris, and it rendered the progress of the revolution irresistible. As the day closed in on the evening of Monday, the 14th of July, 1789, a reckless multitude of rioters, after seizing 30,000 muskets and several pieces of artillery at the Hotel des Inyalides. rushed in wild excitement to the Bastille, rendered hateful to the people by the political im- prisonment of many hapless men in past times, although less frequently applied to similar purposes under the milder rule of Louis XVI. An armed mob of at least 100,000 men, aided by troops who joined them in whole regiments at a time, had not long to contend against the old fortress. The governor, De Launay, made such a defence as a brave officer might at such a juncture ; but his few troops were bewildered and wavering : he received orders from the Hotel de Yille which he knew not whether to obey or resist, but no instructions from the court or the ministers ; and the military aid to the mob became stronger than any force be could bring to bear arainst them. The chains of three draw- 196 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, bridges were broken by hatchets ; straw, wood, oil, and turpentine wen brought and kindled, to burn down the gates ; and after many volleys from the mob had been answered by a few from the fortress, De Launay, seeing no hope of succour, resolved to blow up the place rather than yield. In this he was prevented by the Swiss guards, who formed a part of the small garrison, and who, after a parley with the insurgents, opened the gates, and surrendered. The Bastille was taken. The ruffians, heeding nothing but their own furious passions, disregarded the honouarble rules of capitulation ; they beheaded De Launay in a clumsy and barbarous manner, and putting his head on a spike, carried it through the streets shouting, langhing, and singing ; they were prevented only by an ac- cidental interruption from burning alive a young lady whom they found in one of the court -yards ; they hung or maltreated many of the Swise and invalid soldiers ; and they fearfully hacked the bodies of three or four officers in the endeavour to decapitate them. The prisoners within, only seven in number, were liberated, and treated with a drunken revel ; while the Chatelet and other prisons became scenes of renewed disorders. The sketch which we give above, of the attack on the Bastille, is taken from a medallion by Andrieu. DURATION OF LIFE AMONG ABTISTS- In Gould's Dictionary of Artists, published in 1839, the names, with the ages, of 1,122 persons are given ; which furnish the following remark- able facts as to the longevity of this class of men. Died under 60 years old, 474 ; 60 years and under 70, 250 ; 70 years and under 80, 243 ; 80 vears and under 90, 134 ; 90 years and under 100, 19; above 100, 1. The mean age at death of the whole number being 55 years ; from which it would appear that the pursuit of the fine arts has a tranquilizing effect upon the spirits, and a tendency to moral refinement in the habits and manners of its professors extremely favourable to the prolongation of life. CHANGE IN THE VALUE OF LAND. At Brighton, within the present century, a spot of ground was offered to a hair-dresser in fee, upon condition of shaving the possessor for life. The terms were declined, and the land soon became of immense value. UNACCOUNTABLE ANTIPATHIES. The following are a few of the more striking manifestations of that Txnaccountable feeling of antipathy to certain objects, to which so many persons are subject, and with instances of which in a modified form [ierhaps most people are acquainted with : Erasmus, though a native of Rotterdam, had such an aversion to fish, that the smell of it threw him into a fever. Ambrose Pare mentions a gentleman, who never could see an eel with- out fainting. There is an account of another gentleman, who would fall into convul- sions at the sight of a carp. A lady, a native of France, always fainted on seeing boiled lobsters. Other persons from the same country experienced the same inconvenient* MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 191 from the smell of roses, though they were particularly partial to the odour of jonquils or tuberoses. Joseph Scaliger and Peter Abono never could drink milk. Cardan was particularly disgusted at the sight of eggs. Uladislaus, king of Poland, could not bear to see apples. If an apple was shown to Chesne, secretary to Francis I., be blad at the nose. A gentleman, in the court of the emperor Ferdinand, would bleed at the nose on hearing the mewing of a cat, however great the distance might be from him. Henry III. of France could never sit in a room with a cat. The Duke of Schomberg had the same aversion. M. de Lancre gives an account of a very sensible man, who was so terrified at seeing a hedgehog, that for two years he imagined his bowels were gnawed by such an animal. The same author was intimate with a very brave officer, who was so terrified at the sight of a mouse, that he never dared to look at one unless he had his sword in his hand. M. Vangheim, a great huntsman in Hanover, would faint, or, if he had sufficient time, would run away at the sight of a roasted pig. John Rol, a gentleman in Alcantara, would swoon on hearing the word lana, wool, pronounced, although his cloak was woollen. The philosophical Boyle could not conquer a strong aversion to the sound of water running through a pipe. La Mothe le Vayer could not endure the sound of musical instruments, though he experienced a lively pleasure whenever it thundered. The author of the Turkish Spy tells us that he would rather encounter a lion in the deserts of Arabia, provided he had but a sword in his hand, than feel a spider crawling on him in the dark. He observes, that there is no reason to be given for these secret dislikes. He humorously attri- butes them to the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul ; and as re- garded himself, he supposed he had been a fly, before he came into his body, and that having been frequently persecuted with spiders, he still retained the dread of his old enemy. LONDON EESOETS A HUNDKED TEARS AGO. In addition to the regular theatres, there were many places of amuse- ment, such as the Vauxhall and Eanelagh Gardens, the site of the latter being now occupied by the houses that hem in Chelsea College ; th Rotunda, famous for its music, its gardens, and its piece of water ; Bell< size House and Gardens on the Hampstead Road, where tea, coffee, and other refreshments could be had, together with music, from seven in the morning, with the advantage of having the road to London patrolled during the season by twelve " lusty fellows," and of being able to ride to Hampstead by coach for sixpence a-head; Perrot's inimitable grotto, which could be seen by calling for a pot of beer ; Jenny's Whim, at the end of Chelsea Bridge, where "the royal diversion of duck-hunting" could be enjoyed, " together with a decanter of Dorchester" for sixpence; Cuper'i Gardens, in Lambeth, nearly opposite Somerset House, through 198 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; which the Waterloo Road was ruthlessly driven ; the Marble Hall, at Vavxhall, where an excellent breakfast was offered for one shilling; Sadler's "Wells, celebrated both for its aquatic and its wire-dancing at- tractions ; the Floating Coffee-House, on the river Thames, the Folly House at Blackwall, Marybone Gardens, the White Conduit House, and a multitude of others, to enumerate which would be tedious and un- profitable. On Sunday, we are told, the " snobocracy," amused them- selves by thrusting their heads into the pillory at Georgia, by being sworn at Highgate, or rolling down Flamstead Hill in Greenwich Park. Some regaled their wives and families with buns at Chelsea and Pad- dington ; others indulged in copious draughts of cyder at the Castle in the pleasant village of Islington ; while the undomestic cit, in claret- coloured coat and white satin vest, sipped his beer and smoked his pipe at Mile End, or at the "Adam and Eve" in Pancras, or " Mother Red Cap's" at Camden. QTTEEN ELIZABETH'S STATE COACH. The accompanying engraving is taken from a very old print repre- senting the state procession of Queen Elizabeth on her way to open Parliament on 2nd April, 1571. This was the first occasion on which a state coach had ever been used by a Sovereign of England, and it was the only vehicle in the procession ; the Lord Keeper, and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, all attending on horseback. It was drawn by two palfreys, which were decked with trappings of crimson velvet ; and, according to an old authority, the name of the driver was William Boonen, a Dutchman, who thus became the first state coachman. THE ORIGIN OP EATING GOOSE ON MICHAELMAS DAT. Queen Elizabeth, on her way to Tilbury Fort on the 29th of Sep- tember, 1589, dined at the ancient seat of Sir Neville Umfreville, near that place ; and as British Bess had much rather dine off a high-seasoned and substantial dish than a simple fricassee or ragout, the knight thought MARVELLOUS', RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 199 proper to provide a brace of fine geese, to suit the palate of bis royal guest. After the Queen had dined heartily, she asked for a half-pint bumper of Burgundy, and drank " Destruction to the Spanish Armada." She had but that moment returned the glass to the knight who had done the honours of the table, when the news came (as if the Queen had been possessed with the spirit of prophecy) that the Spanish fleet had been destroyed by a storm. She immediately took another bumper, in order to digest the goose and good news ; and was so much pleased with the event, that she every year after, on that day, had the above excellent dish served up. The Court made it a custom, and the people the same, PUB-ADAMITE BONE CA VEENS. Among the wonders of the world, the bone caves of the pre-Adamite period deserve a prominent place. It is to this period that the ex- tensive remains of Mammiferse found in the strata of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and in the caverns which are scattered in sucn vast numbers over the continents of Europe and America, and even in Aus- tralia, are to be ascribed. We regret that we can find room for a description of only one of these caverns, but it is a most extensive one, and among the first which attracted attention. It is situated at Bay- lenreuth, in Franconia, and the engraving which we here give repre- sents a section of it. The entrance of this cave, about seven feet in height, is placed on the face of a perpendicular rock, and leads to a series of chambers from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and several hundred feet in extent, in a deep chasm. The cavern is perfectly dark, and the icicles and pillars of sta- lactite reflected by the torches present a highly picturesque effect. The 200 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS} floor is literally paved with bones and fossil teeth, and the pillars and corbels of stalactite also contain osseous remains. Cuvier showed that three-fourths of the remains in this and like caverns were those of bears, the remainder consisting of bones of hyenas, tigers, wolves, foxes, glut,' tons, weasels, and other Carnivora. HOW DISTANT AGES ABE CONNECTED BY INDIVIDUALS. Mr. Robert Chambers, in a curious and interesting chapter in the " Edinburgh Journal," entitled " Distant Ages connected by Indivi- duals," states, in 1847, " There is living, in the vicinity of Aberdeen, a gentleman who can boast personal acquaintance with an individual who had seen and conversed with another who actually had been present at the battle of Flodden Field !" Marvellous as this may appear, it is not the less true. The gentleman to whom allusion is made was personally acquainted with the celebrated Peter Garden, of Auchterless, who died in 1775, at the reputed age of 131, although there is reason to believe that he was several years older. Peter, in his young days, was servant to Garden, of Troup, whom he accompanied on a journey through the north of England, where he saw and conversed witn the famous Henry Jenkins, who died 1670, at the age of 169. Jenkins was born in 1501, and was of course twelve years old at the period of the battle of Flodden Field ; and, on that memorable occasion, bore arrows to an English noble- man whom he served in the capacity of page. When we think of such things," adds Mr. Chambers, " the ordinary laws of nature seem to have undergone some partial relaxation ; and the dust of ancient times almost becomes living flesh before our eyes." THE EABTHO.TJAKE AT LISBON. On the 1st of November, 1755, a few minutes before 10 a.m. the inha- bitants of Lisbon were alarmed by several violent vibrations of the ground which then rose and fell several times with such force that hundreds of houses came toppling into the streets, crushing thousands of people. At the same time the air grew pitchy dark from the clouds of dust that rose from the crumbling edifices. Many persons ran down to the river side, in. the hope of escaping to the shipping ; but the water suddenly rose some yards perpendicularly, and swept away everything before it. The quay, with nearly 200 human beings standing on it, all at once disappeared. Large ships, which were lying high and dry, floated off, and were dashed against each other or carried down the river. In every direction the surface of the water was overspread with boats, timber, casks, household furniture and corpses. The scene on dry land was yet more horrifying. Churches, government buildings, and private houses, were all involved in the same ruin. Many thousands of trembling fugitives had collected in the great square, when it was discovered that flames were spreading in every quarter. Taking advantage of the universal panic and confusion, a band of miscreants had fired the city. Nothing could be done to stay the progress of the flames, and for eight days they raged unchecked. Whatever the earthquake had spared fell a prey to this new calamity. " It is not to be expressed by human tongue," writes an eye-witaes, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 201 " how dreadful and how awful it was to enter the city after the fire was abated ; and looking upwards, one was struck with horror in beholding dead bodies, by six or seven in a heap, crushed to death, half buried and half burnt ; and if one went through the broad places or squares, nothing was to be met with but people bewailing their misfortunes, wringing their hands, and crying, ' The world is at an end.' If you go out of the city, you behold nothing but barracks, or tents made with canvass or ship's sails, where the poor inhabitants lye." Another eye-witness is still more graphic. " The terror of the people was beyond description : nobody wept, it was beyond tears ; they ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment beating their faces and breasts crying ' Misericordia, the world's at an end ;' mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Un- fortunately, many ran to the churches for protection ; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars ; images, priests, and people, were buried in one common ruin. * * * The prospect of the city was deplorable. As you passed along the streets you saw shops of goods with the shopkeepers buried with them, some alive crying out from under the ruins, others half buried, others with broken limbs, in vain begging for help ; they were passed by crowds without the least notice or sense of humanity. The people lay that night in the fields, which equalled, if possible, the horrors of the day ; the city all in flames ; and if you happened to forget yourself with sleep, you were awakened by the tremblings of the earth and the bowlings of the people. Yet the moon shone, and the stars, with unusual brightness* Long wished-for day at last appeared, and the sun rose with great splen- dour on the desolated city. In the morning, some of the boldest, whose houses were not burnt, ventured home for clothes, the want of which they had severely felt in the night, and a blanket was now become of more value than a suit of silk." STEANGE CTJKE FOE RHEUMATISM. Bridget Behan, of Castle-waller, in the county of Wicklow, Ireland, re- tained the use of all her powers of body and mind to the close of her long life, 110 years, in 1807. About six years preceding her death she fell down stairs, and broke one of her thighs. Contrary to all expectation; she not only recovered from the effects of the accident, but actually, from thence, walked stronger on this leg, which, previously to the accident, had been a little failing, than she had done for many years before. Another re markable circumstance relating to this fracture was, that she became per- fectly cured of a chronic rheumatism of long standing, and from which on particular occasions she had suffered a good deal of affliction. A short while before her death she cut a new tooth. SILVEB TEA SEEVICE WHICH BELONGED TO WILLIAM PENN. Articles of ordinary use, however small may be their intrinsic value, which have once been the property of men who have been good and great how rare the conjunction ! are always invested with a peculiar interest. They often afford a clue to the tastes of those who ouca 02 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; possessed them. On this account we have great pleasure in laying before our readers a representation of the silver tea-service which belonged to_the celebrated William Penn, the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus. lie was the son of Admiral Penn, was born at London in 1644, and wag educated at Christchurch, Oxford. At college he imbibed the principles^of Quakerism, and having endeavoured to disseminate them by preaching in public, he was thrice thrown into prison. It was during his first imprisonment that he wrote " No Cross, no Crown" In March, 1680 81, he obtained from Charles II. the grant of that territory which now bears the name of Pennsylvania. In 1682 he embarked for Ids new colony ; and in the following year he founded Philadelphia. He returned to England in 1684, and died in July, 1718. He was a philosopher, a legislator, an author, the friend of man, and, above all, a pious Christian. In addition to the reasons above given, the sketch of the tea-service is an object of curiosity, as showing the state of silversmith's work in England, at the close of the seventeenth century, for articles of domestic use. CTOIOTTS FIGURES OX A SMALL SHRINE. The figures here given are copied from a curious little bronze, strongly gilt, which was engraved in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1833, accom- panied with a description, by A. J. Kempe, Esq., the author of the letter- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AKD QUAINT. 203 press to "Stothard's Monumental Effigies," whose intimate knowledge in these matters enables him to well authenticate dates ; and he con- siders this relic may safely be attributed to the early part of the twelfth century ; it was discovered in the Temple Church, and had originally formed a portion of a pyx, or small shrine, in which the consecrated host was kept. Our engraving is more than half the size of the ori- ginal, which represents the soldiers watching the body of Our Lord, who was, in mystical form, supposed to be enshrined in the pyx. They wear scull-caps of the Phrygian form, with the nasal like those in the Bayeux Tapestry ; and the mailles or rings of the hauberk appear, as in the armour there, sewn down, per- haps, on a sort of gam- beson, but not inter- laced. They bear kite- shaped shields, raised to an obtuse angle in the centre, and having large projecting bosses : the third of these figures is represented beside the cut in profile, which will en- able the reader more clearly to detect its pecu- liarities. On two of these shields are some ap- proaches to armorial bear- ings ; the first is marked with four narrow bendlets ; the second is fretted, the frets being repeated in front of his helmet, or chapelle defer : all the helmets have the nasal. A long tunic, bordered, and in one in- stance ornamented with cross-lines, or chequered, appears beneath the tunic. The sword is very broad, and the spear carried by the first figure, obtuse in the head, a mark of its antiquity. The shoes are admirable illustrations of that passage of Geoffry of Malmesbury, where, representing the luxury of costume in which the English indulged at the time when Henry I. began his reign, he says : " Then was there flowing hair, and extravagant dress ; and then was invented the fashion of shoes with curved points : then the model for young men was to rival women in delicacy of person, to mimic their gait, to walk with loose gesture, half-naked." The curvature of the points of the shoes in the little relic before us, in conformity with the custom censured by Malmesbury, is quite remarkable. One turns up, another down ; one to the left, another to the right ; and scarcely any two in the same direction. THE QUEEN'S SHAEKS. The harbour of Trincomalee swarms with gigantic sharks, and strange to relate, they are all under British protection ; and if any one is found molesting or injuring them, the fine is 10, or an im 204 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; prisonment! How this ridiculous custom originated, it is hard to say; but we are told, that in the early days of British conquest in the East, sailors were apt to desert, and seek refuge in the then inaccessible wilds of the interior; and of later years, when civili- sation has unbarred the gates of Cingalese commerce to all nations of the world, the soldiers of the regiment stationed at Trincomalee, dis- contented with their lot in life, were wont to escape from the thraldom of the service, by swimming off to American and other foreign vessels, preferring chance, under a strange flag, to a hard certainty under their own. Thus the Queen's sharks are duly protected as a sort of water- police for the prevention of desertion both from the army and navy. OLD VEESES ON QUEEN ELIZABETH. The following quaint and curious verses are taken from a very old volume, entitled A Crowne Garland of Goulden Roses, Gathered out of England's Royall Garden, #c., 8fc. By Richard Johnson, A SHORT A7TD SWEET SOXITBT HADB BT OITB OF THE MAIDES OF HOXOB UPON THB DEATHS OF QCKKMB BVIZABBTH, WHICH BHB SOWED UPOJT A SAMPLES IK BED SILKK. To a new tune, or " Phillida Jlouts me." Gone is Elizabeth, Whom we have lov*d so deare ; She our kind mistres was Full foure and forty yeare. England she govern' d well, Not to be blamed ; Flanders she govern'd well And Ireland tamed. France she befrended, Si aine she hath foiled, Papists rejected, And the Pope spoyled. To princes powerfull, To the world vertuoua, To her foes mercifull, To her subjects gracious. Her soule is in heaven, The world keeps her glory, Subjects her good deeds, And so ends my story. Ranolagh, of which no traces now remain, was situated on part of Chelsea Hospital garden, between Church How and the river, to the east of the Hospital. It takes its name from a house erected in 1691, by Viscount llanelagh. This house, in which the Viscount had resided from the period of its being built, was sold in 1733 to an eminent builder named Timbrell for 3,200, who advertised it for sale in the following year, as a freehold with garden, kitchen garden, and oflices, and a smaller house and garden with fruit trees, coach-houses, &c., &c. These were the first vicissitudes of Ranelagh, preparatory to its con- version into a place of public amusement. Walpole, in one of his entertaining letters to Mann, April 22nd, 1742, thus speaks of the gardens, which were then unfinished : " I have been breakfasting this morning at Kanelagh Garden ; they have built an immense ampitheatre, with balconies full of little ale- houses ; it is in rivalry to Vauxhall, and cost above twelve thousand pounds. The building is not finished, but they got great sums by peple going to see it and breakfasting in the house : there were jesteiaay MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AKD QUAINT. 205 no less than three hundred and eighty persons, at eighteen-pence a piece." Again, under the date May 26th, 1742, he writes to his friend as follows : "Two nights ago, Ranelagh Gardens were opened at Chelsea; the prince, princess, duke, much nobility, and much moh besides were there. There is a vast ampitheatre, finely gilt, painted, and illuminated ; into which everybody that loves eating, drinking, staring, or crowding, is admitted for twelve pence. The building and disposition of the gardens tost sixteen thousand pounds. Twice a week there are to be ridottos at guinea tickets, for which you are to have a supper and music. I was there last night, but did not find the joy of it. Vauxhall is a little better, for the garden is pleasanter, and one goes by water." " The only defect in the elegance and beauty of the ampitheatre at lianelagh," says the London Chronicle for August, 1763, "is an im- proper and inconvenient orchestra, which, breaking into the area of that superb room about twenty feet farther than it ought to do, destroys the symmetry of the whole, and diffuses the sound of music with such irregular rapidity, that the harmonious articulations escape the nicest ear when placed in the most commodious attitude ; it also hurts the eye upon your first entry. " To remedy these defects, a plan has been drawn by Messrs. Wale and Gwin, for adding a new orchestra, which being furnished with a well-proportioned curvature over it, will contract into narrower bounds the modulations of the voice, and render every note more distinctly audible. It will, by its form, operate upon the musical sounds, in the same manner as concave glasses affect the rays of light, by collecting them into a focus. The front of this orchestra being planned so as to range parallel to the balustrade, the whole area also will be disencum- bered of every obstruction that might incommode the audience in their circular walk. There is likewise provision made in this plan for a stage capable of containing 30 or 40 performers, to officiate as chorus-singers, or otherwise assist in giving additional solemnity on any extraordinary occasion." "At Itanelagh House, on the 12th of May, 1767," says the Gentle- man's Magazine, "were performed (in the new orchestra) the much admired catches and glees, selected from the curious collection of the Catch Club ; being the first of the kind publickly exhibited in this or any other kingdom. The entertainments consisted of the favourite catches and glees, composed by the most eminent masters of the last and present age, by a considerable number of the best vocal and instrumental performers. The choral and instrumental parts were added, to give the the catches and glees their proper effect in so large an amphitheatre ; being composed for that purpose by Dr. Arne." The Itotunda, or amphitheatre, was 185 feet in diameter, with an Orchestra in the centre, and tiers of boxes all round. The chief amuse- ment was promenading (as it was called) round and round the circular irea below, and taking refreshments in the boxes while the orchestra and vocalists executed different pieces of music. It was a kind of ' Vauxhall under cover,' warmed with coal fires. The rotunda is said to have Been 206 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; projected by Lacy, the patentee of Drury Lane Theatre. " The coup d'ceil," Dr. Johnson declared, " was the finest thing he had ever seen." The last great event in the history of llanelagh was the installation ball of the knights of the Bath, in 1802, shortly after which the place was pulled down. THE FIRST EAST INDIA HOUSE. The tradition is, that the East India Company, incorporated December 31st, 1600, first transacted their business in the great room of the Nag's Head Inn, opposite St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate Street. The maps of London, soon after the Great Fire of 1666, place the India House on a part of its present site in Leadenhall Street. Here originally stood the mansion of Alderman Kerton, built in the reign of Edward VI., rebuilt on the accession of Elizabeth, and enlarged by its next purchaser, Sir "W- Craven, Lord Mayor in 1610. Here was born the great Lord Craven, who, in 1701, leased his house and a tenement in Lime Street MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 207 to the Company at 100 a year. A scarce Dutch etching, in the British Museum, of which the annexed engraving is a correct copy, shows this house to have been half timbered, its lofty gable surmounted with two dolphins and a figure of a mariner, or, as some say, of the first governor ; beneath are merhant ships at sea, the royal arms, and those of tho Company. This grotesque structure was taken down in 1726, and upon its site was erected the old East India House, portions of which yet remain ; although the present stone front, 200 feet long, and a great part of the house, were built in 1798 and 1799, and subsequently enlarged by Cockerell, ft. A., and Wilkins, R.A. ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE LAST CENTURY. The following strange advertisements have been culled at random from magazines and newspapers circa 1750. They give ns a good idea of the manners and tastes of that period : " Whereas a tall young Gentleman above the common size, dress'd in a yellow-grounded flowered velvet (supposed to be a Foreigner), with a Solitair round his neck and a glass in his hand, was narrowly observed and much approved of by a certain young lady at the last Ridotto. This is to acquaint the said young Gentleman, if his heart is entirely dis- engaged, that if he will apply to A. B. at Caraway's Coffee House in Exchange Alley, he may be directed to have an interview with the said young lady, which may prove greatly to his advantage. Strict secresy on the Gentleman's side will be depended on." " A Lady who had on a Pink-coloured Capuchin, edged with Ermine, a black Patch near her right eye, sat in a front seat in the next Side Box but one to the Stage on Wednesday night at Drury Lane Playhouse ; if that Lady is single and willing to treat on terms of honour and generosity of a married state, it would be deemed a favour to receive a line directed to C. D., at Clifford's Inn Old Coffee House, how she may be address' d, being a serious affair." " To be seen this week, in a large commodious room at the George Inn, in Fenchurch-street, near Aldgate, the Porcupine Man and his Son, which has given such great satisfaction to all that ever saw them : their solid to see them." " A Bullfinch, that pipes 'Britons rouse up your great magnanimity,* at command, also talks, is to be sold at the Cane Shop facing New Bioad btreet, Moorfields ; likewise to be sold, two Starlings that whistle and talk extremely plain. " Great variety of fine long Walking Canes." THEODORA DE VERDION. This singular woman was born in 1744, at Leipsic, in Germany, and died at her lodgings, in Upper Charles-street, Hatton Garden, London, 1802. She was the only daughter of an architect of the name of Grahii, who erected several edifices in the city of Berlin, particularly the Church 208 TEN THObrfAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; of St. Peter's. She wrote an excellent hand, and had learned the mathe- matics, the French, Italian, and English languages, and possessed a com- plete knowledge of her native tongue. Upon her arrival in England she commenced teaching of the German language, under the name of Dr. John de Verdion. In her exterior, she was extremely grotesque, wearing a bag wig, a large cocked hat, three or four folio books under one arm, and an um- brella under the other, her pockets completely filled with small volumes, and a stick in her right hand. She had a good knowledge of English books ; many persons entertained her for her advice relative to pur- chasing them. She obtained a comfortable subsistence from teaching and translating foreign languages, and by selling books chiefly in foreign literature. She taught the Duke of Portland the German language, and was always welcomed to his house, the Prussian Ambassador to our Court received from her a knowledge of the English language ; and several distinguished noblemen she frequently visited to instruct them in the French tongue ; she also taught Edward Gibbon, the celebrated Roman Historian, the German language, previous to his visiting that country. This extraordinary female has never been known to have ap- peared in any other but the male dress, since her arrival in England, where she remained upwards of thirty years ; and upon occasions she would attend court, decked in very superb attire ; and was well remem- bered about the streets of London ; and particularly frequent in attending book auctions, and would buy to a large amoimt, sometimes a coach- load. Here her singular figure generally made her the jest of the com- pany. Her general purchase at these sales was odd volumes, which she used to carry to other booksellers, and endeavour to sell, or exchange for other books. She was also a considerable collector of medals and foreign coins of gold and silver ; but none of these were found after her decease. She frequented the Furnival's Inn Coffee-house, in Holborn, dining there almost every day ; she would have the first of every thing in season, and was as strenuous for a large quantity, as she was dainty in the quality of what she chose for her table. At times, it is well-known, she could dispense with three pounds of solid meat ; and we are very sorry to say, she was much inclined to the dreadful sin of drunkenness. Her death was occasioned by falling down stairs, and she was, after much affliction, at length compelled to make herself known to a German phy- sician, who prescribed for her, when the disorder she had, turned to a dropsy, defied all cure, and finished the life of so remarkable a female. DEIVING STAGS LIKE CATTLE. Buried at Disley, Cheshire, June 2nd, 1753, Mr. Joseph Watson, in the 105th 3 ear of his age. He was born at Moseley Common, in the parish of Leigh, in the county of Lancaster ; and married his wife from Etchells, near Manchester, in the said county. They were an happy couple 72 years. She died in the 94th year of her age. He was park- keeper to the late Peter Leigh, Esq., of Lime, and his father used to drive and show red deer to most of the nobility and gentry in that part of the kingdom, to the general satisfaction of all who MARVELLOUS, R^RE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 209 ever saw them ; for he could have driven and commanded them at his pleasure, as if they had been common horned-cattle. In the reign of Queen Anne, Squire Leigh was at Macclesfleld, in Cheshire, in company with a number of gentlemen, amongst whom was Sir Roger Mason, who was then one of the members for the said county ; they being merry and free, Squire Leigh said his keeper should drive 12 brace of stags to the Forest of "Windsor, a present to the Queen. Sir Roger opposed it with a wager of 500 guineas, saying that neither his keeper, nor any other person, could drive 12 brace of red deer from Lime Park to Windsor Forest on any account. So Squire Leigh accepted the wager from Sir Soger, and immediately sent a messenger to Lime for his keeper, who directly came to his master, who told him he must immediately prepare himself to drive 12 brace of stags to Windsor Forest, for a wager of 500 guineas. He gave the Squire, his master, this answer, that he would, at his command, drive him 12 brace of stags to Windsor Forest, or to any part of the kingdom by his worship's direction, or he would lose his life and fortune. He undertook, and accomplished this most astonishing performance, which is not to be equalled in the annals of the most ancient history. He was a man of low stature, not bulky, of a fresh complexion, pleasant countenance, and he believed he had drank a gallon of malt liquor a day, one day with another, for above sixty years of hia time. ECCENTBIC WILL. The following will, as an exhibition of strange eccentricity, is not inappropriate to our pages. Mr. Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who died in 1810, bequeathed one penny to every child that attended his funeral (there came from 600 to 700) ; Is. to every poor woman in Wath; 10s. 6d. to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they were putting him into the grave. To seven of the oldest navigators, one guinea for puddling him up in his grave. To his natural daughter, 4 4s. per annum. To his old and faithful servant, Joseph Pitt, 21 per annum. To an old woman who had for eleven years tucked him up in bed, 1 Is. only. Forty dozen penny loaves to be thrown from the church leads at twelve o'clock on Christmas day for ever. Two handsome brass chande- liers for the church, and 20 for a set of new chimes. EXTBAORDINABY FKOST. As an instance of great rarity in England of the severity of a frost, it is worth notice, that in January, 1808, the rain froze as it fell, and in London the umbrellas were so stiffened that they could not be closed. Birds had their feathers frozen so that they could not fly, and many were picked up as they lay helpless on the ground. ANCIENT SNUFF-BOXES. These ancient snuff-boxes furnish proof of the love of our ancestors for the titillating powder. An admiring writer of the last ceatury, reflecting on the curious and precious caskets in which snuff was then imprisoned. 8 210 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS: " What strange and wondrous virtue must there ta, And secret charm, snuff! concealed in thee, That bounteous nature and inventive art, Bedecking thee thus all their powers exert." But every age, since snuff was in use, appears to have cherisJ.ed ,4: rat regard for the beauty and costliness of its snuff bozes, .nd even at f.li present time, the snuff box is the recognised vehicle of the highest honour a corporation can bestow. Those here represented are not so much boxes as bottles. They are richly and elaborately omamenteo. with sporting subjects, and no doubt once belonged to some famous personage. Judging of their very antique form and figures, we are inclined to think they must have been in use earlier than it is generally apncsed that snuff was introduced into this country. MARVKT.LOUS, HARE, CTJ1UOUS, AND QUAINT. 11 SEEINO THE FIBST AND THE LAST OF TWO GENERATIONS. Frances Barton, of Horsley, Derbyshire, died 1789, aged 107. She followed the profession of a midwife during the long period of eighty years. Her husband had been sexton of the parish seventy years ; so that this aged pair frequently remarked, that she had twice brought into the world, and he had twice buried, the whole parish. Her faculties, her memory in particular, were remarkably good, so that she was enabled well to remember the Revolution in 1688, and being present at a merry making on that glorious occasion. THE EAKLIEST HACKNEY-COACH. The above is a correct representation of one of the earliest forms in which coaches for hire were first made. They were called Hackney, not, as is erroneously supposed, from their being first used to carry the citizens of London to their villas in the suburb of Hackney, but from the word " hack," which signifies to offer any article for sale or hire. Hack- ney coaches were first established in 1634, and the event is thus mentioned in one of Strafforffs Letters, dated April in that year : " One Captain Bailey hath erected some four Hackney-coaches, put his men in livery, and appointed them to stand at the May-pole in the Strand, giving them instructions at what rates to carry men into several parts of the town, where all day they may be had. Other hackney- men seeing this way, they flock to the same place, and perform their journeys at the same rate. So that sometimes there is twenty of them together, which disperse up and down ; that they and others are to be had everywhere, as watermen are to be had by the water- side. ' Everybody is much pleased with it." A UNIQUE LIBEAEY. A singular library existed in 1535, at "Warsenstein, near Cassel ; the books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, being made of wood, and every one of them is a specimen of some 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 th! 212 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , moss which grows on the trunk, and the insects which feed upon th ti-M ; every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether haa at. excellent effect. DRESS FOETY TEAKS AGO. Caricature ; even by its very exaggeration, often gives us a better idea jf many things than the most exact sketches could do. This is more especially the case with respect to dress, a proof of which is here given by the three caricatures which we now lay before our readers. They are copied from plates published at the period to which they refer, and how completely do they con- vey to us a notion of the fashions of the day I "With the peace of 1815 com- menced a new era in English his- tory; and within the few years immediately preceding and fol- lowing it, English society went through a remarkably rapid change ; a change, as far as we can see, of a decidedly favourable kind. The social condition of public senti- ment and public morals, litera- ture, and science, were all im- proved. As the violent internal agitation of the country during the regency increased the number of political caricatures and satirical "writings, so the succession of fa- shions, varying in extravagance, which characterised the same period, produced a greater number -of caricatures on dress and on fashionable manners than had been soen at any previous period. During the first twelve or fifteen years of the -present century, the general cha- racter of the costume appears not to have undergone any great change. The two figures here given represent the mode in 1810. A few years later the fashionable costume furnished an extraordinary contrast with that just represented. The waist was again shortened, as well as the frock and petticoat, and, instead of concealment, it seemed to be the aim of the ladies to exhibit to viiew as much of the body as poa- 8ible. The fops of 1819 and 1820 received the name of dandies, the ladies that of dandizettes. The accompanying cut is from a rather broadly caricatured print of a dandizette of the year 1819. It must be considered only as a type of the general character of the foppish costume of the period ; for in no time was there ever such a variety of forms in the dresses of both sexes as at the period alluided to. WQ giv with the same reservation, afigur>3 of a dandy, from a carica- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 213 ture of the same year. The number of caricatures on the dandies and DANMZETIE. DANDY. dandizettes, and on their fopperies and follies, during the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, was perfectly astonishing. FASHIONABLE DISFIGUREMENT. The extent to which people may be led to disfigure themselves by a blind compliance with the fashion of the day, was never more strikingly displayed than in the custom of dotting the face with black patches of different patterns. It might easily be supposed that the annexed sketch is a carica- ture, but such is not the case ; it is a correct likeness of a lady of the time of Charles the First, with her face in full dress. Patching was much admired during the reign of that sovereign, and for several succeeding years. Some authors think that the fashion came originally from Arabia. No sooner was it brought to England and France, than it became an absolute fureur. In the former country, old and young, the maiden of sixteen and the grey-haired grandmama, covered their faces with these black spots, shaped like suns, moons, stars, hearts, crosses, and lozenges ; and some even, as in the 214 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFt/f, THINGS; instance before as, carried the mode to the extravagant extent of shaping the patches to represent a carriage and horses. A HE3IABKABLE OLD MAX. Mr. Ingbby, of Battle Abbey, Sussex, died 1798, aged 117. He had been for upwards of ninety-five years a domestic in the family of Lady Webster. The following narrative of this remarkable man is by a gentle- man who visited him in the autumn of 1797 : " To my great surprise," he says, " I found Mr. Ingleby in a situation very far removed from the luxuries of life, or the place which might be deemed necessary for his years. He was in an antique outbuilding, near the Castle Gate, where his table was spread under an arched roof ; nearly the whole of the building being filled with billet-wood, and scarcely tibrding room for the oaken bench on which this wonder of longevity was reclining by the fire. His dress was a full-bottomed wig, and a chocolate- coloured suit of clothes with yellow buttons. His air and de- meanour was pensive and solemn ; though there was nothing in his look which impressed the mind with the idea of a person more than fourscore years old, except a slight falling of the under jaw, which bespoke a more advanced age. "We were introduced by a matron, who served as a sort of interpreter between us Mr. Ingleby' s deafness not permitting any regular conversation. ""/Then the nurse explained our errand, he replied, in a very distinct but hyllow voice, ' I am much obliged to the gentlemen for the favour they do me ; but I am not well, and unable to converse with them.' He then turned his face to the higher part of the bench on which he reclined, and was silent. In each of his withered hands he held a short, rude, beechen walking stick, about three feet high, by the help of which he was accustomed not only to walk about the extensive premises in which he passed the most part of his life, but also to take his little rambles about the town ; and once (for, occasionally, the old gentleman was irascible,^ he set out on a pedestrian excursion to Hast- ings, to inquire for another situation in service, because his patroness desired him to be more attentive to personal neatness. It is but justice to the lady alluded to, to add, that the uncouth abode in which Mr. Ingleby dwelt was the only one in which he could be persuaded to reside, and which long familiarity had rendered dear to him. The choice ap- peared very extraordinary; but such persons, in their conduct, are sel- dom governed by the fixed and settled rules by which human life is ordinarily regulated." CTTRIOTJS MANUSCRIPT. A very curious manuscript was presented to the Antiquarian Society of Yorkshire in 1828. It contains sundry rules to be observed by the household of Henry the 8th, and enjoins the following singular particulars: "None of his Highness's attendants to steal any locks, or keys, tables, forms, cupboards, or other furniture, out of noble- men's, or gentlemen's, houses where he goes to visit. No herald, min- strel, falconer, or other, to bring to the Court any boy or rascal ; nor to keeps lads or rascals in Court to do their business for them. Master MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 215 cooks not to employ such scullions as shall go about naked, or lie all night on the ground before the kitchen tire. Dinner to he at ten, and supper at four. The Knight Marshal to take care that all such un- thrifty and common women as follow the Court he banished. The proper officers are, between six and seven o'clock every morning, to make the tire in and straw his Highness's Privy Chamber. Officers of his High- ness's Privy Chamber to keep secret every thing said or done, leaving hearkening" or inquiring where the King is or goes, be it early or late, without grudging, mumbling, or talking of the King's past time, late or early going to bed, or any other matter. Coal only allowed to the King's, Queen's, and Lady Mary's Chambers. The Queen's Maids of Honour to have a chet loaf, a manchet, a gallon of ale, and a chine of beef, for their breakfasts. Among the fishes for the table is a porpoise, and if it is too big for a horse-load, a further allowance is made for it to the purveyor." The manuscript ends with several proclamations. One is "to take up and punish strong and mighty beggars, rascals, and vagabonds, who hang about the Court. WONDEEFTO ESCAPE. In 1809, a barge was going along the new cut from Paddington with casks of spirits and barrels of gunpowder. It is supposed that one of the crew bored a hole in a powder-barrel by mistake, meaning to steal spirits ; the gimlet set fire to the powder, and eleven other barrels were driven to the distance of 150 yards ; but only the single barrel exploded. DAVID HUME ON HIS OWN DEATH. The letter which we here lay before our readers was addressed by David Hume to the Countess de Boufflers, and is supposed to be the last that was ever written by that great historian, as he died only five days afterwards, August 25th. With what calmness did that illustrious phi- losopher contemplate the rapid approach of his own death ! The letter was torn at the places where the words are printed in italics : " Edinburgh, 20th of August, 1776. "Tho' I am certainly within a few weeks, dear Madam, and perhaps within a few days, of my own death, I could not forbear being struck with the death of the Prince of Conti, so great a loss in every particular. My reflection carried me immediately to your situation in this melan- choly incident. What a difference to you in your whole plan of life ! Pray, write me some particulars ; but in such terms that you need not care, in event of decease, into whose hands your letter may Ml. " My distemper is a diarrhoea, or disorder in my bowels, which has been gradually undermining me these two years ; but within these six months has been visibly hastening me to my end. I see death approach gradually without any anxiety or regret. I salute you with great affec- tion and regard for the last time. " DAVID HUME." SCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES. The rude musical instruments here represented, have been collected by u>odi;rn travellers, and are but little changed from the ancient forma. 16 TEN THOUSAND WOSDERFU1 THINGS ; A. Drum, or Timbrel, of Baked Potter's Clay. AA. Drum in use in the East. B. Harp. -C. Lutes. D. Inscribed Stone. E. Sandals. The drum or timbrel marked A, is made of thin baked clay, something in the shape of a bottle, with parchment stretched over the wider part. On being struck with the finger, this instrument makes a remarkably loud sound. These relics are lodged in the London Scriptural Museum, and are all ticketed with the texts they serve to illustrate. This arrangement is very judicious, and gives a great additional interest to the sacred objects while under inspection. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CUKIOUS, AND QUAINT. 217 1. Distaff. 2. Roman Farthing. 3. Stone Money Weights. 4. Hand MilL 5. Eastern Wine and Water Bottles. The distaff was the instrument which wrought the materials for the rohes of the Egyptian Kings, and for the "little coat" which Hannah made for Samuel ; by it, too, were wrought the cloths, and other fabrics used in Solomon's temple. By reference to the above engraving, it will be seen that nothing can be more simple than this ancient instrument, which is a sort of wooden skewer, round which the flax is wrapped ; it is then spun on the ground in the same manner as a boy's top, and the 218 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; thread wrought off, and wound upon, a reel shown in the foreground of the picture. " Querns," or stone hand-mills of various sizes, similar to that represented in our engraving, have heen repeatedly found in con- nection with Roman, Saxon, and other ancient remains in this country They are still to be met with in constant use over the greater part of India, in Africa, and also those districts of the East which are more par- ticularly associated with Holy Writ. It may he worth while to mention that this description of mill is an improvement upon the method of simply crushing the corn laid on a flat stone with another held in the hand. The "Quern" is a hard stone roughly rounded, and partly hollowed, into which another stone, which has a handle, is loosely fitted. The corn required to be ground is placed in the hollow receptacle, and the inner stone is moved rapidly round, and, in course of time, by immense labour, the wheat &c. is ground into flour. The Scripture prophecies men- tion that of two women grinding at the mill, one shall be left, and the other taken the two-handled mill will explain the meaning of this passage. CHBONOLOGICAL TABLE OP EEMABKABLE EVENTS. The following curious table is extracted literatim from Arthur Hopton's Concordancie of Years, 1615: 1077. A blazing star on Palm Sunday, nere the sun. 1100. The yard (measure) made by Henry I. 1116. The moone seemed turned into bloud. 1 1 28. Men wore haire like women. 1180. Paris in France, and London in Englande, paued, and thatching in both left, because all Luberick was spoiled thereby with fire. 1189. Robin Hood and Little John lived. This yeare London obtained to be gouerned b]f sheriffes and maiors. 1205. By reason of a frost from January to March wheate was sold for a marke the quarter, which before was at 12 pence. Anno Regni 6. John. 1209. London bridge builded with stone ; and this yeare the citizens of London had a grant to choose them a maior. 1227. The citizens of London had libertie to hunt a certain distance about the citie, and to passe toll-free through England. 1231. Thunder lasted fifteen daies ; beginning the morrow after St. 1233. Four sunnes appeared, beside the true sunne, of a red colour. 1235. The Jews of Norwich stole a boy and circumcised him, mindir.g to have crucified him at Easter. 1247. The king farmed Q,ueene-hiue for fifty pounds per annum, to the citizens. 1252 Great tempests upon the sea, and fearful ; and this year the king (Henry III.) granted, that wheretofore the citizens of London were to present the maior before the king, wheresoeuer he were, that now barons of the exchequer should seme. 1292. The Jewes corrupting England with vsury, had first a badge giuen them to weare, that they might be knowne, and after were banished to the number of 150,000 persons, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 219 1313. This yeare the king of France burned all his leporous and pocky people, as well men as women : for that he supposed they hacl poysoned the waters, which caused his leprosie. About this time, also, the Jews had a purpose to poyson all the Christians, by poysoning all their springs. 1361. Men and beasts perished in diuers places with thunder and light ning, and fiends were scene speake unto men as they trauelled. lc.72. The first baililfes, in Shrewsbury. ]386. The making of gunnes found; and rebels in Kent and Essex, who entred London, beheaded all lawyers, and burnt houses and all bookes of law. i3&8. Picked shooes, tyed to their knees with siluer chaines were vsed. And women with long gownes rode in side-saddles, like the queene, that brought side-saddles first to England ; for before they rode astrid. 1401. Pride exceeding in monstrous apparrell. 1411. Guildhall in London begun. 1417. A decree for lantherne and candle-light in London. H27. llain from the 1st of Aprill to Hollontide. 1510. St. John's College in Cambridge being an ancient hostell, was conuerted to a college by the executors of the Countesse of Rich- mond and Derby, and mother of Henry VII., in this yeare, as her will was. 1 552. The new service book in English. 1 555. The first use of coaches in England. 1606. The cawsies about London taken down. 1610. Britaines Bursse builded. Hix Hall builded. Aldgate builded new. Button's Hospitall founded. Moore fields new railed and planted with trees. "Westminster palace paued. COCK-FIGHTING AT SCHOOLS. Many years ago the scholars at our large schools had regular cock fights, which would appear to have been an affair of the school, recognised by the masters, and the charges for which were defrayed by them, to be afterwards paid by the parents, just as some innocent excur- sions and festivities are managed now a days. The credit of the school was, without doubt, often involved in the proper issue of the fight. Sir James Mackintosh, when at school at Fortrose in 1776-7, had this entry in his account, in which books were charged 3s. 6d. : To cocks' -fight dues for 2 years, 2s. 6d. each, 5s. Associated are three months' fees at the dancing-school, minuet, country-dances, and hornpipe, &c. Cock-fighting up to the end of the last century was a very general amusement, and an occasion for gam - bling. It entered into the occupations of the old and young. Travellers agreed with coachmen that they were to wait a night if there was a cock-fight in any town through which they passed. A battle between two cocks had five guineas staked upon it. Fifty guineas, about the year 1 760, depended upon the main or odd battle. This made the deci- 220 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; eion of a " long main," at cock-fighting an important matter. The church bells at times announced the winning of a " long main." Matcheg were sometimes so arranged as to last the week. When country gentle- men had sat long at table, and the conversation had turned upon the re- lative merits of their several birds, a cock-fight often resulted, as the birds in question were brought for the purpose into the dining-room. COMMON TRAVELLING. We have here the common travelling dress in use at the com- mencement of the 12th century, tempus Henry I. and Stephen. The original is intended for the Saviour meeting the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The Saviour wears an under tunic, and his mantle, fastened by a narrow band across the chest, is held up by the right hand. The figures of the disciples are, however, the most curious, the central one particularly so, as he would seem to wear a dress expressly invented for travelling : his large round hat, with its wide brim, seems to be the original of the pilgrim's hat so well known in later times, and which formed so distinguishing a mark in their costume. His short green tunic, well adapted for journeying, is protected by a capacious mantle of skin, provided with a "capa" or cowl, to draw over the head, and which was frequently used instead of a hat. He wears white breeches ornamented with red cross-stripes ; they end at the ankle, where they are secured by a band or garter, the foot being covered by close shoes. His compa- nion wears the common cap so frequently met with, and ^he has his face ornamented to profusion by moustaches and beard, each lock of which appears to be most carefully separated and arranged in the nicest order. He has an under-tunic of white, and an upper one of red, and a white mantle bordered with gold ; he also wears the same kind of breeches, reaching to the ankle, but he has no shoes, which frequently appears to have been the case when persons were on a journey. FASHIONABLE DANCES OF THE LAST CENTTJET. The style of dancing which was fashionable at the latter part of the last century, may be seen from the following advertisement from a dancing-master, which we have copied from a newspaper of the year 1775 : " At Duke's Long Room, in. Paternoster Row, Grown Gentlemen or Ladies are taught a Minuet, or the Method of Country Dances, with tho modern Method of Footing ; and that in the genteelest, and most expe- ditious, and private Manner. And for the greater expedition of such MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 221 gentlemen as clmse to dance in company, there's a complete Set of Gentle- men assembled every Monday and "Wednesday evening for the said pur- pose. Gentlemen or Ladies may be waited on at their own Houses by favouring me with a line directed as above. Likewise to be had at my House, as above, a Book of Instructions for the figuring part of Country Dances, with the Figure of the Minuet annex' d thereon, drawn out in haracters, and laid down in such a Manner, that at once casting your Kye on it, you see the Figure directly form'd as it is to be done ; so that a person, even that had never learnt, might, by the help of this book, soon make himself Master of the figuring Part. Such as reside in the Country, I doubt not, would find it of immediate Service, as they havo not always an Opportunity of having Recourse to a Dancing Master. Price 10s. 6d. N. Dukes, Dancing Master." PEEACHTNG FEIAES. In the romance of "St. Graal," executed in the fourteenth century, we have this representation of one of these preaching friars in his rude portable pul- pit. From the contrast afforded by their mendi- cancy, and enthusiasm in teaching, to the pride and riches of the higher clergy, and their con- stant mixing with the people, they became ex- cessively popular. The preacher in the cut has a crowded and attentive audience (though one lady seems inclined to nap) ; the costume of the entire body, who are all seated, after a primitive fashion, on the bare ground, is worthy of note, and may be received as a fair picture of the commonalty of England about the year 1350. THE ECCENTBIC LADY lEWSON. Mrs. Jane Lewson, widow, of No. 12, Coldbath Square, London, died 1816, aged 116. Mrs. Lewson, from the very eccentric style of her dress, was almost universally recognised as Lady Lewson. She was born in Essex Street, Strand, in the year 1700, during the reign of William and Mary; and was married at an early age to a wealthy gentleman then living in the house in which she died. She became a widow at the early age of 26, having only one child, a daughter, living at the time. Mrs. Lewson being left by her husband in affluent circumstances, though she had many suitors, preferred to remain in a state of widowhood. When her daughter married, being left alone, she became very fond of retire- 222 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFTTL 1HINGS, ment, and rarely went out or permitted the visits of any person. Foi the last thirty years of her life she had kept no servant, except one old female, who died in 1806 ; she was succeeded hy the old woman's grand- daughter, who was married ahout 1813 ; and she was followed in the situation by an old man, who attended the different houses in the square to go on errands, clean shoes, &c. Mis. Lewson took this man into her house, and he acted as her steward, butler, cook, and housemaid ; and with the exception of two old lap-dogs and a cat, he was her only com- panion. The house she occupied was elegantly furnished, but after the old style ; the beds were kept constantly made, although they had no> been slept in for about fifty years. Her apartment was only occasional/* swept out, but never washed ; the windows were so encrusted with dir that they hardly admitted a ray of light to pass through them. She hua used to tell her acquaintances that if the rooms were wetted, it might be the occasion of her taking cold ; and as to cleaning the windows, she observed that many accidents happened through that ridiculous practice : the glass might be broke, and the person wounded, when the expense of repairing the one, and curing the other, would both fall upon her. A large garden at the rear of the house was the only thing connected with her establishment to which she really paid attention. This was always kept in good order ; and here, when the weather permitted, she enjoyed the air, or sometimes sat and read by way of pastime ; or else chatted on times past with any of the few remaining acquaintances whose visits she permitted. She seldom visited any person except Mr. Jones, a grocer at the corner of the square, with whom she dealt. She was so partial to the fashions prevailing in her youthful days, that she never changed the manner of her dress from that worn by ladies in the reign of George the First. She always wore powder with "a large toupee made of horsehair on her head, nearly half a foot high, over which her front hair was turned tip ; a cap over it, which knotted under the chin, and three or four curls hanging down her neck. She generally wore silk gowns, the train loii> with a deep flounce all round, a very long narrow waist, very tightly laced up to her neck, round which was a ruff or frill. The sleeves of her gown, to which four or five large ruffles were attached, came below the elbow ; a large straw bonnet, quite flat, high-heeled shoes, a fall-made black silk cloak trimmed round with lace, and a gold-headed cane, com - pleted her eyery-day costume for the last eighty years of her life, and in which habiliments she occasionally walked round the square, when she was uniformly spoken of by all spectators as Lady Lewson. She never practised ablutions of any kind, or hardly in any degree, because, as she alleged, those persons who washed themselves were always taking cold, or laying the foundation of some dreadful disorder. Her method was to besmear her face and neck all over with hog's lard, because that was soft and lubricating ; and then, because she required a little colour in her cheeks to set off her person to advantage, she had used to paint them with rose-pink. Her manner of living was so methodical, that she would not take her tea out of any other than a favourite cup. She was equally particular with respect to her knives, forks, plates, &c. At breakfast she Arranged, in a particular manner, the paraphernalia of her table : at MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 223 dinner she always observed a particular rule as to the placing of the two or three empty chairs, by which the table was surrounded, but herself always sat in one favourite chair. She constantly enjoyed an excellent state of health ; assisted at all times in regulating the affairs of her household ; and never, until a little previous to her decease, had an hour's illness. She entertained the greatest aversion to medicine ; and, what is remarkable, cut two new teeth at the age of 87, and was never troubled with the toothache. Towards the close of her life her sight failed her. She lived in five reigns, and was believed to be the most faithful living chronicler of the age. A few days previous to her decease-, an old lady who was her neighbour died suddenly, which had such an effect upon her that she frequently said her time was also come, and she should soon follow. She enjoyed the use of all her faculties till that period, when she became weak and took to her bed ; but steadily refused all medical aid. Her conduct to a few relations was extremely capricious; and she would never see any of them ; and it was not until a few hours before her disso- lution that any relaxation in her temper was manifested. She was in- terred in Bunhill Fields burying-ground. WHEN FIEE ENGINES WEEE F1EST MADE. The Phoenix was the first fire-office established, in 1682. There were used, in towns, squirts or syringes, for extinguishing fire, which did not exceed two or three feet in length. These yielded to the Fire Engine, with leathern pipes, which was patented in 1676. Water-tight, seam- less hose was made in Bethnal Green in 1720. About this date s. d. A fire engine and pipe for Lyme cost . . .600 A square pipe, 23 feet long 1180 12 leather fire-buckets 233 A Fire Engine was considered an appropriate present for an aspirant to a borough. At Lewes, in 1726, T. Pelham, Esq., gave one, anJ having been chosen representative in 1731, he presented a second. EXTBAOEDINAEl CA.TAEACT. In the Island of Pulo Penang, in the Straits of Malacca, there is a cataract which is surpassed by very few in the four quarters of the earth. It is rarely visited, and, therefore, has been but seldom described ; but those who have been fortunate enough to witness it all agree in the opinion that it forms one of the wonders of the world. The stream which supplies it is of considerable volume, and after traversing a long tract of comparatively level country, is suddenly precipitated almost without a break into a ravine nearly two hundred feet below tho summit of the fall. The annexed engraving gives an. excellent representation of the scene. The stream descends with a mighty roar, and rushes on with a lightning speed. If you take the trouble of bringing a small looking-glass in your pocket, and come here about an hour before noon, you will be able to produce some very beautiful artificial rainbows. But, whatever you do, never attempt to clamber to the top of the rocks ; for though, doubtless, 224 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS : the scenery, is very sublime up there, the pathway is slippery and dangerous in the extreme; and the guides can tell how two hapless vouths, officers belonging to a regiment stationed here some twenty years ago, clambered up that hill, and how they shouted with triumph on reaching yon summit, and waved their handkerchiefs bravely ; but they can also tell the gloomy and disastrous end of all this ; how the wild screams echoed far and wide, as both slipped and fell headlong into the surging torrent, and the sun shone brightly upon the MARVELLOUS. RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 225 bright red uniforms as they were hurried over the precipice, and dashed from rock to rock; and, whilst yet the horror-stricken spec- tators gazed with speechless agony and terror, the bodies of the poor young men were borne away and hid by the blood-stained waters from human recovery. DANCES OF THE NATIVES IN NEW SOTTTH WALES. The manners and customs of the uncivilized are always legitimate objects of wonder and curiosity to the civilized. It is on this account that we give the above sketch of one of the festival dances of the native* of Australia. These dances are not only the usual close of their combats, but are frequent in time of peace. They appear almost necessary to stir up their blood ; and under the excitement they produce, the whole nature of the people seems to be changed. To a spectator the effect of one of these exhibitions almost equals that of a tragic melo-drama. A suitable place for the performance is selected in the neighbourhood of their huts. Here a fire is built by the women and boys, while such of the men as are to take a share in the exhibition, usually about twenty 'in number, disappear to arrange their persons. "When these prepara- 26 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, tions are completed, and the fire burns brightly, the performers are wflu advancing in the guise of as many skeletons, this eft'ect is produced hv means of pipe clay, with which they paint broad white lines on their arms and legs, and on the head, while others of less breadth are drawn across the body, to correspond to the ribs. The music consists in beating time on their shields, and singing, and to it the movements of the dancers conform. It must not be supposed that this exhibition is a dance in our sense of the word. It consists of violent and odd movements of the arms, legs, and body, contortions and violent muscular actions, amounting almost to frenzy. The performers appear more like a child's pasteboard supple-jack thaii anything human in their movements. This action continues for a time, and then the skeletons, for so they apear to be, since they truly resemble them, suddenly seem to vanish and reappear. The disappearance is effect>4 by merely turning round, for the figures are painted only in front, and their dusky forms are lost by mingling with the dark background. The trees, illuminated by the lire, are brought out with some of the figures in bold relief, while others were indistinct and ghost-like. All concurs to give an air of wild- ness to the strange scene. As the dance proceeds, the excitement increase, and those who a short time before appear only half alive, become full of animation, and finally are obliged to stop from exhaustion. A PUDDING AS AN ADVEETISEMEXT. The following fact is interesting, inasmuch as it gives us an insight into the popular tastes of the period, and the power of mob-law : In 1718, James Austin, inventor of the Persian ink powder, invited his customers to a feast. There was a pudding promised, which was to be boiled fourteen days, instead of seven hours, and for which he allowed a chaldron of coals. It weighed 900 pounds. The copper for boiling it was erected at the Red Lion in Southwark Park, where crowds went to see it ; and when boiled, it was to be conveyed to the Swan Tavern, Fish Street Hill, to the tune of ' ' What lumps of pudding my mother gave me." The place was changed to the Restoration Gardens in St. George's Fields, in consequence of the numerous company expected, and the pudding set out in procession with banners, streamers, drums, &c., but the mob chased it on the way and carried all off. THE DESOLATION OF EYAM. The ancient custom of hanging a garland of white roses, made of writing paper, and a pair of white gloves over the pew of the unmarried villagers who die in the flower of their age, prevailed up to the year 1837 in the village of Eyam, and in most other villages and little towns in the Peak of Derbyshire. In the year 1665, the plague was conveyed to this unfortunate village, which for a time had been chiefly confined to Lon- don. The infection, it appears, was carried in a box of woollen clothes ; the tailor, to whom they were directed was, together with his family, the immediate victims of this fatal importation ; and a few days sufficed to eouiirra the fact, that the entire hamlet was deeply infected. A general MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 22 i panic ensued, the worthy and truly Christian Rector, the Rev. William Mompesson, at this eventful and awful crisis, summoned the parish, and after energetically stating the case, and declaring his decided intention of remaining at his post, induced his hearers to adopt the measures he was about to propose, if not for their own preservation, at least for the more important cause, the preservation of the surrounding country. Eyam, from this moment, like a hesieged city, was cut off from the living world, and to the zeal and fidelity of this ever- to-be -respected minister was con- tided the present, as well as eternal welfare of those who were about to prove to posterity, that devotion to their country, as well as to their God, was combined in the truly Christian creed taught them by this reverend man. But alas ! it was the will of the Almighty that the ranks of this devoted flock should be rapidly thinned, though Mr. and Mrs. Mompesson had been hitherto spared ; but in August, the latter was carried off by the fatal disease, in the 27th year of her age ; her monument may still be seen at no great distance from the chancel door. A number of grave- stones, bearing date 1666, in the church-yard, show that for a time, at least, the dead had been deposited there in the usual manner. Soon after the death of Mrs. Mompesson, the disorder began to abate, and in about two months might be said to have entirely ceased. The pious and amiable Rector was graciously preserved. CUKIOTTS PLAT BILL. The following remarkable theatrical announcement is worth preserva- tion, inasmuch as it forms a curious effusion of vanity and poverty, in the shape of an appeal to the taste and feelings of the inhabitants of a town in Sussex : (Copy.} At the old theatre in East Grinstead, on Saturday, May 5th, 1758, will be represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of Mrs. P.) the deep and affecting Tragedy of Theodosius, or the Force of Love, with magnificent scenes, dresses, &c. Varanes, by Mr. P., who will strive, as far as possible, to support the character of this fiery Persian Prince, in which he was so much admired and applauded at Hastings, Arundel, Petworth, Midworth, Lewes, &c. Theodosius, by a young gentleman from the university of Oxford, who never appeared on any stage. Athenais, by Mrs. P. Though her present condition will not permit her to wait on gentlemen and ladies out of the town with tickets, she hopes, as on former occasions, for their liberality and support. Nothing in Italy can exceed the altar, in the first scene of the play. Nevertheless, should any of the Nobility or Gentry wish to see it orna- mented with flowers, the bearer will bring away as many as they choose to favour him with. A.s the coronation of Athenais, to be introduced in the fifth act, con- tains a number of personages, more than sufficient to fill all the dressing rooms, &c., it is hoped no gentlemen and ladies will be offended at being refused admission behind the scenes. N.B. The great yard dog, thr-tmade so much noice on Thursday night, 228 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; during the last act of King Richard the Third, will he sent to a neigh- bour's over the way ; and on account of the prodigious demand for places, part of the stahle will he laid into the boxes on one side, and the granary be open for the same purpose on the other. Vivat Rex. THE EAR OF BIRDS NOT TO BE DECEIVED. The sense of hearing in birds is singularly acute, and their instinct leads them instantly to detect the slightest variation in the song of those of their own kind. The following is a laughable instance of this : A bird-catcher, wishing to increase his stock of bullfinches, took out his caged bird and his limed twigs, and placed them in such a situation of hedge and bush as he judged favourable to his success. It so hap- pened that his own bird was one of education, such as is usually termed a piping bullfinch. In the first instance a few accidentally thrown out natural notes, or calls, had attracted three or four of his kindred feather, which had now taken their station not far distant from the cage. There they stood in doubt and curiosity, and presently moving inch by inch, and hop by hop towards him and the fatal twigs, they again became stationary and attentive. It was in this eager and suspended moment that the piping bullfinch set up the old country-dance of "Nancy Dawson." Away flew every astounded bullfinch as fast as wings could move, in such alarm and confusion as bullfinches could feel nd they only can venture to describe. FLYING COACH. If the Exeter Flying Stage arrived from London at Dorchester in two days, and at Exeter at the end of the third day, about 1739, the speed must have been considered surprising. Those who made use of such a conveyance were doubtless looked upon as presumptuous, neck-or-nothing mortals. There was a " Devizes chaise " from London at this time which took a route through Reading, Newbury, and Marlborough. There is a good house at Morcomb Lake, east of Charmouth, now no longer in the road, owing to this having been diverted. This was a road-side inn, where the judges slept. The Fly Coach from London to Exeter slept there the fifth night from town. The coach proceeded the next morning to Axminster, where it breakfasted, and there a woman barber shaved the coach. AST AGED SPIETT DETITKEB. Daniel Bull M'Carthy, of the county of Kerry, Ireland, died 1752, agod 111. At the age of eighty-four he married a fifth wife, a girl little more than fourteen years of age, by whom he had twenty children one every subsequent year of his life. It was remarked that he was scarcely ever seen to expectorate ; nor did any extent of cold ever seem to affect him. For the last seventy years of his life, when in company, he drank plenti- fully of rum and brandy, which he always took neat ; and, if in com- pliance with solicitations he took wine or punch, always drank an equal MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 229 sized glass of rum or brandy, which he designated a wedge. The tcmjm- rature of his body was generally so hot that he could bear but little cloth- ing, either by day or night upon his person. GIANT TEEE. There are few trees in the world like the giant tree in the island of Pulo Penang, of which the annexed engraving is a correct representation. It is one of the various kinds of palm, and some idea may be formed of 230 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; its height from the fact that it is twice as tall, and quite as straight, as the mainmast of a line-of-battle ship ; there are no branches, no twigs anywhere to be seen, save just at the very summit, and here they bend over gracefully, something like what one would imagine a large- si zed palm-tree to be. if gazed at through Lord llosse's telescope. It is a only specimen of its kind to be met with in the whole island. PUNISHING FALSE ACCUSERS. Wisdom may sometimes be learned at a Quarter Sessions, and it would be advantageous if we occasionally took a hint from our ancestois. The magistrates at sessions in Charles the First's reign could and did address themselves to questions arising between parties moving in humble life, very important to them, and who could now-a-day in vain seek re- dress in the same quarter. A modern Bridget might continue to charge men with a breach of promise of marriage without legal measures being available against her. This was not so in 1626. Her case was con- sidered, and her injurious conduct and mode of life were duly estimated, with what result we shall learn from the following entry in the minute book of a quarter sessions in Devonshire of that date: "Forasmuch as it hath appeared unto this Court that Bridget Howsley of Langton, spinster, liveth idly and lewdly at home, not betaking herself to any honest course of life, and hath lately falsely and scandalously accused one [left blank in the original] of Honiton, in Devon, challenging a promise of marriage from him, which tended much to his disgrace, and that she is a continual brawler and sower of strife and debate between her neighbours, inhabitants of Langton aforesaid, this court doth there- fore think fit and order that the said Bridget Howsley be forthwith com- mitted to the House of Correction, there to be set on work and remain for the space of six whole months, and from thenceforth until she shall find very good sureties for her appearance at the next Sessions, after the said six months shall be expired, or until she shall procure a master that will take her into service." A PHASE OP THE SOUTHCOTTIAN DELUSION. One of the most remarkable cases on record of combined knavery, credulity, and superstition, is the belief which so extensively prevailed about fit'ty years ago in the mission and doctrines of Joanna Southcott, and of which, strange to say, some traces remain even to the present day. Is it not astonishing that so recently as the year 1814, August 3rd, the following paragraph which we believe gives a correct statement of the facts should have appeared in the Courier newspaper? "Joanna Southcott has lately given out that she expects in a few weeks to become the mother of the true Messiah. She is nearly seventy years of age. A cradle of most expensive and magnificent materials has been bespoken by a lady of fortune for the accouchement, and has been for some days ex- hibited at the warehouse of an eminent cabinet maker in Aldersgate-street. Hundreds of genteel persons of both sexes have been to see this cradle, in which her followers believe the true Messiah is to be rocked. The follow- ing has been given us as a correct description : ' A child's crib, three feet MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 231 six inches, by two feet, of satin wood, with brass trellis, side and foot board ; turned feet, carved and gilt, on castors ; a swing cot, inside caned, to swing on centre ; at each end gilt mouldings, top and bottom for gold letters ; a canopy cover, with blue silk ; carved and gilt under it, a gold ball, and dove, and olive branch ; green stars at each corner, gilt ; blue silk furniture ; an embroidered celestial crown, with Hebrew characters, gold letters; a lambs'-wool mattress, with white fustian down bed, down pillow, and two superfine blanket*.' " HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES OF KING EDWAED THE FIRST. Edward the First kept three Christmasses at Rhuddlan castle, in Flint- shire ; and it is a fact not generally known, that his queen Eleanor, exclu- sively of theyoung prince Edward, born at Caernarvon, was delivered of a princess there in 1283. This shows that his entire household must have been transferred into "Wales, at the time his policy was directed to complete the annexation of the principality of Wales to that of England. In an ancient record in the tower of London, dated 1281-2, and translated ly Samuel Lysons, Esq., is a curious roll of Edward's expenses when at Rhuddlan. It consists of four sheets, containing the particulars, under proper heads, of the sums of money paid for the maintenance of hia household. The sum of the expenses in this roll is 1,395 10s., which sum, with the expenses of the other roll of the queen's household is 2,220 2s. 10d. The roll is very curious, but too long to be inserted here. We append the following as a specimen of the various items it contains : Paid on the day of the queen's churching in oblations to mass 030 The queen's gift to divers minstrels attending her churching 10 The queen's (rift to a female spy 010 jy ( A certain female spy, to purcfiase her a house as a spy 100 For the brethren at the hospital at Rhuddlan . Oil For a certain player as a gift ..... 080 For the celebration of mass for the soul of William de Bajoi 110 For the messenger carrying letters to the king at London to be sent to the court of Rome, for his expenses . 010 Paid sundry bailiffs at the castle . . . . 4 10 For the carriage of 80 casks of wine from the water to the castle 22 For a cart bringing lances and cross bows from Ruthlan to Hope 014 For the carriage of 3,000 from the king's wardrobe to the queen's wardrobe 10 5 For 600 turves, to pkce about the queen's stew pond in the castle 010 Carriage of figs and raisins to Aberconway . . .001 Paid wages for 1,060 archers at twopence, with 53 cap- tains at fourpence, with 10 constables of cavalry at 12d. a day 68 8 6 Paid the same for 1,040 archers, &e. &c. . . . 67 4 2S2 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; GAEKICK'S CITP. This celebrated Shakspearean relic was presented to David Garrick, by the Mayor and Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon, in September, 1769, at the Jubilee which he instituted in honour of his fa- vourite Bard. It measures about 11 inches in height. The tree from which it is carved was planted by Shakspeare's own hand, in the year 1609, and after having stood 147 years, was, in an evil hour, and when at its full growth and remarkably large, cut down, and cleft to pieces for fire-wood, by order of the Rev. Francis Gastrell, to whom it had become an object of dislike, from its subjecting him to the frequent importuni- ties of travellers. Fortunately, the greater part of it fell into the possession of Mr. Thomas Sharp, a watchmaker of Strat- ford, who, " out of sincere vene- ration" for the memory of its immortal planter, and well know- ing the value the world set upon it, converted the fragments to uses widely differing from that to which they had been so sacri- legiously condemned. Garrick held this cup in his hand at the Jubilee, while he sung the beautiful and well-known air, which he had composed for the occasion, beginning " Behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree, Which, my sweet Shakspeare, was planted by thee ; As a relic I kiss it, and bow at the shrine, What comes from thy hand must be ever divine ! All shall yield to the Mulberry tree, Bend to thee, Blest Mulberry: Matchless was he Who planted thee, And thou like him immortal be 1 " QUICK WORK. Mr. John Coxetter, of Greenham Mills, Newbury, nad two Souih do\vu sheep shorn at his factory exactly at five o'clock in the morning, from the wool of which, after passing its various processes, a complete MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 233 damson coloured coat was made, and worn by Sir John Throckmortcn, at a quarter past six in the evening, being two and three-quarter hours within the time allotted, for a wager of 1,000 guineas. The sheep were roasted whole, and a sumptuous dinner given by Mr. Coxetter. ORIGIN OP THE GKEAT WALL OF CHINA. As has been invariably the case in the early history of all the leading nations of the earth, great confusion and civil discord existed in the empire of China in its first stages. It was divided into pettv prince- doms, each prince striving to outwit the other, and all anxiously aiming at the supreme power of the land, till the Emperor Chi-hoang-ti, who came to the throne about three hundred years before the Christian era, conquered the whole of the jealous petty princes, and united their states into one vast empire. But no sooner had he achieved this, than the Tartars began to be troublesome, and, hoping effectually to exclude their invasions, this emperor caused to be constructed the often-read-of great wall of China, a stupendous work of masonry, extending from the sea to the western province of Shensee and carried over a tract of fifteen hundred miles, comprising high mountains, deep valleys, and broad rivers, the wall being supported over the latter by gigantic arches. Fortified towers were erected at every hundred yards, and its summit admitted of six horsemen riding abreast. This sovereign is said to be the founder of the Hau dynasty. The wall proved an insignificant 234 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; barrier to the Huns or Tartars, who harassed the princes of the Hau dynasty, and were a very scourge to the farmers of the frontier pro- vinces. About the year 264, the Hau dynasty gave way to the Tsin, which latter was founded by a lineal descendant, through many gene- rations, of the builder of the great wall. In the sketch which we have given, our chief object has been to show the extraordinary inflexibility of the Chinese in carrying their wall strictly along their frontier line, in spite of the stupendous obstacles which, intervened in the shape of mountains and valleys. PRIVY PURSE 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 this MS., taken from Malone's transcripts, are here offered : Mv Lord St. Alban's bill Ladv Castlemaine's debts s. d. 1,746 18 11 1,116 1 Sir R. Viner, for plate . . . 850 For grinding cocoa-nuts . 580 Paid Lady C., play money 300 For a band of mus'ic ....". 50 To the footman that beat Teague 5 7 6 To Mr. Pears, for the charges of a body dissected before the king 5 1 Ladv C., play money 300 TotheMorriceDanccrsatEly 110 Lady C., play money 300 Mr. "Knight "for bleeding the king 10 10 For a receipt of chocolate . . 227 Mr. Price, for milking the asses 10 To one that showed tumblers' tricks 5761 For weighing the king .... 100 Paid Hall for dancing on the rope 20 The Queen's allowance 1,250 Paid Lord Lauderdale for ballads 500 To a bone-setter attending the Duchess of Monmouth 10 Paid Terry for waiting on the king swimming 10 For 3,685 ribbons for the healing 107 10 4 Mrs. Blague, the king's valentine 218 NellGwyn 100 Lost by the king at play on Twelfth-night 220 Paid what was borrowed for the Countess of Castlc- maine 1,650 COLOFE OF THE HAT FOR CARDINALS. Innocent IV. first made the hat the symbol or cognizance of the car- dinals, enjoining them to wear a red hat at the ceremonies and proces- sions, in token of their being ready to spill their blood for Jesus Christ. SEVERITY OF THE LAWS A HUNDRED TEARS AGO. Two lads were hanged for stealing a purse containing two shillings and a brass counter. Of ten criminals convicted at one sessions, four were hanged and six transported. Very often half a dozen were sentenced to death at a single sessions. On the 17th March, 1755, eight malefactors wore hanged together at Tyburn. It was recorded as a matter of surprise, that, " only six convicts received sentence of death at Gloucester Assizes." One of these was a woman named Anne Ockley, who was executed on the following day, on the charge of murdering an" illegitimate child. To the iast she denied her guilt, except in not having called in medical advioe MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 23* for her infant after a bad fall. She took the Sacrament, and begged for more time to prepare herself for the change ; this favour being denied, she remained praying for two hours on the drop before she would give the signal. MARKING THE KING'S DISHES WITH THE COOK'S NAMES. Xing George II. was accustomed every other year to visit his German dominions, with the greater part of the officers of his household, and espe - cially those belonging to the kitchen. Once on his passage at sea, his lirst cook was so ill with the sea-sickness, that he could not hold up las head to dress his majesty's dinner ; this being told to the king, he wus exceedingly sorry for it, as he was famous for making a Rhenish soup, which his majesty was very fond of; he therefore ordered inquiry to be made among the assistant-cooks, if any of them could make the above soup. One named Weston (father of Tom Weston, the player) under- took it, and so pleased the king, that he declared it was full as good as that made by the first cook. Soon after the king's return to England, the first cook died ; when the king was informed of it, he said, that his steward of the household always appointed his cooks, but that he would now name one for himself, and therefore asking if one Weston was still in the kitchen, and being answered that he was, " That man," said he, " shall be my first cook, for he makes most excellent Rhenish soup." This favour begot envy among all the servants, so that, when any dish was found fault with, they used to say it was "Weston's dressing : the king took notice of this, and said to the servants, it was very extraordi- nary that every dish he disliked should happen to be Weston's ; "In future," said he, " " let every dish be marked with the name of the cook that makes it." By this means the king detected their arts, and from that time Weston's dishes pleased him most. This custom was kept up till late in the reign of George III. PABLOTJS DATS. Bloodletting, considered during the last century to be necessary for every one in health or not, at spring and fall, was an operation performed by the country surgeons on the labourers on a Sunday morning, at a charge of 6d. each. Bleeding in bed by a barber was, in the reign of Charles II., sometimes charged, for a lady, so high as 10s., and for a gentleman, Is. and 2s. 6d. The operator perhaps harboured the patient at an additional charge. Barbouring by the year was charged lf>8. Superstition had marked certain days in each month as dangerous for bloodletting, which were called parlous days. In July, the 1st, 7th, 13th, 12th, 25th, and 20th were of the above kind. As the whole population had recourse to bloodletting twice a year, bleeders or barbers were in constant demand. A FUNERAL APPROPRIATELY CONDUCTED. During the year 1700, the minister of a parish in Kent was interred at the age of 96 years ; the gentleman who preached his funeral sermon was 236 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; 82 ; he who read the service 87 ; the clerk of the parish was the same age ; the sexton was 86 ; in addition to which list of aged persons, there were several present from the adjacent parishes 100 years old each, aad upwards. ANCIENT NTJT-CRACKEHS. The two quaint instruments pictured in our engraving, of about the time of Charles I. or II., are made of hard wood rather rudely carved ; and look as if in their time they had seen good service. The grotesque heads, with the mouth, affording the means of cracking the nuts, are examples of the fitness of design for a particular purpose, which charac- terize many of the objects in domestic use in the middle ages, and up to the reign of Queen Anne, after which ornamental art for household uses MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT, 237 seems almost to have been disused. Even in the time of George III., our chairs, tables, side-boards, &c., were made heavy, very ugly, and without any attempt at appropriate pattern. NELL GWYNNE'S LOOKING-GLASS. This glass is in the possession of Sir Page Dicks, of Port Hall, it bears the likeness of Nell Gwynne and King Charles, which are modelled in wax ; and also the supporters, or crest, which Nell assumed, namely, the lien and the leopard. The whole is curiously worked in coloured class beads, and the figures, with the dresses, made to project in very nigh relief; indeed, they_ are merely attached to the groundwork. la the upper compartment is Charles in his state dress ; and the bottom one, that of Nell Gwynne, in her court dress the pattern of whiph is 238 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; very tasteful. On the right is Charles in his hunting dress. The beads have retained their colours, which are very appropriate to the subject, and must have been a work of considerable time and patience ; but whether done by Nell or not, there is no record. A EEMAEKABLE HIGHLANDER. In August, 1827, John Macdonald expired in his son's house, in the Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven years. He was born in Glen Tinisdale, in the Isle of Skye, and, like the other natives of that quarter, was bred to rural labour. Early one morning in his youth, when looking after his black cattle, he was sur- prised by the sight of two ladies, as he thought, winding slowly round a hill, and approaching the spot where he stood. When they came up, they inquired for a well or stream, where a drink of water could be ob- tained. He conducted them to the " Virgin Well," an excellent spring, which was held in great reverence on account of its being the scene of some superstitious and legendary tales. When they had quenched their thirst, one of the ladies rewarded Macdonald with a shilling, the first silver coin of which he was possessed. At their own request he escorted them to a gentleman's house at some distance, and there, to his great surprise and satisfaction, he learned that the two "ladies" were Flora Macdonald and Prince Charles Stewart. This was the proudest incident in Macdonald's patriarchal life ; and, when surrounded by his Celtic brethren, he used to dilate on all the re- lative circumstances with a sort of hereditary enthusiasm, and more than the common garrulity of age. He afterwards turned joiner, and bore a conspicuous part in the building of the first Protestant church which was erected in the island of North Uist. He came to Edinburgh twenty- three years before his death, and continued to work at his trade till he was ninety-seven years of age. Macdonald was a temperate, regular-living man, and never paid a sixpence to a surgeon for himself, nor had an hour's sickness in the whole course of his life. Ho used to dance regularly on New-year's day, along with some Highland Mends, to the bagpipe. On New-year's day, 1825, he danced a reel with the father, the son, the grandson, and great- grandson, and was in more than his usual spirits. His hearing was no- thing impaired, and till within three weeks of his demise he could have threaded the finest needle with facility, without glasses. CA.XS WITH KNOTTED TAILS. "We extract the following paragraph from the narrative of a voyager in the Indian Ocean, because it contains an account of a rarity in natural history with which few, we believe, are acquainted. " The steward is again pillowed on his beloved salt fish, and our only companion is a Malacca cat, who has also an attachment for the steward s pillow. Puss is a tame little creature, and comes rubbing herself mildly against our shoes, looking up in our faces, and mewing her thoughts. Doubtless she is surprised that you have been so long looking at her without noticing the peculiarity in her tail, which so ncuch distinguishes MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 239 her from the rest of the feline race in other quarters of the globe. Take her up in your lap, and see for yourself. Did you ever observe such a singular knot so regular, too, in its formation ? Some cruel monster must have tied it in a knot whilst puss was yet a kitten, and she has outlived both the pain and inconvenience. But here comes a kitten, all full of gambols and fun, and we find that her tail is in precisely the same condition. So, then, this is a remarkable feature amongst the whole race of Malayan cats, but for which, no one we meet with, is abla to give us a satisfactory explanation." CUEIOUS FEATS. In 1553, the following extraordinary exhibition was performed in the presence of Queen Mary, in her passage through London to West-- minster. It is thus described by Holinshod, in his " Chronicle," printed 1577: "Whenshee didd come to Sainte Paule's churchyarde, Maister Haywood sat in a pageant under a vine, and made to her an oration in Latine ; and then there was- one Peter, a man of Holland, who didd stand upon the weathercocke of St. Paule's steeple, holdyng a streamer in his handes of five yardes long, and waving thereof. Hee sometimes stood on one foot and shock the other, and then hee kneeled on his knees to the verie grate marvel of al the people. Hee hadd made two scaffolds under him one above the cross, having torches and streamers sett upon it, and another over the ball of the cross, likewise sett with streamers and torches which could not burne, the wind was so greate." Our chronicler further informs us, that "Peter didd have xvi pounds xiii shillings and iii pence given to him by the citie of Lon- don for his costes and pains, and for all his stuffe." IMPUDENCE OK CANDOUB, WHICH IS IT? The following advertisement appeared in the St. James's Chronicle of 1 772. " Wanted immediately, fifteen hundred, or two thousand pounds, by a person not worth a groat ; who, having neither houses, land, annui- ties, or public funds, can offer no other security than that of simple bond, bearing simple interest, and engaging the repayment of the sum borrowed in five, six, or seven years, as may be agreed on by the parties. Whoever this may suit, (for it is hoped it will suit somebody), by direct- ing a line for A. Z. in Rochester, shall be immediately replied to, or waited on, as may appear necessary." THE SOUTH STACK LIGHT-HOUSE. Though not so celebrated as the Eddystone, the South Stack Light- house is unquestionably one of the marvels of science, and as such may be appropriately described in our pages. It is erected on the summit of an isolated rock, three or four miles westward from Holyhead, and separated from the main land by a chasm ninety feet in width. This splendid structure was raised in the year 1808. The elevation of the summit of the rock on which it is erected is 140 feet above the level of tlit sea at high- water mark ; the height of the tower, from the base to the gallery, is sixty feet ; and the lantern is twelve feet high from the 240 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; gallery ; making the total elevation of the light 212 feet above high- water mark. The light is produced by twenty-one brilliant lamps, with powerful reflectors, placed on a revolving triangular frame, displaying a full-faced light every two minutes, which, in clear weather, is distinctly visible at a distance of ten leagues. Latterly there has been an addi- tion of three red lights placed at the rock, which are more distinctly visible in foggy weather than the light-house lights. The rough sea caused by the strong tides about the head rendered the communication by boat very precarious. In order to obviate the danger, a passage was contrived by means of two ropes thrown across the gulf, along which the individual was drawn in a box or cradle, by the assistance of pulleys affixed at each end. This plan was superseded by a bridge of ropes, which was used some years after, though always considered unsafe, on account of the constant wear of the ropes. In 1827, a modern sus- pension chain-bridge was thrown over the sound, the span of which is 110 feet, the chains being firmly bolted in the rock on each side, and carried over two massive stone pillars erected for the purpose. The chain supports a platform of timber five feet wide, and seventy feet above high-water mark. The bridge is attained by descending the Holyhead mountain in a zigzag direction by a flight of 380 steps. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 24i BRASS MEDAL OF OUE SAVIOim. In 1702, the late Rev. H. Rowlands, author of Mono, Antiqua, v?lulb superintending the removal of some stones, near Aberfraw, \Vales, for the purpose of making an antiquarian research, found a beautiful brass medal of our Saviour, in a line state of preservation, which he forwarded to his friend and countryman, the Rev. E. Llwyd, author of the Archeologice JBritannica, and at that time keeper of the Ashmolean library at Oxford. This medal, of which an engraving is subjoined, has on one side the ligure of a head exactly answering the description given by Publius Lentulus of our Savioxxr, in a letter sent by him to the emperor Tiberius and the senate of Rome. On the reverse side, it has the following legend jr inscription, written in Hebrew characters, " This is Jesus Christ, the Mediator or Reconciler;" or "Jesus, the Great Messias, or Man Media- tor." And being found among the ruins of the chief Druids resident in Anglesea, it is not improbable that the curious relic belonged to some Christian connected with Bran the Blessed, who was one of Caractacus'n hostages at Rome from A.D. 52 to 59, at which time the Apostle Paux was preaching the gospel of Christ 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 possession of the family of Kellie, after- wards 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 iis, and of the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet, but his disciples call him ' the Son of God.' He raiseth tho 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 colour of chesnut, full ripe, plain to his ears, whence downwards 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 aftar the manner of the Nazaritea ; his forehead plain and very delicate ; his face without a spot or wrinkle, beautified with the most 9 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS' lovely red ; his nose and mouth so formed that nothing can be repre- hended ; his heard thickish, in colour like his hair, not very long btt forked ; his look, innocent and mature ; his eyes, grey, clear, and quick. In reproving, he is terrihle; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with gravity. It cannot he remarked that any one saw him laugh, but many have seen him weep. In pro- portion of body, most excellent ; his hands and arms most delicate to behold. In speaking, very temperate, modest, and wise. A man, for bis singular beauty, surpassing 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 com- pared together. It was taken from a likeness engraved in agate, and sent as a present from the sultan for the release of his brother, who was taken prisoner. There is a well-executed drawing of this at the Mostyn library, much worse for age. MONSTROUS HEAD-DBESS. At no period in the history of the world was anything more absurd in head-dress worn than that here depicted, which was in vogue with the fashionables of 1782. The body of this erection was formed of tow, over which the hair was turned, and false hair added in great curls, bobs, and ties, powdered to profusion ; then hung all over with vulgarly-large rows of pearls, or glass beads, fit only to decorate a chandelier; flowers as obtrusive were stuck about this heap of finery, which was sur- mounted by broad silken bands and great ostrich-feathers, until the head-dress of a lady added three feet to her stature, and the male sex, to use the words of the Spectator, " became suddenly dwarfed beside her." To effect this, much time and trouble was wasted, and great personal annoyance was suffered. Heads, when properly dressed, "kept for three weeks," as the barbers quietly phrased it ; that they would not really " keep " longer may be seen by the many recipes they give for the destruction of insects which bred in the flour and pomatum so liberally bestowed upon them. The description of " opening a lady's head," after a three weeks' dressing, given in the magazines of this period, it would be imagined, would have taught the ladies common sense ; but fashion could reconcile even the disgust that must have been felt by all. PBJCE OF HUMAN HAIE. Long flaxen hair was bought from the head at 10s. the ounce, anil any otherfme hair at 5s. or 7s. the ounce in 1662. Within the present century the heads of hair of whole families In MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT; 243 Devonshire were let out by the year at so much rent per poll. An Exeter perriwig maker went round periodically, out the locks, and oiled the numskull of each thus left in stubble. INTEBESTING AND FANCIFUL EELIQUE The enamelled jewel, of which we give an engraving, was presented by Mary, Queen of Scots, to George Gordon, fourth Earl of Huntley. The precise period at which the g_ift was made is not now known, though the time was not improbably during the residence of the Queen in France, when the Order of St. Michael was conferred on the Duke of Chatel- herault, the Earl of Huntley, and several other Scottish nobles, about 154S. The [ock of Mary's hair which is attached to the small ivory skull, is of a light auburn, inclining to a gold- colour ; and if allowance be made for some fading in the course of . years, and for the hair of the Queen having generally become darker as she advanced in life, the accuracy of Melvil will be x confirmed, when, in speaking of her after her return to Scotland, he says, "her hair was light auburn ; Elizabeth's more red than yellow." In this particu- lar little reliance can be placed upon the portraits of Queen Mary; since it is well known, that in the latter part of her life, it was a fashionable practice to wear false hair of various hues, though in some of her pic- tares the colour of the locks is nearly similar to the hue of that represented in the present. The skull, from which it issues is connected by a twisted skein of Bilk with the figure of a Cupid shooting an arrow, standing on a heart enamelled red, transfixed with a dart. On one side the heart is a setting for a precious stone, now vacant ; and, on the other, in white letters, the words " Willingly Wounded." From the point of the heart is a pendant, containing on one side a small ruby, i\nd having the other enamelled blue with an ornament in white. Our engraving represents one side of the jewel, of the exact size of the original. FASTIDIOUSNESS Iff DKESS AT AN OLD AGB. Jonn iitnbow, of Northwood, in the parish of Frees, Salop, diixl llMIC, aged 107. His occupation was that of a maker of clocks and watuhotu 244 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; His steadiness of hand, clearness of intellect, and complete command of oil liis faculties, were such that, till within a very few years of his de- coase, he was enabled to execute the most intricate and delicate manipu- lations connected with his business. He lived in three centuries ; and, at the time of his decease, had a son, a grandson, and several great- grandchildren, living in the house with him. He was remarkable foe industry, sobriety, early rising, and soon retiring to rest, and was uni- versally respected for his integrity and ingenuity. His favourite bever- age was " small beer " brewed of molasses. To the very close of his life he was remarkable for his extreme attention to his dress and everything relating to his personal appearance, as will be seen by the following anecdote. About three years before his death, his tailor brought him home a new coat ; on examining which he discovered that the man, either through not being provided with the necessary material or inad- vertence, had substituted a cloth collar for a velvet one, which he was accustomed to have added to his garment. Mortified at this circumstance, and learning that the tailor had not velvet of the necessary quality by him, he took up his walking-stick and straitway went off to Whitchurch, a distance of seven miles, to purchase the materials proper to make a new collar, and, to the astonishment of aE his family, returned home in a few hours. SUPERSTITION OF THE JAVANESE. Nowhere has superstition a greater power over the human mind than among the inhabitants of Java. When the proper chord is touched, there is scarcely anything too gross for the belief of these islanders. Mr. Crawfurd relates that some years since, it was almost accidentally discovered, that the skull of a buffalo was superstitiously conveyed from one part of the island to another. The point insisted upon was, never to let it rest, but to keep it in constant progressive motion. It was carried in a basket, and no sooner was one person relieved from the load than it was taken up by another ; for the understanding was, that some dreadful imprecation was denounced against the man who should let it rest. In this manner, the scull was hurried from one province to another, and after a circulation of many hundred miles, at length reached the town of Samarang, the Dutch governor of which seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus the spell was broken. The Javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing further was heard of this unaccountable transaction. None could tell how or where it originated. The same writer relates a still more extraordinary instance of infatua- tion. During the occupation of Java by the English, in the month of May 1814, it was unexpectedly discovered, that, in a remote but popu- lous part of the island, a road, leading to the top of the mountain of Sumbeng, one of the highest in Java, had been constructed. An enquiry being set on foot, it was discovered that the delusion which gave rise to the work had its origin in the province of Banyunas, in the territories of the Susunan, and that the infection had spread to the territory of the Sultan, and thence extended to that of the Europeans. On examination MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CCRIOCs-, AND QUAINT. 245 a road was found constructed twenty feet broad, and from Sfty to sixty miles long, and it was wonderfully smooth and well made. One point which appears to have heen considered necessary, was, that this road snould not cross rivers, and in consequence it wound in a thousand ways. Another point as peremptorily insisted on was, that its straight course should not be interrupted by any private rights ; and in consequence trees and houses were overturned to make way for it. The population of whole districts, occasionally to the amount of five or six thousand labourers, were employed on the road, and, among a people disinclined to active ex- ertion the laborious work was nearly completed in two months such was the effect of the temporary enthusiasm with which they were inspired. It was found in the sequel that the whole work was set in motion by an old woman, who dreamt, or pretended to have dreamt, that a divine vengeance would pursue sacrilegious person who refused to join in the meritorious labour. These reports quickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of the people, and they heartily joined in the enterprise. The old woman distributed slips of palm-leaves to the labourers, with magic letters written upon them, which were charms to secure them against sickness and accidents. AVhen this strange affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders wera issued to desist fiuni the work, and the inhabitants returned without a murmur to their wontf-d occupations. SIZE OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. The exact size of our own country is a legitimate object of curiosity. We believe the following will be found strictly accurate : The area of England is estimated at 31,929,340 acres. ,, Wales 4,320,000 Scotland 16,240,000 ,, S. Isles adjacent to the coast 1,055,080 W. Isles 851,200 Orkneys 153,606 ,, Shetland* 643,840 CASE CONTAINING TJIE HEART OF LOUD EDWARD J5RTJCE. Lord Edward Bruce was eldest son of Sir Edward, baron of Kinloss, so created by James I. in 1603, to whom the king gave the dissolved abbey of Kiuloss, in Ayrshire, after he had been instrumental in his succession to the crown of England ; whither accompanying the king, he was made master of the Rolls in 1604, died in 1610, and was buried in the Rolls chapel. His son, the lord Edward, killed in duel by Sir Edward Sack- ville in 1613, was succeeded by his brother, who was created Earl of Elgin in 1633, and an English baron in 1641. Sir Edward Sackville, by whose hand the Lord Edward Bruce fell, was younger brother to Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, on whose death he succeeded to the title. He was lord president of the council, a joint lord keeper, an d tilled several other distinguished offices under Charles I ,. 246 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; to whom he adhered, by whose side he fought at the hattle of Edge-hill, and whose death he took so much to heart, that he never afterwards stirred out of his house in Salisbury-court, but died there on the 1 7th of July, 1652. Between these noblemen there arose a quarrel, which terminated in their duel ; and all that is, or probably can be known respecting it, is contained in the following correspondence, preserved in a manuscript in Queen's college library, Oxford. A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackcile. " I that am in France, hear how much you attribute to yourself in this time, that I have given the world leave to ring your praises ; and for me, the truest almanack, to tell you how much I suffer. If you call to memory, when as I gave you my hand last, J told you I reserved the heart for a truer reconciliation. Now be that noble gentleman, my love once spoke, and come and do him right that could recite the tryals you owe your birth and country, were I not confident your honour gives you the same courage to do me right, that it did to do me wrong. Be master of you* own weapons and time ; the place wheresoever, I will wait on you. By doing this, you shall shorten revenge, and clear the idle opinion the world hath of" both our worths. " ED. BRUCE." A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss. " As it shall be always far from me to seek a quarrel, so will I always be ready to meet with any that is desirous to make tryal of my valour, by so fair a course as you require. A witness whereof yourself shall be, who, within a month, shall receive a strict account 01 time, place and weapon, where you shall find me ready disposed to give honourable satisfaction, by him that shall conduct you thither. In the mean time, be as secret of the appointment, as it seems you are desirous of it. "E. SACKVILE." MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 247 A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss. " I am at Tergose, a town in Zeland, to give -what satisfaction your sword can render you, accompanied with a worthy gentleman for my second, in degree a knight. And, for your coming, I will not limit you a peremptory day, but desire you to make a definite and speedy repair, for your own honour, and fear of prevention ; at which time you shall find me there. Tergose, Wth of August, 1613. "E. SACKVILE." A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackvik. " I have received your letter by your man, and acknowledge you have dealt nobly with me ; and now I come, with all possible haste, to meet you. " E. BUTTCE." The combat was fierce, and fatal to Lord Bruce. It has always been presumed that the duel was fought under the walls of Antwerp ; but the combatants disembarked at Bergen-op-Zoom, and fought near that town, and not Antwerp. In consequence of a tradition, that the heart of Lord Edward Bruce had been sent from Holland, and interred in the vault or burying- ground adjoining the_old abbey church of Culross, in Perthshire, Sir Ilobert Preston directed a search in that place in 1808, with the following result: Two flat stones, without inscription, about four feet in length and two in breadth, were discovered about two feet below the level of the pavement, and partly under an old projection in the wall of the old building. These stones were strongly clasped together with 1K||\ - ,<,/ iron; and when separated, a 1 silver case, or box, of foreign workmanship, shaped like aheart, was found in a hollow or ex- cavated place between them. Its lid was engraved with the arms and name " Lord Edward Bruse ;" it had hinges and clasps ; and when opened, was found to contain a heart, carefully embalmed, in a brownish coloured liquid. After draw- ings had been taken of it, as represented in the present engravings, it was carefully replaced in its former situation. There was a small leaden bos between the stones in another excavation ; the contents of which, what- ever they were originally, appeared reduced to dust. Some time after this discovery, Sir Robert Preston caused a delinea- tion of the silver case, according to the exact dimensions, with an in- scription recording its exhumation and re-deposit, to be engraved on a 248 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL 1HINGS , brass plate, and placed upon the projection of the wall where the heart was found. It is a remarkable fact, that the cause of the quarrel between Lord Bruce and Sir Edward Sackville has remained wholly undetected, not- withstanding successive investigations at different periods. Lord Cla- rendon, in his "History of the Itebellion," records the combat as an occurrence of magnitude, from its sanguinary character and the eminence of the parties engaged in it. He does not say any thing respecting the occasion of the feud, although Lord Bruce' s challenge seems to intimate that it was matter of public notoriety. The exact day of the duel is not known, but it was certainly in 1613, &L.d most probably in August from the date of one of the above letters. EXTKAOKDINARY FE1TALE INTREPIDITY. Harly on the 24th of January, 1822, the turnpike-house, about four miles from Basingstoke, on this side Overton, was attacked, with intent to enter, by two men, who had taken off some tiles at the back part of the premises (the roof being very low) to effect their purpose. These villains knew, it would appear, that a lone woman, Mrs. Whitehouse, received the tolls at this gate, and that her husband attended a gate as far distant as Colnbrook. Mrs. Whitehouse, however, very fortunately possessed tliree loaded pistols, one of which she fired then a second, ancl ;i third, without effect. These determined ruffians (notwithstanding being thrice fired at) were, it appears, resolved not to depart without accomplishing the projected robbery. Mrs. Whitehouse's little boy, only 11 years of age, in the mean time had re-loaded a brace of pistols, one of which Mrs. Whitehouse fired, and wounded one of the despe- radoes full in the face he fell, and the blood flowed profusely ; yet, strange to relate, the accomplice had hardihood enough to drag away* the wounded robber ! On observing this, Mrs. Whitehouse fired the fifth pistol at them, but missed them. The fellow who received the contents of the fourth pistol being supposed to have been killed, and some persons residing at a considerable distance from the spot having heard of the cir- cumstance, assembled, and made diligent search at daybreak to discover the body of the deceased ; but, although the blood could be traced some distance from the house, the body could not be found ; nor were those concerned in the attack ever found out. The successful resistance, however, deserves to be recorded. GIGANTIC BOXES. Whenever any bones of unusual magnitude were discovered, it was invariably the custom to ascribe them to some giant. This was always so up to recent years, and no wonder it was intensely the case at the early period of 1660. About that period, when the brook or rivulet from which the town of Corbridge, in the north of England, derives its name, had been worn away by some impetuous land-flood, a skeleton, supposed to be that of a man of extraordinary and prodigious size, was discovered. The length of the thigh bone was nearly six feet, and the skull, teeth, and other parts proportionably monstrous, so thai MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURI00S, AND QUAINT. 249 the length of the whole body was computed at twenty-one feet. It is conjectured, by the more enlightened men of modern times, that these strange bones belonged to some large animal that had been sacrificed by the Romans at the altar dedicated to Hercules, which was found here some years ago. Notwithstanding that the superstition of our forefathers has lost nearly all its credit and influence, a singularly large bone found here is now exhibited in the Keswick Museum as the rib of the giant Cor. NEW STYLE OF ADVERTISEMENT. The following editorial announcement is taken from the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury, of November 30, 1752, because it forms a complete novelty in its way, and also affords us an insight into the degree of com- munication which existed at that period between the large towns and the provinces in America. It is, moreover, a curious jumble of information, strangely mixing up the starting of the stage coach with the news of the day : f\N 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 having escaped the same, several have been carry'd off by the Cold, among whom was David Srintnall, 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. MAKING A CANDLESTICK OF GUNPOWDER. A marvellous escape from destruction is related in the MS. Life of Alderman Barnes. " One of his brother-in-law's (Alderman Hutchin- son's) apprentices, stepping up into the back-lofts to fetch somewhat he wanted, in his heedlessness and haste, stops his candle into a barrel of gun-powder whose head was struck off, to serve instead of a candle- stick. But the man reflecting what he had done, was struck with aft'rightmcnt, his heart failed him, nor durst he stay any longer, but running down stairs, leaves the candle burning in the gun-powder cask, and with horror, trembling, and despair, tells the family what indiscre- tion lie had committed ; they were all immediately as their wits' end, and well they might, for the lofts were three stories high, very large, and stowed full with whatever is combustible, as brandy, oU, pitch, tar, rosin, flax, alum, hops, and many barrels of gun-powder. Had the candle fallen to one side, or had the least spark fallen from the snuff into the cask, the whole town had been shaken, and the whole of the house immediately blown up and in a blaze ; but one of the labourers, a stout fellow, ran forthwith into the loft, and joining both his hands together. S50 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; drew the candle softiy up between his middlemost fingers, so that if. any snuff had dropped, it musthave fallen into the hollow of the man's baud", and by this means was Newcastle saved from being laid in ashes." This must have happened about the year 1684. THE CAMDEX CTTP. The subjoined engraving represents the Silver-gilt Standing Cup and Cover bequeathed by the celebrated historian, William Camden, Claren- cieux King at Arms, to the Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers" Camden's will is recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (in the register designated III Swann 3, probate granted November 10, 1623), and it has been printed by Hearne in his Collection of Cu- rious Discourses, Ox. 1720. After directing the sum of eight pounds to be given "to the poore of that place (Chislehurst) when it shall please God to call me to his mercie," Camden con- tinues "I bequeath to Sir Foulke Greville, Lord Brooke, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who preferred me gratis to my Office, a peece of plate of ten pounds ; Item, to the Company of Painter- Stainers of London, to buy them a peece of plate in memorial! of mee, sixteene pounds ; " the in- scription upon which is directed to be "Guil. Camdenus Claren- ceux, Jllius Sampsonis, Pictoris Londinensis, dono dedit." This stately and richly-deco- rated cup and cover is used on Corporation Festivals, in memory of the illustrious donor. In height, it is altogether twenty- three inches and a quarter, the cover only being eight inches and three-quarters ; and the cup, in- dependent of the stand, five inches and a-half, its greatest diameter being five inches and a-half. The in- scription encircles the upper rim of the cup ; and directly under it is an engraved escutcheon of Camden's arms ; Or, a fess engrailed, between six. cross crosslets fitchee, Sable. The cover presents an object of much elegance, a richly ornamented open pyramid, based on the heads of birds, the breasts bending gracefully with cartouche ornaments : the pinnacle of the pyramid surmounted by a female figure, the right hand resting on a shield, charged with the same arms as shown on the side of the cup. MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURI.OtiS^ AND QUAINT. 251 The birds' heads have apparently a reference to the phoenix heads in the Becond and third quarters of the*armorial ensigns, and to the crest of the Company of Paper-Stainers. RICHABDSON, THE SHOWMAN. This eccentric individual, who died in 1836, left hehind him upwards of 20,000. He was born in the workhouse of Marlow, Bucks, but rail away from that place in order to seek Ms fortune in London. After various vicissitudes, he became the landlord of the Harlequin public- house, in Drury-lane, where he saved some money, which he embarked in fitting up a portable theatre, and was known for forty years as the " Prince of Showmen," and used frequently to boast that Edmund Kean and several other eminent actors were brought out by him. His property, after various legacies to the itinerant company which had attended him for many years, descended to two nephews and a niece, and he desired by his will to be buried in Marlow church-yard, in the same grave as his favourite " spotted boy," a lad who, some years before, was exhibited by him, and attracted great notice in consequence of the extraordinary manners in which he was marked on various parts of his body. Some years since the scenery, dresses, and decorations of Richardson s theatre were exposed for auction by Mr. George Robins, and 2,000 were bid for them. They were bought in ; the " old man," as he was technically denominated, considering them to be worth at least 3,000. PKESERVATION OF DEAD BODIES. There is an arched vault, or burying-ground, under the church of Kilsyth, in Scotland, which was the burying-place of the family of Kilsyth, until the estate was forfeited, and the title became extinct in the year 1715; since which it has never been used for that purpose, except once. The last Earl fled with his family to Flanders, and, according to tradition, was smothered to death about the year 1717, along with his lady and an infant child, and a number of other unfor- tunate Scottish exiles, by the falling in of the roof of a house in which they were assembled. What became of the body of the Earl is not known, but the bodies of Lady Kilsyth and her infant were emboweled and embalmed, and soon afterwards sent over to Scotland. They were landed, and lay at Leith for some time in a cellar, whence they were afterwards carried to Kilsyth, and buried in great pomp in the vault above mentioned. In the spring of 1796, some rude regardless young men, haying paid a visit to this ancient cemetery, tore open the coffin of Lady Kilsyth and her infant. "With astonishment and consternation, they saw the bodies of Lady Kilsyth and her child as perfect as in the hour they were entombed. For some weeks this circumstance was kept secret, ; hut at last it began to be whispered in several companies, and soon excited great and general curiosity. " On the 12th of June," says the Minister of the parish of Kilsyth, in a letter to J. Garnet, M.D., " when I was from home, great crowds assembled, and would not be denied admission. At all hours of the night, as well aa the day, they afterwards persisted in gratifying their 2 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; curiosity. I saw the body of Lady Kilsyth soon after the coffin was opened ; it was quite entire. Every feature and every limb was as full, nay, the very shroud was as clear and fresh, and the colours of the ribbons as bright, as the day they were lodged in the tomb. What ren- dered this scene more striking and truly interesting was, that the bdy cf hei son and only child, the natural heir of the title and estates ot Kilsyth, lay at her knee. His features were as composed as if he had been only asleep. His colour was as fresh, and his flesh as plump and full, as in the perfect glow of health ; the smile of infancy and inno- cence sat on his lips. His shroud was not only entire, but perfectly clean, without a particle of dust upon it. He seems to have been only a few months old. The body of Lady Kilsyth was equally well pre- served; and at a little distance, from the "feeble light of a taper, it would not have been easy to distinguish whether she was dead or alive. The features, nay the very expression of her countenance, were marked and distinct ; and it was only in a certain light that you could dis- tinguish anything like the ghastly and agonizing traits of a violent death. Not a single fold of her shroud was decomposed nor a single member impaired. " Let the candid reader survey this sketch ; let him recal to mind the tragic tale it unfolds ; and say, if he can, that it does not arrest the attention and interest the heart. For my own part, it excited in my memory a thousand melancholy reflections ; and I could not but regre't that such rudeness had been offered to the ashes (remains) of the dead, as to expose them thus to the public view. " The body seemed to have been preserved in some liquid, nearly of the colour and appearance of brandy. The whole coffin seemed to have been full of it, and all its contents saturated with it. The body had assumed somewhat the same tinge, but this only served to give it a fresher look. It had none of the ghastly livid hue of death, but rather a copper complexion. It would, I believe, have been difficult for a che- mist to ascertain the nature of this liquid ; though perfectly transparent ; it had lost all its pungent qualities, its taste being quite vapid. ' ' The head reclined on a pillow, and, as the covering decayed, it wai found to contain a collection of strong-scented herbs. Balm, sage, and mint were easily distinguished ; and it was the opinion of many, that the body was filled with the same. Although the bodies were thus en- tire at first, I confess I expected to see them crumble into dust ; especially as they were exposed to the open air, and the pure aromatic fluid had evaporated; and it seems surprising that they did not. For several weeks they underwent no visible change, and had they not been sullied with dust and drops of grease from the candles held over them, I am confident they might have remained as entire as ever ; for ev"en a few months ago (many months after), the bodies were as firm and compact as at first, and though pressed with the finger did not yield to the touch, but seemed to retain the elasticity of the living body. Even the shroud, through torn by the rude hands of the regardless multitude, is still ctrong and free from rot. " Perhaps the most singular phenomenon is, that the bodies seem not MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 253 to have undergone the smallest decomposition or disorganization. Several medical gentlemen have made a small incision into the arm of the infant ; the substance of the body was quite firm, and every part in its original state." To the above remarkable instance we may add the following : The tomb of Edward the First, who died on the 7th July, 1307, was red on the 2nd of January, 1770, and after the lapse of 463 years, body was found not decayed; the flesh on the face was a little wasted, but not putrid. The body of Canute the Dane, who got possession of England in tie year 1017, was found very fresh in the year 1766, by the workmen re- pairing Winchester Cathedral. In the year 1522, the body of "William the Conqueror was found as entire as when first buried, in the Abbey Church of St. Stephen, at Caen ; and the body of Matilda, his wife, was found entire in 1502. in the Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity in the same city. No device of art, however, for the preservation of the remains of the dead, appears equal to the simple process of plunging them over head and ears in peat-moss. In a manuscript by one Abraham Grey, who lived about the middle of the 16th century, now in the possession of his representative, Mr. Goodbehere Grey, of Old Mills, near Aberdeen, it is stated, that in 1569, three Roman soldiers in the dress of their country, fully equipped with warlike instruments, were dug out of a moss of great extent, called Kazey Moss. When found, after a lapse of probably about fifteen hun- dred years, they "were quite fresh and plump.." PERFTTMES. So perfect were the Egyptians in the manufacture of perfumes, that some of their ancient ointment, preserved in an alabaster vase in the Museum at Alnwick, still retains a very powerful odour, though it must be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old. FRENCH ASSIGNATS THEIR ORIGIN. Extraordinary devices for raising money are legitimate subjects for our pages. Of these devices, the French Assignats are not the least remark- able. They originated thus in the year 1789, at the commencement of the great Revolution in France, Talleyrand proposed in the National Assembly a confiscation of all church property to the service of the state. The Abbe Maury opposed this project with great vehemence, but being supported by Mirabeau, it received the sanction of the Assembly by an immense majority on the 2nd of November. The salaries fixed for the priesthood were small, and, moreover, were not sufficiently gua- ranteed ; whence originated much misery to all classes of priests, from the archbishops down to the humble cures ; and as monastic institutions were treated in the same way, monks and nuns were suddenly placed in precarious circumstances regarding the means of sub- sistence. Here, however, an unexpected difficulty sprang up ; the National Assembly were willing to sell church property, but buyers were wanting; conscience, prudence, and poverty combined to lessen the number of those willing to purchase ; and thus the urgent claims of th THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; treasury could not be satisfied. Applications for loans were not responded to ; taxes had been extinguished ; voluntary donations had dwindled almost to nothing ; and 400,000,000 of livres were necessary for the vast claims of the year 1790. The municipalities of Paris and other cities sought to ameliorate the state of affairs by subscribing for a certain amount of church property, endeavouring to find private purchasers for it, and paying the receipts into the national exchequer. This, however, being but a very partial cure for the enormity of the evils, the National Assembly fell upon the expedient of creating state-paper or bank-notes, to have a forced currency throughout the kingdom. Such was the birtn of the memorable assignats. Four hundred millions of this paper were put in circulation ; and a decree was passed that church property to that amount should be held answerable for the assignats. Our sketch repre- sents several of the different forms in which the Assignats were issued to the public. EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. The judicial murder of Louis XVI. was the climax of the Revolution iu France. The Convention voted his death at three o'clock on the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 255 morning of the 20th January, 1793, and he was taken to execution in twenty-six hours afterwards. The guillotine was erected in the middle of the Place Louis XV., a large open square, having the Champs Elysees on one side, and the gardens of the Tuileries on the other. The Place hristled with artillery, and every street and avenue leading to it was crowded with troops and armed multitudes, who had cannon with them charged with grape-shot ; while the carriage was surrounded by picked men, who had orders to despatch the king with their carbines in case of any rescue being attempted. At about half-past ten, the king, who had been engaged in prayer during the ride, arrived at the spot ; he descended from the coach, and his con- fessor followed him. Three executioners approached to remove his upper garments, but he put them back, and performed that simple office for himself. He resisted somewhat the indignity of having his hands tied, and only yielded on the entreaty of his confessor ; and had also to yield on the subject of cutting off his back hair. He ascended the steps that led to the platform with a firm bearing, still followed by M. Edgeworth. When on the top, he made a sudden movement towards the edge of the scaffold, and exclaimed with a loud and firm voice : " Frenchmen, I die innocent ; it is from the scaffold, and when about to appear before my 256 TEN THOUSAND AVONDERFUL THING* , God, that I tell you so. I pardon my enemies ; I pray that France" Here Santerre, on horseback, raised his right hand, and cried . " Drums 1 Executioners, do your duty !" Several drummers immediately began by their noise to drown the sound of the king's voice : and six executioners brought bim to the centre of the scaffold. He exclaimed again : "I die innocent ; I ever desired the good of my people ;" but his voice could be heard only by the executioners and the priest. He then knelt down, in order to place his head in the appointed spot ; the confessor, bending over him said: "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" The spring of tho machine was touched, the heavy axe descended in its grooves, and the once royal head was severed from the body. Samson, the chief execu- tioner, "took up the bleeding head by the hair, and walked three times round the scaffold, holding it up at arm's-length to show it to the people. The troops and the spectators shouted : " Vive la llepublique !" put their hats and caps upon their bayonets and pikes, and waved them in the air, with prolonged and re-echoing cries of " Vive la Republique !" " Vive la Nation!" "Vive la Liberte !" Many of the savage men standing near the scaffold dipped their pike-heads into the king's blood, and others their handkerchiefs not as a sacred memento, but as a symbol of the downfall of all kings ; they even paraded these gore-stained objects before the windows of the Temple, that perchance the queen and her children might see them. The headless trunk of Louis was put into a large wicker- basket, placed in the coach, and carried to the cemetery of La Madeleine ; where, without coffin or shroud, it was thrown into a deep pit, partly rilled up with quicklime. On that same morning, one Benoit Leduc, a tailor, who had on some occasions worked for Louis, presented a petition to the Convention, praying to be allowed, at his own expense, to bury the body of the king by the side of his father, Louis XV., and under the monument raised to that prince by the city of Sens ; but the Convention rejected his petition, and ordered the executive council to see that Louis was buried like other criminals. A MAN AGED ONE HTJNDRED TEARS CLAIMING A BOTTLE OF WINF. John Pull, of London, stock-broker, died 1848, aged 100 years. When at the age of about 93, and in the employ of Messrs. Spurling, stock- brokers, he left by mistake in the office of the accountant of the Bank of England, a large number of bank notes. On discovering his loss, after diligently searching for the missing parcel, he went back to the account- ant's office, partly to acquaint Mr. Smee with the circumstance, and partly as a last hope that he might there find the missing treasure. To his great joy he found the parcel safe in the accountant's possession, whom he earnestly implored to keep the secret, lest his employers should think his faculties were failing. Mr. Smee of course gave him the re- quired assurance, and goodnaturedly added, that when Mr. Bull should attain the age of 100 years, he would treat him to the finest bottle ol wine in his cellar. Some time before his becoming a centenarian, he was pensioned off by his employer, and Mr. Smee had, in all probability, quite forgotten the affair ; when, true to the engagement, the venerable, but till active old clerk, made his aon^arance at the bank on the important MARVELLOUS, RARE, Ct> K > ,S, AND QUAINT. 257 day, and claimed the promised bottle of wine. The claim was promptly allowed ; and the last birthday of the aged official was one of the happiest among his friends of the long list of such events which had been its pre- cursor. After continuing vigorous and active, and almost free from in- disposition up to this time, he, along with many other aged persons, fell a victim to that fatal influenza which prevailed so extensively through- out the country, and more especially in London and its suburbs, during the autumn of 1847 and the winter of 1848. CHARITY REWARDED BY A RICH AND LIBERAL MENDICANT. Within the present century, a beggar in Moorfields used daily to have a penny given him by a merchant on his way to the Exchange. The penny was withheld, and the appearance of the merchant mani- fested his embarrassment and distress. The beggar at length spoke to him, offered him a loan of 500, and another of the same sum if it were required. It re-established his affairs. HACKNEY COACHMAN OF THE TIME OP CHARLES II. The print from which the engraving on next page is taken, is one of a set published by Overton, at the sign of the " White Horse" without Newgate ; and its similarity to the figures given by Francis Barlow in his JEsop's Fables, and particularly in a most curious sheet-print etched by that artist, exhibiting Charles the Second, the Duke of York, &c., view- ing the Races on Dorset Ferry, near Windsor, in 1687, sufficiently proves this Hackney Coachman to have been of the reign of that monarch. The early Hackney Coachman did not sit upon the box as the present drivers do, but upon the horse, like a postillion ; his whip is short for that purpose ; his boots, which have large open broad tops, must have been much in his way, and exposed to the weight of the rain. His coat was not according to the fashion of the present drivers as to the numerous capes, which certainly are most rational appendages, as the shoulders never get wet ; the front of the coat has not the advantage of the present folding one, as it is single breasted. His hat was pretty broad, and so far he was screened from the weather. Another convincing proof that he rode as a postillion is, that his boots are spurred. In that truly curious print representing the very interest- ing Palace of Nonsuch, engraved by Hoefnagle, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the coachman who drives the royal carriage in which the Queen is seated, is placed on a low seat behind the horses, and has a long whip to command those he guides. How soon, after Charles the Second's time, the Hackney Coachmen rode on a box we have not been able to learn, but in all the prints of King William's time the coachmen are represented upon the box, though by no means so high as at present ; nor was it the fashion at the time of Queen Anne to be so elevated as to deprive the persons in the carriage of the pleasure of looking over thei r shoulders. In 1637, the number of Hackney Coaches in London was confined to 50, in 1652 to 200, in 1654 to 300, in 1662 to 400, in 1694 to 700, in 1710 to 800, in 1771 to 1,000, and in 1802 to 1,100. In irciteiio;. <}l 258 TRS THOUSAND WONDERFUL TH1NO3; our Hackney Coaches, Nicholas Sauvage introduced the Fiacres at Paris, in the year 1650. The hammer-cloth is an ornamental covering of the coach-box. Mr. S. Pegge says, " The coachman formerly used to carry a hammer, pincers, a few nails, &c., in a leather pouch hanging to his box, and this cloth was devised for the hiding of them from publf* view." It is said Lhat the sura of 1,500, arising from the duty on Hackne) Coaches, was applied to part of the expense in re-building Temple Bar. A LONDOX -WATEE-CABKIEE IN OLDEN THIES. The conduits of London and its environs, which were established at an early period, supplied the metropolis with water until Sir Hugh Mid- dleton brought the New River from Amweli to London, and then the conduits gradually fell into disuse, as the New River water was by de- grees laid on in pipes to the principal buildings in the City, and, in the course of time, let into private houses. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 259 When the conduits afforded a supply, the inhabitants either carried their vessels, or sent their servants for the water as they wanted it ; but we may suppose that at an early period there were a number of men who for a fixed sum carried the water to the adjoining houses. The figure of a Water-carrier in the following engraving, is copied from one of a curious and rare set of cries and callings of London, pub- lished by Over ton, at the " White Horse" without Newgate. The figure retains the dress of Henry the Eighth's time ; his cap is similar to that usually worn by Sir Thomas More, and also to that given in the portrait of Albert Durer, engraved by Francis Stock. It appears by this print, that the tankard was borne upon the shoulder, and, to keep the carrier dry, two towels were fastened over him, one to fall before him, the other to cover his back. His pouch, in which we are to conclude he carried his money, has been thus noticed in a very curious and rare 260 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; tract, entitled, Green's GJiost, with the merry Conceits of Doctor Pinch-lacke, published 1626 : " To have some store of crownes in his purse, coacht in a faire trunke flop, like a boulting hutch." EXPENSES OF A EOTAL PRISONER TWO HUNDRED YEAES AGO. The following curious document is a return, by the Parliamentary Committee of Revenue, of the expenses of Charles the First and Ids retinue, during a residence of twenty days, at Holdenby, in Northamp- tonshire, in the year 1647, commencing February the 13th and ending March the 4th inclusive. Sir Christopher Hatton had built a splendid mansion at Holdenby in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and to it King Charles was conveyed a prisoner by the Parliamentary Commissioners, after he had been given up to them by the Scottish army : His Majestie's diet of xxviij dishes at xxx. per diem . 700 The Lords' diet of xx days 520 For the Clarke of the green cloth, kitchen, and spicery, a messe of vij dishes 40 Dyetts for the household and chamber officers, and the guard 4 1 2 Board wages for common houshold servants, pott and scourers, and turnbroaches 30 Badges of Court and riding wages 140 For linnen for his Majestie's table, the lords and other diets 273 For wheat, wood, and cole 240 For all sorts of spicery store, wax -lights, torches, and tallow-lights 160 For pewter, brasse, and other necessaries incident to all officers and carriages .447 WOMAN'S CLEVEENESS. It is a singular fact that on one occasion the lives of thousands, pro- bably, of the Irish Protestants, were saved by a clever device, which the unaided wit and presence of mind of a woman enabled her to plan and execute. At the latter end of Queen Mary's reign, a commission was signed for the purpose of punishing the heretics in that kingdom, and Dr. Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, was honoured with this humane appointment, to execute which, he set off with great alacrity. On his arrival at Chester, he sert for the mayor to sup with him, and in the course of conversation related his business ; then going to his cloak -bag, he took out the box containing the commission, and having shewn it, with great joy ex- claimed, ' This will lash the heretics of Ireland.' Mrs. Edmonds, the landlady, overheard this discourse, and having several relations in Ire- land, who were Protestants as well as herself, resolved to put a trick upon the doctor; and while he went to attend the magistrate to the door, took the commission out of the box, and in its room placed a pack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost. The zealous doctor, sus- pecting nothing of the matter, put up his box, took shipping, and. nvriving safe in Dublin, went immediately to the Viceroy. A council vas called ; and, after a speech, the doctor delivered his box, which MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 261 oeing opened by the secretary, the first thing that presented itself was the knave of clubs. This sight surprised the \ r iceroy and the council, but much more the doctor, who assured them that ne had received a curainission from the Queen, but what was come of it, he could not tell. ' Well, well,' replied the Viceroy, ' you must go back for another, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean time.' The doctor accordingly hastened across the channel ; but at Holyhead he received the intelligence of the Queen's death, and the accession of Elizabeth, who settled on Mrs. Edmonds a pension of forty pounds a year, for saving her Protestant subjects in Ireland. DKESS IN THE PROVINCES IN 1777. In the days when mail-coaches had not begun to run, and when rail- roads and telegraphs had not entered into the imagination of man, the style of dress in the provinces was often very different to what it was in London, and on this account the following paragraph is deserving of record. We have taken it from a copy of the Nottingham Journal, of September 6, 1777, where it is headed " Ladies undress'." " The ladies' fashionable undress, commonly called a dishabille, to pay visits in the morn- ing, also for walking in the country, on account of its being neat, light, and short, consists of a jacket, the front part of which is made like a sultana ; the back part is cut out in four pieces ; the middle part is not wider at the bottom than about half an inch ; the sides in proportion very narrow. The materials most in vogue are, white muslins with a coloured printed border chintz pattern, printed on purpose, in borders about an inch deep. The silks, which are chiefly lutestrings, are mostly trimmed with gauze. The gauze is tuckered upon the bottom of the jacket, and edged with different-coloured fringes. The petticoat is drawn up in a festoon, and tied with a true lover's knot, two tassels hanging down from each festoon. A short gauze apron, striped or figured, cut in three scollops at the bottom, and trimmed round with a broad trimming closely plaited ; the middle of the apron has three scollops reversed. The cuffs are puckered in the shape of a double pine, one in the front of the arm, the other behind, but the front rather lower. To complete this dress for summer walking, the most elegant and delicate ladies carry a long japanned walking-cane, with an ivory hook head, and on the middle of the cane is fastened a silk umbrella, or what the French caL ' a parasol,' which defends them from the sun and slight showers of rain. It opens by a spring, and it is pushed up towards the head of the cane, when expanded for use. Hats, with the feathers spread, chiefly made of chip, covered with fancy gauze puckered, variegated artificial flowers, bell tassels, and other decorations, are worn large." A GROUP OF EELICS. The Dagger of Raoul de Courcy, of which a representation is included in the cut over leaf, is an interesting relic, and its authenticity can bfe relied upon, llaoul de Courcy, according to the old French chro- niclers was a famous knight, the lord of a noble castle, built upon a mountain that overlooks the Valee d'Or, and the descendant of that 62 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; haughty noble who took for his motto: " Neither king, nor prince, nor duke, nor earl am I, but I am the Lord of Courcy" in other words, greater than them all. He fell in love with the wife of his neighbour, the Lord of Fayel, and the beautiful Gabrielle loved him in return. One night he went as usual to meet her in a tower of the Chateau of Fayel. but found himself face to face with her lord and master. Raoul escaped, and Gabrielle was ever after closely guarded. Still they found the oppor- tunity for numerous interviews, at which they interchanged their vows of love. At length, Raoul, like a true knight, set out to fight beneath the banner of the Cross, for the possession of the Holy Sepulchre. Ere he went, at a stolen meeting, he bade the fair Gabrielle adieu, giving to her " a silken love-knot, with locks of his own hair worked in with the threads of silk." She gave him a costly ring, which she had always worn, and which he swore to wear till his* last breath. "What tears were shed what kisses were exchanged at this last meeting ! for the Holy Land was very far from France in the Middle Ages. On his arrival in SjTia, Ralph de Courcy became known as the " Knight of Great Deeds," for it seems he could only conquer his love by acts of daring valour. After braving every danger, he was at length wounded in the side by an arrow, at the siege of Acre. The king of England took bi'n> in his arms .with respect, and gave him the kiss of hope, but the arrow was a poisoned one, Raoul felt that he had little time to live. He stretched out his arms towards France, exclaiming, " France, France ! GrbrieUe, Gabrielle!" He resolved to return home, but he was hardly on board the ship that was to waft him there, ere he summoned his squire, and begged of him after he was dead, to carry his heart to France, and to give it the Lady Fayel, with all the armlets, diamonds, and other jewels which he pos- sessed, as pledges of love and remembrance. The heart was embalmed, and the squire sought to deliver his precious legacy. He disguised himself in a mean dress, but unluckily met with the Lord of Fayel, and, not knowing him, applied to him for information as to how admittance into the chateau could be gained. The Lord of Fayel at once attacked and disarmed the poor squire, who was wounded in the side with a hunting-hanger. The precious packet was soon torn open, and the heart discovered. The Lord of Fayel hastened home, and, giving it to his cook, desired that it might be dressed with such a sauce as would make it very palatable. Raoul's heart was served up at table, and the fair Gabrielle partook of it. When she had finished eating, the Lord of Fayel said " Lady, was the meat you eat good ?" She replied, that the meat was good. " That 13 the reason I had it cooked," said the Castellan; "for know that this same meat, which you found so good, was the heart of Raoul de Courcy." " Lord of Fayel," said Gabrielle, " the vengeance you have taken cor- responds with the meanness of your soul ; you have made me eat his heart, but it is the last meat I shall ever eat. After such noble food I will never partake of any other." She fainted, and only recovered her consciousness a few minutes MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 263 1. Dagger of Raoul de Courcy. 2. Embroidered Glove, presented by Wart Gueen of Scotland, on the Morning of her Excution, to one of her Attendants. 3. Spanish Dagger of the Sixteenth Century. 4. King, with Inscription, " l'eho!d the End," formerly the Property of Charles I. 5. Silver Locket, in Memory of the Execution of Charles I. before death. Such is the history of Raoul de Courcy and the Lady Ga- brielle, as told in the language of the old chroniclers. The glove shown in the engraving is said to have been presented by the unfortunate Queen Mary, on the moraine of her execution, to & lady 204 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS of the Denny family. The embroidery is of tasteful design, and maj be useful as a contrast with many of the pattern? for needlework at pn-- sent in fashion. Moreover, the sight of this memorial brings to recol- lection a few particulars in connection with this somewhat important part of both male and female costume. The ancient Persians wore gloves, and the Romans, towards the decline of the empire, began to use them. In England they seemed to have been introduced at a very early period. In the Anglo'-Saxon literature we meet with glof, a covering for the hand, and in the illuminated MSS. of that period the hands of bishops and other dignitaries are shown en- cased in gloves which, in many instances, were ornamented with costly rings; while on the tombs of kings and queens, &c., the hands are shown almost invariably covered. It is related of the patron Saint of Brussels, who lived in the sixth century, that she was famous for only two miracles: one consisted in lighting a candle by means of her prayers, after it had been extin- guished ; the other 'happened in this way the fair saint being in a church barefooted, a person near, with respectful gallantry, took ofPhis gloves and attempted to place them under her feet. This comfort she declined ; and, kicking the gloves away, they became suspended at some height in the church for the space of an hour. On opening the tomb of Edward the First, some years ago, in West- minster Abbey, the antiquaries assembled on that' occasion were sur- prised to find no traces of gloves. It has been suggested that in this instance linen or silk gloves had been used at the burial of the king, but which are supposed to have perished with age. The practice of throwing down a glove as a challenge, is mentioned by Matthew Paris as far back as 1245 ; and a glove was worn in the hat or cap as a mistress's favour, as the memorial of a friend, and as a mark to be challenged by an enemy. At a time when the Borders were in a state of incessant strife, Bar- nard Gilpin, who has been so justly called " the Apostle of the North," wandered unharmed amid the confusion. On one occasion, entering a church (we believe that of Rothbury, Northumberland,) he observed a glove suspended in a conspicuous place, and was informed that it had been hung up as a challenge by some horse-trooper of the district. Mr. Gilpin requested the sexton to remove it ; who answered, " Not I sir, I dare not do it." Then Gilpin called for a long staff, took down the glove, and put it in his bosom, and in the course of his sermon, said, " I hear that there is one among you who has even in this sacred place hung up a glove in defiance ;" and then producing it in the midst of the congregation, he challenged them to compete with him in acts of Christian charity. Gloves, in former times, were common amongst other gifts offered to friends at the new year ; and they were received without offence by the ministers of justice. It is related that Sir Thomas More, as Lord Chan- cellor, decreed in favour of Mrs. Crooker against the Earl of Arundel. On the following New-year's dav, in token of her gratitude, she pre- sented Sir Thomas with a pair of gloves containing forty angels. " If MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, ANE QUAINT. 265 would be against good manners," said the chancellor; " to forsake the ladies' New-year's gift, and I accept the gloves ; the lining you may bestow otherwise." The custom of the presentation by the sheriff of a pair of white gloves to the judge on the occasion of a maiden assize is still in vogue ; and, j udging from the reports in the newspapers, such presents appear to be of frequent occurrence. " Gloves, as sweet as damask roses," were highly prized by Queen Elizabeth, and, in her day, formed such an important item of a lady's expenses, that a sum was generally allowed for " glove money." The old fashioned gloves have now a, considerable value amongst the curious. At the sale of the Earl of Arran's goods in 1759, the gloves given by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny, sold for 381. 17s. ; those given by James I. to Edward Denny, sold for 221. 4s. ; and the mitten give* by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Denny's lady, for 251. 4s. Some of the English towns which formerly were famous for the manu- facture of gloves, still keep up their character. Amongst these Wood- stock, Yeovil, Leominster, Ludlow, and Worcester may be mentioned. The Spanish dagger formerly belonged to a governor of Castile, in the sixteenth century, as is shown by the perforated fetter-lock on the blade ; and although the initials are engraven there also, we have not been able to discover any particulars of the original owner. The workmanship aud style of the dagger are of great beauty. The little ring with the inscription " Behold the end," was once the property of Chcjies I., and was presented by him to Bishop Juxon on the morning of his execution. The silver lockets, on which are the emblems of death, were extensively manufactured and sold after the execution of Charles I. They generally bore the date of the king's death. THE HAMSTER HAT. There are various kinds of rats, and one of these is the Hamster, of the genus Cricetus of Cuvier. Though rare in Europe to the west of the Rhine, it is widely spread from that river to the Danube on the south-west, and north-easterly through a vast extent of country into Siberia. We notice it in our pages on account of its extraordinary habits. Its life appears to be divided between eating and fighting, it seems to have no other passion than that of rage, which induces it to attack every animal that comes in its way, without in the least attending to the superior strength of its enemy. Ignorant of the art of saving itself by flight, rather than yield, it will allow itself to be beaten to pieces with a stick. If it seizes a man's hand, it must be killed before it will quit its hold. The magnitude of the horse terrifies it as little as the address of the dog, which last is fond of hunting it. When the hamster perceives a dog at a distance, it begins by emptying ts cheek- pouches if they happen to be filled with grain; ittheu blows them up so prodigiously, that the size of the head and neck greatly exceed that of the rest of the body. It raises itself on its hind legs, and thus darts upon the enemy. If "it catches hold, it never quits it but with the los 266 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; of its life ; but the dog generally seizes it from behind, and strangles it- This ferocious disposition prevents the hamster from being at peace with any animal whatever. It even makes war against its own species. When two hamsters meet, they never fail to attack each other, and the stronger always devours the weaker. A combat between a male and a female commonly lasts longer than between two males. They begin by pursuing and biting each other, then each of them retires aside, as if to take breath. After a short interval, thev renew the combat, and continue to fight till one of them falls, the vanquished uniformly serves for a repast to the conqueror. SJTAVEEY OF THE PBTESTS IN BTJBJIAH. The manner in which an uncivilized people will calmly submit to be duped 't>y the extortionate rascality of their priests, is strongly ex- hibited in the kingdom of Burmah. The people who are there held in the highest estimation are the priests. Any one who pleases may be a priest. The priests pretend' to be poor, and go out begging every morning with their empty dishes in their hands ; but they get them well filled, and then return to their handsome houses, all shining with gold, in which they live together in plenty and in pride. They are expected to dress in rags, to show that they are poor ; but not liking rags, they cut up cloth in little pieces, and sew the pieces __ wapi ^^ together to make their yellow robes; and y^-y- [-' -^--^gj^.. this they call wearing rags. They pre- tend to be so modest, that they do not BUBMESB PBIESI PREACHING. Jj^g fo g^-^y fa^ f aceg> an( J g Q J^g them with a fan, even when they preach ; for they do preach in their way, that is, they tell foolish stories about Buddha. The name they give him is Guadama, while the Chinese call him Fo. They have five hundred and fifty stories written in their books about him ; for they say he was once a bird, a fly, an elephant, and all manner of creatures, and was so good whatever he was, that at last he was born the son of a king. Is it not marvellous that a whole people should, for generation after generation, not only submit to be thus scandalously cheated, but should also hold those who cheat them in th,e highest esteem ? A curious fact, indeed, in the history of mankind. MTRACTTLOTJS ESCAPE. One of the most singular circumstances occurred a few years ago that ever came within our observation. Mr. Charlton, surgeon, of Wylam, uear Newcastle-on-Tyne, having at a late hour been called upon in haste to give his attendance at Ovingham, borrowed a spirited horse of a friend, that he might proceed with the least possible delay. He had not gone above half a mile when he perceived his horse stumble, and he immediately threw himself from the saddle. It was fortunate he did so, for the next instant his horse had fallen down a precipice of uear seventy MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 267 feet ; and, incredible as it may seem, the animal sustained no injury, but immediately dashed into the Tyne, and swam to the opposite side. Search was made after him, and hearing his master's voice, he was heard to neigh even across the water in token of recognition, and was ultimately restored without speck or blemish. A NATIONAL TASTE FOR GAMING. It is a remarkable fact that a taste for gaming appears in some cases to pervade a whole people, and to become one of the chief national cha- racteristics. No where is this more manifest than among the inhab* tants of the Asiatic Islands. Games of hazard are the favourites of these islanders. Some of them they have learned of the Chinese, the most debauched of gamesters, and others of the Portuguese. The only game of hazard, of native origin, among the Javanese consists in guessing the number of a certain kind of beans which the players hold in their hands. But of all the species of gaming that to which the Indian islauders_are most fondly addicted is betting on the issue of the combats of pugnacious animals, and particularly the cock. The breed in highest estimation is the produce of Celebes. The people of Java fight their cocks without spurs ; but the Malays and natives of Celebes with an artificial spur, in the shape of a small scythe, which, notwithstanding its barbarous appear- ance, is in reality less destructive than the contrivance employed among ourselves. Quail fighting also is extremely common in Java. The most famous breed of this bird is found in the island of Lombok ; and it is a singular fact, that the female is used in these bitter but bloodless combats, the male being comparatively small and timid. Neither do the Javanese hesitate to bet considerable sums on a battle between two crickets, which are excited to the conflict by the titillation of a blade of grass judiciously applied to their noses. They will likewise risk their money on the strength and hardness of a nut, called kamiri ; and much skill, patience and dexterity, are exercised in the selection and the strife. At other times two paper kites decide the fortune of the parties; the object of each in this contest being to cut the string of his adversary. On a favourable day fifty or sixty kites, raised for this purpose, may some- times be seen hovering over a Javanese city. A FKIEND TO PHYSIC. Mr. Samuel Jessup, who died at Heckington, Lincolnshire, in 1817, was an opulent grazier and of pill-taking memory. He lived in a very eccentric way, as a bachelor, without known relatives, and at his decease was possessed of a good fortune, notwithstanding a most inordinate c wiving for physic, by which he was distinguished for the last thirty years of his fife, as appeared on a trial for the amount of an apothecary's bill, at the assizes at Lincoln, a short time before Mr. Jessup's death, wherein he was defendant. The evidence on the trial affoi'ds the following materials for the epitaph of the deceased, which will not be transcended by the memorabilia of the life of any man. In twenty-one years (from 263 TEX THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS 1791 to 181G) the deceased took 226,934 pills (supplied by . most highly respectable apothecary and worthy person of the name of Wright, who resided at Bottesford), which is at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or 29 pills each day ; but as the patient begun with a more moderate appe- tite, and increased it as he proceeded, in the last live years preceding 1816, he took the pills at the rate of 78 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 alto- gether to fifty-five closely written columns of an apothecary's bill, the deceased lived to attain the advanced age of sixty-five years. AN INCULPATORY EPITAPH. The following epitaph at West Allingtpn, Devon, is deserving a place in our record of curiosities, inasmuch as it appears to be a successful at- tempt in making a monumental stone, both a memorial of the deceased, and also a means of reproving the parson of the parish : " Here lyeth the Body of Daniel Jeffery the Son of Mich ael Jefiery and Joan his Wife he was buried y e 22 day of September 1746 and in y e 18 th year of his age. This Youth When In his sickness lay did for the minister Send + that he" would Come and With him Pray + But he would not ate 00 But When this young man Buried was The minister did him admit 4- he should be Caried into Church + that he might money geet By this you See what man will dwo + to geet money if he can -f who did refuse to come pray + by the Foresaid young man." ITONTING A SHEEP KILLEK. It has been remarked, that when once a dog acquires wild habits, and takes to killing sheep, he does far more mischief than a wild beast, since to the cunning of the tamed animal he adds the ferocity of the untamed. A remarkable case of this sort is mentioned in the following paragraph, which we have copied from the Newcastle Courant of the year 1823. It is also curious to note the account of the chase, and of the joy which the whole country-side seems to have manifested at the slaughter of the animal. September 21 A few days ago a dog of a most de- structive nature infested the fells of Caldbeek, Carroek, and High Pike, ubout sixteen miles south of Carlisle. Little doubt remains of its being the same dog which has been so injurious to the farmers in the northern parts of Northumberland, as no less than sixty sheep or upwards have fallen victims to its ferocity. It was thought proper to lose no time in attempting to destroy it, and Tuesday last was fixed upon. Sir H. Fletcher, Bart., of Clea Hall, offered his pack of hounds, and several other dogs with about fifty horsemen set out from Heskct MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAIXT. 2t>9 New-market. Several persons with firearms were stationed at different parts. The dog was descried upon an eminence of Carrock-fell, and on sight of the pursuers set off by way of Hesket New-market, Stocklewath, and Barwick-field, then returned by Cowclose, Castle Sowerby, and attempted to gain the fells again, when Mr. Sewell, farmer at Wedlock, Iving in ambush at Mossdale, fired, and succeeded in shooting him. He appears to be of the Newfoundland breed, of a common size, wire-haired, and extremely lean. During the chase he frequently turned upon the dogs which were headmost, and so wounded several as obliged them to give up the pursuit. The joy manifested on this occasion was uncommon, insomuch that on the day following about thirty persons sat down to a dinner provided at Mr. Tomlinson's, Hesket New-market. Upon the most moderate computation, excluding the various windings, the chase could not be less than thirty miles, and occupied no less than six hours. Henry Jenkins, of Ellerton-upon-Swale, Yorkshire, died IbTO, aged 169. He remembered the battle of Flodden Field, fought between the English and the Scotch, September 9, 1513, when he was about twelve years old. He was then sent to Northallerton with a cartload of arrows, but an older boy was employed to convey them to the army. At Eller- ton there was also living, at the same time, four or five other old men, reputed to be of the age of one hundred years and thereabouts, and they all testified that Jenkins was an elderly man when first they knew him. Jenkins was once butler to Lord Conyers ; he perfectly remembered the Abbot of Fountain's Dale before the dissolution of the monasteries. In the last century of his life he was a fisherman, and often swam in the river after he was a hundred years old. In the King's Remembrancer Office in the Exchequer, there is a record of a deposition in a cause, taken April, 1665, at' Kettlewell, Yorkshire, where Henry Jenkins, of Ellerton-upon-Swale, labourer, aged 157 years, was produced, and made deposition as a witness. He was buried at Bolton, Yorkshire. In 1743, a monument, with a suitable inscription, was erected to perpetuate his memory. THE PT7LPIT OF JOHN KNOX AT ST. ANDREW'S. John Knox, the great precursor of the Protestant Reformation, having been driven from Edinburgh by the threats of his opponents, reluctantly withdrew to St. Andrew's, in the county of Fife, where he continued with undiminished boldness to denounce the enemies of the reformed faith. It was in that place that he had first discoursed against the degeneracy of the Church of Rome, and there he occupied the Pulpit represented in the accompanying engraving ; and the following curious and characteristic anecdote connected with his preaching in it, is related in the Manuscript Diary of James Melville, then a student at the college of St. Andrew's, and subsequently Minister of Anstruther. " Of all the benefits I haid that year (1571) was the coming of that maist notable profet and apostle pf our nation, Mr. Jhone Knox, to St. Andrew's : who, be the faction TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; of the Queen occupying the castell and town of Edinburgh, was com- pellit to remove therefra, with a number of the best, and chiisit to come to St. Andrew's. I heard him teache there the Prophecies of Daniel that simmer, and the winter following ; I haid my pen and my little buike, and tuk away sic things as I could comprehend. In ^he oj-ening up of his text he was moderat the space of an half houre ; out wuer 1 he cnterit to application, he made me so to grew (thrill) and tremble, that ) could not hold a pen to> vwryt. He was very weak. 1 saw him every day of his life go hulie and fear (hoolie and fairly slowly and warilj * with a furring of marticks, (martins) about his neck, a staffe in the ai. t hand, and gud goalie Richard Ballanden, his servand, haldin up the uther oxier (arm-pit), from the Abbey to the Parish -Kirk ; and be the said Eichart and another servant lifted up to the Pulpit, whar he behoiti (was obliged) to lean at his first entry : hot er he had done with, his sermone he was sa active and vigourous, that he was lyk to ding the pulpit in blads (beat it into shivers) and flie out of it." The interesting relique commemorated in this curious extract, is f that stately style of carving which was introduced towards the close of the sixteenth century in Protestant preaching-places ; and continued, though of a more heavy character, throughout the whole of the suc- ceeding century. A scroll-bracket remaining on the preacher's left hand, and some broken pieces at the top of the back, appear to indicate that it was once more extended, and had probably a canopy or sounding- board. MARVELLOUS^ RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. T3K BIBLE USED BY KING CHAELES THE FIRST ON THE SCAFFOLD. There is so much external evidence of the genuineness of this very beautiful and interesting relique, that no doubt can exist as to its per- fect authenticity, though the circumstance of the King having a Bible with him on the scaffold, and of presenting it to Dr. Juxon, is not men- tioned in any contemporaneous account of his death. The only notice of such a volume, as a dying gift, appears to be that recorded by Sir Thomas Herbert, in his narrative, which forms a part of the Memoirs of the last Two Years of the Reign of that unparalleled Prince of evcr- llessed memory, King Charles I. London, 1702, Svo, p. 129, in the following passage : "The King thereupon gave him his hand to kiss: having the day before been graciously "pleased under his royal hand, to give him a certificate that the said Mr. Herbert was not imposed upon him, but by his Majesty made choice of to attend him in his bed- chamber, and had served him with faithfulness and loyal affection. His Majesty al&o delivered him his Bible, in the margin whereof he had with his own hand, written many annotations and quotations, and charged him to give it to the Prince so soon as he returned." That this might be the book represented in our engraving, is rendered extremely pro- bable, by admitting that the King would be naturally anxious, that his son should possess that very copy of the Scriptures which had been pro- vided for lumself when he was Prince of Wales. It will be observed 272 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; that the cover of the volume is decorated with the badge of the Princi- pality within the Garter, surmounted by a royal coronet in silver gilt, inclosed by an embroidered border ; the initials C. P. apparently im- properly altered to an It., and the badges of the Rose and Thistle, upon a ground of blue velvet : and the book was therefore bound between the death of Prince Henry in 1612, and the accession of King Charles to the throne in 1625, when such a coronet would be no longer used by him. If the Bible here represented were that referred to by Herbert, the circumstance of Bishop Juxon becoming the possessor of it might be iccounted for, by supposing that it was placed in his hands to be trans- mitted to Charles II. with the George of the Order of the Garter be- longing to the late King, well known to have been given to that Prelate upon the scaffold, January 30th, 1648-9. LAMBETH WELLS, THE AI'OLLO GAUDEXS, AND FlXCJl'S GROTTO. Among the numerous public places of amusement which arose upon the success of Vauxhall Gardens, which were first opened about 1661, was one in Lambeth Walk, known as Lambeth WeDs. This place was first opened on account of its mineral waters, which were sold at a penny per quart. The music commenced at seven o'clock in the morning, and the price of admission was three pence. A monthly concert under the direction of Mr. Starling Goodwin, organist of St. Saviour's Church Southwark, was afterwards held here, and Erasmus King, who had been coachman to the celebrated Dr. Desaguliers, read lectures and exhibited experiments in natural philosophy, the price of admission being raised to sixpence. This place was open before 1698, and existed as late as 1752, when ' ' A Penny Wedding after the Scotch fashion, for the benefit of a young couple," was advertised to be kept there. Lambeth Wells at length becoming a public nuisance, the premises were shut up, and ultimately let as a Methodist Meeting-house. The music gallery was used as a pulpit ; but the preacher being greatly disturbed in his enthusiastic harangues, he was obliged to quit, when the premises were converted to various purposes, except the dwelling, which is now known by the sign of the Fountain public-house. On the site of Messrs. Maudslay's factory, in the Westminster Road, formerly stood the Apollo Gardens. This place of amusement was opened in 1788, by an ingenious musician named Clagget, who published, in 1793, a small quarto pamphlet, entitled "Musical Phenomena: An Organ made without Pipes, Strings, Bells, or Glasses ; the only Instru- ment in the world that will never require to be re-tuned. A Cromatic Trumpet, capable of producing just Intervals, and regular Melodies in all Keys, without undergoing any change whatever. A French Horn answering the above description of the Trumpet." The Apollo Gardens had one spacious room elegantly fitted up, and decorated in taste suitably to its intention. The gardens consisted of a number of elegant pavilions or alcoves, well adapted for the accommoda- tion of different companies ; they were ornamented chiefly with a suc- eession of paintings, relating to romantic histories, particularly tne MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 2*3 diffe/ent adventures of Don Quixote. It had a fine orchestra erected in the centre of the gardens. The place being ultimately converted into a receptacle for loose and dissolute characters, the magistracy very properly suppressed it about the year 1799. In Gravel Lane, Southwark, was Finch's Grotto, a public garden and place of amusement, so named from William Finch, the proprietor. The Grotto was opened to the public in 1770 upon the plan of Vauxhall gardens. An orchestra and a band of musicians, added to the rural character of the place, and drew a numerous body of visitors. Very little is known about the Grotto, but it is supposed to have been closed early in the present century. THE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OR ORNITHOB.YNCHUS PABADOXTJS. Of the genus Ornithornynchus only one species the Paradoxus has yet been discovered in the whole world, and it is, therefore, one of the great curiosities of animal life. It appears to be a union of a quad- ) uped and a bird, and is only to be found in New Holland, where it inhabits the reeds by the side of rivers. Our engraving represents it very accurately. It is about twenty inches long, having a flattened body, somewhat like the otter, and is clothed with a dark soft fur. The elongated nose very much resembles the beak of a duck, like which these animals feed upon water insects, shell-fish, and aquatic plants. I'he feet are five-toed and webbed, and in the .fore-feet this membrane extends beyond the nails : the male is armed with a spur on each hind leg. This curious animal, in which a duck's beak is united to the body of a quadruped, rolls itself up like a hedgehog, when it sleeps in its burrows on the banks of the streams whence its food is derived. OF BOLTON ABBEY. About midway up the Yale of Bolton, amidst the gloomy recesses of the woods, the Wharfe, which is otherwise a wide and shallow river, is sud- denly contracted by two huge rocks, which approach each other so nearly, that the country folk, or rather the villagers, call it the Strid, because adventurous people stride or leap from one rock to the other. Jn ancient 10 24 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; days, the whole of this valley belonged to Baron Romillie, whose elilen* son having died, left a younger brother, of the name of EGKKJIOXT, bol*> heir of the domains and inheritance of this family. One day, hosv^ver, when this young man, familiarly called the " Hoy of Egre'mont," was returning from hunting with the hounds in the leash, lie, as he ha<7 done many times before, was going to leap the Sir id, when, just as h "as very short of stature. EXTRAORDINARY FASHION IN CIGARS. A taste for tobacco in some form or other seems to extend over the whole inhabitable globe. In this respect it matters not whether nations are civilized or uncivilized ; and however completely they may differ from each other in everything else, they all agree in a fondness for "the weed." In the mode, however, of indulging in the luxury, there is Ihe greatest diversity, and no where is this more strikingly manifested than in the Philippine Islands. " It is not till evening that the inhabitants of the higher class begin to stir ; till that time they are occupied in eating, sleeping, and smoking tobacco, which is no where more general than on the island of Luzon ; 7or children, before they can walk, begin to smoke segars. The women carry their fondness for it to a greater height than the men ; for, not fco&u^t with tLe usual small segars, they nave others unuie for them, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 76 which are a foot long and proportionally thick. These are here called the women's segars, and it is a most ludicrous sight to see elegant ladieb taking their evening walk, with these burning brands in their mouths. 7 How widely does the fashion in Luzon differ from the fashion at Paris ! NOVEL WAT OF PURCHASING A HUSBAND. The following paragraph, which we have copied from a magazine of 1790, not only gives us a curious instance of female determination in the pursuit of a husband, but tells us of the price which human hair was worth at the period when ladies wore such monstrous head-dressea of false curls. " An Oxfordshire lass was lately courted by a young man of that country, who was not willing to marry her unless her friends could advance 50/. for her portion ; which they being incapable of doing, the lass came to London to try her fortune, where she met with a good chapman in the Strand, who made a purchase of her hair (which was delicately long and light), and gave her sixty pounds for it, being 20 ounces at 31. an ounce ; with which money she joyfully returned into the country, and bought her a husband." GLOVES. ORIGIN OP "PIN MONET." Gloves were very common as New Years gifts. For many hun- dreds of years after their introduction into England in the 1 Oth century, they were worn only by the most opulent classes of society, and hence constituted a valuable present. They are often named in old records. Exchange of gloves was at one period a mode of investiture into pos- session of property, as amongst the ancient Jews was that of a shoe or sandal; and "glove-money" is to this day presented by High Sheriffs to the officers of their courts, upon occasion of a maiden assize, or one in which no cause is tried. Pins, which at the commencement of the sixteenth century displaced the wooden skewers previously in use, be- came a present of similar consequence ; and at their first introduction were considered of so much importance in female dress, that "pin- money" grew into the denomination of dower, which, by the caution of parents, or justice of a consort, was settled upon a lady at her marriage. HABITS AND HABITATIONS OF THE DTAKS OF BORNEO. It is impossible to appreciate properly the courage, determination, and skill which have been displayed by the gallant Sir James Brooke, unless we make ourselves acquinted with the character and habits of the extraordinary race of men over whom he triumphed. The Dyaks are a savage people who inhabit Borneo. They lived there be- fore the Malays came, and they have been obliged to submit to them. They are savages indeed. They are darker than the Malays ; yet they are not black ; their skin is only the colour of copper. Their hair is cut short in front, but streams 'down their backs ; their large mouths show a quantity of black teeth, made black by chewing the betel-nut. They wear but very little clothing, but they adorn their ears and arms, and legs, with numbers of brass rings. Their looks are wild and fierce, 276 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; but uot cunning like the looks of the Malays. They are not Mahome- tans ; they have hardly any religion at all. They believe there are some gods, but they know hardly any- thing about them, and they do not DTAS WITH HI want to know. They neither make images to the gods, nor say prayers to them. They live like the beasts, thinking only of this life ; yet they are more unhappy than beasts, for they imagine there are ev 1 ! rtpirila among the woods and hills, watching to do them harm. It is often hard, to persuade them to go to the top oi a mountain, where they say evil spirits dwell. Such a people would be more ready to listen to a mis- sionary than those who have idols, and temples, and priests, and sacred books. Their wickedness is very great. It is their chief delight to get the heads of their enemies. There are a great many different tribes of Dyaks, and each tribe tries to cut off the heads of other tribes. The Dyaks who live by the sea are the most cruel ; they go out into the boats to rob and bring home, not slaves, but HEADS ! ! And how do they treat a head when they get it ? They take out the brains, and then they dry it in the smoke, with the flesh and hair still on ; then they put a string through it, and fasten it to their waists. The evening that they have got some new heads, the warriors dance with delight, their heads dangling by their sides ; and they turn round in the dance, and gaze upon their heads, and shout, and yell with triumph ! At night they still keep the heads near them; and in the day they play with them, as children with their dolls, talking to them, putting food in their mouths, and the betel-nut between their ghastly lips. After wearing the heads many days, they hang them up to the ceilings of their rooms. No English lord thinks so much of his pictures, as the Dyaks do of their heads. They think these heads are the finest ornaments of their houses. The man who has most heads, is considered the greatest man. A man who has no heads is despised! If he wishes to be respected, he must get a head as soon as he can. Sometimes a man, in order to get a head, will go out to look for a poor fisherman, who has done him no harm, and will come back with his head, "When the Dyaks fight against their enemies, they try to get, not only the heads of men, but also the I I! HEAD OF A DTAK. MARV3L/,OUS, RARK, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT.. 277 HOUSE OP SEA DYAKS. heads of women and children. How dreadful it must be to see a poor baby's head hanging from the ceiling ! There was a Dyak who lost all his property by fire, but he cared not for losing anything, so much as for losing his pre- cious heads ; nothing could con- sole him for his loss ; some of them he had cut off himself, and others had been cut off by his father, and left to him ! People who are so bent on killing, as these Dyaks are, must have many enemies. The Dyaks are always in fear of being attacked by their ene- mies. They are afraid ot living in lonely cottages ; they think it a better plan for a great many to live together, that they may be able to defend themselves, if surprised in the night. Four hundred Dyaks will live together in one house. The house is very large. To make it more safe, it is built upon very high posts, and there are ladder* SKULL HOC3B. 2l8 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; to get up by. The posts are sometimes forty feet high ; so that when you are in the house, you find yourself as high as the tall trees. There is one very large room, where all the men and women sit, and talk, and do their work in the day. The women pound the rice, and weave the mats, while the men make weapons of war, and the little children play about. There is always much noise and confusion in this room. There are a great many doors along one side of the long room ; and each of these doors leads into a small room where a family lives ! the parents, the babies, and the girls sleep there, while the boys of the family sleep in the large room, that has just been described. The Hill Dyaks do not live in houses quite so large. Yet several families inhabit the same house. In the midst of their villages, there is always one house where the boys sleep. In this house all the heads of the village are kept The house is round, and built on posts, and the entrance is underneath, through the floor. As this is the best house in the village, travellers are always brought to this house to sleep. Think how dreadful it must be, when you wake in the night to see thirty or forty horrible heads, dangling from the ceiling ! The wind, too, which comes in through little doors in. the roof, blows the heads about ; so that they knock against each other, and seem almost as if they were still alive. This is the Dead-house. Such are the men whom the Ilajah Brooke subdued ! SCOTTISH WILD CATTLE. The wild white cattle, a few of which are still to be found in Chatel- herault Park, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, in Lanarkshire, are great objects of curiosity, inasmuch as they are identical with the primitive source of all our domestic cattle. The following description of their habits is abridged from an article by the Rev. W. Patrick, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture : " I am inclined to believe that the Hamilton breed of cattle is the oldest in Scotland, or perhaps in Britain. Although Lord Tankerville has said they have ' no wild habits,' I am convinced, from personal observation, that this is one of their peculiar features. In browsing their extensive pasture, they always keep close together, never scattering or straggling over it, a peculiarity which does not belong to the Kyloe, or any other breed, from the wildest or most inhospitable regions of the Highlands. The white cows are also remarkable for their systematic manner of feeding. At different periods of the year their tactics are different, but by those acquainted with their habits they are always found about the same part of the forest at the same hour of the day. In the height of summer, they always bivouac for the night towards the northern extremity of the forest ; from this point they start in the morning, and browse to the southern extremity, and return at sunset to their old rendezvous ; and during these perambulations they always feed en masse. 11 The bulls are seldom ill-natured, but when they are so they display ' disposition more than ordinarily savage, cunning, pertinacious, and evengeful. A poor bird-catcher, when exercising his vocation among the r Old Oaks,' as the park is familiarly called, chanced to be attacked MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 279 hr .1 savage bull. By great exertion he gained a tree before bis assailant mudo up to him. Here he had occasion to observe the habits of the animal. It did not roar or bellow, but merely grunted, the whole body quivered with passion and savage rage, and he frequently attacked the Tree with his head and hoofs. Finding all to no purpose, *he left off the vain attempt, began to browse, and removed to some distance from the tree. The bird-catcher tried to descend, but this watchful Cerberus was again instantly at his post, and it was not till after six hours' imprison- ment, and various bouts at ' bo-peep ' as above, that the unfortunate man was relieved by some shepherds with their dogs. A writer's apprentice, who had been at the village of Quarter on business, and who returned by the ' Oaks ' as a ' near-hand cut,' was also attacked by one of these savage brutes, near the northern extremity of the forest. He was fortunate, however, in getting up a tree, but was watched by the bull, and kept there during the whole of the night, and till near two o'clock the next day. ' ' These animals are never taken and killed like other cattle, but are always shot in the field. I once went to see a bull and some cows destroyed in this manner not by any means for the sake of the sight, but to observe the manner and habits of the animal under peculiar cir- cumstances. When the shooters approached, they, as usual, scampered off in a body, then stood still, tossed their heads on high, and seemed to snuff the wind ; the manoeuvre was often repeated, till they got so hard pressed (and seemingly having a sort of half-idea of the tragedy which was to be performed), that they at length ran furiously in a mass, always preferring the sides of the fence and sheltered situations, and dexterously taking advantage of any inequality in the ground, o* other circumstances, to conceal themselves from the assailing foe. In th\ir flight, the bulls, or stronger of the flock, always took the lead ! a smoke ascended from them which could be seen at a great distance ; and they were often so close together, like sheep, that a carpet would have covered them. The cows which had young, on the first ' tug of war,' all retreated to the thickets where their calves were concealed ; from prudential motives, they are never, if possible, molested. These and other wild habits I can testify to be inherent in the race, and are well known to all who have an oppor- tunity of acquainting themselves with them." BELLS OF THE ANCIENTS. Bells were known in the earliest ages of which we have any certain account. But the bells of the ancients were very small in comparison with those of modern times, since, according to Polydore Virgil, the invention of such as are hung in the towers, or steeples of Christian churches, did not occur till the latter end of the fourth, or beginning of the fifth century; when they were introduced by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola. The Jews certainly employed bells, since they are spoken of in Scriptures ; and the mention of them by Thucydides, Diodorus SiculuR, Suidas, A ristophanes, and other ancient writers, proves that they wore used in Greece ; while Plautus, Ovid, Tibullus, Statius, and a variety of Latin authors, speak of bells as in use among the Ilomans. But the*e 280 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; bells of the ancients were all made for the hand ; or were of a size to tw affixed to other musical instruments, like those which were occasionally appended to the drum. "Whether, when detached from other instruments, they were used on other occasions, or only in particular ceremonies, or as signals, is not known ; nor have we any clue by which to guess whe- ther they were tuned in concordance with any scale, or whether they were unisons to each other, or not formed to any particular pitch, but merely used as sonorous auxiliaiies to other instruments, without any regard to their agreement of tone, either with one another, or with the instruments they accompanied. EARTHQUAKE AT NOTTINGHAM IN 1816. Earthquakes are providentially occurrences of great rarity in England. The one which took place on the 17th of March, 1816, was one of the most dangerous that has ever been experienced in this kingdom. It ex- tended over a vast area of country, and in some localities its effects were felt very severely. As a proof of this, we have copied the following para- graph from a Nottingham paper of the day : Nottingham, in common with a great part of the North Midland district, experienced a smart shock of an earthquake. It was felt at half -past twelve p.m., and as Divine service, it being Sunday, was not over at the churches, great alarm was expressed by the con- gregations. At Si. Peter's and St. Nicholas's, the consternation was so great, that service had to be suspended for a few seconds, and one lady was borne out in a state of insensibility. The pillars supporting St. Mary's tower shook very visibly, but, fortunately, the attention of the crowded congregation was so engrossed by the eloquence of the sheiiff's chaplain, and the presence of the Judge and his retinue, that the alarm was but slight, or the rush and loss of life might have been great. In various parts of the town and neighbourhood, glasses were shaken off of shelves, articles of domestic use displaced, window- casements thrown open, and other indications manifest of the influence of the subterra- nean movement. SINGULAR STATE OF PRESERVATION OP A DEAD BODY. According to a statement in Holinshed, in 1495, while digging for a foundation for the church of St. Mary-at-hill, in London, the body of Alice Hackney was discovered. It had been buried 175 years, and yet the skin was whole, and the joint pliable. It was kept above ground four days without annoyance, and then re-interred. ASYLUM FOR DESTITUTE CATS. Of all the curious charitable institutions in the world, the 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 .ats should be provided for, till such time as they took them- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 281 selves off again. In 1845, when a famine was ravaging in all North Syria when scores of poor people were dropping down in the streets from sheer exhaustion and want, and dying there by dozens per diem before the eyes of their well-to-do fellow creatures, men might daily be encountered carrying away sack loads of cats to be fed lip and feasted on the proceeds of the last will and testament of that vagabond old Turk, whilst fellow creatures were permitted to perish. TOMB OP SAINT GEORGE. The tomb of Saint George, England's patron-saint, is situated in the Bay of Kesrouan, between the Nahr-et- Kelb and Batroun, surrounded by luxuriant gardens and groups of romantic-looking villages and con- vents. The Arabs venerate St. George, whom they style Mar Djurios, and point to a small ruined chapel (as in our engraving), ori- ginally dedicated to him to com- memorate his victory over the dragon, which, they say, took place ;-;; near to the spot. The tradition is, that the dragon was about to devour the king of Beyrout's daughter, when St. George slew him, and thus saved the lady fair ; and the cre- dulous natives point to a kind of well, upwards of sixty feet deep, where they stoutly affirm that the dragon used to come out to feed upon his victims. All this is very curious, in- asmuch as it gives an Arabian interest to the career of the patron saint of England, whose portrait, in the act of slaying the dragon, constitutes the reverse of most English* coin, and is regarded as the embodiment of English valour. BEGGA11S SELECTED AS MODELS BY PAINTEES. Michael Angelo Buonarotti often drew from beggars ; and report says>, that in the early part of his life, when he had not the means of paying them in money, he would make an additional sketch, and, presenting it to the party, desire him to take it to some particular person, who would purchase it. Fuseli, in his life of Michael Angelo, says that " a beggar rose from his hand the patriarch of poverty." The same artist, in one of his lectures, delivered at the Royal Academy, also ob- serves, that " Michael Angelo ennobled his beggars into Patriarchs and Prophets, in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel." 10* 282 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; Aanibal Caracci frequently drew subjects in low life. His Cries <>f Bologna, etched by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli : pub. 1660, in folio, are evidently from real characters. It will also be recollected, that some of the finest productions of Murillo, Jan Miel, and Drogsloot, are beggars. Callot's twenty-four beggars are evidently from nature ; and among Rembrandt's etchings are to be found twenty-three plates of this descrip- tion. Sir Joshua Reynolds frequently painted from beggars, and from these jeople have originated some of his finest pictures, particularly his " Mercury as a Pickpocket," and "Cupid as a Link-boy." His Count Ugolino was painted from a pavior, soon after he had left St. George's Hospital, from a severe fever. Mr. West painted the portrait of a beg- gar, on the day when he became a hundred years old ; and considered him as a pensioner for several years afterwards. The same person was used also as a model, by Copley, Opie, &c. Who can forget the lovely countenance of Gainsborough's " Shepherd's Boy," that has once seen Earlom's excellent engraving from it ? He was a lad, well known as a beggar to those who walked St. James's-street seventy years ago. The model for the celebrated picture of the " Woodman," by the same artist, died in the Borough, at the venerable age of 107. Mr. Nollekens, in 1778, when modelling the bust of Dr. Johnson, who then wore a wig, called in a beggar to sit for the hair. The same artist was not equally fortunate in the locks of another great character ; for on his application to a beggar for the like purpose, the fellow declined to sit, with an observation that three half-crowns weis not sufficient for the trouble. SUPPLY OF \VATR FOE OLD LOJTLOX. Leaden pipes conveyed spring water to London city from Tyburn in 1236 ; and in 1285 the first great conduit of lead was begun there. In 1442 Henry VI. granted to John Hatherley, Mayor, license to take up 200 fother "of lead, The pipes from Highbury brought in the water iu 1483. We may learn how much was thought of this useful work by the fact that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and many worshipful persons used to ride and view the conduit heads at Tyburn ; and after dinner there, somewhat different from recent sportsmen, they hunted a fox. The water- works at London Bridge were established in 1512. In 1534, two-fifteenths were granted by the Common Council for defraying the year River was only rendered available in 1618, that is, a space of sixty-eight years after the introduction of a stream of pure water into the western parts of the town of Lyme in Dorset. COMBINATION OF INSTINCT AND FOECE OF HABIT IN A DOG. A dog which had been accustomed to go with his master regularly for some time to Penkridge church, still continued to go there by himself every Sunday for a whole year, while the edifice was under repair, and divine service was not held. Whenever he could, he would get into the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 283 family pew and there pass the proper time. His instinct enabled him to perceive the occasion, and to measure the regular time, but it could carry him no further. A remarkable exemplification of the difference betweeu instinct and reason. TOIlKSnillE IX THE LAST CEXTTTRT. Anecdotes wliich are apparently trifling in themselves, are often of im- portance, as exhibiting in a striking light the dialect and social condi- tion of the people, and the period they refer to. An instance of this is the following, which has been recorded as the bellman's cry at llipon, on the occasion of a great frost and fall of snow, about 1780 : "I is to gie notidge, that Joanie Pickersgill yeats yewn to neit, to moarn at moarn, an to moarn at neit, an nea langer, as lang as storm hods, 'cause he can git na mare eldin." The Translation. I am to give notice, that John Pickersgill heats his oven to-night, to-morrow morning, and to-morrow at night, and no longer as long aa the storm lasts, because he can get no more fuel. IXSTAXCE OP MAJTT AGSD PEKSOXS DYING ABOT7T THE SAME DATE. The following is taken from a copy of Nile's " Weekly Register," published at Baltimore, in the month of January, 1823. It is the list of deaths which had been notified to the paper within one week, and we give it, as a singular instance of the decease of so many persons above one hundred years old being announced in the same paragraph. "In Franklin co. Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Campbell, aged 104 several of her relatives had reached 100. At Troy, N. Y., Ann Fowler, 100. At Tyngsboro', N. Y., Abigail Hadlock, 104. At Somers, N. Y., Michael Makeel, 103. At Rutland, Oswego, N. Y., Mrs. Buroy, 110. At Brunswick, Maine, Gen. James W. Ryan, 107 his wife is vet living, aged 94 ; thev were married together 75 vcars before his death. At Georgetown, Col. Yarrow, a Moor, (supposed) 135! At the city of New York, a woman, a native of St. Domingo, 106. At Sargus, Mass., Mrs. Edwards, 101. In Edgecomb county, N. C., William Spicer, aged about 112. In Boston, William Homer, 116." CORPSE BEAEEKS DUTUXG THE PLAGUE. Of all the calamities with which a great city is infested, there can be none so truly awful as that of a plague, when the street doors of the houses that were visited with the dreadful pest were padlocked up, and only accessible to the surgeons and medical men, whose melancholy duty frequently exposed them even to death itself ; and when the fronts of Ihe houses were pasted over with large bills exhibiting red crosses, to denote that in such houses the pestilence was raging, and requesting the solitary passenger, to pray that the Lord might have mercy upon those who were confined within. Of these bills there are many extant in the libraries of the curious, some of which nave borders engraved on W(Xd printed in black, displaying figures of skeletons, bones, and coffin? 284 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; They also contain various recipes for the cure of the distempei . The Lady Arundel, and other persons of distinction, published their methods for making what was then called plague-water, and which are to be lound in many of the rare books on cookery of the time ; but happily for London, it has not been visited by this affliction since 1665, a cir- : 3 oumstance owing probably to the Great Fire in the succeeding year, which consumed so many old and deplorable buildings, then standing in narrow streets and places so confined, that it was hardly possible to know where any pest would stop. Every one who inspects Agas's Plan of London, engraved in the reign of Elizabeth, as well as those published subsequently to the rebuilding of the City after the fire, must acknowledge the great improvements as to the houses, the widening of the streets, and the free admission of fresh air. It is to be hoped, and indeed we may conclude from the very great and daily improvements on that most excellent plan of widening streets, that this great city will never again witness such visitations. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 285 When the plague was at its height, perhaps nothing could have been more silently or solemnly conducted than the removal of the dead to the various pits round London, that were opened for their reception ; and it was the business of Corpse Bearers, such as the one exhibited in the preceding engraving, to give directions to the carmen, who went through the city with bells, which they rang, at the same time crying " Bring out your Dead." This melancholy description may be closed, by observ- ing that many parts of London, particularly those leading to the Courts of Westminster, were so little trodden down, that the grass grew :n tho middle of the streets. A MEMENTO-MOKI WATCH. The curious relic, of which we herewith give an engraving, was rru- ecnted by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her Maid of Honour, Mary Seatoa, of the house of Wintoun, one of the four celebrated Maries, who were Maids of Honour to her Majesty. " Yestreen the Queen had four Maries, The night she'll hae but three ; _ There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton, And Marie Carmichael and me." The watch is of silver, in the form of a skull. On the forehead of the skull is the figure of Death, with his scvthe and sand-glass ;^ ba elands between a palace on the one hand, and a cottage on the otii o r, with his toes applied equally to the door of each, and around this is ;he legend from Horace "Pallida mors czquo pulsat pede panperium tabcrnas Jieyumque turre.s." On the opposite, or posterior part of the skull, is a representation of Time, devouring all things. He also has a scythe, and near him is the serpent with its tail in its mouth, being an emblem of eternity : this is surrounded by another legend from Horace, ' ' Tempus 286 TEN THOUSAND \VOXDXtFUL THINGS . edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustat" T*)e upper part of the tkull i divided into two compartments : on one i* represented our first parent! in the garden of Eden, attended by some of the animals, with tlu motto, " Peccando perditionem miser iam ceternam poster is menterc." The opposite compartment is filled with the subject of the salvation of lost man by tht Crucifixion of our Saviour, who is represented as suffering between the twb thieves, whilst the Mary's are in adoration below ; the motto to this is " Sic justitice satisfecit, mortem super aril salutem comparacit." Running below these compartments on both sides, there- is an open work of about an inch in width, to permit the sound to come more freely out when the watch strikes. This is formed of emblems belonging to the crucifixion, scourges of varioxis kinds, swords, the flagon and cup of the Eucharist, the cross, pincers, lantern used in the garden, spears of different kinds, and one with the sponge on its point, thongs, ladder, the coat without ssam, and the dice that were thrown tor it, the hammer and nails, and the crown of thorns. Under all these is the motto, " Scala cccli adylcriam via." The watch is opened by reversing tho skull, and placing the upper part of it in the hollow of the hand, and then lifting the under jaw which rises on a hinge. Inside, on the plate, which thus may be called the lid, is a representation of the Holy Family in the stable, with the infant Jesus laid in the manger, and angels ministering to him ; in the upper part an angel is seen descending with a scroll on which is written, " Gloria excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonce volu " In the distance are the shepherds with their Hocks, and one of the men is in the act of performing on a cornemuse. The works of the watch occupy the position of the brains in the skull itself, the dial plate being on a flat where the roof of the mouth and the parts behind it under the base of the brain, are to be found in the real subject. The dial plate is of silver, and it is fixed within a golden circle richly carved in a scroll pat- tern. The hours are marked in large Roman letters, and within them is the figure of Saturn devouring his children, with this relative legend round the outer rim of the flat, " Sicut meis sic et omnibus idem" Lifting up the body of the works on the hinges by which they are attached, they are found to be wonderfully entire. There is no date, but the maker's name, with the place of manufacture, " Moyse, Blois," are distinctly engraven. Blois was the place where it is believed watches were first made, and this suggests the probability of the opinion that the watch was expressly ordered by Queen Mary at Blois, when she went there with her husband, the Dauphin, previous to his death. The watch appears to have been originally constructed with catgut, instead of tho chain which it now has, which must have been a more modern addition. It is now in perfect order, and performs wonderfully well, though it re- quires to be wound up within twenty-six hours to keep it going with tolerable accuracy. A large silver bell, of very musical sound, tills the entire hollow of the skull, and receives the works within it when the watch is shut ; a small hammer set in motion by a separate escapemen',, strikes the hours on it. This very curious relic must have been intended to occupy a stauouary MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 2#"3 place on a prie-dwu, or small altar in a private oratory, for its vreight is much too great to have admitted of its Having been carried in any way attached to the person. A MONSTER. It is almost incredible that such a monster, as the one we are about to describe should have been allowed to continue his wicked career for some years, in a civilized country like France, little more than a hundred years ago, but the following paragraph is copied from a Paris journal of that period 1755, January the 17th and there is every reason to believe that it is strictly correct. What was his fate we do not know, but can hardly doubt. The Marquis de Plumartin, whose execrable crimes are known over all France, has at last been taken in his castle, by 300 men of the King's Own regiment of foot, and carried to Poitiers, loaded with irons. The king is going to appoint a commission to try him. This monster turned away his wife some years ago, and became the terror of Poitou. Neither woman nor man durst appear in the neigh- bourhood. Having one day lost a cause in one of the king's courts, he caused the usher and his man, who came to intimate the sentence to him, to be burnt alive. Some days after, having drawn six of his creditors into his castle, where he had shut himself up with several of his crew, he ordered some of his people to drag them into a pond, tied to the tails of horses, and afterwards fastened them to a stake nea" a great tire, where three expired, and the other three died a few days after. Thirty of the Marshalsea guards, who were sent to apprehend him, having beset liis castle, he barricaded the doors and fired on them from the garret window, killing the commanding officer and five others. After which he left the kingdom, but absurdly imagining that his crimes were forgot, he lately returned." PERSEVERANCE REWARDED BY FORTUNE. We have copied the following paragraph from the pages of a local his- torian, because it gives us a striking instance of what perseverance and good fortune will accomplish, in raising a man to comparative distinction from the humblest walks of life. August 26, 1691 Sir John Duck, bart, departed this life, being Wed- nesday at night, and was buried upon the Monday after, being? the 31st of August. The wealthiest burgess on the civic annals of Durham. Of Sir John's birth, parentage, and education, thr, *wo first have hitherto remained veiled in impenetrable obscurity ; as is the third, he was bred a butcher under John Heslop, in defiance of the trade and mystery of butchers, in whose books a record still exists, warning John Heslopp that he forbear to sett John Ducke on worke in the trade of a butcher. John Duck however grew rich, married the daughtei of his benefactor, and was created a baronet by James II. He built a splendid mansion in Silver-street, where a pauel still exists recording his happy rise to fortune. The baronet, then humble Duck, cast out by the butchers, stands near a bridge in an attitude of despondency ; in the air is seen a raven bearing in bis bill a piece cf sib ->r, which according to tradition fell at the feet of tha 288 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; lucky John, and was naturally calculated to make a strong impression on his mind. He bought a calf, which calf became a cow, and which cow being sold enabled John to make further purchases in cattle, and from such slender beginnings, to realise a splendid fortune. On the right of the picture is a view of his mansion in Silver-street, and he seems to point at another, which is presumed to be the hospital he endowed at Lumley. He died without issue, and was buried at St. Margaret's, where his wife, Pia Prudens Felix, lies buried beside him. On Duck the Butchers shut the door ; I In mortgage rich, in offspring poor, liut Heslop's Daughter Johnny wed : | Nor son nor daughter crown' d his bed. TRAVELLING IN THE T7NITED STATES EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED TEAKS AGO. The American advertisement, of which we here give a literal copy, is deserving of preservation on account of the quaintness of the inn-signs, the peculiarity of the spelling and diction, the " shifting" of the passen- gers which it announces, and the general idea it gives us of the way in which travelling was performed in America at the time when it was issued. Philadelphia STAGE -WAGGON, and New- York STAGE BOAT performs their Stages twice a "Week. TOHN BUTLER, with his waggon, sets out on Mondays from his * House, at the Sign of the Death of the Fox, in Strawberry ally, and drives the same day to Trenton Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him, and proceeds on Tuesday to Brunswick, and the passengers and goods being shifted into the waggon of Isaac Fitzrandolph, he takes them to the New Blazing-Star to Jacob Fitzrandolph' s the same day, where Rubin Fitzrandolph, with a boat well suted, will receive them, and take them to New- York that night. John Butler returning to Philadelphia on Tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to him by Francis Holman, will again set out for Trenton Ferry on Thursday, and Francis Holman, &c. will carry his passengers and goods, with the same expedition as above to New- York. Weekly Mercury. March 8, 1759. FETE OP THE FEDERATION. PARIES 1790. The leading events of the great Revolution in France, may be fairly classed with the marvellous, and among our " Ten Thousand "Wonderful Things " there will be found few more wonderful than the civic festival of the general federation of the National Guards of France, which took place on the 14th of July, 1790, and of which the above is a correct re- presentation, taken from a view by Duplessis Bertaux. The pro- ceedings of that memorable day had in them a mixture of religion celebration apparently singular among a people who had lately so much trampled on religion; but a? this celebration was more pagan than Christian in its character, the singularity becomes less marked. On the preceding evening, a Hierodrame was performed at the cathedral of Notre Dame a kind of sacred drama, made up by M. Desaugiera ol scraps from the Bible mixed with other matter, and set to music ; it pro- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. fessed to tell the story of the taking of the Bastille, and to sadness, trouble, contusion, joy, and alarm of the Parisians, ^hen" suc- ceeded a Te Deum, chanted in presence of some of the principal federal and municipal bodies. Early in the morning of the 14th, amid dense clouds and heavy rain, the National Guards from all the eighty-three departments of France, together with deputations from the state army and navy, began to assemble, and speediiv forned an immense line froia the Porte St. Antoine to the Porte St. Martin ; whence they marched, with bands playing and colours flying, to the Champ de Mars, regaled and cheered by the Parisians on the route. On reaching the great square of the Tuileries, the procession was headed by the municipality of Paris and the members of the National Assembly, and followed by a body of gray-headed veterans. The procession traversed the Seine by one of the bridges, greeted by salvos of artillery drawn up on the quays, and entered the Champ de Mars under a triumphal arch almost hidden by Hags and patriotic inscriptions. One o'clock had arrived before the various bodies forming the procession had taken their destined places in the enclosed 2f*0 TEM THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; parallelogram, surrounded by nearly 300,000 spectators on the raised terraces, most of whom were by this time drenched by the continuous rain. In the centre of the area was a lofty altar, half pagan, half Catholic in its adornments ; and around this altar the provincial National Guards danced and sang in very excited fashion. The royal family ap' peared at three o'clock. In an immense gallery near the altar, the National Assembly were seated, with the king and the president on two chairs of state exactly equal in height and richness, and the queen and the rest of the court seated behind a significant interpretation of the decree just announced. At the instant of the king taking his seat, the air was rent with cries of Vive le Roi ! Vive la Nation ! The banners were unfurled ; 1,800 musicians burst forth with jubilant strains ; cannon poured out continuous volleys ; Talleyrand, as bishop of Autun, assisted by sixty chaplains of the Paris National Guards, performed mass at the altar; and the banners were blessed by sprinkling with holy-water. Then Lafayette, dismounting from his white charger, received from the hands of the king a written form of oath ; he swore to this oath at the altar, and with his raised arm gave a signal for the countless host to do likewise every one raising his right hand, and saying Je lejiire! The king took the oath prescribed to him ; and the queen held up the dauphin in her arms, as if to denote that he also, poor child, had sworn to defend the national liberties. At five o'clock the royal family retired, and the crowd began to leave the Champ de Mars. Twenty-five thousand federates or provincial deputies went to a royal chateau about a mile distant, where a dinner had been prepared for them by order of the municipality of Paris, with Lafayette as chairman of the 'banquet. At night all Paris was illuminated ; and for three or four days the feastings, reviews, and cele- brations were numerous, including a "grand dance on the site of the de- molished Bastille. On the 18th, Lafayette reviewed the provincial or federate National Guards, and on the 19th they were reviewed by the king. Paris was intoxicated for an entire week, each man displaying at once his delight and his vanity. A MAN CARRIES HIS HOUSE ON HIS HEAD. Simeon Ellerton, of Craike, Durham, died 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 counties to London and other places, which he executed with singular fidelity and despatch. He lived in a neat stone cottage of his own erecting ; and what is remarkable, he had literally carried his house on his head ; it being his constant practice to bring back with him from every journey which he undertook, some suitable stone, or other material for his purpose, and which, not unfrequently, he carried 40 or 50 miles on his head. IGNORANCE AND FEAB. In the year 1712, "Whiston predicted that the comet wouid cppear on Wednesday, Hth October, at five minutes after five in the morning, and that the world would be destroyed by fire on the Friday following. MARVELLOUS, R.iRE, CURIOUS, AXD QUAINT. 291 Hii reputation was high, and the comet appeared. A number of person? got into boats and barges on the Thames, thinking the water the safest place. South Sea ana India stock fell. A captain of a Dutch ship threw all his powder into the river, that the ship might not be endan- gered. At noon, after the comet had appeared, it is said that more thae one hundred clergymen were ferried over to Lambeth, to request thtt proper prayers might be prepared, there being none in the church service. People believed that the day of judgment was at hand, and acted some on this belief, more as if some temporary evil was to be expected. There was a prodigious run on the bank, and Sir Gilbert Heathccte, at that time the head director, issued orders to all the fire offices iu London, requiring them to keep a good look out, and have a particular eve upon the Bank of England. ARABIAN HOESES. It is a singular circumstance, that it is to the Arabian that England Is indebted for her improved, and now unrivalled, breed of horses for the turf, the field, and the road. The Arabian horses are divided into two great branches ; the Kadischi whose descent is unknown, and the Kochlani, of whom a \vritten gene- alogy has been kept for 2000 years. These last are reserved for riding solely, they are highly esteemed and consequently very dear. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's studs. "However this may be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues, and can pass whole clays without food. They are also said to show uncommon courage against an enemy. It is even asserted, that when a horse of this race finds himself wounded and unable to bear his rider much longer, he retires from the fray, and conveys him to a place of security. If the rider falls upon the ground, his horse remains beside him, and neighs till assistance 1- brought. The Kochlani are neither large nor handsome but amazingly swift. The whole race is divided into several families, each of which ha vts proper name. Some of these have a higher reputation than others on account of their more ancient and uncontaminated nobility. We may not believe, perhaps, all that is told us of the Arabian.. It has been remarked that there are, on the deserts which his horse traverses, no milestones to mark the distance, or watch to calculate the time ; and the Bedouin is naturally given to exaggeration, and most of all when relat- ing the prowess of tne animal which he loves as dearly as his children ; vet it cannot be denied that at the introduction of the Arabian into the European stables, there was no other horse comparable to him. HEAD-QUARTERS OF PRINCE RUPERT AT EVERTON, DURING THE SIEGE OF LIVERPOOL, IN 1644. Prince Rupert, assisted by the Earl of Derby, having taken Bolton r.y storm, and refreshed his army there for some 'days, advanced on Liver- pool, where the Parliament had a strong garrison under the command of Colonel More, of Bank-hall ; and finding on his approach to the town, the high ground near it favourable to his design, compared it to a crow's uest, probably imagining it would be taken with AS little difficulty ; but 292 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, the resistance lie met with, induced him to declare it was more like an eagle's nest, or a den of lions. The siege began about the 2nd of June, and the view exhibits his head-quarters from that time till the reduction of the place. His main oarap was established round the beacon, about a mile from the town, and his officers were placed in the adjoining villages, from whence a detach- ment marched every day, being relieved every twenty-four hours, to open trenches and erect batteries. From these advances Prince Rupert frequently attacked the besieged and their works in the way of storm, but was constantly repulsed with great slaughter of his men. At length, Colonel More, finding the town must of necessity surrender, and desirous of ingratiating himself with the Prince, for the preservation of his house and effects at Bank Hall, gave such orders for his soldiers to retire, that the works on the enemy's side were abandoned, and the royalists entered the town at three o'clock in the morning of June 26, putting to the sword all they met with, till they arrived at the High Cross, which then stood on the site where the Exchange now stands. Here the soldiers of the Castle, drawn up in line, beat a parley, and demanded quarter, which, on their submitting as prisoners of war, and surrendering the Castle to the Prince, was granted. The soldiers were then s?nt to the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 293 tower, St. Nicholas's Church, and other places of security ; but the Par- liament-army, soon after the siege, repossessed themselves of the Castle, and appointed Col. Birch, as governor. FIEE AT BURWELL, CAMBEIDGESHTRE. 1727. Some strollers brought down a puppet-show, which was exhibited in a large thatched barn. Just as the show was about to begin, an idle feUow attempted to thrust himself in without paying, which the people of the show preventing, a quarrel ensued. After some altercation, the fellow went away, and the door being made fast, all was quiet ; but the same man, to gain admittance privately, got over a heap of hay arid straw, which stood near to the barn, and accidentally set it on fire. The spectators of the show, alarmed by the flames, which had communicated o the barn, rushed to the door ; but it happened unfortunately that it opened inwards, and the crowd pressing violently against the door, there eould be no escape. Thus the whole company, consisting of more than J60 persons, were kept confined till the roof fell in, and covered them with fire and smoke : six only escaped with life ; the rest, among whom were several young ladies of fortune, were reduced to one undistinguish- able heap of mangled bodies, totally disfigured. The friends of the dead, not knowing which were the remains they sought, caused a large hole to be dug in the church-yard, and all the bodies were promiscuously interred together, and a tablet erected in the church to perpetuate this most melancholy event. AN APPAEENT SINGTJLAEITY ACCOUNTED FOE. It is generally well known that birds are very active agents in the extension of vegetation, and that fruit and flowers are, to a great extent, rendered prolific by the insects which visit their blossoms ; but few people are aware of the means through which fish are formed in lakes and ponds, which are not connected with other waters. Here, also, an insect is the principal agent. The large water-beetle, which is in the habit of feeding upon the spawn of fish, occasionally in the evening climbs up the stems of rushes, &c. out of the water, sufficiently high to enable it to take wing ; in these circumstances it has been caught, and, putting it into water, has been found to give out the spawn with which it had gorged itself previous to taking flight, both in a digested and undigested state ; so that, on trial, it has been found that it produced tish of various kinds. EUROPEAN BALANCING EQUAL TO THE INDIAN JUGGLERS. The astonishing dexterity of the Indian jugglers is known to all, brt many years ago a Spaniard named Cadenas made himself equal, if i:ot superior to them. He may be truly said to be superior to them, inasmuch as several of his feats have never been attempted by them. Don Cadenas extended himself flat on his back on a large table. He then elevated his legs until they were at right angles with his body ; he was assisted in keeping this position by a sort of pyramidal cushion, which was placed under him, a little below the lower end of his back. His feet ?md ankles were covered with boots, on which were many small casta:iets 294 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS . and little bells. The tranca, which is a round piece of wood, about 8 feet long and five inches in diameter, handsomely painted, was then laid horizontally on the soles of his feet, his legs being perpendicular. Having ex'actly balanced the tranca, he alternately struck his feet against it, the castanets, &c., keeping time with the music. In pro- portion to the strength with which he struck the tranca, with one foot or both feet, was the height to which he elevated it, always catching it, in its descent, with great, accuracy, on the soles of his feet. Sometimes *>y bending his knees and then striking out with his limbs, he threw the tranca several feet into the air, catching it, in its descent, on his feet, with as much neatness and more certainty than the Indian jugglers used to ?atch the brass balls in their hands. He concluded the performance with the tranca, by exactly balancing it on the sole of his left foot, and then by repeated strokes of his right foot set it rapidly in motion like a horizontal ny- wheel. MOB-WISDOM. A singular instance of a mob cheating themselves by their own headlong impetuosity, is to be found in the life of AVoodward, ths comedian. On one occasion, when ho was in Dublin, and lodged opposite the Parliament House, a mob who were making the members swear to oppose an unpopular bill, called out to his familv to throw them a Bible out of the window. Mr. W. was frightened, for they had no such book in the house, but he threw out a volume of Shakespere, telling the mob they were welcome to it. They gave him three cheers, swore the members upon this book, and afterwards returned it without discovering its contents. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ANIMALS. The means by which animals contrive to communicate their ideas to each other is a phenomenon which has never been satisfactorily explained. The two following instances of it are very curious. A gentleman who was in the habit of occasionally visiting London from a distant county performed the journey on horseback, accompanied by a favourite little terrier dog, which he left at an inn at some distance from London till his return. On one occasion on calling for his dog the landlady told him that it was lost ; it had had a quarrel with the great house dog, and had been so worried and bit that it was thought he would never recover, but at the end of a few days he crawled out of the yard, and no one saw him for almost a week, when he returned with another do" bigger than his enemy, on whom they both fell and nearly destroyed him. This dog had actually travelled to its own home at <7hitmore in Staffordshire, had coaxed away the great dog in question, which followed him to St. Alban's to assist in resenting the injury of jts friend. The following story is related of a little spaniel which had teen found lame by a surgeon at Leeds. He carried the poor animal nome, bandaged up his leg, and after two or three days turned him out. The dog returned to the surgeon's house every morning till his leg was perfectly well. At the end of several months, the spaniel again pre- sented himself in company with another dog, which had also been lamed ; and he intimated, as well as piteous and intelligent looks could MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 295 intimate, that he desired the same assistance to be rendered to his friend as had been bestowed upon himself. The combination of ideaa in this case, growing out of the recollection of his own injury, and referring that to the cure which had been performed ; the compassion he had for his friend to whom he communicated the occurrence, and induced to seek relief under his guidance, together with the appeal to the humane surgeon, is as extraordinary a piece of sagacity aa can be found in all the annals of animals. STRANGE CUSTOM ABOUT NAMES. The following anecdote forcibly illustrates the absurd custom which prevailed many years ago in America, of giving children names, made up of Scripture sentences. We record the anecdote as being descriptive of a curious local custom. About the beginning of the present century a New England sea captain having some business at a public office, which required him to sign his name, was rather tedious in performing the operation, which did not escape the observation of the officer, who was a little impatient at the delay, and curious withal to see what sort of a name it could be that required so long a time to spread it upon paper. Perhaps the captain had a long string of titles to grace it, such as honorable, esquire, colonel of militia, selectman of the town of , &c., which he chose to make an ostentatious parade of; or perhaps it was his whim to subscribe the place of his nativity and that of his residence, together with his age, height, and complexion. He was mistaken ; for the captain had subscribed nothing but simply his name, which, when he had done, the officer, after some trouble in decyphering, found to read thus : Through -Much -Tribulation -We- Enter-Into-the-Kingdom-of-Heaven Clapp. " Will you please to tell me, Captain Clapp," said he, with as demure a face as his violent incli- nation to indulge in a hearty laugh would allow him to put on, "what might your mother have called you in your infancy, to save herself the trouble of repeating a sermon whenever she had occasion to name her darling?" "Why, sir," replied Captain Clapp, with laughable simplicity, " when I was little they used to call me Tribby, for shortness." DRKSS IN LONDON DURING THE LAST CENTUET. The seven illustrations which accompany this article represent the progress of dress in London from 1690 to 1779. They speak for them- selves, and tell their own tale far better than any description in words could tell it for them. The scale in society to which the persons de- picted in the engravings belong, is what may be called the upper middle class, and we thus obtain a more correct idea of the general style of dress, than we should have done had we confined our observations solely to the higher ranks. It is, however, very curious to notice the value placed upon dress during the period indicated ; and how frequently its loss is recorded. Thus we find it _ mentioned that Lady Anderson, whose house was robbed at a tire in Red Lion Square In 1700, lost a gown of orange 296 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; damask, lined with striped silk. The family of George Heneage, ESQ., at the same time, and by the same casualty, lost " a kead t DHBSS, 1735 COMMON LUTE. DBESS, 1738. dth very tine looped lace of yery great value, a Flanders' laced hood, a pair of double ruffles and tuckers, two laced aprons, one MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 297 edged with point lace, and a large black scarf embroidered with gold." At the same period the ladies wore Holland petticoats, DBKB8 CIBCA 1773, 1778. DBBES, 1779. embroidered in figures with different coloured silks and gold, with broad orrice at the bottom. In 1702 diamond stomachers adorned the ladies ; they were composed of that valuable stone set in silver, and sewed in a variety of figures upon black silk. The men imported the Cham- paign wig from France. They were made very full, curled, and eigh- 298 TO THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; teen inches in length to the point, with drop locks. In the Post, .B.y, of November 15, 1709, there were advertised as stolen, " A black silk pet- ticoat, with red and white calico border, cherry-coloured stays, trimmed with blue and silver, a red and dove-coloured damask gown, flowered with large trees ; a yellow satin apron, trimmed with white Persian, and muslin head-clothes, with crow-foot edging ; a black silk furbelowed scarf, and a spotted hood." Black and beaver hats for ladies were ad- vertised in 1719, faced with coloured silks, and trimmed with gold and silver lace. A man of fashion in 1720 wore the full flowing curled wig, which fell in ringlets half-way down his arms and back, a laced coat, itraight, formal, with buttons to the very bottom, and several on tho pockets and sleeves ; his shoes were square at the toes, had diminutive ouckles, a monstrous flap on the instep, and high heels, a belt secured the coat and supported the sword. Perukes were a highly important ar- ticle of dress in 1734. Fans were much used, ladies seldom appeared without this useful ornament in their hands. The hoop underwent many important changes ; sometimes it projected at the sides only, or, like its ancestor, the fardingale, it spread itself all round in imposing majesty. High-heeled shoes maintained their place. In 1740 tight sleeves with full ruffles, small pointed waists, enclosed in whalebone, loose gowns, ealled sacques, and cloaks with hoods, named cardinals, were la yrandc monde. Among the gentlemen's costumes, the most striking was the Ramilies tail, which was a plaited tail to the wig, with an immense bow at the top and one at the bottom. Claret coloured clothes were considered as handsome ; and light blue with silver button-holes, and silver garters to the knees, was very fashionable between 1740 and 1751. The change to wearing the natural hair instead of wigs took place about 1765. From that date the female dress altered by degrees : the cap was enlarged to an enormous size, and the bonnet swelled in proportion. Hoops were entirely discontinued. Hats and bonnets of straw, chip, and beaver, be- came well proportioned, and velvet pelisses, shawls and silk spencers were contrived to improve rather than injure the form. The male dress also insensibly changed from formality to ease, and thus, by degrees, the fashion became what our illustrations represent it to have been in 1779. ATTAR OF E08ES. Lieutenant Colonel Polier gives a full history of extracting this essential oil, in vol i. p. 332, of the Asiatic Researches. The ruses glow, cultivated near Lucknow, in fields of eleven acres each. The oil is procured by distillation; the petals of the flowers only are used ; and in that country no more than a quantity of about twc drachms can be procured from an hundred-weight of rose leaves, and even that in a favourable season, and by the process being performed with the almost care. The oil is by accident of different colours ; of a bright yellow, of a reddish hue, and a fine emerald. It is to the mother of Mebrul Nessa Begum, afterwards called Nourjehan Begum, or, Lit/ht of the World, that the fair sex is indebted for this discovery. On this oc- casion the emperor of Hindostan rewarded the inventress with a string of valuable pearls. Nourjehan Begum was the favourite wife of Jehangir, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT 299 and her game the fiercest of India. In a hunting party she killed four tigers with a matchlock, from her elephant, and her spouse was so de- lighted at her skill, that he made her a present of a pair of emerald brace- lets, valued at a lack of rupees, and bestowed in charity a thousaai mc^urs. FLEET MAEEIAGES ABOUT 1740. Mawy of the early Fleet weddings were really performed at the chapel of the Fleet ; but as the practice extended, it was found more convenient to have other places within the Itules of the Fleet, (added to which the Warden was compelled by act of parliament not to suffer them,) and thereupon many of the Fleet parsons and tavern-keepers in the neigh oourhood fitted up a room in their respective lodgings or houses as a chapel. The parsons took the fees, allowing a portion to the plyers, &c., aiid the tavern-keepers, besides sharing in the fees, derived a profit from the sale of liquors which the wedding party drank. In some instances the tavern-keepers kept a parson on their establishment at a weekly salary of twenty shillings; while others, upon a wedding -party arriving, sent for any clergyman they might please to employ, and divided the fee with him. Most of the taverns near the Fleet kept their own registers, in which (as well as in their own books,) the parsons entered the weddings. EFFECTS OF THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON. The earthquake happened on November the 1st, 175.5, and its sphere of action embraced many cities and states. St. Ubes was totally destroyed. At Cadiz the sea broke down the outer wall, flooded the town, and drowned some hundreds of persons. The Cathedral of Seville was seriouslv damaged, several houses overthrown, and many persons injured. The shock was felt, indeed, throughout the whole o"f Spain, except in Catalonia, and also in Germany. In many parts of Great Britain the water in lakes and ponds was violently upheaved, and ebbed and llowed over the banks. A solemn Fast was consequently com- manded to be observed on the 6th of February next ensuing, in the hope to avert, by prayer and penitence, a similar calamity from this country. A ship at sea, 100 leagues to the westward of Lisbon, had her cabin windows shattered to fragments, and many vessels in deep water quivered ar iis towii of llolywell, in Flintshire. The well is an oblong s 304 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; about twelve feet by seven. The water passes into a small square court through, an arch ; it has never been known to freeze, and scarcely ever varies in quantity either in drought or after the greatest rains. The water thrown up is not less than eighty-four hogsheads every minute. This sacred well is the object of many pilgrimages, even in the present day, and several modern miracles are related of the influence of its waters. Pope Martin V. especially enjoined such pilgrimages, and the monks of Basingwerk were furnished with pardons and indulgences to sell to the devotees. James the 2nd visited the well in 1686, and Leopold, King of the Belgians, in 1819. Apart from all superstitious notions, its waters doubtless possess many curative properties. Over the well, Queen Margaret, the mother of Henry VII., erected a oeautiful chapel, whose elegantly fretted roof, and graceful columns and arches, are generally admired as examples of good architecture. Our engraving is a correct tepresentation of the interior. INSTANCE OF ASSIDUITY AND PEllSEVEllANCE. The Rev. "Wm. Davy, a Devonshire curate, in the year 1795, begun a most desperate undertaking, viz., that of printing himself twenty-six volumes of sermons, which he actually did, working off page by page, for fourteen copies ; and continuing this almost hopeless task for twelve MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 305 years, in the midst of poverty ! Such wonderful perseverance almost amounts to a ruling passion. PHENOMENON AT THE POWEESCOUET FALL. The Powerscourt Fall, of which the annexed is an engraving, is formed by the river Dargle, and is situated in the county of Wicklow. When the river is full, it presents a very grand appearance. The stream preci- pitates itself over a nearly perpendicular cliff, 300 feet in height, and falls into a natural basin or reservoir, encircled by rocky masses of considerable magnitude, whilst the whole scene is backed by mountains. This fall exhibits rather a sin- gular phenomenon, in the diffe- rent degrees of velocity with which the water descends in different parts of the cascade. Thus, on one side, the water may be observed to pour down with considerable velocity ; while, on the other side, the fall, in the upper part, presents the appearance of a continued stream of frothy foam, gliding slowly down the face of the cliff, though the lower part moves with greater velocity. This circumstance is, however, readily accounted for ; being, in fact, mainly attributable to the comparatively small body of water which forms the cas- cade. The water, on the one side, that which descends with the greater velocity (and this forms by far the larger portion of the cascade) meets with no interruption in its descent, but falls, almost from the top, to the bottom in an unbroken sheet. On the other side, however, the cliff in the upper part deviate* from the perpendicular, and the consequence is, that, owing to the slope or inclination of the rock over which it flows, the progress of the water is checked in that particular part, though lower down, where the cliff is again perpendicular, it regains its velocity. If the body of water in this cascade were greater, this phenomenon would not occur. liOW CHESS OEIGINATED IN INDIA. By the unanimous consent of all nations, ehess holds the first place wnong social amusements. The history of this game has exercised many 306 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS. able pens. According to Sir William Jones, it is decidedly of Hindoo invention. " If," says he, in a learned memoir on this subject inserted in the second volume of the Asiatic Researches, " evidence were required to prove this fact, we may be satisfied with the testimony of the Persians, who, though as much inclined as other nations to appropriate the ingen- ious inventions of a foreign people, unanimously agree that the game was imported from the west of India in the sixth century of our era. It seems to have been immemorially known in Hindoostan by the name of Chetnranrja, the four angas, or members of an army, which are ele- phants, horses, chariots, and foot-soldiers ; and in this sense, the word is frequently used by epic poets in their description of real armies. By a natural corruption of the pure Sanscrit word, it was changed by the old Persians into chetrang ; but the Arabs, who soon after took possession of their country, had neither the initial nor the final letter of that word in their alphabet, and consequently altered it farther into shetranj, which presently found its way into the modern Persian, and at length into the dialects "of India, where the true derivation of the name is known only to learned. Thus has a very significant word in the sacred language of the the Brahmins been transformed by , successive changes into axedrcz, scacchi, echecs, chess, and by a whimsical concurrence of circumstances given birth to the English word check, and even a name to the exchequer of Great Britain. Of the origin of this game various accounts are given. Some Hindoo legends relate, that it was invented by the wife of llavanen, king of Lanca, or Ceylon, to amuse her husband with an image of war, when llama, in the second age of the world, was besieging his capital. The high degree of civilization which the court of Ravanen had attained at so remote a period is worthy of notice. An ancient Hindoo painting repre- sents his capital regularly fortified with embattled towers. He there defended himself with equal skill and valour, whence he and his sub- jects were denominated magicians and giants. llavanen seems to have been the Archimedes of Lanca ; and his science must have appeared supernatural to the invader, llama, and his wild horde of mountaineers, who were termed in derision satyrs or apes, whence the fable of the divine Hanooman. According to another account, the occasion of this invention was aa follows : Behub, a young and dissolute Indian prince, oppressed his people in the most cruel manner. Nar sir, a Brahmin, deeply afflicted bj his excesses, and the lamentations of his subjects, undertook to recal the tyrant to reason. With this view he invented a game, in which the king, impotent by himself, is protected only by his subjects, even of the lowest class, and frequently ruined by the loss of a single individual. The fame of this extraordinary invention reached the throne, and the king summoned the Brahmin to teach him the game, as a new amuse- ment. The virtuous Brahmin availed himself of this opportunity to instil into the mind of the young tyrant the principles of good govern- ment, and to awaken him to a sense of his duties. Struck by the truths wliich he inculcated, the prince conceived an esteem for the inventor of fce new game, and assured him of his willingness to confer a liberal MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 307 remuneration, if he would mention his own terms. Nassir demanded as many graiuu of wheat as would arise from allowing one for the firbt square, two for the second, four for the third, and so on, doubling for each square of the sixty-four on the chess-board. The king, piqued at the apparently trivial value of the demand, desired him somewhat angrily to ask a gift more worthy of a monarch to bestow. When, how- ever, Nassir adhered to his first request, he ordered the required quan- tity of corn to be delivered to him. On calculating its amount, the superintendents of the public granaries, to their utter astonishment, found the demand to be so enormous, that not Behub's kingdom only, but even all Hindoostan would have been inadequate to the discharge of it. Tks king now admired the Brahmin still more for the ingenuity ol of his lequest than for the invention, appointed him his prime-minister, and his kingdom was thenceforward prosperous and happy. The claim of the Hindoos to the invention of chess has been disputed in favour of the Chinese ; but as they admit that they were unacquainted with the game till 174 years before Christ, and the Hindoos unquestion- ably played it long before that time, the pretensions of the latter must uaturaDy fall to the ground. DISORDERS CURED BY FRIGHT. Fabritius makes mention of a gentleman, with whom he was familiar, who, being unjustly suspected, was tortured 1 upon the rack, and, when released, found himself quite cured of the gout, which was, before this violent remedy, rather troublesome Again, we have instances of dis- orders being cured by fright. We find, in the Journal de Henri IV., that, " On Friday, June the 9th, 1606, as Henry IV. of France, and his Queen, were crossing the water in the ferry-boat of Neuilly, the Duke of Vcndome being with them, they were all three in great danger of being drowned, especially the queen, who was obliged to drink a great deal more than was agreeable to her ; and had not one of her footmen, and a gentleman called La Chatagnieraie, who caught hold of her hair, despe- rately thrown themselves into the water to pull her out, she would have inevitably lost her life. This accident cured the king of a violent tooth- ache ; and, after having escaped the danger, he diverted himself with it, saying he had never met with so good a remedy for that disorder before, and that they had ate too much salt meat at dinner, therefore they had a mind to make them drink after it." TEE WINGLESS BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND. One of the chief wonders of the world of Ornithology is the Apteryx, a bird which is found only in New Zealand, and even there, is rapidly becoming extinct. It is a creature so strange, that no imagination could have fancied a bird without wings or tail, with robust legs, and with claws which are suited for digging, and are actually used in forming excavations, in which this singular bird lays its eggs, and hatches its young. If the Apteryx were to become extinct, and all that remained of it, after the lapse of one or two centuries, for the scrutiny of the naturalist were a foot in one Museum, and a head in another, with a few 308 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J sonflieting figures of its external form, the real nature and affinities of this most remarkable species would be involved in as much obscurity and doubt, and become the subject of as many conflicting opinions among the ornithologists of that period, as are those of the Dodo in the present day. The Apteryx is not larger than a full-grown fowl, and has only a rudi- mentary wing, so covered with the body feathers as to be quite concealed ; the terminating slender claw may, however, be discerned on examination. The bill is long and slightly curved, having the nostrils at the ex- tremity ; its feathers, the sides of which are uniform in structure, do not exceed four and a-half inches in length, and are much prized as material for mantles or cloaks by the chiefs. It is a nocturnal bird, using its long bill in search of worms, upon which it principally feeds ; it kicks with great power, and burrows at the root of the rata, at the base of THE WUfGLESS BIED. which tree is also found the extraordinary Sphseria Robertsia, a specie! of vegetating caterpillar. Retaining the form of the caterpillar, tho fungus pervades the whole body, and shoots up a small stem above the surface of the ground, the body of the caterpillar being below the earth in an erect position. The Apteryx frequently leans with its bill upon the earth one of its chief characteristics and thus, when viewed from a distance, appears to be standing on three legs. By the natives of New Zealand, these birds are called Kiwis, from the cry they utter, and they are frequently caught by a cunning imitator of their tone, who, when they approach, dazzles and frightens them with a light previously concealed, and throwing his blanket over them thus secures them. A FLOATING CITT. One of the most wonderful cities in the world is Bankok. It is the capital of Siam, and is situated on or rather in the great river Meinam. Our engraving represents a portion of this unique metropolis, and we find the following graphic account of it in a volume of recent travels " The capital of Siam ! Did you ever witness such a sight in MARVELLOUS, BARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 309 your life? On either side of the wide, majestic stream, moored in regular streets and alleys, and extending as far as the eye can reach, are upwards of seventy thousand neat little wooden houses, each house float- ing on a compact raft of hamboos ; and the whole intermediate space of the river presents to our astonished gaze one dense mass of ships, junks, and boats, of very conceivable shape, colour, and size. As wo glide along amongst these, we occasionally encounter a stray floating house, broken loose from its moorings, and hurrying down the stream with FLOATING CITY OF BASKOK. the tide, amidst the uproar and shouts of the inhabitants and all the spectators. "We also observe that all the front row of houses are neatly painted shops, in which various tempting commodities are exposed for gale ; behind these again, at equal distances, rise the lofty and elegant porcelain towers of the various watts and temples. On our right-hand side, far away as we can see, are three stately pillars, erected to the memory of three defunct kings, celebrated for some acts of valour and justice ; and a little beyond these, looming like a line-of-battle ship amongst a lot of cockle-shells, rises the straggling and not very elegant palace of the king, where his Siamese Majesty, with ever so many wives and children, resides. Right ahead, where the city terminates, and the river, making a curve, flows behind the palace, is a neat-looking-fort, 316 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J surmounted with a tope of mango-trees, over which peep the roofs of one or two houses, and a tall nag-staff, from which floats the royal pendant and jack cf Siam a flag of red groundwork, with a white elephant worked into the centre. That is the fort and palace of the prince Chou Fau, now king of Siam, and one of the most extraordinary and intellectual men in the East. Of him, however, we shall see and hear more, after we have hundled our traps on shore, and taken a little rest. Now, he careful how you step out of the boat into the balcony of the floating house, for it will recede to the force of your effort to mount, and if not aware of this, you lose your balance and fall into the river. Now we are safely transhipped, for we cannot as yet say landed ; but we now form an item, though a very small one, of the vast population of the city of Bangkok. "We take a brief survey of our present apartments, and find everything, though inconveniently small, cleanly and in other respects comfortable, First, we have a little balcony which overhangs the river, and is about twenty yards long by one and a half broad. Then we have an excellent sitting-rooir, which serves us for parlour, dining-room, and all; then we have a little side room for books and writing ; and behind these, ex- tending the length of the other two, a bed-room. Of course we must bring or make our own furniture ; for, though those houses inhabited by the Chinese are pretty well off on this score, the Siamese have seldom any- thing besides their bedding materials, a few pots and pans to cook with, a few jars of stores and fishing-net or two. Every house has a canoe attached to it, and no nation detests walking so much as the Siamese ; at the same time they are all expert swimmers, and both men and women begin to acquire this very necessary art at a very early age. Without it a man runs momentary risk of being drowned, as, when a canoe upsets, none of the passers-by ever think it necessary to lend any aid, supposing them fully adequate to the task of saving their own lives. Canoes are hourly being upset, owing to the vast concourse of vessels and boats plying to and fro; and, owing to this negligence or carelessness in rendering assistance, a Mr. Benham, an American missionary, lost his Jife some twelve years ago, having upset his own canoe when it wa? just getting dusk, and though surrounded by hundreds of boats, not one deemed it necessary to stop and pick the poor man up." BEQT7ESTS FOE LIGHTING THE STREETS. There cannot be a greater contrast than between the present and tho ancient mode of lighting the streets of London. What a picture do the two following bequests present to us of the state of things a hundred years ago ! John Wardall, by will, dated 29th August, 1658, gave to the Grocers' Company a tenement called the White Bear, in Walbrook, to the intent that they should yearly, within tliirty days after Michaelmas, pay to the churchwardens of St. Botolph, Billingsgate, 4, to provide a good and sufficient iron and glass lantern, with a candle, for the direction of pas- sengers to go with more security to and from the water-side, all night long, to be fixed at the north-east corner of the parish church of St. MARVEtLOtlS, RARE, CURIOUS. AND QtlAtNT. 311 Bololph, from the feast-day of St. Bartholomew to Lady-Day ; out el which sum 1 was to be paid to the sexton for taking care of the lantern. This annuity is now applied to the support of a lamp in the place pre- scribed, which is lighted with gas. John Cooke, by will, dated 12th September, 1662, gave to the church- wardens, &c., of St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, 76, to be laid out to the most profit and advantage, for various uses, and amongst them, for the maintenance of a lantern and candle, to be eight in the pound at least, to be kept and hanged out at the corner of St. Michael's Lane, next Thames Street, from Michaelmas to Lady-Day, between the hours o' nine and ten o'clock at night, uutil the hours of four or live in th<> morning, for affording light to passengers going through Thames Street, or St. Michael's Lane. EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF CREDULITY. To th<5 honour of the lords of the creation, there are some husbands who so grieve at the death of their partners, that they will not part with them when actually dead ; and even go so far as to wish, and try hard, for their resurrection ; witness Sir John Pryse, of Newtown, Montgomery- shire, who married three wives, and kept the first two who died, in his room, one on each side of his bed ; his third lady, however, declined the honour of his hand till her defunct rivals were committed to their proper place. Sir John was a gentleman of strange singularities. During the season of miracles worked by Bridget Bostock, of Cheshire, who healed all diseases by prayer, faith, and an embrocation of fasting spittle, mul- titudes resorted to her from all parts, and kept her salivary glands in full employ. Sir John, with a high spirit of enthusiasm, wrote to this wonderful woman to make him a visit at Newtown Hall, in order to re- store to him his third and favourite wife (above mentioned), now dead. His letter will best tell the foundation on which he built Ms strange hope, and very uncommon request : Pwport of Sir J. Pryse's letter to Mrs. Bridget Bostock, 1748. Madam, Having received information, by repeated advices, both pub- lic and private, that you have, of late, performed many wonderful cures, even where the best physicians have failed, and that the means used appeared to be very inadequate to the effects produced, I cannot but look upon you as an extraordinary and higldy-favoured person ; and why may not the same most merciful God, who enables you to restore sight to the' blind, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the lame, also enable you to raise the dead to life ? Now, having lately lost a wife, whom I most tenderly loved ; my children an excellent step-mother, and our acquaint- ances a very dear and valuable friend, you will lay us all under tho highest obligations ; and I earnestly entreat you, for God Almighty'u sake, that you will put up your petitions to the Throne of Grace, on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame Eleanor Pryse be raised from the dead. If your personal attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach and six, with proper servants, to wait on you hither, whenever you please to appoint, lie- 312 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; compense of any kind, that you could propose, would be made with thi utmost gratitude ; but I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to both God and you. I am, madam, your obedient, &c. (Pennanfs Wales, vol. 3, p. 190.) JOHN PRYSE. HIGH PRICE OF FISH IN LONDON. It is on record that on January 4, 1809, there being only four cod-fish in Billingsgate, a fishmonger gave fourteen guineas for tliem, and salmon soon after was sold at a giiinea a pound ! THE GREAT AQUEDUCT OF PONT DU GARD. The remains of Roman aqueducts, of great extent and massiveness, occur in various parts of Europe, over which the Roman dominion once extended. Among these, the most celebrated are the Pont du Gard, near Nismrs, in the Department du Gard, in the south of France ; the aqueduct over the Moselle, near Metz ; and the aqueduct of Segovia, in Old Castile. The Pont du Gard (of which we here give an engraving) was designed to convey the waters of the fountain of Aure to the town of Nisnies, the ancient Nemausus. This aqueduct crosses the beautiful valley, and the stream of the river Gardon, uniting two steep hills, by which the valley is bounded at this place. It consists of two tiers of large arches, the lower of which are eighty feet in span, and a third tier of small arches, which support the trunk of the aqueduct. The channel for the water is above four feet wide, and five deep, and is lined with cement three inches thick, and covered with a thin coating of red clay. The whole work, with the exception of the above-mentioned channel for MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 313 the water, is built without mortar cr any other cement ; and its eleva^ tion above the bod of the river Garden, is not less than a hundred and fifty feet. The extremities of this splendid structure are in a dilapidated condition, but the remainder is in a very good state of preservation. EXTRAOEDIXABY SITUATION FOE A IEEE. 'Jthe Lower and Middle Lakes at Killarney are separated by a penin- sula, upon which stands the ruin of the Abbey of Muckross, which was founded in 1440, and re-edified in 1602. The ruin, which consists of parts of the convent and church, is not remarkable either for extent, or for beauty of workmanship, but its preservation, seclusion, beauty of situation, and accompanying venerable trees, render it one of the most interesting abbey remains in Ireland. The entire length of the church is about 100 feet, its breadth 24. The cloister, which consists of twenty-two arches, ten of them semi -circular, and twelve pointed, is 11 * S14 TEN TtfousAM) WONDERFUL THINGS; the best preserved portion of the abbey. In the centre grows a magni* ficent yew-tree, as represented in pur engraving, which covers as a roof the whole area ; its circumference is thirteen feet, and its height in pro- portion. It is more than probable that the tree is coeval with the abbey, and that it was planted by the Viands of the monks who first inhabited the building. It is believed t T the common people that any person iaring to pluck a branch, or in any way attempting to injure this tree, will not be alive on that day twelvemonth. PBAYING BY MACHINERY. Mr. Moorcroft informs us, in his "Journey to Lake Manasawara, in Undes, a province in Little Thibet," that the inhabitants used the fol- lowing most extraordinary way of saying their prayers : It is done by motion, which may be effected by the powers of steam, wind, or water. A large hollow cylinder, like a drum, is erected, within which is inclosed all the written prayers the people choose to offer, and then it is set going, by being whirled round its own axis ; thus saving the trouble of repeat- ing them. Mr. Turner, whose travels in Thibet are before the public, corroborates the account of these whirligigs. They are common, also, among the Monguls, the Calmucks, and the Kalkas ; so that the engi- neers for these pious wheels must have a tolerably extensive trade, as this national mode of worship is naturally liable to wear out. But even this mode is innocence itself, compared with that of a set of savages, who pray people to death ; for Lisiansky, in his Voyage round the World, gives us an account of an extra-religious sect, in the Sandwich Islands, who arrogate to themselves the power of praying people to death. Who- soever incurs their displeasure, receives notice that the homicide-litany is about to begin ; and such are the effects of imagination, that the very notice is frequently sufficient, with these weak people, to produce the effect, or to drive them to acts of suicide. TOPING IN THE LAST CENTTJBY. At a Somersetshire hunt dinner, seventy years since, thirteen toasts used to be drunk in strong beer ; then every one did as he liked. Some members of the hunt occasionally drank a glass of wine at the wind up, who were not themselves previously wound up. In country towns, after : dinner at one o'clock P.M., friends used to meet to discuss the local iews over their glasses of strong beer, the merits of which furnished a daily theme. At Bampton one knot of gentlemen took four times the duration of the Trojan war, and even then failed to settle which of the party brewed the best beer. A FINE OLD SOLDIEB. Jeremiah Atkins, of the Scar, near Bromyard, Herefordshire, died in 1796, aged 102. He had been a soldier through all the earlier periods of his manhood, and had seen much service ; was present at the taking of Mavtinico, and at the Havannah ; and, on one occasion, being taken prisoner by the Indians of North America, was very near being scalped, as he was only rescued at the moment they were about to perform the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 315 operation. He was likewise at the taking of Crown Point, in America, md in the battle of Fontenoy with the Duke of Cumberland, whom he also accompanied in his resistance to the advance of the Scotch rebels, being in several of the skirmishes and battles fought on that occasion. He afterwards went again to America, and took part in the storming of Quebec, when Wolfe was killed. The last battle in which he was en- gaged was that of Tournay, in Flanders. This extraordinary man re- tained the full use of all his natural faculties, save hearing, to the very close of his life. POPULAR FALLACY OF THE VIBTTTES OF A SEVENTH SOX. It is believed that a seventh son can cure diseases, but that a seventt sou of a seventh son, and no female child born between, can cxire the king's evil. Such a favoured individual is really looked on with vene- ration. An artist visiting Axminster in 1828, noticing the indulgence granted to one urchin in preference to others, and seeing something pur- ticular in this child, addressed his mother as follows : " This little man appears to be a favourite: I presume he is your little Benjamin." " He's a seventh son, sir," said the mother. Affecting an air of surprise, I expressed myself at the instant as being one very anxious to know what a seventh son could do? The mother, a very civil woman, told me that ' ' she did think, to cure all diseases, should be the seventh son of a seventh son ; but many folk do come to touch my son." In April, 1820, a respectable looking woman was engaged in collecting a penny from each of thirty young women, unmarried ; the money to be laid out in purchasing a silver ring, to cure her son of epileptic fits. The money was to be freely given, without any consideration, or else the charm would have been destroyed. The young women gave their pence, be- cause it would have been a pity for the lad to continue afflicted if the charm would cure him. SELF-NOURISHMENT. That animals may sometimes be kept alive for a long time solely on nourishment supplied from their own bodies, is evident from the fact that after a great fall of earth on one occasion from the cliff at Dover, which buried a whole family, a hog was found alive five months and nine days after it had thus been buried ! It weighed about seven score when the accident happened, and had wasted to about thirty pounds, but was likely to do well. CHINESE METHOD OF FISHING. There is nothing more extraordinary in the history of the diflerent nations of the world than the ingenuity of the Chinese. They are the most handy people on the face of the earth, and the lower orders are just as clever as the higher. A proof of this may be seen at a fishing village which is contiguous to the town of Victoria, in HOB g Kong. It remains in much the same state as that in which it existed prior to the British occupation of the island. Old worn-out boats, and torn mat-sails, bam- boos and dried rushes, these are the principal materials employed ia the construction of their domiciles. The fishing boats are most inge- 316 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS j niously built. Each of these has a long projecting bamboo, which Is rigged out from the stem in the form of a bowsprit, only working on a pivot. From the extremity of this outrigger, a strong rope comm- unicates with a balance-board, that exactly poises the bamboo out- rigger, when the net is immersed in water, and the fisherman hae only to walk up and down this plank to raise the net and let it drop again in the water. But opposite to the island, and on many of the little insular rocks which constitute the "ten thousand isles, ' of which the emperor of China, amongst his vast pretensions to titles, lays claim to be lord, fishing is conducted on a larger scale, though worked upon the same principles. Huge poles are driven into the ground where the water is comparatively shallow, and leading ropes, which pass over a block-wheel inserted in the tops of these poles, communicate at one end with large circular nets, (constructed somewhat in the shape of a funnel, the upper rim being attached to floats, whilst from the centre the other end being fastened on shore to a balance are pendant weights,) plank, which the wei the weight of one man suffices to work. MOSQL'E OF OMAR. The opposite engraving represents the Great Mosque at Jerusalem. It is built on the exact site of Solomon's Temple, and takes its name from its original founder, the Caliph Omar. It is a Turkish edifice, and is devoted to the worship of Manomet. Titus having taken Jerusalem in the second year of Vespasian's reign, not one stone was left upon another of that Temple where Christ had done such glorious things, and the destruction of which he had pre- dicted. When the Caliph Omar took Jerusalem, in 636 A.D., it appears that the site of the Temple, with the exception of a very small part, had been abandoned by the Christians. Said-Eben-Batrick, an Arabian MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 317 GBEAT MOSQTJE AT JEEUSALE3I. historian, relates that the Caliph applied to the Patriarch Sophronius, and enquired of him what would be the most proper place at Jerusalem for building a mosque. Sophronius conducted nim to the ruins of Solo- mon's Temple. Omar, delighted with the opportunity of erecting a mosque on so celebrated a spot, caused the ground to be cleared, and the earth to be removed from a large rock, where God is said to have conversed with Jacob. From that rock the new mosque took its name of Gameat-el-Sakhra, and became almost as sacred an object to the Mussulmans, as the mosques of Mecca and Medina. The Caliph El- Oulid contributed still more to the embellishment of El-Sakhra, and covered it with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a church at Balbeck. In the sequel, the crusaders converted the Temple of Mahomet into a Banctuary of Christ ; but when Saladin re-took Jerusalem, he restored this edifice to its original use. The form is an octagon, either side being seventy feet in width ; it is entered by four spacious doors, the walls are white below, intermingled with blue, adorned with pilasters, but above, it is faced with glazed tiles of various colours. The interior is described as payed with grey marble, the plain walls are covered with the same material in white. It contains many noble columns, in two tiers. The dome is painted, and gilt in arabesque, whence depend antique vessels of gold and silver ; im mediately beneath it stands a mass of limestone, reported to have fallen from heaven when the spirit of prophecy commenced. On this sat the destroying angel, during the slaughter caused by David's numbering th S18 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J people. From this Mahomet ascended to heaven. Within the storied walls, moreover, are the scales for weighing the souls of men, the shield of Mahomet, and other relics, besides the entrance to the infernal regions ; seventy thousand angels ever guard the precious stone. Entrance to this hallowed edifice has been gained only by two or three Europeans ; indeed, the Turks will not allow infidels to approach the sacred enclosure around it, which measures about sixteen hundred feet in length, by one thousand in width, and is adorned with fountains, orange, cypress, and other trees. The mosque itself is esteemed the finest piece of Saracenic architec- ture in existence, far surpassing St. Sophia in beauty. Its view, com- bined with the distinguished monuments in the City of the Sultan, in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, strongly induces a belief in the accuracy of an able article in the Quarterly JRevteio, in which the origin of the live predominant styles of architecture throughout the world, viz., the By- zantine, Chinese, Egyptian, Grecian, and Gothic are assigned respec- tively to the convex and concave curves, to the oblique, horizontal, and perpendicular lines. A COUPLE OF ECCENTRICS. Mr. Day, the eccentric founder of Fairlop fair, had a housekeeper, who had lived with him for thirty years, and was equally eccentric. She had two very strong attachments ; one to her wedding-ring and garments, and the other to tea. When she died, Mr. Day would not permit her ring to be taken off; he said, "If that was attempted, she would come to life again ;" and directed that she should be buried in her wedding- suit, and a pound of tea in each hand ; and these directions were lite- rally obeyed. THE UNIVERSALITY OF TAXATION. The following extract, from the Edinburgh Review, is not inappro- priate to our pages, inasmuch as it is both a rare specimen of effective composition, and also serves to show us what the state of taxation was in England even within the last forty years. Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed upon the feet taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion taxes on every- thing on earth, and the waters under the earth on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home taxes on the raw material- taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man taxes on the sauce which pamper's man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribands of the bride at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay; the schoolboy whips his taxed top the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed read : and the dying Englishman, pouring his medi- cine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid twenty* MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 3U) two per cent. makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel ; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed markle ; and he is then gathered to his fathers to be taxed "no more. SHAM PEOPHETS. William Hackett, a fanatic of the sixteenth century, after a very ill life, turned prophet, and signified the desolation of England. He pro- phesied at York and at Lincoln ; where, for his boldness, he was whipped publicly, and condemned to be banished. He had an extraordinary fluency of speech, and much assurance in his prayers ; for he said, that if all England should pray for rain, and he should pray to the contrary, it should not rain. Hackett had two brother-prophets joined with him, Edward Coppingcr, named the prophet of mercy, and Henry Arthington, the prophet of judgment. Coppinger, the merciful prophet, declared that Hackett was the sole monarch of Europe ; and at length they proclaimed Him, July 16, 1592. On the 28th of the same month, however, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated divinity, was hanged and quartered. Coppinger famished himself in prison, and Ar- thington was pardoned. Fitz Simon relates, that in a quarrel Hackett had at Oundle, "He threw down his adversary, and bit off his nose ; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who pretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it. Hackett, on the scaffold, made a blas- phemous prayer, which is recorded by Fitz Simon and Camden, too horrid to be repeated. He hated Queen Elizabeth, and tried to deprive her of her crown ; he confessed to the judges that he had stabbed the effigies of this princess to the heart, with an iron pin ; and a little before he was hanged, being an accomplished swearer, he cursed her with all manner of imprecations. HOOKING A BOY INSTEAD OF A FISH. About five and thirty years ago, as Mr. George Moor was fishing in tLo river Tyne at Pipewellgate, Gateshead, he espied something in the water which seemed like a drowned dog, but the day being clear, and the sun shining, he thought he perceived a face, upon which he threw his line to it (which had but three hairs at the hook) and hooked a coat, by which he found it was a boy, but the hook loosing hold, he again cast his line and struck him in the temple and drew him to the shore, and in lct>a than quarter of an hour he revived. CHILDREN OF AGED PAEENXS. Margaret Ivrasiowna, of the village of Koninia, Poland, died 1763, aged 108. The following extraordinary circumstances are stated, by Eaton, as connected with the life of this woman : " At the age of ninety-four she married her third husband, Gaspard Ilaycplt, of the village of Ciwous- ?in, then aged one hundred and five. During the fourteen years they 320 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; lived together she brought him two boys and a girl ; and, what is very remarkable, these three children, from their very birth, bore evident marks of the old age of their parents their hair being grey, and a vacuity appearing in their gums, like that which is occasioned by the loss of teeth, though they never had any. They had not strength enough, even as they grew up, to chew solid food, but lived on bread and vegetables, they were of a proper size for their age, but their backs were bent, theu complexions sallow, with all the other external symptoms of decrepitude Though most of these particulars," he adds, " may appear fabulous, they are certified by the parish registers. The village of Ciwouszin is in thV district of Stpzick, in the palatinate of Sendonier. Gaspard Raycolt, the father, died soon after, aged 119." SEPULCITRAI VASE FEOM PERU. The vessel of which the annexed is an engraving, was taken from the tomb of one of the ancient inhabitants of Peru ; the subjects of the Incas, or princes who ruled ovei that country before it was conquered by the Spaniards. Vases of this sort were probably placed in the sepulchres of the Peruvians to contain the ashes of the dead, or offerings to their disembodied spirits ; usages which are fami- liar to us through the frequent allusions to them which we meet with in the works of the poets of ancient Rome, and the discovery of urns and lachrymatories in Roman tombs which have been in our own and other cemetries. The specimen which we have engraved is quadruple, but forms one vessel. FIRST IKON CANNON. The first cannon was cast in Sussex in 1535. In after years bonds were taken in 1,000 from the owners of the charcoal furnaces, that none should be sold till a license for the sale or issue of the ordnance had been procured. Fears were entertained that the enemy would purchase them. PEOLTFIC AUTHOR. No one need despair, after the following instance, of shining in quan- tity, if not in quality : Hans Sacks was a Nuremberg shoemaker, born there in 1494 ; he was instructed, by the master-singers of those days, in the praiseworthy art of poetry ; he, therefore, continued to make verses and shoes, and plays and pumps, boots and books, until the seventy- seventh year of his age ; when he took an inventory of his poetical stock *\ trade, and found, according to his narrative, that his works filled W-tity folio volumes, all written with his own hand ; and consisted of MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 32l four thousand two hundred mastership songs, two hundred and eight comedies, tragedies, and farces (some of which were extended to seven acts), one thousand seven hundred fables, tales, and miscellaneous poems, and seventy-three devotional, military, and love songs ; making a sum total of six thousand and forty-eight pieces, great and small." Out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled three massy folios, which were published in the year 1558-61; and, another edition being tailed for, he increased this three volumes folio abridgement of his works, in the second, from his other works. None but Lope de Vega exceeded him in quantity of rhyme-making. THE ART OP POTTERY IN CHIKA. The Chinese traditions carry back the practice of the potter's art to a very remote epoch. Father Entrecolles, a French missionary, resided in China at the beginning of the last century, and his letters published in Paris, in 1741, supply some curious and interesting information on this subject. Writing in 1712, he says that at that time ancient porcelain was very highly prized, and bore large prices. Articles were extant which *%% > reputed to have belonged to the Emperors Yao and Chun, two of ID* most ancient mentioned in the Chinese annals. Yap reigned in '^d1 and Chun in 2255 before Christ. Other authorities place the reign of Chun in 2600 before Christ. It appears from the researches of M Stanislaus Julian that, from the time' of the Emperor Hoang-ti, who reigned 2698 to 2599 before Christ, there had always existed a public officer bearing the title of the Intendant of Pottery, and that it was under the reign of Hoang-ti 4hat the potter's art was invented by Kouen ou. It is also certain that porcelain, or fine pottery, was common in China in the time of the Emperors Han, 163 B.C. 822 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS In digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the dynasties of Han and Thang, from 163 B.C. to 903 A.D. great quantities of ancient vases were found which were of a pure whiteness, but exhibited little beauty of form or fabrication. It was only under the dynasty of Song, that is to say, from 960 to 1278 A.D., that Chinese porcelain began to attain a high degree of perfection. Further evidence of the antiquity of the potter's art in China, as well as of the existence of intercommunication between that country and Kgypt, is supplied by the discoveries of Rossellina, Wilkinson, and others, who found numerous vases of Chinese fabrication, and bearing Chinese inscriptions, in the tombs at Thebes. Professor Rosseilini found a small vase of Chinese porcelain with a painting of a flower on one side, and on the ther Chinese characters not differing much from those used at the pre- sent day. The tomb was of the time of the Pharaohs, a little later than the eighteenth dynast}'. This vase, with its Chinese inscription, is represented in Fig. 1, from an exact cast made by Mr. Francis Davis. Another of the Chinese vases, found in the Theban tombs, is repre- sented in Fig. 2. This is preserved in the Museum of the Louvre. The shape of the vase is that of a flat-sided flask. A side view is given in Fig. 3. These flasks are very small. The engravings represent them of their proper dimensions. Mr. Wilkinson thinks it probable that they were brought to Egypt from India, the Egyptians having had commercial relations with that country at a very remote epoch, and that they came not as pieces of porcelain, but as vessels containing some articles of importation. STRONG ATTACHMENT TO SMOKING. The following is a curious case of extreme fondness for smoking in a very poor and very old man. In the year 1810, there died in Dartford workhouse, aged 106, one John Gibson. He had been an inmate of the house for ten years, and till within two mouths of his death used daily to perambulate the town. His faculties were entire to the last. He was 10 much attached to smoking, that he requested Ids pipe, together with his walking-stick, might be placed in his coffin, which request was complied with. EXTRAOKDINARY LETTER. The following strange and curious epistle, we are assured, was sent to a surgeon of eminence by a malefactor who had been sentenced to death. It has a degree of character and quaintness about it which is rarely found in the letters of convicts. Whether or not the surgeon complied with his request we do not know. " Sir, Being informed that you are the only surgeon in this countv, in the habit of dissecting dead bodies being very poor, I am desirous of passing what remains to me of life, with as much comfort as my unhappy condition admits of. In all probability I shall be executed in the course of a month ; having no friend to intercede for me, nor even to afford me a morsel of bread, to keep body and soul together till the fatal uio- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 323 ment arrives, I beg you will favour me with a visit ; I am desirous of disposing of my body, which is healthy and sound, for a moderate sum of money. It shall be delivered to you on demand, being persuaded that on the day of general resurrection, I shall as readily find it in your laboratory, as if it were deposited in a tomb. Your speedy answer will much oblige your obedient servant, JAMES BROWN." A MATTRESS FOR A BAXK. In the month of April, 1822, Mrs. Motley, oroker, Bedford-street, North Shields, purchased an old mattress for 2s. from a shipowner, who was going to reside with his daughter ; in arranging some papers a few days ago, he found a document in the hand-writing of his deceased wi fe, not intended for his perusal, but that of her son by a former husband, in which it was stated that property to a considerable amount was de- posited in the said mattress. His daughter in consequence waited on Mrs. Motley, and offered her a few shillings to return it. Mrs. M. naturally supposed that this seeming generosity was not without a cause, but having sold it to a Mrs. Hill for 3s., for a small consideration she regained possession of the prize, but on entering her house the original proprietor and a constable were ready to receive her, and without ceremony cut open the mattress, when a purse, said to contain lOOgs., two gloves filled with current silver coin, several valuable rings, trinkets, silver spoons, &c., were discovered. Mrs. Hill had considerably reduced the mattress to fit a small bedstead without finding the hidden treasure. ARCHITECTURE FOR EARTHQUAKES. Sumatra is one of the largest islands in the Indian Archipelago, and the houses of the inhabitants are deserving of notice, inasmuch as they furnish a correct and curious specimen of the style of building, which the frequent occurrence of earthquakes renders the safest in the coun- tries where such visitations are common. The frames of the houses are of wood, the under-plates resting on pillars six or eight feet high, which have a sort of capital, but no base, and are wider at top than at bottom. The people appear to have no idea of architecture as a science, though much ingenuity is often shown in working up their materials. The general appearance of their houses is accurately represented in the annexed plate. For the floorings they lay whole bamboos, four or five inches in diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the ends to the timbers. Across these are laid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide and of the length of the room, which are tied down with filaments of the rattan, and over these are usually spread mats of different kinds. This sort of flooring has an elasticity alarming to strangers when they first tread on it. The sides of the houses are generally closed in with bamboo, opened the upright timbers or "bamboos, but in the country parts it is more com- monly interwoven or matted in breadths of six inches, and a piece or 324 1BN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINUS sheet formed at once of the size required. In some places they use foi the same purpose the inner bark procured from some particular trees. When they prepare to take it, the outer bark is first torn or cut away ; the inner is then marked out with a proper tool to the requisite size, usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off', laid in the tun to dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. The bark used iij building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood ; but tlie pliable and delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a bastard species of the bread-fruit. The most general mode of covering houses is with the leaf of a kind of pain? called nipah. These, before they are laid on, are formed into sheets about five feet long, and as deep as the length of the leaf will ad- mit, which is doubled at one end over a slip or lath of bamboo. They are then disposed on the roof so that one sheet shall lap over the other, and are tied to the bamboos which serve for rafters. THE NOSS IN SHETLAND. Off Brcssay is the most remarkable of the rock phenomena of Shellaiid, he Noss, a small high island, with a flat summit, girt on all sides by MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 325 perpendicular walls of rock. It is only 500 feet in length, and 170 broad, and rises abruptly from the sea to the height of 160 feet. The communication with the coast of Bressay is maintained by strong ropes stretched across, along which a cradle or wooden chair is run, in which the passenger is seated. It is of a size sufficient for conveying across a man and a sheep at a time. The purpose of this strange contrivance ia to give the tenant the benefit of putting a few sheep upon the Holm, the top of which is level, and affords good pasture. The animals are -: ^ CRADLE 0* ITOSS. transported in the cradle, one at a time, a shepherd holding them upon his knees in crossing. The temptation of getting access to the numberless eggs and young of the sea-fowl which whiten the surface of the Holm, joined to tin promised reward of a cow, induced a hardy and adventurous fowler, about two centuries ago, to scale the cliff of the Holm, and establish a connexion by ropes with the neighbouring main island. Having driven two stakes into the rock and fastened his ropes, the desperate man was entreated to avail himself of the communication thus established in 826 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; returning across the gulf. But this he refused to do, and in attempting to descend the way he had climbed, he fell, and perished by his fool- kardiuess. SWALLOWED UP BY AN EARTHQUAKE AND THROWN OTJT AGAIN. A tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following inscription: " Here lieth the body of Lewis Galdy, Esq., who died on the 22nd of September, 1737, aged 80. He was born at Hontpellier, in France, which place he left for his religion, and settled on this island, where, in the great earthquake, 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 mi- rasulously preserved. He afterwards lived in great reputation, and died universally lamented." CUSTOMS OF THE BORDER BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. In the courts held by the lords wardens of the Marches, a jury was established : the English lord chose six out of Scotland, and the Scotch six out of England. The defendant, upon the trials, was acquitted upon his own oath ; these oaths are singular : we transcribe them. 1. JUHOK'S OATH. You shall clean no bills worthy to be fouled : you shall foul no bills worthy to be cleaned ; but shall do that which appeareth with truth, for the maintenance of truth, and suppressing of attempts. So help you God. 2. PLAINTIFF'S OATH. You shall leile (little) price make, and truth say, what your goods were worth at the time of their taking, to have been bought and sold in the market, taken all at one time, and that you know no other recovery but this. So help you God. 3. DEFENDANT'S OATH. You shall swear, by heaven above you, hell beneath you, by your part in Paradise, by all that God made in six days and seven nights, and by God himself, you are whart and sackless, of art, part, way, witt- ing, ridd, kenning, having, or reciting, of any of the goods and chatties named in this bill. So help you God. These oaths and proceedings arose from the frequent incursions of both Scotch and English, on both sides the wall, to where they had no right. TURKISH MODE OF REPARATION. On April 25th, 1769, at Constantinople, the Turks were removing the standard, of Mahomet, making a grand procession through the city ; all Christians, upon this occasion, were forbid to appear in the streets or at their windows. But the wife and daughter of the Imperial minister, being excited by curiosity, placed themselves at a secret window to ob- serve the procession ; which was no sooner discovered by the Turks, than they attacked the ambassador's house, and endeavoured to force an en- trance. But the servants of the minister opposing them, well-armed, a dreadful fray ensued, in which no less than one hundred persons lost their lives, and the ambassador's lady was very severely treated. Some of the rioters dragged her down into the court-yard, and made prepara- tions to strangle her ; when a party of Janissaries, who were despatched to her assistance by an aga in the neighbourhood, happily came and pra- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, ASD QUAINT. 827 served her. Upon complaint being made of this outrage, by her husband, to the grand vizier, that minister expressed great sorrow for the insult that had been offered, and assured him he should have all the reparation it was possible to procure. A few hours after the vizier sent the Impe- rial minister a rich present of jewels for his lady, and a bag, which tvas found to contain the heads of the three principal rioters. HAIR TURNED GREY BT FRIGHT. There is an interesting anecdote of a boy, in one of the rudest parts of the County of Clare, in Ireland, who, in order to destroy some eaglets, lodged in a hole one hundred feet from the summit of a rock, which rose four hundred feet perpendicular from the sea, caused himself to be sus- pended by a rope, with a scimitar in his hand for his defence, should he meet with an attack from the old ones ; which precaution was found necessary ; for no sooner had his companions lowered him to the nest, than one of the old eagles made at him with great fury, at which he struck, but, unfortunately missing his aim, nearly cut through the rope that supported him. Describing his horrible situation to his comrades, they cautiously and safely drew him up ; when it was found that his hair, whiclx a quarter of an hour before was a dark auburn, was changed to grey. MEMORABLE SNOW-STORM. The following characteristic account is taken literatim from the parish register of the village of Youlgrave in Derbyshire : "This year 1614-5 Jan. 16 began the greatest snow which ever fell uppon the earth, within man's memorye. It cover'd the earth five quarters deep uppon the playne. And for heapes or drifts of snow, they were very deep, so that passengers, both horse and foot, passed over yates hedges and walles.. It fell at ten severall tymes, and the last was the greatest, to the greate admiration and fear of all the land, for it came from the foure p u of the world, so that all c'ntryes were full, yea, the south p'te as well as these mountaynes. It con- tinued by daily encreasing unti Ithe 12 th day of March, (without the sight of any earth, eyther uppon hilles or valleys) uppon w ch daye, being the Lordes day, it began to decrease ; and so by little and little consumed and wasted away, till the eight and twentyth day of May, for then all the heapes or drifts of snow were consumed, except one uppon Kinder- Scout, w ch lay till Witson week." ROADS IN 1780. A squire from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury, journeying to Sarum in his carriage, about 1780, took care that his footman was provided with a good axe to lop off any branches of trees that might obstruct the pro- gress of the vehicle. WONDERFUL PEDESTRIAN FEAT. Captain Cochrane, who set out from St. Petersburg in May, 1820, to walk through the interior of Russia to the east of Asia, with a view of ascertaining the fact of a north-east cape, travelled at the rate of forty three miles a dm/ frr one hundred and twenty-three successive day$. llti 828 IKN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; afterwards walked upwards of four hundred miles without meeting & human being. Wherever he went he seems to have accommodated him- self to the habits of the people, however rude and disgusting. With the Kalmucks, he eat horse-flesh, elks, and wolves ; and with the Tchutski he found as little difficulty in pasturing upon bears, rein-deer, and raw frozen fish, the latter of which he considered a great delicacy. BOOK-SHAPED WATCH. The unique curiosity, of which the annexed is an accurate represen- tation, was one of the choicest rarities of the Bernal collection, and is, therefore, highly appropriate to our pages. It once belonged to, and was made for, Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, in the time of Gustavus Adolphus. On the dial-side there is an en- graved 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, fee. ; the dial-plate is of silver, chased in relief ; the insides are chased with birds and foliage. This 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, and the sides are pierced and engraved in scrolls. It bears the maker's name, " Dionistus Hessichti." THE RULING PASSION. Mr. Henry Stribling, farmer, who died at Goodleigh, near Barnstaple, August 1st, 1800, in the eightieth year of his age, was one of the great- est fox -hunters in Devonshire, and had collected such a number of foxes pads, all of which he had himself cut off when in at the death, that they entirely covered his stable door and door-posts. At his own particular request, a pad was placed in each of his hands in his coffin, and he was attended to the grave by the huntsmen and whippers-in of the packs with which he had hunted. EDICTS AGAINST FIDDLEES. An idea may be formed of the strictness with which all popular amuse- ments were prohibited when the Puritans had the ascendancy, from the fact that in 1656-7 Oliver Cromwell prohibited all persons called fiddlers or minstrels from playing, fiddling, or making music in any inn, ale-house, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 329 or tavern, &c. If they proffered themselves or offered to make music, they were to be adjudged to be rogues, vagabon/Ls, and sturdy vaga- bonds, and were to be proceeded against as such. SCENE OF DESOLATION. The pass of Keim-an-eigh is one of the numerous wonders of nature. It is situated on the road from Macroom to Bantry, in the county of Cork, and winds through a deep and narrow rocky defile, about two English miles in length. Its name means, in Irish, " The Path of the Deer." Perhaps, in no part of the kingdom, is there to be found a place so utterly desolate and gloomy. A mountain has been divided by some convulsion of nature, and the narrow pass is overhung on either side, as seen in our engraving, by perpendicular cliffs clothed in wild ivy and underwood, with, occasionally, a stunted yew-tree or arbutus growing among them. At every step advance seems impossible some huge rock jutting out into the path, or sweeping round it, seeming to con- duet only to some barrier still more insurmountable ; while from all sides S3( TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; rush down the "wild fountains," and forming for themselves a rugged channel, make their way onward, the first tributary to the gentle and fruitful Lee. Nowhere nas Nature assumed a more apalling aspect, or manifested a more stern resolve to dwell in her own loneliness and gran- deur, undisturbed by any living thing ; for even the birds seem to shun a solitude so awful, and the hum of bee or chirp of grasshopper is never heard within its precincts. TUB FIRST ENGLISH NUN. Face, widow of Edwin, king of Northumberland, is said to have been tho first English nu u ; and the first nunnery in England appears to have been at Barking, in Essex, which was founded by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, wherein he placed a number of Benedictine or black nuns. The most rigid nuns are those of St. Clara, of the order of St. Francis, both of which individuals were born and lived in the same town : the nuns are called poor Clares, and both they and the monks wear grey clothes. Abbesses had formerly seats in parliament. In one, held in 694, says Spelman, they sat and deliberated, and several of them sub- scribed the decrees made in it. They sat, says Ingulphus, in a parlia- ment held in 855. In the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. four of them were summoned to a national council, viz. those of Shaftsbury, Barking, Winchester, and AVilton. PRESENCE OF MIND ESCAPE FROM A TIGER. In 1812, a party of British naval and military officers were dining in a jungle at some distance from Madras, when a ferocious tiger rushed in among them, seized a young midshipman, and flung him aoross his back. In the first emotion of terror, the other officers had all snatched up their arms, and retired some paces from their assailant, who stood lashing his sides with his tail, as if doubtful whether he should seize more prey, or retire with that which he had already secured. They knew that it is usual with the tiger, before he seizes his prey, to deprive it of life, by a pat on the head, which generally breaks the skull ; but this is not his invariable practice. The little midshipman lay motionless on the back of his enemy ; but yet the officers, who were uncertain whether he had received the mortal pat or not, were afraid to fire, lest they should kill him together with the tiger. While in this state of suspense, they per- ceived the hand of the youth gently move over the side of the animal, and conceiving the motion to result from the convulsive throbs of death, they were about to fire, when, to their utter astonishment, the tiger dropped stone dead ; and their young friend sprung from the carcass, waving in triumph a bloody dirk drawn from the heart, for which he had been feeling with the utmost coolness and circumspection, when tho motion of his hand had been taken for a dying spasm. COST OF ARTICLES IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTTTRF. The following article is taken from Martin's History of Thetford. It is copied from an original record in that borough, when John le Forester was mayor, in the tenth year of Edward the Third, A.D. 1336. It is so MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 331 far curious, as it exhibits an authentic account of the value of many articles at that time ; being a bill, inserted in the town book, of the ex- penses attending the sending two light-horsemen from Thetford to th anny, which was to march against the Scots that year. s. d. To two men chosen to go into the army against Scotland 100 For cloth, and to the tailor for making it into two gowns 611 For two pair of gloves, and a stick or staff 2 For two horses 1 15 0* For shoeing these horses ;.... 4 For two pair of boots for the light- horsemen 2 8 Paid to a lad for going with the mayor to Lenn (Lynn), to take care of the horses (the distance between Thetford and Lynn is 53 miles 003 To a boy for a letter at Lenn (viz. , carrying it thither) .003 Expenses for the horses of two light-horsemen for four days before they departed 1 LAW AND OEDEE IN THE STREETS OF LONDON IN 1733. extract from L'he stages and hackney-coaches actually made open war upon private carriages. " The drivers," says the paragraph, "are commissioned by their masters to annoy, sink, and destroy all the single and double horse-chaises they can conveniently meet with, or overtake in their way, without regard to the lives or limbs of the persons who travel in them. What havoc these in- dustrious sons of blood and wounds have made within twenty miles of London in the compass of a summer's season, is best known by the articles of accidents in the newspapers : the miserable shrieks of women and chil- dren not being sufficient to deter the villains from doing what they call their duty to their masters ; for besides their daily or weekly wages, they have an extraordinary stated allowance for every chaise they can reverse, ditch, or bring by the road, as the term or phrase is." Verily, we who live in the present day have reason to rejoice that in some things there is a decided improvement upon " the good old times." NEVEE SLEEPING IN A BED. Christopher Pivett, of the city of York, died 1796, aged 93. He was a carver and gilder by trade ; but during the early part of his life served in the army, and was in the retinue of the Duke of Cumberland, under whose command he took part in the battle of Fontenoy, as he did at the battle of Dettingen under the Earl of Stair ; he was likewise at the siege of Carlisle, and the great fight of Culloden. His house, after he had settled at York, being accidentally burnt down, he formed the singular resolution of never again sleeping in a bed, lest he should be burned to death whilst asleep, or not have time sufficient, should such a misfortune again befall him, to remove his property ; and this resolution he rigidly acted upon during the last forty years of his life. His practice was to re- pose upon the floor, or on two cnairs, or sitting in a chair, but alway* 333 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; with his clothes on. During the whole of this period he lived entirety alone, cooked his own victuals, and seldom admitted any one into lua habitation : nor would he ever disclose to any the place of his birth, or to whom he was related. He had many singularities, but possessed, po- litically as well as socially, a laudable spirit of independence, which he boldly manifested on several trying occasions. Among other uncommon articles which composed the furniture of his dwelling, was a human skull, which he left strict injunctions should be interred with him. AMULET BEOTCHE. The subjoined engraving represents an ancient Gaelic Brotche, whicb was made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and once belonged to a High- land Chief, Maclean of Lpchbuy in the Isle of Mull, being formed of silver found on his estate. It is of circular form, scolloped, and surrounded by small upright obelisks, each set with a pearl at top ; in the centre is a round crystalline ball, considered a magical gem ; the top may be taken off, showing a hollow, originally for reliques. On the reverse side of the brotche are engraved the names of the three kings of Cologne, with the word consummation. It was probably a consecrated brotche, and worn Lot only for the purpose of fastening the dress, but as an amulet. THE GOLTNOS OAK. This wonderful tree grew on the estate from which it takes its name about four miles from Newport, Monmouth. It was purchased by Thomas Harrison, Esq., in the year 1810, for 100 guineas, and was felled and converted by him the same year. Five men were twenty days stripping and cutting it down; and a pair of sawyers were employed 138 days in its conversion. The expense of stripping, felling, and sawing was 82. The trunk of the tree was 9 feet in diameter, and no saw could be found MARVELLOUS, BARE, CURIOUS, AlND UUAINT. 338 iong enough, to cut it down ; two saws were therefore brazed together. The rings in its butt being reckoned, it was discovered that this tree had been improving upwards of 400 years ! and, as many of its lateral branches were dead, and some broken off, it is presumed it must have stood a century after it had attained maturity. When standing it overspread 452 square yards of ground, and produced 2,426 feet of timber. When all its parts were brought to market they produced nearly 600. CABFAX CONDUIT. lu the grounds at Nuneham Courtenay, near Oxford, belonging ty Mr. Harcourt, on one of the slopes that ascend directly from the mcf 531 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , Thames, stands the ancient and far-famed Carfax Conduit, which for- merly stood as a kind of central point to the four principal streets ~f Oxford. Certain alterations requiring its removal, it was, with the most perfect propriety, presented to the Earl Harcourt. It was built in 1610, by Otho Nicholson a liberal and enterprising gentleman in order to supply the city with pure water, brought fro 1 a. a hill above North Hinksey ; and although the conduit is removed, the pipes still remain, and afford a partial supply that will be superseded by the new City "Waterworks. It is a square, decorated in accordance with the taste of the time mermaids holding combs and mirrors, and dragons, antelopes, unicorns, being scattered about, while the Empress Maude is introduced riding an ox over a ford, in allusion to the name of the city. The letters 0. N., the initials of the founder, are conspicuous ; while above the centres of the fo-ar arches are the cardinal virtues Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. Carfax is from a Bishop of that name, who presided over the diocese of Tours in France, and died in the year 399. He was canonized, and is the tutelar saint of Carfax, or St. Martin's church, in the city of Oxford. DESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES IN THE TIME OF HENRT VIII., AT THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES. It is a circumstance well known, to every one at all conversant in English history, that the suppression of the lesser monasteries by that rapacious monarch Henry the Eighth took place in 1536. Bishop Fisher, when the abolition was first proposed in the convocation, strenuously opposed it, and told his brethren that this was fairly shew- ing the king how he might come at the great monasteries. "And so my lords," continued he, " if you grant the king these smaller monas- teries, you do but make him a handle whereby he may cut down all the cedars within your Lebanon." Fisher's fears were borne out by the subsequent act of Henry, who, after quelling a civil commotion occasioned by the suppression of the lesser monasteries, immediately abolished the remainder, and in the whole suppressed six hundred and forty-five monasteries, of which twenty-eight had abbots who enjoyed seats in Parliament. Ninety colleges were demolished ; two thousand three hundred and seventry-four charities and free chapels, and one hundred and ten hospitals. The havoc that was made among the libraries cannot be better described than in the words of Bayle, Bishop of Ossory, in the preface to Leland's " New Year's Gift to King Henry the Eighth." " A greate nombre of them whyche purchased those supersty chouse mansyons (monesteries) reserved of those librarye bookes, some to serve theyr jokes, some to scoure thyr candlestyckes, and some to rubbe theyr bootes. Some they solde to the grossers and sope-sellers, and some they sent over see to the bo )k bynders, not in small nombre, but at tymes whole shyppes full to the wonderynge of foren nacyons : yea ye uuiversytes of thys realme are not alle clere in this detestable fact. bui cursed is hat bellye whych seketh to be fedde with suche ungodlye MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAIM'. 335 and so depelye shameth hys natural conterye. I knowe * merchant manne whycne shall at thys tyme be namelesse, that boughte ye contentes of two noble lybrarycs for forty shyllingcs pryce : a shame it is to be spoken : Thys stuffe hath he occupyed in the stede of grey paper by the space of more than these ten yeares and yet he hath store ynoughe for as manye yeares to come. A prodygyouse example is thys to be abhorred of all men \vhvch love thyr nacyon as they shoulde d"o. The monkes kept them undre dust, ye ydle headed prestos regarded them not, theyr latter owners have most shamefully abused them, and ye covetouse merchantes have solde them awaye into foren nacyons for moneye." CTJHIOT/S MENTAL AFFECTION. Singular faculties have been developed during somnambulism in the mental condition. Thus a case is related of a woman in the Edinburgh infirmary who, during her paroxysm, not only mimicked the manner of the attendant physicians, but repeated correctly some of their prescrip- tions in Latin. Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, describes the case of a girl, in which this affec- tion began with fits of somnolency, which came upon her suddenly during the clay, and from which she could at first be roused by shaking or by being taken into the open air. During these attacks she was in the habit of talking of things that seemed to pass before her like a dream, and was not at the time sensible of anything that was said to her. On one occasion she repeated the entire of the baptismal service, and con- cluded with an extempore prayer. In her subsequent paroxysms she began to understand what was said to her, and to answer with a con- siderable degree of consistency, though these replies were in a certain measure influenced by her hallucination. She also became capable of following her usual employment during her paroxysm. At one time she would lay out the table for breakfast, and repeatedly dress herself and the children, her eyes remaining shut the whole time. The remarkable circumstance was now discovered, that, during the paroxysm, she had a distinct recollection of what had taken place in former attacks, though she had not the slightest recollection of it during the intervals. She was taken to church during the paroxysm, and attended the service with apparent devotion, and at one time was so affected by the sermon that she actually shed tears ; yet in the interval she had no recollection what- ever of the circumstance, but in the following paroxysm she gave a most distinct account of it, and actually repeated the passage of the sermon that had so much affected her. This sort of somnambulism, relating dis- tinctly to two periods, has been called, perhaps erroneously, a state of double consciousness. and a noise in the head. During the attack, her eyelids were generally half shut, and frequently resembled those of a person labouring urder amaurosis, the pupil dilated and insensible. Her looks were dull and vacant, and she often mistook the person who was speaking to her. The pvoiysms usually lasted an hour, but she often could be roused from 336 *EN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J them. She then yawned and stretched herself like a person awakening from sleep, and instantly recognised those about her. At one time, Dr. Dyce affirms, she read distinctly a portion of a hook presented to her, and sha would frequently sing pieces of music more correctly aci wiUi bet ter taste than wncn awake. DECOBAIIVE DEINKING VESSEL. The above represents a German decorative drinking vessel of the early part of the seventeenth century. It is a stork bearing in its beak an infant ; in accordance with the old German nursery tale that the king of the Storks is the bringer and protector of babies. It is of silver, chased all over ; the eyes are formed of rubies ; and one wing takes off that liquid may be placed in the body, and imbibed through the neck, by a hole in the crown of the bird. It was probably a quaint fancy for (wine German noble nursery. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 33} EXAMPLES OF ANCIENT VASES. The Vases which are grouped in the annexed engraving are highly deserving of a place in our collection of curiosities, inasmuch as they are truly unique and beautiful specimens of the degree of perfection to which the art of glass-making had been carried at the period when Rome was mistress of the world, They all belong to that period, and in elegance of form and skill of workmanship they equal we had almost said, sur- pass, the most artistic productions of the present day. Figure 1 is that celebrated vase which for more than two centuries was the principal ornament of the Barberini palace at Rome. It waa thence generally known as the " Barberini Vase ;" but having been pur- chased by Sir W. Hamilton, and then sold by him to the Duchess of Portland, it was at her death munificently presented by her son, tha Duke of Portland, to the British Museum, where it has ever since remained as one of its choicest gems, and is now known as the " Portland Cinerary Vase." It was found about the middle of the sixteeth century, enclosed in a marble sarcophagus, within a sepulchral chamber under the Monte del Grane, two miles and a half from Rome, on the road to Frascati. The tomb is believed to have been that of the Emperor Alex- ander Severus, and his mother Mammaea. The vase is made of purple glass, ornamented with white opaque figures in bas-relief. The execu- tion of the design is most admirable. In the first place, the artist must have had the aptitude to blow in purple glass a beautiful form of vase, with handles attached : and, even thus far, this is considered in our day a masterpiece of skill at our best glass-houses. Secondly, with the oxide of tin forming an opaque white glass, the artist managed to cover the whole of the purple vase with this white opaque glass, to at least Ihe thickness of a quarter of an inch. The artist than, in tke maaner of 12 tE3f THOUSAND WONDEkPtJL THINGS i cutting a cameo on the onyx stone, cut the opaque glass away, leaving the white figures and allegory embossed upon the purple. The figures in relief are in two groups : in the former of these, a female is represented in a recumbent posture, with a cupid hovering above her head, and a serpent iu her lap ; a young man on one side supporting her stretched out arm, and on the other a bearded personage of more mature age, atten- tively regarding her. The latter group, on the opposite side of the vase, consists of a female reclining on a pile of tablets, with her right hand placed on her head, and holding in her hand a lighted torch with the flame downwards a young man being seated on a pile on one side of her, and a female, holding a rod or staff in the right hand, sitting on the other. The subject of the bas-relief has created much difference of opinion, but it is generally supposed to have reference to the birth of Severus. A few years ago this vase was broken by a madman, but it has since been repaired in a most artistic manner. Figure 2 is the "Alexandrian Vase," of the Museo Borbonico, Naples. Figure 3 is the " Pompeii Vase," also of the Museo Borbouiix). it was discovered in a sepulchre of Pompeii in 1839, and is of the same charac- ter in the colours and quality of the glass as the Portland Vase, but of a more recent date. It is probably the production of Greek artists work- ing in Home. Figure 4 is the " Aldjo Vase," which was found in 1833 at Pompeii, in the house of the Fauna. The ground of the vase is of a deep sapphire blue, on which, in opaque white glass, the ornaments are cut. It was found broken. Part is in the possession of Mr. Auldjo ; the other in the British Museum. The shape of this vase is elegant, the handle and lip of exquisite form, and the taste and execution of the ornamental work in the purest style. MINUTENESS OF INSECT LIFE. As the telescope enables the eye of man to penetrate into far-distant space, and reveals to him myriads of suns and systems which otherwise would have remained for ever hidden from his natural sight, so the microscope opens up a world of life everywhere around us, but altogether unsuspected, astounding us as much by the inappreciable minuteness of its discoveries, as the former by the stupendous magnitude and remoteness of the objects. If we go to any ditch or pool which the summer sun has covered with a mantle of stagnant greenness, and lift from it a minute drop of water, such as would adhere to the head of a pin, we shall find it, under a high magnifying power, swarming with living beings, moving about with great rapidity, and approaching or avoiding each other with evident perception and will. " Vain would it be," observes Professor Jones, " to attempt by words to give anything like a definite notion of the minuteness of some of these multitudinous races. Let me ask the reader to divide an inch into 22,000 parts, and appreciate mentally the value of each division : having done so, and not till then, shall we have a standard sufficiently minute to en- able us to measure the microscopic beings upon the consideration of which we are now entering. Neither is it easy to give the student of nature, MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AKl) QUAIK1 &>9 rho has not accurately investigated the subject for himself, adequate conceptions relative to the numbers in which the Infusoria sometimes crowd the waters they frequent ; but let him take his microscope, and the means of making a rough estimate, at least, are easily at his disposal. He will soon perceive that the animalcule-inhabitants of a drop of putrid water, possessing, as many of them do, dimensions not larger than the 2,000th part of a line, swim so closely together, that the intervals separating them are not greater than their own bodies. The matter, therefore, becomes a question for arithmetic to solve, and we will pause to make the calculation. " The Monas termo, for example a creature that might be pardonably regarded as an embodiment of the mathematical point, almost literally without either length, or breadth, or thickness has been calculated to measure about the 22,000th part of an inch in its transverse diameter ; and in water taken from the surface of many putrid infusions, they are crowded as closely as we have stated above. We may therefore safely say, that, swimming at ordinary distances apart, 10,000 of them would be contained in a linear space one inch in length, and consequently a cubic inch of such water will thus contain more living and active organ- ized beings than there are human inhabitants upon the whole surface ! However astounding such a fact may seem when first enunciated, none ia more easily demonstrated with the assistance of a good microscope." The term Infusoria has been by some naturalists applied to these diminutive animals, because they are invariably found in the infusions of vegetable or animal substances. They can thus be obtained at all times, by simply steeping a little hay, or chaff, or leaves or stems of any plant, in a vessel of water, and placing the infusion in the sun for a week or ten days. LEGENDS OF JTJDAS ISCAEIOT. It was believed in Pier della Yalle's time, that the descendants of Judas Iscariot still existed at Corfu, though the persons who suffered this imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy. 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, commonly retains the name of Judas for life (Hasselquiet, p. 43). Judas serves in Brazil for a Guy Faux to be carried about by the boys, and made the subject of an auto-da-fe. The Spanish sailors hang him at the yard arm. It is not long since a Spaniard lost his life at Portsmouth, 'during the performance of this ceremony, by jumping over- board after the figure. The Armenians, who believe hell and limbo to be the same place, say that Judas, after having betrayed our Lord, resolved to hang himself, because he knew Christ was to go to limbo, and deliver all the soula which he found there, and therefore he thought to get there in time. But the Devil was cunninger than he, and knowing his intent, held hirs 840 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ver limbo till the Lord had passed through, and then let him fall plum mto hell. (Thevenot.) ELIZABETH'S SIDE-SADDLE. In a retired part of the county of Essex, at a short distance from the road, in a secluded and lovely spot, stands the picturesque residence called Horeham Hall. The mansion is in the parish of Thaxted, and is about two miles south-west of the church. It was once in the possession of the important family of the De "Wanton's ; it afterwards belonged to Sir John Cutts, and eventually it became the property of Sir W. Smijth", of Hill Hall, in whose family it has remained up to the present time. Of the learned Sir Thomas Smijth, the secretary to King Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, there is still preserved an ancient portrait on panel, which is let into a circle over the carved fire-place of one of the parlours. It is remarkable as being one of the very few portraits painted by Titian. Another interesting relic is represented in the annexed cut. It is pre- served in the Great Hall, and is the side-saddle of Queen Eliza- beth ; the pommel is of wrought metal, and has been gilt ; the orna- ment upon it is in the then fashion- able style of the Renaissance ; the seat of velvet is now in a very ruinous condition; but it is care- fully kept beneath a glass case, as a memento of the Queen's visits to this place. When princess, Eliza- beth retired to Horeham as a place of refuge during the reign of her sister Mary; the loveliness of the situation and its distance from the metropolis rendered it a seclusion befitting the quietude of one anxious to remain unnoticed in troublous times. A room on the first floor in the square tower is shown as that in which Queen Elizabeth resided. She found the retirement of Horeham so agreeable, that^often after she had succeeded to the throne she took a pleasure in re-visiting the place. THE WLSTAETHIXG OAK, IS NOEFOLK. A writer in the " Gardener's Magazine" gives the following account of this remarkable tree : " Of its age I regret to be unable to give any correct data. It is said to have been called the ' Old Oak' at the time of William the Conqueror, but upon what authority I could never learn. Nevertheless, the thing is not impossible, if the speculations of certain writers on the age of trees be at all correct. Mr. South, in one of his letters to the Bath Society (vol. x.) calculates that an oak tree forty- seven feet in circumference cannot he less than fifteen hundred years old ; and Mr. Marsham calculated the Bentley Oak, from its girting thirty- four feet, to be of the same age. Now, an inscription on a brass MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 341 plate affixed to the Winfai thing Oak gives us the following as its dimensions: 'This oak, in circumference, at the extremities of the roots, is seventy feet ; in the middle, forty feet, 1820.' Now, I see no reason, if the size of the rind is to he any criterion of age, why the Winfarthing should not, at least, equal the Bentley oak ; and if so, it would be upwards of seven hundred years old at the Conquest ; an age which might very well justify its then title of the Old Oak.' It is now a mere shell, a mighty ruin, bleached to a snowy white ; but it is magnificent in its decay. The only mark of vitality it exhibits is on the south side, where a narrow strip of bark sends forth a few branches, which even now occasionally produce acorns. It is said to be very much altered of late ; but I own I did not think so when I saw it about a month ago (May 1836) ; and my acquaintance with the veteran is of more than forty years' standing : an important portion of my life, but a mere span of its own." CURIOUS PIECE OP ANCIENT ARMOUR. The above engraving represents a helmet, of the time of Richard II. , which was termed by ancient armourers a bascinet. This extremely rare specimen was obtained from Her yon Hulshoff, at his castle, near Munster, in Westphalia. The visor lifts upward on a hinge, and its position may be further regulated by the screw which slips in the groove above it. The row of holes on the lower edge of the bascinet was made to secure the camail, or tippet of chain-mail which covered the neck of the wearer. EXTRAORDINARY ECHO. Beneath the suspension-bridge across the Menai Strait in Wales, close to one of the main piers, is a remarkably fine echo. The sound of a blow on the pier with a hammer, is returned in succession from each of tha 342 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, frosa learns which support the roadway, and from the opposite pier, at a distance of 576 feet; and in addition to this, the sound is many times repeated between the water and the roadway. The effect is a series of sounds, which may be thus described : The first return is sharp and strong from the roadway overhead, the rattling which succeeds dies rapidly away ; but the single repercussion from the opposite pier is very strong, and is succeeded by a faint palpitation, repeating the sound at the rate of twenty-eight times in five seconds, and which, therefore, corresponds to a distance of 180 feet, or very nearly the double interval from the roadway to the water. Thus it appears, that in the repercussion between the water and the roadway, that from the latter only affects the ear, the line drawn from the auditor to the water being too oblique for the sound to diverge sufficiently in that direction. Another peculiarity deserves especial notice, viz., that the echo from the opposite pier ia best heard when the auditor stands precisely opposite to the middle of the breadth of the pier, and strikes just on that point. As it deviates to one or the other side, the return is proportionably fainter, and is scarcely heard by him when his station is a little beyond the extreme edge of the pier, though another person stationed on the same side of the water, at an equal distance from the central point, so as to have the pier betwc en them, hears it well. JT7GGLEBS OF MODEEX EGYPT. Pel formers of sleight-of-hand tricks, who are called hhowa'h (in the singular, MM 'wee) are numerous in Cairo. They generally perform in public places, collecting a ring of spectators around them ; from some of whom they receive small voluntary contributions during and after their performances. They are most frequently seen on the occasions of public festivals ; but often also at other times. By indecent jests and actions, they attract as much applause as they do by other means. The hha 'wee performs a great variety of tricks, the most usual of which we will here mention. He generally has two boys to assist him. From a large leather bag, he takes out four or five snakes, of a largish size. One of these he places on the ground, and makes it erect its head and part of its body ; another he puts round the head of one of the boys, like a turhan, and two more over the boy's neck. He takes these off, opens the boy*., mouth, apparently passes the bolt of a kind of padlock through his cheek, and locks it. Then, in appearance, he forces an iron spike into the boy's throat ; the spike being really pushed up into a wooden handle. He also performs another trick of the same kind as this. Placing the boy on the ground, he puts the edge of a knife upon his nose, and knocks the blade until half its width seems to have entered. The tricks which he per- forms alone are more amusing. He draws a great quantity of various- coloured silk from his mouth, and winds it on his arm ; puts cotton in his mouth, and blows out fire ; takes out of his mouth a great number of round pieces of tin, like dollars ; and, in appearance, blows an earthen pipe-bowl from his nose. In most of his tricks he occasionally blows through a large shell (called the hha 'wee's zoomma'rah), producing sounds like those of a born. Most of his sleight-of-hand performances are nearly similar t MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. J3 those of exhibitors of the same class in our own and other countries. Taking a silver finger-ring from one of the hy-standers, he puts it in a little hox, blows his shell, and says, "'Efree't change it! He then opens the box, and shows, in it, a different ring : . shuts the box again ; opens it, and shows the first ring : shuts it a third time : opens it, and shows a melted lump of silver, which he declares to be the ring melted, and offers to the owner. The latter insists upon having his ring in its original state. The hha'wee then asks for five or ten fud'dahs to recast it ; and having obtained this, opens the box again (after having closed it, and blown his shell), and takes out of it the perfect ring. He next takes a larger covered box ; puts one of his boy's skull-caps in it, blows his shell, opens the box, and out comes a rab'bit : the cap seems to be gone. He puts the rabbit in again ; covers the box ; uncovers it, and oui run two little chickens. These he puts in again, blows his shell, uncovers the box, and shows it full of fatee'rehs (or pancakes), and koona'feh (which resembles vermicelli) : he tells his boys to eat its con- tents ; but they refuse to do it without honey. He then takes a small it filled with water, in the same manner. He takes the box again, and asks for the cap ; blows his shell, uncovers the box, and pours out from it, into the boy's lap (the lower part of his shirt held up), four or five small snakes. The boy, in apparent fright, throws them down, and demands the cap. The hha'wee puts the snakes back into the box; blows his shell, uncovers the box, and takes out the cap. Another of his common tricks is to put a number of slips of white paper into a tinned copper vessel (the tisht of a seller of sherbet), and to take them out dyed of various colours. He pours water into the same vessel ; puts in a piece of linen ; then gives to the spectators, to drink, the contents of the vessel, changed to sherbet of sugar. Sometimes he apparently cuts in two a muslin shawl, or burns it in the middle, and then restores it whole. Often he strips himself of all his clothes, excepting his drawers ; tells two persons to bind him, hands and feet, and put him in a sack. This done, he asks for a piaster ; and some one tells him that he shall have it if he will put out his hand and take it. He puts out his hand free ; draws it back, and is then taken out of the sack, bound as at first. He is put in again, and comes out unbound, handing to the spectators a small tray, upon which are four or five little plates filled with various eatables ; and, if the performance be at night, several small lighted candles placed round. The spectators eat the food. ORIGIN OF ATTAB OF EOSES. "In the Histoire Generale de 1'Empire du Mogol, (T. 1, j, 327,) compiled by Catrou the Jesuit, from Manouchi's papers, this perfume ia said to have been discovered by accident. Nur-Jahan, the favorite wife of the Mogul Jahan-Ghur, among her other luxuries, had a small canal of rose water. As she was a walking with the Mogul upon its banks, they perwived a thin film upon the water, it was an essential oil mad* 344 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; by the heat of the sun. They were delighted with its exquisite odour, Hid means were immediately taken for preparing by art a substance like ehat which had been thus fortuitously produced." A MAGICIAN'S MIEEOE AND BRACELET. A strange Wending of pure science and gross superstition is remark- ably illustrated in the history of the celebrated Dr. Dee. Born in Lon- don in 1527, John Dee raised himself at an early age to a great reputa- tion foi his learning, in the mathematical sciences especially, in the most celebrated universities in his own country and of the continent. He is said to have imbibed a taste for the occult sciences while a student at Louvain, but there was evidently in his temper much of an enthusiastic and visionary turn, which must have given him a taste for such mys- terious pursuits, without the necessity of an external impulse. One of the oldest and most generally credited of magical operations, was that of bringing spirits or visions into a glass or mirror, a practice which has continued to exist in the East even to the present day, and which pre- vailed to a very considerable extent in all parts of "Western Europe during the sixteenth century. The process was not a direct one, for the magi- cian did not himself see the vision in the mirror, but he had to depend upon an intermediate agent, a sort of familiar, who in England was known by the name of a skyrer, and whose business it was to look into the mirror and describe what he saw. Dr. Dee's principal skyrer was one Edward Kelly, and during his connexion with him, Dee kept an exact diary of all his visions, a portion of which was printed in a folio volume by Merio Casaubon in 1659. In this journal more than one magical mirror is evidently mentioned, and that which we here engrave MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 845 is believed to have been of the number. It is now in the collection of Lord Loadesborough. It is a polished oval slab of black stone, of what kind we havo not been able to ascertain, but evidently of a description which was not then common in Western Europe, and Dr. Dee, who died in 1608, may have considered it as extremely precious, and as only to be obtained by some extraordinary means. It was one of the ornaments of the museum of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill ; and Walpole has attached to it a statement of its history in his own hand- writing, from which we learn that it was " long" in the possession of the Mordaunts, earls of Peter- borough, in whose catalogue it was described as "the black stone into which Dr. Dee used to call his spirits." It passed from that collection to Lady Elizabeth Germaine, from whom it went to John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, whose son, Lord Frederick Campbell, presented it to Horace Walpole. This interesting relic was bought at the Strawberry Hill sale for the late Mr. Pigott ; and at the more recent sale of that gentleman's collection, it passed into the hands of Lord Londesborough. Its history and authenticity appear, therefore, to be very well made out. The family of the Mordaunts held a prominent place in English history during the whole of the seventeenth century, and it is hardly probable that they would have received an object like this without having good reason for believing that its history was authentic. It is believed that Butler alluded to this identical stone in his well-known lines : " Kelly did all his feats upon The devil's looking-glass or stone, When, playing with him at bo-peep, He soly'd all problems ne'er so deep." Hudibras. Part II. Canto 8. The regular fitting out of the magician at this period was a coin plicated process. He required his implements of various kinds, and, in Addition to these, various robes, made especially for the occasion, with 346 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; girdles and head-pieces, and magical rings and bracelets. A \ci-y curious example of the last-mentioned article of the magician's accoutrements, is represented in the preceding cut, about one-third the size of the original. It was purchased by Lord Londesborough in 1851, and had formerly been in the possession of Charles Main waring, Esq., of Coleby, near Lincoln. It is of silver, the letters of the inscription round the bracelet being engraved and filled with niello. This inscrip- tion may be distinctly read as follows : + IOXA + IHOAT + IONA + HELOI + YSSARAY + II -*- MEPHEXOLPHETON + AGLA + ACHEDIOX + YANA + BACHIOXODONAVALI ILIOR + 11 BACHIOXODONAVLI g ACH + Some explanation of this mysterious inscription might, no doubt, be obtained by a diligent comparison of some of the numerous works on magic compiled in the age of Dr. Dee, and in the seventeenth century. The bracelet has had four pendants on it, of which three still remain, with the silver setting of the fourth. One of the pendants which remain is a brownish pebble, secured by three flat bands of silver ; another is an oval cage of strong silver wire, containing a nut of some kind and some other vegetable substance; the third has on one side a circular convex pebble set in silver, and on the back three smaller pebbles. LTTNAR INFLUENCE IN DEATH. Many modern physicians have stated the opinions of the ancients as regards lunar influence in diseases, but none have pushed their inquiries with such indefatigable zeal as the late Dr. Moseley ; he affirms that almost all people in extreme age die at the new or at lull moon, and this he endeavours to prove by the following records : Thomas Parr died at the age of 152, two days after the full moon. Henry Jenkins died at the age of 169, the day of the new moon. Elizabeth Steward, 124, the day of the new moon. "William Leland, HO, the day after the new moon. John Effingham, 144, two days after full moon. Elizabeth Hilton, 121, two days after the full moon. John Constant, 113, two days after the new moon. The doctor then proceeds to show, by the deaths of various illustriout persons, that a similar rule holds good with the generality of mankind: Chaucer, 25th October, 1400, the day of the first quarter. Copernicus, 24th May, 1543, day of the last quarter. Luther, 18th February, 1546, three days after the full. Henry VIII., 28th January, 1547, the day of the first quarter Calvin, 27th May, 1564, two days after the full. Cornaro, 26th April, 1566, day of the first quarter. Queen Elizabeth, 24th March, 1603, day of the last quartet. Shakspeare, 23rd April, 1616, day after the full. Camden, 2nd November, 1623, day before the new moca. Bacon, 9th April, 1626, one day after last quarter. 9th April, 1641, two days after full moor.. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 347 C&rdinal Richelieu, 4th December, 1642, three days before full moon. Doctor Harvey, 30th June, 1657, a few hours before the new moon. Oliver Cromwell, 3rd September, 1658, two days after full moon. Milton, 15th November, 1674, two days before the new moon. Sydenham, 29th December, 1689, two days before the full moon. Locke, 28th November, 1704, two days before the full moon. Queen Anne, 1st August, 1714, two days after the full moon. Louis XIV., 1st September, 1715, a few hours before the full mcon. Marlborough, 16th June, 1722, two days before the full moon. Newton, 20th March, 1 726, two days before the new moon. George I., llth June, 1727, three days after new moon. George II., 25th October, 1760, one day after full moon. Sterne, 13th September, 1768, two days after new moon. Whitfield, 18th September, 1770, a few hours before the new moon. Swedenburg, 19th March, 1772, the day of the full moon. Linnseus, 10th January, 1778, two days before the full moon. The Earl of Chatham, llth May, 1778, the day of the full moon. Rousseau, 2nd July, 1778, the day after the first quarter. Garrick, 20th January, 1779, three days after the new moon. Dr. Johnson, 14th December, 1784, two days after the new moon. Dr. Franklin, 17th April, 1790, three days after the new moon. Sir Joshua Reynolds, 23rd February, 1792, the day after the new moon. Lord Guildford, 5th August, 1722, three days after the full moon. Dr. Warren, 23rd June, 1797, a day before the new moon. Eurke, 9th July, 1797, at the instant of the full moon. Macklin, llth July, 1797, two days after full moon. Wilkes, 26th December, 1797, the day of the first quarter. Washington, 15th December, 1790, three days after full moon. Sir W. Hamilton, 6th April, 1803, a few hours before the full moon. The doctor winds up this extract from the bills of mortality by the following appropriate remark : " Here we see the moon, as she shines on all alike, so she makes no distinction of persons in her influence : " sequo pulsat pede paupenun taberaas, Regumque turres." GLUTTONY OF THE MONKS. King John, pointing to a fat deer said, " See how plump he is, and yet he has never heard mass !" John might have alluded to the gluttony of the monks, which was notorious in his days ; for Giraldua Cambrensis says, that from the monks of St. Swithin's, Winchester, Henry II. received a formal complaint against the abbot for depriving his priests of three out of thirteen dishes at every meal. The monks of Canterbury exceeded those of St. Swithin; they had seventeen dishes every day, and each of these cooked with spices and the most savoury find rich sauces. ANCIENT BELL-SHIIINE. The annexed engraving represents one of the most valuable and curioui ecclesiastical relics of the early Christian Period that has ever been dis- 348 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J eovered. It consists of a bronze bell-shrine and bell, found about th* year 1814, on the demolition of the ruined wall at Torrebhlaurn farm, in the parish of Kilmichael-Glassrie, Argyleshire, and now one of the most valued treasures in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. That it must have been deposited in the wall where it was found, for the purpose of concealment at a period of danger and alarm, seems abun- dantly obvious ; but of the occasion of this concealment no tradition has been preserved. Within the beautiful case is a rude iron bell, so greatlv corroded that its original form can only be imperfectly traced ; yet this, and not the shrine, was obviously the chief object of veneration, ami may, indeed, be assumed, with much probability, to be some centuries older than the ornamental case in which it is preserved. Whether it shall be thought to have been an ancient reliquary or a mass-bell, or whatever else may be conjectured of its nature and use, it may fairly be presumed to have remained in the neglected spot in which it was found since the iub version of the Roman Catholic worship in the sixteenth cen- tury, when the favoured objects of external adoration and reverenoe, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 349 Ander the former superstition, came to be regarded with impatient coi> tempt and abhorrence. It is deserving of attention that the figure of our crucified Saviour ig invested with a regal crown, and not with a crown of thorns, as is usually the case. The brass chain or collar, of rude workmanship, about three feet six inches long, now attached to the case, and the extremities of which are connected with a small cross of the same metal, was discovered n.t the same time, not far from the case. EGYPTIAN GARDEN. The diagram which accompanies this article is an Egyptian sketch of an Egyptian garden ; and it is expressly curious, both as an example of the pictorial art of the period, and as giving us an idea of the pleasure- gardens of Egypt in its most flourishing days. The garden here represented stood beside a canal of the Nile, with an avenue of trees between it and the bank, on which side was the entrance. It was surrounded by an embattled wall, through which a noble gateway gave access to the garden. The central space was occupied by the vine- yard, surrounded by its own wall, in which the vines were trained on trellises supported by slender pillars. At the further end of the vine- yard was a building of three storeys, the windows from which opened orer the luxurious foliage and purp'le clusters, regaling the senses both S^O TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; of sight and smell. Four large tanks of water kept the vegetation well supplied with nutritive moisture ; and, with the smooth and verdant turf which borders them, the water-fowl that sported over the surface, and the lotus-flowers that sprang from their clear depths, added a new beauty to the scene. Near the tanks stood summer-houses, overlooking beds of various flowers, and sheltered from the sun by surrounding trees. Two enclosed spaces between the tanks, being filled with trees, were probably devoted to some species of particular rarity, or nemarkable for the excellence of their fruit. Rows of date trees and 'J heban palms, alternating with other trees, bordered the whole garden, and environed the vineyard wall. The very numerous allusions to gardens in the Sacred Scriptures show that the Hebrews inherited the same taste as the Egyptians. In these allusions we find the same characteristics that are so observable in those depicted on the monuments ; such as the absolute necessity of water, the custom of having pools in them, the advantage of a situation by the side of a river, the practice of enclosing them from intrusion, and appropria- tion of enclosures to particular productions. With the early Egyptians *he love of flowers seems to have been almost a passion ; they appear to have been in constant request in offerings to the gods, and as ornaments of the person, as decorations of furniture ; as graceful additions to several entertainments, they occur at every turn. Flowers were painted on walls, furniture, dresses, chairs, boxes, boats, *nd, in short, on whatever was wished to be ornamental. Wreaths and ihaplets were likewise in common use among the Egyptians, and artificial flowers were not uncommon. STATE OF THE MIXD DURING SLEEP. The following is an instance of phantasms being produced by our associations with bodily sensations, and tends to show how alive our faculties continue during sleep to the highest impressions: The subject of this observation was an officer in the expedition to Louisburg in 1758, who had this peculiarity in so remarkable a degree, that his companions in the transport were in the constant habit of amusing themselves at his expense. They could produce in him any kind of dream by whispering in his ear, especially if this was done by a friend with whose voice he had become familiar. One time they con- ducted him through the whole progress of a trial, which ended in a duel ; and when the parties were supposed to have met, a pistol was put into his hand, which he fired, and was awakened by the report. On another occasion they found him asleep on the top of a locker in the cabin, when they made him believe he had fallen overboard, and exhorted him to save himself by swimming. They then told him that a shark was pur- suing him, and entreated him to dive for his life. He instantly did so, and with so much force as to throw himself from the locker upon the cabin floor, by which he was much bruised, and awakened of course. After the landing of the army at Louisburg, his friends found him one day asleep in his tent, and evidently annoyed by the cannonading. They then made him believe that he was engaged, when he expressed great MARVELLOUS, RAttE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. j$3 fea , and showed an evident disposition to run away. Against this the remonstrated, but at the same increased his fears by imitating the groans of the wounded and the dying ; and when he asked, as he often did, who was hit, they named his particular friends. At last they told him that the man next himself in his company had fallen, when he in- stantly sprung from his bed, rushed out of the tent, and was only roused from his danger and his dream by falling over the tent-ropes. A re- mark ble thing in this case was, that after these experiments he had no distinct recollection of his dreams, but only a confused feeling of oppres- sion or fatigue, and used to tell his friends that he was sure they had been playing some trick upon him. It has been observed that we seldom feel courageous or daring in our dreams, and generally avoid danger when menaced by a foe, or exposed to any probable peril. MUSIC OF THE SEA. The mysterious music that is heard in the bay at West Pascagoula. is described by those who have listened to it as being singularly beautiful. " It has, for a long time," says Mrs. Child, an American authoress, "been one of the greatest wonders of the south-west. Multitudes have heard it, rising, as it were, from the water, like the drone of a bag-pipe, then floating away, away, away, in the distance, soft, plaintive, and fairy-like, as if .ZEolian harps sounded with richer melody through the liquid element ; but none have been able to account for the beautiful phenomenon. There are several legends touching these mysterious sounds ; but in these days few things are allowed to remain mysterious." These strange sounds, which thus assume the beauty and the harmony of regular music, are stated to proceed from the cat-fish. A correspondent ef the Baltimore Republican thus explains the phenomenon : " During several of my voyages on the Spanish main, in the neighbourhood of Paraguay and San Juan de Nicaragua, from the nature of the coast, we were compelled to anchor at a considerable distance from the shore ; and every evening, from dark to late night, our ears were delighted with ./Eolian music, that could be heard beneath the counter of our schooner. At first I thought it was the sea-breeze sweeping through the strings of my violin (the bridge of which I had inadvertently left standing) ; but after examination I found it was not so. I then placed my ear on the rail of the vessel, when I was continually charmed with the most heavenly strains that ever fell upon my ear. They did not sound as close to us, but were sweet, mellow, and aerial, like the soft breathings of a thousand lutes, touched by fingers of the deep sea nymphs, at an. immense distance. Although I have considerable " music in my soul," one night I became tired, and determined to fish. My luck, in half-an- hour, was astonishing. I had half filled my bucket with the finest white cat-fish I ever saw ; and it being late, and the cook asleep, and the moon shining, I filled my bucket with water, and took fish and all into my cabin for the night. I had not yet fallen asleep, when lue same sweet notes fell upon my ear ; and, getting up, what was my surprise to find my cat-fish discoursing sweet sounds to the sides f my bucket ! I examined them closely, and discovered that there was attached to eaob 352 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THING* ; lower lip an excrescence, divided by soft wiry fibres. By the pressure QJ the upper lip thereon, and by the exhalation and discharge of breath, & vibration was created, similar to that produced by the breath on the tongue of the Jews' harp." THE HOCK OF CASHEL. Any work which professed to be a record of what is rare and curious, would surely be incomplete if it did not contain an account of the cele- brated Rock of Cashel ; for the venerable buildings which crown its summit are, from their number, variety, preservation, and site, decidedly the most interesting ruins in the Emerald Isle, and, to use the words of Sir Walter Scott, " such as Ireland may be proud of." Cashel, which is distant about one hundred miles from Dublin, appears to be a place of high antiquity, and was long the residence of the kings of Munster ; but as its early history is involved in much obscurity, it is uncertain at what period it became a diocesan site. It is stated that previous to the year 1101 the buildings on the Rock were occupied as a royal residence, and that in that year the hitherto royal seat was dedicated solely to ecclesiastical uses. The buildings consist of a round tower, Cormack's chapel, cathedral, castle and monastery ; the latter is a few yards detached, and the least remarkable of the number ; all the former are closely con- nected. The Round Tower, the date and uses of which are in com- mon with those of all other similar structures involved in much ob- scurity, raises its tall and yet scarce dilapidated head far above its younger and more decaying companions. It is fifty- six feet in circumference, and ninety feet in height. Cormack's Chapel, which, with the exception of the Round Tower, is the most ancient structure of the group, was built by Cormack M'Carthy, king of Munster, in 1136. It is roofed with stone, and in its capitals, arches, and other features and details, the Norman style is distinctly marked. The numerous ornaments, grotesque heads, and other curious sculptures, which adorn the arches, columns, and pilasters, are all in uniformity of style. The building altogether is a perfect gem, and the architectural antiquary and the artist will find in it a most valuable addition to their studies. The cathedral is a noble remnant of what is usually termed the pointed Gothic, and contains many interesting relics. The rock, which is here presented as it appears from the plain below, has the buildings we have just mentioned on its very summit ; it rises abruptly from a widely extended fertile country, to a considerable height MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND 'QUAINT. 853 ibove the town, and from many parts at a distance it forms a very striking object. On the top of the rock, and around the ruins, ?n area of about three acres has been end sed, which is open to the public. INSTANCE OF INCREMATION. Last night (26th September, 1769), say the chronicles of the day, the will of Mrs. Pratt, a widow lady, who lately died at her house in George Street, Hanover Square, was punctually fulfilled, by the burnin of her body to ashes in her grave, in the new burying-ground adjoining to Tyburn turnpike. THE HAWTHOBNDEN SWORD. The great antiquity of the Scottish claymore is proved by its being figured in the sculptures both of lona and Oronsay, with considerable variety of details. In some the blade is highly ornamented, and the handle varies in form, but all present the same characteristic, having the guards bent back towards the blade. A curious variety of this peculiar form is seen in a fine large two-handed sword preserved at Hawthorn- den, the celebrated castle of the Drummonds, where the Scottish poet entertained Ben Johnson during his visit to Scotland in 1619. It is traditionally affirmed to have been the weapon of Robert Bruce, though little importance can be attached to a reputation which it shares with one-half the large two-handed swords still preserved. Our engraving Li a correct representation of it. The handle appears to be made from the tusk of the narwhal, and it has four reverse guards, as shown in the cut. The object aimed at by this form of guard, doubtless, was to prevent the antagonist's sword glancing off, and inflicting a wound ere he recovered his weapon, and, in the last example especially, it seems peculiarly well adapted for the purpose. INSTINCT IN A CAT. The following anecdote almost places the cat on a level with the dog : " A physician of Lyons was requested to inquire into a murder that had been committed on a woman of that city. In consequence of this request he went to the habitation of the deceased, where he found her extended lifeless on the floor, weltering in her blood. A large vmite cat was mounted on the cornice of a cupboard, at the far end of the apartment, where he seemed to have taken refuge. He sat motionless, with bis eyes fixed on the corpse, and his attitude and looks expressing 354 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THTKOS horror and affright. The following morning he was found in the sacu station and attitude, and when the room was filled with officers of jus- tice, neither the clattering of the soldiers' arms, nor the loud conversa- tion of the company, could in the least degree divert his attention. As soon, however, as the suspected persons were brought in, his eyes glared with increased fury, his hair bristled, he darted into the middle of the apartment, where he stopped for a moment to gaze at them, and then precipitately retreated under the bed. The countenances of the assassins were disconcerted, and they were now, for the first time, abandoned by their atrocious audacity." A TRANCE. Mrs. Godfrey, sister to the Duke of Marlborough, had nearly been buried alive ; the physicians all declaring that the breath of life was irrecoverably gone. Her husband, Colonel Godfrey, had, however, the pleasure to see her revive, seven days after (that day week, and sniur hour), and what is more, she never knew till the day of her death th length of her trance, or sleep. THE NUMBER SEVEN. The numoer is composed of the first two perfect numbers, equal and unequal, 3 and 4 ; for the number 2, consisting of repeated unity, which is no number, is not perfect , it comprehends the primary numerical triangle or trine, and square or quartile conjunction, considered by the favourers of planetary influence as of the most benign aspect. In six days creation was completed, and the 7th was consecrated to rest. On the 7th day of the 7th month, a holy observance was ordained to the children ot Israel, who feasted 7 days, and remained 7 days in tents ; the 7th year was directed to be a Sabbath of rest for all things ; and at the end of 7 times 7 years commenced the grand jubilee. Every 7th year the land lay fallo'w ; every 7th year there was a general release from all lebts, and all bondmen were set free. From this law may have origi- nated the custom of our binding young men to 7 years' apprenticeship, and punishing incorrigible offenders by transportation for 7, twice 7, and three times 7, years. Every 7 years the law was to be read to the people. Jacob served 7 years lor the possession of Rachael ; and also other 7. Noah had 7 days' warning of the flood, and was commanded to take the fowls of the air in by 7, and the clean beasts by 7. The ark touched ground on the 7th month ; and in 7 days the dove was sent out, and again in 7 days after. The 7 years of plenty, and 7 years of famine were foretold in Pharaoh's dream by 7 fat and 7 lean beasts, and the 7 full and 7 blasted ears of corn. Nebuchadnezzar was 7 years a beast ; and the fiery furnace was 7 times hotter to receive Shadrach, &c. A man defiled was, by the Mosaic law, unclean 7 days ; the young of both animals was to remain with the dam 7 days, and at the end of the 7th was to be taken away. By the old law, man was commanded to. forgive his offending brother 7 times ; but the meekness of the revealed law extended his humility to 70 times 7 : if Cain shall be avenged " times, truly Lamech 70 times 7. In the deftruction of Jericho, 7 priests MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 355 bore 7 trumpets 7 days ; on the 7th they surrounded the wall 7 times ; aftei the 7th, the walls fell. Balaam prepared 7 years for a sacrifice ; and 7 of Saul's sons were hanged to stay a famine. Laban pursued Jacob 7 days' journey. Job's friends sat 7 days and 7 nights, and offered 7 bullocks and 7 rams, as an atonement for their wickedness. In the 7th year of his reign, King Ahazuerus feasted 7 days, and on the 7th deputed his 7 chamberlains to find a queen, who was allowed 7 maidens to attend her. Miriam was cleansed of her leprosy by being shut up 7 dajs. Solomon was 7 years in building the Temple, at tbe dedication "of which he feasted 7 days ; in the Temple were 7 lamps ; 7 days were appointed for an atonement upon the altar, and the priest's son was ordained to wear his father's garments 7 days. The children of Israel eat unleavened bread 7 days. Abraham gave 7 ewe-lambs to Abiinelech, as a memorial for a well. Joseph mourned 7 days for Jacob. Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy by bathing 7 times in Jordan. The Rabbins s^ty that God employed the power of this number to perfect the greatness of*Samuel, his name answering the value of the letters in the Hebrew word, which signifies 7 ; whence Hannah his mother, in her thanksgiving, says, the barren hath brought forth 7. In Scripture are enumerated 7 resurrections : the widow's son, by Elias ; the Shunamite's son, by Elisha ; the soldier who touched the bones of the prophet ; the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue ; the widow's son of Nain ; Lazarus, and our Lord. The apostles chose 7 deacons. Enoch, who was translated, was the 7th from Adam ; and Jesus Christ was the 77th in a direct line. Our Lord spoke 7 times on the cross, on which he was 7 hours ; he appeared 7 times ; and after 7 times 7 days sent the Holy Ghost. In the Lord's prayer are 7 petitions, contained in 7 times 7 words, omitting those of mere grammatical con- nexion ; within this number are concealed all the mysteries of apoca- lypse revealed to the 7 churches of Asia. There appeared seven golden candlesticks and 7 stars in the hand of him that was in the midst ; 7 lambs before the 7 spirits of God ; the book with 7 seals ; the lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes; 7 angels with 7 trumpets; 7 kings; 7 thunders ; 7,000 men slain. The dragon with 7 heads and 7 crowns ; and the beast with 7 heads ; 7 angels bearing 7 plagues, and 7 vials of wrath. The vision of Daniel was of 70 weeks and the elders of Israel were 70. There were also 7 heavens, 7 planets (query), 7 stars, 7 wise men, 7 champions of Christendom, 7 notes in music, 7 primary colours, 7 deadly sins, and 7 sacraments in the Catholic church. The 7th sou was considered as endowed with pre-eminent wisdom ; and the 7th son of a 7th son is still thought to possess the power of healing diseases spontaneously. Perfection is likened to gold 7 times purified in the fire; and we yet say you frightened me out of my 7 senses. The opposite sides of a dice make 7, whence the players at hazard make 7 the main. Hippocrates says the septenary number, by its occult virtues, tends to the accomplishment of all things, to be the dispense*. of life, and fountain of all its changes; and, like Shakespeare, he divided the life of man into 7 ages ; for as the moon changes her phaaec every seven days, this number influences all sublunary beings. Tbe teeth 356 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; spring out on the 7th month, and are shed and renewed in the 7th year, when infancy is changed into childhood ; at twice 7 years puberty begins ; at three times 7 the faculties are developed, and manhood commences, arid we are become legally competent to all civil acts ; at four times 7 man is in full possession of all his strength ; at five times 7 he is fit for the business of the world ; at six times 7 he becomes grave and wise, or never : at 7 times 7 he is in his apogee, and from that time decays ; at eight times 7 he is in his first climacterick ; at nine times 7, or 63, he is in his last or grand climacterick, or year of danger ; and ten times 7, or three score and ten, has, by the royal prophet, been pronounced the natural period of human life. SUPERSTITIOUS LEGEND. We are told that when St. Helena, of pious memory, had discovered the true Cross of Christ, she permitted various fragments to be taken from it, which were encased, some in gold, and some in gems, and con- veyed to Europe, leaving the principal or main part of the wood in the charge of the Bishop of Jerusalem, who exhibited it annually at Easter, until Chosroes, king of Persia, plundered Jerusalem in the reign of the emperor Phocas, and took away this holy relic. Before this fatal event we are taught to believe, by Rigordus, an his- torian of the thirteenth century, that the mouths of Christians used to be supplied with 30, or in some instances, no doubt according to their faith, with 32 teeth ; but that after the Cross was stolen by the infidels no mortal has ever been allowed more than 23 ! OIUEFA MOUNTAIN IN ICELAND. This mountain, which is the loftiest in Iceland, has been rendered celebrated by an eruption which took place about a century ago. Nothing can be more striking than the account given of this calamity by th m;ed minister of the parish. He was in the midst of his service on the Sab- bath, when the agitation of the earth gave warning that some alarming event was to follow. Rushing from the church, he saw a peak of the neighbouring mountain alternately heaved up and sinking ; till at last, the stone, of which this portion of the mountain was composed, ran down in a melted state into the plain, like melted metal from a crucible, filling it to such a height, that no more of the mountain, which formerly towered to such a height, remains, than about the size of a bird ; volumes of water being in the meantime thrown forth in a deluge from the crater, and sweeping away whatever they encountered in their course. The Oraofa then broke forth, hurling large ma-sses of ice to a great distance ; lire burst out in every direction from its side ; the sky was darkened by the smoke and ashes, so that the day could hardly be distinguished from the night. This scene of horror continued for more than three days, during which the whole region was converted into utter desolation. THE SETON SWORD. The two-handed sword, which was introduced later than the claymore, though still so familiar to us, is perhaps the most interesting, in an MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 35*7 Archaeological point of view, of all the military reHcs pertaining to the Medieval Period. The huge, ponderous, and unwieldy weapon, seeiru the fittest emblem that could be devised, of the rude baron of the thir- teenth century, who lived by |' the good old rule " of physical force, and whose hardy virtues, not unsuited to an illiterate age are strangely mistaken for a chivalry such as later ages have not seen. Calmly reasoning from this characteristic heirloom, we detect in it the evi- dence of just such hardy, skilless, overbearing power, as history in- forms us was the character of the medieval baron, before the rise of the burgher class readjusted the social balance by the preponder- ance of rival interests. The wea- pon figured here is a remarkably fine and unusually large specimen of the old Scottish two-handed sword, now in the possession of George Seton, Esq., representative of the Setons of Cariston. It measures forty-nine inches in the blade, five feet nine inches in en- tire length, and weighs seven and a half pounds. But the chief in- terest of this old relic arises from the well-authenticated family tra- ditions which associate it with the memory of its first knightly owner, Sir Christopher Seton of that Ilk, from whom some of the oldest scions of the Scottish peer- age have been proud to trace their descent. He was married to Chris- tian, sister of King Robert the Bruce, whom he bravely defended at the battle of Methven. He was shortly after taken prisoner by Edward I., and basely hanged as a traitor. STYLE OP LIVING IN TILE SIXTEENTH CENTUBY. The most perfect notion of the living and domestic arrangements of the old English nobility and gentry will be found in the entries of what were called the Household Books of the times. One of the most celebrated of these records is the Northumberland Household Hook, being the re- gulations of the establishment of the fifth earl of Northumberland, at his castles of Wrenill and Lekinfield, in Yorkshire, begun in 1512. .No biiron's family was on a nobler or more splendid footing. It consisted of 358 TEN THO'JSAM) WONDERFUL THINGS; one hundred and sixty-six persons, masters and servants ; fifty-scren strangers were reckoned upon every day ; on the whole two hundred and twenty-three. During winter they fed mostly on salt meat and salt fish ; and with that view there was a provision of one hundred and sixty gallons of mustard per year ; so that there cannot be any thing more erroneous than the magnificent ideas formed of " the roast beef of Old England." On flesh days, (that is, when meat was not forbidden by the Catholic religion), through the year, breakfast for my lord and lady was a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, half a chine of mutton, or a chine of beef boiled. On meagre days (or when meat was forbidden), a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart f wine, a dish of butter, a piece of salt fish, or a dish of buttered eggs. During Lent, a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, two pieces of salt fish, six baconed herrings, four white herrings, or a dish of sprats. There was as little variety in other meals, except on festival days ; and this way of living was, at the time, high luxury. There were but two cooks to dress victuals for two hundred persons ; and fowls, pigeons, plovers, and partridges were prohibited as delicacies, except at my lord's table. The table-cloth was washed about once a month ; no sheets were used ; and only forty shillings were allowed for washing throughout the year. The family rose at six in the morning, dined at ten, and supped at four in the afternoon; and the castle gates were shut at nine. Mass was said in the chapel at six o'clock, that all the servants might rise early. The earl passed the year at three country seats, but he had furniture only for one : he earned every thing along with him, beds, tables, chairs, kitchen utensils ; and seventeen carts and one waggon conveyed the whole : one cart sufficed for all his kitchen utensils, cooks' beds, &c. There were in the establish- ment eleven priests, besides seventeen persons, chanters, musicians, &c., belonging to the chapel. No mention is made of plate, but only of the hiring of pewter vessels. Wine was allowed in abundance for the lord's table, but the beer for the hall was poor indeed, only a quarter of malt being allowed for two hogsheads. The servants seem all to have bought their own clothes from their wages. Every thing in the household was done by order, with the pomp of proclamation ; and laughable as it may now seem, an order was issued for the right making of mustard, begin- ning " It seemeth good to us and our council." ANECDOTE OF A IERSIEB. A terrier, known to Professor Owen, was taught to play at hide and seek with his master, who summoned him, by saying "Let us have a game ;" upon which the dog immediately hid his eyes between his paws, in the most honourable manner, and when the gentleman had placed a sixpence, or a piece of cake in a most improbable place, he started up and invariably found it. His powers were equalled by what was called a fox-terrier, named Fop, who would hide his eyes, and suffer those at play with him to conceal themselves before he looked up. If his play- fellow hid himself behind a window-curtain, Fop would, for a certain tiaie, carefully pasa that curtain, and look behind all the others, behind MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 359 doors, etc., and when he thought he had looked long enough, seize the concealing curtain and drag it aside in triumph. The drollest thing, however, was to see him take his turn of hiding ; he would get under a chair, and fancy that he was not seen ; of course, those at play with him pretended not to see him, and it was most amusing to witness" his agita- tion as they passed. When he was ill he had been cured by some homoeopathic globules, and ever after, if anything were the matter with him, he 'vould stand near the medicine box, and hold his mouth open. CUTTING A WIFE OFF WITH A SHILLING, In the year 1772, died at Lambeth, J G e, Esq. In his will was found the following remarkable clause : " Whereas, it was my misfortune to be made very uneasy by Elizabeth G , my wife, for many years, from our marriage, by her turbulent behaviour ; for she was not content with despising my admonitions, but she contrived every method to make me unhappy ; she was so perverse in her nature, that she would not be reclaimed, but seemed only to be born to be a plague to me ; the strength of Sampson, the knowledge of Homer, the prudence of Augustus, the cunning of Pyrrhus, the patience of Job, the subtlety of Hannibal, and the watchfulness of Hermogenes, could not have been sufficient to subdue her ; for no skill or force in the world would make her good ; and, as we have lived several years separate, and apart from each other eight years, and she having perverted her son to leave and totally abandon me ; therefore I give her one shilling only." WEALTH OF THE JEWS. About this, would swim to catch it. The instant one turned his broadside towards him, he darted down, and seldom came up without the fish in his mouth. He regularly carried them as he caught them to a place a few yards off, where ho deposited them, sometimes making a pile of fifty or sixty in the day. As he never attempted to eat them, he appeared to fish for his amusement. PHENOMENA OF SOUND. In the gardens of Les Rochas, once the well-known residence of Madame de Sevigne, is a remarkable echo, which illustrates finely the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat surface. The Chateau des Rochas is situated not far from the interesting and ancient 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, cot unlike the whirling of small shot passing through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the distance, the intensity of 368 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , the repetition is sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to b 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. ANTIQTJE WATCH. The above engraving represents a fancy silver watch of the time of (iueen. Elizabeth. It is shaped like a duck ; the feathers chased. The lower part opens, and the dial plate, which is also of silver, is encircled with a gilt ornamental design of floriated scrolls and angels' heads. The wheels work on small rubies. It has no maker's name. It is preserved in the original case of thin brass, covered with black leather, and ornamented with silver studs, as represented in the wood-cut below. It forms one of the curiosities in the Museum of Lord Londesborough, HORSES FEEDING ONE ANOTHER. M. de Bossanelle, captain of cavalry in the regiment of Beauvilliers, relates in his " Military Observations," printed in Paris, 1760, "That, in the year 1757, an old horse of his company, that was very fine and full of mettle, had his teeth all on a sudden so worn down, that he could not chew his hay and corn ; and that he was fed for two months, anc! would still have been so had he been kept, by two horses on each side of him, that ate in the same manger. These two horses drew hay 'rom the rack, which they chewed, and afterwards threw before the old 1 MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 369 iorse ; that they did the same with the oats, which they ground very small, and also put before him. This (adds he) was observed and witnessed by a whole company of cavalry, officers and men." CEOSS OF MTJIEEDACH. From the rude pillar-stone marked with the symbol of our faith, en- closed within a circle, the emblem of Eternity, the finely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later period are derived. In the latter, the circle, instead of being simply cut on the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it were, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. There are two beautiful specimens of this style of cross at Monasterboice, near Drogheda, about thirty-five miles from Dublin. The smaller, more beautiful, and more perfect pf these we here engrave. The figures and ornaments with which it s various sides are enriched appear to have been executed with an unusual degree of artistic skill. It is now almost as perfect as it was when, nearly nine centuries ago, the artist, we may suppose, pronounced his work fioished, and chiefs and ab- bots, bards, shanachies, warriors, and ecclesiastics, and, perhaps, many a rival sculptor, crowded round this very spot full of wonder and admiration for what they must have considered a truly glorious, and, perhaps, unequalled work. An .jjs inscription in Irish upon the lower ^ part of the shaft, desires ' ' A prayer EJ] lor Muiredach, by whom was made __'-^l this cross," and there is reason for ... assigning it to an abbot of th; name who died in the year 924. Its re iboyt sv? feet high, and were in parts painted and gilt. The centre oof 388 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THIXO8 ; i'j an elm-sapling, and the natural bumps have been taken advantage n ^f tha artist to model a sort of Moorish head, with ornamental covering ; lower down, the knobs are fashioned into terrible heads, in which &W mounted glass eyes of various and impossible colours. No doubt before long these staffs, which might be necessary for the Ji'otection of the ladies from the "Mohawks" of the time, will have MARVELLOUS, WARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 389 disappeared, and people will look with curiosity at Hogarth's representa- tion of them. Perhaps good specimens of such objects, which have passed out of use, would be worthy of a place in our national museum. One of the old-fashioned tinder-boxes would be a curiosity there now. Although but a few years have passed since the introduction of lucifci ir.atches, it is no easy matter to get one of those old-fashioned machines. THE SANCHI TOPE. Under the name of topes are included the most important class of Buddhist architecture in India. They consist of detached pillars, towers, and tumuli, all of a sacred or monumental character. The word is a corruption of the Sanscrit slhupa, meaning a mound, heap, or cairn, By far the finest as well as the most perfect tope in India is that ot Sanchi, the principal one of those opened near Bilsah, in Central India. It is uncertain whether it ever contained relics or not, as it had been dug into in 1813 by Sir Herbert Haddock, since which time it has remained a ruin, and may have been plundered by the natives. At any rate it must have been a spot of peculiar sanctity, judging both from its own magnificence, and from the number of subordinate topes grouped around it. In fact there are a greater number of these monuments on this spot, within a space not exceeding 17 miles, than there are, so far at least as we now know, in the whole of India from the Sutlej to Cape Comorin. The general appearance of the Sanchi Tope will be understood from the annexed view of it. The principla building consists of a dome somewhat less than a hemisphere, 106 feet in diameter, and 42 feet in height, with a platform on the top 34 feet across, which originally formed the basis of the tee or capital, which was the invariable finish of these monuments. The dome rest? on a sloping base, 14 feet in height by 120 in diarseter, 3!K) TEN THOUSAND WONDEllFTJL THINGS? having an offset on its summit about 6 feet wide. This, if we may judge from the representations of topes on the sculptures, must have been surrounded by a balustrade, and was ascended by a broad double ramp on one side. It was probably used for processions encircling the monument, which seem to have been among the most common Buddhist ceremonials. The centre of this great mound is quite solid, being com- posed of bricks laid in mud ; but the exterior is faced with dressed stones. Over these was laid a coating of cement nearly 4 inches in thickness, which was, no doubt, originally adorned either with painting or ornaments in relief. The fence by which this tope is surrounded is extremely curious. It consists of stone posts 8 ft. 8 in. high, and little more than 2 ft. apart. These are surmounted by a plain architrave, 2 ft. 4 in. deep, slightly rounded at the top. So far this enclosure resembles the outer circle at Stonehenge ; but between every two uprights three homontal cross- pieces of stone are inserted of an elliptical form, of the same depth as the top piece, but only 9 in. thick in the thickest part. This is the only built example yet discovered of an architectural ornament which is found carved in every cave, and, indeed, in almost every ancient Buddhist building known in India. The upright posts or pillars of this enclosure bear inscriptions indicating that they were all given by different indi- viduals. But neither these nor any other inscriptions found in the whole tope, nor in the smaller topes surrounding it (though there are as many as 250 inscriptions in all), contain any known name, or any clue to their age. Still more curious, however, than even the stone railing are the four gateways. One of these is shown in our view. It consists of two square pillars, covered with sculptures, with bold elephant capitals, rising to a height of 18 ft. 4 in. ; above this are three lintels, slightly curved upwards in the centre, and ending in Ionic scrolls ; they are supported by continuations of the columns, and three uprights inserted in the spaces between the lintels. They are covered with elaborate sculptures, and surmounted by emblems. The total height is 3 J ft. 6 in. One gateway has fallen, and if removed to this country would raise the cha- racter of Indian sculpture, as nothing comparable to it has yet been transported from that part of the world to Europe. BURIAL PLACES OF DISTINGTJISHED MEW. Chaucer was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, without the building, but removed to the south aisle in 1555 ; Spenser lies near him. Beaumont, Drayton, Cowley, Denham, Dryden, liowe, Addison, Prior, Congreve, Gay, Johnson, Sheridan, and Campbell, all lie within West- minster Abbey. Shakspeare, as every one knows, was buried in the chancel of the church at Stratford, where there is a monument to his memory. Chapman and Shirley are buried at St. Gilcs'-in-the-Fields ; Marlow, in the churchyard of St. Paul's, Deptford ; Fletcher and Mas- singer, in the churchyard of St. Saviour's, Southwark ; Dr. Donne, in Old St. Paul's ; Edward Waller, in Beaconsfield churchyard; Milton, in the churchyard of St. Giles', Cripplegate ; Butler, in the churchyard of MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOtJS, AND QUAINT. #91 6t Paul's, Covent Garden ; Otway, no one knows where ; Garth, in the churchyard at Harrow ; Pope, in the church at Twickenham ; Swift, in St. Patrick's, Dublin , Savage, in the churchyard of St. Peter's, Dublin ; Parnell, at Chester, where he died on his way to Dublin ; Dr. Young, at "Welwyn, in Hertfordshire, of which place he was the rector; Thomson, in the churchyard at Richmond, in Surrey ; Collins, in St. Andrew's Church, at Chichester ; Gray, in the churchyard at Stoke- Pogis, where he con- ceived his " Elegy ;"" Goldsmith, in the churchyard of the Temple Church ; Falconer, at sea, with " ail ocean for his grave ;" Churchill, in the church- yard of St. Martin's, Dover ; Cowper, in the church at Dereham ; Cbat- terton, in a churchyard belonging to the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn ; Burns, in St. Michael's churchyard, Dumfries ; Byron, in the church of Hucknall, near Newstead ; Crabbe, at Trowbridge ; Coleridge, in the church at Highgate ; Sir Walter Scott, in Dryburgh Abbey ; Southey, in Crosthwaite Church, near Keswick. A EEGAL HUNTING PAETY. The following is an account of the destruction of game in Bohemia, by a hunting party of which the Emperor Francis made one, in 1755, There were twenty-three persons in the party, three of whom were ladies ; the Princess Charlotte of Lorraine was one of them. The chase lasted eighteen days, and during that time they killed 47,950 head of game, and wild deer; of which 19 were stags, 77 roebucks, 10 foxes, 18,243 hares, 19,545 partridges, D,499 pheasants, 114 larks, 353 quails, 454 other birds. The Emperor fired 9,798 shots, and the Princess Charlotte 9,010 ; in all, there were 116,209 shots fired. ANTIPATHIES. Certain antipathies appear to depend upon a peculiarity of the senses, The horror inspired by the odour of certain flowers may be referred t this cause. Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted when he beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower was blooming. Scaliger mentions one of his relations who experienced a similar horror when seeing a lily. In these instances it is not the agree- ableness or the offensive nature of the aroma that inspires the repugnance ; and Montaigne remarked on this subject, that there were men who dreaded an apple more than a musket-ball. Zimmerman tells us of a lady who could not endure the feeling of silk and satin, and shuddered when touching the velvety skin of a peach. Boyle records the case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey. Without his knowledge, some honey was introduced in a plaster applied to his foot, and the acci- dents that resulted compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known to faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one Nicanor who swooned whenever he heard a flute : our Shakspeare has alluded to the effects of the bagpipe. Julis\ daughter of Frederick, king of Naples, could not taste meat without serious accidents. Boyle fainted when he heard the splashing of water ; Scaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses ; Erasmus experienced febrile symptoms when smelling fish ; the Duke d'Epernon swooned on 892 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; beholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. Tycho Brahe fainted at the sight of a fox, Henry the Third of France at that of a cat, and Marshal d' Albert at a pig. The horror that whole families entertain of cheese is generally known. Many individuals can not digest, or even retain certain substances, such as rice, wine, variou* fruits, and vegetables. A YOUNG BUT CfiUEL MUKDEHESS. On the 3d of July, 1772, was executed at Lisbon, pursuant to her sentence, Louisa de Jesus, for the murder of the thirty-three infants, that were at different times committed to her care by the Directors of the Foundling Hospital at Coimbra ; for which (as appears by the sen- tence published) she had no other inducement but six hundred reals in money, a coverda of baize, and a cradle, that she received with each of them. She was but twenty-two years of age when executed. Going to execution, she was pinched with hot irons, and at the gallows her hands were struck off; she was then strangled, and her body burnt. BECTIVE ABBEY. Bective Abbey, the ruins of which form the subject of the annexed engraving differs in its general ar- rangement from every other monas- tic structure in the kingdom. It was, in fact, a monastic castle, and, previous to the use of artillery, must have been regarded as a place of great strength. It is for this reason that we select it as one of our "Wonderful Things." The mins are in the immediate neighbourhood of Trim, and about thirty miles from Dublin. The ruins combine a union of ecclesiastical with military and domestic architecture in a remarkable degree. Their chief feature is a strong battlemented tower, the lower compartment of which is vaulted, placed at the south-west corner of the quadrangular space occupied bjr the various buildings, and in the centre of which the cloisters remain in excellent preservation. The cloister arches are late in the first pointed style, and are cinque -foiled. The featherings are mostly plain, but several are or- namented with flowers or leaves, and upon one a hawk-like bird is sculp- tured. A fillet is worked upon each of the clustered shafts, by which the openings are divided, and also upon their capitals. The bases, which are circular, rest upon square plinths, the angles of which are ornamented with a leaf, as it were, growing out of the base of the moulding. Of the church there are scarcely any remains. As the northern wall of the cloister is pierced with several windows, which have now the ap- pearance of splaying externally, it is extremely probable that it also r^rved as the south wall of the church, no other portion of which can r>t present be identified. Those buildings which were for the most part MARVELLOUS, BARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 393 devoted to domestic purposes are for the most part situated upon the east side of the quadrangle. Their architectural details are of a character later than those of the tower and of the other portions, but additions and alterations have evidently been made. NOVEL MODE OF CELEBRATION. Upon the occasion of the christening of the 21st child of Mr. Wright, of Widaker, near Whitehaven, by the same woman, in the year 1767^ the company came from 21 parishes, and the entertainment consisted of 21 pieces of beef, 21 logs of mutton and lamb, 21 gallons of brandy, three times 21 gallons of strong ale, three times 21 fowls, roasted and boiled, 21 pies, &c. ANTIOTE HEAD OKNAMENT. The annexed engraving represents an exceedingly beautiful bronze relic, apparently of the class of head rings, in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which was discovered in the year 1747, about seven feet below the surface, when digging for a well, at the east end of the village of Stitchel, in the county of Roxburgh. It bears a re- semblance in some respects to relics of the same class in the Christians- borg Palace, yet nothing exactly similar to it has yet been found among Scandinavian relics ; while some of its ornamental details closely correspond to those which charac- terize the British horse furniture and other native relics of this period. One of its most remarkable pecu- liarities is, that it opens and shuts by means of a hinge, being clasped when closed by a pin which passes through a double catch at a line in- tersecting the ornament ; and so perfect is it that it can still be opened and secured with ease. It is probable that this also should rank among the ornaments of the head, though it differs in some important respects from any other object of the same class. The oval which it forms is not only too small to encircle the head, but it will be observed from the en- graving that its greatest length is from side to side, the internal measure- ments being five and nine-tenth inches by five and one-tenth inches. 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. Tha 394 TEN THOUSAND WON IVBRPDI, THINGS; image was provided with a false beard and a chesnut periwig, which its holy guardians 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 peculiarly large, and which its possessors averred was brought by Adam out of Paradise. Of this wheat they made small cakes called paneillos, kneaded with the aforesaid blood and water, and sold them to the credulous multitude for a quartillo a piece. These cakes were an infallible remedy for all disorders, and over those who carried them the devil had no power. They sold also blue ribands of the exact length of the crucifix, for about a shilling each, with this inscription in silver letters, " La madi del santo crucinsco de Burgos." These ribands were a sovereign cure for the headache. LONG MEG AND HEB DATOHTEBS. As there is something remarkable or out of the way in this family of heavy stone, we present it to the reader. This venerable Druidical monument, which is by the country-people called Long Meg and her Daughters, stands near Little Salkeld, in the county of Cumberland. It consists of 67 massy stones, of different sorts and sizes, ranged in a circle of nearly 120 paces diameter ; some of these stones are granite, some blue and grey lime-stone, and others flint ; many of them are ten feet high, and fifteen or sixteen feet in circumference : these are called Long Meg's Daughters. On the southern side of this circle, about seventeen or eighteen paces out of the line, stands the stone called Long Meg, which is of that kind of red stone found about Penrith. It is so placed, that each of its angles faces one of the cardinal points of the compass ; it measures upwards of eighteen feet in height, and fifteen feet in girth ; its figure is nearly that of a square prism ; it weighs about sixteen tons and a half. In the part of the circle the most contiguous, four large stones are placed in a square form, as if they had been intended to sup- port an altar ; and towards the east, west, and north, two large stones stand a greater distance from each other than .any of the rest, seemingly to form the entrances into a circle. It is remarkable that no stone- quarry is to be found hereabouts. The appearance of this circle is much hurt by a stone wall built across it, that cuts off a considerable segment, which stands in the road. The same ridiculous story is told of these stones, as of those at Stone-hange, t. e., that it is impossible to count them, and that many persons who have made the trial, could never find them amount twice to the same number. It is added, that this was a holy place, and that Long Meg and her Daughters were a company of witches transformed into stones, on the prayers of some saint, for ven- turing to prophane it ; but when, and by whom, the story does not say. Thus has tradition obscurely, and clogged with fable, handed down the destination of this spot, accompanied with some of that veneration in which it was once undoubtedly held, though not sufficientlv to protect its remains from the depredations of avarice ; the inclosure and cultivation of the ground bidding fair to destroy them. These stones are mentioned by Cauideu, who was either misinformed as to, or mis-reckoned their MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, ANU QUAINT. 395 number ; unless, -which seems improbable, some have been taken away. " At Little Salkeld, (says he,) there is a circle of stones seventy-seven m number, each ten feet high ; and before these, at the entrance, is a single one by itself, fifteen feet high. This the common people call Long Meg, and the rest her Daughters ; and within the circle, are two heaps of stones, under which they say there are dead bodies buried ; and, indeed, it is probable enough that this has been a monument erected in memory of some victory." The history of the British Druidical Antiquities having been thoroughly investigated, since Camden's time, these circles are now universally agreed to have been temples and places of j udgment, and not sepulchral monuments. Indeed his editor has, in some measure, rectified his mistake, by the following addition : " But, as to the heaps in the middle, they are no part of the monument, but have been gathered oft' the ploughed lands adjoining; and (as in many other parts of the county) thrown up here in a waste corner of the field ; and as to the occasion of it, both this, and the Rolrick stones in Oxfordshire, are sup- posed by many, to have been monuments erected at the solemn investi- ture of some Danish Kings, and of the same kind as the King&tolen in Denmark, and Moresteen in Sweden ; concerning which, several large discourses have been written.'* CURIOUS PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO DRESS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Cloth of gold, satin, and velvet, enriched by the florid decorations of the needle, were insufficient to satisfy the pride of nobles ; robes formed of these costlv materials were frequently ornamented with embroidery of goldsmiths r work, thickly set with precious stones ; and the most absurd and fantastic habits were continually adopted, in the restless desire to appear in new inventions. John of Ghent is represented in a habit divided straight down the middle, one side white, the other half dark blue ; and his son, Henry IV., on his return from exile, rode in procession through London in a jacket of cloth-of-gold, " after the German fashion." The dukes and earls who attended his coronation wore three bars of ermine on the left arm, a quarter of a yard long, " or thereabouts ;" the barons had but two : and over the monarch's head was borne a canopy of blue silk, supported by silver staves, with four gold bells, "that rang at the corners." "Early in the reign of llichard II. began," says Stowe, "the detestable use of piked shoes, tied to the knees with chains of silver gilt ; also women used high attire on their heads with piked horns and long training gowns. The commons also were besotted in excesse of apparel ; in wide surcoates reaching to their loines ; some in a garment reaching to their heels, close before and sprowting out at the sides, so that on the backe they make men seeme women, and this they call by a ridiculous name gowne. Their hoodes are little, and tied under the chin." ECCENTRIC FUNERAL. Mr. John Oliver, an eccentric miller of Highdown Hill, in Sussex, died, aged eighty-three, the 27th of May, 1793. His remains were 896 T*N THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; interred near his mill, in a tomb he had caused to be erected there fof that purpose, near thirty years ago ; the ground having been previously consecrated. His coffin, which he had for many years kept under his bed, was painted white ; and the body was borne by eight men clothed in the same colour. A girl about twelve years old read the burial service, and afterwards, on the tomb, delivered a sermon on the occasion, from Micah 7, 8, 9, before at least two thousand auditors, whom curiosity had led to see this extraordinary funeral. EGYPTIAN STAinUHDS. The engraving which we here lay before our friends, represents a group of Egyptian standards, as they were used in the army in the time of Pharaoh. Each regiment and company had its own peculiar banner or standard, which were therefore very numerous, and various in their devices. A beast, bird, or reptile, a sacred boat, a royal name in a cartouche, or a symbolic combination of emblems, were the most common forms. As they appear to have been objects of superstitious veneration that were selected for this purpose, they must have contributed greatly to the en- thusiasm so highly valued in battle ; and instances are common in all history of desponding courage revived, and prodigies of valour performed, on behalf of those objects which were so identified with national and personal honour. Allusions to standards, banners, and ensigns are frequent in the Holy Scriptures. The four divisions in which the tribes of Israel marched through the wilderness had each its governing standard, and tradition has assigned to these ensigns the respective forms of the symbolic cheru- bim seen in the vision of Ezekiel and John that of Judah being a lion, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 397 that of Reuben a man, that of Ephraim an ox, and that of Dan an eagle. The post of standard-hearer was at all times of the greatest importance, and none but officers of approved valour were ever chosen for such a ser- vice ; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which he was about to bring on the haughty King of Assyria, says, " And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth." THE SHKEW ASH. At that end of llichmond Park where a gate leads to Mortlake, and near a cottage in which resides one of the most estimable gentlemen of the age Professor Owen there still lives and flourishes a tree that has been famous for many ages : it is the Shrew Ash, and the above is a cor- rect engraving of it. It stands on rising ground, only a few yards beyond the pond which almost skirts the Professor's lawn. White, in his Natural History of Selborne, describes a shrew -ash as an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will im- mediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a ?hrew-mouse over the part affected ; for it is supposed that a shrew- mouse is of so baleful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creepn over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted 398 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. Against this evil, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medi- cated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew -ash was made potent thus : Into the body of a tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt with several quaint incantations, long since forgotten. The shrew- ash in Richmond Park is, therefore, amongst the few legacies of the kind bequeathed to their country by the wisdom of our ancestors. Our readers will perceive that across the hollow of the tree near the top there is a little bar of wood. The legend runs that were this bar removed every night, it would be replaced in the same spot every morn- ing. The superstition is, that if a child afflicted with what the people in the neighbourhood call " decline," or whooping-cough, or any in- fantine disease, is passed nine times up the hollow of that tree, and over the bar, while the sun is rising, it will recover. If the charm fails to produce the desired effect, the old women believe that the sun was too i'ar up, or not up enough. If the child recovers, of course, the fame of the tree is whispered about. There is a sort of shrew-mother to every shrew-ash, who acts as guide and teacher to any young mother who haa an afflicted child and believes in the charm. The ash in Richmond Park is still used, and still firmly believed in. A DBUM MADE OF HUMAN SKItf. John Zisca, general of the insurgents who took up arms in the year 1419 against the Emperor Sigismund, to revenge the deaths of John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, who had been cruelly burnt to death for their religious tenets, defeated the Emperor in several pitched battles. He gave orders that, after his death, they should make a drum of hit skin ; which was most religiously obeyed, and those very remains of the enthusiastic Zisca proved, for many years, fatal to the Emperor, who, with difficulty, in the space of sixteen years, recovered Bohemia, though assisted by the forces of Germany, and the terror of Crusades. The in- surgents were 40,000 in number, and well disciplined. EAETHQUAKE IN JAMAICA. The Earthquake of Jamaica, in 1692, is one of the most dreadful that history has to record. It was attended with a hollow rumbling noise like that of thunder, and in less than a minute all the houses on one side of the principal street in the town of Port Royal sank into a fearful gulf forty fathoms deep, and water came roaring up where the house* had been. On the other side of the street the ground rose up and down like the waves of the sea, raising the houses and throwing them into heaps as it subsided. In another part of the town the street cracked along all its length, and the houses appeared suddenly twice as far apart as they were before. In many places the earth opened and closed again, so that several hundred of these openings were to be seen at the same time ; and as the wretched inhabitants ran out of their tottering dwell- lings, the earth opened under their feet, and in some cases swallowed MARVELLOUS, JURE, CURIOUS, AND QUAIXT. &JV them up entirely ; while in others, the earth suddenly closing, caught them by the middle, and thus crushed them to death. In some cases these fearful openings spouted up cataracts of water, which were attended by a most noisome stench. It is not possible for any place to exhibit a scene of greater desolation than the whole island presented at this period. The thundering bellowing of the distant mountains, the dusky gloom of the sky, and the crash of the falling buildings gave unspeakable horror to the scene. Such of the inhabitants as were saved sought shelter on board the ships in the harbour, and remained there for more than two months, the shocks continuing with more or less violence every day. When, at length, the inhabitants were enabled to return, they found the whole face of the country changed. Very few of the houses which had not been swallowed up were left standing, and what had been cultivated plantations were converted into large pools of water. The greater part of the rivers had been choked up by the falling in of de- tached masses of the mountains, and spreading over the valleys, they had changed what was once fertile soil into morasses, which could only be drained by cutting new channels for the rivers ; while the mountains themselves had changed their shapes so completely, that it was conjec- tured that they had formed the chief seat of the earthquake. CTTEIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF LADY MAEY, DAUGHTER OF THE KING, IX VARIOUS YEARS, FROM THE 28TH TO THE 36TH OF HENRY VIII. ROYAL MSS. BRIT. MTJS. " Item, geven to George Mountejoye drawing my Layde's Grace to his Valentine, xK "Item, geven amongs the yeomen of the King's guard bringing a Leke to my Lady's Grace on Sayut David's Day, xv 5 . " Item, geven to Hey wood playeng an enterlude with his children before my Lady's Grace, xl 8 . " Item, payed for a yerde and a halfe of damaske for Jane the fole, vij*. " Item, for shaving of Jane fooles hedde, iiij d . " Payed for a frountlet lost in a wager to my Lady Margaret, iiij 1 '. "Item, payed for a brekefast lost at boiling by my Lady Mary's Grace, x 8 ." GIVING DOLES. A bishop of Durham, in the reign of Edward III, had every week eight quarters of wheat made into bread for the poor, besides his alms- dishes, fragments from his table, and money given away by him in journeys. The bishop of Ely, in 1532, fed daily at his gates two mmdred poor persons, and the Lord Cromwell fed the same number. Edward, earl of Derby, fed upwards of sixty aged poor, besides all comers, thrice a week, and furnished, on Good Friday, two thousand seven hundred people with meat, drink, and money. Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury, gave, besides the daily fragments of his house, on Fridays and Sundays, to every beggar that came to his door, a loaf of bread of a farthing value ; in time of dearth he thus gave away tvo thousand loaves, and this charity is said to have cost his lordship tiv* 400 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; hundred pounds a year. Over and above this he gave on every festival day one hundred and fifty pence to as many poor persons, and he used to send daily meat, drink, and bread unto such as by age and sickness were not able to fetch alms from his gate ; he also sent money, meat, apparel, &c., to such as he thought wanted the same, and were ashamed to beg; and, above all, this princely prelate was wont to take compassion upon such as were by misfortune decayed, and had fallen from wealth to poor estate. Such acts deserve to be written in letters of gold. FEMALE ORNAMENT OF THE IRON PERIOD. One of the most beautiful neck ornaments of the Teutonic or Iron Period ever found in Scotland is a beaded tore, discovered by a labourer while cutting turf in Lochar Moss, Dumfriesshire, about two miles to the north of Cumlongan Castle ; and exhibited by Mr. Thomas Gray, of Liverpool, at the York meeting of the Archaeological Institute. We here annex an engraving of it. The beads, which measure rather more than an inch in diameter, are boldly ribbed and grooved longitudinally. Between everf two ribbed beads there is a small flat one formed like the wheel of a pulley, or the vertebral bone of a fish. The portion which must i have passed round the nape of the neck is flat and smooth on the inner edge, but chased on the upper side in an elegant incised pattern corresponding to the or- namentation already described as characteristic of this period, and bearing some resemblance to that on the beautiful bronze diadem found at StitcheL in Roxburghshire, figured on a subsequent page. The beads are disconnected, having ap- parently been strung upon a metal wire, as was the case in another example found in the neighbourhood of Worcester. A waved ornament, chased along the outer edge of the solid piece, seems to have been de- signed, in imitation of a cord ; the last tradition, as it were, of the string with which the older necklace of shale or jet was secured. Altogether this example of the class of neck ornaments, to which Mr. Birch has assigned the appropriate name of beaded tores, furnishes an exceedingly interesting illustration of the development of imitative design, in contra- distinction to the more simple and archaic funicular tore, which, though continued in use down to a later period, pertains to the epoch of primi- tive art. CTTBIOTTS LANTERN. In 1602, it is related that Sir John Earrington, of Bath, sent '*, iemcB VI King of Scotland, at Christmas, for a new year's gift, a dork MARVELLOUS, RARE, CUllIOUS, AND QUAINT. 402 lantern. The top was a crown of pure gold, serving also to caver a perfume pan ; within it was a shield of silver, embossed, to reflect the light ; on one side of which were the sun, moon, and planets, and on tho other side, the story of the birth and passion of Christ, as it was en- graved by David II King of Scotland, who was a prisoner at Nottingham. On this present, the following passage was inscribed in Latin " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN BKOOCH. The characteristic and beautiful ornament, usually designated the shell-shaped brooch, and equally familiar to Danish and British anti- quaries, belongs to the Scoto- Scandinavian Period. In Scotland many beautiful examples have been found, several of which are preserved in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries. From these we select the one re- presented in the annexed engraving, as surpassing in beauty of design and intricacy of ornament any other example of which we are aware. 1 1 consists, as usual, of a convex plate of metal, with an ornamental bor- der, surmounted by another convex plate of greater depth, highly or- namented with embossed and per- forated designs, the effect of which appears to have been further heightened by the lower plate being gilded so as to show through the open work. In this example the gilding still remains toleiably per- fect. On the under side are the projecting plates, still retaining a frag- ment of the corroded iron pin, where it has turned on .a hinge, aud at the opposite end the bronze catch into which it clasped. 'The under side of the brooch appears to have been lined with coarse linen, the texture of which is still clearly denned of the coating of verd antique with which it is now covered. But its peculiar features consist of an elevated central ornament resembling a crown, and four intricately-chased projections terminating in horses' heads. It was found in September, 1786, along with another brooch of the same kind, lying beside a skeleton, under a flat stone, very near the surface, above the ruins of a Pictish house or burgh, in Caithness. It measures nearly four and a half inches in length, by three inches in breadth, and two and two-fifth inches in height to the top of the crown. Like many others of the same type, it appears to have been jewelled. In several examples of these brooches which we have compared, the lower convex plates so nearly resemble each other, as to suggest the probability of their having been cast in the same mould, while the upper plates entirely differ. STREET CRIES OF MODERN EGYPT. The cries of the street hawkers in Egypt at the present day are very iingular, and well deserve a place in our repertory of curiosities. The eller of tir'mis (or lupins) often cries " Aid l Imbabee I aid I" T).li H 40 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THtNfiS J is understood in two senses : as an invocation for aid to the sheykh El-Imba'bee, a celebrated Moos 'lira saint, buried at the Imba'beh, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo ; in the neighbourhood of which village the best tir'mis is grown; and also as implying that it is through the aid of the saint above mentioned that the tir'mis of Imba'beh is so excellent. The seller of this vegetable also cries, " The tir'mis of Imba'beh surpasses the almond !" Another cry of the seller of tir'mis is, " how sweet are the little children of the river!" This last cry, which is seldom heard but in the country towns and villages of Egypt, alludes to the manner in which the tir'mis is prepared for food. To de- prive it of its natural bitterness, it is soaked, for two or three days, in a vessel full of water ; then boiled, and, after this, sewed up in a basket of palm-leaves (called furd), and thrown into the Nile, where it is left to soak again, two or three days ; after which, it is dried, and eaten cold, with a little salt. The seller of sour limes cries, " God make them light [or easy of sale] ! limes !" The toasted pips of a kind of melon called 'abdalla'tGce, and of the water-melon, are often announced by the cry of " consoler of the embarrassed ! pips !" though more commonly, by the simple cry of " lloasted pips !" A curious cry of the seller of a kind of sweetmeat (hhala'wee), composed of treacle fried with some other ingredients, is, " For a nail ! sweetmeat !" He is said to be half a thief: children and servants often steal implements of iron, &c., from the house in which they live, and give them to him in exchange for his sweetmeat. The hawker of oranges cries, ' ' Honey ! oranges ! Honey !" and similar cries are used by the sellers of other fruits and vegetables ; so that it is sometimes impossible to guess what the person announces for sale; as, when we hear the cry of " Sycamore-figs ! grapes !" except- ing by the rule that what is for sale is the least excellent of the fruits, &c., mentioned ; as sycamore-figs are not so good as grapes. A very singular cry is used by the seller of roses : " The rose was a thorn : from the sweat of the Prophet it opened [its flowers]." This alludes to a miracle related of the Prophet. The fragrant flowers of thehhen'na- tree (or Egyptian privet) are carried about for sale, and the seller cries, Odours of paradise! flowers of the hhen'na!" A kind of cotton cloth, mode by machinery which is put in motion by a bull, is announced by the cry of " The work of the bull ! maidens !" THE BLACK PESTILENCE. The black pestilence of the fourteenth century caused the most terrific ravages in England. It has been supposed to have borne some resem- blance to the cholera, but that is not the case ; it derived its name from the dark, livid colour of the spots and boils that broke out upon the patient's body. Like the cholera, the fatal disease appeared to have followed a regular route in its destructive progress ; but it did not, like the cholera, advance westward, although, like that fearful visitation, it appears to have originated in Asia. The black pestilence descended along the Caucasus to the shores of the Mediterranean, and, instead of entering Europe through Russia, first ajipearod over the south, and, after devastating the rest of Europe, pcue- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 403 trated into that country. It followed the caravans, which came from China across Central Asia, until it reached the shores of the Black Sea ; thence it was conveyed by ships to Constantinople, the centre of commer- cial intercourse between Asia, Europe, and Africa. In 1347 it reached Sicily and some of the maritime cities of Italy and Marseilles. During the following year it spread over the northern part of Italy, France, Germany, and England. The northern kingdoms of Europe were invaded by it in 1349, and finally Russia in 1351 four years after it had ap- peared in Constantinople. The following estimate of deaths was considered far below the actual number of victims : Florence lost Venice Marseilles Paris Avignon Strasburg Basle Erfurth London Norwich in one month 60,000 inhabitants 10,000 56,000 50,000 60,000 16,000 14,000 16,000 100,000 50,000 Hecker states that this pestilence was preceded by great commotion in the interior of the globe. About 1333, several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions did considerable injury in upper Asia, while in the same year, Greece, Italy, France, and Germany suffered under similar disasters. The harvests were swept away by inundations, and clouds of locusts de- stroyed all that floods had spared, while dense masses of offensive insects strewed the land. As in the recent invasion of cholera, the populace attributed this scourge to poison and to the Jews, and these hapless beings were persecuted and destroyed wherever they could be found. In Mayence, after vainly attempting to defend themselves, they shut themselves up in their quar- ters, where 1,200 of them burnt to death. The only asylum found by them was Lithuania, where Casimir afforded them protection ; and it is, perhaps, owing to this circumstance that so many Jewish families are still to be found in Poland. THE DTJCHESS OF LATJDEBDALE. Few mansions are more pleasantly situated than Ham House, the dwelling of the Tollemaches, Earls of Dysart. It stands on the south bank of the Thames, distant about twelve miles from London, and imme- diately opposite to the pretty village of Twickenham. It was erected early in the seventeenth century ; the date 1610 still stands on the door of the principal entrance. Its builder was Sir Thomas Vavasour, and it subsequently came into the possession of Ivatherine, daughter of the Earl of Dysart, who married first Sir Lionel Tollemache, and for her second husband Earl, afterwards Duke, of Lauderdale. The Duchess of Lauderdale was one of the "busiest" women of th 404 TBN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , busy age in which she lived. Burnet insinuates that, during the life time of her first hushand, " she had been in a correspondence with Lord Lauderdale that had given occasion for censure." She succeeded in persuading him that he was indebted for his escape after " Worcester fight" to "her intrigues with Cromwell. She was a woman," continues the historian^ " of great beauty, but of far greater parts. She had a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in con- versation. She had studied, not only divinity and history, but mathe- matics and philosophy. She was violent in everything she set about, a violent friend, but a much more violent enemjr. She had a restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously cove- tous, and would have stuck at no- thing by which she might compass her ends." Upon the accession of her husband to political power after the Restoration, "all applications were made to her. She took upon her to determine everything ; she sold all places ; and was wanting in no method that could bring her money, which she lavished out in a most profuse vanity." This Duchess of Lauderdale famous during the reigns of four monarchs the First and Second James, and the First and Second Charles, and through the Protector- ship of Cromwell refurnished the house at Ham, where she continued to reside until her death at a very advanced age. Among other untouched relics of gone-by days, is a small ante- chamber, where, it is said, she not only condescended to receive the second Charles, but, if tradition is to be credited, where she "cajoled" Oliver Cromwell. There still remains the chair in which she used to sit, her small walking cane, and a variety of objects she was wont to value and cherish as memorials of her active life, and the successful issue of a hundred political intrigues. MODERN EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. The durwee 'shes, who constitute a sort of religious mendicant order in Egypt, often make use of, in their processions and in begging, a little tubl, or kettle-drum, called ba'z ; six or seven inches in diameter; which is held in the left hand, by a little projection in the centre of the back, and beaten by the right hand, with a short leather strap, or a stick. They_also use cymbals, which are called ka 's, on similar occasions. The ba'z is u.sed by the Moosahh'hhir, to attract attention to his cry in the nights of Rum 'ada 'n. Castanets of brass, called sa 'ga 't, are used by the MARVELLOUS, BARE, CURIOUS, AND 405 public female and male dancers. Each dancer has two pairs of these instruments. They are attached, each by a loop of string, to the thumb and second finger, and have a more pleasing sound than castanets of wood or ivory. There are two instruments which are generally found in the hharce 'in of a person of moderate wealth, and which the women often use for their diversion. One of those is a tambourine, called ta 'r, of which we insert an engraving. It is eleven inches in diameter. The hoop is overlaid with mother-of- pearl, tortoise-shell, and white bone, rr ivory, both without and within, and has ten circular plates of brass attached to it, each two pairs hav- ing a wire passing through their centres. The ta'r is held by the loft or right hand, and beaten with tho fingers of that hand and by the other hand. The fingers of the hand which holds the instrument, striking only near the hoop, pro- duce higher sounds than the other hand, which strikes in the centre. A tambourine of a larger and more simple kind than that here de- scribed, without the metal plates, Sa'ga't(l), Ta'r (2), and Dar'abook'kch (3). is often used by the lower ordei s. The other instrument alluded to in the commencement of this paragraph is a kind of drum, called dar'a- boottkeh. The best kind is made of wood, covered with mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, &c. One of this description is here represented with, the ta'r. It is fifteen inches in length, covered with a piece of fishes' skin at the larger extremity, and open at the smaller. It is placed under the left arm ; generally suspended by a string that passes over the left shoulder ; and is beaten with both hands. BEHABKABLE OAKS. The oaks most remarkable for their horizontal expansion, are, accord ing to London, the following : The Three-shire Oak, near Worksop, was so situated, that it covered part of the three counties of York, Nottingham, and Derby, and dripped over seven hundred and seventy - seven square yards. An oak between Newnham Courtney and Clifton shaded a circumference of five hundred and sixty yards of ground, under which two thousand four hundred and twenty men might have commodiously taken shelter. The immense Spread Oak in Worksop Park, near the white gate, gave an extent, between the ends of its opposite branches, of an hundred and eighty feet. It dripped over an area of nearly three thousand square yards, which is above half an acre, and would have afforded shelter to a regiment of nearly a thousand horse. The Oakley Oak, now growing on an estate of the Duke of Bedford, has a head of an hundred and ten feet in diameter. The oak 406 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , called Rolur JSritannicum, in the Park, at Ilycote, is said to have been extensive enough to cover five thousand men ; and at Ellerslie, in Ren- frewshire, the native village of the hero Wallace, there is still standing ' the old oak tree,' among the branches of which, it is said, that he and three hundred of his men hid themselves from the English." CURIOUS ADVERTISEMENT. A few years ago the following actually appeared in one of the London : certainly a most economical speculation for the use of soul and " Wanted, for a family who have bad health, a sober, steady person, in the capacity of doctor, surgeon, apothecary, and man -mid wife. He must occasionally act as butler, and dress hair and wigs. He will be required sometimes to read prayers, and to preach a sermon every Sun- day. A good salary will be given." CHANGES OF MOTTNT ETNA. Signer Maria Gemmellario has given, from a meteorological journal kept at Catania, a very interesting view of the successive changes of Mount Etna, at a period in which it was in the phase of moderate activity ; and no description could convey so accurate a conception of the ever-changing phenomena. On the 9th of February, 1804, there was a sensible earthquake. Etna smoked ninety-seven days, but there was no eruption nor any thunder. On the 3rd of July, 1805, there was an earthquake. Etna smoked forty-seven days, and emitted flame twenty-eight days. There was an eruption in June, but no thunder. There were earthquakes on the 27th of May and 10th of October, 1806. The mountain smoked forty-seven days, flamed seven, and detonated twenty-eight : little thunder. On the 24th of February and 25th of November, 1807, there were earthquakes. Etna smoked fifty-nine days : little thunder. In August, September, and December, 1808, earthquakes were fre- quent. Etna smoked twelve days, flamed one hundred and two, and often detonated. Thunder storms were frequent. From January to May, and during September and December, 1809, there were thirty-seven earthquakes. The most sensible shock was on the 27th of March, when the mountain ejected lava on the western side. This eruption lasted thirteen days, and part of the Bosco di Castiglione was injured. The mountain smoked one hundred and fifty-two days, flamed three, and detonated eleven. Little thunder. On the 16th and 17th of February, 1810, there were four earthquakes. On the 27th of October, Etna was in a state of eruption on the eastern side, and the lava flowed into the Valle del Bue. There were about twenty thunder storms. 1811, no earthquakes, but the mountain continued until the 24th of April to eject lava from the east. At this time the Mount St. Simon waa formed. No thunder. Earthquake on the 3rd and 13th of March, 1813. The mountain MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 407 smoked twenty-eight days. On the 30th of June, and on the 5th of August, St. Simon smoked. There were twenty-one thunder storms. On the 3rd of November, 1814, there was an earthquake, preceded by a discharge of sand from that part of the mountain called Zoccolaro. There were twelve thunder storms. On the 6th of September, 1815, there was an earthquake. The moun tain smoked forty-two days, and there were eleven thunder storms. On the 6th, 7th, and llth of January the lightning was tremendous. 1816, no earthquakes. On the 13th of August a part of the interior side of the crater fell in. Ten thunder storms. There was an earthquake on the 18th of October, 1817. The moun- tain smoked twenty-two days. There were eight thunder storms. During 1818 there were twenty-five earthquakes. The most violent was in the neighbourhood of Catania, on the 20th of February. The mountain smoked twenty-four days. No thunder. CHARITY INSTEAD OF POMP. According to the "Annual Register" for August, 1760, there were expended at the funeral of Farmer Keld, of Whitby, in that year, one hundred and ten dozen of penny loaves, eight large hams, eight legs of veal, twenty stone of beef (fourteen pounds to the stone), sixteen stone of mutton, fifteen stone of Cheshire cheese, and thirty ankers of ale, besides what was distributed to about one thousand poor people, who had sixpence each in money given them. TIIE BEDFORD MISSAL. One of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography, is the richly illuminated Missal, executed for John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, under Henry VI. ; by him it was presented to that king, in 1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a-half wide, and two and a-half thick ; 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 diameter, displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage, with variegated 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, de- scended to the Duchess of Portland, whose valuable collection was sold by auction, in 1786. Among its many attractions was the Bedford Missal. A knowledge of the sale coming to the ears of George III., he sent for his bookseller, and expressed his intention to become the pur- chaser. The bookseller ventured to submit to his majesty the probable high price it would fetch. "How high?" exclaimed the king. " Probably, two hundred guineas," replied the bookseller. "Two hundred guineas fora Missal!" exclaimed the queen, who was present, and lifted her hands up with astonishment. "Well, well," said his majesty, "I'll have it still ; but since the queen thinks two hundred guineas so enor- mous a price for a Missal, I'll go no further." The biddings for the Boyal Library did actually stop at that point ; a celebrated collector, Kr. Kd wards, became the purchaser by adding three pounds more. Tba 408 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGg ; same Missal was afterwards sold at Mr. Edwards' sale, in 1815, and pur- chased by the Duke of Marlborough, for the enormous sum of 637 Ids, sterling. CALICINATED RINGS. There is a particular class of antique gold ornaments, belonging to the Bronze Period, which is deserving of especial attention, from the circum- stance that the British Isles is the only locality in which it has yet been discovered. These ornaments consist of a solid cylindrical gold bar, beat into a semi-circle or segmental arc, most frequently tapering from the centre, and terminated at both ends with hollow cups, resembling the raouth of a trumpet, or the expanded calix of a flower. A remarkable example of these curious native relics is engraved in the " ArchaDological Journal." The cups are formed merely by hollows in the slightly dilated ends ; but it is further interesting from being decorated with the style of incised ornaments of most frequent occurrence on the primitive British pottery. It was dug up at Braha- lish, near Bantry, county Cork, and weighs 3 oz. 5 dwts. 6 grs. In con- trast to this, another is engraved in the same journal, found near the en- trance lodge at SwintonPark, York- shire, scarcely two feet below the surface. In this beautiful speci- men the terminal cups are so un- usually large, that the solid bar of gold dwindles into a mere con- necting-link between them. The annexed figure of a very fine ex- ample found by a labourer while cutting peats in the parish of Cromdale, Inverness-shire, some- what resembles that of Swinton Park in the size of its cups. It is from a drawing by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, and repre- sents it about one-half the size of the original. Similar relics of more ordinary proportions have been brought to light, at different times, in various Scottish districts. EXTEAOEDrNABY CEICKET MATCHES. Every day in summer wagers are made at Lord's cricket ground, upon matches there to be played; but there have been more extraordinary matches elsewhere relative to this exercising game ; for a cricket match was played on Blackheath, in the year 1766, between eleven Greenwich pensioners who had lost each an arm, and eleven others who had lost each a leg. The former won with ease. And again, on the 9th of August, 1796, a cricket match was played by eleven Greenwich pen- sioners with one leg, against eleven with one arm, for one thousand guineas, at the new cricket groun^ Montpelier gardens, "Walworth. At MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 409 nine o'clock the men arrived in three Greenwich stages ; about twelve the wickets were pitched, and they commenced. Those with hut one leg had the first innings, and got 93 runs ; those with but one arm got but 42 runs during their innings. The one-leg commenced their second innings, and six were bowled out after they had got 60 runs ; so that they left off one hundred and eleven more than those with one arm. Next morning the match was played out ; and the men with one leg beat the one-arms by one hundred and three runs. After the match was finished the eleven one-legged men ran a sweep-stakes of one hundred yards distance for twenty guineas, and the three first had prizes. MUMMY CASES. The annexed engraving represents a set of Egyptian mummy cases, several of which were used for the interment of one body, the smaller one being enclosed within the larger. On the death of a king in Egypt, " three score and ten days" was the ^ U period that intervened from his de- ^] parture to the termination of the x", embalming operations ; the earlier and more important of which, ex- clusive of the soaking in natron, occupied forty days. The coffin, or wooden case, in which the embalmed i body of Joseph was preserved, till at the exodus it was carried from Egypt, was, doubtlesss, of such a form and 3 appearance as those with which we are familiar at our museums. An . account of some specimens of these,] and of the internal shells which: were considered requisite for persons i of rank, will be read with interest. Before the better kind of mummies were put into their wooden cases, they were placed in a shell in the following manner : Nine thick layers of hempen or linen cloth were well gummed together, so as to make a strong flexible kind of board, something like a piece of papier machie. This was formed into the shape of the swathed mummy, which was inserted in it by means of a longitudinal aperture on the under side, reaching from the feet to the head. The two sides of this long aperture were then drawn together by a coarse kind of stitching, done with a large needle and thin hempen cord. The inside of this hempen case was covered with a thin coating of plaster, and the outside was also covered with a similar sort of plaster, on which were painted rude figures of beetles, ibides, &c., &c., apparently with ochrous earths tempered with water ; they could be easily rubbed off with the finger, except where they were fixed by an outer coating of gum. On the upper part of this case a human face was represented, and for the purpose of giving additional strength and firm- ness to that part of the hempen covering, a considerable quantity of earth 14* 410 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; and plaster was stuck on. the inside, so that it would be more easy to mould the material on the outside, while still flexible, into a resem- blance of the human form. The face was covered with a strong varnish, to keep the colour fixed. The outer case was generally made of the Egyptian fig-sycamore wood, and the parts of it were fastened together with wooden pegs. This wood was used by the Egyptians for a variety of purposes, as we find even common domestic utensils made of it. The pegs of the sycamore cases were not always of the sycamore wood, which, when cut thin, would hardly be so suitable as some more closely-grained wood ; the pegs, therefore, of the inner cases were of a different wood, generally of cedar. Bodies embalmed in the highest style of fashion, had, in addition to the inner coffin which we have described, an outer wooden box, such as Herodotus mentions, with a human face, male or female, painted on it. Some of these cases were plain, and others highly ornamented with figures of sacred animals, or with paintings represent- ing mythological subjects. The wooden case which contained the body was sometimes cut out of one piece of wood, and the inside was made smooth, and fit for the re- ception of the painted figures, by laying on it a thin coat of fine plaster. This plaster was also used as a lining for the wooden cases which were not made of a single piece. There was often a second wooden case, still more highly ornamented and covered with paintings secured by a strong varnish. These paintings were intended to embody the ideas of the Egyptians as to the state of death, the judgment or trial which preceded the admission into the regions below, and other matters connected -with the ritual of the dead and the process of embalming. The upper part of each of the wooden cases was made to represent a human figure, and the sex was clearly denoted by the character of the head-dress, and the presence or absence of the beard. Both the head- dress and the ornaments about the neck, as far as the bosom, were exactly of the same character as those which we see on the sculptures and paint- ings. The brief remark of Herodotus, that the friends put the swathed mummy " into a wooden figure made to resemble the human form," is amply borne out. INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. Gall and various observers of animals have fully ascertained that the attention of dogs is awakened by our conversation. He brought one of these intelligent creatures with him from Vienna to Paris, which per- fectly understood French and German, of which he satisfied himself by repeating before it whole sentences in both languages. A recent anec- dote has been related of an old ship-dog, that leaped overboard and swam to shore on hearing the captain exclaim, "Poor old Neptune! I fear we shall have to drown him !" and such was the horror which that threat inspired, that he never afterwards would approach the captain or any of the ship's company, to whom he had previously been fondly attached. It must, however, be observed that in the brute creation, aa in ours (sometimes more brutal species), peculiar attributes, that do not belong to the race, distinguish individuals gifted with what in man we MARVELLOUS, RABE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 4il might call a superior intellect, but which in these animals shows a superiority of what we term instinct. Spurzheim relates an instance of a cow belonging to Mr. Dupont de Nemours, which, amongst the wnoie kindred herd, was the only one that could open the gate leading to their pastures ; and her anxious comrades, when arriving at the wished-f'or spot, invariably lowed for their conductor. It is also related of a hound, who, unable to obtain a seat near the fire without the risk of quarrelling with the dozing occupants that crowded the hearth, was wont to run out into the court-yard barking an alarm that brought away his rivals iu comfort, when he quietly re-entered the parlour, and selected an eligible stretching-place. This animal displayed as much ingenuity as the traveller who, according to the well-known story, ordered oysters for his horse for the purpose of clearing the fireside. BELL OF ST. MTTEA. This curious relic, engraved over leaf, two-thirds the size of the original, is remarkable as a work of art, as well as a genuine relic of the most venerable antiquity ; it was formerly regarded with superstitious reve- rence in Ireland, and any liquid drunk from it was believed to have peculiar properties in alleviating human suffering; hence, the peasant women of the district in which it was long preserved, particularly used it in cases of child-birth, and a serious disturbance was excited on a former attempt to sell it by its owner. Its legendary history relates that it descended from the sky ringing loudly ; but as it approached the con- course of people who had assembled at the miraculous warning, the tongue detached itself and returned towards the skies; hence it was concluded that the bell was never to be profaned by sounding on earth, but was to be kept for purposes more holy and beneficent. This is said to have happened on the spot where once stood the famous Abbey of Fahan, near Innishowen (County Donegal), founded in the seventh century by St. Mura, or Muranus, during the reign of Abodh Slaine. For centuries this abbey was noted as the depository of various valuable objects, which were held in especial veneration by the people. Amongst these were several curious manuscripts written by St. Mura, his crozier, and this bell ; which ultimately came into the possession of a poor peasant residing at Innishowen, who parted with it to Mr. Brown, of Beaumaris, at whose sale in 1855 it was purchased by Lord Londesborough. The ma- terial of the bell is bronze, and its form quadrangular, resembling other ancient Irish bells, and leading to the conclusion that it is the genuine work of the seventh century. The extreme feeling of veneration shown to- wards it in various ages is proved by the ornament with which it is encased. By the accidental removal of one portion of the outer casing, a series of earlier enrichments were discovered beneath, which were most probably placed there in the ninth century. The portion disclosed (the lower right hand corner) consists of a tracery of Runic knots wrought in brass, and firmly attache'd to the bell by a thin plate of gold ; whether the remainder of these early decorations, now concealed, be similar, cannot be determined without removing the outer plates. These exterior orua- jnonts consist of a series pf detached silver plates of various bizes 412 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THIN Of ; diversely embossed in the style known to have prevailed in oentury. The centre is adorned with a large crystal, and smaller gemi have once been set in other vacant sockets around it, only oue of remaining. The two large spaces in front of the arched top were also most probably filled with precious stones, as the gold setting still remains entire. The best workmanship has been devoted to these decorations ; the hook for suspending the bell is of brass, and has been covered with early bronze ornament which has been filled in with niello, the inter- vening space being occupied by silver plates ornamented like the rest of toe kter decorations which cover its surface. From the absence of any MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 4 1 4 truces of rivets on the back or sides of the hell, the decoration it hu?. received may have heen restricted to the casing of the handle and th enrichment of the front of this venerated relic. CURIOTTSIY-SHAPED DEIKKIKG CTTP. Drinking cnps of a fantastic shape were very much in vogue ID tha sixteenth century. Sometimes they assumed the shape of birds, some- times of animals. In general it is the head that takes off, and serves ttc a lid or cover ; but sometimes the orifice is in another part of the body, 414 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; as, for example, on the back. The specimen now before us is from LoH J/>ndesborough's collection. The stag is of silver, gilt all over ; the collar set with a garnet. Silver bands encircle this curious figure, to which aie appended many small silver escutcheons engraved with the arms and names of distinguished officers of the Court of Saxe Gotha, the latest being " Her Von Maagen- heim, Camer Juncker und Regierung Assessor in Gotha, d. 15 Augusti, A B . 1722." It has probably been a prize for shooting, successively won by those persons whose arms decorate it. BANQUETS TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. Few English sovereigns were so well acquainted with their dominions as was Queen Elizabeth : she majr be said to have visited every corner of her empire, and in these royal journeys or " progresses," as they are called, her loyal subjects strove to outvie each other in the splendour of their receptions. Nothing could surpass the magnificence of the enter- tainments thus planned for the queen's gratification, either as respects the splendour of show, or the costliness of the more substantial banquet. These occasions are too numerous to mention ; and we can only notice one of the queen's visits to the palace at Greenwich, as described by a German, who travelled in England in 1598. It was Sunday, and after attending service in the chapel, the queen prepared for dinner. A gen- tleman entered the room bearing a rod, and with him another bearing a table-cloth, which, after they had both kneeled three tinea, he spread upon the table, and after kneeling again, they both retired : then came two others, one with the rod again, the other with a salt-sellar, a plate, and bread, which, after kneeling, they also placed on the table : then eame an unmarried and a married lady, bearing a tasting -knife, and having stooped three times gracefully, they rubbed the table with bread and salt. Then came the yeomen of the guard, bringing in, at each time, a course of dishes, served in plate, most of it gilt ; these dishes were received by a gentleman, and placed upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to each guard a mouthful to eat of the particular dish he had brought, for fear of any poison. During the time that this guard (which consisted of the tallest and stoutest men that could be found in all England, being carefully selected for this service) were bringing dinner, twelve trumpets and two kettle-drums made the hall ring for half an hour together. After this a number of unmarried ladies appeared, \rho lifted the meat from the table, and conveyed it to the queen's inner and more private chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest was sent to the ladies of the court. The queen dined and supped alone, with very few attendants. THE GREAT FOG OP 1783. It prevailed over the adjoining continent, and produced much fear that the end of all things was at hand. It appeared first at Copenhagen on the 29th of May, reached Dijon on the 14th June, and was perceived in Italy on the 16th. It was noticed at Spydberg, in Norway, on thy 22nd, and at Stockholm two days later ; the following day it reached MARVELLOUS, RARE, CtRIOUS, AND QUAINT. 41& Moscow. On the 23rd it was felt on the St. Gothard, and at Buda. By the close of that month it entered Syria; and on the 18th of July, reached the Altai Mountains. Before its appearance at these places the condition of the atmosphere was not similar; for in this country it followed continued rains ; in Denmark it succeeded iine weather of some continuance ; and in other places it was preceded by high winds. The sun at noon looked rusty-red, reminding one of the lines of Milton. The heat was intense during its continuance, and the atmosphere was highly electric. Lightnings were awfully vivid and destructive. In England many deaths arose from this cause, and a great amount of property was Jost. In Germany public edifices were thrown down or consumed by it ; and in Hungary one of the chief northern towns was destroyed by tires, caused by the electric fluid, which struck it in nine different places. In France there were hailstones and violent winds. In Silesia there were great inundations. The dry fogs of 1782-83 were accompanied by influ- enza ; at St. Petersburgh 40,000 persons were immediately attacked by it, after the thermometer had suddenly risen 30 degrees. Calabria and Sicily were convulsed by earthquakes ; in Iceland a volcano was active, and about the same time one sprung out of the sea off Norway. The co-existence of dry fogs with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had been previously observed e. g., in the years 526, 1348, 1721 ; and since then, in 1822 and 1834. A somewhat similar fog overspread London before the cholera of 1831, and the influenza of 1847. Hecker ("Epidemics of the Middle Age''; has collected notices of various phenomena of this kind, whicn nave pre- ceded the great continental plagues, and have often been characterised by offensive odours. MONKEYS DEMANDING THEIR DEAD. Mr. Forbes tells a story of a female monkey (the Semnopithecus Entellus) who was shot by a friend of his, and carried to his tent. Forty or fifty of her tribe advanced with menacing gestures, but stood still when the gentleman presented his gun at them. One, however, who appeared to be the chief of the tribe, came forward, chattering and threatening in a furious manner. Nothing short of firing at him Beemed likely to drive him away ; but at length he approached the tent door with every sign of grief and supplication, as if he were begging for the body. It was given to him, he took it in his arms, carried it away, with actions expressive of affection, to his companions, and with them disappeared. It was not to be wondered at that the sportsman vowed never to shoot another monkey. Mr. Howel, in his descriptive travels through Sicily, gives a particular account of the magnificent manner in which the festival of the Assump- tion of the Virgin is kept by the Sicilians under the title of Bara, which, although expressive of the machine he describes, is also, it appears, generally applied as a name of the feast itself. An immense machine of k bout 50 feet high is constructed, designing to represent Heaven ; and 416 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL 1HINGS; in the midst is placed a young female personating the Virgin, with aa image of Jesus on her right hand ; round the Virgin 12 little children turn vertically, representing so many Seraphim, and helow them 12 more children turn horizontally, as Cherubim ; lower down in the machine a sun turns vertically, with a child at the extremity of each of the four principal radii of his circle, who ascend and descend with his rotation, yet always in an erect posture ; and still lower, reaching within about 7 feet of the ground, are placed 12 boys, who turn hori- zontally without intermission around the principal figure, designing thereby to exhibit the 12 apostles, who were collected from all corners of the earth, to be present at the decease of the Virgin, and witness her miraculous assumption. This huge machine is drawn about the prin- cipal streets by sturdy monks ; and it is regarded as a particular favour to any family to admit their children in this divine exhibition. CRADLE OP HENEY V. Most of our readers have probably seen, in the illustrated newspapers of the day, sketches of the magnificently artistic cradles which have been made for the children of our good Queen, or for the Prince Imperial of France. It will be not a little curious to contrast with those elabo- rately beautiful articles the cradle of a Prince of "Wales in the four- teenth century. "We here give a -sketch of it. It was made for the use of Henry Prince of Wales, afterwards Kin-g Henry V., generally called Henry of Honmouth, because he was born in the castle there in che year 1388. He was the son of Henry IV. of Bolingbroke, by his first wife Mary de Bohun. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, under the superintendence of his half uncle, the great Cardinal Henry Beaufort. On the accession of his father to the throne, he was created Prince of Wales, and, at the early age of sixteen, was present at the battle of Shrewsbury, where he was badly wounded in the face. After having greatly distinguished himself in the war against Owen Glendour, he spent some years idleness and dissipa- tion, but on his coming to the throne, by the death of his father, April 20, 1413, he threw off his former habits and associates, chose his ministers from among those of tried integrity and wisdom in his father's cause, and seemed everywhere intent on justice, on victory over himself, and on the good of his subjects. After a short but glorious reign of ten years, in which the victory of Agincourt was the principal event, he expired at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. He was engaged at the time in a war with the Dauphin of France. His heart was warm as his head was cool, and his courage equal to his wisdom, which emboldened him to encounter the greatest dangers, and surmount the greatest difficulties KARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 417 His virtues were not inferior to his abilities, being a dutiful son, a fond parent, an affectionate brother, a steady and generous friend, and an indulgent master. In a word, Henry V., though not without his fail- ings, merits the character of an amiable and accomplished man, and a great and good king. Such was the sovereign, for whose infant years the plain, but still not tasteless, cradle was made, which we have here engraved, as it is preserved in the castle of Monmouth, his birthplace. THE FONT AT KILCATtN. The venerable old church at Kilcarn, near Navan, in the countv of Meath, contains a font of great rarity, and we have selected it as a fitting object for our work, inasmuch as it is a striking instance of the union of the beautiful with the curious. Placed upon its shaft, as repre- sented in the cut, it measures in height about three feet six inches ; the basin is two feet ten inches in diameter, and thirteen inches deep. The heads of the niches, twelve in number, with which its sides are carved, are enriched with foliage of a graceful but uniform character, and the miniature buttresses which separate the niches are decorated with crockets, the bases resting upon heads, grotesque animals, or human figures, carved as brackets. The figures within the niches are executed with a wonderful degree of care, the drapery being repre- sented with each minute crease or fold well expressed. They are evi- dently intended to represent Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the twelve apostles. All the figures are seated. Our Saviour, crowned as a King, and holding in his hand the globe and cross, is in the act of blessing the Virgin, who also is crowned, the ' Queen of Heaven." The figures of most of the apostles can easily be identified : Saint Peter by his key ; Saint Andrew by his cross of pecu- liar shape ; and so on. They are represented bare-footed, and each holds a book in one hand. THE BLOOD-SrCKISTO VAMPIBE. Captain Stedman, who travelled in Guiana, from 1772 to 1777, pub- lished an account of his adventures, and for several years afterwards it was the fashion to doubt the truth of his statements. In fact, it was a general feeling, up to a much later period than the above, that travel- lers were not to be believed. As our knowledge, however, has increased, and the works of God have been made more manifest, the reputation of many a calumniated traveller has been restored, and, among others, thai 418 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; of Captain Stedman. "We shall, therefore, unhesitatingly quote hk account of the bite of the -vampire: "On waking, about four o'clock this morning, in my hammock, I was extremely alarmed at finding myself weltering in congealed blood, and without feeling any pain what- ever. Having started up and run to the surgeon, with a firebrand in one hand, and all over besmeared with gore, the mystery was 1'ound to be, that I had been bitten by the vampire or spectre of Guiana, which is also called the flying dog of New Spain. This is no other than a bat of monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle, sometimes even till they die ; knowing, by instinct, that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while the creature continues fanning with his enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed, that the head of a pin could scarely be received into the wound, which is consequently not painful; yet, through this orifice he contrives to suck the blood until he is obliged to disgorge. He then begins again, and thus continues Bucking and disgorging till he is scarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known to sleep from time into eternity. Cattle they generally bite in the ear, but always in those places where the blood flows spontaneously. Having applied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed blood all around the place where I had lain upon the ground ; upon examining which, the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night. Having measured this creature (one of the bats), I found it to be, between the tips of the wings, thirty-two inches and a-half ; the colour was a dark brown, nearly black, but lighter underneath." LUXTTRT IN 1562. The luxury of the present times does not equal, in one article 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 *t Madrid, in June, 1562, says, " I pray you good my Lord Ambassador sende me two paire of par- fumed gloves, parfumed with orrange flowers and jacemin, th'one for my wives hand, the other for mine owne ; and wherin soever I can pleasure you with any thing in this countrey, you shall have it in recompence thereof, or els so moche money as they shall coste you ; provided alwaiea that they be of the best clnise, wherein your judgment is inferior to aone." SINGULAR PHENOMENON PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. The sea has sometimes a luminous appearance, a phenomenon that has been observed by all sailors, who consider it the forerunner of windy weather. It is said to occur most frequently in the summer and autumn months, and varies so much in its character, as to induce a doubt whether it can always be attributed to the same cause. Sometimes the luminous appearance is seen over the whole surface of the water, and the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 419 vessel seems as though floating upon an ocean of light. At other times, the phosphorescence is only seen immediately around the ship. A por- tion of water taken from the sea does not necessarily retain its luminous appearance, but its brilliance will generally continue as long as the water is kept in a state of agitation. Some naturalists imagine the phos- phorescence of the sea to arise from the diffusion of an immense number of aninialculze through the medium, and others attribute it to electricity. Dr. Buchanan has given an account of a very remarkable appearance of the ;a, observed by him during a voyage from Johanna to Bombay. About eight o'clock in the evening of the 31st of July, 1785, the sea had a milk-white colour, and upon it were iloating a multitude of luminous bodies greatly resembling that combination of stars known as the milky way, the brightest of them representing the larger stars of a constellation. The whiteness, he says, was such as to prevent those on board from seeing either the break or swell of the sea, although, from the motion of the ship and the noise, they knew them to be violent, and the light was sufficiently intense to illuminate the ropes and rigging. This singular phenomenon continued till daylight appeared. Several buckets of water were drawn, and in them were found a great number of luminous bodies, from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half in length, and these were seen to move about as worms in the water. There might be, he said to Dr. Buchanan, four hundred of these animals in a gallon of water. A similar appearance had been observed before in the same sea by several of the officers, and the gunner had seen it off Java Head, in a voyage to China. MARRIAGE VOW. The matrimonial ceremony, like many others, has undergone some variation in the progress of time. Upwards of three centuries ago, the husband, on taking his wife, as now, by the right hand, thus addressed her: "I. N. under sygne the N. for my wedded wyfe, for better, for worse, for richer, for porer, yn sickness, and in helthe, tyl dethe us departe, (not "do part," as we have erroneously rendered it, the ancient meaning of "departe," even in "VVickliffe's time, being "separate") as holy churche hath ordeyned, and thereto I plygth the my trowthe." The wife replies in the same form, with an additional clause, "to be buxom to the, tyl dethe us departe." So it appears in the first edition of the " Missals for the use of the famous and celebrated Church of Hereford. 1502," fol. In what is called the "Salisbury Missal," the lady pro- nounced a more general obedience: " to be bonere and boxcm in bedde and at the horde." tOVE OP GARDENS. Louis XVIII., on his restoration to France, made, in the park in Ver- sailles, ihefac-simile of the garden at Hartwell ; and there was no more amiable trait in the life of that accomplished prince. Napoleon used to say that he should know his father's garden in Corsica blindfolded, by the smell of the earth ! And the hanging-gardens of Babylon are saii to have been raised by the Median Queen of Nebuchadnezzar on the lia| 420 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; and naked plains of her adopted country, to remind her of the nills and scribe Cicero at his Tusculum Evelyn at Wotton Pitt at Ham Com- mon Walpole at Houghton Grenville at Dropmere ? Why dwell on Bacon's " little tufts of thyme," or Fox's geraniums ? There is a spirit in the garden as well as in the wood, and the "lilies of the field " supply food for the imagination as well as materials for sermons. ANCIENT DANISH SHIELD. In Asia, from whence the greater number, probably all, of the European nations have migrated, numerous implements and weapons of copper have been discovered in a particular class of graves ; nay, in some of the old and long-abandoned mines in that country workmen's tools have been discovered, made of copper, and of very remote antiquity. We see, moreover, how at a later period attempts were made to harden copper, and to make it better suited for cutting implements by a slight intermixture, and principally of tin. Hence arose that mixed metal to which the name of " bronze" has been given. Of this metal, then, the Northmen of " the bronze period" formed their armour, and among nu- merous other articles, three shields have been discovered which are made wholly of bronze ; and we here give a sketch of the smallest of them, which is about nineteen inches in diameter, the other two being twenty- four. These shields are formed of somewhat thin plates of bronze, the edge being turned over a thick wire metal to prevent the sword penetrat- ing too deeply. The handle is formed of a cross-bar, placed at the reverse side of the centre boss, which is hollowed out for the purpose of admitting the hand. SACEED GARDENS. The origin of sacred gardens among the heathen nations may be traced up to the garden of Eden. The gardens of the Hesperides, of Adonis, of Flora, were famous among the Greeks and Romans. " The garden of Flora," says Mr. Spence (Polymetis, p. 251), " I take to have l>een the Paradise in the Roman mythology. The traditions and traces t'f Paradise among the ancients must be expected to have grown fainter and fainter in every transfusion from one people to another. The tiomans probably derived their notions of it from the Greeks, among whom this idea seems to have been shadowed out tinder the stories of the gardens of Arduous. In Africa they had the gardens of the Hes- perides, and in the East those of Adonis, or the Horti Adonis, as Pliny MARVKLLOIjis, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 421 calls them. The term Horti Adonides was used by the ancients to signify gardens of pleasure, which answers to the very name of Paradise, or the garden of Eden, as Horti Adonis does to the garden of the Lord." ANCIENT CHAIE OE DAGOBEET. The chair which we here engrave claims to be regarded as a great curiosity, on two separate grounds : it is the work of an artist who was afterwards canonized, and it was used by Napoleon I. on a most important occasion. Towards the close of the sixth century the artists of France were highly successful in goldsmith's work, and Limoges appears to have been the principal centre of this industry. It was at this time that Abbon flourished a goldsmith and mint-master, with whom was placed the young Eloy, who rose from a simple artizan to be the most remarkable man of his century, and whose virtues were rewarded by canonization. The apprentice soon excelled his master, and his fame caused him to be summoned to the throne of Clotaire II., for whom he made two thrones of gold, enriched with precious stones, from a model made by the king himself, who had not been able to find workmen sufficiently skilful to execute it. The talents and probity of St. Eloy also gained him the affec- tion of Dagobert I., who entrusted him with many important works, and among them, with the construction of the throne, or chair of state which is the subject of this article. It is made of bronze, carved and gilded, and is a beautiful specimen of work- manship. The occupant of the chair would sit upon a cloth of gold sus- pended from the two side bars. For a long time it was preserved in the sacristy of the royal church of St. Denis, at Paris ; but it was subse - quently removed to the Great Li- brary, where it now is. It was upon this chair that Napoleon I., in August, 1804, distributed the crosses of the Legion of Honour to the soldiers of the army assembled at Boulogne for the invasion of England. Napoleon caused the chair to be brought from Paris for the express purpose. ST. GEOBGE'S CAVEEN. 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 car- cass of the dragon. They respect neither man nor beast, and are so destructive that oxen and horses have been killed by them. They are called the Golubacz's fly. It is thought when the Danube rises, as it 422 TKJf THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; does in the early part of the summer, the caverns are flooded, and th water remaining in them, and becoming putrid, produces this noxious fly. But this supposition appears to be worthless, because, some years ago, the natives closed up the caverns, and still they were annoyed with the fiies. They nearly resemble mosquitoes. In summer they appear in such swarms as to look like a volume of smoke ; and they sometimes cover a space of six or 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 decoction of wormwood, and keep large fires burning to protect themselves from them. Upon any material change in the weather the whole swarm is destroyed thereby. ENGLISH LETTEK BY VOLTAIBE. The subjoined letter is copied literally from the autograph of Voltaire, formerly in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Sim, the editor of Mickle's Poems : " Sir, " j wish you good health, a quick sale of y r burgundy, much latin, and greeke to one of y r Children, much Law, much of cooke, and little- ton, to the other, quiet and joy to mistrss brinsden, money to all. when you'll drink y r burgundy with m r furneze pray tell him j 11 never forget his favours. But dear John be so kind as to let me know how does my lady Bol- lingbroke. as to my lord j left him so well j dont doubt he is so still, but j am very uneasie about my lady, if she might have as much health as she has Spirit and witt, sure She would be the strongest bodv in eng- land. pray dear s r write me Something of her, of my lord, ancl of you. direct y r letter by the penny post at m r Cavalier, Beliterv Square by the It. exchange, i am sincerely and heartily y r most humble most obedient rambling friend " VOLIAIUE. "to "John Brinsden, esq. " durham's yard " by charing cross. THE GOLDEN CHALICE OF IONA. A chalice, as used in sacred ceremonies, is figured on various early Scottish ecclesiastical seals, as well as on sepulchral slabs and other medieval sculptures, But an original Scottish chalice, a relic of the venerable abbey of St. Columba, presented, till a very few years since, an older example of the sacred vessels of the altar than is indicated in any existing memorial of the medieval Church. The later history of this venerable relic is replete with interest. It was of fine gold, of a very simple form, and ornamented in a style that gave evidence of its belong- ing to a very early period. It was transferred from the possession of Sir Lauchlan HacLean to the Glengarry family, in the time of .2Eneas, afterwards created by Charless II. Lord Macdonell and Arross, under the ciroumstances narrated in the following letter from a cousin of the celar MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUA1M'. 423 brated Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum, and communicated by a clergyman (Rev. JEneas M'Donell Dawson), who obtained it from the family of the gentleman to whom it was originally addressed : " The following anecdote I heard from the late bishop, John Chisholm, and from Mr. John M'Eachan, uncle to the Duke of Tarentum, who died at my house at Irin Moidart, aged upwards of one hundred vears : " Maclean of Duart, expecting an invasion of his lands in "Mull, by his powerful neighbour the Earl of Argyll, applied to Glengarry for assist- ance. JEneas of Glengarry marched at the head of five hundred men to Ardtornish, nearly opposite to Duart Castle, and crossing with a few of his officers to arrange the passage of the men across the Sound of Mull, Maclean, rejoicing at the arrival of such a friend, offered some choice wine in a golden chalice, part of the plunder of lona. Glengarry was struck with horror, and said, folding his handkerchief about the chaMce, ' Maclean, I came here to defend you against mortal enemies, but since, by sacrilege and profanation, you nave made God your enemy, no human means can serve you.' Glengarry returned to his men, and Maclean sent the chalice and some other pieces of plate belonging to the service of the altar, with a deputation of his friends, to persuade him to join him ; but he marched home. His example was followed by several other chiefs, and poor Maclean was left to compete, single-handed, with his powerful enemy." Such was the last historical incident connected with the golden chalice of lona, perhaps, without exception, the most interesting ecclesiastical relic whieh Scotland possessed. Unfortunately its later history only finds a parallel in that of the celebrated Danish golden horns. It was preserved in the charter-chest of Glengarry, until it was presented by the late Chief to Bishop Ronald M'Donald, on whose demise it came into the possession of his successor, Dr. Scott, Bishop of Glasgow. Only a few years since the sacristy of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in that city, where it was preserved was broken into, and before the police could obtain a clue to the depredators, the golden relic of lona was no longer a chalice. Thus perished, by the hands of a common felon, a memorial of the spot consecrated by the labours of some of the earliest Christian mis- sionaries to the Pagan Caledonians, and which had probably survived the vicissitudes of upwards of ten centuries. In reply to inquiries made as to the existence of any drawing of the chalice, or even the possibility of a trustworthy sketch being executed from memory, a gentleman in Glasgow writes : " I have no means of getting even a sketch from which to make a drawing. Were I a good hand myself, I could easily furnish one, having often examined it. It was a chalice that no one could look on without being convinced of its very great antiquity. The workman- ship was rude, the ornamental drawings or engravings even more hard than medieval ones in their outlines, and the cup bore marks of the ori- ginal hammering which had beaten it into shape." NEW MODE OP REVENGE. Monkeys in India are more or less objects of superstitious reverence, *nd are, consequently, seldom or ever destroyed. In some places they 424 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; we even fed, encouraged, and allowed to live on the roofs of the house*. If a man wish to revenge himself for any injury committed upon him, he has only to sprinkle some rice or corn upon the top of his enemy's house, or granary, just hefore the rains set in, and the monkeys will assemble upon it, eat all they can find outside, and then pull off the tiles to get at that which falls through the crevices. This, of course, gives access to the torrents which fall in such countries, and house, fur- niture, and stores are all ruined. CTHilOtTS STTPERSTITION. The ring of which we here give a sketch has been selected by us as a subject for engraving and comment, because it embodies a curious superstition which was very prevalent in England in the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries. The setting is of silver, and the jewel which it carries is called a toad-stone. This stone was popularly believed to be formed in the heads of very old toads, and it was eagerly coveted by sovereigns, and by all persons in high office, because it was supposed to have the power of indicating to the person who wore it the proximity of poison, by perspiring and changing colour. Fenton, who wrote in 1569, says " There is to be found in the heads of old and great toads a stone they call borax or stelon ;" and he adds " They, being used as rings, give forewarning against venom." Their composition is not actually known ; by some they are thought to be a stone by others, a shell ; but of whatever they may be formed, there is to be seen in them, as may be noticed in the engraving, a figure resembling that of a toad, but whether produced accidentally or by artificial means is not known, though, according to Albertus Magnus, the stone always bore the figure on its surface, at the time it was taken out of the toad's head. Lupton, in his " 1000 Notable Things," says " A toadstone, called crepaudina, touching any part envenomed, hurt, or stung with rat, spider, wasp, or any other venomous beast, ceases the pain or swelling thereof." The well known lines in Shakespeare are doubtless in allusion to the virtue which Lupton says it possesses : " Sweet are the uses of adversity ; Which like a toad, ugly and venemous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.'* Ken Jonson also in the Fox, has, " Were you enamoured on his copper rings, His saffron jewel, with the loadstone in't?" And Lyly, in his Euphues *' The foule toad hath a faire stone in his head." The ring we have engraved is a work of the fifteenth century ; H forms one of the many rare curiosities ef the Londesborough Collection, *ad is considerel to be a very perfect specimen. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 425 ANCIENT ABMLET. In May, 1840, some workmen were employed at Everdale, near Pres- ton, in carrying earth to replace the soil which had been washed away from behind a wall formerly built to protect the banks of the river Ilibble. In digging for this purpose, they discovered, at a distance of about forty yards from the banks, a great number of articles, consisting of ingots of silver, a few ornaments, some silver armlets, and a large quantity of coins. An attentive examination of all these, and especially of the coins, leads to the conclusion that this mass of treasure was deposited about the year 910, and the articles must be considered such as were worn at the time of King Alfred, or perhaps somewhat earlier. The armlets, which were all of silver, vary in breadth from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a quarter, and perhaps more. They are gene- rally ornamented, and almost all the ornaments are produced by punching with tools of various forms. The pat- terns are numerous, but the forms of the punches are very few, the varia- tions being produced by combining the forms of more punches than one, or by placing the same or differently-formed punches at a greater or less distance from each other, or by varying their direction. In the specimen which we have here engraved the punch has had a small square end, and the orna- ment is formed by a series of blows in transverse or oblique lines. Pat- terns of the period and localities to which these ornaments belong are scarcely ever found finished by casting or chasing. It would appear, also that the use of solder to unite the various parts of objects was either little known or little practised ; for the ends of these ornaments are tied together, and, upon other occasions where union is necessary, rivets are employed. CHINESE MIKEOES. There is a puzzling property in many of the Chinese mirrors which deserves particular notice, and we may give it, together with the solution furnished by Sir David Brewster: "The mirror has a knob in the centre of the back, by which it can be held, and on the rest of the back are stamped in relief certain circles with a kind of Grecian border. Its polished surface has that degree of convexity which gives an image of the face half its natural size ; and its remarkable property is, that, when you reflect the rays of the sun from the polished surface, the image of the ornamental border and circles stamped upon the back, is seen distinctly reflected on the wall," or on a sheet of paper. The metal of which the mirror is made appears to be what is called Chinese silver, a composition of tin and copper, like the metal for the specula of reflecting telescopes. The metal is very sonorous. The mirror has a rim (at the back) of about l-4th or l-6th of an inch broad, and the inner part, upon which the figures are stamped, is considerably thinner. 4?6 TKN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; 4 Like all other conjurors (says Sir David Brewster), the artist has contrived to make the observer deceive himself. The stamped figures on the back are used for this purpose. The spectrum in the luminous area is not an image of the figures on the back. The figures are a copy of the picture which the artist has drawn on the face of the mirror, and so concealed by polishing, that it is invisible in ordinary lights, and can be brought out only in the sun's rays. Let it be required, for example, to produce the dragon as exhibited by one of the Chinese mirrors. When the surface of the mirror is ready for polishing, the figure of the dragon may be delineated upon it in extremely shallow lines, or it may be eaten out by an acid much diluted, so as to remove the smallest possible portion of the metal. The surface must then be highly polished, not upon pitch, like glass and specula, because this would polish away the figure, but upon cloth, in the way that lenses are sometimes polished. In this way the sunk part of the shallow lines will be as highly polished as the rest, and the figure will only be visible in very strong lights, by reflecting the sun's rays from the metallic surface." THE CADENHAM OAK. Amongst the many remarkable trees in the New Forest in Hampshire, is one called the Cadenham Oak, which buds every year in the depth of winter. Gilpin says, " Having often heard of this oak, I took a tide to see it on the 29th of December, 1781. It was pointed out to me among^ several other oaks, surrounded by a little forest stream, winding round a knoll on which they stood. It is a tall straight plant, of no great age, and apparently vigorous, except that its top has been injured, from which several branches issue in the form of pollard shoots. It was entirely bare of leaves, as far as I could discern, when I saw it, and ^indistinguishable from the other oaks in its neighbourhood, except that its bark seemed rather smoother, occasioned, I apprehended, only by frequent climbing. Having had the account of its early budding con- firmed on the spot, I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the White Hart, a small alehouse in the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to Vicar's Hill, as soon as they should appear. The man, who had not the least doubt about the matter, kept his word, and sent me several twigs on the morning of the oth of January, 1782, a few hours after they had been gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded, and about an inch in length. From some of the buds two leaves had unsheathed themselves, but in general only one. One of its progenv, which grew in the gardens at Bulstrode, had its flower buds perfectly formed so early as the 21st of December, 1781. ' ' This early spring, however, of the Cadenham oak, is of very short duration. The buds, after unfolding themselves, make no further pro- gress, but immediately shrink from the season and die. The tree con- tinues torpid, like other deciduous trees, during the remainder of the winter, and vegetates again in the spring, at the usual season. I have seen it in full leaf in the middle of the summer, when it appeared, both in its form and foliage, exactly like other oaks." MAKVKLLOUS, RARE, UUR1OUS, AND QUAINT; 4S7 Dean Wren, speaking of this tree, says, "King James could not be induced to believe the rb roi (reason) oi this, till Bishop Andrewes, in whose diocese the tree grew, caused one of his own chaplaines, a man of known integritye, to give a true information of itt, which he did ; for upon the eve of the Nativitye he gathered about a hundred slips, with the leaves newly opened, which he stuck in claye in the bottom of loug white t>oxes, and soe sent them post to the courte, where they deservedly raised not only admiration, but stopt the mouth of infidelitye and con- tradiction for ever. Of this I was both an eye-witness, and did dis- tribute many of them to the great persons of both sexes in court and others, ecclesiastical persons. But in these last troublesome times a divelish fellow (of Herostratus humour) having hewen itt round at the roote, made his last stroke on his own legg, whereof he died, together with the old wondrous tree ; which now sproutes up againe, and may renew his oakye age againe, iff some such envious chance doe not hinder or prevent itt ; from which the example of the former yillaine may per- chance deterr the attempt. This I thought to testifie to all future times, and therefore subscribe with the same hand through which those little oakye slips past." SCHOOL EXPENSES IN THE OLDEN TIME. Of the expenses incurred for schoolboys at Eton early in the reign of Elizabeth, we find some curious particulars in a manuscript of the time : the boys were sons of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, and the entries are worth notice, as showing the manners of those days. Amoii" the items, a breast of roast mutton is charged ton-pence; a small chicken, four-pence; a week's board, five shillings each; besides the wood burned in their chamber; to an old woman for sweeping and cleaning the chamber, two-pence ; mending a shoe, one penny ; three candles, nine -pence ; a book, Esop's Fables, four-pence ; two pair of shoes, sixteen-pence ; two bunches of wax lights, one penny ; the sum total of the payments, including board paid to the bursars of Eton Col- lege, living expenses for the two boys and their man, clothes, books, washing, &c., amounts to twelve pounds twelve shillings and seven -pence. The expense of a scholar at the university in 1514 was but five pounds annually, affording as much accommodation as would cost sixty pounds, though the accommodation would be far short of that now customary at Eton. AN EVENTFUL LIFE. It is much to be feared that on tho field of battle and naval actions many individuals, apparently dead, are buried or thrown overboard. The history of Frangois de Civille, a French captain, who was missing at the siege of Itouen, is rather curious. At the storming of the town he was supposed to have been killed, and was thrown, with other bodies, in tha ditch, where he remained from eleven in the morning to half-past six in the evening ; when his servant, observing some latent heat, carried the body into the house. For five days and five nights his master did not exhibit the slightest sign of life, although the body gradually recovered its warmth. At the expiration of this time, tV town wai carried by assault, 4t8 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; and the servants of an officer belonging to the besiegers, having found the supposed corpse of Civille, threw it out of the window, with no other covering than his shirt. Fortunately for the captain, he had fallen upon a dunghill, where he remained senseless for three days longer, when his body was taken up by his relatives for sepulture, and ultimately brought to life. What was still more strange, Civille, like Macduff, had "been from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd," having been brought into the world by a Caesarean operation, which his mother did not survive ; and after his last wonderful escape he used to sign his name with the addition of "three times born, three times buried, and three time-s risen from the dead by the grace of God." FIBST BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES, The humble village bridge which we hero engrave is well deserving of a place in our pages as being the first of that grand series of bridges whose last member is London-bridge. What a contrast between the first bridge over the Thames and the last! Thames Head, wheie the river rises, is in the county of Gloucester, but so near to its southern border, that the stream, after meandering a mile or two, enters Wilt- shire, near the village of Kemble. On leaving this village, and proceed- ing on the main road towards the rustic hamlet of Ewen, the traveller passes over the bridge which forms the subject of our wood-cut. It has no parapet, and is level with the road, the water running through three naiTow arches. Such is the first bridge over the mighty Thames. THE VENETIANS. The Venetians were the first people in Italy who had printed books. They originated a Gazette in the year 1600, and the example was fol- lowed at Oxford in 1667, and at Vienna in 1 700. They also undertook the discovery of America, and the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. MEDAIENIIAM ABBEY. 429 On descending the river Thames, from Henley, after passing Culham Court and Hambledon Lock, the adjacent country become exceedinglv beautiful, varied by alternate mills, islands, meadows, and hills, with every now and then ornamental forest trees hanging over the stream, and giving pleasant shade to the current on its downward flow. The wood of Medmenham soon comes in sight ; the ruined Abbey is seen among the trees, and close beside it is a pretty ferry, with the pleasant wayside inn of Mrs. Bitmead a domicile well known to artists, her frequent guests, one of whom, who has since become famous, painted a sign-board which hangs over the door, and is of so good a quality that it might grace the exhibition of the Royal Academy. The Abbey has been pictured a hundred times, and is a capital subject seen from any point of view ; the river runs close beside it ; there is a hill adjacent Dane's Hill ; dark woods and green meadows are at hand ; gay boats and traffic barges are continually passing ; the ferry is always picturesque, and the artist is constantly supplied on the spot with themes for pictures ; especially he has before him the venerable ruin "venerable," at least, as far as the eye is concerned. Time has touched it leniently ; some of its best " bits" are as they were a century ago, except that the lichens have given to them that rich clothing of grey and gold which the painter ever loves, and added to it, here and there, a green drapery of ivy. The manor of Medmenham was, in the reign of King Stephen, given by its lord, Walter de Bolebec, to the Abbey of Cistercian Monks he haJ founded at Woburn in Bedfordshire ; and iu 1204 the monks placed souia 430 fEU THOUSAND WONDERFUL tttl tf(38 , of their society here, on this pleasant bank of the Thames. Here arose a small monastery, being rather as the writers of the order express themselves " a daughter than a cell to Woburn." In 1536 it was an- nexed to Bisham. At the Dissolution, according to returns made by the commissioners, " the clear value of this religious house was 20/. 6s. ; it had two monks designing to go to houses of religion ; servants, none ; woods, none ; debts, none ; its bells worth 21. Is. 8d. ; the value of its tnoveable goods II. 3s. 8d. ; and the house wholly in ruin." It must have undergone considerable repair early in the sixteenth century, and pro- bably very little of the original structure now exists, although relics of antiquity may be traced in many of its remains. That portion which fronts the Thames is kept in proper repair, and a large room is used for the convenience of pleasure parties. The property belongs to the Scots of Danesfield, a mansion that crowns a neighbouring hill. Medmenhain derives notoriety from events of more recent date than the occupation of its monks, without goods and without debt. Here, about the middle of the last century, was established, a society of men of wit and fashion, who assumed the title of the Monks of St. Francis, and wore the habit of the Franciscan order. Although it is said that the statements con- tained in a now forgotten but once popular novel ' ' Chrysal ; or the Adventures of a Guinea," were exaggerated, the character which the assumed monks bore in the open world was sufficiently notorious to justify the worst suspicions of their acts in this comparative solitude. Their principal members were Sir Francis Dashwood (afterwards Lord Le Despencer), the Earl of Sandwich, John Wilks, Bubb Doddington, Churchill, and Paul "Whitehead, the poet. The motto " Fay ce que youdras," indicative of the principle on which the society was founded still remains over the doorway of the Abbey House. Tra- dition yet preserves some anecdotes illustrative of the habits of the " order," and there can be little doubt that this now lonely and quiet pot was the scene of orgies that were infamous. Grotius, an historian celebrated for moderation and caution, has com- puted that in the several persecutions promoted by Charles V., no less than a hundred thousand persons perished by the hands of the execu- tioner. In the Netherlands alone, from the time that his edict against the reformers was promulgated, he states that there had been fifty thou- sand persons hanged, beheaded, buried alive, or burned, on account of their religion. Indeed, during the reign of Philip the Second, the Duke of Alva boasted that in the space of nine years he had destroyed, in the Low Countries, 36,000 persons by the hands of the executioner alone. At the massacre of Paris, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, King Charles the N inth of France assisted in person, and boasted that he had sacrificed in one night 10,000 of his subjects ; for that massacre the Pope had " Te Deum" sung in the chapel of the Vatican and issued a bull for a jubilee to be celebrated throughout France on the 7th December, 1512, in commemoration of what he termed the happy success of the kinp tgainst his heretic subjects, and concluded by writing with his own h&Jid MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOt/S, AND QtAtNT. 431 ft letter to Charles the Ninth, exhorting him to pursue this salutary and blessed enterprise. In the short reign of Queen Mary, there were in this realm burned at the stake one archbishop, four bishops, twenty-one ministers, and nearly three hundred persons of all classes, of whom fifty-five were women, and four were children, one of whom sprang from its mother's womb- while she was consuming, and was Hung into the llames by the spectators. In 1640 the same spirit of papal bigotry occa- sioned in Ireland the butchery of 40,000 Protestants, under circum- stances of aggravated atrocity which a Christian will shudder to peruse. Lewis XIV., the most Christian king and eldest son of the church, starved a million Huguenots at home, and sent another million grazing in foreign countries. INNKEPEE'S BILL IN 1762. The following innkeeper's bill was sent in to the Duke de Nivernois, who supped and breakfasted at an inn in Canterbury, in J 762 ; and considering the value of money at that time, must be deemed extremely moderate : s. d. Tea, coffee, and chocolate 140 Supper for self and servant 15100 Bread and beer 300 Fruit 2 15 Wine and punch 10 8 8 Wax candles and charcoal 3 f Broken glass and china 2 10 ( Lodging 170 Tea, coffee, and chocolate 200 Chaise and horse, for next stage 2160 There were only twelve persons in the whole company. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. Joseph Battaglia, a surgeon of Ponte Bosio, relates the following case : Don. G. Maria Bertholi, a priest of Mount Valerius, went to the fair of Filetto, and afterwards visited a relation in Fenilo, where he intended to pass the night. Before retiring to rest, he was left reading his breviary ; when, shortly afterwards, the family were alarmed by his loud cries and a strange noise in his chamber. On opening the door, he was lying pros- trate on the floor, and surrounded by flickering flames. Battaglia was immediately sent fcr, and on his arrival the unfortunate man was found in a most deplorable state. The integuments of the arms and the back weie either consumed or detached in hanging flaps. The sufferer was Bxifficiently sensible to give an account of himself. He said that he felt, all of a sudden, as if his arm had received a violent blow from a club, and at the same time he saw scintillations of fire .rising from his shirt- sleeves, which were consumed without having burned the wrists ; a handkerchief, which he had tied round his shoulders, between the shirt and the skin, was intact. His drawers were also sound ; but, strange to say, hia silk skull-cap was burnt* while his hair bore no mark* 432 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS) , of combustion. The unfortunate man only survived the event four day*. The circumstances which attended this case would seem to warrant the conclusion that the electric fluid was the chief agent in the combustion. SHOOTING FISH. Our shores have produced a few specimens 01 a richly-coloured fish called Ray's Sea Bream (Brama Rayi), interesting because it represents a family, almost confined to the tropical seas, of very singular forms and habits. The family is named Cheetodontidce, from the principal genus in it. They are very high perpendicularly, but thin and flattened sidewise ; the mouth in some projects into a sort of snout, the fins are frequently much elevated, and send off long filaments. They are generally adorned with highly- contrasted colours, which run in perpendicular bands. They aie often called scaly-finned fishes, because the dorsal and anal are clothed, at least in part, with scales, so as not to be distinguished from the body. The tubular snout of some, as of a little spe- cies which we here repre- sent, is applied to an ex- traordinary use, that of shooting flies ! The fish approaches under a fly which it has discovered", resting on a leaf or twig, a few feet above the wa- ter, taking care not to alarm it by too sudden a motion; then, projecting the tip of its beak from the surface, it shoots a single drop at the insect with so clever an aim, as very rarely to miss it, when it falls into the water and is devoured. Being common in the Indian seas, it is often kept by the Chinese in vases, as we keep golden-fish, for the amusement of witnessing this feat. A fly is fastened at some distance, at which the fish shoots, but, disappointed of course, and wondering that its prey does not fall, it goes on to repeat the discharge for many times in succession, without seeming to take in a fresh stock of ammunition, and scarcely evei missing the mark, though at a distance of three or four feet. EXTRAORDINARY EARTHQUAKES. Around the Papandayang, one of the loftiest mountains in Java, no less than forty villages were reposing in peace. But in August 1772, a remarkable luminous cloud enveloping its top aroused them from their security. But it was too late ; for at once the mountain began to sink into the earth, and soon it had disappeared, with the forty villages and moat of the inhabitants, over a space fifteen miles long and six broad. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 433 Still more extraordinary, the most remarkable on record was an eruption in Sumbawa, one of the Molucca islands, in 1815. It began on the fifth day of April, and did not cease till July. The explosions were heard in one direction nine hundred and seventy miles, and in another seven hundred and twenty miles. So heavy was the fall of ashes at the distance of forty miles that houses were crushed and destroyed. The floating cinders in the ocean, hundreds of miles distant, were two feet thick, and vessels were forced through with difficulty. The darkness in Java, three hundred miles distant, was deeper than the blackest night ; and, finally, out of the twelve thousand inhabitants of the island, only twenty-six survived the catastrophe. BEAUTIFUL AKCH. One of the rarities of architecture is the beautiful arch in the choir of Cannistown Church, not far from Bec- tive, near Trim, in Ireland. Down to the very latest period of Gothic architecture, the original plan of a simple nave, or nave and chancel, was followed, and the chief or only diffe- rence observable in churches of very- late date, from those of the sixth and seventh centuries, consists in the form of the arch-heads, the position of the doorway, the style of the masonry, _- which is usually much better in the - more ancient examples, and the use ,_ of bell-turrets, the cloigeteach, or detached round tower, having answered this purpose during the earlier ages. A beautiful and highly characteristic example of an early pointed church is that at Cannistown. As usual, it con sists of a nave and chancel, and there are the remains of a bell-turret upon the west gable, the usual position. The choir arch is represented in the annexed cut. There are numerous examples of churches of this style scattered over Ireland, but they are usually plain, and the choir arch is generally the plainest feature in the building. As example, we can refer our readers to the churches of Kilbarrack, Dalkey, Kinsale, and Rathmichael, all in the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin. THOMAS CONECTE. There was a Carmelite friar, Thomas Conecte, who, previous to hi being burnt as a heretic at Rome, in 1434, excited the admiration of all Flanders by his vehement sermons against the luxury of the women. His satire was chiefly levelled against their head-dresses, which rose to no enormous a height, that the most exalted head-dresses of a late day were but dwarfs to them. Juvenal des Ursine, who lived at that perioa, 15 4-S4 TEN THOUSAXU WONDERFUL THINGS . declares that, notwithstanding the troubles of the times, the mailem and married ladies rose to prodigious excess in their attire, and wore hair of a surprising height and breadth, having on each side two ears of so unaccountable a size, that it was impossible for them to pass through a door. Their dresses were the hennins of Flanders, which the worthy Carmelite was so inveterate against. He made them dress themselves in a more modest manner. But, alas no sooner had Friar ihornas lett the country than the head-dresses shot up to a greater height than ever. They had only bowed their heads like bullrushes during the storm. Poor Thomas attacked the infallible church itself, and they, in default of better arguments, burnt him. CUEIOUS COINCIDENCES. On the 21st of April, 1770, Lewis XVI. was married. 21st of June, 1770, fifteen hundred people were trampled to death tt tli6 Jcte* 21st of Jan-iary, l~82,fete for the birth of the Dauphin. 2 1st of June. 1791, the flight to Varennes. 21st of September, 1792, the abolition of royalty. 21st of January, 1793, the unfortunate monarch's decapitation. AMrHITHEATRES. The deficiency of theatres erected by the Romans is far more than compensated by the number and splendour of their amphitheatres, which, with their baths, may be considered as the true types of Roman art. K seems almost certain that they derived this class of public buildings from the Etruscans. At Sutri there is a very noble one cut out of ti>e tira rock, which was no doubt used by that people for fes-tnl representati >na long before Home attempted anything of the kind. It is unceitaia wrhether.gladiatorial fights or combats of wild beasts formed any part of the amusements of the arena in those days, though boxing, wrestling, and contests of that description certainly did; but whether the Etruscans actually proceeded to the shedding of blood and slaughter is more than doubtful. Even in the remotest parts of Britain, in Germany, and Gaul, wherever we find a Roman settlement, we find the traces of their amphitheatres. Their soldiery, it seems, could not exist without the enjoyment of seeing men engage in doubtful and mortal combats either killing one another, or torn to pieces by wild beasts. It is not to be wondered at that a people who delighted so much in the bloody scenes of the arena should feel but very little pleasure in the mimic sorrows and tame humour of the stage, ft fitted them, it is true, to be a nation of conquerors, and gave them the empire of the world, but it brought with it feelings singularly inimical to all the softer arts, and was perhaps the great cause of their debasement. As might be expected, the largest and most splendid of thecp build- ings is that which adorns the capital ; and of all the ruins which Rome contains, none have excited such universal admiration as the Flavian wuphitbeatre. Foate, painters, rhapsodists, have exhausted all tbj MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 435 resources of their arts in the attempt to convey to others the overpowering impression this building produces on their own minds. With the single exception, perhaps, of the Hall at Karnac, no ruin has met with such universal admiration as this. Its association with the ancient mistress of the world, its destruction, and the half-prophetic destiny ascribed to it, all contribute to this. Still it must be confessed that " The gladiator's bloody circus standp A noble wreck in ruinous perfection," and worthy of all or nearly all the admiration of which it has been the object. Its interior is almost wholly devoid of ornament, or anything that can be called architecture a vast inverted pyramid. The exterior does not possess one detail which is not open to criticism, and indeed to positive blame. Notwithstanding all this, its mass, its form, and its associations, all combine to produce an effect against which the critic struggles in vain. The length of the building, measured along its greatest diameter, is 620 ft., its breadth 513, or nearly in the ratio of 6 to 5, which may be taken as the general proportion of these buildings, the variations from it being slight, and apparently either mistakes in setting out the work in ancient times, or in measuring it in modern days, rather than an intentional deviation. The height of the 3 lower stories is 120 ft. ; the total height as it now stands, 157 ft. The arena itself measures 287 ft. in length by 180 in breadth, and it is calculated that the building would contain rfO,000 spectators; 50,000 or 60,000 would be much nearer the truth, at least according to the data by which space is calcu- lated in our theatres and public places. HTJXDKED 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 a 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 locking him figuratively to life, and making the hundred persons concerned in his attaining old age. THE DUKE DE KEICHSTADT. At the Imperial Palace of Schonbrun, about five English miles from Vienna, is shown the window fractured by the bullet of the enthusiastic student who shot at Napoleon while he was reviewing the Imperial Guard, and also the apartment he occupied when he made this his head- quarters, instead of entering the city. An additional interest is imparted to the place, by the circumstance of the Duke de Reichstadt having, when taken in, chosen the identical chamber and spot in which his father Napoleon had slept, to close his mortal career : and by a. singular coincidence, the remains of the young prince were subjected to a post-mortem examination upon the same table at which the Emperor had held his councils. In imitation of the military hardihood 02 ilia sire, the young duke was in the habit of exposing himself to sj 436 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; weathers, and keeping guard during successive nights, a practice whieh often called forth from his surgeon, Dr. Malfati, the expressive words, * Rappelez vous, man Prince, que vouz avez un Cceur de Fer dans un Corp de Verre.' MAEY QTTEEN OP SCOTS' CANDLESTICK. Almost every article, however trifling its intrinsic value, and however homely its appearance, which once be- longed to a celebrated individual, is always regarded as an object of interest, and we have, therefore, no hesitation in. presenting our readers with the annexed engraving of one of a pair of candlesticks which were once the property of the unfor- tunate Mary, Queen of Scots. They are made of brass, each of them of eleven and a-half inches in heigth. They are of French manufacture ; the sunk parts are filled up with an inlay of blue, green, and white enamel, very similar to that done at Limoge. These extremely elegant and curious articles are the property of Lord Holland, and are preserved at Holland House, Kensington. Holland House is associated " with the costly magnificence of Rich, with the loves of Ormond, the councils of Cromwell, and the death of Addison." It has been for nearly two centuries and a-half the favourite resort of wits and beauties, of painters and poets, of scholars, philoso- phers, and statesmen. In the life-time of the late Lord Holland, it was the meeting- place of " the Whig Party ;" and his liberal hospitality made it "the resort, not only of the most interesting persons composing English society literary, philosophical, and political, but also to all belonging to those classes who ever visited this country ^from abroad." EXTHAOBDINAEY INSTANCES OF INHUMANITY. In 1534, in the wars of Edward III. with France, Fprdun relates that a Frenchman purchased from the Scots several English prisoners, and that he beheaded them to avenge the death of his father. This senti- mental cruelty can perhaps be paralleled by that of Coccinas, who, at the massacre of Paris, bought many Huguenots, that he might torture them to death for his private satisfaction. Philip Galeas Visconti, Duke of Milan, ^rso & man of H nature so timid, that thunder threw him into MARVELLOUS, RARE, OURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 437 agonies ; yet was he so inhuman, that he could enjoy the shrieks of a female stretched upon a rack. "Wenceslaus, the German Emperor, say Mezeray, Voltaire, and others, roasted his cook alive, for dressing his dinner amiss ; and never had so intimate a friend in Prague as the com- mon executioner ; and even him he put to death at last, for not taking him at his word, when he once had bid him cut his head off, and actually knelt down to receive the stroke. ANCIENT BOMAN LAMPS. The earliest lamps fabricated by the potters of ancient Rome have an open circular body, with a curved projecting rim to prevent the oil from spilling, and occur both in terra-cotta, and also in the black glazed ware found in the sepulchres of Nola. Many have a projecting hollow pipe in the centre, in order to fix them to a stick on the top of a candelabrum. These lamps have no handles. They may have been placed in the saeella or lararia, and were turned on the potter's wheel. The shoe-shaped is the most usual, with a round body, a projecting spout or nozzle having a hole for the wick, and a small annular handle, which is more or less raised. A singular variety of lamp, well adapted for a table, was fitted into a kind of small altar, the sides of which were ornamented with re- liefs. Several however, from their unusual shape, may be considered as fancy ware, the upper part, or the whole lamp, being moulded into the resemblance of some ob- ject. Such are lamps in the Bri- tish Museum in the shape of a female head surmounted by a fiower, or of the head of a negro or Nubian with open jaws, through which the wick was inserted. Most of these lamps appear to have been made between the age of Augustus and that of Cpnstantine. The style, of course best at the earlier period of the empire, degenerates under the later emperors, such as Philip and Maximus, and becomes at last Byzantine and bad. Most lamps had only one wick, but the light they afforded must have been feeble, and consequently some have two wicks, the nozzle for which project beyond the body of the lamp. In the same manner were fabri- cated lamps of three, five, and seven wicks. If more were required the nozzles did not project far beyond the body of the lamp, which was then moulded in a shape adapted for the purpose, and especially the favourite one of a galley. Sometimes a conglomeration of small lamps was manu- factured in a row, or in a serrated shape, which enabled the purchaser to obtain what light he required ; still the amount of illumination must have been feeble. As many as twenty wicks have been found in some lamps. The greater number average from three to four inches long, and ona inch high ; the walls are about one-eighth of an inch thick, and toa 438 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; circular handles not more than one inch in diameter. Some of the lar?rr lamps, however, are about nine inches or a foot long, with handles eight or nine inches high. AN ECCENTEIC ENGLISHMAN. Mr. Henry Hastings, a most singular character, and genuine sportsman lived in the time of James and Charles I. Mr. Hastings was second son to the Earl of Huntingdon ; and inherited a good estate in Dorsetshire from his mother. He was one of the keepers of New Forest, Hampshire ; and resided in the lodge there during a part of e\ery summer season. But his principal residence was at "Woodlands, in Dorsetshire, where he had a capital mansion. One of his nearest neighbours, was the Lord Chancellor Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury. Two men could not be more opposite in their disposition and pursuits. They had little communication therefore ; and their occasional meetings were rendered more disagreeable to both from their opposite sentiments in politics. Lord Shaftesbury, who was the younger man, was the survivor ; and the following account of Mr. Hastings is said to have been the production of his pen. " Mr. Hastings was low of stature, but very strong, and very active ; of a ruddy complexion, with flaxen hair. His clothes were always of green cloth" His house was of the old fashion ; in the midst of a "large park, well stocked with deer, rabbits, and fish-ponds. He had a long narrow bowling-green in it ; and used to play with round sand-bowls. Here, too, he had a banqueting-room built, like a stand in a large tree. He kept all sorts of hounds, that ran buck, fox, hare, otter, and badger; and had hawks of all kinds, both long and short-winged. His great hall was commonly strewed with marrow-bones ; and full of hawk-perches, hounds, spaniels, and terriers. The upper end of it was hung with fox- skins of this and the last year's killing. Here and there a pole-cat was intermixed ; and hunter's poles in great abundance. The parlour was a large room, completely furnished in the same style. On a broad hearth, paved with bricks, lay some of the choicest terriers, hounds, and spaniels. One or two of the great chairs had litters of cats in them, which were not to be disturbed. Of these, three or four always attended him at dinner ; and a little white wand lay by his trencher, to defend it, if they were too troublesome. In the windows, which were very large, lay his arrows, cross-bows, and other accoutrements. The corners of the room were filled with his best hunting 'and hawking poles. His oyster-table stood at the lower end of the room, which was in constant use twice a day, all the year round ; for he never failed to eat oysters both at dinner and supper ; with which the neighbouring town of Poole supplied him. At the upper end of the room stood a small table with a double desk ; one side of which held a church Bible ; the other, the Book of Martyrs. On different tables of the room lay hawks' hoods ; bells, old hats with their crowns thrust in, full of pheasants' eggs, tables, dice, cards, and a store of tobacco pipes. At one end of this room was a door, which opened into a closet, where stood bottles of strong beer and wine, which never came out but in single glasses, which was the rule of the house ; tot he never exceeded himself, nor permitted others to exceed. Answering MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS. AND QUAIXT. 439 to thib closet was a door into an old chapel, which had been long disused for devotion ; but, in the pulpit, as the safest place, was always to be found a cold chine of beef, a venison pasty, a gammon of bacon, or a great apple-pie with thick crust, well baked. His table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except on Fridays, when he had the best of fish. He never wanted a London pudding; and he always sang it in with, " My part lies therem-a."Re drank a glass or two of wine at meals ; put syrup at gilly-flowers into his sack ; and had always a tun-glass of small-beer standing by him, which he often stirred about with rosemary. He lived to be an hundred ; and never lost his eye-sight, nor used spectacles. He got on horseback without help ; and ro'de to the death of the stag, till he was past fourscore." PEltrUilED BANQUETS OF THE ANCIENTS. A very remarkable peculiarity in the banquets of the ancients was, their not confining the resources of the table to the gratification of one sense alone. Having exhausted their invention in the confection of stimulants for the palate, they broke new ground, and called in another sense to their aid ; and by the delicate application of odours and richly- distilled perfumes, these refined voluptuaries aroused the fainting appe- tite, and added a more exquisite and ethereal enjoyment to the grosser pleasures of the board. The gratification of the sense of smelling (a (sense held by us in very undeserved neglect, probably on account of its delicacy) was a subject of no little importance to the Romans. However this may be, it is certain that the Romans considered flowers as forming a very essential article in their festal preparations ; and it is the opinion of Bassius, that at their desserts the number of llowers far exceeded that of fruits. When Nero supped in his Golden House, a mingled shower of flowers and odorous essences fell upon him ; and one of Heliogabalus' recreations was to smother his courtiers with flowers, of whom it may be said, they " died of a rose in aromatic pain." Nor was it entirely as an object of luxury that the ancients made use of flowers ; they were con- sidered to possess sanative and medicinal qualities. According to Pliny, Athensous, and Plutarch, certain herbs and flowers were of sovereign power to prevent the approaches of ebriety, or, as Bassius less clearly expresses it, clarify the functions of the brain. CHINESE BRIDGES. Of Chinese bridges, some have been very much exaggerated in the accounts by Du Halde and the missionaries, as it appears from the later reports concerning the bridge at Foo-chow-foo, visited during the unsuccessful commercial voyage of the ship " Amherst," in 1832, and since the war become familiar to our countrymen. This same bridge, which proved a very poor structure after all, had been extolled by the Jesuits as something quite extraordinary. A bridge of ninety-one arches, being in fact a very long causeway, was passed by Lord Mac- artney between Soo-chow and Hang-chow, and near the Lake called Tcw-hoo. The Mgbest arch, however, was supposed to be betwcu 440 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J twenty ind thirty feet in height, and the whole length of the causeway half a mile. It was thrown across an arm of the lake, on the eastern side of the canal. The late Sir George Staunton observed a bridge between Peking and Tartary, built across a river which was subject to being swelled by mountain floods. This was erected upon caissons of wattles filled with stones. It appeared to have been built with ex- pedition, and at small cost, where the most solid bridge would be endangered by inundations. The caissons were fixed by large per- pendicular spars, and over the whole were laid planks, hurdles, and gravel. It was only in Keang-nan that solid bridges were observed to be thrown over the canal, being constructed of coarse grey marble, or of a reddish granite. Some of the arches were semicircular, others the transverse section of an ellipse, and others again approached the shape of a horse-shoe, or Greek Q, the space being widest at top. In the ornamental bridges that adorn gardens and pleasure-grounds, the arch is often of height sufficient to admit a boat under sail, and the bridg? is ascended by steps. All the stones of a Chinese arch are commonly wedge-shaped, their sides forming radii which converge towards the centre of the curve. It is observable that, according to the opinion of Captain Parish, who surveyed and made plans of the Great Wall, no masonry could be superior to it. The arched and vaulted work was considered by him as exceedingly well turned. The Chinese, therefore, must have under- stood the construction and properties of the arch long before the Greeks and Romans, whose original and most ancient edifices consisted of columns, connected by straight architraves, of bulk sufficient to support the incumbent pressure of solid masonry. SOCIABLE WEA.VEE-BIED. There are some birds whose social instinct impels them to live in com- pany, and to unite their powers in the construction of a common edifice : in this respect resembling the Beaver among quadrupeds, and the Bee among insects. Among these we may mention the Ani ( Crotophaga ant) f the West Indies ; the Pensile Grosbeak (Lo~ia pensilii] of West Africa ; MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 441 &nd the Bottle-nested Sparrow of India : but more remarkable than any of these is the Sociable Grosbeak (Loxia socialis) of South Africa, -whose habits are described by Le Vaillant. " Figure to yourself," says this enterprising traveller, " a huge, irre- gular, sloping roof, with all the eaves completely covered with nests, crowded close together, and you will have a tolerably correct idea of theso singular edifices." The birds commence this structure by forming the immense canopy of a mass of grass, so compact and firmly basketed together as to be impenetrable to the rain. This sometimes surrounds a large tree, giving it, but for the upper branches, somewhat the form of a mushroom. Beneath the eaves of this canopy the nests are formed ; the NJiST OF SOCIABLE WEAV upper surface is not used for this purpose, but as it is sloping, with a projecting rim, it serves to let the rain-water run off, and preserves each little dwelling from the wet. Le Vaillant procured one of these great shelters, and cut it in pieces with a hatchet : the chief portion consisted of Boshman's grass, so compact as to be impenetrable by rain. Each nest eter, which is sufficient for th is three or four inches in diameter, which is sufficient for the bird ; but, as they are all close together around the eaves, they appear to the eye to form but one building, and, in fact, are distinguishable from each other only by a little external aperture, which serves as an entrance to the nest. This large nest contained 320 inhabited cells. WOLVES IN ENGLAND. King Edward the First commissioned Peter Corbet to destroy the wolves in the counties of Gloucester, "Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and Stafford ; and ordered John Gifford to hunt them in all the forests of England. The forest of Chiltern was infested by wolves and wild bulls in the time of Edward the Confessor. "William the Conqueror granted the lordship of Eiddesdale, in Northumberland, to Robert de Umfraville, 15* 442 TE N THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , on condition of defending that part of the country against enemies and wolves. King John gave a premium of ten shillings for catching two wolves. In the reign of King Henry the Third Vitalis de Engaine held the manors of Laxton and Pitchley, in the county of Northampton, by the service of hunting the wolf, whenever the king should command him. In the reign of Edward the First, it was found by inquisition that John de Engaine held the manor of Great Gidding, in the county of Hunting- don, by the service of hunting the hare, fox, wild cat, and wolf, within the counties of Huntingdon, Northampton, Buckingham, Oxford, and Rutland. In the reign of Edward the Third, Thomas de Engaine held certain manors by the service of finding, at his own proper cost, certain dogs for the destruction of wolves, foxes, martins, and wild cats in the counties of Northampton, Rutland, Oxford, Essex, and Buckingham. TEMPLES OF BKAMBANAM. In the island of Java, and not far from the ruins of Boro Buddor, are situated the Buddhist temples of Brambanam ; certainly one of the most extraordinary groups of buildings of its class, and very unlike anything we now find in India ; though there can scarcely be a doubt but that the whole is derived from an Indian original now lost. The great temple is a square building above 45 ft. square, and 75 ft. high, terminating upwards in an octagonal straight-lined pyramid. On each face of this is a smaller temple of similar design joined to the great one by corridors ; the whole five thus constituting a cruciform building. It is raised upon a richly ornamented square base. One of the smaller temples serves as an entrance-porch. The building itself is very curiously and richly ornamented with sculpture ; but the most remark- able feature of the whole group is the multitude of smaller temples which surround the central one, 239 in number. Immediately beyond the square terrace which supports the central temple stand 28 of these, forming a square of 8 on each side, counting the angular ones both ways. Beyond these, at a distance of 35 ft., is the second square, 44 in number ; between this and the next row is a wide space of above 80 ft., in which only 6 temples are situated, two in the centre of the north and south faces, and one on each of the others. The two outer rows of temples are situated close to one another, back to back, and are 160 in number, each face of the square they form being about 525 ft. All these 239 temples are similar to one another, about 12 ft. square at the base, and 22 ft. high, all richly carved and ornamented, and in every one is a small square cell, in which was originally placed a cross-legged figure, probably of one of the Jaina saints, though the drawings which have been hitherto published do not enable us to determine whom they repre- sent the persons who made them not being aware of the distinction between Buddhist and Jaina images. The date given to these monuments by the natives is about the 9th or lOtn century, at which time the Jains were making great progress at Gmerat and the western parts of India ; and if the traditions are to be relied upon, which bring the Hindu colonists of Java from that quarter, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 443 it is almost certain that they would have brought that religion with them. If the age, however, that is assigned to them be correct, they are specimens of an earlier date and form than anything we now find in India, and less removed from the old Buddhist type than anything that new remains there. GRAHAM ISLAND. The most recent instance of subaqueous eruption, with which we are acquainted is that which produced Hotham or Graham Island, in the year 1831. This island was thrown up in the Mediterranean, between the south-west coast of Sicily and the African coast, in latitude 37 8' 30" north, and longitude 12 42' 15" east. The eruption seems to have been first observed by John Corrao, the captain of a Sicilian vessel, who passing near to the spot on the 10th of July, observed an immense column of water ejected from the sea to the height of sixty feet, and about eight hundred yards in circumference. On the 1 6th of July, Corrao again passed the same spot, and he found that a small island had been formed, twelve feet high, with a crater in the centre, from which immense columns of vapour and masses of volcanic matter were ejected. The island was afterwards visited by several scientific gentlemen, and is said to have been two hundred feet high, and three miles in circum- ference, on the 4th of August. But from this time the island decreased in size ; for being composed of loose scoriffi and pumice, it was rapidly acted upon by the water ; and on the 3rd of September, when carefully measured by Captain Wodehouse, was only three-fifths of a mile in circumference, and one hundred and seven feet high. At the end of October the island had entirely disappeared, except one small point com- posed of sand and scoria3. Captain Swinburne examined the spot in the beginning of the year 1832, and found an extensive shoal to occupy the place where the island had once been. In 1833 there was a dangerous reef, of an oval form, three-fifths of a mile in circumference. A ROYAL SPORTSMAN. "When the King of Naples (the greatest sportsman in Europe) was in Germany, about the year 1792, it was said in the German papers, that in the different times he had been shooting in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia, he had killed 5 bears, 1,820 wild boars, 1,968 stags, 13 wolves, 354 foxes, 15, 350 pheasants, 1,121 rabbits, 16,354 hares, 1,625 she-goata, 1,625 roe-bucks, and 12,435 partridges. LIFE IN DEATH. The wife of the consul of Cologne, Retchmuth, apparently died of th plague, in 1571 ; a ring of great value, with which she was buried, tempted the cupidity of the grave-digger, and was the cause of many future years of happiness. At night the purloiner marched to his plun- der, and she revived. She lived to be the mother of three children, and, when deceased in reality, was re-buried in the same church, where a monument was erected, reciting the particulars above stated in German 444 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ferae. A. woman of Poictiers, being buried with four rings, tempted th resurrection-man, who awoke the woman in the attempt, as he was rather rude in his mode of possessing them. She called out ; he, being frightened, fled. The lady walked home, recovered, and had many children afterwards. EOCK-CUT MONUMENTS OF ASIA MINOR. The engraving below represents an example of rock-cut monuments which are found at Doganlu, in Asia Minor. They are placed on the rocky side of a narrow valley, and unconnected apparently with any great city or centre of population. Generally they are called tombs, but there are no chambers nor anything about them to indicate a funereal purpose, and the inscriptions which accompany them are not on the monuments themselves, nor do they refer to such a purpose. Alto- gether, they are certainly among the most mysterious remains of anti- quity, and, beyond a certain similarity to the rock-cut tombs around Persepolis, it is not easy to point out any monuments that afford even & remote analogy to guide us in our conjectures. They are of a style of art clearly indicating a wooden origin, and consist of a square frontis- piece, either carved into certain geometric shapes, or prepared apparentJy tor painting ; at each side is a flat pilaster, and above a pediment termi- nating in two scrolls. Some, apparently the more modern, have pillars of a rude Doric order, and all indeed are much more curious than beau- MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 445 tiftu. When more of the same class are discovered, they may help us to BOine historic data : all that we can now say of them is, that, judging from their inscriptions and the traditions in Herodotus, they seem to belong to some Indo-Germanic race from Thessaly, or thereabouts, who had crossed the Hellespont and settled in their neighbourhood ; and their date is possibly as far back as 1000, and most probably before 700 B.C. 1BCH OF TKAJAN AT BENEVENTI7M. Triumphal arches were among the most peculiar forms of art whicb the Romans borrowed from those around them, and used with that strange mixture of splendour and bad taste which characterises all their works. These were in the first instance no doubt borrowed from the Etruscans, as was also the ceremony of the triumph with which they were ulti- mately associated. At first they seem rather to have been used as festal entrances to the great public roads, whose construction was con- sidered as one of the most important benefits a ruler could confer on his country. There was one erected at Rimini in honour of an important restoration of the Flanunian Way by Augustus; another at Susa ID 446 TEH THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; Piedmont, to commemorate a similar act of the same Emperor. Trajan built one on the pier at Ancona, when he restored that harbour, and another at Beneventum, when he repaired the Via Appia, represented in the woodcut here given. It is one of the best preserved as well as most graceful of its class in Italy. The arch of the Sergii at Pola in Istria seems also to have been erected for a like purpose. That of Hadrian at Athens, and another built by him at Antinoe in Egypt, were monuments merely commemorative of the benefits which he had conferred on those cities by the architectural works he had erected within their walls. By far the most important application of these gateways, in Rome at least, wa to commemorate a triumph which may have passed along the road over which the arch was erected beforehand, for the triumphal procession to pass through, of which it would remain a memorial. JUDGES' SALARIES. In the reign of Henry III. the King's Justices enjoyed a salary of ten marks per annum, which, in the twenty-third year of that King, was augmented to twenty pounds, and soon after to more. Under Henry IV. the Chief Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas had forty nds, and one of the judges of Common Pleas had fifty-five marks. 466, the salary of Thomas Littleton, judge of the King's Bench, amounted to 136 13s. 4d. modern money ; besides about 17 7s. fo his fur-gown, robes, &c. EXTRAORDINARY OAK. Gilpin, in his " Forest Scenery," says, " Close by the gate of the water -walk at Magdalen College, in Oxford, grew an oak, which per- haps stood there a sapling when Alfred the Great founded the university. This period only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no great age for an oak. It is a difficult matter indeed to ascertain the age of a tree. The age of a castle or abbey is the object of history ; even a common house is recorded by the families that built it. All these objects arrive at maturity in their youth, if I may so speak. But the tree, gradually completing its growth, is not worth recording in the early part of its existence. It is then only a common tree ; and afterwards, when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of its youth is lost. This tree, however, can almost produce historical evidence for the age assigned to it. About five hundred years after the time of Alfred, William of "VTainfleet, Dr. Stukely tells us, expressly ordered his col- lege to be founded near the Great Oak ; and an oak could not, I think, be less than five hundred years of age to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site of a college. When the magnificence of Cardinal Wolsev erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian of its glory, or rather, perhaps, it had attained a green old age. But it must have been manifestly in its decline at that memorable era when the tyranny of James gave the fellows of Magdalen so noble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry and superstition. It was afterwards much Injured in Charles the Second's time, when the present walks were laid MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 447 out. Its roots were disturbed, and from that period it declined fast, and became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere trunk. The oldest members of the university can scarcely recollect it in better plight. But the faithful records of history have handed down its ancient dimensions. Through a space of sixteen yards on every side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men, though in its decayed state it could for many years do little more than shelter some luckless individual whom the driving shower had overtaken in his evening walk. In the summer of 1788, this magnificent ruin fell to the ground, alarming the college with its rushing sound. It then appeared how precariously it had stood for many years. Its grand tap-root was decayed, and it had hold of the earth only by two or three roots, of which none was more than a couple of inches in diameter. From a part of its ruins a chair has been made for the President of the College, which will long continue its memory." ECCENTRIC ADVERTISEMENT. The following strange advertisement is copied from the Harleian MSS. : " In Novafert Animus. These are to give notice, (for the benefit of the public,) that there is newly arrived from his travels, a gentleman, who, after above forty years' study, hath, by a wonderful blessing on his endeavours, discovered, as well the nature as the infallible cure of several strange diseases, which (though as yet not known to the world) he will plainly demonstrate to any ingenidus artist, to be the greatest causes of the most common distempers incident to the body of man. The names of which take as follow : The strong fives The marthambles The moon-pall The hockogrocle. " Now, though the names, natures, symptoms, and several cures of these diseases, are altogether unknown to our greatest physicians, and the particular knowledge of them would (if concealed) be a vast advan- tage to the aforesaid person ; yet, he well knowing that his country's good is to be preferred to his private interest, doth hereby promise ail sorts of people, a faithful cure of all or any of the diseases aforesaid, at as reasonable rates as our modern doctors have for that of any common distemper. " He is spoken with at the ordinary hours of business, at the Three Compasses, in Maiaon-lane." MODERN EGYPTIAN FEMALE ORNAMENTS. Among the many ornaments which the women of Egypt in modern times are so fond of wearing, none is more curious or more generally worn than the Ckoo 'r. It is a round convex ornament, commonly about five inches in diameter, of which there are two kinds. The first that we shall describe, and which is the only kind worn by ladiea, or by the wives of tradesman of moderate property, is the ckoor't abiia't, or diamond 448 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ckoor's. This is composed of diamonds set generally in gold ; and is open work, representing roses, leaves, &c. The diamonds are commonly of a very poor and shallow kind ; and the gold of this and all other diamond ornaments worn in Egypt is much alloyed with copper. The value of a moderately handsome diamond ckoor's is about a hundred and twenty-five, or a hundred and fifty pounds sterling. It is very seldom made of silver ; and I think that those of gold, when attached to ths deep red turboo'sh, have a richer effect, though not in accordance with our general taste. The wives even of petty tradesmen sometimes wear the diamond ckoor's : they are extremely fond of diamonds, and generally endeavour to get some, however bad. The ckoor 's, being of considerable weight, is at first painful to wear ; and women who are in the habit of wear- ing it complain of headache when they take it off : hence they retain it day and night ; but some have an inferior one for the bed. Some ladies have one for ordinary wearing, another for particular occasions, a little larger and handsomer; and a third merely to wear in bed. The other kind of ckoor's, ckoor's dah'db (or, of gold), is a convex plate of very thin em- bossed gold, and almost always a false emerald (a piece of green glass), not cut with facets, set in the centre. Neither the emerald nor the ruby are here cut with facets : if so cut, they would generally be considered false. The simple goH ckoor's is lined with a thick coat of wax, which is covered with a piece of paper. It is worn by many women who can- not afford to purchase diamonds ; and even by some servants. ANTIQUE ROMAN MEDICINE STAMP. By far the most remarkable of the recently discovered remains of the Roman occupants of Scotland is a medicine stamp, acquired "by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, along with a very valuable collection MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 449 of antiquities, bequeathed to them by E. "W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., formerly one of the secretaries of the society. From his notes it appears that it was found ;in the immediate vicinity of Trenent Church, East Lothian, in a quantity of debris, broken tiles, and brick-dust, which may not improbably have once formed the residence and laboratory of Lucius Vallatinus, the Roman oculist, whose name this curious reuc supplies. It consists of a small cube of pale green stone, two and three-fifth inches in length, and engraved on two sides as in the annexed woodcut ; the letters being reversed for the purpose of stamping the unguents or other medicaments retailed by its original possessor. The inscriptions admit of being extended thus on the one side: L. VALLATINI EVODES AD CICATRICES ET ASPBiTuprxES, which may be rendered The evodes of Lucius Vallatinus for cicatrices and granulations. The reverse, though in part somewhat more obscure, reads : x. VAXLATINT A PAL CROCODES AD DIATHESES The crocodes, or preparation of saffron, of L. Vallatinus, of the Palatine School, (?) for affections of the eyes. Both the Euodes and the Crocodes are prescriptions given by Galen, and occur on other medicine stamps. Several examples have been found in England, and many in France and Germany, supplying the names of their owners and the terms of their preparations. Many of the latter indicate their chief use for diseases of the eye, and hence they have most commonly received the name of Roman oculists' stamps. No example, however, except the one figured here, has ever occurred in Scotland ; and amid legionary Inscriptions, military votive altars, and sepulchral tablets, it is peculiarly interesting to stumble on this intelligent memento, restoring to us tho name of the old Roman physician who ministered to the colonists of the Lothians the skill, and perchance also the charlatanry, of the healing art. CA1TDLES IX THE CHURCH. In the formulae of Marculphus, edited by Jerome Bignon, he tell? u, with respect to lights, that the use of them was of great antiquity in t:,e Church; that the primitive Christians made use of then ID Ui* 450 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFVL THINGS , assemblies which they held before day out of necessity ; and that after- wards they were retained even in daylight, as tokens of joy, and in honour of the Deity. Lactantius says, speaking of the absurdities of the wax lights in Itomish churches, " They light up candles to God, as if he lived in the dark ; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen who offer lamps and candles to the author and giver of light ?" It is really astounding to our ideas that wax candles as long as Serjeants' pikes should be held as necessary in the worship of God. That it is so held, and that by a large class of Christians, every one must allow, for they may have occular demonstration of the singular fact. The show is however extremely imposing. Thirty-five thousand seven hun- dred and fifty pounds of wax lights were burned every year, for nine hundred masses said in the castle of "Wittemburgh ! Philip Melancthon speaks of a Jesuit who said that ' ' he would not extinguish one taper, though it were to convert all the Huguenots" (Protestants). A BICH AND CBTTEL CRIMINAL. John Ward, Esq. of Hackney, Member of Parliament, being prosecuted by the Duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first ex- pelled the House, and then stood on the pillory on the 17th of March, 1727. He was suspected of joining in a conveyance with Sir John Blount, to secrete 50,000 of that director's estate, forfeited to the South Sea Company by Act of Parliament. The Company recovered the 50,000 against Ward ; but he set up prior conveyances of his real estate to his brother and son, and concealed all his personal, which was computed to be 150,000. These conveyances being also set aside by a bill in chancery, Ward was imprisoned, and hazarded the forfeiture of his life, by not giving in his effects till the last day, which was that of his examination. During his confinement, his amusement was to give poison to dogs and cats, and see them expire by slower or quicker tor- ments. To sum up the worth of this man, at the several eras of his life ; at his standing in the pillory, he was worth above 200,000 ; at his com- mitment to prison, he was worth 150, COO. FOOD OF THE ANCIENTS. The diversity of substances which we find in the catalogue of articles of food is as great as the variety with which the art or the science of cookery prepares them. The notions of the ancients on this most im- portant subject are worthy of remark. Their taste regarding meat was various. Beef they considered the most substantial food: hence it con- stituted the chief nourishment of their athletae. Camels' and drome- daries' flesh was much esteemed, their heels most especially. Donkey- flesh was in high repute : Maecenas, according to Pliny, delighted in it ; and the wild ass, brought from Africa, was compared to venison. In more modern times we find Chancellor Dupret having asses fattened for his table. The hog and the wild boar appear to have been held in great estimation; and a hog was called "animal propter convivia natum ;" but the classical portion of the sow was somewhat singular "vulva nil dulcius ampla." Their mode of killing swine was as refined ia barbarity MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. (il tL& in epicurism. Plutarch tells us that the gravid sow was actually trampled to death, to form a delicious mass fit for the gods. At othe/ times, pigs were slaughtered with red-hot spits, that tne blood might nc be lost. Stuffing a pig with assafoetida and various small animals, was & luxury called " porcus Trojanus ;" alluding, no doubt, to the warriors who were concealed in the Trojan horse. Young bears, dogs, and foxes, (the latter more esteemed when fed upon grapes,) were also much ad- mired by the Romans ; who were also so fond of various birds, that some consular families assumed the names of those they most esteemed. Catius tells us how to drown fowls in Falernian wine, to render them more luscious and tender. Pheasants were brought over from Colchis, ana deemed at one time such a rarity, that one of the Ptolemies bitterly lamented his never having tasted any. Peacocks were carefully reared in the island of Samos, and sold at such a high price, that Varro informs us they fetched yearly upwards of 2,000 of our money. THE EARLIEST ENGLISH BIBLE. The first translation of any part of the Holy Scriptures into English that was committed to the press was the New Testament, translated from the Greek, by "William Tyndale, with the assistance of John Foye and William Roye, and printed first in 1526, in octavo. Tyndale published afterwards, in 1530, a translation of the Five Books of Moses, and of Jonah, in 1531, in octavo. An English trans- lation of the Psalter, done from the Latin of Martin Bucer, was also published at Strasburgh in 1530, by Francis Foye, in octavo. And the same book, together with Jeremiah and the Song of Moses, were like- wise published in 1534, in duodecimo, by George Joye, sometime Fellow of Peter-House in Cambridge. The first time the whole Bible appeared in English was in the year 1 535, in folio. The translator and publisher was Miles Coverdale, after- wards Bishop of Exeter, who revised Tyndale's version, compared it with the original, and supplied what had been left untranslated by Tyn- dale. It was printed at Zurich, and dedicated to King Henry the Eighth. This was the Bible, which by Cromwell's injunction of Sep- tember, 1536, was ordered to be laid in churches. GKEAT ERtTPTION OP MOUNT ETNA. One of the most remarkable eruptions of this mountain was that which occurred in the year 1669, which was so violent that fifteen towns and villages were destroyed, and the stream was so deep that the lava flcwed over the walls of Catania, sixty feet in height, and destroyed a part of the city. But the most singular circumstance connected with this eruption was the formation of a number of extensive fissures, which appeared as though filled with intumescent rock. At the very com- mencement of the volcanic excitement, one was formed in the plain cf St. Lio, twehe miles in length and six feet broad, which ejected a vivid fiame, and shortly after five others were opened. The town of Nicolosi, situated twenty miles from the summit of Etna, was destroyed by earth- quake ; and near the place where it stood two gulfs were formed, from 452 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THIKG8 ; tthich so large a quantity of sand and scoriae was thrown, that a oone, called Mount Rossi, four hundred and fifty feet high, was produced ia *bout three months. AMULETS WOEN BY MODERN EGYPTIAN FEMALES. One of the most remarkable traits in modern Egyptian superstition is the belief in written charms. The composition of most of these amulets is founded upon magic, and occasionally employs the pen of almost every rillage schoolmaster in Egypt. A person of, this description, however, seldom pursues the study of magic further than to acquire the formula) of a few charms, commonly consisting, for the greater part, of certain passages of the Koran, and names of God, together with those of spirits, genii, prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed -with combinations of numerals, and with diagrams, all of which are. supposed to have great secret virtues. The amulet thus composed, or hhega'b, as it is called, is - covered with waxed cloth, to pre- Jl serve it from accidental pollution, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string, or a chain, hung on the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed over the left shoulder. Sometimes these casea bear Arabic inscriptions, such as Ma'sha-llali" (God's will") and "Ya'cha'dee el-hhaga't" ("0 decreer of the things that are needful !") We here insert an engraving of three hhega'bs of gold, attached to a string, to be worn together. The central one is a thin, flat case, containing a folded paper: it is about a third of an inch thick ; the others are cylindrical cases, with hemispherical ends, and contain scrolls : each has a row of burck along the bottom. Hhega'bs such as these, or of a triangular form, are worn by many children, as well as women ; and those of the latter form are attached to a child's head-dress. PERSONAL OENAMENTS OP THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. The passion of the Egyptians for decorative jewellery was indeed ex- cessive. Men as well as women delighted thus to adorn themselves ; and the desire was not confined to the higher ranks, for though the subordinate classes could not afford the sparkling gems and precious metals which glowed upon the persons of their superiors, their vanity was gratified by humbler imitations, of bronze, glass, and porcelain. " Costly and elegant ornaments," observes Professor Rosselini, ' ' abounded in proportion as clothing in general was simple and scarce among the Egyptians. Girdles, necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, and amulets of various kinds suspended from the neck, are found represented in the paint- ing, and in fact still exist on the mummies. Figures of noble youths are found entirely devoid of clothing, but richly ornamented with necklaces snd other 1 jewels." MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, ASD QUAINT. 453 An immense number of these "jewels of silver and iewels of gold" have been found in the tombs, and on the persons of mum- mies, and are deposited in profusion in every museum. The accom- panying engravings -will give an idea of the style and form of some of them. The ear-rings generally worn by the ladies were large, round, single hoops (as a) from 1^ inches to 2 inches in diameter; and frequently of a still greater size ; or made of six rings soldered together (as 6) ; sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold, set with precious stones, was worn by persons of rank as a fashionable caprice. Figures c, d, of gold bear the heads of fanciful animals ; e, also of gold, is remark- able for its singularity of form, and for the delicacy of its workman- ship ; and f for its carrying two pearls and being double in its construction. Bracelets, armlets, and anklets \v er e worn by men as well as by women ; they were usually of gold, frequently set with precious stones, or inlaid with enamel. The one marked a in the annexed cut is now in the Leyden Museum: it is of gold, 3 inches in diameter, and 1 inches in height, and is in- teresting, because it belonged to the Pharaoh whom we conclude to have been the patron and friend of Joseph, Thothmes III., whose name it bears. The armlet b is of gold, and repre- sents a snake ; the other, c, is of bronze. Rings were worn in profu- sion, gold being the material chiefly selected. Some resemble watch seals of the present day sometimes the stone having four "flat sides, all en- graved, turned on a pivot, like some seals seen at present One of this character, which Sir J. G. Wilkinson estimates to contain 201. worth of gold, is represented at d in the above engraving. It consists of a massive nng of gold, bearing an oblong plinth of the same metal, an inch in length, and more than half an inch in its greatest width. On one side ia en-raved the hieroglyph - t , name of Stores, the successor of Amunoph 111. ; the three others contain respectively a scorpion, a rooodile, and a 454 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; GUEAT PEAR THEE. The most remarkable pear tree in England stands on the glehe of tH parish of Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire. "When the brandies of this tree, in its original state, became long and heavy, their extremities drooped till they reached the ground. They then took root ; each branch became a new tree, and in its turn produced others in the same way. Eventually it extended itself until it covered more than an acre of ground, and would probably have reached much further if it had been suffered to dp so. It is stated in the church register, that " the great natural curiosity, the great pear tree upon the glebe, adjoining to the vicarage-house, produced this year (1 776) fourteen hogsheads of perry, each hogshead containing one hundred gallons." Though now much reduced in size, it is still healthy and vigorous, and generally produces from two to live hogsheads. The liquor is not of a good quality, being very strong and heating. An idea of the superior size of this tree, when in its prime, over others of the same kind, may be formed from the fact, that in the same county, an acre of ground is usually planted with thirty trees, which, in a good soil, produce annually, when full grown, twenty gallons of perry each. So large a quantity as a hogshead from one tree is very unusual. The sorts principally used for perry are such as have an austere juice. LAW OF THE MOZCAS. A very remarkable law prevailed among the Mozcas, one of the tribes of the Nuevo Iteyno de Granada. There, as among more advanced nations, the king could do no wrong ; but the subordinate chiefs could. These chiefs were men, the people reasoned, like themselves ; they could not be punished by their vassals, for there would be a natural unfitness in that ; the king, it seems, was not expected to interfere, except in cases of state offences ; the power of punishment, therefore, was vested in their wives ; and a power it was, says Piedrahita, which they exercised famously whenever it fell to them to be judges of their poor husbands. The conqueror Quesada calling one morning upon the chief of a place called Suesca, found him under the hands of his nine wives, who were tying him, and having done so, proceeded, in spite of dueseda's intercession, to flog him one after the other. His offence was. that some Spaniards the night before had lodged in his house, and he had partaken too freely of their Spanish wine. Drunkenness was one of the sins which fell under the cognizance of his wives : they carried him to bed that he might sleep himself sober, and then awoke him in the morning to receive the rigour of the law. LARGEST METAL STATUE IN THE WORLD. Arona is an island on the Lago Maggiore, and has a strong castle. Upon an eminence is a statue of bronze to St. Charles Borromeo, from whom the hill is called, Monte di S. Carlo. The statue was erected by the Pope in 1624, in memory of the Saint, who was Archbishop of Milan. The pedestal of the statue is thirty -six feet high. It is the largest metal statue in existence ; and the height of the statue itself is seventy- MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 4^5 two feet, making a total of 108 feet. Fifteen persons may get into the saint's head, which will also accommodate four persons and a table on which they can dine. The cost is said to have been one million one hundred Milanaise livres. THE OAK OF MAMRE. In onj remarkable instance the Jews, the Christians, and the pagan Arabs united in religious feelings. This was in their reverence for the Oak of Mamre, where the angels appeared to Abraham : for Abraham's sake the Jews held the place holy ; the Arabs for the angels' ; the Christians, because, in their ignorance of their Scriptures, they affirmed that the Son of God had accompanied those angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. An annual fair was held there, and every man sacrificed after the manner of his country ; nor was the meeting ever disgraced by any act of intemperance or indecency. Nothing had been done to injure the venerable antiquity of the place. There was nothing but the well whicli Abraham had dug, and the buildings which he had inhabited, beside the oak. These remains were destroyed by order of Constantine, in abhorrence of the impious toleration exhibited there ! A church waa built upon the spot, and Mamre, so interesting to the poet, the philosopher, and the pious man, became a mere den of superstition. STKANGE ADVERTISEMENT. The following appeared in the Evening Post, May 23rd, 1730 : " I, Elizabeth, duchess dowager of Hamilton, acknowledge I have for several months been ill in my health, but never speechless, as certain penny authors have printed ; and so, to confute these said authors and their intelligence, it is thought by my most intimate friends, it is the very last thing that will happen to me. I am so good an Englishwoman, that I would not havo my countrymen imposed upon by purchasing false authors ; therefore, have ordered this to be printed that they may know what papers to buy and believe, that are not to be bribed by those who may have private ends for false reports. The copy of this is left in the hands of Mr. Berington, to be shown to any body who has a curiosity to ee it signed with my own hand. " E. HAMILTON." INTERMITTENT SPRINGS. One of the most remarkable of these is at Bolder-Born in Westphalia. After flowing for twenty-four hours, it entirely ceases for the space of six hours. It then returns with a loud noise, in a stream sufficiently power- ful to turn three mills very near its source. Another spring of the same nature occurs at Bihar in Hungary, which issues many times a day, from the foot of a mountain, in such a quantity as in a few minutes to fill the channel of a considerable stream. The Lay "Well near Torbay, ebbs and flows sixteen times in an hour : and in Giggleswick Well in Yorkshire, the water sometimes rises and falls in ten or fifteen minutes. St. Anthony's Well, on Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, h&s a movement, but on a smaller scale. 456 1S.V THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; In Savoy, near the lake of Bourget, is another spring of this land, bat it differs from those which have been already mentioned in being ery uncertain in its intervals. CTTEIOtTS JEWEL WHICH BELONGED TO JAMES I. In former times it was a common practice with princes and nobles to have elaborate articles of jewellery constructed in such forms as had a religious and emblematical signification. An inventory of the Dukes of of Burgundy, made in 1396, speaks of a fleur-de-lis which opened, and contained inside a picture of the Crucifixion. In 1416, the Duke of Berri had " a fair apple," which opened, and contained within on one side the figure of Christ, and on the other that of the Virgin. Among the jewels of the Dukes of Burgundy in 1392 there were two pears of gold, enamelled, each containing an image of Our Lady. "We find similar entries in the other dif- ferent inventories of the Dukes of Burgundy : An apple of sil- ver, enamelled, containing in the inside a picture of St. Ca- therine, in 1400 ; a pine-apple of gold, which contained figures of the birth of Christ, and of the three kings, in 1467 ; and, in the same year, two apples of gold, one containing, on the opposite halves, Our Lady and St. Paul, the other, St. Peter and St. Paul the latter sus- pended by three small chains. These kinds of devices con- tinued in fashion till a much later period, and a very curious example, from the collection of Lord Londesborough, which appears to have belonged to King James I., is here en- graved. The whole ia of silver, and the leaves appear to have been painted rreen. On opening it we find in the inside the small skull here repre- sented above the apple. The top of the skull opens like a lid, and inside are two small paintings, representing the Creation and the Resurrection. MARVELLOUS, RARE, btJRIOUS, AND QUAINT. 45ft with the inscription, " Post Mortem, vita eternitas." The external inscription is not gallant. To give the apple externally a more natural appearance, there are marks of two bites on the side opposite that here represented, showing a large and small set of teeth. STKAtfGE CTTEIOSITIE8. In the Anatomy Hall of Leyden is a drinking cup of the skull of a Moor, killed in the beleaguring of Haerlem. Also a cup made of a double brain pan. "We observe also that No. 51 is the skin of a woman, and No. 52 the skin of a woman, prepared like leather ; No. 53 the skin of a Malacca woman, above 150 years old, presented by Richard Snolk, who probably had her flayed. THE CROSS OP CONa. The cross, of which the following is a correct representation, eminent claims to a place among our curiosities, since it constitutes the gem of the Museum of the Royal Irish Aca- demy. This cross was made at Roscommon, by native Irishmen, about the year 1123, in the reign of Turlogh O'Connor, father of Roderick, the last monarch of Ireland, and contains what was supposed to be a piece of the true cross, as inscriptions in Irish, and Latin in the Irish character, upon two of its sides record. The en- graving afibrds a correct idea of the ori- ginal, as the extremely minute and ela- borate ornaments with which it is com- pletely covered, and a portion of which is worked in pure gold, could not possibly be expressed on so reduced a scale. The ornaments generally consist of tracery and grotesque animals fancifully com- bined, and similar in character to the decorations found upon crosses of stone of about the same period. A large crystal, through which a portion of the wood which the cross was formed to enshrine is visible, is set in the centre. FOOT-BACINXJ IN 1699. A remarkable foot-race was run about the year 1699, which is thus described in the manuscript journal of a lady who was one of the spectators : " I drove through the forest of Windsor to see a race run by two footmen, an English and a Scotch, the former a taller bigger man than the other. The ground measured and cut even in a round was about four miles ; they were to run it round so often as to make up twenty-two miisa, which was the distance between Charing Cress ant) 45$ TEX THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINCH ; "Windsor Cross, that is, five times quite round, and so far as to up the odd miles and measure. They ran a round in twenty-it v* minutes. I saw them run the first three rounds and half an other "in B& hour and seventeen minutes, and they finished it in two hours and a half. The Englishman gained the start the second round, and kept it at the same distance the live rounds, and then the Scotchman came up to him and got before him to the post. The Englishman fell down within a few yards of the post. Many hundred pounds were won and lost about it. They ran both very neatly, but my judgment gave it to the Scotch- man, because he seemed to save himself to the last push." THE CHERBY TREE. The Cherry Tree was introduced into Great Britain before A.D. 53. The earliest mention of the fruit being exposed to sale by hawkers in London is in Henry the Fifth's reign, 1415. New sorts were introduced orchard of thirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the year 1540, produced fruit that sold in those early days, for 1,000/. ; which seems an enormous sum, as at that period good land is stated to have let at one shilling per acre." Evelyn tells us, that in hia time (1662) an acre planted with cherries, one hundred miles from London, had been let at 101. During the Commonwealth (1649), the manor and mansion ot Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at "Wimbledon, in Surrey, were surveyed previously to being sold, and it appears that there were upwards of two hundred cherry trees in the gardens. Since that time the cherry tree has found universal admission into shrubberies, gardens, and orchards. IXSTBT7CTIOXS TO A CHAPLAIN. The following, and we believe the^ are unique, are Sir John Wynne, of Gwedir's instructions to his chaplain, the Rev. John Pryce. " First, you shall have the chamber I showed you in my gate, private to your- self, with lock and key, and all necessaries. In the morning, I expect you should rise, and say prayers in my hall, to my household below, before they go to work, and when they come in at night, that you call before you all the workmen, specially the youth, and take account of them of their belief, and of what Sir Meredith taught them. I beg you to continue for the most part in the lower house : you are to have onlye what is done there,- that you may inform me of any disorder there. There is a bayliff of husbandry and a porter, who will be commanded by you. The morning after you be up, and have said prayers, as afore, "I would you to bestow in study on any commendable exercise of your body. Before dinner you are to come up and attend grace or prayers, if there be any publicke ; and to sit up it' there be not greater strange above the chyldren, who you are to teach in your own chamber. "When tilt- table from half downwards is taken up, then you are to rise and tu MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 4M) walk in the alleys near at hand until grace time, and to come in tlieu for that purpose. Afte* dinner, if I be b-asy, you may go to bowles, shufi'el bord, or any other tonest, decent recreation, until I go abroad. If you see me void of business, and go to ride abroad, you shall command a gelding to be made ready by the grooms of the stable, and to go with me. If I go to bowles or shuflel bord, I shall lyke of your company, if )he place be not made up with strangers. I would have you to go every Sunday in the year to some church hereabouts, to preache, giving warnynge to the parish, to bring the yowths at after noon to the church to be catechysed ; in which poynt is my greatest care that you should be paynfull and dylygent. Avoyd the alehouse, to sytte and keepe drunkard's company ther, being the greatest discredit your function can have." TWO MISEES. In the year 1778 died, at a village near Reading, John Jackson, aged ninety -three, and James Jackson, aged eighty-seven. These two brothers were old bachelors, and afforded a striking instance of the insufficiency of wealth to create happiness. Though these old men had been blest with great riches ever since they were twenty years of age, they absolutely denied themselves the common necessaries of life ; and lived in the village for fifty years past as poor men, and often accepted of charity from rich persons who resided near them. They never suffered any woman or man to come into their apartment (which was only one shabby room), and were both taken ill, and languishing a short time, they expired on the same day, within one hour of each other. It is computed, by the writings left behind them, that they died worth 150.000. ANECDOTE OF THE HOUSE OF BETJNSWICK. The following anecdote relating to the august House of Brunswick is taken from the "Annual Itegister" of 1765: "The late Duchess of Blakenburgh, great grandmother to the hereditary prince, who died some years since in a very advanced age, had the singular happiness to reckon amongst her posterity, sixty-two princes and princesses ; (fifty-three of whom she saw at one time alive ;) and amongst them three emperors, two empresses, two kings, and two queens; a circumstance that, probably, no sovereign house but that of Brunswick ever produced anything like it. AMUSEMENTS OF SOME LEAENED ATJTHOES. Tycho Brahe polished glass for spectacles, and made mathematical instruments. D Andilly delighted, like our Evelyn, in forest-trees; Balzac, with the manufacturing of crayons ; Pieresc, with his medals and antiques ; the Abbe de Marolles, with engravings ; Rohault's greatest recreation was in seeing different mechanics at their labour ; Arnauld read the most trashy novels for relaxation ; as did our Warburton, the late Lords Loughborough and Camden ; Montaigne fondled his cat ; Cardinal Kichlieu, in jumping and leaping. Grumm informs us that the Chevalier de Boufflers would croTr like a cock, and bray like an asa ; Ul both of which Le excelled, not metaphorically but litorally. THOUSAND WONDERFUL THIHCJ3, EARLY GERMAN DEINKINQ CUF. The above, taken from the Londesborough collection, is a #co, especially on the Continent, as a means of getting rid of individuals who had rendered themselves obnoxious to certain parties who were prosecuting their own private ends; and so extensively did this i*- 486 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINO J famous practice prevail that there was a class of persons who were known to have studied the art of secret poisoning, and whose services could be engaged for a high reward. In order to counteract the operations of the poisoners, various devices were employed, and among them was the art which the pretended magicians of those days professed to ?m e discovered, of making a kind of glass which would fly in pieces if poison was poured into any vessel that was formed of it. The cut at the head of our article represents a tankard of this sort, in which the glass is mounted in silver gilt arabesque and silver filagree. It was believed that the large crystal which is seen standing out at the centre of the lid would become discoloured at the approach of poison. The tankard is a work of the sixteenth century, and was presented to Clare Hall, Cambridge where it is still preserved by Dr. "William Butler, an eminent physician in the time of James I. POBCELAIX FINGEE-filNGS. The porcelain finger-rings of ancient Egypt are extremely beautiful ; the band of the ring being seldom above one-eighth of an inch in thickness. Some have a plate on which, in bas-relief, is the god Set, or Baal, full face, or playing on the tambourine, as the inventor of Music ; others have their plates in the shape of the right symbolical eye, the emblem of the Sun ; of a fish, of the perch species ; or of a scaraba3us, which is said to have been worn by the military order. Some few represent flowers. Those which have elliptical plates with hieroglyphical inscriptions, bear the names of Amen-Ra, and of other gods and monarchs, as Amenophis III., Amenophis IV., and Amenanchut, of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties. One of these rings has a little bugle on each side, as if it had been strung on the beaded work of a mummy, instead of being placed on the finger. Blue is the prevalent colour, but a few white and yellow rings, and some even ornamented with red and purple colours are found. It is not credible that these rings, of a substance finer and more fragile than glass, were worn during life. Neither is it likely that they were worn by the poorer classes, for the use of the king's name on sepulchral objects seems to have been restricted to functionaries of state. Some larger rings of porcelain of about an inch diameter, seven-eighths of an inch broad, and one-sixteenth of an inch thick, made in open work, represent the constantly repeated lotus flowers, and the god lla, or the Sun, seated, and floating through the heaven in his boat. Common as these objects were in Egypt, where they were employed as substitutes for the hard and precious stones, to the Greeks, Etruscans, and Italian Greeks they were articles of luxury, just as the porcelain of China was to Europeans some centuries ago. Jhe Etruscans set these bugles, beads, and amulets in settings of their exquisite gold filigree work, intermixed with gold beads and precious stones. Strung as pendants they hung round the necks of the fair ones of Etruria. In one of the tombs alreadv alluded to at the Polledrara, near Vulci, in Italy, was found a heap of annular and curious Egyptian bugles, which had apparently formed a covering to some bronze objects, but the strings having given way, the beads had dropped to pieces. These, as well as the former, had beeo MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 4S7 sbtained from some of the Egyptian markets, like that at Naucratis ; of from the Phoenician merchants, in the same manner as the flasks. One of the most remarkable of these personal ornaments is a bracelet, com- posed of small fish strung together and secured by a clasp. PIGEON CATCHING NEAR NAPLES. Between La Cava and Naples, about half a mile from the town, are eertain Bluebeard-looking towers, several centuries old, erected for the purpose of snaring wood-pigeons ; with which view the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who are generally expert and practised slingers, assemble and man the towers in May. A long line of nets, some quarter of a mile in circuit, held up in a slanting position by men con- cealed in stone sentry-boxes placed here and there along the enceinte, is spread in front. As the pigeons are seen advancing (the time of their approach is generally looked for at early dawn, when they are making for the woods), the nearest slingers commence projecting a succession of white stones in the direction of the nets. These the birds no sooner behold, than attracted, or alarmed (for the motive does not certainly appear), they swoop down upon them, and when sufficiently near to fall within reach of the nets, the persons holding let go, rush from their ambush, and secure the covey. Thousands of wood-pigeons are thus, we have been told by a proprietor, annually taken, and transmitted for presents to distant friends ; as we used to send out game, before the sale of it was legalised. Thus birds, as well as fish, and fish as well as man, often get entangled and caught in their headlong pursuit of a pleasure that still eludes them. FRAME REQUISITE TO SUPPORT THE DRESS. James I., and his subjects who wished to clothe themselves loyally, wore stupendous breeches. Of course the "honourable gentleman" of the House of Commons were necessarily followers of the fashion. But it led to inconveniences in the course of their senatorial duties. It was an old mode revived ; and at an earlier day, when these nether garments were ample enough to have covered the lower man of Boanerges, the comfort of the popular representative was thus cared for: "Over the seats in the parliament-house, there were certain holes, some two inches square, in the walls, in which were placed posts to uphold a scaffold round about the house within, for them to sit upon who used the wearing of great breeches stuffed with hair like wool-sacks, which fashion being left the eighth year of Elizabeth, the scaffolds were taken down, and never since put up." So savs Strutt ; but doubtless the comforts of the members were not less cared for when the old fashion again prevailed. PRICES OF SEVRES PORCELAIN. As one of the curiosities of luxury and taste it is worth while to note the high prices for which some portions of the very choice collection of Sevres porcelain at Stowe were sold : A small coffee cup, which weighed scarcely three ounces, realised 46 guineas ; and another, similar, but v me what inferior, sold for 35 guineas. A chocolate cup and saucer, 488 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS Bleu de Roi, with beautiful miniatures of two ladies of the Court of Louis XV., and four paintings of Cupids, though slightly injured during the view, realised 45 guineas. The prices obtained for most of the cups and saucers were from 10 to 12 guineas. A beautiful specimen of a Bleu de Roi cup, saucer and cover, jewelled in festoons, cameos, and imitation of pearls, sold for 35 10a. ; and another, somewhat inferior, for 21 guineas. A salver, mounted in a table with ormolu ornaments, sold for 81 guineas ; tiss companion piece for 100. HENRY THE EIGHTH'S CHAXE. In the earlier half of the sixteenth century a large proportion of the furniture used in this country, as well as of the earthenware and other household implements during the greater part of that century, was imported from Flanders aad the Netherlands. Hence, in the absence of engravings at home, we are led to look at the works of the Flemish and German artists for illustrations of domestic manners at this period. The seats of that day were termed joint (or joined) stools and chairs. A rather fine example of a chair of this work, which was, as was often the case, three-cornered, is preserved in the Ashmolean museum, at Oxford, where it is reported to have been the chair of Henry "ViII. We here annex a sketch of it. MULLET AND T0BBOT WITH THE KOMANS. The Romans were enthusiastic foi the mullet. It was for them th fish, par excellence. It was sometimes served up six pounds in weight, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 489 and such a fish was worth 60 sterling. It was cooked on the table, f :sr the benefit and pleasure of the guests. In a glass vessel filled with brine made from water, the blood of the mackerel, and salt, the live mullet, stripped of all its scales, was enclosed ; and as its fine pink colour passed through its dying gradatvras, until paleness and death ensued, the con- vives looked on admiringly, and lauded the spectacle. The turbot was next in estimation, but as, occasionally, offending slaves were flung into the turbot preserves for the fish to feed upon, some gastronomists have affected to be horror-stricken at the idea of eating a turbot a la Romaine ; quite forgetting that so many of our sea-fish, in their domain, feed largely on the human bodies which accident, or what men call by that name, casts into the deep. "TOO LATE," QUOTH BOICE. The history of the ancient castle of Maynooth is one of much interest ; abounding in incidents akin to romance. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, during the rebellion of " Silken Thomas," one of the bravest and most heroic of the Geraldines, it was taken by treachery. In the absence of its loid, the governorship was entrusted to "Christopher Parese," his foster-brother. This "white-livered traitor resolved to purchase his own security with his lord's ruin ;" and therefore sent a letter to the lord-deputy, signifying that he would betray the castle, on condi- tions ; ' ' and here the devil betrayed the betrayer, for in making terms for his purse's profit, he forgot to include his person's safety." The lord- deputy readily accepted his ofi'er, and, accordingly, the garrison having gained some success in a sally, and being encouraged by the governor in a deep joyous carouse, the ward of the tower was neglected the traitorous signal given, and the English scaled the walls. They obtained posses- sion of the strong-hold, and put the garrison to the sword " all except two singing men, who, prostrating themselves before the deputy, warbled a sweet sonnet called dulcis arnica, and their melody saved their lives." Parese, expecting some great reward, with impudent familiarity pre- sented himself before the deputy, who addressed him as follows: ' ' Master Parese, thou hast certainly saved our lord the king much charge, and many of his subjects' lives, but that I may better know to advise his highness bow to reward thee, I would ascertain what the Lord Thomas Fitzgerald hath done for thee ?" Parese, highly elevated at thia discourse, recounted, even to the most minute circumstance, all the favours that the Geraldine, even from his youth up, had conferred on him, to which the deputy replied, "And how, Parese, couldst thou find it in thy heart to betray the castle of so kind a lord ? Here, Mr. Treasurer, pay down the money that he has covenanted for ; and here, also, execu- tioner, without delay, as soon, as the money is counted out, cut off his which occasioned a proverbial saying, long afterwards used in Ireland "Too late, quoth Boice." The castle is said by Archdall to have been erected by John, the sixth Earl of Kildare, early in the fifteenth cea- 490 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; tury ; but in that case it must have been preceded by some other do fen- si ve structure ; for it is certain that the Kildare branch of the Geraldiuea resided at Maynooth at a much earlier period. The first Earl of Kildare, John Fitz Thomas, was created by patent, dated 14th May, 1316. 1538. An English Bible, in folio, printed at Paris, unfinished. 1542. Dutch Bible by Jacob Van Leisvelt. The sixth and best edi- tion given by Leisvelt, and famous as being the cause of this printer being beheaded. 1566. French Bible by Rene Benoist, Paris, 1566, folio, 3 vols. com- pleted. 1622. Swedish Bible, printed at Lubeck, in 4to., very defective. 1666. A German Bible, printed at Helmstedt, in part only, 4to. 1671. A French Bible, by Marolles, in folio, containing only the books of Genesis, Exodus, and the first twenty-three chapters of Levi- ticus. EXTRAORDINARY REPRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE HTDRA. One of the fresh-water Polypes, from its power of perpetual re-pro- duction, has received the name of Hydra, by which it is known among naturalists : as if it realised the ancient monster of fabulous story, whose heads sprouted anew as fast as they were cut off by Hercules. Most curious monstrosities were produced by the experiments of philosophers on these animals, especially by partial separations. If a polype be slit from the summit to the middle, one will be formed having two heads, each of which will capture and swallow food. If these again be slit half-a-dozen times, as many heads will be formed surmounting the same body. If now all these be cut off, as many new ones will spring up in their place, while each of the severed heads becomes a new polype, capable of being, in its turn, varied and multiplied ad infinitum ; so that in every respect our little reality exceeds its fabulous name- sake. The polypes may be grafted together. If cut-off pieces be placed in contact, and pushed together with a gentle force, they will unite and form a single one. The head of one may be thus planted on the trunk of another. Another method of uniting them, perhaps still more wonderful, is by introducing one within the other ; the operator forced the body of the one into the mouth of the other, pushing it down so that the heads wero brought together. After forcibly keeping it for some time in this state, the two individuals at length united, and a polype was formed, distin- guishable only by having twice the usual number of tentacles. There is one species which can actually be turned inside out like a glove, and yet perform all the functions of life as before, though that which was the coat of the stomach is now the skin of the body and vice versa. If it should chance that a polype so turned had young in the act of budding, these are, of course, now within the stomach. If they have arrived at a certain degree of maturity, they extend themselves towards MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. the mouth of the parent, that they may thus escape when separated. Pmt titose which are less advanced turn themselves spontaneously inside out, and thus place themselves again on the exterior of the parent. A multitude of other variations, combinations, and monstrosities, have been, as it were, created by the ingenuity of philosophers ; but these are sufficient to give a notion of the extraordinary nature of these animals* and to account for the wonder with which they were regarded. EGYPT. Egypt was the land visited by Abraham in search of food, when there fras a famine in his own country ; the land to which Joseph was carried as a slave, and which he governed as prime minister. From Egypt, Moses led the Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea. Here Jere- miah wrote his Lamentations. Here Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, and many other Greek philosophers, came to study. Here Alexander the Great came as conqueror ; and here the Infant Saviour was brought by his parents to avoid the persecution of Herod. Egyptian hieroglyphics, iu which the characters are taken from visible objects, are the earliest form of writing ; and the Hebrew and Greek alphabets were both bor- rowed from them. Egypt taught the world the use of paper made from its rush, the papyrus. In Egypt was made the first public library, and first college of learned men, namely, the Alexandrian Museum. There Euclid wrote his Elements of Geometry, and Theocritus his Poems, and Lucian his Dialogues. The beauty of Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Queen, held Julius Csesar, and then Marc Antony, captive. In Egypt were built the first monasteries; the Christian fathers, Origen and Athanasius, lived there. The Arien and Athanasian controversy began there. The buildings which now remain are the oldest buildings in the world, and the largest in the world. On the banks of its great river may be seen the oldest arch, and the oldest column. Up this noble river sailed Hero- dotus, the most entertaining of travellers, and Strabo, the most judicious. Indeed, as the country is little more than the narrow strip that is watered by the Nile's overflow, from the river may be seen almost all ita great cities and temples. ABYSSINIAN LADIES. The women of Abyssinia are dressed quite as decently as any women in the world, without having a particle of the trouble of the ladies of more civilised nations. There is a distinguishing costume for young girls, and for those who, from being married or otherwise, are no longer considered as such. The dress of the former is indeed rather slight, though far more picturesque than that of the latter. In one part of the country (about Shire) the girls merely wear a piece of cotton stuff wrapped round the waist and hanging down almost to the knee, and another (or the end of the former, if it be long enough) thrown over the left shoulder, so as to leave the right arm and breast exposed. In other parts of Tig re 1 , a black goat-skin, ornamented with cowries, is often substituted for this latter. An ordinary woman wears a large loose hirt 492 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; down to the feet, with sleeves made tight towards the wrist. This, with a " quarry " similar to those of the men, but worn rather differently, and a parasol when out of doors, is a complete suit. A tine lady, however, as in our engraving, has a splendid " mergell' quarry," and her shirt is made probably of calico from Manchester, instead of the country fabric, and richly embroidered in silk of divers colours and various patterns round the neck, down the front, and on the cuffs, She will also, of course, own a mule; and then may choose to wear (alas, that it should be so, even in Abyssinia!) the inexpressibles. These are made of calico, and rather loose, but getting gradually tighter at the ankle, where they are embroidered like the shirt. The fair sex all over the world _are fond of ornaments. In Abyssinia they wear a profusion of silver, in the shape of chains, bracelets, &c., or, to be more explicit, a well-dressed lady will hang three or four sets of amulets about her neck, as well as her blue cord, and a large flat ftlver case (purporting to contain a talisman, but more often soiao MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 493 ncented cotton) ornamented with a lot of silver bells hanging to the bottom edge of it, and the whole suspended by four chains of the same metal. Three pair of massive silver and gilt bracelets are on her wrists, and a similar number of " bangles" on her ankles ; while over her in- steps and to her heels are a quantity of little silver ornaments, strung like beads on a silk cord. Her fingers (even the upper joints) are covered with plain rings, often alternately of silver and silver-gilt, and a silver hair-pin, something similar to those now worn by English ladiee, completes her decoration. "Women of the poorer class, and ladic* I, S. Hair-pins made of hard wood, and stained with henna. 3. Ditto, of silver uti fil-et-grain work. (About one-half usual size.) cn ordinary occasions, wear ivory or wooden pins neatly carved in various patterns, and stained red with henna-leaves. The Abyssinian ladies, like those of most Eastern nations, stain their hands and feet with henna, and darken their eyelids with antimony. TREATMENT OP LEPERS IN ENGLAND. According to the tenor of various old civil codes and local enactments, when a person became affected with leprosy, he was looked upon as legally and politically dead, and lost the privileges belonging to his right of citizenship. By the laws of England, lepers were classed with idiots, madmen, outlaws, &c., as incapable of being heirs. But it was not by the eye of the law alone that the affected was looked upon as defunct, for the church also took the same view, and performed the solemn cere- monials of the burial of the dead over him, on the day on which he WM 494 ffcN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS: arparated from his fellow creatures, and confined to a lazar hous*. TV.? various forms and ceremonies which were gone through on this occasioc are described by French authors ; but it is highly probable that the same observances were common in our own country. A priest, robed with surplice and stole, went with the cross to the house of the doomed leper. The minister of the church began the necessary ceremonies, by exhorting him to suffer, with a patient and penitent spirit, the incxirable plague with which God had stricken him. He then sprinkled the unfortunate leper with holy water, and afterwards conducted him to the church, the usual burial services being sung during their march thither. In the church, the ordinary habiliments of the leper were removed ; he was clothed in a funeral pall, and, while placed before the altar, between trestles, the libera was sung, and the mass for the dead celebrated over him. After this service he was again sprinkled with holy water, and led from the church to the house or hospital destined for his future abode. A pair of clappers, a barrel, a stick, cowl, and dress, &c., were given him. Before leaving the leper, the priest solemnly interdicted him from appearing in public without his leper's garb, from entering inns, churches, mills, and bakehouses, from touching children, or giving them ought he had touched, from washing his hands, or any thing pertaining to him, in the common fountains and streams. from touching, in the markets, the goods he wished to buy, with any thing except his stick, from eating and drink- ing with any others than lepers, and he specially forbade him from walking in narrow paths, or from answering those who spoke to him in roads and streets, unless in a whisper, that they might not be annoyed with his pestilent breath, and with the infectious odour that exhaled from his body, and last of all, before taking his departure, and leaving the leper for ever to the seclusion of the lazar house, the official of the church terminated the ceremony of his separation from his living fellow- creatures, by throwing upon the body of the poor outcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closure of the grave. According to the then customary usage, Leper Hospitals were always provided with a cemetery for the reception of the bodies of those who had died of the malady. LUMINOUS APPEABANCE OP THE BED SEA. All who have frequented the Red Sea, have observed the luminous ippearance or phosphorescence of its waters. " It was beautiful," says a picturesque writer, who sailed from Mocha to Cosseir, " to look down into this brightly transparent sea, and mark the coral, here in large masses of honeycomb-rock, there in light branches of a pale red hue, and the beds of green seaweed, and the golden sand, and the shells, and the fish sporting round the vessel, and making colours of a beauty to the eye which is not their own. Twice or thrice we ran on after dark for an hour or two ; and though we were all familiar with the sparkling of the sea round the boat at night, never have I seen it in other waters so superlatively splendid. A rope dipped in it and drawn forth came ui u string of gems ; but with a life, and light, and motion, the MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAIN1. 405 does not know." Those sea-lights have been explained by a diversity of causes ; but the singular brilliancy of the Red Sea seems owing to fish spawn and animalculse, a conjecture which receives some corroboration from the circumstance that travellers who mention it visited the gulf during the spawning period that is, between the latter end of December and the end of February. The coral-banks are less numerous in the southern parts. It deserves notice, that Dr. Shaw and Mr. Bruce have stated what could only be true, so far as their own experience went that they observed no species of weed or flag ; and the latter proposes to translate Yam Zuph " the Sea of Coral" a name as appropriate as that of Edorn. KECEJCT * RICES OP STAVES. Prices ol course vary at Constantinople according to the vigilance of Russian cruisers, and the incorruptibility of Russian agents at Trebizonde, Samsoon, and Sinope. The following is the average price in Circassia : A man of 30 year* of age, 10 20 ,. 10 to 30 15 30 70 10 20 60 5 10 30 A woman of 50 years of ngu, 10 to 30 40 30 40 30 40 70 20 to 25 50 100 14 IS 50 150 8 12 30 80 5 20 40 TATTOOED ABYSSINIAN LADY. Tlie annexed cut is a sketch of an Abyssinian lady, tattooed in the height of the fashion. The following extract from that interesting work " 1'urkyns's Abyssinia" gives a good account of the custom as it pre- vails in the larger cities there, and of the manner in which the operation is performed. 4 ' The men seldom tattoo more than one ornament on the upper part of the arm, near the shoulder, while the women cover nearly the whole of theii bodies with stars, lines, and crosses, often rather tastefully arranged. I may well say nearly the whole of their persons, for they mark the neck, shoulders, breasts, and arms, down to the fingers, which are enriched with lines to imitate rings, nearly to the nails. The feet, ankles, and calves of the legs, are similarly adorned, and even the gums are by some pricked entirely blue, while others have them striped alternately blue and the natural pink. To see some of their designs, one would give them credit for some skill in the handling their pencil ; but, in fact, their system of drawing the pattern is purely mechanical. I had one arm adorned ; a rather blind old woman was the artist; her implements consisted of a little pot of some sort of blacking, made, she told me, of charred herbs ; a large home-made iron pin, about one- fourth of an inch at the end of which was ground fine ; t U* or two of hollow cane, and a piece of straw ; the two last-named 496 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, items were her substitutes for pencils. Her circles were made by dip- ping the end of a piece of a cane of the required size into the blacking, and making its impression on the skin ; while an end of the straw, bent to the proper length, and likewise blackened, marked all the lines, squares, diamonds, &c., which were to be of equal length. Her design v eiag thus completed, she worked away on it with her pin, which she dug in ad far as the thin part would enter, keeping the supply blacking sufficient, and going over the same ground repeatedly to ensure regularity and unity in the lines. With some persons, the first effect of this tattooing is to produce a considerable amount of fever, from the irritation caused by the punctures ; especially so with the ladies, from the extent of surface thus rendered sore. To allay this irritation, they are generally obliged to remain for a few days in a case of vegetable matter, which i plastered all over them in the form of a sort of green poultice. A scab forms over the tattooing, which should not be picked eff, out allowed to fall otf of itself. When this disappears, the operation is complete, cad the marks are indelible ; nay more, the Abyssiniaus declar tluit MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 497 they may be traced on the person's bones even after death has ba/od thein of their fleshy covering." BTTLGAKIAN FISHERMEN. ting account of the Bul shores of the Black Sea is taken from the translation of a narrative of a The following interesting account of the Bulgarian fishermen, on the la boat excursion made in 1846 by M. Xavier Hommaire, along part of the northern coast of the Black Sea : " The fishermen are, almost without exception, Bulgarians a popu- lation at once maritime and agricultural, very closely resembling, in race and costume, the Bretons of France and they enjoy a monopoly of all the fisheries in the Bosphorus and the adjacent parts of the Blank Sea. Their elegant barks appeared on stated days and hours, shooting along with extraordinary rapidity through the waters of the Gulf of Buyuk Dereh, which appears to be their head-quarters, and sustaining the test of comparison even with the famous caiques of Constantinople. The most important object of their fishery is a delicious kind of small thunny, 49S TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGbJ called palamede. They are Bulgarians, also, who own the ainguki fisheries which form such admirable subjects for the artist's sketch-book. They are found throughout the Bosphorus, from Bechiktusch and Scutari to the light-houses of Europe and Asia. They might be called dog-kennels, but rickety and worm-eaten with antiquity, and are sus- pended by means of cords, pegs, and tatters to the top of an indescribable framework of props. There on high, petrified in motionless and unin- terrupted silence, in company with some old pots of mignionette (where will not the love of flowers find a home !), a man, with the appearance of a wild beast or savage, leans over the sea, at the bottom of which he watches the passage of its smallest inhabitants, and the capricious varia - tions of the current. At a certain distance is arranged, in the form of a square, a system of nets, which, at the least signal from the watcher, fall on the entire shoal of fish. A contrivance yet more primitive than these airy cells, if not so picturesque, \* as that of simple posts, which we en - countered some time before in the channel of the Bosphorus, rising about fifteen feet above the surface of the water. Half-way up is perched, crouching (one cannot see how), something having the human form, and which is found to be a Bulgarian. For a long time I watched them without being able to make them out, either pole or its tenant ; and often have I seen them in the morning, and observed them again in the evening, not having undergone the least change of posture. " On returning to our encampment, the commandant of the fort, to whom we paid a visit, gave us a very different report of the fishermen of the morning, whom he described as an assemblage of all the vagabonds of the neighbourhood. Convinced even that the fact of their having fallen in with us must have inspired them with the project of coming to prowl by night round our camp, he wished us to accept some of the men in his garrison as a guard." HORSES OF THE AliABS. Arabs make intimate friends of their horses, and so docile are these creatures that they are ridden without a bit, and never struck or spurred. They share their owner's diet, and are as well cared for as a child. They divide their horses, however, into two kinds : The one they call kadischi, that is, horses of an unknown birth ; the other, they call koch- luin, that is, horses whose genealogy is known for thousands of years. They are direct descendants, so they say, of the stud of Solomon. The pedigree of an Arabian horse is hung round his neck soon after his birth, which is ahv ays properly witnessed and attested. The following is the pedigree of a horse purchased by a French officer in Arabia : "In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate, and of Saed Mahomed, agent of the high God, and of the companions of Mahommed, and of Jerusalem. Praised be the Lord, the Omnipotent Creator. This is a high-bred horse, and its colt's tooth is here in a bag about his neck, with his pedigree, and of undoubted authority, such as no infidel can refuse to believe. He is the son of Rabbamy, out of the dam Labadah, and equal in power to his sire of the tribe of Zazhalali ; oe is finely moulded, and made for running like an ostrich. In th MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 499 honours of relationship, he reckons Zuluah, sire of Mahat, sire of Kallac, and the unique Alket sire of Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, father of the race down to the famous horse, the sire of Lahalala ; and to him be ever abundance of green meat, and corn, and water of life, as a reward from the tribe of Zazhalah ; and may a thousand branches shade his carcass from the hyaena of the tomb, from the howling wolf of the desert ; and let the tribe of Zazhalah present him with a festival within an enclosure of walls ; and let thousands assemble at the rising of the sun in troops hastily, where the tribe holds up under a canopy of celestial signs within the walls, the saddle with the name and family of the possessor. Then let them strike the banf wreaths, heads of Medusa, &c., painted and gilded. Many of the vases intended for or- namental purposes are covered with a white coating, and painted with colours of the same kind as those used on the figures before described, but with few and simple ornaments, plain bands, mteanders, chequered bands and wreaths. A vase found at Melos affords a curious example. We here annex a sketch of it. It consists of a number of small vases united together and arranged in a double circle round a central stand. This kind of vase is supposed to be the kcrnos, used in the mystic cere- monies to hold small quantities of viands. By some persons, however, it is thought to have been intended for eggs or flowers. It is covered with a white coating of clay, and the zigzag stripes are of a maroon colour. Such vases might have been used for flower-pots, and have formed small temporary gardens like those of Adonis, or have been employed as lamps. QTJEEX ELIZABETH'S DRESSES. The list of the Queen's wardrobe, in 1GOO, shows us that she had then only 99 robes, 126 kirtles, 269 gowns (round, loose, and French), 136 foreparts, 125 petticoats, and 27 fans, not to mention 96 cloaks, 83 save guards, 85 doublets, and 18 lap mantles. Her gowns were of the richest materials purple, gold tissisy, crimson satin, cloth of gold, cloth of silver,' white velvet, munsy 602 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THING*. cloth, tawney satin, horse-flesh coloured satin, Isabella eoioureu sar.u dove coloured velvet, lady blush satin, drake coloured satin, ano CI>K coloured satin. The cloaks are of perfumed leather, black tafiety ; the petticoats of blue satin ; the jupes of orange coloured satin ; the doublets of straw coloured satin ; the mantles of white blush, striped with red swan's down. The most characteristic dresses are the following : A frock of cloth of silver, checquered with red silk, like bird's eyes, with demi sleeves, a cut of crimson velvet twisted on with silver, lined with crimson velvet. A mantle of white lawn, cut and turned in, embroidered all over with works of silver, like pomegranates, roses, honeysuckles, and acorns. One French kirtle of white satin, cut all over, embroidered with loops, flowers, and clouds of Venice gold, silver, and silk. One round kirtle of white satin, embroidered all over with the work like flames, peascods, and pillars, with a border likewise embroidered with roses. The stomacher (fore part) of white satin, embroidered very fair with borders of the sun, moon, aud other signs and planets of Venice gold, silver, and silk of sundry colours, with a border of beasts beneath, likewise embroidered. Other gowns we find adorned with bees, spiders, flies, worms, trunks of trees, pansies, oak leaves, and mulberries; so that "Bess" must have looked like an illustrated edition of -fixed, is omitted in our engraving. CETTELTY OF FBANCIS CAEBAKA. Francis Carrara, the last Lord of Padua, was famous for his cruelties. Thev shew (at Yenice) a little box for a toilette, in which are six littl COMMON BAGPIPES. BIAttVELIOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 5Q5 gun s, which are so ordered with springs, and adjusted in such a manner, that upon the opening of the trunk, the guns fired and killed the lady to whom Carrara sent it for a present. They show also with this, some little pocket cross-bows and arrows of steel, with which he took pleasure to kill those he met, so secretly, that they could hardly either percehe the blow, or him that gave it. IBISH PIPES. The accompanying figures represent the Irish bagpipes in their primitive and improved forms. We have here the earliest pipes, ori- ginally the same as the Scotch, as appears from a drawing made in the six- teenth century, and given in Mr. Bunting's work; but they now differ, in having the mouthpiece supplied by the bellows A, which, being filled by the motion of the piper's arm, to which it is fastened, fills the bag B ; whence, by the pressure of the other arm, the wind is is conveyed into the chanter c, which is played on with the fingers, much like a common pipe. By means of a tube, the wind is conveyed into drones a, a, a, which, tuned at octaves to each other, produce a kind of cronan, or bass, to the chanter. The second cut repre- sents the improved, or union pipes, the drones of which, tuned at' thirds and fifths by the regulator, have 'keys attached to them, which not only produce the most delightful accords, but enable the player to perform parts of tunes, and sometimes whole tunes, without using the chanter at all. Both drones and chanter can be rendered quiescent by means of stops. The pipers were at one period the "great originals" of Ireland. The race is gradually departing, or at least " sobering" down into the ranks of ordinary mortals ; but there was a time when the pipers stood out very prominently upon any canvas that pictured Irish life. Anecdotes of their eccentricities might be recorded that would fill volumes. For many yeare past their power has been on the wane ; temperance com 17* 506 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; mitted sad havoc on their prospects ; and at length the introduction of '-' brass bands" effectually destroyed the small balance that remained to them of hope. NOVEL WAT OP CURING VICIOUS HORSES. Burckhardt tells us of a strange mode of curing a vicious horse. He has seen, he says, vicious horses in Egypt cured of the habit of biting by presenting to them, while in the act of doing so, a leg of mutton just taken from the fire. The pain which the horse feels in biting through the hot meat causes it to abandon the practice. GROUND ICE. Every one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other collection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to form on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance of the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water is affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid mass of ice. This is universally the case in stagnant water, but it has been repeatedly proved that in rapid and rugged streams the process of freezing is often very different. In direct opposition, as it would seem, to the laws of the propagation of heat, the ice in running water frp- pAiently begins to form at the bottom of the stream instead of the top ; and this fact, while it is received with doubt by some, even among the scientific, is frequently attested by those whose business leads them to observe the phenomenon connected with rivers. Millers, fishermen, and watermen find that the masses of ice with which many rivers are crowded in the winter season rise from the bottom or bed of the stream. They say that they have seen them come up to the surface, and have also borne them up with their hooks. The under part of these masses of ice they have found covered with mud or encrusted with gravel, thus bear- ing plain marks of the ground on which the ice had rested. The tes- timony of people of this class in our country agrees with that of a similar class in Germany, where there is a peculiar term made use of to designate floating ice, i. e. grundeis (ground-ice). A striking example of the formation of ground-ice is mentioned by the Commander Steenk, of Pillau. On the 9th of February, 1806, during a strong south-east wind, and a temperature a little exceeding 34 Fahr., a long iron chain, to which the buoys of the fair-way are fastened, and which had been lost sight of at Schappeiswrack in a depth of from fifteen to eighteen feet, suddenly made its appearance at the surface of the water and swam there; it was, however, completely encrusted with ice to the thickness of several feet. Stones, also, of from three to six pounds' weight, rose to the surface ; they were surrounded with a thick coat of ice. A cable, also, three and a half inches thick, and about thirty fathoms long, which had been lost the preceding sum- mer in a depth of thirty feet, again made its appearance by swimming to the surface ; but it was enveloped in ice to the thickness of two feet. On the same day it was necessary to warp the ship into harbour in face of aa east wind ; the anchor used for that purpose, after it had rested an MARvELtOUS, RARE, CttRIOtfS, AND QUAINT. 507 hour at the bottom, became so encrusted with ice, that it required not more than half the usual power to heave it up. M. Hugi, president of the Society of Natural History at Soleure, observed, in February, 1827, a multitude of large icy tables on the river Aar. These were continually rising from the bottom, over a surface of four hundred and fifty square feet, and the phenomenon lasted for a couple of hours. Two years afterwards he witnessed a similar occur- rence. On th 12th of February, 1829, at sunrise, and after a sudden fall in the temperature, the river began to exhibit numerous pieces of iloating ice, although there was no sign of freezing on the surface, either along the banks, or in shady places where the water was calm. There- fore it could not be said that the iloating masses were detached from the banks. Nor could they have proceeded from any large sheet of ioe farther up the river, because, higher up, the river exhibited hardly any ice. Besides, flakes of ice commenced soon to rise up above the bridge ; towards mid-day, islands of ice were seen forming in the centre of the river ; and by the next day these were twenty-three in number, the largest being upwards of two hundred feet in diameter. They were surrounded with open water, resisting a current which flowed at the rate of nearly two hundred feet in a minute, and extending over a space of one-eighth of a league. M. Hugi visiled them in a small boat. He landed, examined them in every direction, and discovered that there was a layer of compact ice on their surface a few inches in thickness, resting on a mass having the shape of an inverted cone, of a vertical height of twelve or thirteen feet, and fixed to the bed of the river. These cones consisted of half-melted ice, gelatinous, and much like the spaAvn of a frog. It was softer at the bottom than at the top, and was easily pierced in all directions with poles. Exposed to the open air, the substance of the cones became quickly granulated, like the ice that is formed at the bottom of rivers. In the same year the pebbles in a creek of shallow water, near a very rapid current of the Rhine, were observed to be covered with a sort of transparent mass, an inch or two in thickness, and which, on examina- tion, was. found to consist of icy spicula, crossing each other in every direction. Large masses of spongy ice were also seen in the bed of the stream, at a depth of between six or seven feet. The watermen's poles entered these with ease, and often bore them to the surface. This kind of ice forms most quickly in rivers whose bed is impeded with stones and other foreign bodies. HINDOO COMPUTATION. The Hindoos call the whole of their four ages a divine aye ; a thou- sand divine ages form a calpa, or one of Brahma's days, who, during that period, successively invested fourteen menus, or holy spirits, with the sovereignty of the earth. The menu transmits his empire to his posterity for seventy-one divine ages, and this period is called manawantara, and as fourteen manawantara make but nine hundred and ninety-four divine ages, there remain six, which are the twilight of Brahma's day. Thirty ot these days form his month ; twelve of these months one of his years ; 608 TEN THOUSAND WONUERFtJL THINGS; *nd one hundred of these years the duration of Ids existence. The Hindoos assert that fifty of these years have already elapsed, so that we are in the first day of the first month of the fifty-first year of Brama's age, and in the twenty-eighth divine age of the seventh manawautara. The first three human ages of this age, and five thousand years of the fourth are past. The Hindoos therefore calculate that it is 131,400,007,205,000 years since the birth of Brahma, or the beginning of the world. CHINESE TOMB. Like all people of Tartar origin, one of the most remarkable charac- enstics of the Chinese is their reverence for the dead, or, as it is usually called, their ancestral worship. In consequence of this, their tombs are not only objects of care, but have frequently more ornament bestowed upon them than graces the dwellings of the living. Their tombs are of different kinds ; but th.e most common arrange- ment is that of a horseshoe -shaped platform, cut out of the side oi' a hill, as represented in our engraving. It consequently has a high back, in which is the entrance to the tomb, and slopes off to nothing a'c the entrance to the horseshoe, where the wall generally terminatos v/ith two lions or dragons, or some fantastic ornament common to Chinese archi- tecture. When the tomb is situated, as is generally the eafle, on a hill- ride, this arrangement is not only appropriate, but elegant. When tb MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 509 Mime thing is imitated on a plain, it is singular, misplaced, and unin- telligible. Many of the tombs are built of granite, hnely polished, and carved with a profusion of labour that makes us regret that the people who can do such things should have so great a predilection for ephemeral wooden structures, when capable of employing the myat durable materials with such facility. ABYSSINIAN ARMS. The above engraving represents a group of Abyssinian arms. The Bword, spear, and shield are essentially the weapons of the Abyssinians, firearms being only of comparatively recent introduction, and not generally used. The shields are round, and nearly a yard in diameter ; they are very neatly made of buffalo's hide, and of the form most cal- culated to throw off a lance-point ; namely, falling back gradually from thft boss or centre (which protrudes} to the edges. At the centre, in the inside, is fixed a solid leather handle, by which the shield is held in the 510 TEN' THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS Land when fighting, or through which the arm is passed to the elbow, for convenience of carrying on a journey. The edge is perforated with a number of holes, through which leather loops are passed, and by these it is hung up in the houses. The face of the shield is often ornamented in various ways, according to the wealth or fancy of the owner. Some have simply a narrow strip of lion's skin on each side of the boss, but crossing each other above and below it, the lower ends being allowed to hang at some length ; others have a large broad strip of the mane down the centre of the shield, and hanging several inches below it. This is, of course, usually made of two or three pieces stitched together, as it would be difficult to get a single piece of sufficient length and beauty of fur. Others to this add a lion's paw or tail, fastened on the left side of the mane, and often highly adorned with silver. The beautiful long black and white fur of a sort of monkey, called "goreza," occasionally supplies the place of that of the nobler yet scarcely so beautiful animal. A shield almost completely covered with plates and bosses of silver, is usually the mark of the chief of some district. Those similarly plated in brass were likewise formerly used only by chiefs, though now they are carried by every soldier who can afford to buy them. The plated shield is called "tebbora." Those in brass are not much approved of, as they usually cover a bad skin ; for a man. possessed of a good hand- some shield would never think of thus hiding its intrinsic beauties. In former times a beautiful crooked knife was used in Tigrd, the sheath and handle of which were profusely enriched with silver and gilt. These, however, are never worn now, the long " shotel" in Tigre, and the European-shaped sword among the Amhara and most of the soldiers, have entirely supersded them. The "shotel" is an awkward-looking weapon. Some, if straight, would be nearly four feet long : they are two-edged, and curved to a semicircle, like a reaper's sickle. They are principally used to strike the point downwards over the guard ot an adversary, and for this the long curved shape is admirably adapted. It is, however, a very clumsy weapon to manage. The sheath is of red morocco leather, its point being often ornamented with a hollow silver ball, called " lomita," as large as a small apple. Many of the swords used are made in Europe, and are 8uc.h as would be carried by the light cavalry, though lighter than ours. Be; : n#, however, cheap, showy articles, they are apt to break, and there- fore the Abyssinians are getting tiled of them, preferring those made cf soft iron in their own country. These they make also with the faible considerably broader than the forte, to give force to the blow. Of course, they bend on the least stress ; but, in defence of this failing, their owners say that, if a sword breaks, w!io is to mend it? while, if it bends, you have only to sit on it, and it gets straight again. The handles of both this and the "shotel" are made of the horn of the rhinoceros. They are cut out of the horn at great loss of material, and hence they fetch a good price. It should be remembered that the honrt of the horn is black, outside of which there is a coating, not quit*- uu inch thick, of a semi -transparent white colour. To make a ?vrl- pandle, a piece of horn of the requisite length is first sawn off. Hua U MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 51 1 then re-sawn longitudinally into three pieces, of which the inner one only is eligible for handles. This piece is ahout an inch and a half thick, four or five inches broad at the broader extremity, and three at the narrower. As it lies sawn flat before us we can distinctly see the black stripe in the centre, with the white on each side. Next, a nearly semicircular piece is cut out at each side, leaving only four points of the white as four corners, and the grasp black. The handle is then finished, bored for the shank of the blade, and polished. The shank is usually clinched over a half-dollar beaten convex ; a fil-et-gram boss, called " timbora," is, however, sometimes substituted. A sword-hilt thus made is obviously a very clumsy one to handle, as the points are parallel to the edge, and those farthest from the blade are longest. GEORGIANS AS TOPEES. It is as unsurpassable topers, as well as for their military qualities, which have always been acknowledged, that the Georgians have acquired notoriety. At their frequent drinking parties it is said they will pass several days and nights, almost without intermission, in quaffing the productions of the vineyards of Kakheti, a district in the mountains east of Tiflis. This wine is by no means of bad quality ; it is of a deep red colour, so deep that one fancies it has been tinged with some dye to produce so intense a hue. They are said to consume incredible quantities of wine on these occasions, and in a fashion that would put to shame the drinking triumphs of Ireland, recorded by Sir Jonah Barrington, in days of old, when intoxication was the standard of spirit. The drinking vessel is a cow's horn, of considerable length, and the point of honour is to drain it at a draught. The brethren and convivial rivals of the Georgians in the neighbouring provinces of Imeretia and Mingrelia, instead of a horn, use a delicately-hollowed globe of walnut tree, with a long narrow tube at the orifice. It holds fully a pint, and like its companion, the horn, the contents are consumed at a single gulp. How these globes are hollowed is as great a marvel as the construction of the ingenious Chinese puzzle of ball within ball. STAG-HUNT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTUKT. The following vivid picture of a stag-hunt is taken from the page of an old author, and refers to the days of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots : " In the year 1567, the Earl of Athol, a prince of the blood royal, had, with much trouble and vast expense, a hunting-match for the "en- tertainment of our most illustrious and gracious queen. Our people called this a royal hunting. I was then a young man, and present on that occasion. "Two thousand Highlanders, or wild Scotch, as you call them, were employed to drive to the hunting-ground all the deer from the woods and hills of Athol, Badenoch, Marr, Murray, and the counties about. As these Highlanders use a light dress, and are very swift of foot, they went up and down so nimbly, that in less than two months' time, they brought together two thousand red deer, besides roes and fallow deer. The queen, the great men, and a number of others, were in 9 glen when these deer were brought before them. Believe me, the fi!2 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; whole body moved forward in something like battle order. Tlie sight delighted the queen very much ; but she soon had cause for fear. Upou the earl (who had been accustomed from his early days to such sights) addressing her thus : ' Do you observe that stag who is fore- most of the herd ? There is danger from that stag ; for if either fear or rage should force him from the ridge of that hill, let every one look to himself, for none of us will be out of the way of harm ; for the rest will follow this one, and having thrown us under foot, they will open a passage to this hill behind us.' What happened a moment after confirmed this opinion ; for the queen ordered one of the best dogs to be let loose on one of the deer : this the dog pursues ; the leading stag was frighted ; he flies by the same way he had come there ; the rest rush after him, and break out where the thickest body of Highlanders are ; they had nothing for it but to throw themselves flat on the heath, and allow the deer to pass over them. It was told the queen that several of the Highlanders had been wounded, and that two or three had been killed outright ; and the whole body had got off 1 , had not the Highlanders, by their skill in hunting, fallen upon a stratagem to cut oft' the rear from the main body. It was of those that had been separated that the queen's dogs and those of the nobility made slaughter. There were killed that day three hundred and sixty deer, besides some roes." TIME WASTED IN TAKING SNUFF. A vast quantity of valuable time is wasted by the votaries of tobacco, especially by the smokers; and that the devotees of snuff are not greatly behind in this respect, will be shown by the following singular calculation of Lord Stanhope : "Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," says his lordship, "at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose and other incidental circumstances, consumes one minute and a half. One, minute and a half out of every ten, allowing sixteen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours and twenty-four minutes out of every natural day, or one day out of ten. One day out of every ten, amounts to thirty-six days and a half in a year. Hence, if we suppose the practice to be persisted in forty years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's life will be dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more to blowing it. The expense of snuff, snuff-boxes, and hand- kerchiefs, will be the subject of a second essay, in which it will appear that this luxury encroaches as much on the income of the snuff-taker as it does on his time ; and that by proper application of the time and money thus lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the discharge of the national debt." VALUE OF A LONG PSALM. Formerly a psalm was allowed to be sung at the gallows by the culprit, in case of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to the famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die, for attending MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 513 bin master in some of his glorious exploits, and being upon the ladder, ordered to set out a psalm, he expecting a reprieve, named the 119th Psalm (with which the officer attending the execution complied, the Scotch Presbyterians being great psalm-singers) : and it was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before the reprieve came : any other psalm would have hanged him. ANCIENT INCENSE CHAKIOT. The implement which we have engraved was found in a tomb at Cer- vetri in Etruria, and unquestionably belongs to a very remote date of the archaic period. It was used in the ritual services of the ancients, ancj seems to have been destined for burning incense. The perfume was, no doubt, placed in the concave part, and the fact of the whole being mounted upon four wheels proves that it was intended to be moved about, which, in religious services, may have been a great convenience. The borders are adorned by a row of flower-shaped ornaments, the grace- ful forms of which will be appreciated in the side-view we have given of ti. It must be confessed, indeed, that this monument, which is marked by the stamp of an antiquity so exceedingly remote, displays within the limits of its archaic character much elegance, conveying the idea of a highly refined taste, suitable to a person of dignified position, as the priest or king may be supposed to have been, to whom the article be- longed. TOO MITCH PARENTAL AUTHORITY. All the world over, the current of natural affection flows strongly downwards to posterity. Love for children, in most nations, seems to be stronger than the love for parents. But in China, the current of natural affection is thrown back towards parents with undue strength. The love of posterity is in danger of being checked and weakened by their exces- sive veneration for parents. The father has absolute power, even the power of life and death, over his children. A few years ago, a Chinese father said to his wife, " "What shall we do with our young son ? He is tmdutiful and rebellious, and will bring disgrace on our family name ; let us put him to death." Accordingly, having tied a cord round thw boy's neck, tie father pulled one end of it, and the mother the other, kud 514 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; thus they strangled their son. The magistrates took no notice of the occurrence. A wealthy Chinese gentleman at Ningpo shut up one of his orphan grandchildren and starved her to death. He could not be troubled rearing her up. Another man at the same place, having commanded two of his sons one day to follow him, entered a boat, and rowed out to the middle of the stream. He then deliberately tied a stone to the neck of one of his sons, and threw him into the river. The other lad was com- pelled to assist his father in the cruel proceeding. These facts are well known to the missionaries at that place. They heard the cries of the poor girl, and rescued her sister from a similar fate, and they saw the youth drowned by his father. But the authorities never thought of inter- fering. POPULAR PASTIMES. The popular pastimes of the time of James the First are enumerated in the following lines, in a little work entitled " The Letting of Humour's Blood in the Head-vaine ; with a New Morisco daunced by seven Satyrea upon the bottome of Diogenes' tubbe:" 8vo, Lond. 1611. " Man, I dare challenge thee to THROW THE SLEDGE, To jump or LEAPE over ditch or hedge, To WEASTLE, play at STOOLEBALL, or to RUNNE : To PITCH THE BAEEE, or to SHOOTE OFF A GTTNNE : To play at LOGGETS, NINE HOLES, or TEN PINNES : To try it out at FOOT-BALL by the shinnes : At TICKTACKE, IEISH NODDLE, MAW, and RUFFE, At HOT-COCKLES, LEAP-FEOG, or BLINDMAN-BUFFE ; To drinke halfe-pots, or deale at the whole can : To play at BASE, or PEN-AND-YNKHORNE SIR JUAN ; To daunce the MORRIS, play at BARLEY-BREAK E, At all exploytes a man can thinke or speake ; At SHOVE-GROATE, VENTER-POYNT, or CROSSK & PILJ, At BESHROW HIM THAT'S LAST AT YONDER STYLE; At LEAPING O'ER A MIDSOMMER-BON-FLER, Or at the DRAWING DUN OUT OF THE MYER : At any of those, or all these presently, Wagge but your linger, I am for you, I ! " VACILLATING NEWSPAPERS. The newspapers of Paris, submitted to the censorship of the press, in 1815, announced in the following terms, Bonaparte's departure from the Isle of Elba, his march across France, and his entry into the French Capital : 9th March The Cannibal has escaped from his den. 10th The Corsican ogre has just landed at Cape Juan, llth The Tiger has arrived at Gap. 12th The Monster has passed the night at Grenoble. 13th The Tyrant has crossed Lyons. 14th The Usurper is directing his course towards Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen in a body, and they surround him on all sides. 18th Bonaparte is sixty leages from the Capital ; he has had skill enough to escape fivin the hands of his pursuers 19th Bonaparte advances rapidly, but be MARVELLOUS, KAKE, CUKIOUS, AND QUAINT. 515 will never enter Paris. 20th To-morrow, Napoleon will be under oar ramparts. 21st The Emperor is at Fontainebleau. 22nd His Im- perial and Royal Majesty last evening made his entrance into his Palace of the Tuileries, amidst the joyous acclamations of an adoring and faith- ful people. PRESSING TO DEATH, AND PRAYING AND FASTING. In a number of Oliver Cromwell's Newspaper, "The Perfect Account of the Daily Intelligence," dated April 16th, 1651, we find this horrid instance of torture : " Mond. April 14th. This session, at the Old Bailey, were four men pressed to death that were all in one robbery, and, out of obstinacy and contempt of the court, stood mute and refused to plead ; from whence we may perceive the exceeding great hardness some men are grown unto, who do not only swerve from instructions, exhortations, and goodnesse, but become so lewd and insolent that they render themselves the proper subjects for whom severe laws were first invented and enacted." The very next paragraph in the paper is to the following effect : "Those of the congregate churches, and many other godly people in London and parts adjacent, have appointed Friday, the 25th instant, as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, for a blessing upon the armies at land, the fleet at sea, and negociations abroad." THE FIEST WATCHES IN ENGLAND. In 1584 watches began to come from Germany, and the watchmaker soon became a trader of importance. The watches were often of immense size, and hung in a rich case from the neck, and by fops wound up with great gravity and ceremony in Paul's or at the ordinary dinner. Catgut mainsprings must have been slightly affected by changes of weather, and sometimes a little out of time in wet Novembers ; hut, Sessa, let the world live! An early specimen of the watch that we have seen engraved was, however, not larger than a walnut, richly chased, and enclosed in a pear-shaped case. It had no minute hand, but was of beautiful workmanship. Country people, like Touchstone, sometimes carried pocket dials, in the shape of brass rings, with a slide and aperture, to be regulated to the season. EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE. Jesse, in his interesting " Gleanings in Natural History," gives the following remarkable instance of an extraneous substance being found imbedded in the solid timber of an ash: " A person on whose accuracy and veracity I can place every reliance, informed me that hearing from some of his brother workmen, that in sawing up the butt of a large ash-tree, they had found a bird's nest in the middle of it ; he imme- diately went to the spot, and found an ash cut in two longitudinally on the saw-pit, and the bird's nest nearly in the centre of the tree. The nest was about two-thirds of a hollow globe, and composed of moss, hair, and feathers, all seemingly in a fresh state. There were three eggs in it, 516 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; nearly white and somewhat speckled. On examining the tree marl minutely with several other workmen, no mark or protuberance wai found to indicate the least injury. The bark was perfectly smooth and Ihe tree quite sound." In endeavouring to account for this curious fact, tve can only suppose that some accidental hole was made in the tree before it arrived at any great size, in which a bird had built its nest, and forsaken it after she had laid three eggs. As the tree grew larger, the hark would grow over the hole, and in process of time the nest wjuJi become embedded in the tree. POK.T COOX CAVE. The above ia a sketch of a cave which well deserves a place among oar collection of Wonders. It is called Port Coon Cave, and is in the lino of rocks near the Giants' Causeway. It may be visited either by sea or by land. Boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred yard's 01 more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous ; and although the land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of climbing is tecessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of the excavation, 3t length, and the formation of the interior, would repay greater exer- tion. ; the stones of which the roof and sides are composed, and which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were, in a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the coats of an onios ; the inner* MARVELLOUS, RASE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 517 most recess lias been compared to the side aisle of a Gothic cathedral ; the walls are most painfully slimy to the touch ; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amid the rolling of the billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a bugle, we are told, produced delicious eohocs. ANECDOTE IN PORCELAIN. The finest specimens of Dresden porcelain were undoubtedly made previously to the Seven Years' War, when no expense was spared, and when any price might be obtained. Count Briihl, the profligate minister of Augustus III., whose splendid palace and terrace is the great orna- ment of Dresden, was importuned by his tailor to be allowed to see the manufactory, admission to which was strictly prohibited. At length he consented, and the tailor upon his entrance was presented with the two last new pieces made, which were one a grotesque figure, a portrait of himself mounted upon a he-goat, with the shears, and all his other implements of trade ; and the other, his wife upon a she-goat, with a baby in swaddling clothes. The poor tailor was so annoyed with these caricatures, that he turned back without desiring to see more. These pieces, known as Count Briihl's Tailor and his "Wife, are now much sought after, from their historical interest. They were made in 1760, by Kandler. ANGLO-SAXON FEASTS. It is a mark of Anglo-Saxon delicacy, that table-cloths were features at Anglo-Saxon feasts ; but, as the long ends were used in place of nap- kins, the delicacy would be of a somewhat dirty hue, if the cloth were made to serve at a second feast. There was a rude sort of display upon the board ; but the order of service was of a quality that would strike the " Jeameses" of the age of Victoria with inexpressible disgust. The meat va never <( dished, and "covers" were as yet unknown. Tb &lg TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , attendants brought the viands into the dining-hall on the spits, knelt to each guest, presented the spit to his consideration ; and, the guest having helped himself, the attendant went through the same ceremony with the next guest. Hard drinking followed upon these same cremonies ; and even the monasteries were not exempt from the sins of gluttony and drunkenness. Notwithstanding these bad habits, the Anglo-Saxons were a cleanly people ; the warm bath was in general use. Water, for hands and feet, was brought to every stranger on entering a house wherein he was about to tarry and feed ; and, it is said that one of the severest penances of the church was the temporary denial of the bath, and of cutting the hair and nails. HOUSEHOLD RULES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTUEY. 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, Id. ; and the same sum for leaving a door open. A fine of 2d., from Lady Day to Michaelmas, for all who are in bed after six, or out after ten. The same fine, from Michaelmas to Lady Day, for all who are in bed after seven, or out after nine. A fine of Id. for any bed unmade, fire unlit, or candle-box uncleaned after eight. A fine of 4d. for any man detected teaching the children obscene words. A fine of Id. for any man waiting without a trencher, or who is absent at a meal. For any one breaking any of the butler's glass, 12d. A fine of 2d. for any one who has not laid the table for dinner by half-past ten, or the supper by six. A fine of 4d. for any one absent a day without leave. For any man striking another, a fine of Id. For any follower visiting the cook, Id. A fine of Id. for any man appearing in a foul shirt, broken hose, untied shoes, or torn doublet. A fine of Id, for any stranger's room left for four houfB after he be dressed. A fine of Id. if the hall be not cleansed by eight in winter and seven in summer. The porter to be fined Id. if the court-gate be not shut during meals. A fine of 3d. if the stairs be not cleaned every Friday after dinner. All these fines were deducted by the steward at the quarterly pay- ment of the men's wages. If these laws were observed, the domestic discipline must have been almost military in it. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. Belkis, according to the Arabs, was the famous Queen of Sheba or Saba, who visited, and afterwards married, Solomon, in the twenty- nrst MARVELLOUS, RARE, CTJRIOtJS, AND CitTAtNT. 519 rear of her reign. Tabari has introduced her story with such gorgeous embellishments as to resemble a fairy tale rather than episode in serious narrative. She is said to have been subdued by the Jewish monarch, who discovered her retreat among the mountains, between Hejaz and Yemen by means of a lapwing, which he had despatched in search of water during his progress through Arabia. This princess is called Nicolaa by some writers. The Abyssinians claim the same distinction for one ot their queens ; and have preserved the names of a dynasty alleged to have been descended from her union with Solomon. SOTERSTITION IN FRANCE. In France, superstition at this day is even more prevalent than it is in England. Clarinet, in his history of Magic and Sorcery in that country, cites upwards of twenty instances which occurred between the years 1805 and 1818. In the latter year no less than three tribunals were occupied with trials originating in this humiliating belief : we shall cite only one of them. Julian Desbourdes, aged nfty-three, a mason, and inhabitant of the village of Thilouze, near Bourdeaux, was taken suddenly ill, in the month of January 1818. As he did not know how to account for his malady, he suspected at last that he was be- witched. He communicated this suspicion to his son-in-law Bridier, and they both went to consult a sort of idiot, named Boudouin, who passed for a conjuror or white-witch. This man told them that Desbourdes was certainly bewitched, and offered to accompany them to the house of an old man named llenard, who, he said, was undoubtedly the criminal. On the night of the 23rd of January all three proceeded stealthily to the dwelling of Renard, and accused him of afflicting per- eons with diseases by the aid of the devil. Desbourdes fell on his knees nnd earnestly entreated to be restored to his former health, promising that he would take no measures against him for the evil he had done. The old man denied in the strongest terms that he was a wizard ; and when Desbourdes still pressed him to remove the spell from him, he said he knew nothing about the spell, and refused to remove it. The idiot Boudouin, the white-witch, now interfered, and told his companions that no relief for the malady could ever be procured until the old man con- fessed his guilt. To force him to confession they lighted some sticks of sulphur which they had brought with them for the purpose, and placed them under the old man's nose. In a few moments he fell down suffo- cated and apparently lifeless. They were all greatly alarmed; and thinking that they had killed the man, they carried him out and threw him into a neighbouring pond, hoping to make it appear that he had fallen in accidentally. The pond, however, was not very deep, and the coolness of the water reviving the old man, he opened his eyes and sat up. Desbourdes and Bridier, who were still waiting on the bank, were now more alarmed than before, lest he should recover and inform against them. They therefore waded into the pond, seized their victim by the hair of the head, beat him severely, and then held him under water till he was drowned. They were all three apprehended on the charge of murder a few dajf 520 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; afterwards. Desbourdes and Bridier were found guilty of aggravated manslaughter only, and sentenced to be burnt on the back, and to work in the galleys for 'life. The white-witch Boudouin was acquitted on tb ground of insanity. SIE JOHX CEOSBY. We here present our readers with a sketch of the helmet of Sir John Crosby, as it originally appeared when suspended over his tomb in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. He was an eminent merchant of London ; but is represented upon his tomb in a full suit of armour. He died in 1475. The extreme height of the crown of the helmet resembles that on the tomb of the Earl of Warwick, in the Beauchaoip Chapel at Warwick ; and was intended to support the crest of the wearer, the holes for affixing it being still visible. EAKTHQT/AKE PAOTC. A panic terror of the end of the world seized the good people of Leeds and its neighbourhood in the year 1806. It arose from the following circumrtanceg. A hen, in a village close hi-, laid eggs, on which were. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 521 inscribed the words, " Christ is coming." Great numbers visited the spot, and examined these wondrous eggs, convinced that the day of Judgment was near at hand. Like sailors in a storm, expecting every instant to go to the bottom, the believers suddenly became religious, prayed violently, and flattered themselves that they repented them of their evil courses. But a plain tale soon put them down, and quenched their religion entirely. Some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went one fine morning and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs. They soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again into the bird's body. At this explanation, those who had prayed, now laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore. OLD ENGLISH SACK-POT. Sack was such a national beverage of the jolly old England of the seventeenth century, that we are sure our readers will thank us for giving them an idea of the vessel in which it was commonly used. The bottle here engraved, and inscribed " Sack," was found in Old Tabley Hall, Cheshire, and is a veritable specimen of the sort of vessel from which the topers of the " good old times " poured into their cups the drink with which they so loved to warm their heart-strings. It is of a dull-white, with blue letters, and it is in the possession of the Hon. Robert Curzon, jun., author of the inte- resting work on the Monasteries of the Levant. Two old English bottles of similar character, one lettered Sack, the other Claret, dated 1646, were sold at Strawberry Hill. AGE OF THEES. Mr. Twining was engaged, in the year 1827, in measuring and in- ecting a large lot of hemlock timber cut from the north-eastern slope East Itock, New Haven (America), and destined for the foundation ot a wharf. While thus employed he took particular notice of the successive layers, each of which constitutes a year's growth of the tree, and which in that kind of wood are very distinct. These layers were of various breadths, and plainly showed that in some seasons the trees made a much greater advance than in others, some of the layers being five or six times broader than others. Every tree had thus preserved a record oj the seasons for the period of its growth, whether thirty years or tw hundred and what was worthy of notice, every tree told the same story. Thus, by beginning at the outer layer of two trees, the one young the other old, and counting back twenty years, if the young tree indicated, by a full layer, a growing season for that kind of timber, the other tree indicated the same ". I had then before me," (says this intelligent observer) " two or three hundred meteorological tables, all of them as unerring as nature ; and by spect of Ei 522 TEN THOUSAND \VoNDERFUL THINGS ; electing one tree from the oldest, and sawing out a thin section from it* trunk, I might have preserved one of the number to be referred to after- wards. It might have been smoothed on the one side by the piano, so as to exhibit its record to the eye with all the neatness and distinctness of a drawing. On the opposite side might have been minuted in indelible writing the locality of the tree, the kind of timber, the year and month when cut, the soil where it grew, the side and point which faced the north, and every other circumstance which can possibly be supposed ever to have the most remote relation to the value of the table in hand. The lover of science will not be backward to incur such trouble, for he knows how often, in the progress of human knowledge, an observation or an experiment has lost its value bv the disregard of some circumstance connected with it, which at the time was not thought worthy of notice. Lastly, there might be attached to the same section a written meteorolo- gical table compiled from the observations of some scientific person, if such observations had been made in the vicinity. This being done, why, in the eye of science, might not this natural, unerring, graphical record of seasons past deserve as careful preservation as a curious mineral, or a new form of crystals ?" THE CAMEL AS A SCAPE-GOAT. A very singular account of the use to which a camel is sometimes put, is given by the traveller Bruce. He tells us that he saw one employed to appease a quarrel between two parties, something in the same way as the scape-goat was used in the religious services of the Jewish people. The camel being brought out was accused by both parties of all the injuries, real or supposed, which belonged to each. All the mischief that had been done, they accused this camel of doing. They upbraided it with being the cause of all the trouble that had separated friends, called it by every opprobious epithet, and finally killed it, and declared themselves reconciled over its body. SUSPENDED VOLITION. A young lady, an attendant of the Princess , after having been confined to her bed for a great length of time with a violent nervous disorder, was at last, to all appearance, deprived of life. Her lips were quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead person, and the body grew cold. She was removed from the room in which she lay, was put in a coffin, and the day of her funeral fixed on. The day arrived, and, according to the custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were sung before the door. Just as the people were about to nail on the lid of the coffin, a kind of perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of her body. It grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion was observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A few minutes after, during which time fresh signs of returning life appeared, she at once opened her eyes and uttered a most pitiable shriek. Physicians were quickly procured, and in the course of a few days she was considerably rtwtoi-ed MAHVELLOU3, RARE, CURIOUS, AND The description which she gave of her situation is extremely remark* able, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology. She said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really dead ; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends speaking, and lament- ing her death, at the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on thft dead-clothes, and lay her in them. This feeling produced a mental ar.xiety which is indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was without power, and could not act on her body. "She had the contra- dictory feeling as if she were in her body, and yet not in it, at one and the same time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arm or to open her eyes, or to cry. although she continually endeavoured to do so. The internal anguish of her mind was, however, at its utmost height when the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought that she was to be buried alive was the one that gave activity to her soul, and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame. FASHIONS FOR THE DEAD. The following advertisement appeared in a Glasgow paper about the middle of the last century. " James Hodge, who lives in the first close above the Cross, on the west side of the street, Glasgow, continues to sell burying Crapes ready made ; and his wife's niece, who lives with him, dresses dead Corpses at as cheap a rate as was formerly done by her aunt, having been educated by her, and perfected at Edinburgh, from whence she is lately arrived, and has all the newest and best fashions." COMMON USE OP PLATE IN THE TIME OF HENRY Yin. A writer in the early part of the sixteenth century tells us that in his time, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the luxury of the table had descended even to citizens, and that there were few whose tables were not daily provided with spoons, cups, and a saltcellar of silver. Those of a higher sphere affected a greater profusion of plate ; but the quantity accumulated by Cardinal Wolsey, though the precious metals are now so copious, still continues to excite our surprise. At Hampton Court, where he feasted the French ambassadors and their splendid retinue in 1528, two cupboards, extending across the banquet chambers, were piled to the top with plate and illuminated ; yet, without encroaching on these osten- tatious repositories, a profuse service remained for the table. Two hun- dred and eighty beds were provided for the guests ; every chamber had a bason and ewer of silver, beside other utensils. DIOGENES IN A PITHOS, NOT TUB. A pithos is a description of earthen vessel or jar, distinguished from the amphora by its large mouth, and comparatively flattened base. Its shape was more that of a gourd, or pot; its size large enough to have rendered it applicable to the purposes of a cistern, or water butt. Such, indeed, appear in some instances to have been its dimensions, that it has long Ven a matter of dispute amongst the learned whether, it' Diogenes dwtuc in a tub at all (a point by no means settled), his 524 T.KV THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS : humble habitation were of wood or earthenware. Brougniart adopt* the latter opinion, and has illustrated it by a partial copy from a print in Winckelmann. In the original, the philosopher is shown holding his well-known chat with Alexander the Great, at the gate of the Metroum, or Temple of the Mother of the Gods at Athens ; but his tub has there the addition of a dog lying on the outside, above fr-3 master's head, evidently on the watch to defend him, if necessary, against any attack from the royal warrior. "Winckelmann' s engraving, which we vere present, is taken from a bas-relief discovered in the Villa Albani ; in which the cvnic's tub is clearly of earthenware, having a large fracture on one side, which has been repaired with some other material dove-tailed across the crack. This, Winckelmann concludes to have been lead (commesso col piombo), simply, however, upon the authority of the following lines in Juvenal : " Si Fregeris, altera Set Cras domus, ast sadem plumbo commissa manebit." Sat. xiv: 310. Be all this, however, as it may, the controversy is not without ita val in connexion with the ceramic productions of the period. If the "dolia" and " iriQaKva. ' of the ancients had not been of sufficient capacity, however ke'jnel-like, to have served as a dwelling, or shelter, for the philosopher, the tale would hardly have existed. Nor does it seem probable that Juvenal, in allusion to the story, would have used the term testa (testi cum vidit in ilia magnum habitatorem), or have dwelt MARVELLOUS, KARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 5^5 upon their fragility, or have said that they would not burn (dolia nudi non ardent Cynici), if vessels of the sort had not been commonly of earthenware. These vessels, both ancient and modern, have a thickness and strength which enables them to be rolled on a ladder to and from the top of the kiln, where they are baked, without injury. CHINESE SCHOOL. The annexed engraving is a curiosity both in itself and in what it re- presents. It is taken from a sketch by a native Chinese artist, and depicts the internal arrangements of a native Chinese school. The extraordinary nature of the Chinese language renders it impossible for a schoolmaster to instruct more than a very few scholars at a time, since the meaning of the words actually depends on their correct intonation. Every vocable in the language is capable of being pronounced in six different tones of voice, and of conveying six meanings, totally different from each other, according to the tone given to it. Pronounced in one tone, it conveys one meaning, and is represented by one written character ; pronounced in another tone, it conveys an entirely distinct meaning, and is repre- sented in writing by another character altogether different. The correct and distinct enunciation of these tones is the chief difficulty in learning to speak the language. These tones are stereotyped and fixed, and must be learned, as part of the word, at the same time that its form and sig- nification are mastered. Moreover, they are all arranged upon system, like the notes in a gamut, and when thoroughly mastered, the theory of the tones is really beautiful. If a wrong tone, then, is given to a word in reading or in conversation, it grates upon a Chinese ear like a false note in playing the fiddle. Further, if the voice be not correctly modu- lated, and the words correctly intoned, not only is a jarring note pro- nounced, but actually a wrong word is uttered, and a different meaning 526 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ocnveyed from what was intended. A missionary to the Chinese, there- fore, should be possessed of a musical ear. "Without this, the acquisition of the spoken language will be attended by very arduous labour ; and, perhaps, after years of toil, he will find that he still frequently fails in correctly conveying his meaning. LONDON LOCALITIES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTTJKY. At Ludgate was a gaol, where the prisoners clamoured for alms at the barred grate ; ?nd it was here that Sir Thomas "Wyatt had been re- pulsed. The city wall that joined this gate to its other fellow gate? ran from the Tower through the Minories to Aldgate, Houndsditch, and Uishopsgate, through Cripplegate to Aldersgate, and so past Christ's Hospital by Newgate and Ludgate to the Thames. Pimlico was a country place where citizens used to repair to eat ' ' pudding pies " on a Sunday, as they did to Islington or Hogsden to take tobacco and drink new milk ; as Islington was famous for its dairy, where Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have lived in an old house still standing, so Holloway was famous for its cheese cakes ; and it is these peculiarities that, after all, confer immortality upon a place. Chelsea was the mere village of Chelsea, known from Sir Thomas More's house, where Henry VIII. had walked with his arm round that great states- man's doomed neck ; as Holborn was then a country road leading to the pleasant village of St. Giles, and trending on to the way that led to Oxford and to fatal Tyburn, so called from its burn or brook, then well known to patient city anglers. The triple tree or gallows stood at the corner of the present Edgware Road. The same Oxford Street led also, if you turned up one side of the Hampstead Road, to the Tottenham Court, which stood there alone far in the country, and Primrose Hill was an untrodden hillock, surrounded by wide paths and ditches between this court and Hampstead. A cheerful little stream, known by the pleasant name of the Fleet, rose near Hampstead Hill, and joined by the Old Bourne and recruited by sparkling Clerken Well, emptied itself in the Thames. Though even then merely a sewer, it was open, and had four bridges of its own, while the Thames had but one ; and these were known as Holborn Bridge, Fleet-lane Bridge, Fleet Bridge, and Bridewell Bridge. Spitalfields was a grassy open space, with artillery grounds and a pulpit and cross, where fairs were held and sermons preached. There were also Tothill Fields, and Finsbury Fields, and Moor Fields, just outside the city walls, laid out in walks, and planted, as far as Hoxton. Round these squares there were windmills and everything equally rural. As for Piccadilly, it was everywhere known as a road to Reading, and by many herbalists, as harbouring the small wild foxglove in its dry ditches. Outside Temple Bar, before the wooden gatehouse was built, lay the Strand, the road leading from the city to the houses of Court. This rivet bank was the chosen residence of the nobility, whose gardens stretched to the edge of the then undefiled river. The sky then was pure and bright, for our ancestors burnt wood fires, and the water was gay MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. M* with thousands of boats. Each house had its terrace, its water stairs, and garden. The street houses were so scattered that the river could be seen between them, and there were three water courses there traversed by bridges, besides two churches and a maypole. Here stood York House, where Bacon was born, and Durham Place, where Raleigh lived, with his study in a turret overlooking the river ; there also were Arundel House and Essex House, where great men pined and plotted. At Whitehall stood Wolsey's Palace, enlarged by Henry VIII., and Elizabeth's favourite residence when not at Nonsuch in Surrey, Windsor, Greenwich, or Richmond. The tilt-yard stood where the Horse Guards now stands. St. James's Palace, also built by Henrv VIII., where the Queen's melancholy-bigot sister had died, was seldom inhabited by the Court ; but the park was even then existing. As for the old palace of Richard III. (Bay nard's Castle), that had been let to the Earl of Pembroke, and the same king's dwelling of Crosby Hall had fallen into the hands of an alderman. WARWICK THE KING-MAKEJt. ON the right-hand side of Newgate-street are various streets and courts leading into Paternoster-row. Of these, Warwick and Ivy lanes, Panyer-alley, and Lovel's-court, merit the attention of the lover of literary and historical antiquities. Warwick-lane, now the abode of butchers and tallow-chandlers, took its name from the inn or house of the celebrated Warwick, the king-maker. Stow mentions his coming to London in the famous convention of 1458, with 600 men, all in red jackets, embroidered, with ragged staves, before and behind, and was lodged in Warwick -lane; " in whose house there was often six oxen eaten at a breakfast, and every taverne was full of his meate, for hee that had any acquaintance in that house, might have there so much of sodden and roaste meate, as he could pricke and carry upon a long dagger." The memory of the earl was long preseived by a small stone statue, placed in the side front of a tobacconist'^, at the corner of this lane ; and there is a public-house which has the earl's head for its sign. THANKSGIVING DAT TUT 1697. The following is an extract from the " Post Boy" of the above date : " Thursday, December 2, 1697. Thursday beiwg appointed for the day of Thanksgiving, the same was ushered in with ringing of bells ; the king went to the Chapel Royal, where, &c., and at night we had bonfires and illuminations. The fine fire-works in St. James's Square were lighted after this manner : About twelve o'clock, the Foot Guards lined the avenues ; the rockets and all things being fixed on the rails the day before : a little after six, the king, attended by his guards, came to the Earl of Romney's house, from whence soon after a sigiial was given, by firing a rocket, for the fire-works to go off, which were immediately ) ighted ; the performance was extraordinary fino, and much applauded"; the same continued somewhat better than half an hour, and there were divers sorts of fire- works ; some had the king's name, others 628 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; the arms of England ; in a word, they were very curious. There was u man and a woman unfortunately killed, and divers others hurt by the falling down of sticks. About half an hour after, His Majesty went to St. James's there being a fine ball." THE GREY MAN'S PATH. The annexed sketch depicts a scene in the coast rocks at Fairhead, near Ball/castle in Ireland. FhirLeith, or " The Grey Man's Path," (a fissure in the precipice, ) viewed either from land or sea, is never to be forgotten: it seems as though some superna- tural power, determined to hew for itself a pathway through the wonderful for- mations that tower along the coast so that it might visit or summon the spirits of the deep, without tread- ing a road made by mortal hands had willed the fear- ful chasm that divides the rocky promontory in two. The singular passage, in its narrow part, is barred across by the fragment of a pillar, hurled, as it were, over the fissure, and sup- ported on both sides at a considerable elevation. If you descend, you perceive the passage widens, and becomes more important ; its dark sides assume greater height, and a more wild and sombre magnificence ; and at last they extend upwards, above 220 feet, through which the tourist arrives at the massive debris which crowd the base of the mighty pro- montory, where the northern, ocean rolls his threatening billows. From the cragsmen and boatmen of this wild coast you hear no tales of Faery> no hints of the gentle legends and superstitions collected in the south, or in the inland districts of the north ; not that they are a whit less super- stitious, but their superstition is, as the superstition of the sea kings, of a bold and peculiar character ; their ghosts come from out the deep, before or after the rising of the moon, and climb, or rather stalk up the rooks, and, seated upon those mysterious pillars, converse together ; so the fisherman's iiuts, they say, " it thunders." Even mermaids that, in MARVELLOUS, RAKE, C\jRlOtIS, AND QUAINT. 529 we deemed too trifling in their habits and manners for this stupendous eenery, where spirits of the gigantic world congregate, and where the "Grey Man " of the North Sea stalks forth, silently and alone, up his appropriate path, to witness some mighty convulsion of nature. ANCIENT JET NECKLACE. Various interesting ornaments, belonging to the Archaic, or Bronza period in Scotland, are preserved in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries, and one set in particular, found enclosed in an urn within a rude stone cist, on the demolition of a tumulus near the Old House of Assynt, Ross- Bhire, in 1824, we here engrave. They include a necklace of irregular oval jet beads, which appear to have been strung together like a common modern string of beads, and are sufficiently rude to correspond with the works of a very primitive era. The other ornaments which are repre- sented here about one-fourth the size of the original, are curiously studded with gold spots, arranged in patterns similar to those with which the rude pottery of the British tumuli are most frequently decorated, and the whole are perforated with holes passing obliquely from the back through the edge, evidently designed for attaching them to each other by means of threads. JTTGGLERS IN JAPAN. The perfection of jugglery in Japan entitles it to be ranked amongst the fine arts. An eye-witness thus describes the performance 01 a Japanese juggler. "Here are some of his feats: No. 1. He took an ordinary boy's top, spun it in the air, caught it on his hand, and then placed it (still spinning) upon the edge of a sword, near the hilt. Then he dropped the sword point a little, and the top moved slowly towards it. Arrived at the very end, the hilt was lowered in turn, and the top brought back. As usual, the sword was dangerously sharp. No. 2 was also performed with the top. He spun it in the air, and then threw the end of the string back towards it with such accuracy that it was caught up and wound itself all ready for a second cast. By the time it had done this it had reached his hand, and was ready for another spin. No. 3 wat still performed with the top. There was an upright pole, upon tic top of which was perched a little house, with a very large front door. The 18 530 TEN THOUSAND WONDE11FTJL THIXOS ; top was spun, made to climb the pole, knock open the said front door, and disappear. As well as I remember, the hand end of the string was fastened near the door, so that this was almost a repetition of the self- winding feat. But feat No. 4 was something even more astonishing than all this. He took two paper butterflies, armed himself with the usual paper fan, thr-ew them into the air, and, fanning gently, kept them flying about him as if they had been alive. " He can make them alight wherever you wish! Try him!" remarked the Kami (Prince), through the interpreter. Mr. H requested that one might alight upon each ear of the juggler. No sooner expressed than complied with. Gentle undulations of the fan waved them slowly to the required points, and there left them comfortably seated. Now, whether this command over pieces of paper was obtained simply by currents of air, or by the power of a concealed magnet, Mr. H could not tell or ascertain. Oue thing, however, was certain, the power was there. MAY- FAIR PLAT BILL IN THE TIME OF WILLIAM HI. WILLIAM REX. MAY-FAIR. MILLER'S, OE THE LOYAL ASSOCIATION BOOTH, AT THE UPPER END OP BROOK-FIELD MARKET, NEAR HYDE PARK CORNER. DritiNG THE TIME OF MAY-FAIR, WILL BE PRESENTO AN EXCELLENT DROLL, CALLED KING WILLIAM'S HAPPY DELIVERANCE AND GLORIOTTS TRIUMPH OVER nis ENEMIES, OR THE CONSULTATION OF THE POPE, DEVIL, FRENCH KING, and the GRAND TURK, WITH THE WHOLE FORM OF THE SlEGE OF NAMUR, AND THE HUMOURS OF A RENEGADE FRENCH MAN AND BRANDY JEAN, WITH THE CONCEITS OF SCARAMOUCH AND HARLEQUIN, TOGETHER WITH THE BEST SlNGINO AND DANCING THAT WAS EVEB SEEN IN A FAIR, ALSO A DIALOGUE SONG. VIVAT REX. Bulls were formerly a prolific source of superstition. There is a valley in Nottinghamshire, where a village is said to have been swallowed up V>y an earthquake, and it was the custom on Christmas Day morning for the people to assemble in this valley and listen to the fancied ringing of the church bells underground. At Abbot's Morton there is a tradition that the silver bells belonging to the abbot are buried in the site of his old residence there. At Ledbury, a legend relates that St. Katharine had a revelation that she was to travel about, and not rest at any place, till she heard the bells ringing of their own accord. This was done by the I^dbury bells on her approaching that town. When the church at MAKVELLOUS, BAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 531 Inkberrow was rebuilt on a. new site in ancient days, it was believed that the fairies took umbrage at the change, as they were supposed to be averse to bells ; they accordingly endeavoured to obstruct the building, hut, as they did not succeed, the following lamentation was occasionally heard by the startled rustics : " Neither sleep, neither lie, For Inkbro's ting-tangs hang so nigh." Many years ago the twelve parish churches in Jersey each possessed beautiful and valuable peal of bells ; but during a long civil war, tli^ states determined on selling these bells to defray the heavy expenses of their army. The bells were accordingly collected and sent to France for that purpose ; but, on the passage, the ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show the wrath of Heaven at the sacrilege. Since then, before a storm, these bells ting up from the deep ; and, to this day, the iishermen of St. Ouen's Bay always go to the edge of the water before embarking, to listen if they can hear "the bells upon the wind;" and, if those warning notes are heard, nothing will induce them to leave the shore ; if all is quiet they fearlessly set sail. As a gentleman, who ha* versified the legend, says : " 'Tis an omen of death to the mariner, Who wearily fights with the sea ; For the foaming surge is his winding sheet, And his funeral knell are we : His funeral knell our passing bells beat, And IHB winding sheet the sea." BRIBING THE DEMONS. The rich inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, it is almost needless to nay, make an exorbitant display at funerals. They invite as many rela- tions and friends as they can, in order to muster an imposing procession, and the mourning dresses worn by the whole party are at the cost of the family of the deceased, who are also bound to provide them for several days together with splendid repasts. A great number of musicians are hired for the occasion, and also of weepers, for though most people in China are pretty well skilled in the art of shedding tears, there exist mourners by profession, who have carried it to still greater perfection, and are absolutely inimitable at sobs and groans. They follow the coffin in long white robes, hempen girdles, and dishevelled hair; and their lamentations are accompanied by the beating of gongs, by the sharp and discordant sounds of rude instruments of music, and the discharge of tireworks. The sudden explosion and the smell of the powder are sup- posed to be efficacious in frightening away the demons, and hindering t hem from seizing on the soul of the defunct, which never fails to follow the coffin ; and a.3 these malevolent spirits have also the reputation of being extremely covetous and fond, of money, people endeavour to get on their weak side. They let fall, for this purpose, all along the road, Hapecks and bank-notes, that the wind carries away in all directions; and as the demons in China are by no means so cunning as tho men, they are taken in by this device, and fali into ft* trap with charming 532 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS J implicity, though the supposed bank-notes are in fact only bits of ^hite paper. Whilst they are engaged in pursuing these deceitful appearance of riches, the soul of the defunct >roceeds quietly and comfortably after its coffin without any danger of its being stopped by the way. HOLY-WATEB, SPKINKLEB. To sprinkle the holy water was, in ancient times, the cant phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation of a certain class of weapons, as there is no resemblance whatever between them and the aspergillum used by Roman Catholics. The specimen we have here sketched is a derni holy- water- sprinkler to speak in the language of the time " with gonnes at the ende." This awkward weapon, prior, in point of date, to the invention of the match- lock, .and, therefore, not later than the time of Edward IV., was made to hang at the saddle-bow instead of a mace. The iron cap at the end is fur- nished with a spear-like blade, and opens on an. hinge, or is held in its place by a hook. It contains four short barrels, each of which is fired by a match, and its touch-hole is protected by a sliding piece of wood. In using this weapon the intention was first to fire at the enemy with the " gonnes at the ende," and then to club him on coming to close quarters. To effect all this, however, in a satisfactory manner, much time must have been lost, and many accidents, no doubt, were liable to happen to the person who used such a weapon as this, which was almost as dangerous to the man who possessed it, as to the enemy against whom he directed it. The lid at the top must first have been opened, and not only so, but must have been kept open all the time the weapon was used as a gun, and then, previously to closing with the foe, it must have been necessary to secure it, lest, in brandishing the instrument as a club, the open lid should strike against the head of the man who wielded it. No wonder that this dangerous compound of club and gun soon went out of fashiozi, and survived its invention only a very few years FIEST TEA-DKINKEES PUZZLED. The first brewers of tea were often sorely perplexed with the prepara- tion of the new mystery. "Mrs. Hutchinson's great grandmother wa ine of a party who sat down to the first pound of tea that ever came into r< -irith. It was sent as a present, and without directions how to use it. they boiled the wholo At once in a bottle, and sat down to eat the leaT*a MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 533 riOi butter and salt, and they wondered how any person could like such a diet. 1 '' COLtTMN AT CTTSSI. The great object of the erection of pillars of victory was to serve as vehicles for sculpture ; though, as we now see them, or as they are caricatured, at Paris and elsewhere, they are little more than instances of immense labour bestowed to very little purpose. In the original use of these pillars, they were placed in small courts surrounded by open porticos, whence the spectator could at two, or perhaps at three different levels ex- amine the sculpture at his leisure at a convenient distance, while the absur- dity of a pillar supporting nothing was not apparent, from its not being seen from the outside. A good speci- men of this class is that at Cussi, near Beaune, in France. It is represented in the annexed cut. It probably be- longs to the time of Aurelian, and no doubt was first erected within a court ; but it is not known either by whom it was erected, or what victory it was designed to celebrate. Still that it is a pillar of victory is certain, and its resemblance to pillars raised with the same object in India is quite striking. The arrangement of the base, serving as a pedestal for eight statues, is not only elegant, but appropriate. The ornament which covers the shaft takes - off from the idea of its being a mere pillar, and, at the same time, is so subdued as not to break the outline or interfere with constructive propriety. The capital of the Corinthian order is found in the neighbourhood, used as the mouth of a well. In its original position it no doubt had a hole through it, which being enlarged suggested its application to its present comparatively ignoble purpose, the hole bem ?u> d?mbt intended either to receive or support the statue or emblem teat originally crowned the monument, but of that no trace cow remains. STYLE OP Lima AMONG THE NOBILITY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTFBY. The ordinary meals were now increased to four a day breakfast at seven in the morning, dinner at ten, supper at four in the afternoon, aad 534 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINOb, " liveries," which were taken in bed, between eight and nine at nijiht. These latter, as well as the breakfast, were of no light or unsubstantial character, consisting of good beef and mutton (or salt fish in Lent), with beer and wine in the morning ; and of a loaf or two, with a few quarts of mulled wine and beer, at nights. At dinner the huge oaken table, extending the whole length of the great hall, was profusely covef ed with joints of fresh and salt meat, followed by courses of fowl, fish, and curious made-dishes. The Lord took his seat on the dais or raised floor at the head ; his friends and retainers were ranged above or below the salt, according to their rank. As forks were not yet in use, the fingers were actively employed, whilst wine and beer in wooden or pewter goblets were handed round by the attendants. Over head the favourite hawks stood upon their perches, and below the hounds reposed upon the pavement. The dinner generally lasted for three hours, and all pauses were filled up by the minstrels, jesters, or jugglers, or by the recitation of some romance of chivalry. At the end of each course they sometimes intro- duced a dish called subtlety, composed of curious figure in jellies or con- fectionery, with a riddling label attached for the exercise of social wit. The monasteries were especially noted for their good dinners, and the secular clergy, not to be outdone in their hospitality invented glutton- musses in honour of the Virgin. These were held five times a year in the open churches, whither the people brought food and liquor, and vied with each other in this religious gormandizing. The general diet of the common people continued, however, to be coarse and poor, and severe famines not unfrequertfly occurred. ORIGIN OP THE TITLE " SFORZA." James Sforza, the father of Francis the first duke, was the founder uf the house of Sforza, which gave six dukes to Milan, and was allied with almost every sovereign in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He was born in 1369, at Catignuola, near Faenza; his father, according to tradition, was a day labourer, and to others, a shoemaker, but probably wrought as both. Perceiving some soldiers pass, he was struck with the desire of bearing arms. "I will go," said he to himself, "and dart my hatchet against that tree, and if it stick fast in the wood I will immediately become a soldier." The hatchet stuck fast, and because, says the Abbot of Choisi, he threw the axe with all his force, he assumed the supposed fortunate name of Sforza, as his real name was Giacomuzzo, or James Attendulo. MAT-I-OLE IN THE STRAND. During the austere reign of the Puritans, when theatres were closed, and every sort of popular amusement was considered sinful, the May- poles fell into disrepute, and were pulled down in various parts of Lon- don. Among the rest, the famous May-pole in the Strand came to tfaa ground. With the restoration of the monarchy, the people saw the res- toration of their ancient sports ; and on the very first May-day after the return of Charles II., the May-pole in the Strand was set up again, amid MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 535 (treat popular rejoicing. The following account of the ceremony is taken Ij-oin a rare tract of the times, entitled " The Citie's Loyaltie displayed. London, 4to., 1641," and quoted in the first volume of Hone's " Every- Day Book," page 557 : " Let me declare to you the manner in general," says the loyal author, " of that stately cedar erected in the Strand, 134 feet high, commonly called the May-pole, upon the cost of the parishioners there adjacent, and the gracious consent of His Sacred Majesty, with the illustriolis Prince the Duke of York. This tree was a most choice and remarkable piece , 'twas made below bridge, and brought in two parts up to Scotland Yard, near the King's Palace, and from thence it was conveyed, April 14th, to the Strand, to be erected. It was brought with a streamer nourishing before it, drums beating all the way, and other sort of music. It was supposed to be so long that landsmen, as carpenters, could not possibly raise it. Prince James, the Duke of York, Lord High Admiral of En- gland, therefore commanded twelve seamen to come and officiate the business ; whereupon they came, and brought their cables, pulleys, and other tackling, with six great anchors. After these were brought three crowns, borne by three men bareheaded, and a streamer displaying all the way before them, drums beating, and other music playing, numerous multitudes of people thronging the streets, with great shouts and accla- mations all day long. " The May-pole then being joined together, and hooped about with bands of iron, the crown and vane, with the King's arms, richly gilded, was placed on the head of it : a large top, like a balcony, was about the middle of it. This being done, the trumpets did sound, and in four hours' space it was advanced upright ; after which being established fast in the ground, again great shouts and acclamations did the people give, that rang throughout all the Strand. After that came a morris-dance, h'nely decked with purple scarfs, in their half shirts, with a tabor and pipe, the ancient music, and danced round about the May-pole, and after that danced the rounds of their liberty. Upon the top of this famous standard is likewise set up a royal purple streamer, about the middle of it are placed four crowns more, with the King's arms likewise. There is also a garland set upon it, of various colours, of delicate rich favours, under which are to be placed three great lanthorns, to remain for three honours, that is, one for Prince James, Duke of York, Lord High Ad- miral of England ; the other for the Vice- Admiral ; the third for the Hear- Admiral. These are to give light on dark nights, and to continue so as long as the pole stands, which will be a perpetual honour for sea- men. It is placed as near hand as they could guess in the very same pit where the former stood, but far more glorious, higher, and bigger, than over any one that stood before it ; and the seamen themselves do confess that it could not be built higher, and there is not such an one in Europe besides, which doth highly please His Majesty and the illustrious Prince, Duke of York. Little children did much rejoice, and ancient people did clap their hands, saying that golden days began to appear. I question not but it will ring like melodious music throughout every county in England when they read this story exactly penned. Let this story 536 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; atisfy for the glories of London, that other loyal subjects may wad what we here do see." COSTtTME OF A GEE1TAN KOBLE. The annexed cut represents the dress of a young noble of the year 5443, from the extremely interesting genealogical history of the baronial family of Haller von Halleostein. The figure is that of Franz Haller yon Halleostein, who died unmarried in the above year. He wore an open jerkin of a greenish colour, and very finely plaited chemisette. The jer- kin has a white silk trimming with a black border throughout, and is held together by fine white silk ribbons, beneath which appears the white shirt, The sword-couple and sheath, are black, hilt and mount- ings are of the colour of steel. The stockings are vermilion, and on the right leg is a white and yellow stripe. The shoes are black, turned witli white. The hair is long, and over it is worn a neat cap with lappets and a golden agraffe and love-knot, to support the hair. At the period of this costume very great attention was bestowed by the G erman nobility to their dress. The sums they expended on it were enor- mous, and in many instances fami- lies were reduced to ruin by the ex travagant decorations of their person. Jewellery, furs, silks, and laces, all of which were far more expensive and difficult to be obtained than they are now, were used in reckless pro- fusion, and one nobleman vied with another in the magnificence, novelty, and expensiveness of their attire. The illustrated books of that period abound in sketches of the most beau- tiful costumes, and are a fund of interest to those who are curious in Bach matters. ABSTJBDITIE8 OF THE TOILET. The ladies of Japan are said to gild theii teeth, and those of the Indies to paint them red, while in Guzerat the test of beauty is tc render them sable. In Greenland, the women used to colour their faces with blue MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 537 and yellow. The Chinese must torture their feet into the smallest pos- sible dimensions a proof positive of their contracted understandings. The ancient Peruvians, and some other Indian tribes, used to flatten their heads : and among other nations, the mothers, in a similar way, maltreat the noses of their offspring. AN EGYPTIAN DINNER. The complicated, and, at first sight, somewhat incomprehensible sketch which we here lay before our readers, was taken from an interior wall of a palace in Egypt. It is, of course, by Egyptian artists, and the subject -ji it is no other than an Egyptian dinner-tabk set out and adorned for a banquet. At a dinner in ancient Egypt, small and low circular tables were nsed, standing on a single pillar, with a dilated base; sometimes one of these was apportioned to every guest, the viands being brought round by the servants successively, from a larger pillar-table which had been brought in readily set out by two men. The accompanying en- graving shows a table thus laid out, requiring, however, a little allowance for the lack of perspective. Round and oblong cakes of bread flattened and pricked in patterns, a goose, a leg of a kid or antelope, baskets of figs and other fruit, are crowned by a huge bunch of the lotus-lily. Under the table are bottles of wine placed on stands in a series, and crowned with a lotus-garland, upon which is thrown a long withe of what seems from the tendrils a vine, loaded with clusters of grapes, as well as thickly set with foliage. ELEPHANT-GOD OF BTTRMAH. A white elephant is a great rarity, and whenever one is caught, the Burmese treat it as a god and pay worship to it. Captein Yule tima describes the white elephant of 1855, and his palace at Amarapoora, the capital of Burmah : "In the area which stretches before the Hall of Audience are several detached buildings. A little to the north is tha " Palace," or state apartment, of the Lord White Elephant, with, bis highness's humbler very-day residence in rear. To the south are chods for the vulgar herd 18* 538 TEN THOUSAND WUNOKRFUL THIKOS ; of the same species, and brick godowns in which the state carriages and golden litters (the latter massive and gorgeous in great variety of design) are stowed away. Temporary buildings, used as barracks and gunsheds, run along the wall. The present white elephant has occupied his post for at least fifty years. I have no doubt he is the same as Padre San- germano mentions as having been caught in 1806, to the great joy of the King, who had just lost the preceding incumbent, a female, which died after a year's captivity. He is a very large elephant, close upon ten feet high, with as noble a head and pair of tusks as I have ever seen , But he is long-bodied and lanky, and not otherwise well made as an elephant. He is sickly and out of condition, and is, in fact, distempered during five months of the year, from April to August. His eye, the iris of which is yellow with a reddish outer annulus, and a small clear black pupil, has an uneasy glare, and his keepers evidently mistrust his temper. We were alvays warned against going near his head. The annulus round the iris of the eye is pointed out as resembing a circle of the nine gems. His colour is almost uniform all over ; nearly the ground-tint of the mottled or freckled part of the trunk and ears of common elephants, perhaps a little darker. He also has pale freckles in the same parts. On the whole, he is well entitled to his appellation of white. His royal paraphernalia, which are set out when visitors are expected, are suf- ficiently splendid. Among them was a driving-hook about three feet long, the stem of which was a mass of small pearls, girt at frequent in- tervals with bands of rubies, and the hook and handle of crystal tipped with gold. His headstall was of fine red cloth, plentifully studded with fine rubies, and near the extremity having some valuable diamonds. To fit over the two bumps of the forehead were circles of the nine gems, which are supposed to be charms against evil influences. When capari- soned he also wore on the forehead, like other Burmese dignitaries, including the King himself, a golden plate inscribed with his titles, and a gold crescent set with circles of large gems between the eyes. Large silver tassels hung in front of his ears, and he waa harnessed with bands* of gold aad crimson set with large bosses of pure gold. He is a regular " estate of the realm," having a woon or minister of his own, four gold umbrellas, tb< white umbrellas which are peculiar to royalty, with a suite of attci. Junta said to be thirty in number. The Burmese who attended us removed their shoes before entering his ' Palace.' The elephant has an appanage or territory assigned to him ' to eat,' like any other dignitary of the empire. I do not know where his estate is al present, but in Burney's time it was the rich cotton district of Taroup Myo." SUPEESTITION IN 1856. In April, 1856, a poor woman, residing in a village about three miles from Pershore, acting upon the advice of her neighbours, brought her child, who was suffering from whooping cough, to that town, for the purpose of finding out a married couple answering to the names of Joseph and Mary, and soliciting their interference on behalf of her afflicted child, as she had been informed that if two married person* MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 539 having those names could but be induced to lay their hands on her child's head, the whooping cough would be immediately cured. After scouring the town for a considerable time in search of "Joseph and his fair lady," they were at length discovered in the persons of a respecta- ble tradesman and his wife residing in Bridge Street, to whom the poor silly woman made known her foolish request, which at first excited a smile from the good woman of the house, but was quickly followed, mA by " the laying on of hands," but by good advice, such as mothers only know how to give in these matters. The poor mother then thankfully departed a wiser woman. MUTING BY WHEEL AND AXLE. The Japanese, like the inhabitants of Thibet, are not content witt devout prayers, pilgrimages, prostrations, offerings to the gods in order to secure blessings here and hereafter ; they also pray by machine, by wheel and axle. There is a square post, nearly eight feet in length, and near the centre, at a convenient height to be reached by the hand, is fixed vertically a wheel, which moves readily on an axle passed through the post. Two small rings are strung upon each of three spokes of the wheel. Every person who twists this instrument in passing is supposed to obtain credit in heaven for one or more prayers inscribed on the post, the number being graduated according to the vigour of the performer's devotion, and the number of revolutions effected. The jingle of the small iron rings is believed to secure the attention of the deity to the invocation of the devout, and the greater the noise, the more certain of its being listened to. Some of the inscriptions on this post are worth remembering : ' ' The great round mirror of knowledge says, ' wise men and fools are embarked in the same boat ;' whether prospered or afflicted, both are rowing over the deep lake ; the gay sails lightly hang to catch the autumnal breeze ; then away they straight enter the lustrous clouds, and become partakers of heaven's knowledge." " He whose prescience detects knowledge says : 'As the floating grass is blown by the gentle breeze, or the glancing ripples of autumn disappear when the sun goes down, or as the ship returns home to her old shore, so is life : it is a smoke, a morning tide.' " " Others are more to the point as to the machine ' Buddha himself earnestly desires to hear the name of this person (who is buried), and wishes he may go to life.' " NOVEL WAY OF DESIGNATING A HOUSE. In the " New View of London," published in 1708, it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance attaching to the history of Prcscott Street, near the Strand, that instead of signs, the houses were distinguished bv numbers, as the stair-cases in the Inns of Court, and Chancery. The following advertisement, taken from newspapers a century and a half old, is interesting nt this distance of time, as it shows the shifts to which advertisers were reduced, to point out their houses to their customers :- " Doctor James Tilborgh, a German doctor, states that he liveth at present over against the New Exchange, in Bedford Street, at the sigt uf 540 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; the ' Peacock,' where you shall see at night two candles hurning within ne of the ehamhers before the balcony ; and a lanthorn with a candle in it upon the balcony : where he may be spoke with all alone, from 8 in the morning till 10 at night." DYAK WAB-BOAT LN BOEXEO. The Malay war-boat, or prahu, is built of timber at the lower part ; the upper is of bamboo, rattan, and kedgang (the dried leaf of the Nepa palm). Outside the bends, about a foot from the water line, runs a strong gallery, in which the rowers sit cross-legged. At the after-part of the boat is a cabin for the chief who commands, and the whole of the vessel is surmounted by a strong flat roof, upon which they fight, their principal weapons being the kris and spear, both of which, to be used with effect, require elbow-room. The Dyak war-boat, as represented in the annexed sketch, is a long- built canoe, more substantially constructed than the prahu of the Malays, and sufficiently capacious to hold from seventy to eighty men. This also has a roof to fight from. They are generally painted, and the stern ornamented with feathers. Both descriptions of war-boats are remarkably swift, notwithstanding uch apparent top-weight. WAB-DANCE OF THE DTAKS OP BORNEO. Almost every savage nation has its peculiar war-dance, and the differ- ent steps, movements, and cries, in each depict different stages in the supposed fight. An account of the various kinds of dances would form an interesting work, and as a contribution to it we here call attention to MARVELLOUS, RAKK, CURIOUS, AND QUATNT ; 541 the following description of a war-dance which was practised for the e:i- eutertainment of the officers of the Semarang, on the occasion of thtir visiting a Dyak Chief. It is taken from Captain Marryat's " Borneo :'' " A space was cleared in the centre, and two of the oldest warriors stepped into it. They were dressed in turbans, long loose jackets, sashes round their waists descending to their feet, and small bells were attached to their ankles. They commenced by first shaking hands with the rajah, and then with all the Europeans present, thereby giving us to under- stand, as was explained to us, that the dance was to be considered only as a spectacle, and not to be taken in its literal sense, as preparatory to an attack upon, us, a view of the case in which we fully coincided with them. " This ceremony being over, they rushed into the centre, and gave a most unearthly scream ; then poising themselves on one foot, they de- scribed a circle with the other, at the same time extending their arms like the wings of a bird, and then meeting their hands, clapping them and keeping time with the music. After a little while the music became louder, and suddenly our ears were pierced with the whole of the natives present joining in the hideous war-cry. Then the motions and screams of the dancers became more violent, and every thing was worked up to tato of excitement, by which even we were influenced. Suddealj, t> 542 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; very unpleasant odour pervaded the room, already too warm, from th numbers it contained. Involuntarily we held our noses, wondering what might be the cause, when we perceived that one of the warriors had utepped into the centre, and suspended round the shoulders of each dancer a human head in a wide-meshed basket of rattan. These heads had been taken in the late Sakarron business, and were therefore but a fortnight old. They were encased in a wide network of rattan, and rere ornamented with beads. Their stench was intolerable, although, as re discovered upon after examination, when they were suspended against the wall, they had been partially baked and were quite black. The teeth and hair were quite perfect, the features somewhat shrunk, and they were altogether very fair specimens of pickled heads ; but our worthy friends required a lesson from the New Zealanders in the art of preserv- ing. The appearance of the heads was the signal for the music to play louder, for the war-cry of the natives to be more energetic, and for the screams of the dancers to be more piercing. Their motions noAV became more rapid, and the excitement in proportion. Their eyes glistened with unwonted brightness. The perspiration dropped down their faces, and thus did yelling, dancing, gongs, and tom-toms become more rapid and more violent every minute, till the dancing warriors wer^ ready to drop. A farewell yell, with emphasis, was given bv the surrounding warriors ; immediately the music ceased, the dancers disappeared, and the tumul- tuous excitement and noise was succeeded by a dead silence. Such was the excitement communicated, that when it was all over we ourselves for some time remained panting to recover our breath. Again we lighted our cheroots, and smoked for a while the pipe of peace." WONDERFUL FISH. The Greek Church of Baloukli contains an extraordinary instance of the credulity of superstition. Some wonderful fish are there preserved, which are thus described by Mr. Curzon in his admirable book on the " Monasteries of the Levant :" " The unfortunate Emperor Constantino Paleologus rode out of the city alone to reconnoitre the outposts of the Turkish army, which was encamped in the immediate vicinity. In passing through a wood he found an old man seated by the side of a spring, cooking some fish on a gridiron for his dinner ; the emperor dismounted from his white horse, and entered into conversation with the other ; the old man J wked up at the stranger in silence, when the emperor inquired whether he had heard anything of the movement of the Turkish forces : ' Yes,' said he, ' they have this moment entered the city of Constantinople.' ' I would believe what you say,' replied the emperor, ' if the fish which you are broiling would jump off the gridiron into the spring.' This, to his amazement, the fish immediately did, and, on his turning round, the figure of the old man had disappeared. The emperor mounted his horse and rode towards the gate of Silivria, where he was encountered by a band of the enemy, and slain, after a brave resistance, by the hand of an Arab or a pv.. 'The broiled fishes still swim about in the water of the spring, Uia MAfcVfiLLOtJS, RAO3, CURIOUS, AND QUAlKT. 543 idea of 'which have been lined with, Miite marble, in which are certain recesses in which they can retire when they do not wish to receive com l>;my. The only way of turning the attention of these holy fish to the respectful presence of their adorers is accomplished by throwing some- thing glittering into the water, such as a handful of gold or silver coin : gold is the best ; copper produces no effect ; he that sees one fish is lucky, he that sees two or three goes home a happy man ; but th custom of throwing coins into the spring has become, from its constant practice, very troublesome to the good monks, who kindly depute one of their community to rake out the money six or seven times a day with a scraper at the end of a long pole. The emperor of llussia has sent pre- sents to the shrine of Baloukli, so called from the Turkish word Balouk, a fish. Some wicked heretics have said that these fishes are common perch : either they or the monks must be mistaken ; but of whatever kind they are, they are looked upon with reverence by the Greeks, and have been continually held in the highest honour from the time of the siege of Constantinople to the present day." CURIOUS MARRIAGE CRSTOM. At Petze, in the department of Finisterre, in France, the following singular marriage custom still prevails: "On an appointed day, the vaysannes, or female pretenders to the holy state of matrimony, assemble "on the bridge of the village, and, seating themselves upon the parapet, there patiently await the arrival of the intended bridegrooms. All the neighbouring cantons contribute their belles to ornament this renowned bridge. There may be seen the peasant of Saint Poliare, her ruddy countenance surrounded by her large muslin sleeves, which rise up and form a kind of framework to her full face ; by her may be seated the heavy louloisienne, in her cloth caline, or gown ; the peasant of la Leo- narde, in a Swiss boddice, bordered with different coloured worsted braid, and a scarlet petticoat, may next appear, presenting a ^audy con- trast to her neighbour from Saint Thegonnec, in her nun-like costume. On one side extends la coulie de Pen?ioat, bordered with willows, honey- suckles, and the wild hop ; on the other, the sea, confined here like a lake, between numerous jets of land covered with heath and sweet broom ; and below the bridge, the thatched town, poor and joyous as the beggar of Carnouailles. The bay is here so calm, that the whole of this gay scene is reflected in its still waters ; and a few scenes of rural festivity present a more animated or diverting picture. " The arrival of the young men, with their parents, is he signal for silence among the candidates for a husband. The gentlemen advance, and gravely parade up and down the bridge, looking first on this side, and then on that, until the face of some one of the lasses strike their fancy. The fortunate lady receives intimation of .her success by the advance of the cavalier, who, presenting his hand, assists her in descend- ing from her seat, making at the same time a tender speech ; compli- ments are exchanged, the young man offers fruit to his intended bride, who remains motionless before him, playing with her apron strings. In the mean while the parents of the parties approach each other, talk ovoi M4 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL IHINO8 : the matter of their children's marriage, and if hoth parties are apreeaHa they shake hands, and this act of friendly gratulation is considered a ratification of the treaty between them, and the marriage is shortly after- wards celebrated. FOREIGN COSTUME IX 1492. The nobleman portrayed here is Count Eberhard the elder, first Duke cf Wurtemberg, in a festival habit at Stuttgardt, in the year 1492, on the occasion of his receiving the order of the Golden Fleece, the first which Austria instituted for herself (King Maximilian inherited it from Bur- gundy) and which he received to- gether with King Henry VIII. of England. His costume is taken from an old illumination which, in the year 1847, was copied for King William of "Wurtemberg, and which is now preserved in his private library at Stuttgardt. This exemplifies the quilled doublet, made of a kind of damasked black velvet, which appears to have been worn over the defensive armour improved by King Maximilian. Upon the black sureoat appear the orders of the Golden Fleece and the Holy Sepulchre. According to cotemporary statues and monu- ments, Georg von Ekingen and Heinrich von "Waellwerth, officers of the court of Eberhard, wore this kind of doublet. The former, ac- cording to a portrait, of a red colour ; the latter authority is in the Wsellwerth Chapel, in tLe cloister of Lorch near Schw. Gmuend. PETER THE GREAT AT ZAAtfDAM. We learn from authentic records that Peter the Great, Czar of Russia,- entered himself, in the year 1697, on the list of ship's carpenters at the Admiralty Office of Amsterdam, in Holland. This is true ; but beforp Peter so enrolled himself, he had made an attempt to fix his abode, for the purpose of study, at Saardam, or Zaandam, a little town situated on the river Zaan, about half an hour's voyage, by steam, from the populous and wealthy city of Amsterdam. Zaandam, though then, as now, one of the most primitive, original little towns in Europe, had for some time held important commercial ia- MARVELLOCS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 540 fci co-arse with Russia ; and Peter had long seen the advantage to be de- rived from studying at its head-quarters the art which he felt sure would elevate his country in an extraordinary way. He therefore opened a private correspondence with some trusty friends in Holland, and set forth, with his band of intelligent companions, early in the summer of 1697 ; in the autumn of the same year he disembarked at Zaandam, and, alone and unattended, sought an humble lodging from a man of the name of Gerrit Kist, who had formerly been a blacksmith in Russia, and who, as may well be imagined, was astonished at the " imperial appari- tion ;" indeed he could not believe that Peter really wished to hire *> humble an abode. But the Czar persevered, and obtained permission to occupy the back part of Kist's premises, consisting of a room and a little shed adjoining, Kist being bound to secresy as to the rank of his lodger : Peter's rent amounted to seven florins (about eleven shillings) a week. The maisonnette, or hut, of Peter the Great now stands alone, and has been encased in a strong wooden frame in ord'er to preserve it. _ It is in much the same state as when occupied by the Czar. The chief apart- ment is entered by the door you see open , the projecting roof covers the room probably occupied by Peter's servant, and on the left of the larger room is the recess or cupboard in which Peter slept. Formerly the rear of this abode was crowded with inferior buildings ; it is now an airy pace, with trees waving over the wooden tenement, and a garden full of \wcet-acented flowers embalms the atmosphere around it. A civil old 546 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; Dutchwoman is the guardian of the property, which is kept up with socu taste, and exquisite attention to cleanliness. The maisonnette has but one door. In Zaandam the old Dutch cus- tom of closing one entrance to the house, except on state occasions, is still kept up ; the purpose of the other, the porte mortuaire, or mortuary portal, is sufficiently explained by its name. After Peter's departure, his dwelling passed from hand to hand, aud would have fallen into oblivion had not Paul the First of Russia accom- panied Joseph the Second of Austria and the King of Sweden tc Zaandam, on purpose to visit the Czar's old abode. After this it became a sort of fashion to make pilgrimages to the once imperial residence ; and it ac- quired a still greater celebrity when the Emperor Alexander visited it in 1814, and made a great stir in the waters of the Zaan with a fleet of three hundred yachts and innumerable barges, gaily decked with flying pennons. In 1818, William the First of Holland purchased the property, and gave it to his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Orange and a royal Russian by birth : it is to her care the building owes its present state of preservation. Her royal highness appointed a Waterloo invalid as first guardian of the place. Bonaparte brought Josephine here in 1812. Poor Josephine had no idea of old associations ; she jumped from the sublime to the ridiculous at once on entering the "mean habitation," and startled the then pro- prietor by a burst of untimely laughter. Many royal and illustrious names may be read on the walls of the principal chamber, and in the book in which the traveller is requested to write his name. Verses and pictures challenge, somewhat impeiti- nently, the attention of the wayfarer ; but as we sat down in the tri- angular arm-chairs, and turned from the dark recess in which Peter slept, to the ingle-nook of the deep chimney, and from the ingle to the dark recess again, we could realize nothing but Peter in his working dress of the labours of the day. There he was in the heat of an autumnal even- ing still at work, with books and slates, and instruments connected with navigation, before him on the rude deal table, and he plodding on, as diligently as a common mechanic, in pursuit of that knowledge by which nations are made great. SUPPLY OF WATEE FOB LONDON IN OLDEN TIMES. In 1682 the private houses of the metropolis were only supplied with fresh water twice a- week. Mr. Cunningham, in his "Handbook of London," informs us that the old sources of supply were the Wells, or Fleet River, Wallbrook and Langbourne Waters, Clement's, Clerk's, and Holy Well, Tyburn, and the River Lea. Tyburn first supplied the city in the year 1285, the Thames not being pressed into the service of the city conduits till 1568, when it supplied the conduit at Dowgate. There were people who stole water from the pipes then, as there are who steal gas now. 4< This yere " (1479), writes an old chronicler of London, quoted by Mr. Cunningham, " a wax charndler in Flete--stre had bi craft perced a pipa of the condite withynne the ground, and so conveied the water into his tlar ; wherefore he was judged to ride through the citee with a eondit* MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 547 is hedde." The first engine which conveyed water into private houses, by leaden pipes, was erected at London-bridge in 1582. The pipes were laid over the steeple of St. Magnus ; and the engineer was AJ aurice, a Dutchman. Buhner, an Englishman, erected a second engine at IJroken Wharf. Previous to 1656, the Strand and Co vent Garden, though so near to the river, were only supplied by water-tankards, which were carried by those who sold the water, or by the apprentice, if there were one in the house, whose duty it was to fill the house-tankard at the conduit, or in the river. In the middle of the seventeenth century, Ford erected water- works on the Thames, in front of Somerset House ; but the Queen of Charles II. like the Princess Borghese, who pulled down a church next to her palace, because the incense turned her sick, and organ made her head ache ordered the works to be demolished, because they obstructed a clear view on the river. The inhabitants of the district depended upon their tankards and water-carriers, until the reign of William III., when the York-buildings Waterworks were erected. The frequently-occurring name of Conduit-street, or Conduit- court, indicates the whereabout of many of the old sources whence our forefathers drew their scanty supplies. CHINKING BOUTS IN PERSIA. In their drinking parties the Persians are reported, among even the high- est classes, to exceed all bounds of discretion. Half a dozen boon com- panions meet at night. The floor is covered with a variety of stimulating dishes to provoke drinking, for which no provocation whatever is re- quired ; among these are pickles of every possible variety, and salted prawns or cray-fish from the Persian Gulf a food which ought to be an abomination to a true Sheeah. Singers and dancing-boys enliven the scene. A Persian despises a wine-glass ; a tumbler is his measure. He has an aversion to "heeltaps," and he drains his glass to the dregs, with his left hand under his chin to catch the drops of wine, lest he should be detected next morning in respectable society by the marks on his dress. They begin with pleasant conversation, scandal, and gossip ; then they become personal, quarrelsome, abusive, and indecent, after the unimaginable Persian fashion. As the orgies advance, as the mirth waxes fast and furious, all restraint is thrown aside. They strip them- selves stark naked, dance, and play all sorts of antics and childish tricks. One dips his head and face into a bowl of curds, and dances a solo to the admiring topers ; while another places a large deeg, or cooking-pot, on his head, and display his graces and attitudes on the light fantastic toe, or rather heel. GERMAN COSTUMES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The costume-sketch which we give on next page, is taken frcJTl cr TTUfinal drawing, having the following superscription : " Varium et mutabile semper foemina FWc suo quern amat scnpait. (Jeorjcius Wolfgang Von Kaltenthal. 16T?." TElt THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS > The group represents the above-named young knight, with his youthful wife, taking a ride. She wears a blue silken dress, with a boddice of gold brocade, trimmed with fur, and a rose-coloured silk scarf ; the head-dress is quite plain, the hair being fastened with a golden dagger Mt in jewels. The knight's dress consists of a light green doublet, trith dark green stripes ; slashed hose, edged with white ; yellowish leather surcoat without sleeves, riding boots of untanned leather, and grey felt hat with red and white plume, dagger, and sword. The accoutrements of the horse are simply black, with some metal oma- mciits. The young lady is the beautiful Leonora Caimingen, who was at that time a great favourite of the Court at "Wurtemberg. In travelling thus (which was at that time the only mode), females of the higher rank only were accustomed to make use of masks, or veils, for the preserva- tion of their complexions, that custom being generally unusus.1 Tfcs MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 549 *coe*t/al castle of the knights of Kaltenthal was situated between Stuttgardt and Boeblingen, on the summit of a rock overhanging the valley of Hesslach. It exists no longer. ANCIENT TB.IPOD. Tripods are, next to vases, the most ancient furniture in the world ; th imagination of the ancients invested them with fanciful forms, and * meet with designs which, although very simple, show already the power exercised by the re-productive faculties of the mind upon the objects surrounding these ancient nations. Representations of the kind were, however, ex- ceedingly rare till the last forty years, and it must be considered an especial piece of good fortune that the ex- cavations made in several parts of Etruria, have af- forded more than one ex- ample of this description. The specimen engraved was found in the Gailassi Regu- lini tomb of Cervetri, in Etruria, and in it we see a large vessel placed on the tripod, from the edge of which five lions' heads start forth with hideous expres- sion. These monsters lend to the whole that fanciful aspect distinguishing objects of the archaic period. When we imagine to ourselves this kettle boiling, and these cruel animals wreathed and enve- loped in smoke, we can un- derstand how the fancy of superstitious worshippers, who were wont to make use of these implements in their religious ceremonies, may have found in them an allu- sion to the spirits of the vic- tims whose remains were exposed to the destructive fire glowing under- neath. To us, at least, this representation may illustrate the territio but grand passage of Homer, where the bodies of the slaughtered sun 550 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; hulls become once more instinct with life, demanding vengeance triti. fearful cries : Odyssey, Book xii, verse 395. " The skins began to creep, and the flesh around the spits bellowed, The roasted as well as the raw. And thus grew the voice of the oxen." The careful construction of the three-legged mechanism which leu^.- * firm support to this fire-stand, has been restored according the the indi- cation of some fragments found on the spot. It presents a graceful aspect, and forms, in some respects, a remarkable contrast to the heavy iharacter of the vessel occupying so lofty a position, as the proportions of the legs are exceedingly slender, and the feet themselves, instead of being broad and shapeless, are all composed of a great many fine articu- lations. FONDNESS OF THE liOJIANS FOE PEARLS. Of all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the Romans, pearls seem to have been the most esteemed. They were worn on all parts of the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and value, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate to those of the most colossal fortune. The famous pearl earrings of Cleo- patra are said to have been worth about 160,000, and Julius Ctesar is said to have presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl for which he had paid above 48,000 ; and though no reasonable doubt can be ascertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these and similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls brought immense prices is beyond all question. It has been said that the wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to abound, was one of the motives which induced Julius Csasar to invade Britain. But, though a good many were met with in various parts of the country, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured. After pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the estimation of the Romans. THE BLACK STONE AT MECCA. Near the entrance of the Kaaba at Mecca, at the north-eastern corner, is the famous Black Stone, called by the Moslems Jlojra el AssouaJ, or Heavenly Stone. It forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, and is inserted four or five feet above the ground. The shape is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black ; and it is surrounded by a border of nearly the same colour, 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, whera 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 appearance that may perhaps be explained by the various disasters to which it has been exposed. During the fire that occurred in the tune Bi Vezzid I, (A.D. 682), the violent heat split it into three pieces; an4 MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 551 the fragments were replaced, it was necessary to surround them roth a rim of silver, which is said to have been renewed by Haroun el Raschid. It was in two pieces when the Karmathians carried it away, having been broken by a blow from a soldier during the plunder of Mecca. Hakem, a mad sultan of Egypt, in the llth century, en- deavoured, while on the pilgrimage, to destroy it with an iron club which he had concealed under his clothes ; but was prevented and slain by the populace. Since 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. Though suspicion fell on certain Persians, the authors of this sacrilegious joke were never discovered. As for the quality of the stone, it does not seem to be accurately determined. Burckhardt 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 coloured crystals, and varied with red feldspar upon a dark black ground like coal, except one of its protuberances, which is a little reddish. 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 its substance, as well as its colour, have long been changed by coming in contact with the impurities of the human race. PARAGRAPH. FROM THE " POSTMAN" IN 1697. ' Yesterday being the day of thanksgiving appointed by the States- General for the peace, Hi*j Excellency, the Dutch ambassador, made a very noble bonfire before his house in St. James's Square, consisting of about 140 pitch barrels placed perpendicularly on seven scaffolds, during which the trumpets sounded, and two hogsheads of wine were kept con- tinually running amongst the common people." LORD MAYOR'S FEAST IN 1663. Pepys gives a curious account of a Lord Mayor's dinner in 1663, It was served in the Guildhall, at one o'clock in the day. A bill of fare was placed with every salt-cellar, and at the end of each table was a list of the persons proper " there to be seated. Here is a mixture of abun- dance and barbarism. "Many were the tables, but none in the hall, but the Mayor's and the Lords' of the Privy Council, that had napkins or knives, which was very strange. I sat at the merchant-stranger'a table, where ten good dishes to a mess, with plenty of wine of all sorts ; but it was very unpleasing that we had no napkins, nor change of trenchers, and drank out of earthen pitchers and wooden dishes. The dinner, it seems, is made by the Mayor and two Sheriffs for the time being, and the whole is reckoned to come to 700 or 800 at most." Pepys took his spoon and fork with him, as was the custom of those days with guests invited to great entertainments. "Forks" came in with Tern Ceryat, in the reign of James I. ; but they were not " famine* ' 552 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS till after the Restoration. The " laying of napkins," as it was called, was a profession of itself. Pepys mentions, the day before one of hu dinner-parties, that he went home, and " there found one laying of my napkins against to-morrow, in figures of all sorts, which is mighty pretty, and, it seems, is his trade, and he gets much money by it." THE CT7PID OF THE HINDOOS. Among the Hindoo deities Camdeo, or Manmadin differs but little from the Cupid of the ancients. He is also called Ununga, or, without body ; and is the son of Vishnu and Lacshmi. Besides his bow suid arrows, ne carries a banner, on which is delineated a fish : his bow is a sugar-cane ; the cord is formed of bees ; the arrows are of all sorts of flowers ; one only is headed, but the point is covered with a honey- comb an allegory equally just and ingenious, and which so correct! v expresses the pleasures and the pangs produced at one and the same time by the wounds of love. Manmadin is represented, as in the annexed plate, riding on a parrot. One day, when Vishnu, to deceive Sheeva, had assumed the figure of a beautiful young female, Manmadin discharged an arrow, which pierced the heart of the formidable deity, and inflamed it with love of the nymph. The latter fled, and at the moment when Sheeva had overtaken her, Vishnu resumed his proper form. Sheeva, enraged at the tritk played upon him, with one flash of his eyes burned and consumed the imprudent Manmadin, who hence received the name of Ununga. He we* restored to life by a shower of nectar, which the god* in pity poured MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 55 3 upon him : but he remained without body and is the only Indian deity who is accounted incorporeal. Camdeo is particularly worsliipped by females desirous of obtaining faithful lovers and good husbands. 00) DIAL AND FOUNTAIN IN LEADENHALL-STEEET. The above sketch is taken from an old work on astronomy and ges graphy by Joseph Moxon, and printed by him, and sold " at his Shop on CornhiU, at the signe of Atlas, 1659." "We cannot do better than give Moxon's own words with reference to the dial: "To make a dyal upon a solid ball or globe, that shall show the hour of the day without a gnomon. The equinoctial of this globe, or (which is all one) the middle line must be divided into 24 equal parts, and marked with 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., and then beginning again with 1, 2, 3, &c. to 12. Thea if you elevate one of the poles so many degrees above an horizontal line M the pole of the world is elevated above the horizon in your babitotioa, 554 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; diid place one of the twelves directly to behold the north, and the other to behold the south, when the sun shines on it, the globe will be divided into two halfs, the one enlightened with the sunshine, and the other shadowed; and where the enlightened half is parted from the shadowed half, there you will find in the equinoctial the hour of the day, and that on two places on the ball, because the equinoctial is cut in two opposite points by the light of the sun. A dyal of this sort was made by Mr. John Leak and set up on a composite columne at Leadenhall Corner, in London, in the majoralty of Sir John Dethick, knight. The figure whereof I have inserted because it is a pretty peece of ingenuity, arid may, perhaps, stand some lover of the art in stead either for imitation or help of in- vention." MAGNIFICENCE OP MADYN, THE CAPITA!, OF PERSIA, WHEN INVADED BY THE SAEACENS, A.D. 626. The invaders could not express their mingled sensations of surprise and delight, while surveying in this splendid capital the miracles of architecture and art, the gilded palaces, the strong and stately porticoes, the abundance of victuals in the most exquisite variety and profusion, which feasted their senses, and courted their observation on every side. Every street added to their astonishment, every chamber revealed a new treasure ; and the greedy spoilers were enriched beyond the measure of their hopes or their knowledge. To a people emerging from barbarism, the various wonders -which rose before them in all directions, like the effect of magic, must have been a striking spectacle. We may therefore believe them when they affirm, what is not improbable, that the different articles of merchandise the rich and beautiful pieces of manufacture which fell a prey on this occasion were in such incalculable abundance, that the thirtieth part of their estimate was more than the imagination could embrace. The gold and silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed, says Abul-feda, the calculation of fancy or num- bers ; and the historian Elmacin ventured to compute these untold and almost infinite stores at the value of 3,000,000,000 pieces of gold. One article in this prodigious booty, before which all others seemed to recede in comparison, was the superb and celebrated carpet of silk and gold cloth, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth, which deco- rated one of the apartments of the palace. It was wrought into a para- dise or garden, with jewels of the most curious and costly species ; the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the beryl, topaz, and pearl, being arranged with such consummate skill, as to represent, in beautiful mosaic, trees, fruits, and flowers, rivulets and fountains ; roses and shrubs of every description seemed to combine their fragrance and their foliage to charm the sense of the beholders. This pil-ce of exquisite luxury and illusion, to which the Persians gave the name of Baharistun or the mansion of perpetual spring, was an invention employed by their monarchs as an artificial substitute for that loveliest of seasons. During the gloom of winter they were accustomed to regale the nobles of their court on this magnificent embroidery, where art had supplied the absence ot nature, and wherein the guests might trace a brilliant imitation of be KAH.VELLOTJS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 555 fuJod beauties in the variegated colours of the jewelled and pictured Hoor. In the hope that the eyes of the Caliph might be delighted with this superb display of wealth and workmanship, Saad persuaded the soldiers to relinquish their claims. It was therefore added to the fifth of the spoil, which was conveyed to Medina on the backs of camels. But Omar, with that rigid impartiality from which he never deviated, ordered the gaudy trophy to be cut up into small pieces, and distributed among the chief members of the Mohammedan commonwealth. Such was the intrinsic value of the materials, that the share of Ali alone, not larger than the palm of a man's hand, was afterwards sold for 20,000 drachms (458 6s. 8d.), or, according to others, for as many dinars (9,250). Out ol this vast store the Caliph granted pensions to every member of his court in regular gradation, from the individuals of the Prophet's family to the lowest of his companions, varying from 275 to 4 11s. per annum. The military part of the booty was divided into 60,000 shares, and every horseman had 12,000 dinars (5,550) ; hence, if the army consisted of 60,000 cavalry, their united shares would amount to the incredible sum of 333,000,000 sterling. COTOTSHIP OF WILLIAM XHE CONQUEROR. The following extract from the life of the wife of the Conqueror, is exceedingly curious, as characteristic of the manners of a semi-civilized age and nation : " After some years' delay, William appears to have become desperate ; and, if we may trust to the evidence of the ' Chronicle of Ingerbe,' in the year 1047 way-laid 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 repeat- edly, and 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 behaviour, or afraid of encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife. How he ever presumed to enter her presence again, after such a series of enormities, the chronicler sayeth not, and we are at a loss to imagine." BRAMA, THE HINDOO DEITY. Brama, Birmah, or Brouma, is one of the three persons of the Indian Trinity, or rather the Supreme Being under the attribute of Creator. Brama, the progenitor of all rational beings, sprung from a golden egg, sparkling like a thousand suns, which was hatched by the motion im- Earted to the waters by the Supreme Being. Brama separated the eavens from the earth, and placed v?W the subtle ether the eight points of the universe and the receptacle of the waters. He had five heads before Vairevert, one of She/w^'s sons, cut off one of them. He is delineated floating on a leaf of the lotus, a plant revered in India. The Bramins relate, that the fifteen worlds which compose the universe were each produced by a part of Brama' s body. At the moment of our birth he imprints in our heads, in characters which cannot be effaced, all that we shall do, and all that is to happen to us in life. It is not in o^/ 556 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; power, nor in that of Brama himself, to prevent what is written fioa being fulfilled. Brama, according to the vulgar mythology, takes but little notice of human affairs. Identified with the sun, he is adored by the Bramins in the gai/atri, the most sacred passage of the vedas (or sacred books), which is itself ranked among the gods, and to which offerings are made. One of the most important attributes of Brama is that of father of legislators ; for it was his ten sons who diffused laws and the sciences over the world. He is considered as the original author of the vedas, which are said to have issued from his four mouths ; though it was not till a later t criod, that is, about fourteen hundred years before Christ, that they were col- lected and arranged by Vyasa, the philosopher and poet. The laws which bear the name of Menu, the son of Brama, and the works of the other richeys, or holy persons, were also re-copied, or perhaps collected from tradition, long after the period when they are said to have been published by the sons of Brama. Brama, the father of the legislators of India, has a considerable re- aemblance to the Jupiter of the Greek poets, the father of Minos, whose celebrated laws were published in the very same century that Yyasa collected the vedas. Jupiter was worshipped as the sun, by the name o/ Anxur or Axur, and Brama is identified with that luminary. The most common form in which Brama is represented, is that of a man with four beads and four hands; and it is remarkable that the Lacedaemonians MARVELLOUS. RAUE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 557 ga^elour heads to their Jupiter. Lastly, the title of Father of Gods and Men is equally applicable to Brama and to Jupiter. Braina is delineated, as in the engraving, holding in one hand a ring, the emblem of immortality ; in another, fire, to represent force ; and with the other two writing on olles, or palm-leaves, the emblem of legislative power. JAMES n. AND THE CHURCH OF DOKOKE. The annexed engraving represents a celebrated locality. It is the ruin of the little church on the hill at Donore, in the county of Meath, the spot where James II. was stationed when he beheld the overthrow of his army and the ruin of his cause at the battle of the Boyne, Tuesday, July 1st, 1690. The Boyne is a very beautiful and picturesque river ; it winds through the fertile valleys of Meath, and from its richly-wooded banks the hills rise gradually ; there are no lofty mountains in the immediate neighbourhood. The depth, in nearly all parts, is considerable, and the current, consequently, not rapid ; its width, near the field of battle, varies little, and is seldom less than fifty or sixty yards. James had the choice of ground, and it was judiciously selected. On the south side of the river, in the county of Meath, his army was posted with con- siderable skill : on the right was Drogheda ; in front were the fords of the Boyne, deep and dangerous, and difficult to pass at all times ; the banks were rugged, lined by a morass, defended by some breastworks, with "huts and hedges convenient for infantry;" and behind them was an acclivity stretching along the whole of " the field." James fixed his own tent upon the summit -of a hill close to the little church of Donore, now a ruin; it commanded an extensive view of the adjacent country. s?.d the opposite or south side of the river the whole range, indeed, from 658 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS , Drogheda to Oldbridge village and looked directly down upon t,h* valley, in which the battle was to be fought, and the lords of the Boyne, where there could be no doubt the troops of William would attempt a passage. From this spot, James beheld his prospering rival mingling in the thick of the melee, giving and taking blows ; watched every turn of fortune, as it veered towards or against him ; saw his enemies "pushing their way in triumph, and his brave allies falling before the swords of foreigners a safe and inglorious spectator of a battle upon the issue of which his throne depended. The proceeding night he had spent at Carntown Castle, from whence he had marched, not as the leader, but as the overseer, of the Irish army ; having previously given unequivocal indications of his prospects, his hopes, and his designs, by despatching a commissioner to Waterford, " to prepare a ship for conveying him to France, in case of any misfortune." HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON. When Babylon the Great was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the grand palace, and within the general enclosure, the Hanging Gardens were constructed by the king to gratify his wife Amytis, who being a native of Media (she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of Media), desired to have some imitation of her native hills and forests. " Within the walls was raised a lofty mound, Wliere flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd The pensile garden. For Nebassar's queen, Fatigued with Babylonia's level plains, Sigh'd for her Median home, where nature's hand Had scooped the vale, and clothed the mountain's side With mafly a verdant wood : nor long she pined Till that uxorious monarch called on Art To rival Nature's sweet variety. Forthwith two hundred thousand slaves uprear'd This hill egregious work ; rich fruits o'erhang The sloping vales, and odorous shrubs entwine Their undulating branches." These gardens, as far as we learn from ancient accounts, contained * square of above 400 feet on each side, and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above the other, till the height equalled that of the walls of the city. The ascent from terrace to terrace was by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained by vast arches, raised on other arches one above another, and was defended and con- densed by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid large liat stones, sixteen feet long and four broad ; over these was a layer of weeds mixed and cemented with a large quantity of bitumen, on which were two rows of bricks closely cemented together with the same material. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, on which lay the mould of the garden. And all this floorage Avas so contrived as to keep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches. The earth laid thereon was so deep that large trees might take root in it; nu with such the terraces were covered, as well as with the iusust . MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT g9 plants and flowers proper to adorn an eastern pleasure-garden. The J,r>-e.s planted there are represented to have been of various kinds. Here grew the larch, that, curving, flings its arms like a falling wave ; and and by it was seen the grey livery of the aspen ; the mournful solemnity of the cypress and stately grandeur of the cedai intermingled with the elegant mimosa ; besides the light and airy foliage of the nilk-tasselled acacia, with its vast clusters of beauteous lilac flowers streaming in the wind and glittering in the sun ; the umbrageous foliage of the ohesnut, and ever-varying verdure of the poplar ; the birch, with its feathered branches light as a lady's plumes all combined with the freshness of the running stream, over which the willow waved its tresses " And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose, The sweetest flower for scent that blows ; And all rare blossoms from every clime Grew in that garden in perfect prime." All these varied delights of nature were ranged in rows on the side of the ascent as well as on the top, so that at a distance it appeared to be an immense pyramid covered with wood. The situation of this extraordinary effort of human skill, aided by human wealth and per- soverance, adjoining the river Euphrates, we must suppose that in the upper terrace was an hydraulic engine, or kind of pump, by which the water was forced up out of the river, and from thence the whole gardens were watered, and a supply of the pure element furnished to the fountains and reservoirs for cooling the air. In the spaces between the several arches, on which the whole structure rested, were large and magnificent apartments, very lightsome, and commanding the most beautiful prospects that even the glowing conceptions of an eastern imagination could dream to exist. THE GREAT BELL OF BUEMAH. At a temple in the environs of Amarapoora, the capital of Burmah, there is an enormous bell, which is thus described by Captain Yule : " North of the temple, on a low circular terrace, stands- the biggest bell in Burmah the biggest in the world, probably, Itussia apart. It is slung on a triple beam of great size, cased and hooped with metal ; this beam resting on two piers of brickwork, enclosing massive frames of teak. The bell does not swing free. The supports were so much shaken by the earthquake, that it was found necessary to put props under the bell, consisting of blocks of wood carved into grotesque flgures. Of course no tone can now be got out of it. But at any time it must have required a battering-ram to elicit its music. Small ingots of silver (and some say pieces of gold) may still be traced, unmelted, in the mass, and Iruiu the inside one sees the curious way in which the makers tried to strengthen the parts which suspend it by dropping into the upper part of the mould iron chains, round which the metal was run. The Burmese report the bell to contain 555,555 viss of metal (about 900 tons). Its principal dimensions are as follow : External diameter at the lip, 16 feet 3 inches ; external diameter 4 feet 8 inches above the lip, 10 feet ; interior height, 11 feet 6 inches ; exterior ditto, 12 feet ; interior diameter at top, 8 ietrt 560 TEH THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; 6 inches. The thickness of metal varies from six inches to twelve, and the actual weight of the bell is, by a rough calculation, about eighty tons, or one-eleventh of the popular estimate. According to Mr. Howard Malcolm, whose authority was probably Colonel Burney, the weight is stated in the Royal Chronicle at 55,500 viss, or about ninety tons. This statement is probably, therefore, genuine, and the popular fable merely a multiplication of it by ten." This monster Burmese bell is, therefore, fourteen times as heavy as the great bell of St. Paul's, but only one-third of that given by" the Empress Anne to the Cathedral of Moscow. BANDOLIERS. "We here engrave a set of bandoliers, a species of weapon much in rogue about the close of the sixteenth century. The specimen before ns consists of nine tin cases covered with leather, with caps to them, each containing a charge of powder, and suspended by rings from a cord made to pass through other rings. The caps are retained in their places by being contrived so as to slip up and down their own cords. Two naps of leather, on each side, are intended to protect the bandoliers from rain, and attached to one of these may be perceived a circular bullet-purse, made to draw with little strings. This specimen was buckled round the waist by means of a strap ; others were worn round the body and over the shoulder. The noise they made, agitated bv the wind, but more especially the danger of all taking fire from the match-cord, occasioned their disuse, as Sir James Turner tells us, about the year 1640. 101TB OP DAHT0S. Among the most remarkable tombs of the ancients, may be noticed the sepulchre carved out of the living rock, by order of Darius, the warrior and conqueror king of Persia, for the reception of his own remains ; and which is existing 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 ; 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 Perse- polis. On this stage stands the king, with a bent bow in his hand, worshipping the sun, whose image is seen above the altar that stands before him, while above his head hovers his ferouher, or disembodied pint. This is the good genius that in Persian and Ninevite sculpture MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 561 .t'.companies the king when performing any important act. On each side the ark are nine niches, each containing a statute in bas-relief. No other portion of the tomb was intended to be seen, excepting the sculp- tured 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 privileged could find their way. We are told by Theophrastus, that Darius was buried in a coffer of Egyptian alabaster; and also that the early Persians buried their dead entire, preserving their bodies with honey or wax. THE GATE ON OLD LONDON BRIDGE. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a strongly embattled gate protected the entrance from Southwark to Old London Bridge, and it was usually garnished with traitors' heads in " rich abun- ., - : dance," as may be seen in the accompanying cut, which is copied from Viss- cher's view, in 1579. The bridge was at that period covered with houses, a nar- row road passing through arcades beneath them, and they abutted on props over the river on either side. The bridge was proudly spoken of by our ancestors. Thus, in the translation of Ortelius, published by J. Shaw, in 1603, he says of the Thames: " It is beau- tified with statelye pallaces, built on the side thereof ; moreover, a sumptuous bridge sustayned on nineteen arches, with excellent and beauteous housen built thereon." Camden, in his great work, the " Britannica," says, "It may worthily carry away the prize from ail the bridges in Europe," being "furnished on both sides with passing faire houses, joining ono to another in Mie manner of a street." EXTRAORDINARY PONDS AND HSU. The ponds in the department of Ain in France are 1667 in number. The industry and ingenuity of man have converted the marshes into fertile plains and productive ponds, by constructing dykes from one hill to the other, for the plateaux are covered with small hills. "When the proprietor of one of these ponds wishes to cultivate it, he draws off the water into the dyke attached to it. Wheat, barley, and oats are then sown, and the seed thus fertilised by the slime produces a crop doubl* that produced by the land in the vicinity. After the harvest is collected, the water is permitted to return to its former bed, and carp, tench., aud 19 562 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; roach are then thrown into it. Some of these ponds will support lOO.fXlO of carp, and 100 pounds of little tench and roach. In the course of two years these carp, which weighed only one ounce and a-half, will have attained the size of two pounds and a half. The fishing begins in April, and is continued until November. The increase of the fish is as one to five. THE CEEEMONTAL OF MAKING THE KING'S BED. The following account of the old ceremony of making the King's bed in the time of Henry the Eighth, was sent to the Society of Antiquaries, in 1776, by Mr. J. C. Brooke, of the Heralds' College, F.S.A. &c. In a letter to the president, he says, - " It is extracted from an original manuscript, elegantly written, beau- tifully illuminated, and richly bound, which was some time in the library of Henry, Duke of Norfolk, earl marshal of England, to whom it came by descent from Thomas, the great Duke of Norfolk, beheaded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; who married Mary, daughter and coheir of Henry Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, lord chamberlain to King Henry the Eighth. It contains the whole duty of the lord chamberlain, and of the officers in his department ; is the original copy kept for the information of that earl ; and had been compiled by order of, and approved by, the King himself in council." " The oolde ordre of Makynye the Kynyes Bedd not to used nor done, but as Hys Grace woll comaund and apoynte from tyme to tyme herafter. " Ftirste, a groome or a page to take a torche, and to goo to the warde- robe of the kynges bedd, and bryng theym of the warderobe with the 'kynges stuff unto the chambr for makyng of the same bedde. Where as aught to be a gentylman-usher, iiii yomen of the chambr for to make the same bedde. The groome to stande at the bedds feete with his torch. They of the warderobe openyng the kinges stuff of hys bedde upon a fayre sheets, bytwen the sayde groome and the bedds fote, iii yeomen, or two at the leste, in every syde of the bedde ; the gentylman-usher and parte commaundyng theym what they shall doo. A yoman with a dagger to searche the strawe of the kynges bedde that there be none untreuth therein. And this yoman to caste up the bedde of downe upon that, and oon of theym to tomble over yt for the serche thereof. Then they to bete and tufie the sayde bedde, and to laye oon then the bolster without touchyng of the bedd where as it aught to lye. Then they of the warde- robe to delyver theym a fustyan takyng the saye therof. All theys yomen to laye theyr hands theroon at oones, that they touch not the t>edd, tyll yt be layed as it sholde be by the comaundement of the ussher. And so the furste sheet in lyke wyse, and then t& trusse in both sheeto and fustyan rownde about the bedde of downe. The warderopre to delyver the second sheete unto two yomen, they to crosse it over theyr arme, and to stryke the bedde as the ussher snail more playnly shewe unto theym. Then every yoman layeing hande upon the sheete, to laye the same sheete upon the bedde. And so the other fustyan upon or ii with such covervnge as shall content the kynge. Thus doon, the ii MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 5G3 yomen next to the bedde to laye down agene the evermore fustyan, the yomen of the warderobe delyverynge theym a pane sheete, the sayde yoman therewythall to cover the sayde bedde. And so then to laye down the overmost sheete from the beddes heed. And- then the sayd ii yomen to lay all the overmost clothes of a quarter of the bedde. Then the warderoper to dclyver unto them such pyllowes as shall please the kynge. The sayd yoman to laye theym upon the bolster and the heed sheete with whych the sayde yoman snail cover the sayde pyllowes. And so to trusse the endes of the sayde sheete under every ende of the bolster. And then the sayd warderoper to delyver unto them ii lytle small pyl- lowes, werwythall the squyres for the bodye or gentylman-ussher shall give the saye to the warderoper, and to the yoman wnych have layde on hande upon the sayd bedde. And then the sayd ii yomen to lay upon the sayde bedde toward the bolster as yt was bifore. They makyng a crosse and kissynge yt where there handes were. Then ii yomen next to the feete to make the feers as the ussher shall teche theym. And so then every df them sticke up the aungel about the bedde, and to lette down the corteyns of the sayd bedde, or sparver. " Item, a squyer for the bodye or gentylman-ussher aught to sett the kynges sword at hys beddes heed. "Item, a squyer for the bodye aught to charge a secret groome or page, to have the kepynge of the sayde bedde with a lyght unto the time the kynge be disposed to goo to yt. " Item, a groome or page aught to take a torche, whyle the bedde ys yn makyng, to feche a loof of brede, a pott wyth ale, a pott wyth wine, for them that maketh the bedde, and every man. "Item, the gentlyman-ussher aught to forbede that no manner of man do sett eny dysshe upon the kynge's bedde, for fere of hurtying of the kynge's ryche counterpoynt that lyeth therupon. And that the sayd ussher take gbode heede, that noo man wipe or rubbe their handes uppon none arras of the kynges, wherby they myght bee hurted, in the chambr where the kynge ys specially, and in all other." ORIGIN OF SANDWICHES. To the memory of " Lord Sandwich" belongs the name of that edible. Being, during his administration (as was very usual with him), at a gambling-house, he had, in the fascination of play, for more than five and twenty hours forgotten fatigue and hunger, when suddenly, feeling disposed to break his fast, though still riveted to the table, he called to bid some one bring anything that was to be had to eat, which happened to prove- a slice of beef, and two pieces of bread. Placing them together for the sake of expedition, he devoured them with the greatest relish. The most ecstatic encomiums published his discovery, and giving it his name, bequeathed it as a memento to his country, as one of the moet important acts of his administration. THE TREATY-STONE AT LIMEBICK. The city of Limerick is very famous in history. Before it, in 1651, Ireton " sate down ;" there he continued to " sir' for six months ; and 564 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; underneath its walls the fierce republican died of plague. Greatei celebrity, and higher honour, were, however, obtained by Limerick in 1690. Early in August, William summoned it to surrender ; the French general, Boileau, wno commanded the garrison "rather for the King of France than the King of England" returned for answer, that "lie was surprised at the summons, and thought the best way to gain the good opinion of the Prince of Orange was to defend the place for his master King James." The siege was at once commenced. The ilower of the Irish army were within its walls, or in its immediate neighbour- hood.; the counties of Clare and Gralway were open to them, from which to draw supplies ; and a French fleet rode triumphantly in the Shannon. The garrison, however, wero little disposed to act in concert: the jealousy of the comman- ders of the French and Irish had spread to their troops ; and they cherish- ed feelings of contempt or hatred towards each other, that argued ill for their success in opposing tlit steady and disciplined for- ces of William. Yet the Irish succeed- . ed ; the siege was raised on the 30th of August. But, in the autumn of 1691, it endured a second, which occupied about six months; when the garrison, wearied of a struggle from which they could derive nothing but glory, on the 23rd of September, a cessation of hostilities took place ; an amicable intercourse was opened between tho two armies ; and articles of capitulation were, after a few brief delays, agreed upon. The "violated treaty" was signed on the 3rd of October, 1691 ; it consisted of two parts, civil and military. It is said to have been signed by the several contracting parties on a large stone, near to Thomond Bridge, on the county of Clare side of the river. The stone remains in the position it occupied at the period, and is an object of curiosity to strangers, as well as of interest to the citizens of Limerick. We, therefore, thought it desirable to procure a drawing of the reli 1 *, which retains its name of " the Treaty Stone." THE TEMPLAHS' BAKNEB CALLED BEATJSEANX. When Constantino the Great was on the eve of a battle with Maxen- tius, we are told that a lu-minous standard appeared to him in the sky with a cross upon it, and this inscription: " In hoc signo vinces By this sign you shall conquer ;" and that this sign so encouraged Cozi- Blantine and his soldiers that they gained the next day a great victory. When Waldemar II. of Denmark was engaged in a great battle with the Livonians in the year 1219, it is said that a sacred banner fell fronx MARVELLOUS, RARE. CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 565 hearen into the midst of his army, and so revived the courage of Mi troops, that they gained a complete victoiy over the Livonians ; and in aar instituted memory of the event, "Waldemar an order of knighthood, called " St. Danebrog," or the strength of the Danes, and which is still the principal order of knighthood in Denmark. Now, taking these legends for as much as they are worth, and no more ; what do they prove ? Not that this miraculous standard and cross came to the assist- ance of Constantine ; not that this miraculous banner came to the aid of Waldemar ; but they prove that such was the paramount importance attached to the sacred banner among the forces, that wherever it was present, it was a great means of inspiriting the men with increased confidence and courage, and so contributed to the victory. The great importance attached to the banner in the middle ages is not to be wondered at, when we consider that it was a kind of connecting link between the military and the clergy ; it was a religious symbol applied to a military purpose, and this was the feeling which animated the Crusaders and the Templars in their great struggle against the enemies of Christianity. The contest then was between the crescent and the cross between Christ and Mahomet. The Knights Templars had a very remarkable banner, being simply divided into black and white, the white portion symbolising peace to their friends, the black portion evil to their enemies, and their dreaded war cry, " BEA.TJSEANT." SWOED-FISH V. WHALES. So boundless is the sword-fish's rage and fury against whales in par- ticular, that many observers imagine his sallies against rocks and timber to originate in an error of judgment, that all these lunges are intended to punish leviathan, and are only misdirected in consequence of the 566 tSH THOUSAND WONDERFtJL THINGS; imperfect vision which prevents this scomber, like many of his family, from accurately distinguishing forms. Whenuver a supposed whale is descried, our savage sabreur rushes forward to intercept his progress, and suddenly flashing before his victim, either alone or in conjunction with some other unfriendly fish, instantly proceeds to the attack. Rela- tions of such sea-fights, attested by credible eye-witnesses, are not uncommon ; we content ourselves with the citation of one of unim- peachable accuracy. Captain Crow, cited by Mr. Yarrell, relates that in a voyage to Memel, on a calm night, just off the Hebrides, all hands were called up to witness a strange combat between some thrashers (carcharias vulpes) and a sword-fish leagued together against a whale ; as soon as the back of the ill-starred monster was seen rising a little above the water, the thrashers sprang several yards into the air, and struck him with their descending tails, the reiterated percussions of which sounded, we are told, like a distant volley of musketry. The sword-fish meanwhile attacked the whale from below, getting close under his belly, and with such energy and efl'ect that there could be little doubt of the issue of a fray, which the necessity of prosecuting their voyage prevented the crew from watching to its close. The sword- fish is not less remarkable for strength than pugnacity, the depot of its great physical powers being, as in most scombers, in the tail. WEALTH OF SPAIN UNDEB THE MOOES. The Moors, whose conquest and expulsion were attended with such atrocities, and such triumphs to the Catholic church, were by far the most industrious and skilful part of the Spanish population, and their loss was a blow to the greatness and prosperity of that kingdom from which it has never recovered. The literary activity and commercial enterprise of the Arabs, which the wise policy of their Caliphs en- couraged, contributed both to enrich and adorn their adopted country. Cordova, the seat of the Ommiades, was scarcely inferior, in point of wealth and magnitude, to its proud rival on the banks of the Tigris. A space of twenty-four miles in length, and six in breadth, along the banks of the Guadalquiver, was occupied with palaces, streets, gardens, and public edifices ; and for ten miles the citizens could travel by the light of lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings. In the reign of Almansor it could boast of 270,000 houses, 80,455 shops, 911 baths, 3,877 mosques, from the minarets of which a population of 800,000 were daily summoned to prayers. The seraglio of the Caliph, his wives, concubines, and black eunuchs, amounted to 6,300 persons; and he was attended to the field by a guard of 12,000 horsemen, whose belts and scimitars were studded with gold. Granada was equally celebrated for its luxury and its learning. The royal demesnes extended to the distance of twenty miles, the revenues of which were set apart to maintain the fortifications of the city. Of the duty on grain, the king's exchequer received about 15,000 yearly, an immense sum at that time, when wheat sold at the rate of sixpence a bushel. The consump- tion of 250,000 inhabitants kept 130 water-mills constantly at work m the suburbs. The population of this small kingdom under the Moors i MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 567 aid to have amounted to 3,000,000, which is now diminished perhaps to one-fifth of that number. Its temples and palaces have shared the same decay. The Alhambra stands solitary, dismantled, and neglected. The interior remains of the palace are in tolerable preservation, and present a melancholy picture of the romantic magnificence of its former kings. Seville, which had continued nearly 200 years the seat of a petty kingdom, enjoyed considerable reputation as a place of wealth and commerce. The population in 1247 was computed at 300,000 persons, which, in the sixteenth century, had decreased one- third. It was one of the principal marts for olives in the Moorish dominions ; and BO extensive was the trade in this article alone that the axarafe, or plantations round the suburbs, employed farm-houses and olive-presses to the amount of 100,000, being more than is now to be found in the whole province of Andalusia. THE FIRST OPERA. The first composer who tried his hand at setting an opera to musio was Francisco Bamirino, an Italian artist ; and the piece to which he lent the charm of a melodious accompaniment, was the " Conversion of St. Paul," which was brought out at Home in 1460. RUINS OF ETTROPA. Lady Sheil, in her " Life in Persia," thus describes some wonderful ruins which she saw about thirty miles from Tehran : ' ' From near Verameen a most remarkable antiquity still survives the lapse of twenty centuries, that is, if what we hear be true. It consists of an immense rampart, twenty or thirty feet in height, and of pro- portional thickness, including a space of about half a mile in length and nearly the same in breadth. It is in the form of a square ; the rampart is continuous, and at short intervals is strengthened by bastions of pro- digious size. The whole is constructed of unbaked bricks of large dimensions, and is in a state of extraordinary preservation. The traces of a ditch of great size, though nearly filled up, are evident in front of the rampart. No buildings are found inside, where nothing is visible excepting a few mounds, not a single habitation or human being. The solitude of this striking vestige of antiquity adds to its solemnity. It stood alone ; Elboorz, distant only a few miles, gazing down on its hoary walls, with Demawend, in its garments of snow, to complete the scene. From no place have I had a finer view of this grand mountain, which seemed to lie exactly to the north. I am informed that these mag- nificent ruins represent Europa, a city built by Seleucus, which, if true, would make it upwards of two thousand years old. On seeing the perfect state of the ruins, and the materials of which they are composed, one feeh no hesitation in crediting so venerable an antiquity. Seleucug chose the spot well. The district of Verameen is renowned for its fertility, though not at this period for the salubrity of its climate. The urrounding country is covered with earthen mounds, denoting fonuer diiices, which, if explored, might reveal objects worthy of the erudition ns to the height of 331 ft. above its terrace, or 361 ft. above the country, thus reaching a height nearly equal to St. Paul's Cathedral ; while the side of the upper terrace is only 83 ft. less than that of the great Pyramid. Tradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to the height of 12 cubits at an age slightly subsequent to that of Buddha himself. Successive kings of Pegu added to this from time to time, till at last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four centuries ago. PEST HOUSE DUKLXG THE PLAGCE IN TOTHILL FIELDS. Tothill Fields, a locality between Pimlico and the Thames, was anci- ently the manor of Tothill, belonging to John Maunsel, chancellor, who in 125G, entertained here Henry III. and his court at a vast feast in tents and pavilions. Here were decided wagers of battle ani appeals by combat. Necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft were punished here : and " royal solemnities and goodly jousts were held here." In Culpeper's time the fields were famous for parsley. In 1642 a battery and breast- work were erected here. Here also were built the "Five Houses," or " Seven Chimneys," as pest-houses for victims of the plague. One of these pest-houses is given in the above engraving, taken from an ii't print. In the plague time of 1665, the des-i WC29 buned "in the op** 574 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; Tuttle Fields." In Queen Anne's reign here was William Well's hetd garden on the site of Vincent-square. The Train Bands were drawn out here in 1651. In the last century the fields were a noted duel-ground, and here, in 1711. Sir Cholraeley Deering, M.P., was killed by the first shot of Mr. Richard Thornhill, who was tried for murder and acquitted, but found guilty of manslaughter and burnt in the hand. THE THT7GS. The following account of these horribly extraordinary men is taken from Dr. Hooker's Himalayan Journals ; writing at Mirzapore, he says: "Here I had the pleasure 01 meeting Lieutenant Ward, one of the suppressors of Thuggee (Thuggee, in Hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud, not open force, being employed). This gentlemen kindly showed me the approvers, or king's evidence of his establishment, belonging to those three classes of human scourges, the Thug, Dakoit, and Poisoner. Of these the first was the Thug, a mild-looking man, who had been born and bred to the profession : he had committed many murders, saw no harm in them, and felt neither shame nor remorse. His organs of observation and destructiveness were large, and the cerebellum small. He explained to me how the gang waylay the unwary traveller, entei into conversation with him, and have him suddenly seized, when the superior throws his own girdle round the victim's neck and strangles him, pressing the knuckles against the spine. Taking off his own girdle, he passed it round my arm, and showed me the turn as coolly as a sailor once taught me the hangman's knot. The Thug is of any caste, and from any part of India. The profession have particular stations, which they generally select for murder, throwing the body of their victim into a well. " Their origin is uncertain, but supposed to be very ancient, soon after the Mahommedan conquest. They now claim a divine original, and are supposed to have supernatural powers, and to be the emissaries of the divinity, like the wolf, the tiger, and the bear. It is only lately that they have swarmed so prodigiously seven original gangs having migrated from Delhi to the Gangetic provinces about 200 years ago, from whence all the rest have sprung. Many belong to the most amiable, intelligent, and respectable classes of the lower and even middle ranks : they love their profession, regard murder as sport, and are never haunted with dreams, nor troubled with pangs of conscience during hours of solitude, or in the last moments of life. The victim is an acceptable sacrifice to the goddess Davee, who by some classes is supposed to eat the lifeless body, and thus save her votaries the necessity of concealing it. " They are extremely superstitious, always consulting omens, such as the direction in which a hare or a jackal crosses the road ; and even far more trivial circumstances will determine the fate of a dozen of people, and perhaps of an immense treasure. All worship the pickaxe, which if symbolical of their profession, and an oath sworn on it binds closer tLtn on the Koran. The consecration of this weapon is a most elaborate , and takes place only under certain trees. The Thugs rise ittARVKLLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 575 through various grades: the lowest are scouts; the second, sextora ; the third, are holders of the victim's hands ; the highest, stranglers. " Though all agree in never practising cruelty, or robbing previous to murder never allowing any but infants to escape (and these are trained to Thuggee), and never leaving a trace of such goods as may be identified there are several variations in their mode of conducting operations : some tribes spare certain castes, others none ; murder of woman is against all rules ; but the practice crept into certain gangs, and this it is which led to their discountenance by the goddess Davee, and the consequent downfall of the system. Davee, they say, allowed the British to punish them, because a certain gang had murdered the mothers to obtain their daughters to be sold to prostitution. " Major Sleeman has constructed a map demonstrating the number of 'bails,' or regular stations for committing murder, in the kingdom of Oude alone, which is 170 miles long by 100 broad, and in which are 274, which are regarded by the Thug with as much satisfaction and interest as a game preserve is in England ; nor are these ' bails' less numerous than in other parts of India. Of twenty assassins who were examined, one frankly confessed to having been engaged in 931 murders, and the least guilty* of the number in 24. Sometimes 150 persons collected into one gang, and their profits have often been immense, the murder of six persons on one occasion yielding 82,000 rupees, upwards of 8,000." ENGLISH EARTHENWARE AND SHAKSPEARE's JUG. Much uncertainty exists regarding the period when the manufacture of fine earthenware was first introduced into England. Among the documents in the Fredera, occur various lists of articles, ordered to be purchased in England for several foreign potentates, and permitted to be exported for their use without paying the Custom duties. One of these lists, dated in 1428, enumerated many objects as then shipped for the use of the King of Portugal and the Countess of Holland, among which are " six silver cups, each of the weight of six marks (or four pounds), a large quantity of woollen stuffs, and 2000 plates, dishes, saucers, and other vessels of electrum" As these articles were, no doubt, the produce of the country, it would appear that utensils lor domestic use were then made of metal, and not of pottery ; and it was not till some time afterwards that the latter was introduced by the Dutch, whose manufactory at Delft probably existed as early as the fifteenth century, and who sent large quantities of their ware to England. The skill and excellence of the English artizaaa consisted in the manufacture of silver and other metals. Of this, instances are recorded in the correspondence of La Mothe Fenelon, the French ambassador at the Court of Queen Elizabeth ; and in the travels of Hentzner, who visited England in 1598. Both describe in glowing colours the silver plate which adorned the buffets, as well as the mag- nificent furniture and decorations of the palaces.of that sumptuous queen. Still Elizabeth, who so highly prided herself upon the state and splen- dour of her establishment, and who was in constant intercourse with tii* 576 N THOUSAND WONDERFUL THIWGS ; Court of France and the Low Countries, was not likely to have remained altogether satisfied without possessing, among the manufactures of her own kingdom, something similar to the fine Fayence then in .use in eve^y foreign court. Though it is probable that Delft ware procured from Holland was first used, it may reasonably be presumed that the ware called by her name was afterwards manufactured, under her immediate patronage, for the use of the court and the nobility ; and although there is no record of the fact, it is supposed that Stratford-le-Bow was the ite of the manufactory. Shakspeare's Jug, of which we here give an engraving, which haa been carefully preserved by the de- scendants of the immortal bard since, the year 1616, is, perhaps, the most remarkable example of the Eliza- bethan pottery now existing. The shape partakes very much of the form of the old German or Dutch ewer, without, however, the usual top or cover ; the one now attached to the jug being a modern addition of silver, with a medallion bust of the poet in the centre, beautifully executed and inscribed "Wai. SHAK- SPEARE, AT THE AGE OF FORTY." It is about ten inches high, and sixteen inches round at the largest part, and is divided lengthwise into eight com- partments, having each a mytho- logical subject in high relief. All of these, although executed in the quaint style of the period, possess considerable merit. Some of them, indeed, manifest much masterly grouping of both human figures and animals ; and such is the admirable state of preservation of this very interesting old English relic, that- as correct a judgment may be formed of its workmanship, as in the days of its first possessor ; at all events, as regards the degree of perfection to which English Pottery had attained in the Elizabethan age ; an inspec- tion of this jug will justify the presumption, that her Court was not less tastefully provided in that respect than those of the Continent, notwith- etanding the obscurity in which the precise locality and extent of tho manufactory is unfortunately involved. PKICE OF MACKAKE1. The price of mackarel, in May, 1807, in the Billingsgate market, waa as follows : Forty guineas for every hundred of the first cargo, which made the fish come to seven shillings apiece ! The next supplies wer aiao exorbitant, though much less so than the first, fetching thirtts MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 577 pounds per hundred, or two shillings apiece. The very next year th former deficiencies were more than made up, for it appears that during the season 1808, mackarel were hawked about the streets of Dover, at sixty for a shilling, or five for a penny ; whilst they so blockaded the Brighton coast that on one night it became impossible to land the mul- titudes takon, and at last both fish and nets went to the bottom together, POPE'S CIIAIR. In one of the rooms at that stately and picturesque baronial hall, Audley End, the seat of Lord Braybrooke, there is preserved the interesting relic which forms the subject of the annexed engraving, Its history is thus told on a brass plate inserted in the back " This chair, once the property of Alex- ander Pope, was given as a keep- sake to the nurse who attended him in his illness ; from her de- scendants it was obtained by the Rev. Thomas Ashley, curate of the parish of Binfield, and kindly pre- sented by him to Lord Braybrooke, in 1844, nearly a century after the poet's decease." It is apparently of Flemish workmanship, and of rather singular design; in the centre medallion is a figure of Venus holding a dart in her right hand, and a burning heart in her left. The narrow back and wide- circling arms give a peculiarly quaint appearance t" this curious relic of one of our greatest poets. FIEST WIND -MILLS. Habillon mentions a diploma of the year 1105, in which a convent ia Prance is allowed to erect water and wind-mills, molendina ad ventum. Bartolomeo Verde proposed to the Venetians in 1332, to build a wind- mill. When his plan had been examined, he had a piece of ground assigned him, which he was to retain if his undertaking succeeded within a specified time. In 1373, the city of Spires caused a wind-mill to be erected, and sent to the Netherlands for a person acquainted with the method o| grinding by it. A wind-mill was also constructed at irrankfort, in 1442; but it does not appear to have been ascertains whether there were any there before. About the twelfth cenf ury, in the pontificate of Gregory, when both 578 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS, wind and water-mills became more general, a dispute arose wh.'ihf* mills were titbeable or not. The dispute existed for some time betwi-n the persons possessed of mills and the clergy ; when neither would yield. At length, upon the matter being referred to the pope and sacred college, the question was (as might have been expected when interested persons were made the arbitrators) determined in favour of the claims of the church. THE "HAPPY DISPATCH" IN JAPAN. The Hari-kari, or " Happy Dispatch," consists in ripping open their own bowels with two cuts in the form of a cross after the artistic dissector's fashion. Officials resort to it under the fear of the punish- ment which they may expect ; for it is a leading principle that it is more honourable to die by one's own hand than by another's. Princes and the high classes receive permission to rip themselves up as a special favour, when under sentence of death : their entire family must die with the guilty. Sometimes, by favour, the nearest relative of the condemned is permitted to perform the function of executioner in his own house. Such a death is considered less dishonourable than by the public executioners, aided by the servants of those who keep disreputable houses. But the Japanese, for the most part, always ask permission to rip themselves ; and they set about it with astonishing ease, and not without evident ostentation. The criminal who obtains this favour assembles all his family and his friends, puts on his richest apparel, makes an eloquent speech on his situation, and then, with a most contented look, he bares his belly, and in the form of a cross rips open the viscera. The most odious crimes are effaced by such a death. The criminal thenceforward ranks as a brave in the memory of men. His family contracts no stain, and his property is not confiscated. It is curious that the Romans and the Japanese should hit upon cruci- fixion as a mode of punishment. These coincidences often startle us in reviewing the manners and customs of men. Vainly we strive to con- jecture how such a mode of punishment could have suggested itself to the mind of man. The in terrorem object scarcely accounts for it. Constantine abolished it amongst the Romans, in honour of Him who was pleased to make that mode of dying honourable in the estimation of men. The Hari-kari, or happy dispatch, is still more incomprehensible. We shudder at the bare idea of it. To commit suicide by hanging, by drowning, by poison, by fire-arms, by a train in rapid motion all these modes are reasonable in their madness ; but to rip open our bowels ! and with two cuts ! "We are totally at a loss to imagine how such a mode of self-murder could have been adopted ; \ve cannot but wonder at the strength of nerve which enables it to be accomplished : but we feel DO doubt of the everlasting force of national custom especially amongst the Orientals in the continuance of this practice. Montesquieu said, "If the punishments of the Orientals horrify humanity, the reason is, that the despot who ordains them feels that Ke u above all lavra. It ^ MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 579 not so in Republics, wherein the laws are always mild, because be who makes them is himself a subject." This fine sentiment, thoroughly French, is evidently contradicted by the institutions of Japan, where the Emperor himself, the despot, is a subject : besides, Montesquieu would have altered his antithesis had he lived to see the horrors of the Reign ol Terror in the glorious French Republic. T17EITAN ZEAL. The following is a copy of the order issued by Government for the destruction of Glasgow Cathedral: "To our traist friendis, Traist friendis, after most hearty commendacion, we pray you fail not to pass incontinent to the kirk, (of Glasgow, or elewhere, as it might be) and tak down the hail images thereof, and bring furth to the kirk-zyard, and burn them openly. And sicklyke cast down the altaris, and purge the kirk of all kynd of monuments of idolatrye. And this ze fail not to do, as ze will do us singular emplesure ; and so commitis you to protection of God. (Signed) An. AEGYLE. JAMES STEWAET. RUTHVEN. From Edinburgh the XII. of Aug. 1560. Fail not, but ze tak guid heyd that neither the dasks, windows, nor duris, be ony ways hurt or broken, uthe glassin wark, or iron wark." FEEDEEICK THE GEEAT AT TABLE. The table of the great Frederic of Prussia was regulated by himself. There were always from nine to a dozen dishes, and these were brought in one at a time. The King carved the solitary dish, and helped the company. One singular circumstance connected with this table was, that each dish was cooked by a different cook, who had a kitchen to him- self ! There was much consequent expense, with little magnificence. Frederic ate and drank, too, like a boon companion. His last work, before retiring to bed, was to receive from the chief cook the bill of fare for the next day ; the price of each dish, and of its separate ingredients, was marked in the margin. The monarch looked it cautiously through, generally made out an improved edition, cursed all cooks as commou thieves, and then flung down the money for the next day's expenses. AETIFICIAL SWEETS. Professor Playfair, in an able lecture delivered in the Great Exhibi- tion, and since published, has raised a curtain, which displays a rather repulsive scene. He says, the perfume of flowers frequently consists of oils and ethers, which the chemist can compound artificially in his labo- ratory ._ Singularly enough these are generally derived from substances of an intensely disgusting odour. A peculiarly fetid oil, termed the " fusel" oil, is formed in making brandy. This fusel oil distilled with euiphuric acid and acetate of potass, gives the oil of pears (?). The oil of apples is made from the same fusel, by distillation with the same asid aud chromate of potass. The oil of pineapples i* obtained froa TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; fce product of the action of putrid cheese on sugar ! or by making a seep with butter. The artificial oil of bitter almonds is now largely em- ployed in perfuming soap confectionary ; extracted by nitric acid and the fetid oil of gas tar. Many a fair forehead is damped with eau de millejleurs without the knowledge that its essential ingredient is derived from the drainage of cow-houses ! TEUTONIC HUT-SHAPED VASES. Some remarkable sepulchral urns, of which we give a sketch, re- sembling those of the early inhabitants of Alba Longa, in Italy, have been found in Germany, and are distinctly Teutonic. They occur in the sepulchres of the period when bronze weapons were used, and before the predominance of lloman art. One found at Mount Chemnitz, in Thurin- gen, had a cylindrical body and conical top, imitating a roof. In this was a square "orifice, representing the door or window, by which the ashes of the dead were introduced, and the whole then secured by a small door fastened with a metal pin. A second vase was found at Koenne ; a third in the island of Bornholm. A similar urn exhumed at Parchim had a shorter body, taller roof, and door at the side. Still more remark- able was another found at Aschersleben, which has its cover modelled in chape of a tall conical thatched roof, and the door with its ring still remaining. Another, with a taller body and flatter roof, with a door at the side, was found at Klus, near Halberstadt. The larger vases were used to hold the ashes of the dead, and are sometimes protected by a cover, or stone, or placed in another vase of coarser fabric. The others are the household vessels, which were offered to the dead filled with afferent viands. Some of the smaller vases appear to have been toys. Extraordinary popular superstitions h ve prevailed amongst the Ger- MARVELLOUS, BARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 581 man peasantry as to the origin, and nature of these vases, which in some districts are considered to be the work of the elves, in others, to grow spontaneously from the ground like mushrooms or to be endued with remarkable properties for the preservation of milk and other articles of food. Weights to sink nets, balls, discs, and little rods of terra-cotta, are also found in th& graves. LYNCH'S CASTLE, GALWAT. The !iouse in the town of Gal way, still known as " Lynch's Castle,'' although the most perfect example now remaining, was at one period by f no means a solitary instance of the decorated habitations of the Galway merchants. The name of Lynch, as either provost, portreve, sovereign", or mayor of Galway, occurs no fewer than ninety-four times between the years 1274 and 1654 ; after that year it does not appear once. The house here pictured was the residence of the family for many generations. It had, however, several branches, whose habitations are frequently pointed out by their armorial bearings, or their crest, a lynx, over the gateway. One of its members is famous in history as the Irish Junius Brutus. The mere fact is sufficiently wonderful without the aid of invention ; but it has, as may be supposed, supplied materials to a host of romancers. The story is briefly this : James Lynch Fitzstephen was mayor or warden of Galway in 1493; tc traded largely with Spain, and sent his son oil a voyage thithc-r to 582 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; purchase and bring back a cargo of wine. Young Lynch, however, spent the money entrusted to him, and obtained credit from the Spaniard, whose nephew accompanied the youth back to Ireland to be paid the debt and establish further intercourse. The ship proceeded on her home- ward voyage, and as she drew near the Irish shore, young Lynch con- ceived the idea of concealing his crime by committing another. Haying seduced, or frightened, the crew into becoming participators, the youth was seized and thrown overboard. The father and friends of Lynch received the voyager with joy ; and the murderer in a short time became himself a prosperous merchant. Security had lulled every sense of danger, and he proposed for a very beautiful girl, the daughter of a wealthy neighbour, in marriage. The proposal was accepted ; but previous to the appointed day, one of the seamen became suddenly ill, and in a fit of remorse summoned old Lynch to the dying-bed, and communicated to him a full relation of the villany of his only and beloved son. Young Lynch was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to execution the father being his judge. The wretched prisoner, however, had many friends among the people, and his relatives resolved with them that he should not die a shameful death. They determined upon his rescue. We copv the last act of the tragedy from " Hardiman's History of Gal way.'' " Day had scarcely broken when the signal of preparation was heard among the guards without. The father rose, and assisted the executioner to remove the fetters which bound his unfortunate son. Then unlocking the door, he placed him between the priest and himself, leaning upon an arm of each. In this manner they ascended a flight of steps lined with soldiers, and were passing on to gain the street, when a new trial assailed the magistrate for which he appears not to have been unprepared. His wretched wife, whose name was Blake, failing in her personal exertions to save the life of her son, had gone in distraction to the heads of her own family, and prevailed on them, for the honour of their house, to rescue him from ignominy. They flew to arms, and a prodigious con-- course soon assembled to support them, whose outcries for mercy to the culprit would have shaken any nerves less firm than those of the mayor of Galway. He exhorted them to yield submission to the laws of their country ; but finding all his efforts fruitless to accomplish the ends of justice at the accustomed place, and by the usual hands, he, by a desperate victory over parental feeling, resolved himself to perform the sacrifice which he had vowed to pay on its altar. Still retaining a hold of his unfortunate son, he mounted with him by a winding stair within the building, that led to an arched window overlooking the street, which he saw filled with the populace. Here he secured the end of the rope which had been previously fixed round the neck of his son to an iron staple, which projected from the wall, and after taking from him a last embrace, he launched him into eternity. The intrepid magistrate ex- pected instant death from the fury of the populace ; but the people seemed so much overawed oj confounded by the magnanimous act, that they retired slowly and peaceably to their several dwellings. The innocent cause of this sad tragedy is said tc have died soon after of grief, and the unhappy father of Walter Lynch to have secluded himself MARVELLOUS, RARE. CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 583 daring the remainder of his life from all society except that of his mourning family. His house still exists in Lombard Street, Galway, which is yet known by the name of ' Dead Man's Lane ;' and over the front doorway are to be seen a skull and cross-bones executed in black marble, with the motto, ' Remember Deathe vaniti of vaniti, and all is but vaniti.' " The house in which the tragedy is said to have occurred was taken down only so recently as 1849 ; but the tablet which contains the "skull and cross-bones" bears the date 1624 upwards of a century after the alleged date of the occurrence. WASHINGTON. It is something singular, that "Washington drew his last breath, in the last hour, of the last day, of the last week, of the last month, of the last year, of the last century. He died on Saturday night, twelve o'clock, December 31st, 1799. ANCIENT BANNERS AND STANDARDS. Banners have been in use from the earliest ages. Xenophon gives us the Persian standard as a golden eagle, mounted on a pole or spear. Y/e find banners very early in use among the nations of Europe. In this country the introduction of banners was clearly of a religious origin. Venerable Bede says, that when St. Augustin and his companions came to preach Christianity in Britain in the latter part of the sixth century, and having converted Ethelbert, the Bretwalda of the Anglo-Saxons (his Queen Bertha had already embraced the Christian faith) the monk and his followers entered Canterbury in procession, chanting, "We beseech thee Lord, of thy mercy, let thy wrath and anger be turned away from this city, and from thy Holy Place, for we have sinned. Hallelujah." And they carried in their hands little banners on which were depicted crosses. The missionaries were allowed to settle in the Isle of Thanet, and Canterbury became the first Christian church. The raven has been regarded from very early ages as an emblem of God's providence, no doubt from the record in Holy Writ of its being employed to feed Elijah the Prophet, in his seclusion by the brook Cherith ; and it was the well-known ensign of the Danes, at the time of their dominion in this country. In the year 742, a great battle was fought at Burford, in Oxfordshire, and the Golden Dragon, the standard of Wessex, was victorious over Ethelbald, the King of Mercia. The banners of several of the Saxon Icings were held in great veneration, especially those of Edmund the Martyr, and of Edward the Confessor. The latter king displayed as an ensign a cross flory between five martlets gold, on a blue field, and which may still be seen on a very ancient shield in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey. When William the Norman set out to invade England he had his own ensign, the two lions of Normandy, depicted on the sails of his ships ; but on the vessel in which he himself sailed, besides some choice relics, he had a banner at the mast-head with a cross upon it, consecrated by the Pope, to give sanctity to the expedition. Indeed it has been the practice in evorf 584 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; age for the Pope to give consecrated banners wherever he wished succt'fj to any enterprise, numerous instances of which might be cited in very recent times. And in our own army down to the present day, whenever any regiment receives new banners (or colours, as the modern term ia), the regiment is drawn out in parade, the colours are then blessed by thu prayers of several clergymen of the Church of England, and afterwards presented to the regiment by the fair hand of a lady of rank. Ccesar has recorded a fine example of patriotism, to the credit of one of his own officers, when he attempted to land his Iloman forces on our shores, and meeting with a warmer reception than they anticipated from the Britons, considerable hesitation arose a^ong his troops ; but tbo MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 585 standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, with the Roman eagle in his hand, invoking the gods, plunged into the waves, and called on his comrades to follow him, and do their duty to their general and to the republic ; and so the whole army made good their landing. We have in the Nineveh sculptures some highly interesting specimen! of the ancient Assyrian standards, consisting principally of two varieties, which are here given. The principal archer appears to be drawing hia bow, while the standard-bearer elevates the standard in front of the chariot. ANCIENT MANNERS OF THE ITALIANS. About the year 1 238, the food of the Italians was very moderate, or, rather scanty. The common people had meat only three days a week. Their dinner consisted of pot-herbs, boiled with meat ; their supper, the 586 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINOg ; cold meat left from dinner. The husband and wife eat out of the same dish ; and they had but one or two cups in the house. They had no candles made of wax or tallow ; but, a torch, held by one of the children, or a servant, gave them light at supper. The men, whose chief pride was in their arms and horses, wore caps made with iron scales, and cloaks of leather, without any other covering. The women wore jackets of stuff, with gowns of linen, and their head-dresses were very simple. Those who possessed a very small sum of money, were thought rich ; and the homely dress of the women required only small marriage portions. The nobles were proud of living in towers ; and thence the cities were tilled 'vith those fortified dwellings. AMUSEMENTS OF THE LOWEB OKDEBS IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTTniY. The most popular amusements of the lower orders were wrestling, bowling, quoit and ninepin playing, and games at ball. In wrestling the Cornwall and Devonshire men excelled, and a ram, or sometimes a cock, was the prize of the victor. Bowling alleys were commonly attached to the houses of the wealthy, and to places of public resort. Among the games at ball we find tennis, trap-ball, bat and ball, and the balloon-ball, in which a large ball tilled with air was struck from one side to the other by two players with their hands and wrists guarded by bandages. Archery was now on the decline, owing to the introduction of tire-arms ; nor could all the legislative enactments of the day revive its constant use. The quarter-staff was also a favourite weapon of sportive fence, which was a staff about five or six feet long, grasped in the middle with one hand, while the other slid up and down as it was required to strike or to ward a blow. The citizens of London enjoyed themselves in winter by skating on the Thames, (the old shankbones of sheep having now been superseded by regular skates, probably introduced from the Xetherlands,) and in summer with sailing and rowing. Dice and cards, prisoner's base, blind man's buff, battledoor and shuttlecock, bull-baiting, and cock-fighting, a rude species of mumming, the dancing of fools at Christmas, and other games, completed the gratifications of the populace. NOVEL MODE OF TAKING VENGEANCE. The Chinese have a book entitled Si-yuen, that is to say, " The "Wash- ing of the Pit," a work on medical jurisprudence, very celebrated all over the empire, and which should be in the hands of all Chinese magis- trates. It is impossible to read the Si-yuen without being convinced that the number of attempts against life in this country is very con- siderable, and especially that suicide is very common. The extreme readiness with which the Chinese are induced to kill themselves, ia almost inconceivable ; some mere trifle, a word almost, is sufficient to cause them to hang themselves, or throw themselves to the bottom of a well ; the two favourite modes of suicide. In other countries, if a man wishes to wreak his vengeance on an enemy, he tries to kill him ; in China, on the contrary, he kills himself. This anomaly depends upoa variout causes, of which these are the principal : In the first place, MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 587 Chinese kw throws the responsibility of a suicide on those who may be supposed to be the cause or occasion of it. It follows, therefore, that if you wish to be revenged on an .enemy, you have only to kill yourself to be sure of getting him into horrible trouble ; for he falls immediately into the hands of justice, and will certainly be tortured and ruined, if not deprived of life. The family of the suicide also usually obtains, in these cases, considerable damages ; so that it is by no means a rare case for an unfortunate man to commit suicide in the house of a rich one, from a morbid idea of family affection. In killing his enemy, on the contrary, the murderer exposes his own relatives and friends to injury, disgraces them, reduces them to poverty, and deprives himself of funeral honours, a great point for a Chinese, and concerning which he is ex- tremely anxious. It is to be remarked also, that public opinion, so far from disapproving of suicide, honours and glorifies it. The conduct of a man who destroys his own life, to avenge himself on an enemy whom he has no other way of reaching, is regarded as heroic and magnanimous. PERSECUTION IX THE BEIGN OF QUEEN MARY. The total number of persons who perished in the flames for their reli- gion during this reign has been variously Beckoned at 277 and 288, amongst whom were 5 bishops, 21 divines, c gentlemen, 84 artificers, 100 husbandmen, servants, and labourers, 26 wives, 20 widows, 9 un- married women, 2 boys, and 2 infants, of which last one was whipped to death by the savage Bonner, and the other, springing out of its mother's womb, at the stake, was mercilessly thrown back into the fire. The number of those that died in prison was also very great. Yet England may be considered as comparatively free from persecution during this period, for all over the continent the victims of bigotry were reckoned, not by hundreds, but by thousands, and in the Netherlands alone 50,000 persons are said to have lost their lives in the religious wars of the Spaniards. WAYSIDE MONUMENTS. The sketch on next page represents a curious custom which still prevail* in the neighbourhood of Cong, near Oughterard in Ireland. It is well described in the following account of their tour by Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall : " On the way to Joyce's Country we saw heaps of piled-up stones on either side of the road; these heaps continuing for above a mile, after their cornmeu cement a short distance from the western entrance to the town. The artist may convey a better notion of their peculiar character than any written description can do. We left our car to examine thera minutely ; and learned they were monuments to the memory of ' ' deceased" persons, "erected" by their surviving friends. Upon death occurring, the primitive tumulus is built, if that may be called building which consists in placing a few large stones upon a spot previously unoccupied. Each relative of the dead adds to the heap ; and in time it becomes a " moun- tain" of tolerable size. Each family knows its own particular monument; and a member of, or a descendant from it, prays and leaves his offering oiJy at that especial one. The custom has endured for many gensraticnj; 588 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; some of the heaps bore tokens of great age ; and one was pointed ont tc us of which there were records, in the transferred memories of the people. for at least 500 years. The bodies are in no instance buried here it ia not consecrated earth ; the monuments are merely memorials, and no doubt originated at a period when a Roman Catholic was, according to the provisions of a law equally foolish and cruel, interred, without form or ceremony, in church ground the ground that had been the property of their ancestors. None of these stone cairns have any mason-work, and they are generally of the rudest forms, or rather without any form, the stones having been carelessly cast one upon another. Upon one of them only could we discover any inscription this one is introduced into the print ; it is built with far more thau. the usual care ; it contained an inscription ; " Pray for ye soule of John Joyce, & Mary Joyce, his wife, died 1712 ;" some of them, however, seem to have been constructed with greater care than others, and many of them were topped with a small wooden cross. "We estimated that there were at least 500 of these primitive monuments of all shapes and sizes^along the road. In each of them we observed a small hollow, which the peasants call a " win- dow ;" most of these were full of pebbles, and upon inquiry we learned that when one of the race to whom the deceased belonged kneels by the side of this record to his memory and offers up a prayer for the repose of his soul, it is customary to fling a little stone into this " cupboard ;" the belief being that gradually as it fills, so, gradually, the soul is relieved from punishment in purgatory ; when completely full the soul has entered paradise. We have prolonged our description of this singular and in- teresting scene, because it seems to have been altogether overlooked bv travellers, and because we believe that nothing like it is to be met witb MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 580 fo *ny other part of Ireland ; although similar objects are to be found in everal other places about Connemara, none of them, however, are so 1 1 tensive as this which adjoins Cong." HINDOO ADOEATIOX OF THE Aciong the many forms which Vishnu is believed by his Hindoo w-;r shippers to have assumed is that of the Salagram an ammonite-stone, found in the river Gandaka and other streams flowing from the Himalayas. The reason for the worship of this is stated in one of the sacred books. " Yishnu created the nine planets to preside over the fates of men. Sani (Saturn) proposed commencing his reign by taking Brahma under his influence for twelve years. The matter was referred to Vishnu, who being equally averse to be placed under the inauspicious influence of this planet, requested him to call the next day. The next day Saturn could nowhere discover Vishnu, but perceived that he had united himself to 590 CRN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THJNO8 J the mountaia Gandaka ; he entered the mountain in the form of a rronu called Vajrakita (the thunder-bolt worm). He continued to afflict UIA mountain -formed Vishnu for twelve years, when Vishnu assumed nis proper shape, and commanded that the stones of this mountain should >>e worshipped, and become proper representatives of himself ; adding tnat each should have twenty marks in it, similar to those on his body, and that its name should be Salagram." The Salagram is usually placed under a tulasi-tree, which is planted on the top of a pillar in the vicinity of a temple of Vishnu, or near a house. Tulasi, a female, desired to become Vishnu's wife, but was meta- morphosed by Lakshmi into a tree, a small shrub, called therefore Tulasi, or holy basil (Ocymum Sanctum). Vishnu, however, promised to assume the form of a Safagrain, and always continue with her. The Vaishnaya priests, therefore, keep one leaf of the shrub under and another over uie Salagram, and thus pay their adorations to the stone and the tree. In the evening a lamp is placed near it. In the month of May it is watered from a pot suspended over it, as appears in the engraving, which repre- sents a peioon engaged in the worship at this singular shrine. TOMB OF THE EMPEUOR MAXIMILIAN AT INSPEUCK. This majestic tomb is placed in the centre of the middle aisle of the church, upon a platform approached by steps of red marble. The sides of the tomb are divided into twenty-four compartments, of the finest Carrara marble, on which are represented, in bas-relief, the most interesting events of the emperor's warlike and prosperous career. The workmanship of the tablets is exquisite ; and, taken in connexion with the lofty deeds they record, they form the most princely decorations ever seen. Each of the tablets contributing to this splendid litho- biography is in size 2 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 8 inches : and every object contained therein is in the most perfect proportion, while the exquisite finish of the heads and draperies requires a magnifying glass to do it justice. The tomb is surmounted by a colossal figure in bronze of the emperor, kneeling in the act of prayer ; and around it are four allegorical figures, of smaller size, also in bronze. But, marvellous as is the elaborate beauty of this work, it is far from beuig the most remarkable feature of this imperial mausoleum. Ranged in two long lines, as if to guard it, stand twenty-eight colossal statues in bronze, of whom twenty ap kings and princes, alliances of the house of Hapsburg, and eight their stately dames. Anything more impressive than the appearance of these tall dark guardians of the tomb, some clad in regal robes, some cased in armour, and all seeming animated by the mighty power of the artist, it would be difficult to imagine. In the death-like stillness of the church, the visitor who, for the first time, contemplates this tomb and its gloomy guard, is struck fay a feeling of awe, approaching to terror. The statues, with life-liKe individuality of attitude and expression each solemn, mournful, dig- nified, and graceful; and all seeming to dilate before the eye into e&orcieua dimensions, and, as if framed to scare intruders, endowed bj MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 3iU power more than mortal, to keep watch and ward round the mighty dead. They appear like an eternal procession of mourners, who, while eaith endures, will cease not to gaze on, mourn over, and protect the relics of him who was the glory of their noble, long since fallen race. THE FATEXCE OP HENBY II. OF FBANCE. degree of perfection, seems to have been suddenly and unaccountably lost, without leaving any record of where or by whom it was produced, By many it is supposed to be of Florentine manufacture, and to havt* been sent by some of the relations of Catherine de Medicis as a present to Henry II. ; but it differs too essentially from Italian Majolica, both in the paste of which it is composed, and in the style in which it is de- corated, to warrant such a conjecture. Italy does not possess in her museums a single specimen of this ware, and of the thirty-seven pieces extant, twenty-seven have been traced as coming from Touraine and La Vendee. Many antiquaries, therefore, infer that the manufacture was at Thouars, in Touraine, although the Fayence may have been the work of an Italian artist. But if the place of its manufacture is unknown, the pieces extant clearly attest the period of its fabrication. The Salamander, and other insignia of Francis I., are met with on the earlier specimens of this pottery; but upon the majority of pieces, upon those more pure in desipn and more beautiful in execution than the preceding, we find the aiirt of Henry II., with his device, the three crescents, or his initial H, inter- laced with the two. D's of the Duchesse de Valentinois. Indeed, su constantly do her emblems appear upon the pieces, that the ware, though usually designated as " Faience de Henri II.," is sometimes styled " Faience de Diane de Poitiers." Even her widow's colours, black and white, are the two which are employed in some of the finest pieces. They were the fashionable colours of the court, Henry wore no others during his life, and was attired in them in the fatal tournament in which he fell. Her impresa, the crescent of Diana, is conspicuous on his palaces, and he even caused it to be engraved upon his coins. From these circumstances we must, therefore, conclude that the manufacture of this ware began at the end of the reign of Francis I., was continued under that of Henry II., and, as we find upon it the emblems of these two princes only, we may naturally infer that it is of French origin. The paste of which this Fayence is composed is equally distinct from Majolica and Palissy ware. The two latter are both soft, whereas this, on the contrary, is hard. It is a true pipeclay, very fine, and very white, so as not to require, like the Italian Fayence, to be concealed by a thick enamel, and the ornaments with which it is enriched are simply covered with a thin, transparent, yellowish varnish. The style of decoration in this ware is unique. Patterns or arn- besques, are engraved on the paste, and the indentures filled witn poloured pastes, so as to present an uniform, smooth surface, of taw 592 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; finest inlaying, or resembling, rather, a model of Cellini's silver work, chiselled and worked in niello. Hence it is sometimes styled " Faience a niellure." These patterns are sometimes disposed in zones of yellow ochre, with borders of dark brown, sometimes of a pink, green, Violet, black, or blue ; but the dark yellow ochre is the predominant colour. The collection of the late H. Preaux was the richest in the world in the most beautiful examples of Fayeuce ; it was disposed of by auction about twelve years ago, in consequence of the death of the proprietor, and the choicest specimen in it was the candlestick, of which we give a figure, and which was purchased Lv Sir Anthony de liothschild for about 220, duty included. The surface is exquisitely enriched with ara- besque patterns, either in black upon a white ground, or in white upon a black. The form is monumental, and in the finest style ; three figures of genii support escutcheons, bearing the arms of France, and the double D. These genii stand upon masks, which are united by garlands ena- melled in green. The top of the candlestick terminates in the from of a vase, and bears inscribed the neurs-de-lys and the monogram of our Saviour. This piece, for delicacy of detail and beauty of execution, is unequalled by any specimen known of this exquisite Fayence. Sir An- thony de E,othschild also purchased at M. Preaux's sale a small cup, de- corated in the same style, with the descents interlaced, for wliich he gave 1300 francs. He, therefore, now is fortunate in having the finest collection known of this ware, as, in addition to the specimens already mentioned, he possesses two exquisite ewers of the Henry II. Fayence. One he purchased at the sale of the Comte de Monville for 2300 francs ; the other, with a curious handle of elaborate workmanship, he bought for nineteen guineas at Strawberry Hill, where he also purchased a tripod salt-cellar, supported with scroll ornaments for 21. EEFKESHMENT8 FOE THE PU1PIT. in ILe books of Darlington parish church, the following items appear, showing that, in the olden time, provision was made for comforting the inner man : " Six quarts of sack to the minister who preached when he had no minister to assist, 9s. For a quart of sack bestowed on Jillett, viiea he preached, 2s. 6dl For a pint of brandy when Mr. George 15U1 HARVELLOtJS, RAKE, CtJRlOtS, AND preached here, Is. 4d. For a stranger who preached, a dozen of ale. When the Dean of Durham preached here, spent in a treat in the house, 3s. 6i." This would hardly be considered orthodox at the present day. BEDESMEN IN THS TIME OF HENRY VII. Most of the monasteries in former times had hospitals of poor men and women attached to them ; generally either within the precincts or near adjoining. Thus, at St. Edmund's Bury, there was St. John's Hospital, or God's House, without the South Gate, and St. Nicholas' Hospital with- out the East Gate, and St. Peter's Hospital without the Risby Gate, and St. Saviour's Hospital without the North Gate, all founded hy abbots of St. Edmund's. At Heading there was the Hospital of St. Mary Mag- dalene for twelve leprous persons and chaplains, and the Hospital of St. Lawrence for twenty-six poor people, and for the entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, both founded by abbots of Reading. One at the gate of Fountains' Abbey for poor persons and travellers; one at Glastonbury, under the care of the almoner, for poor and infirm persons. Thirteen was a favourite number for the inmates of a hos- pital. From the initial letter of a deed in the British Museum (Ilarl Henr l. 1498), by which King de nry VII. founded a fraternity of thirteen poor men in West- minster Abbey, who were to be under the governance of the monks, we take the accompanying illustration, which represents the abbot and monks before the king, with a group of the king's bedesmen, each of whom has the royal badge, a rose surmounted by a crown, on th shoulder of his habit. CHINESE GAMBLEB3 PLAYING FOE FINGERS. The following strange account is taken from Hue's " Chinese Empire : "The Chinese are industrious and economical, but their cupidity, their immoderate love of lucre, and their decided taste for stockjobbing and speculation, easily tempts them to gambling, when they are not engaged in traffic. They seek eagerly for strong excitements, and when once they have got into the habit of gambling they seldom or never recover from it. They cast aside every obligation of station, duty, and family, to live only for cards and dice ; and this fatal passion gains such an empire over them, that they proceed even to the most revolting extre- mities. When they have lost all their money they will play for their houses, their land, and their wives even, whose destiny often depends on a cast of the dice. Nay, the Chinese gambler does not stop here, for he will stake the Tery "lothes he has on for one game more, and thij 20 594 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ixorrible custom gives rise to scenes that would not be credible, did irw not know that the passions always tend to make men cruel and inhuman. ' ' In the northern provinces, especially in the environs of the Great "Wall, you may sometimes meet, during the most intense cold of winter, men running about in a state of complete nudity, having been driven pitilessly from the gaming-houses when they had lost their all. They rush about in all directions like madmen to try and save themselves from being frozen, or crouch down against the chimneys, which in those countries are carried along the walls of the houses, on a level with the ground. They turn first one side towards the warmth, then the other, while their gambling companions, far from trying to help them, look on with ferocious and malignant hilarity. The horrible spectacle seldom lasts long, for the cold soon seizes the unfortunate creatures, and they fall down and die. The gamblers then return to their table, and begin to play again with the most perfect composure. Such facts as these will appear fabulous to many persons, but having resided several years in the north of China, we can testify to their perfect authenticity. "These excesses seem surprising enough, but the truth is, that Chinese gamblers have invented still more extraordinary methods of satisfying their passion, which is really carried to absolute madness. Those who have nothing more to lose will collect round a table and actually play for their fingers, which they will cut off reciprocally with frightful stoicism. We had thought to pass over these revolting particulars, for we do not like to put the confidence of our readers to too great a trial. "We have a strong objection to relating things that, although we know them to be strictlv true, have an improbable appearance. But these facts concerning Chinese gamblers were known, and commented upon, by the Arab travellers in the ninth century. Here is a passage on the subject from the ' Chain of Chronicles,' 'from which we have already quoted more than once : " ' Amongst men of a volatile and boastful character, those who belong to the lower classes, and who have no money, will sometimes play for the fingers of their hands. During the game, they keep by them a vase containing nut, or sesame oil, for olive oil is not known in this country. A fire is kept burning under it, and between the two players is placed a small but very sharp hatchet. The one who wins then takes the hand of the loser, places it on a stone and cuts off one of his fingers with the hatchet ; the piece falls, and the vanquished party immediately dips his hand into the hot oil, which cauterises the wound. This operation does not prevent the players from beginning again. Some will take a match, dip it in oil, place it on their arms, and set fire to it ; the match burns, and you can smell the odour of the consuming flesh, but the man goes on with his game, and exhibits no sign of pain.'" ENTRY OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IXTO LONDON, IN 1698. The following is an extract from the " Flying Post," of May 17, 1698 : " Yesterday, (Monday, Majr 16,) in the afternoon, Count Tallard, the French Ambassador, made bis public entry. The Earl Marshal's men MARVELLOUS, RAKE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 595 cams first, then followed the Earl of Hacclesfield's footmen, after them twenty of the Ambassador's footmen, in red liveries with gold lace ; then, came two of the Ambassador's gentlemen and six pages on horseback ; next came two heralds before His Majesty's coach, in which His Excel- lency the Ambassador, the Earl of Macclesfield, and some others of quality : after them came three of His Royal Highness the Prince of Denmark's coaches, and next, three of the Ambassador's coaches, the lirst of them very rich, and drawn by eight horses ; then followed His Grace the Duke of Norfolk's coach, with about forty-seven more, draws, by six horses each. There was a splendid entertainment prepared for His Excellency at Ossulston House, in St. James's Square." EXPENSES AT COEOKATIONS. The quantity of provisions consumed at the feasts given by some of our early Kings, was extraordinarily great. For that of King Edward I. February 10th, 1274, the different Sheriffs were ordered to furnish butcher meat at "Windsor, in the following proportions : Shci (F of Gloucester, . Bucks and Bedford. Oxford Oxen. 60 40 40 Swine. 101 66 67 Sheep. 60 40 40 Fowls. 3000 2100 2100 Kent . Surrey and Sussex . Warwick and Leicester Somerset and Dorset Essex . 40 40 60 100 60 67 67 98 176 101 40 40 40 110 60 2100 2100 3000 6000 3160 Total, twelve counties . . . .440 743 430 22,560 In the year 1307, King Edward II. issued an order to the seneschal of Oascony, and constable of Bordeaux, to provide a thousand pipes of good wine, and send them to London, to be used at the approaching coronation. The purchase and freight were to be paid by a company of Florentine merchants, who farmed the revenues of Gascony. The coronation oath was first taken by Ethelred II., A. D. 979 ; that now used in 1377. It was amended in 1689. The first coronation sermon was preached in 1041. The following statement of the prices given for seats, to obtain a view of passing objects during the coronations of former times, may, perhaps, prove interesting : The price of a good place at the coronation of "William the Conqueror, was a blank ; at that of his son, "William Rufus, the same. At Henry I's., it was a crocard ; at Stephen's and Henry II' s, it was a pollard. At Eichard's, and King John's, it was a fuskin. It rose at the 3d. Henry's, to a dodkin. In the reign of Edward, the coin begins to be more intelligible ; and we find that, for a seat, to view his corona- tion, a Q was given, or the half of a ferling, or farthing, the fourth part of a sterling, or penny. At the 2d Edward's, it was a farthing ; and at his son's, Edward III. a halfpenny. At Richard II.'s it was a pennj t and continued the same to that of Henry IV. inclusive. At the 5th Henry's, it was twopennies ; and similar prices were paid at the corona- tions of Henry VI., Edward IV., Edward V., Richanl III., aaJ 5UO TEW THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; Henry VII. At that of Henry VIII. it was a grossus, or groat ; and the same was paid at that of Edward VI. and Queen Mary's. At Queen Elizabeth's, it rose to a testoon, or tester. At those of James I. and Charles I. a shilling was given ; which was advanced to half-a-crown, at those of Charles II. and James II. At King William's and Queen Anne's it was a crown, and the same at that of George I. At George II.'s half-a-guinea, and, afterwards, at George III.'s a guinea was the common charge. But, at that of Geoige IV, as high as forty guineeu were given for a single seat. CTJBIOITS ANTIQUE SWORD. The engraving which accompanies this article is a sketch of the upper part of an antique Danish sword, which was found, together with several other weapons, by the labourers who were engaged in the construction of the railway from Dublin to Cashel. The discovery of the weapons was made at a locality called Island Bridge, and many of them were fortunately secured for the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, where they may now be seen. The swords are long and straight, formed for cutting as well as thrusting, and ter- minate in points formed by rounding off the edge towards the back of the blade. The hilts are very remarkable in form, and in one or two instances, like the example we have engraved, are highly ornamented. The mountings are generally of a kind of brass, but seveial richly plated with silver were found, and it is said that one of them had a hilt of solid gold. The spears are long and slender, and similar in form to the lance-heads used in some of the cavalry corps. All these weapons, with one exception, are composed of a soft kind of iron. Mony of the swords were found doubled up, a circumstance for which it is difficult to assign reason, as they had evidently been purposely bent. The sword we have represented in our engraving, is remarkable for the unusual degree of ornament which appears upon its hilt, and also for its material, steel. DINNER IN CHINA. It is certain that a real Chinese dinner would be a very odd thing in the eyes of a stranger, especially if he were one of those who think, as some people do, that there is only one way of living. To begin dinner with the dessert, and end it with the soup ; to drink the wine smoking hot, out of little china cups, and have your food brought to you ready cut up into small pieces, and to be presented with a couple of sticks, instead of a knife and fork, to eat it with ; to have, instead of napkins, a provision of little bits of silk paper by the side of your plate, which, aa you use, the attendants carry oft'; to leave your place between the courses, to smoke or amuse yourself; and to raise your chop-sticks to your forehead, sjad then place them horizontally upon your oup. to MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 5 5U8 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; given to the individuals who engaged them ; and there was the ccnt area, (separated, it seems, from the stage by pales), at the private thea- tres, termed the pit, and furnished with seats ; hut at the public theatres, called the yard, and affording no such accommodation. Cressets, 01 large open lanterns, served to illuminate the body of the house ; and two ample branches, of a form similar to those now hung in churches, gave light to the stage. The band of musicians, which was far from numerous, sat, it is supposed, in an upper balcony, over what is now called the stage box. : the instruments chiefly used were trumpets, cornets, haut- boys, lutes, recorders, viols, and organs. The amusements of the audi- ence previous to the commencement of the play, were reading, playing at cards, smoking tobacco, drinking ale, and eating nuts and apples. Even during the performance it was customary for wits, critics, and young gallants, who were desirous of attracting attention, to station themselves on the stage, either lying on the rushes or seated on hired stools, while their pages furnished them with pipes and tobacco. At the third sound- ing, or flourish of trumpets, the exhibition began. The curtain, which concealed the stage from the audience, was then drawn, opening in the middle, and running upon iron rods. Other curtains, called traverses, were used as a substitute for scenes. At the back of the stage was a balcony, the platform of which was raised about eight or nine feet from the ground ; it served as a window, gallery, or upper chamber. From it a portion of the dialogue was sometimes spoken, and in front of it cur- tains were suspended to conceal, if necessary, those who occupied it, from the audience. The internal roof of the stage, either painted blue or adorned with drapery of that colour, was termed the heavens. The stage was generally strewed with rushes, but on extraordinary occasions was matted. There is reason to believe that, when tragedies were performed, it was hung with black. Moveable painted scenery there was assuiedly none. A board, containing the name of the place of action in large letters, was displayed in some conspicuous situation. Occasionally, when some change of scene was necessary, the audience was required "to suppose that the performers, who had not quitted the boards, had retired to a different spot. A bed thrust forth showed that the stage was a bed- chamber ; and a table, with pen and ink, indicated that it was a count- ing-house. Rude contrivances were employed to imitate towers, walls of towns, hell-mouths, tombs, trees, dragons, &c. Trap-doors had been early in use ; but to make a celestial personage ascend to the roof of the stage was more than the machinists of the theatre could always accom- plish. The price of admission appears to have varied according to the rank and estimation of the theatres. A shilling was charged for a place in the best boxes ; the entrance-money to the pit and galleries was the same sixpence, two-pence, and a penny. The performance commenced at three in the afternoon." OLD CUSTOM EELATLNG TO CRIMINALS. The custom of offering doomed criminals a last earthly draught of refreshment is undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity. The right of offering; wine to criminals, on their passage to the scaffold, was often 9 MARVELLOUS, RARE, CtRIOUS, AND QUAINT. 599 prinlngo granted to religious communities. In Paris, the privilege was held by the convent of Filles-Dieu, the nuns of which kept wine prepared for those who were condemned to suffer on the gibbet of Montfaucon. The gloomy procession halted before the gate of the monastery, the criminal descended from the cart, and the nuns, headed by the Lady Abbess, received him. on the steps with as much, perhaps more, heartfelt ceremony than if he had been a king. The poor wretch was led to a crucifix near the church door, the feet whereof he humbly kissed. He then received, from the hands of the Superior, three pieces of bread (to remind him of the Trinity), and one glass of wine (emblem of Unity). The procession then resumed its dread way to the scaffold- ALE TOO STRONG. A memorial signed by nineteen inhabitants of Bayton, in Worcester- shire, was sent to the Sessions in the year 1612, setting forth "that John Kempster and John Byrd do not sell their ale according to the law, but doe sell a pynte for a penny, and doe make ytt soe extraordynarye strong that itt draweth dyvers ydle p'sons into the said alehouses, by reason whereof sondrye assaults, affrayes, blodshedds, and other misdeameanors, are there daylie comytted by idle and dronken companie which doe thither resort and there contyneue in their dronckenes three days and three nights together, and also divers men's sonnes and servants do often resort and contineue drinking in the said houses day and night, where- upon divers disorders and abuses are offered to the inhabitants of Bayton aforesaid, as in pulling down styles, in carrying away of yertes, in throwing men's waynes, plowes, and such like things, into pooles, wells, and other bye places, and in putting their yokes for their oxen into lakes and myery places," &c." A nice picture of young England in the seven- teenth century. A CHAPTER-HOUSE IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII. In abbey- churches of the olden time the Chapter-house was always on the east side of the court. In establishments of secular canons it seems to have been always multisided, with a central pillar to support its groin- ing, and a lofty, conical, lead-covered roof. In these instances it is where the church is a cathedral. Usually, then, the chapter-house is a rectangular building on the east side of the cloister, and frequently its longest apaii is east and west at Durham it has an eastern apsis. It was a large and handsome room, with a good deal of architectural ornament ; often the western end of it is divided off as a vestibule or ante-room ; and generally it is so lirge as to be divided into two or three aisles by rows of pillars. Internally, rows of stalls or benches were arranged round the walls for the convent ; there was a higher seat at the east end for the abbot or prior, and a desk in the middle from which certain things wer read. Evfiiy day after the service called Tierce, the convent walked m procession from the choir to the chapter-house, and took their proper 600 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; places. "When the abbot had taken his place, the monks descended one step and bowed ; he returned their salutation, and all took their scats. A sentence of the rule of the order was read by one of the novices from the desk, and the abbot, or in his absence, the prior, delivered an ex- planatory or hortatory sermon upon it ; then, from another portion of the bojk was read the names of brethren, and benefactors, and persons wlio had been received into fraternity, whose decease had happened on that day of the year ; and the convent prayed a requiescat in pace for their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed this life. Then members of the convent who had been guilty of slight breaches of discipline confessed them, kneeling upon a low stool in the middle, and on a bow from the abbot, intimating his remission of the breach, they resumed their scats. If any had a complaint to maks against any brother, it was y\ here made and adjudged. 7 ^ Convent business was also if} transacted. The wood -cut gives an example of the kind. Henry VII. had made grants to Westminster Abbey, on condition that the convent performed certain religious services on his behalf; and in order that the services should not fall into disuse, he directed that yearly, at a certain period, the chief justice, or the king's attorney, or the recorder of London, should attend in chapter, and the abstract of the grant and agreement between the king and the convent should be read. The grant which was thus to be read still exists in the British Museum ; it is written in a volume superbly bound, with the royal seals attached in silver cases ; it is from the illuminated letter at the head of one of the deeds that our wood-cut is taken. It rudely represents the chapter-house, with the chief -justice and a group of lawyers on one side, the abbot and convent on the other, and a monk reading the grant from the desk in the midst. AXXE BOLEYN'S GLOVES. Anne Boleyn was marvellously dainty about her gloves. She had a aail which turned up at the side, and it was the delight of Queen Catha- rine to make her play at cards, without her gloves, in order that the deformity might disgust King Hal. The good Queen Bess was extrava- gant, fastidious, and I capiicious in the extreme, about her glovea. biw MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 601 used to display them to advantage in playing the virginal, and gloves at that time were expensive articles. DELIA EOBBIA WAKE. Luca della Robbia, born in 1388, was an eminent sculptor in marble and bronze, and worked both at Florence and at Rimini. Having aban- doned his original employment for that of modelling in terra cotta, he succeeded, after many experiments, in making a white enamel, with which he coated his works, and thus rendered them durable. Vasari writes of him, "che faceva 1'opere di terra quasi eterne." His chief produc- tions are Madonnas, Scripture subjects, figures, and architectural ornaments : they are by far the finest works ever executed in pottery. He adorned the Italian churches with tiles, as well as with altar-pieces, in terra cotta enamelled; and he is the founder of a school which produced works not much inferior to his own. The " Petit Chateau de Madrid," in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, received the ap- pellation of " Chateau de Fayence," from having been ornamented with ena- melled tiles, the work of an Italian artist, named Girolamo della Robbia, a grand nephew of Luca, whom Francis I. brought from Italy. This chateau now wholly destroyed. The tiles seem to have been introduced into portions of the architectural composition, rather as accessory ornaments than as a " lining" or revetement of the walls. Analogous ornaments, the work of Luca de Maiano, 1521, were to be seen in the old gate, Whitehall, and at Hampton Court. Luca della Robbia sometimes, though rarely, used a coloured instead of white enamel in his compositions. The above cut represents the altar-piece of San Miniato, near Florence, by him. The ground is blue, the figures white, the fruits, &c., gold colour, and the garlands green. VOLCANIC EBUPXION IN JAPAN. The peninsula of Wountsendake, and the greater part of Kewsew, bristle with volcanic mountains, some extinct, others still acting as safety-valves to the incomprehensible excitements of mother Earth ; but of all the manifestations of her internal throes and torment, and their consequent desolation inflicted on the habitations of her children, tiutt of 1 792 was the most terrible for ages before. 20* 602 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; " On the eighteenth day of the first month of that year," cavs the Annals of Japan, " the summit of the mountain was seen to crumble suddenly, and a thick smoke rose in the air. On the sixth of the following month there was an eruption in a spur on the eastern slope of the moun- tain. On the second of the third month an earthquake shook the whole island. At Simabara, the nearest town to the mountain, all the houses were thrown down, amidst a general terror and consternation, the shocks following each other with frightful rapidity. Wountsendake incessantly sent forth a hail-storm of stones, showers of ashes, and streams of lava, which devastated the country for many leagues round. At length, )r the first day of the fourth month, there was a new commotion, wL .ch increased in intensity from moment to moment. " Simabara was now a vast heap of ruins. Enormous blocks of rock, tumbling from the top of the mountain, crushed and groum* to atoms all beneath them. Thunder rolled overhead, and dreadful sounds rumbled beneath the feet at one and the same time. All of a sudden, after an interval of calm, when men thought the scourge had passed over, the northern spur of Wountsendake, the Moikenyamma, burst forth with a tremendous detonation. A vast portion of that mountain was blown into the air. Colossal masses fell into the sea. A stream of boiling water rushed forth foaming from the cracks of this new volcano, and sped to the ocean, which at the same time advanced and flooded the land." Then was seen a sight never seen before, intensifying the terror of the innumerable witnesses of that terrible day, which might well seem a Day of Judgment come. From the conflict of the boiling waters of the vol- cano with the cold waters of the tempestuous ocean, suddenly mingled, there arose waterspouts which ravaged the land in their devouring gyrations. The disasters caused by this accumulation of catastrophes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, waterspouts, inundations, united together, exceed belief. Not a single house of Simabara and its environs was spaied : only the citadel remained, whose Cyclopean walls were formed of gigantic blocks of stone. The convulsions of nature on that day so changed the coast-line, that the most experienced mariners could not recognise ita once familiar shape and bendings. Fifty-three thousand persons perished on that fatal day. OETGIX OF THE HOUSE OF MTJLGRAVE. The first diving bell was nothing but a very large kettle, suspended by ropes, with the mouth downwards, and planks to sit on fixed in the middle of its concavity. The Greeks at Toledo, in 1588, made an experi- ment before the Emperor Charles V. with it, when they descended with a lighted candle to a considerable depth. In 1683 William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, formed a project for unloading a rich Spanish ship, sunk at Hispaniola ; Charles II. gave him a ship, with every necessary for the undertaking ; but being unsuccessful, Phipps returned in great poverty. He then endeavoured to procure another vessel, but failing, he got a subscription, to which the Duke of Albemarle contributed. In 1657, Pkipps set sail in a ship of 200 tons, having previously engaged to dir.de the profits according to the twenty shares of which the subs^rijj? M.IRVKLLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 603 don consisted. At first all his labours proved fruitless, but at iouglh, when he seemjd almost to despair, he was fortunate enough to bring up so much treasure that he returned to England with 200,000 sterling. Of this sum he got about 20,000, and the Duke of Albemarle 90,000. Phipps was knighted by the king, and laid the foundation, of the present house of Mulgrave. SIIKIXE OF ST. SEBALD AT NUBEMBUBG. The city of Nuremberg the birth-place of Albert Durer is enriched with many works of high art. The most remarkable is the bronze shrine of St. Sebald, the work of Peter Vischer and his rive sons, which still stands in all its beauty in the elegant church dedicated to the saint. The sketch on next page is a correct representation of it. The shrine encloses, am id the most florid Gothic architecture, the oak en chest encased with silver plates, containing the body of the venerated saint : this rests on an altar decorated with basso-relievos, depicting his miracles. The architectural portion of this exquisite shrine partakes of the charac- teristics of the Rennaissance forms engrafted on the mediaeval, by the influence of Italian art. Indeed, the latter school is visible as the lead- ing agent throughout the entire composition. The figures of the Twelve Apostles and others placed around it, scarcely seem to belong to German art ; they are quite worthy of the best Transalpine master. The grandeur, breadth, and repose of these wonderful statues, cannot be ex- celled. Vischer seems to have completely freed his mind from the conven- tionalities of his native schools : we have here none of the constrained, " crumpled draperies," the home studies for face and form so strikingly present in nearly all the works of art of this era, but noble figures of the men elevated above the earthly standard by companionship with the Saviour, exhibiting their high destiny by a noble bearing, worthy of the solemn and glorious duties they were devoted to fulfil. We gaze on these figures as we do on the works of Giotto and Fra Angelieo, until we feel human nature may lose nearly all of its debasements before the "mortal coil" is "shuffled off," and that mental goodness may shine through and glorify its earthly tabernacle, and give an assurance in time present of the superiorities of an hereafter. Dead, indeed, must be the soul that can gaze on such works unmoved, appealing, as they do, to our noblest aspirations, and vindicating humanity from its fallen position, by asserting its innate, latent glories. Here we feel the truth of the scrip- tural phrase " In his own image made he them." The memory of Peter Vischer is deservedly honoured by his townsmen. The street in which his house is situated, like that in which "Jurer's stands, has lost its original name, and is now only known as f eter Vischer's Strasse ; but these two artists are the only ones thus distinguished. Vischer was born in 1460, and died in 1529. He was employed by the warden of St. Sebald's, and magistrate of Nuremberg, Sebald Schreyer, to construct this work in honour of his patron saint ; he began it in 1506, and finished it in 1519. Thirteen years of labour were thus de- voted to its completion, for which he received seven hundred and seventy ftorins. " According to this tradition, Vischer was miserably paid for 604 IKK THOL6ANI) WONDERFUL i H1MU2 1 this great work of labour and art ; and he has himself recorded, in an inscription upon the monument, that ' he completed it for the praise of God Almighty alone, and the honour of St. Sebald, Prince of Heaven, by the aid of pious persons, paid by their voluntary contributions.' " The elaboration of the entire work is marvellous ; it abounds with fanciful tfgures, seventy-two in number, disposed among the ornaments, or acting as supporters to the general composition. Syrens holds candelabra at the angles ; and the centre has an air of singular lightness and grace. Jt is supported at the base by huge snails. At the western end there i a small bronze statue of Vischer ; he holds his chisel in his hand, and ir his workman's dress, with capacious leather apron, stands unaffected] forth as a true, honest labourer, appealing only to such sympathies 14 we justly duo to one who laboured so lovingly aud so well. MARVEI.LOtTi, RVRE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. liESPLT FKOil TRIVIAL C1KC DISTANCES. That magniiicent institution of active benevolence, Guy's Hospital, ix or.e among a numerous list of instances where trifling- events have pro- duced most disproportionate consequences. Thomas Guv, of whom the above is a sketch, taken from an old print, was the son of Thomas Guy an Anabaptist, lighterman and coal-dealer, in Horsleydown, South wark. He was put apprentice in 1660 to a bookseller in the porch of Mercer's Chapel, and set up trade with a stock of about two hundred pounds, in the house that forms the -angle between Cornhill and Lombard-street. The English Bibles being at that time very badly printed, Mr. Guy engaged with others in a scheme for printing them in Holland and importing them ; but this being put a stop to, he contracted with the University of Oxford for their privilege of printing them, and carried on a great Bible trade for many years to era- 606 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS} iderable advantage. He thus began to accumulate money, &.*ii his gums rested in his hands, for being a single man, and very penurious, his expenses were very trilling. His custom was to dine on his shop counter, with no other tablecloth than an old newspaper ; he was also as little nice in regard to his dress. The bulk of his fortune, however, was acquired by the less reputable purchase of seamen's tickets during Queen Anne's wars, and by the South Sea stock in the memorable year 1720. In proof of what we said at the outset, it is a fact that the public are indebted to a most trifling incident for the greatest part of his immense fortunes being applied to charitable uses. Guy had a maid-servant whom he agreed to marry ; and preparatory to his nuptials he had ordered the pavement before his door to be mended as far as a particular stone which he, marked. The maid, while her master was out, innocently looking on the paviours at work, saw a broken place they had not re- paired, and mentioned it to them ; but they told her that Mr. Guy had desired them not to go so far. ""Well," says she, "do you mend it ; tell him I bade you, and I know he will not be angry. It happened, however, that the poor girl presumed too much on her influence over her wary lover, with whom the charge of a few shillings extraordinary turned the scale against her, for Guy, enraged to find his orders ex- ceeded, renounced the matrimonial scheme, and built hospitals in his old age. In 1707 he built and furnished three wards on the north side of the outer court of St. Thomas's Hospital, and gave one hundred pounds to it annually for eleven years preceding the erection of his own hospital. Sometime before his death he erected the stately gate with the large houses on each side, at the expense of about three thousand pounds. He was seventy-six years of age when he formed the design of building the hospital near St. Thomas's, which bears his name. The charge of erecting this vast pile amounted to 18,793, besides 219,499 which lie left to endow it, and he just lived to see it roofed in. He erected and endowed an almshouse and library at Tamworth, the place of his mother's nativity, and which he represented in Parliament. It contains fourteen poor men and women, and the fund provides also for the apprenticing of poor children. He also bequeathed four hundred pounds a-year to Christ's Hospital. Mr. Guy died December 17th, 1724 in the eighty-first year of his age, and his will bears date September 4th, in the same year. PHAROS AT ALEXANDRIA. To render the harbour safe of approach at all times, Ptolemy Soter, who, on the death of Alexander, obtained the government of Egvpt, determined on erecting a lighthouse on the eastern extremity of the isle of Pharos, the celebrity of which has given the same name to all other lighthouses. This "phoros" was in height 450 feet, and could be seen at a distance of 100 miles. It was built of several stories, decreasing in dimensica la-wards the top, where tires were lighted in a species of lantern. Tba MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 607 ground-floor and the two next above it were hexagonal; the fourth was a square with a round tower at each angle ; the fifth floor wa circular, continued to the top, to which a winding staircase conducted. In the upper galleries some mirrors were arranged in such a manner aa to show the ships and objects at sea for some considerable distance. On the top a fire was constantly kept, to direct sailors into the bay, which was dangerous and difficult of access. The whole of this masterpiece of art was exquisitely wrought in stone, and adorned with columns, balustrades, and ornaments, worked in the finest marble. To protect the structure from the ocean stcrms, it was surrounded entirely by a sea wall. Ancient writers say tho building of this tower cost 800 talents, which is equivalent to 165,000, if Attic talents ; but if Alexandrian, double that sum. The building was not completed during the reign of the first Ptolemy, but was finished in the reign of his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, who put this inscription upon it : " King Ptolemy, to the Gods the Saviours, for the benefit of sailors." Sostratus the architect, wishing to claim all the glory of the building, engraved his own name on the solid marble, and afterwards coated it with cement. Thus, when time had decayed the mortar Ptolemy's name disappeared, and the following inscription became visible : " Sostratus the Cnidian, to the Gods the Saviours, for the benefit of sailors.' Of this remarkable tower not a vestige remains, and history gives us no further information than we have here : of its gradual decay or of its violent destruction we have no record ; but that such a structure aa described stood there, there can be not a shadow of doubt, from the fact that all buildings for like purposes among the Greeks and Romans derive their designation from this. SEPULCHRAL VASES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. In ancient Egypt terra-cotta potteiy was extensively made use of for vases or jars to hold the entrails of the dead. In order to preserve the body effectually, it was necessary to remove the softer portions, such as the thoracic and abdominal viscera, and these were embalmed separately. In some instances they were returned into the stomach, with wax models of four deities, commonly called the four genii of the Ament or Hades. It was, however, usual in the embalmment of the wealthier classes to soak them carefully in the requisite preparations, tie them up in neat cylindrical packets, and deposit them in vases having the shape of the four genii. The bodies of these deities, which were usually represented as mummied, formed the bodies of the vases, and were cylindrical below and rounded above. The mouths of the jars were sometimes counter- sunk to receive the lower part of the covers which fitted into them like a plug. The iar of the first genius, whose name was Am-set, "the devourer of filth," held the stomach and large intestines, and was formed at the top like a human head. This genius typified, or presided over the southern quarter of the compass. He was the eoc of 608 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; or of Phtha Socharis Osiris, the pygmean god of Memphis. The second vase of the series was in the shape of the genius Hapi, the " concealed." Its cover was shaped like the head of a cynocephalus, and it held the smaller viscera. This genius presided over the north, and was also the eon of Osiris. The third vase was that of the genius Trautmutf, "the adorer of his mother." We here annex an engraving of it. It had a cover in shape of the head of a jackal, and held the lungs and heart. This genius presided over the East, and was brother of the preceding. The last was that of the genius Kebhsnuf, the refresher of his brethren. It had a cover shaped like the head of a spar- row-hawk, and held the liver and gall-bladder. This genius presided over the west, and was also brother of the preceding. Three vases of a set, in the British Museum, have all human-shaped heads, and are pro- vided with handles at the sides of the bodies. Specimens of a very unusual kind are also to be found in the same collection, having the whole body formed without a cover, in the shape of a dome above, and surmounted by a rudely modelled figure of a jackal, couchant upon a gateway, formed of a detached piece. The entrails were introduced by the rectangular orifice in the upper part. In some other in- stances the covers appear to have been secured by cords passing through them to the body of the vase. When secured, the vases were placed in a wooden box, which was laid on a sledge and carried to the sepulchre, where they were often taken out and placed two on each side of the coffin. It was only the poorer classes that used pottery for these purposes. The viscera of high officers of state were embalmed in jars of fine white lime- stone, and the still more valuable oriental alabasters or arragomte, obtained from the quarries of Tel El Amarna, or the ancient Alabastron. THE SACBO CATIXO. The celebrated " Sacro Catino," part of the spoil taken by tiie Genoese at the storming of Cesarea, which was believed to be cut from a single emerald, and had, according to tradition, been presented by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, was for ages the pride and glory of Genoa, and an object of 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 sorrowed naif a million of ducats upon the security of this precious relio. MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. GOP \Vhcn the French armies, during the first Revolution, plundered Italy of its treasures, it was sent with other spoils to Paris. Upon examina- tion, it was, instead of emerald, proved to be composed of glass, similar to that found in the 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 honours, a mere broken glass vessel, in the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo. DINNER PABTY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUBT. The cut which we here present to our readers is {aken from the Knglish edition of the Janua Linguarum of Comenius, and represents '.he forms of dining in England under the Protectorate. It will be tiCbt described by the text which accompanies it in the book, anil io \vhich each particular object is mentioned. " ready," we are told, " the table is covered with When a feast is made a carpet and a table- cloth" by the waiters, who, besides, lay the trenchers, spoons, knives, with little forks, table napkins, bread, with a saltsellar. Messes are brought in platters, a pie in a plate. The guests being brought in by the host, wash their hands out of a laver or ewer, over a hand-basin, or bowl, and wipe them with a hand towel : they then sit at the table on chairs. The carver breaketh up the good cheer, and divideth it. Sauces are set amongst roste-meat in sawsers. The butler filleth strong wine out of a cruse, or wine-pot, or flagon, into cups or glasses, which Btand on a cup-board, and he reacheth them to the master of the feast, who drinketh to his guests." It will be observed here that one Bait- cellar is here placed in the middle of the table. This was the usuail custom ; and, as one long table had been substituted for the several tables formerly standing in the hall, the salt-cellar was considered to divide the table into distinct parts, guests of more distinction being p'aced above the salt, while tho places below the salt were assigned 610 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; to inferiors and dependents. This usage is often alluded to in the old dramatists. Thus, in Ben Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, " he never drinks below the salt, i. e. he never exchanges civilities with those who sit at the lower end of the table. And in a contemporary writer, it is described as a mark of presumption in an inferior member of the household " to sit above the salt." SAND-COLTJMNS IN AFRICA. Of this remarkable phenomenon, we extract the following interesting account from the Rev. N. Davis' s " Evenings in my Tent" ; " The heat, during the last day or two, has been intense. The ther- mometer in my tent, during day and night, has been almost stationary at 100 degrees. My men have done, and still do, everything in their power to keep the tent cool, by erecting a high palm-branch fence around it, and by a constant immersion of the ground, but all this to very little effect. The wind, daring this day, has been as hot as the flames issuing from a furnace ; and the clouds of sand it raised, and carried along iu its furious march, have been immense. In the distance could be seen numbers of sand columns ; but these did not retain their form any con- siderable length of time. A contrary blast brought them in collision with each other ; and these, blending their contents, raised a complete and dense barrier between us and the country bevond. I am no lover of danger ; but, I must confess, 1 had an inward desire to see this pheno- menon one of the horrors of the desert in greater perfection. I be- lieve Bruce witnessed one of the most stupendous exhibitions of sand columns or sand spouts, caused by circular or whirl-winds, on record. In his journe"y through the desert of Senaar, his attention was attracted to a number of prodigious pillars of sand, at different distances, moving at times with great celerity, at others, stalking on with majestic slow- ness : at intervals, he thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm him and his companions. Again they would retreat, so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often sepai-ated from the bodies ; and these, once disjoined, dis- persed in the air, and appeared no more. Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot. About noon, they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon them, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of these awful visitors ranged along- side of them, at about the distance of three miles. The greatest diame- ter of the largest appeared to him, at that distance, as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from them, with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression upon the mind of our intrepid traveller to which he could give no name, thoxigh he candidly admits that one ingredient in it was r'^ar, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. He declares it was in vain to think of flying ; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry them out of this danger, and the full persuasion of this riveted him to the spot where he stood. Next day they were gratified by a similar display of moving pillars, in form and disposition like those already described, only they seemed to be more in number, and less iu size. They came several times in a direction clcwj MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 611 upon them ; that is, according to Mr. Bruce's computation, within two miles. They became, immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun , his rays, shining through them for near an hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. At another time they were terrified by an army of these sand pillars, whose march was con- stantly south, a number of which seemed once to 'be coming directly upon them, and, though they were little nearer than two miles, a con- siderable quantity of sand fell around them. On the 21st of November, about eight in the morning, he had a view of the desert to the westward as before, and saw the sands had already begun to rise in immense twisted pillars, which darkened the heavens, and moved over the desert with more magnificence than ever. The sun shining through the pillars, which were thicker, and contained more sand apparently than any of the pre- ceding ones, seemed to give those nearest them an appearance as if spotted with stars of gold. A little before twelve, the wind at north ceased, and a considerable quantity of fine sand rained upon them for an hour afterwards. ANTIQUITY OF INTOXICATING DRINKS. It is a common belief that wine was the only inebriating liquor known to antiquity, but this is a mistake. Tacitus mentions the use of ale or beer as common among the Germans of his time. By the Egyptians, likewise, whose country was ill adapted to the cultivation of the grape, it was employed as a substitute for wine. Ale was common in the middle ages, and Mr. Park states that very good beer is made, by the usual process of brewing and malting, in the interior of Africa. The favourite drink of our Saxon ancestors was ale or mead. Those worshippers of Odin were so notoriously addicted to drunkenness, that it was regarded as honourable rather than otherwise ; and the man who could withstand the greatest quantity was looked upon with admiration and respect: whence the drunken songs of the Scandinavian scalds: whence the glories of Valhalla, the fancied happiness of whose in- habitants consisted of quaffing draughts from the skulls of their enemies slain in battle. Even ardent spirit, which is generally supposed to be a modern discovery, probably existed from a very early period. It is said to have been first made by the Arabians in the middle ages, and in all likelihood may lay claim to a still remoter origin. The spirituous liquor called arrack has been manufactured in the island of Java, as well as in the continent of Hindostan, from time immemorial. Brandy was made in Sicily at the commencement of the fourteenth century. As to wine, it was so common in ancient times as to have a tutelar god appropriated to it ; Bacchus and his companion Silenus are as household words in the mouths of all, and constituted most important features of the heathen mythology. "We have all heard of the Falerniau and Campanian wines, and of the wines of Cyprus and Shiraz. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the ancients were in no respect inferior to the moderns in the excellence of the vinous liquors, whatever they may have been in the variety. Wine was so common in the eastern nation! that Mahomet, foreseeing the baleful effects of its propagation, forbade 612 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS ; it to his followers, who, to compensate themselves, had recourse to opium. The Gothic or dark ages seem to have been those in which it was the least common ; in proof of this it may be mentioned that, so late as 1298, it was vended as a cordial by the English apothecaries. At the present day it is little drunk, except by the upper classes, in those countries which do not naturally furnish the grape. In those that do, it is so cheap as to come within the reach of even the lowest. BUTXS OF CLOXMACXOIS. A few miles south of Athlone are the famous ruins of Clonmacnois, the school where, according to Dr. O'Connor, " the nobility of Connaiight had their children educated, and which was therefore called Cluan-mac- nois, ' the secluded recess of the sons of nobles.' " It was also, in ancient times, a renowned cemetery of the Irish kings ; and for many centuries it has continued a favourite burial-place, the popular belief enduring to this day, that all persons interred here pass immediately from earth to heaven. The abbey is said to have been founded by St. Kieran about the middle of the sixth century, and soon became " amazingly enriched," so that, writes Mr. Archdall, ' ' its landed property was so great, and the number of cells and monasteries subjected to it so numerous, that almost half of Ireland was said to be within the bounds of Clonmacnois. The among tne ruins. THE BEICKS OF BABYLON. Besides sun-dried bricks, remains of kiln-baked or burnt bricks are found in all the principal ruins of ancient Babylonia, and were used lor the purpose of revetting or casing the walls. Like the Bun-dried MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, ANE QUAINT. bricks they are made of clay mixed with grass and straw, which have, of course, disappeared iu the baking, leaving, however, traces of the stalks or stems in the clay. Generally they are slack-burnt, of a pale red colour, with a slight glaze or polish. The finest sort, according to Mr. Rich, are white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast, like our Stourbridge, or fire-brick ; the coarsest are red, like our ordinal-} brick. Some have a blackish cast, and are very hard. The finest aro those which come from the ruins of the Akerkuf. The general measure- ment of the kiln-dried bricks, at the Birs Nimrud, is 1 ft. 1 in. square, and 3 in. thick. Some are submultiples, or half of these dimensions. A few arc of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners. Those at the Akerkuf measured a trifle less, or 12* in. square, and 2 f in. thick, and are placed at the base of the monument. Th bricks of Al Hymer, on the eastern bank, measure 14 iu. long, 12f in, broad, 2 in. thick, and are of fine fabric. There are bricks of two dimensions at this ruin of the Birs Nimrud ; those on the northern brow, a little way down it, measure 12 in. square, and 3 in. thick; they are of a pale red colour, and used for revetting the monument. Lower down to the east of this, they are 4-f in. broad, and 12f in. long. Similar bricks were found at the Mujellibe, and in one place was an entire wall of them 60 feet thick. The whole plain here is covered with masse* of brick work, and on one of the mounds the bricks are so red, that i looks one bright gleaming mass. The bricks from the Mujellibe or Kasr are described as very hard, and of a pale yellow colour ; and this edifice presents a remarkable appearance of freshness. We have seen only one fragment of a brick from Nitfer ; it is of a white, or rather yellowish white colour, and sandy, gritty texture. This spot, it wifl. be re- membered, is supposed to be the site of old Babylon. All these bricks are made by the same process as those of Assyria, namely, stamped out of a wooden or terra-cotta mould, and are also impressed with several lines of cuneiform character. This impression is always sunk below th superficies, rectangular, and often placed obliquely on the brick, with ^hat disregard to mechanical symmetry which is so usual on works ul 614 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; ancient art. The stamp is generally about 6 inches long, by 4 inches wide, and the number of lines varies from three to seven : an arrange- ment quite different from that observed on the bricks of Assyria, and rather resembling that adopted by the brick-makers of Egypt. The engraving on previous page is of a brick stamped with the name of Nebu- chadnezzar, which is now in the possession of the Royal Society of literature. The inscriptions sometimes commence with the figure of a lion, a bull, or what may be intended for an altar. These read, according to Sir IT. Rowlinson, [of] Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, founder of Beth Digla, or Saggalu, and of Beth Tzida son of Nebopalasar [I am]. A TURKISH BAZAAR. A Turkish bazaar is one of the most wonderful sights in the world, and well deserves a place in our record of curiosities. We cannot do better than quote the description which Mr. Albert Smith gives of one of these extraordinary places in his " Month at Constantinople :" "Smyrna had, in some measure, prepared me for the general appear- ance of an oriental bazaar ; but the vast extent of these markets at Con- stantinople created a still more vivid impression. To say that the covered rows of shops must altogether be miles in length that vista after vista opens upon the gaze of the astonished stranger, lined with the costliest productions of the world, each collected in its proper district that one may walk for an hour, without going over the same ground twice, amidst diamonds, gold, and ivory; Cashmere shawls, and Chinese silks; glit- tering arms, costly perfumes, embroidered slippers, and minors; rare brocades, ermines, Morocco leathers, Persian nick-nacks ; amber mouth - pieces, and jewelled pipes that looking along the shortest avenue, every known tint and colour meets the eye at once, in the wares and costumes, and that the noise, the motion, the novelty of this strange spectacle is at first perfectly bewildering all this, possibly, gives the reader the notion of some kind of splendid mart, fitted to supply the wants of the glittering personages who figure in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments ; yet it can convey but a poor idea of the real interest which such a place calls forth, or the most extraordinary assemblage of treasures displayed there, amidst so much apparent shabbiness. No spot in the world neither the Parisian Boulevards, nor our own Regent-street can boast of such an accumulation of valuable wares from afar, as the great bazaar at Con- stantinople. Hundreds and thousands of miles of rocky road and sandy desert have been traversed by the moaning camels who have carried those silks and precious stones from Persia, with the caravan. From the wild regions of the mysterious central Africa, that ivory, so cun- ningly worked, in the next row, has been brought the coal-black people only know how until the Nile floated it down to Lower Egypt. Then those soft Cashmere shawls have made a long and treacherous journey to T rtbizoml, whence the fleet barks of the cold and rtormy Kuxine at lart MARVELLOUS. RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 615 brought them up the fairy Bosphorus to the very water's edge of the city. From the remote active America ; from sturdy England ; from Cadiz, Marseilles, and all along the glowing shores of the Mediterranean, safely carried over the dark and leaping sea, by brave iron monsters that have fought the winds with, their scalding breath, these wares have come, to tempt the purchasers, in the pleasant, calm, subdued light of the bazaars of Stamboul." TARNISH-TREE OF THE JAPANESE. The urusi or varnish-tree, of which they make so extensive a use, is a noble tree when grown to its full size. On incision it yields a rich, milky, glutinous juice, out of which the Japanese make the celebrated varnish, known by the name of Japan. With this varnish they cover and coat all their household furniture, all their dishes and plates, and all their drinking-vessels, whether made of wood or of paper. The use of plate, or porcelain, or glass appears to be very limited, and is probably interdicted by some rule of nationality or religion : from the emperor down to the meanest peasant, all make use of the light varnished or japanned cups and dishes, the inner substance of which is wood or paper, or what we term papier-mache. Another tree, called forasi, renders a varnish of an inferior quality. TORTURE-CHAMBER AT NUREMBERG. Nuremberg, being a "free city," was governed by its own ap- pointed magistrates, having independent courts of law. The exe- cutive council of state consisted of eight members, chosen from the thirty patrician families, who, by the privilege granted to them from the thirteenth century, ruled the city entirely. In process of time these privileges assumed the form of a civic tyranny, which was felt to be in- tolerable by the people, and occasionally^ opposed by them. The fierce religious wars of the sixteenth century assisted in destroying the mono- poly of power still more ; yet now that it is gone for ever, it has left fearful traces of its irresponsible strength. All who sigh for " the good old times," should not moralise over the fallen greatness of the city, and its almost deserted but noble town-hall ; but descend below the building into the dark vaults and corridors which form its basement ; the terrible substructure upon which the glorious municipal palace of a free imperial self-ruled city was based in the middle ages, into whose secrets none dared pry, and where friends, hope, life itself, were lost to those who dared revolt against the rulers. There is no romance -writer who has imagined more horrors than we have evidences were perpetrated under the name of justice in these frightful vaults, unknown to the busy citizens around them, within a few feet of the streets down which a gay wedding procession might pass, while a true patriot was torn in every limb, and racked to death by the refined cruelty of his fellow-men. The heart eickens in these vaults, and an instinctive desire to quit them takes pos- session of the mind, while remaining merely as a curious spectator within them. The narrow steps leading to them are reached through a decorated Doorway, and the passage below receives light through a series of grat- 616 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THING* J ings. You shortly reach the labyrinthine ways, totally excluded frcra. external light and air, and enter, one after another, confined dungeons, little more than six feet square, cased with oak to deaden sounds, and to increase the difficulty of attempted escape. To make these narrow places even more horrible, strong wooden stocks are in some, and day and night prisoners were secured in total darkness, in an atmosphere which seems even now too oppressive to bear. In close proximity to these dungeons is a strong stone room, about twelve feet wide each way, into which you descend by three steps. It is the torture-chamber, which we here engrave. The massive bars before you are all that remain of the perpendicular rack, upon which unfortunates were hung with weights attached to their ankles. Two such of stone, weighing each fifty pounds, were kept here some years back, as well as many other implements of torture since re- moved or sold for old iron. The raised stone bench around the room was for the use of the executioner and attendants. The vaulted roof con- densed the voice of the tortured man, and an aperture on one side gave it freedom to ascend into a room above, where the judicial listeners waited for the faltering words which succeeded the agonising screams of their victim, SEPTJLCHEAl VASES OF GBEEK POTTEEY. The number of these vases deposited in the great public museums of Europe is very large, and from calculations derived from catalogues, or from observations made on the spot, may be stated in round numbers aa : The Musoo Borbonico, at Naples, contains about 2,100; tuq MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. G17 Gregorian Museum in the Vatican, about 1,000 ; Florence has about 700 ; and at Turin there are 500. On the side of the Alps, the Imperial Museum of Vienna possesses about 300 ; Berlin has 1,690 ; Munich about 1,700; Dresden, 200; Carlsruhe, 200; the Louvre, at Paris, about 1,500; while 500 more may be found in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. The British Museum has about 2,600 vases of all kinds. Besides the public collections, several choice and valuable specimens of ancient art belong to individuals. The most important of these private collections are those of the Due de Luynes, the Duo de Blacas, the Count do PourtaleB-Gorgier, the Jatta collection, that belonging to M. St. Angela at Naples, and a fine and choice one belonging to the Marquis Campaua at Rome. In England, the collections of Mr. Hope, of Mr. JokyJl, of the Marquis of Northampton, and of Mr. Hertz, contain several in- teresting examples. In addition to these, several thousand more vases are in the hands of the principal dealers, as S. Barone, of Naples ; and the heirs of S. Basseggio, Capranesi and Messrs. Sotheby, in London. The total number of vases in public and private collections probably amounts to 15,000 of all kinds. All these were discovered in the sepulchres of the ancients, but the circumstances under which they were found differ according to locality. In Greece, the graves are generally small, being designed for single corpses, which accounts for the comparatively small size of the vases discovered in that country. At Athens, the earlier graves are sunk deepest in the soil, and those at Corinth, especially such as contain the early Corinthian vases, are found by boring to a depth of several feet beneath the surface. The early tombs of Civita Vecchia and Caere, or Cervefri, in Italy, are tunnelled in the earth; and those at Vulci and in the Etruscan tcrritorv, from which the finest and largest vases hnvt lcp 618 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. In Southern Italy, especially in Campania, they are large chambers, about 5| palms under the surface. The engraving on previous page will convey an idea of the manner in which the vases are arranged round the bodies of the dead in the tombs of Veii, Nola, and Cumse. The tomb there represented is constructed of large blocks of stone, arranged in squared masses, called the Etruscan style of wall, in con- tradistinction to the Cyclopean. The walls are painted with subjects, the body is laid upon the stone floor, and the larger vases, such as the ox;/bapha and craters are placed round it. The jugs are hung upon nails round the walls. GAMES WITH CARDS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTTJBY. Cards were used by every one. The game of Gleek was played by three persons. The dealer dealt twelve cards and left eight on tke table for stock, seven were bought, and the ace turned up for the dealer ; if it was Tiddy (four of trumps) such player gave four to the dealer. The ace was called Tib, the knave Tim, the fifth Towser, and the sixth Tumbler. The players then begin bidding for the stock in hopes of bettering their game, the buyer taking in seven cards and putting out seven. If Tib was turned up, it counted fifteen to the dealer. The players then picked for Ruff, the one having most of a suit winning it unless any one had four aces, which always carried it. The first then said, "I'll vie the Ruff;" the next, "I'll see it:" the third, "I'll see it, and revieit;" the first again, "I'll see your revie ;" and the middle, "I'll not meddle with it." They then showed their cards, and he that had most of a suit won six of him that held out longest, and forty of him who said he could see it, and then refused to meddle; with it. Ombre, Basset, Whist, Costly Colours, and Five Cards, were, we believe, of later introduction. Of our period, are Ruff, Bone, Ace, Pult. The great game in the West of England was Post and Pair, as All Fours was in Kent, and Five Cards in Ireland. In Post and Pair, the ace of trumps was the best card ; at Post the best cards were one and ttvo, but a pair of court cards one. The daring of the game con- sisted in the vye, or the adventuring upon the goodness of your hand to intimidate your antagonist. RESCTTED RELICS. The following is a list translated from the original in the chartulary of the University of Glasgow ; of the relics which were carried away from Glasgow Cathedral, by the Archbishop, before the work of demoli- tion began, in 1560 : The image of Christ in gold, and those of the twelve apostles in silver, with the whole vestments belonging to the church. A silver cross, gilt in the upper part, and adorned with precious stones in the lower part, with a small portion of the cross of our Saviour! Another silvir cross, adorned with precious stones, with seven;! otb?l portions of the cross of Christ i MARVELLOUS, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 619 A silver casket, gilt, containing the hair of the blessed Virgin ! A square silver coffer, containing several of the scourges of St. Kenti- gern, and St. Thomas of Canterbury, and a portion of the hair garment worn by the former saint !! Another silver casket, gilt, containing part of the skin of Bartholo- mew, the apostle ! ! A silver casket containing a bone of St. Ninian ! A silver casket, containing part of the girdle of the Virgin Mary ! ! A crystal case, containing a bone of some saint and of St. Magdalene ! I A small vial of crystal, containing the milk of the blessed Virgin, and part of the manger of Christ ! ! ! A small phial of a saffron colour, containing the fluid which formerly flowed from the tomb of St. Mungo ! A phial, containing several of the bones of St. Eugene, and of St. Blaze! A phial, containing a part of the tomb of St. Catherine the virgin ! A small hide, with a portion of the cloak of St. Martin ! A precious hide, with portions of the bodies of St. Kentigern and St. Thomas of Canterbury ! ! Some other hides, with bones of saints and other relics ! A wooden chest, containing many small relics I Two linen bags, with the bones of St. Kentigern, St. Thanew, and otber deceased saints ! ! PAPEE. With respect to the paper now in use, Dr. Blair says, the first paper- mill (in England, we suppose) was erected at Dartford, in the year 1588, by a German of the name of Speillman ; from which period we may, perhaps, date its manufacture in this country. It appears, however, that it was known in the East much earlier ; it being observed that most of the ancient manuscripts in Arabic and other Oriental languages, were written upon cotton paper, and it is thought the Saracens first introduced it into Spain. Anderson, in his " History of Commerce," says that, till the yearlGOO, there was scarcely any paper made in England but the coarse brown sort. Paper was previously imported from France, Genoa, and Holland. However, the improvement of this article in England, in consequence of the French war, produced a saving to the country of 100,000 annually, which had been paid to France for paper alone. If the antiquity of a practice could justify its existence, lotteries might claim peculiar reverence. The Romans, we are told, used to enliven their Saturnalia with them, by distributing tickets, all of which gained some prize. Augustus instituted lotteries, that consisted, however, of things of little value. Nero also established lotteries, for the people, ia which 1,000 tickets were daily distributed, and several of those who were favoured by fortune got rich by them. The first lottery of which ve find any record in our annals, was in the year J659, which, accord- 620 TEH THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; Lng to Stow, consisted of 40,000 lots, at 10s. each. The prizes wrr plated ; and the profits were to be applied to the purpose of repairing the havens of the kingdom. This lottery was drawn at the west door of St. Paul's cathedral ; and began on the llth July, 1569, and continued in- cessantly, day and night, till the 6th May following. The tickets were three years in being disposed of. In the year 1612, King James granted a lottery to promote the plantation of English colonies in Virginia, which was also drawn at St. Paul's. TEMPLE AT SI.UONBOXG. The above is a correct representation of the great Lepcha temple at Simoubong, in Sikkim, a district of India near Thibet. We take the following account of it from the Journal of Dr. Hooker, who visited it in 1848: "Simonbong is one of the smallest and poorest goompas, or temples, in Sikkim, being built of wood only. It consists of one large room, raised on a stone foundation, with small sliding Bhutter windows, and roofed with shingles of wood ; opposite the door a wooden altar was placed, rudely chequered with black, white, and red ; to the right and left were shelves, with a few Tibetan books, wrapped in silk ; a model of Symbonath temple in Nepal, a praying- cylinder, and some implements for common purposes, bags of juniper, English wine-bottles and glasses, with tufts of Abies Webbina, rhodo- dendron fiowers, and peacock's feathers, besides various trifl.es, c'iy MARVELLOUS, HARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 621 ornaments and offerings, and little Hindoo idols. On the altar weie ranged seven little brass cups, full of water ; a large conch-shell, carved with the sacred lotus; a brass jug from Lhassa, of beautiful design, and a human thigh-bone, hollow, and perforated through both condyles. "Facing the altar was a bench and a chair, and on one side a huge tambourine, with two curved iron drumsticks. The bench was covered with bells, handsomely carved with idols, and censers with juniper- ashes ; and on it lay the dorge, or double-headed thunderbolt. Of all these articles, the human thigh-bone is by much the most curious ; it ia very often that of a Lama, and is valuable in proportion to its length. As, however, the Sikkirn Lamas are burned, these relics are gener- ally procured from Tibet, where the corpses are cut in pieces and thrown to the kites, or thrown into the water." 1111'LK.UE:; TS USJO) IX BUDDHIST TEMPLES. The above sketch places before us the implements generally used in the Buddhist temples of India : a praying cylinder in stand, another to be carried in the hand, cymbals, bell, brass cup, three trumpets (one of them made of a human thigh-bone), conch, and dorje, or double- headed thunderbolt, which the Lama, or high -priest, holds in his hand during service. The praying cylinder is made to revolve by means of an axle and string, and a projecting piece of iron strikes a little bell at each revolution. Within such cylinders are deposited written prayers, and whoever pulls the string prop" erly is considered to have said Ina prayers as often as the bell rings. The worshippers, on entering the temple, walk up to the altar, and, before or after having deposited theu gifts, they lift both hands to the forehead, fall on their knees, and touch the ground three times with head and hands. They then advance to the head Lama, kototc similarly to him, and he blesses thorn, laying 622 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS; both hands on their heads, and repeating a short formula. Sometimes the dorje is used in blessing, as the cross is in Europe, and when a number of people request a benediction, the Lama pronounces it from the door of the temple with outstretched arms, the people all being prostrate, with their foreheads touching the ground. PROCLAMATION FOE THE PERSON OF GEORGE II. On the young Pretender landing in Scotland, Government issued a proclamation, offering a reward of 30,000 for his head, alive or dead. In opposition to this, the following curious paper was issued by the Prince and his council, which, Mr. Beloe says, "is so rare, that I never heard of any other than that which accident lately deposited in the British Museum." "Charles, Prince of "Wales, &c. " Regent of the Kingdoms of Scotland, France, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, " Whereas, we have seen a certain scandalous and malicious paper, published in the style and form of a proclamation, bearing date the 1st instant, wherein, under pretence of bringing us to justice, like our Royal Ancestor, King Charles I. of blessed memory, there is a reward of 30,000 sterling promised to those who shall deliver us into the hands of our enemies, we could not but be moved with a just indignation at so insqjent an attempt; and though, from our nature and principles, we abhor and detest a practice so unusual among Christian Princes, we cannot but, out of just regard to the dignity of our person, promise a like reward of 30,000 sterling to him, or those, who shall seize and secure till our further orders, the person of the Elector of Hanover, whether landed, or attempting to land, in any part of his Majesty's dominions. Should any fatal accident happen from hence, let the blame be entirely at the door of those who first set the infamous example. "CHARLES, P. R. " Given at our Camp, at Kinlockeill, August 22, 1745. " By his Highness's Command. "JoHK MURRAY." DOG3 IN JAPAN. Dogs or common curs they have, and in superfluous numbers. These dogs are as much the pest of the towns of Japan as they are of Constan- tinople and the other foul cities and towns of the Ottoman Empire. Thia vast increase of the canine species, and the encouragement and immunity accorded to it, arose (according to the popular account) out of a curious superstition and an extravagant imperial decree. An Emperor who reigned at the close of the eighteenth century chanced to be born under the Sign of the Dog, the Dog being one of the twelve celestial signs of the Japanese Zodiac. For this reason the Emperor had as great an esteem for dogs as the Roman Emperor Augustus is reported to have entertained for rams. When he ascended the throne, he willed and ordained that dogs should be held as sacred animals ; and, from that time, more puppies saw the light, and were permitted to live in Japan S, RARE, CURIOUS, AND QUAINT. 623 th*n in any other country on the face of the earth, Turkey, perhaps, accepted. These dogs have no masters, but lie and prowl about the streets, to the exceeding great annoyance of passengers, especially if they happen to be foreign travellers, or Christians in Christian dresses, if they come round you in packs, barking, snarling, and showing their teeth ; nay, even if they fall upon, you and bite you, you must on no account take the law into your own hands, and beat them off or shoot them. To kill one of them is a capital crime, whatever mischief the brute raav have done you. In every town, there are Guardians of the Dogs, and to these officers notice must be given in case of any canine misdemeanour, these guardians alone being empowered to punish the dogs. Every street must keep a certain number of these animals, or at least provide them with victuals ; huts, or dog-hospitals, stand in all parts of the town, and to these the animals, in case of sickness, must be carefully conveyed by the inhabitants. The dogs that die must be brought up to the tops of mountains and hills, the usual burying-places of men and women, and there be very decently interred. Old Kaimpfer says : ' ' The natives tell a pleasant tale on this head. A Japanese, as he was carrying the carcase of a dead dog to the top of a steep mountain, grew impatient, grumbled, and cursed the Emperor's birth-day and whimsical command. His companion bid him hold his tongue and be quiet, and, instead of swearing, return thanks to the gods that the Emperor was not born under the Sign of the Horse, for, in that case, the load would be heavier." LAGMI, AND THE USE MADE OF IT. Mohammed, we are told, prohibited the use of wine, owing to a drunken quarrel among the chiefs of his army, which produced great disorder and confusion in his affairs, and almost caused the prophet's death in one of his daring military engagements. He, therefore, ad- dressed his followers in these words: " The devil desires to sow dissen- sions among you, through wine and games of chance, to divert you from remembering God, and praying to him. Abandon wine and games of chance. Be obedient to God and the prophet, his apostle, and take heed unto yourselves." But the prophet, who could so minutely delineate the furniture of heaven, and the instruments of torture of hell who could describe the mysterious occurrences before the creation was formed into its present shape, and predict stupendous events to happen in thousands of years to come could not forsee that man would stupify himself by any other beverages besides " wine." The believers in the Koran at Tozar, a city near the Great Desert, in Africa, certainly abstain from wine, and thus obey the prophet's precept, but then they indulge freely in lagvri, or the juice of the palm-tree, which, when fermented, is as pernicious in its effect, when taken in excess, as the wine possibly can be. ^ This juice is easily obtained, and more easily still prepared. An incision is made in the tree, just beneath the branches, and ajar so fastened that it re- ceives every drop of liquid flowing out. During a night they procure from a tree " in a producing condition" (in which it is not always) from quart to three pints of lagmi. When drank immed^ely i' 'v i - 624 TEN THOUSAND WONDERFUL THINGS : Uka genuine rich milk, and is perfectly harmless ; but when allowed to Btand oiie night, or, at most, twenty-four hours, it partakes (with tnw exception of the colour, which is whitish,) of the quality and flavour of champagne, and that of a far superior sort than is usually offered in the British markets. This date-tree wine, (for so it may be called,) pro- cured at so little trouble and expense, is to be found in every house, and has its -victims reeling through the streets of Tozar, just as" the stupify- ing porter has in the streets of English cities. But the curious part in connexion with this is, that " the faithful" persist in their justification that they do not transgress their prophet's precept! " Lay mi is tot wine," tney say, " and the prophet's prohibition refers to wine." AXGLO-SAXON UMBEELLA. In Anglo-Saxon times the traveller always wore a covering for his head, which, though in various shapes, in no instance resembled our hat, though it was characterised by the general term h